THE BEE-KEEPERvS' REVIEW. 



liave discovered that a crowded condition 

 is unfavorable to the most rapid storage 

 of honey, which interference induces 

 preparations for swarming. The use of 

 (Uinimy combs not only tends to distrib- 

 ute the bees over an increased area, but 

 furnishes additional surface for travel to 

 the supers. In other words, they afiFord 

 unrestricted travel to the supers. In con- 

 trast with a few colonies having no dum- 

 my combs, also with my neighbor's bees, 

 the storage of honey was much greater by 

 colonies provided witli (lunimies. I have 

 often wondered how liccs managed to 

 travel from the entrance to a super over 

 crowded combs, naturally interferring 

 with the nurses and queen, as well as 

 those returning from the super. Can we 

 expect anything less than preparation 

 for swarming under such circumstances? 

 From the foregoing experience I be- 

 lieve more honey will l)e stored in a 

 pro])erly constructed and arranged hive 

 than in a mere hollow receptacle. , 



Jackson, Mich., Jan. 2S, iSgS. 



ITALIAN VKUSIS BLACK BEES. 

 A Fair-Minded Cliatn])ioii (if the Dark K, 



J. K. CRANK. 



'■H iiMls(,ni" IS M.s hand 0:110 .lon^ '■ 



T is witll 1 (< 

 •|)a r t i c u 1 r 

 M ^fc l)le ;sure that I 



m M •''•''- doAii to c -ni- 



> .re the nieiits 

 -f Itilian and 

 )iack 'oees i.s 

 loney-gatherers, 

 uul weigh them 

 n an even bal- 

 ince. My ex- 

 cuse for so doing- 

 is that I do not now remember of ever 

 reading an accurate statement of the rel- 



ative value of the two races. vSuch may 

 have been written; but, if so, it has now 

 escaped me. 



Just here I may as well say that I have 

 no " ax to grind," no queens to sell, and 

 nothing to gain or lose, except the good 

 opinion of my brother bee keepers, and I 

 fear I may offend some of them if I am 

 true to myself and my subject. 



It is now nearly or quite forty years 

 since I first read of the Italian bees, which 

 were described, or I imagined them as so 

 described, as being nearly or quite as 

 large as "bumble-bees," as gentle as 

 flies, and vastly better honey -gatherers 

 than the common bee ever thought of be- 

 ing. 



In the latter {)art of the winter of 1S65- 

 66 I bought my first Italian bees; and, 

 in the .sjiring. with this one weak colony 

 of pure Italians, and another of hybrid, 

 or grade bees, costing, altogether, fortv 

 dollars, and two strong colonies of black 

 bees, which co.st twelve dollars, mv 

 brother and I began bee-keeping with 

 all the customary enthusiasm. 



The colony of pure Italian bees were 

 quite weak in the spring, and vet. not- 

 withstanding the sea.son was verv un- 

 favorable, it filled its hive with honey, 

 having to build some new comb in order 

 to do so. The hybrid colony, altliough 

 much stronger, did not gather as much 

 honey; and the two black stocks, although 

 vc-ry strong, did not cither of them make 

 half enough to winter on. 



At tlu' close of llie season I thought I 

 knew all abjut Italian bees; and, if not 

 (juite as large as they had been reported, 

 they would certainly gather two or three 

 times as much honey, in proportion to 

 their numbers, as would the black bees. 



b'or s.)n:e years following, every black 

 swar;n bou 'lit was relieved of its queen, 

 and an Italian cjueen given at the first 

 opportunity. 



During the summer of 1.S67 there 

 appeared to be quite a difference in the 

 amount of honey gathered, even among 

 colonies of ])ure Italian bees. 



