218 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Bee Report From Italy. 



In a letter just received from Count 

 Alfonso Visconti Di Saliceto, of The 

 Journal V Apicolore^ at Milan, Italy, he 

 says: "Before closing my letter, allow 

 me. Sir, to give you a few items of news 

 concerning bee culture in Italy. 



" As I told you in my last letter we tiave 

 had great mortality among our bees, 

 especially the common box ones. Spring 

 came on very late, but it proceeded regu- 

 larly, and the bee hives gained very much, 

 so much so that in a very short time they 

 were completely filled with honey. The 

 swarming was, however, delayed, and was 

 very poor indeed. Although the summer 

 has been rather stormy our bees were able 

 to make a considerable plunder, and from 

 some bee hives we have already extracted 

 from 15 to 20 chilogr. of honey, and hope 

 to extract the same quantity in September. 

 I speak however, of hives belonging to 

 national bee-keepers. Bee culture is here 

 gradually improving and the number of 

 national bee-keepers enlarges more and 

 more. Even the use of honey, which was 

 once confined to commerce, is now con- 

 siderably increasing, and in our families 

 the custom of eating honey spreads very 

 fast. All this is the consequence of the 

 improvements of systems which regard 

 cultivation as well as extraction. 



" With my best compliments I have the 

 honor to subscribe, 



Count Alfonso Visconti Di Salickto. 



Another Race of the Bees. 



We have received the following from 

 the editor of the Journal V Apicoltore, at 

 Milan, Italy. It will be interesting to 

 many of our readers: 



Honored Sir : — At the Editorial Rooms 

 of the Journal V Apicoltore there has been 

 established a commission office for the 

 purchase and sale of Italian queens, wax, 

 honey, honey-comb, empty framed honey- 

 combs, of the official measure, books, 

 journals and every thing connected with 

 bee culture. 



The expenses of forwarding and pack- 

 ing are chargeable to the employer. Ad- 

 dress: To the Commissional Office at the 

 Journal V Apicoltore, Milan, iJ8 Tomaao 

 street, Italy. 



The want generally felt of finding easy 

 sale for the productions of bees, and like- 

 wise of knowing where to address in or- 

 der to purchase, will obtain the approval 

 and assistance of bee-keepers to this Com- 

 missional Office. 



A " Country Doctor" in the British Bee 

 Journal remarks as follows concerning 

 another race of bees, which are great 

 swarmers : 



"In Lunenbureh, Oldenhureh, etc.," says the 

 Baron von Berleppch, "is a bee which in forma- 

 tion of body and in color, that is zoologically con- 

 sidered, is identical with the ordinary kind, but 

 which has certain pecnlianties so marked, that it 

 mnst be looked upon as a disiinct race. 



"1. A population with a queen of the current 

 year builds as a rule some drone-comb, and often 

 much. 



" 2. A queen of the current year lays drone eggs 

 as a rule, and sometimes in' considerable nnm- 

 bers. 



" 3. A queen of the current year often leads off 

 a swarm. 



"4. A fruitful queen of any age often leads off 

 a swarm, although the stock is not fully filled 

 with comb. 



" 5. The swarming; impulse is so strong, that a 

 rational management is thereby rendered yery 

 difficult. 



"6. The building of drone-comb and the breed- 

 ing of drones is so mischievous, toat a rational 

 management is thereby rendered very difBcult.'" 



A correspondent desires that we 

 request those who obtain the large yields 

 of honey, whose apiary contains over 10 

 hives, to send a letter for publication in 

 The American Bee Journal, describing 

 their management, so that other bee-keep- 

 ers may compare notes. We shall be glad 

 to have them do so. 



An article was copied into our last 

 issue from The Prairie Farmer, but by an 

 oversight our regular electrotype heading 

 (For the American Bee Journal) was 

 placed over the heading, and the credit 

 omitted. Th^ Prairie Farmer notes this 

 lack of credit under the insulting head- 

 ing of "It steals;" we would not be so 

 contemptible as to return the compliment, 

 should the opportunity be presented — for 

 mistakes will happen in the very best of 

 offices. " Honi soit qui mal y pense." 



A Correction. — On page 199 of the 

 September number, G. P. M said that Mr. 

 Harbison had lost 3,000 stands of bees 

 during the Spring. He informs us that 

 he has since learned that it was a mistake, 

 but we did not get it in time to prevent 

 the statement in the September issue. 8o 

 we now cc^rrect it. 



E^" On account of the large space be- 

 ing given to Bee Reports for 1875, in this 

 number of The Journal, many valuable 

 articles are omitted, which were intended 

 for this issue. They will appear in our 

 next. 



