32 THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



Italians vs. Black Bees. 



Under this heading', Mr. J. A. Kinnon, in Canadian Bcc Journal, 

 makes a strong plea for the Italians, and in Gleanings in Bee Culture 

 Mr. H. D. Tennent makes an equally strong plea for blacks. When 

 doctors disagree, what — ? It was really amusing to see and hear the 

 scrap put up on both sides at the Toronto convention. It is an old 

 question, and will no doubt always have its adherents on both sides. 

 The article by ]\Ir. Kinnon follows: 



"A number of things have been written pro and con in the 

 C. B. J. of late regarding the different races of bees, black and 

 Italians. 



"As I have had the pleasure of nipping the heads off about 

 80 black queens the last two seasons, it may be of interest to some 

 of your readers to know what prompted my so doing. Last spring- 

 after removing my colonies from the cellar it was only wnth the 

 most cautious watching on my part that I kept the black colonies 

 from being robbed out en bloc by their yellow cousins, and as Bobby 

 Burns often expressed. I sware an aith that if I lived the summer, 

 fall would see me rid of at least one nuisance. Black bees as I had 

 them in their purity were the poorest defenders of their hives 

 imaginable, and it was only by changing them around so as to give 

 the black colonies the Italian field bees that I managed at all. Xot 

 so with my Italians. AVhen an attack was made on them the 

 robbers got stung. That was all, as no honey changed hives. 



"As to the difference in honey gathering qualities. 75 to 100 

 lbs. and over in favor of the Italians, has manifested to me that 

 there is a dift'erence in the bees .and after the main flow most of my 

 Italian colonies put up from 30 to 40 lbs. of fall honey, while the 

 blacks required to be fed. 



"Yes, the blacks are all gone and I don't want any more of 

 them. The honey flow was of short duration in this localit}-, but 

 with proper management I harvested over four tons of honey and 

 increased 87 colonies spring count to 165.'' 



]\Ir. Tennant has this to say in Gleanings: 



"W. C. Mollett, page 100, Feb. 15, complains of the excessive 

 swarming of the Italians in his locality, and suggests that it is in 

 some way due to the kind and quantity of honey-plants. Having 

 had a similar experience here, I would suggest that it is not so 

 much a matter of honey-plants as of an over-supply of early pollen 

 which marks this difference between blacks and Italians. 



SOURCES OF EARLV POLLEN. 



"The country here is rough, with considerable timber, and the 

 average number of wild flowers. The fall flow from goldenrod and 

 aster, though not usually giving any surplus, leaves the hives well 



