948 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



niglit. In spring and fall I've hauled load after 

 load, year after year, in broad daylight, with 

 only entrance-screens for ventilation: and the 

 onlv objection I have to shutting them up in 

 the'middle of the day to be hauled, is the loss 

 of the bees out flying. But I've often shut up 

 an extra load early in the morning, or the night 

 before, and then "put them on the wagon when 

 other hives were in full flight. 



ITALIANS IN ITALY. 



CHAS. BIANCONCINI. THE EXPOKTER OF THESE 

 BEES, BEFUTES THE STATEMICNT THAT BEES 

 GENERALLY ON THE ITALIAN PENINSU- 

 LA ARE NOT PURE. 



I see that a tourist. Arthur T. Goldsborough 

 (Gleanings, page 842), asserts in an article to 

 have been all through Italy, and that he saw 

 no pure Italian bees in the counti-y, and there 

 were only one or two banded bees at the best, 

 and that he doesn't believe that pure bees are 

 found on this peninsula. 



There are some assertions which are so er- 

 roneous as to need no refutation; but the arti- 

 cle in question appears in an American bee- 

 paper. Americans do not travel much in Italy, 

 and, in consequence, they do not read our api- 

 cultural journals. This is why I would ask of 

 you to give room for this answer. I shall 

 content myself by simply asking the gentleman 

 to refer, as a basis for our ai'gument, to Messrs. 

 T. W. Cowan and S. Simmins, of England; Mr. 

 Frank Benton, lately of Germany, now of 

 Washington, U. S.; E. Bertrand, of Switzer- 

 land, and to many others in Europe. Although 

 the bee can be bred in all parts of Italy, we are 

 situated in a section of country where apicul- 

 ture is but little cared for. The efforts put 

 forth for the propagation of rational methods 

 have succeeded for a number of years in quite 

 a number of provinces; but in the most of them 

 modern apiculture is actively discouraged, and 

 only a small number of the "faithful" have 

 continued in the right way. 



I should like very much to know in what 

 parts of Italy that gentleman has been; what 

 large establishments he has visited; the names 

 of the best known Italian bee-keepers with 

 whom he has conversed. Several, of whom I 

 inquired, have told me that they knew nothing 

 about him. Certainly in some parts of Italy 

 the black bee is to be foiuid, but very rarely. 

 There are also here and there some apiaries, 

 perhaps, of the third class, the bees of which 

 show the three yellow bands but feebly marked; 

 but to deduce from this the idea that the race 

 does not exist here in its purity is absurd. The 

 gentleman will permit me to say one thing to 

 him seriously— note, I do not speak hastily or 

 unadvisedly: In order to secure the crop of wax 

 and honey we very frequently buy colonies of 

 bees in the provinces surrounding us; and we 

 almost invariably find that the queens are very' 

 well marked. All this, however, does not in- 

 terest the American importer of Italian queens. 

 He will ask of this tourist whether he visited 

 those establishments which export bees; wheth- 

 er he observed closely the race of bees in the 

 yards of Messrs. Mona, Fiorini, Rauschenfeld, 

 and Mr. Paglia (my partner), the largest and 

 perhaps the finest in Italy. 



Now. as this gentleman will probably reply 

 that he does not know these people, I would 

 suggest that he probably found some Italian 

 peasants who have black bees in very small 

 apiaries, where the bees were not very strongly 

 marked. I have not seen all the establishments 

 which export queens; but I am happy to be- 

 lieve that my colleagues are as careful as we 



are to preserve their good name, and to preserve 

 the purity of their bees. The choice of colonies, 

 the selection of (jueens, and suppressing with- 

 out mercy all that do not show the presence of 

 desirable qualities on the part of European. 

 American, and Australian buyers, have led to 

 the enviable reputation which our house now 

 enjoys. I can, if desired, show to this gentle- 

 man letters which prove how well people are 

 satisfied with our bees; but out of them all I 

 need mention only the unquestionable name of 

 A. I. Root. 



I would say to that tourist that we are so 

 scrupulous in regard to the purity of our bees, 

 for fear of hybridization, that we have entirely 

 abandoned the culture of Carniolans, Cyprians, 

 and Syrians, although we often receive orders 

 for those races. And now I should like to 

 know. Mr. Ernest, whether we may not have 

 the happiness of seeing you in Italy, now that 

 excursions are so easily undertaken. If so. you 

 can judge for yourself whether we are right or 

 not. Charles Bianconcini. 



Bologna, Italy. 



[The article above, coming from a native horn 

 citizen of Italy, and citing such eminent author- 

 ity as Cowan, Simmins, Benton, and Bertrand, 

 to back the statements, ought to satisfy any 

 one that the bees of Italy, as a general rule, are 

 pure Italians. No one could possibly suppose 

 that there were absolutely no other bees in that 

 country, because it is natural enough that 

 there should be a few bee-keepers who would 

 want to see the Carniolans, Funics, and German 

 bees, and therefore would have queens of these 

 races mailed to them: but that pure Italians 

 are not to be found in Italy, as averred by Mr. 

 Goidsboro, on page 843. is far from the facts in 

 the case. We inserted the article, because, 

 above all things. Gleanings desires that the 

 full truth shall come out, cut which way it 

 may. Mr. Bianconcini is a gentleman with 

 whom we have had the pleasanU'St of business 

 relations, and one \\hose statements can be 

 safely relied on: and while we do not for a 

 moment think that Mr. Goidsboro desired to 

 misrepresent, we feel sure that he must have 

 examined the bees very carelessly, or else visit- 

 ed but very few localities. All the queens that 

 we have imported from Italy exhibit in their 

 progeny quite a fixed type of bees. They are 

 leather-colored, the third band being often 

 quite indistinct. They are generally good hon- 

 ey-gatherers, rather better than our home-bred 

 stocks, we think; and it is only in very rare 

 instances when we find that they are cross. 

 These exceptions, of course, can not disprove 

 the rule. 



We know it has been somewhat questioned 

 whether it is desirable or even necessary to go 

 to Italy for our strains of bees, in view of the 

 high perfection of queen-rearing in this country. 

 But as we have said before, Mr. Charles Bian- 

 concini and his colleagues are expert queen- 

 breeders. They know how to develop the val- 

 uable traits in the bees. Besides this, they 

 have one very great advantage over American 

 breeders — at least in the Northern States— and 

 that is. a beautiful climate. There is something 

 in that southern clime that produces bees of 

 marked qualities, whatever else we may say of 

 the breeders. It may look as though we were 

 interested parties; but. dear friends, we could 

 make more money by putting high prices on 

 home-bred stock than we could to import from 

 Italy; and this home-bred stock would sell. 

 We do have high-priced home-bred queens; 

 but we can not make these queens duplicate 

 themselves as do those we import direct from 

 Italy.] 



