AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



367 



On Important Subjects. 



Difference Between Italians anil Blacks. 



JAS. F. WOOD. 



In the following article I &hall en- 

 deavor to show the vast difference (in 

 different localities) between the Italian 

 bee and our common black and hybrid 

 bees ; also the propensity of the Italians 

 to swarm when blacks refuse to do so 

 under the same circumstances. As a 

 breeder of Italians, perhaps what I have 

 to say in favor of black bees will be read 

 with interest ; on the other hand I shall 

 not enumerate the superior qualities of 

 the Italians, as I believe we are re- 

 minded of them in print often enough 

 by other persons than myself. 



First, we will look at my own locality, 

 and a careful comparison of the two 

 races side by side for 16 years during 

 good, and still oftener poor, seasons 

 shows very little difference, if any, in 

 favor of either race. I might add, I 

 have not kept any black bees for five or 

 six years, so I have had no experience 

 during this time, although the honey 

 resources grow less and less each year, 

 so I consider further tests in my location 

 of no value. 



Next we will go to a location only 4 

 miles from my home (the apiary nearest 

 my own). Here there is a continuous 

 honey-flow from the opening of fruit- 

 bloom until late in September ; but re- 

 member it is only very moderate until 

 September, when golden-rod and asters 

 yield profusely. All the months of 

 June, July and August the bees will 

 gain just enough so we can barely see 

 from one week to another that there is 

 a trifle more honey. But, O my ! you 

 would be surprised to see what a single 

 colony of Italians will amount to by the 

 way of increase. They will swarm 

 usually three times, then in August, and 

 often in September the old colony will 

 cast another swarm, while the first and 

 second swarms often will cast swarms. 

 I have known swarms as late as Sept. 

 3rd to gather enough to winter, and one 

 good colony to increase to 10 by natural 

 swarming, without the use of founda- 

 tion or combs. 



In this locality I have tested many 

 different strains of Italians, some said 

 to be " non-swarmers," but the result is 

 invariably the same with all Italians in 



this locality, even the strain that gave 

 me such large yields of honey in New 

 York, and never attempted to swarm, 

 became as others in this location, simply 

 because the room in the brood-chamber 

 was continually filled with brood instead 

 of being crowded with honey, and con- 

 sequently more bees are bred. 



Now compare the black bees with the 

 Italians in this locality. They will 

 swarm twice, usually, if they have their 

 own way (whieh they usually do), and 

 there is no more swarming at all, but of 

 course the hives are crowded to over- 

 flowing with bees, and when the fall 

 honey-flow begins, these blacks will fill 

 a super full of honey, while the Italians 

 are in no condition to store surplus, as 

 they are so reduced by swarming during 

 August. The last swarm issued Aug. 

 19th, this year, and to-day have filled a 

 hive of empty comb with brood and 

 honey. Now, do you wonder that this 

 man declares that the black bees are 

 the best ? Surely, he gets his honey 

 from them, and not a pound of surplus 

 from his Italians, which I so kindly 

 gave him. 



When I resided in New York, where 

 buckwheat and sweet clover were both 

 abundant, I found at the close of the 

 season that the Italians had stored honey 

 gathered from sweet clover, while the 

 blacks gathered largely from buck- 

 wheat, and not so large a yield per 

 colony. I had about 100 colonies of 

 Italians and 50 colonies of blacks, and 

 the difference in yield and the value of 

 the clover honey over the buckwheat 

 amounted to about $1.00 per colony in 

 favor of the Italians. In this location 

 the blacks swarmed much more than did 

 Italians — indeed, the Italians swarmed 

 very little the two seasons I resided 

 there. Do you wonder that a man in 

 this location declares Italians the su- 

 perior bees ? 



Now I have come to the conlusion that 

 there are locations where hybrid or 

 black bees will gather more honey than 

 other Italians, especially is this true 

 where dark honey of poor quality is 

 gathered. I think this applies to the 

 location of W. L. Coggshall, of New 

 York, and other extensive honey pro- 

 ducers who find the hybrid bees give 

 best results in dollars and cents. Mr. 

 Coggshall lives in a locality where buck- 

 wheat is of great value, and it has been 

 7ny experience in many different loca- 

 tions to observe that hybrid bees are 

 equal to any bees (and I sometimes 

 think superior) to work a buckwheat 

 field. Hence, we find such bees in Cen- 



