1S!M. 



THE A MER1CA N BEE-KEEPER. 



As I wish to be perfectly fair in my 

 treatment of the disease with which 

 Mr. Robinson seems to be afflicted, I 

 will do my best, from time to time, to 

 state substantially what Mr. R. says: — 



1. In 1859 Mr. S. B. Parsons, who was 

 traveling in hur'.pe for Ihe U. H . was in- 

 structed to procuresotne Italian bees fur the 

 use of the Patent Office. Thereupon he 

 purchased, in Italy, ten ( 1(1) colonies tor the 

 Government, and ten (10) for himself. 



I admit that Mr. Parsons was in- 

 structed, and that he bought, as 

 stated, ten (10) colonies for the Patent 

 OHice ; but deny that he bought at 

 the same time ten (10) colonies for 

 hi uself. 



2. Said 20 colonies were forwarde 1 by the 

 steamer Argo, and they were landtd at New 

 York, April 18, 186". ' 



I deny the allegations in both state- 

 ments. 



:s. None of the 20 colonies reached 

 Washington, their proper destination, but 

 instead were all taken to Flushing, the lumie 

 of Mr. Parsons. 



I deny that Washington was the 

 proper destination for 20 hives of 

 Italian bees April 18, 1800, or at any 

 other date, by virtue of instructions 

 from the Patent Office to Mr. Parsons 

 1 admit that there were Italian bees 

 taken about that date to the home of 

 Mr. Parsons, but deny that they were 

 the bees bought for the Government. 



4 On examination of said bees by Mr. 

 Langstroth, at. or about the date of their 

 arrival, all were found to be dead except 

 two colonies, and these happened, providen- 

 tially or otherwise, to belong to the ten con- 

 signed to Mr. Parsons. 



I admit that Mr. Langstroth exam- 

 ined the Italian bees that arrived at 

 or about the date stated, and that he 

 found some of the queens alive, but 

 deny that they belonged to those ten 

 colonies Mr. P bought for the Patent 

 Office. I admit that Mr. Parsons had 

 two Italian queens in his apiary, at 

 Flushing, in the spring of I860, but 

 deny that either of said queens was 

 the property of the Patent Office. I 

 admit their existence because I saw 

 them myself. Mr. Langstroth open- 

 ed the hives and showed them to me. 



He also showed me a number of cells 

 containing Italian queens nearly ready 

 to hatch. And it so happened that we 

 were both present when the first queen 

 hatched in America, that was from an 

 imported queen bred in Italy, the 

 stock imported by Mr. Parsons. At 

 the time of my visit to Mr. Parsons' 

 apiary, I was attending school at Al- 

 bany, New York, and so went down 

 there to see the new race of bees and 

 by special invitation. 

 5. Early in 1861 said S. B. Parsons adver- 

 tised Italian queens tor sale in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. Now, what does this man 

 Parsons say in his advertisement ? Read: 

 The reports of Mr. Langstroth, Dr. Kilt- 

 land, Mr. Brackett, Mr Baldridge and 

 others, testifying Hilly, from actual observa- 

 tion, to the great superiority of this race 



over the com n bee. Now when was th it 



'* obs i vatic n " madt ? Please note the 

 tacts : Mr. Parsons had onlv two living 

 Italian (pieens in the spring of 1«60. and 

 only one of tl ese was successfully u-ed for 

 breeding queens Win. \V. < ary, * oleraine, 

 Mass., had charge of In r and she w.ts kept 

 in the apiary of Mr. Parsons. The other 

 was taken to another apiary near by and a 

 Mr. Bodmer had her under his charge, but 

 he made a failure as a breeder of queens. 

 Now, let me ask T. G Newman and others 

 how it was possible that Mr. Langstroth, 

 who, in 18b0. was residing in Ohio, could, 

 bv actual observati n, testify that Parsons 

 Italian bees, reared from those two (pieens, 

 were greatly superior over the common 

 Lees. 



Let me explain : That "observa- 

 tion " was made at the respective 

 homes of the persons whose names 

 are given. They were each and all 

 supplied with Italian queens early in 

 the summer of 1850. The queens 

 were bred by Mr. Gary, and from the 

 Parson's queen spoken of, the queen 

 bought and paid for by Mr. Parsons, 

 and out of his own private purse. 

 These persons, each and all, were a- 

 mong the first, if not the first who 

 were supplied from Pai sons' importa- 

 tion that season. One queen I know 

 was received by me from Mr. Parsons 

 about the middle of .1 une, and another 

 in July, 1860. They both came to my 

 apiary, which, at that time, was in 

 Niagara County, New York. On the 

 25th of October, of that year, I report- 



