136 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



(From American Bee Journnl, Aug. 11.) 

 riVE-BANDED ITALIAN BEES, ETC. 



O. FITZ.VLWYN WILKIXS. 



On page 381 of the A^nerica)! Bee 

 Journal {ox March 17, 1882, is the fol- 

 lowing query : 



"Who was the originator of that strain 

 of Italians known as the 'five-banded 

 golden Italians?' " 



I presume no one has laid claim to 

 being the originator, because I have not, 

 as yet, seen any reply to my inquiry in 

 any bee-paper which I take. 



I have been ''keeping bees" since 

 1866. and have nearly every year pur- 

 chased an Italian queen from some one 

 — more from a Massachusetts breeder 

 than any other, because his queens were 

 invariably as he represented them. I 

 have not obtained any queens from that 

 gentleman for several years, for the rea- 

 son that I am badly aiBicted with color 

 blindness, so far as bees are concerned, 

 and cannot see perfectly anything that is 

 not '■'■goUen-to-the-tipy 



However, I believe in "giving unto 

 Caesar the things tiiat be Csesar's," or, 

 in other words, giving "honor to whom 

 honoris due ;" therefore, I will say just 

 here, that three years since, I procured 

 queens from several breeders, none of 

 which produced progeny equal to that 

 of the Massachusetts queen lor gentle- 

 ness and industry. In the month of 

 June, 1890, her "children" stored in one 

 hive 240 pounds of extracted honey, 

 being 100 pounds more than either of 

 the others, although I treated all impar- 

 tially. 



Of couise, there are many who keep 

 bees for profit, and have realized much 

 larger returns than the above. I re- 

 member, "some twenty years ago," one 

 case in which 600 pounds were extract- 

 ed from one hive ; at least it was so re- 

 ported in the American Bee JournaL 

 VoL VII, No. 7, for January, 1872, 

 page 164. on the middle of the second 

 column. By the way, what has become 

 of Gallup, ''Novice," "Amateur," and 

 a score more of the "old timers?" 



Do you know I experience more real 



pleasure in looking over the first vol- 

 umes of the American ^Bee Journal 

 than in any other occupation except 

 working among wvj yelhnv pets? 



"Honor to whom honor is due," re- 

 minds me that I procured queens last 

 year from four "five- banded breeders" 

 who '"satisfaction guaranteed ;" but all 

 of who?e queens were not producers of 

 even uniformly three-banded workers. 

 The queens were from breeders in New 

 York, Maryland. Illinois and Missouri, 

 and I expected to obtain some very fine 

 queens from them. Well, Missouri and 

 Maryland furnished queens to fill the 

 bill ; New York's was very poor — she 

 produced two and three-banded bees 

 for a short time, and departed this life 

 after a ten weeks' sojourn in our grand 

 Dominion of Canada ! Like the "sum- 

 mer girls" generally, she was not ready 

 for annexation ! 



The Illinois queen was very prolific 

 of three- banded workers, and extremely 

 dark drones. The workers had cloudy 

 spots in tlie bands, also extremely vixen- 

 ish tempers. I rejoiced "'with an exceed- 

 ing great joy" at her early admission to 

 the halls of Valhalla this spring, where, 

 if she be not sipping nectar from the 

 skulls of her rivals, she is doubtless 

 sharpening her death-dealing brand on 

 the thorax of some vanquished enemy. 



The other two queens — from Mary- 

 land and Missouri — each produced four 

 and five banded workers, gentle as but- 

 terflies (almost), and as industrious as 

 our own Canadian beavers. 



The idea advanced in a New York 

 bee-pai)er, would have, I think, a bene- 

 ficial effect on those breeders who ob- 

 tain money under false pretences, viz. : 

 that each apiarian periodical throughout 

 the continent should publish a "black- 

 list" of all unscrupulous dealers in apia- 

 rian supplies. 



International Bridge, Out., July 4. 



Well (lone, rriend Wilkins. 1 have no 

 doubt I am the M!i>.sachusetts niau re- 

 fVired to by Mr. Wilkin-^, as it is some 

 two or three years since 1 mailed a queen 

 to him. 



Brother York, editor of tlie A. B. J. 

 could not see it to meutiou the names of 



