382 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



advance bee-culture for the reason that 

 some one has tried to "sit down " on the 

 writer for what he has endeavored to do. 

 Wenhara, Mass. 



Large Apiaries in Italy. 



DK. A. DUBINI. 



I have made'a visit to Prof. A. Mona, 

 at Locarno, where he is occupied in the 

 High School, in the' garden of which is 

 his home apiary. There I found a 

 goodly number of his large hives, con- 

 structed with movable bottom-boards, 

 and externally clothed with straw; 

 there were spread about also many 

 small hives of nuclei, likewise with 

 movable bottom-boards, holding 4x5 

 frames all covered with bees, each with 

 its queen already fecundated. 



Opening one of these large hives is 

 found a diaphragm which serves in 

 Summer to change the capacity at will, 

 and which is replaced in Winter by 

 another, thicker, made of straw and 

 slats of wood which helps to keep the 

 colony warm. Prof. Mona calls this 

 diaphragm a "restrictor" (in America a 

 division-board), which word, he thinks, 

 better designates a movable partition. 



The frames of the nuclei are half the 

 size of those in the large hives. By 

 cutting a large frame and its comb in 

 halves, he can at all times take brood 

 from a large hive to a nucleus. 



Prof. Mona thinks that queens prefer 

 deep frames in which they can extend 

 the egg-laying without interruption. 

 Sometimes he fastens two of the small 

 frames into one large frame, which, 

 when filled with brood are detached, 

 and put into nuclei. He almost always 

 gives to the nuclei ripe royal cells, but 

 sometimes also virgin queens, if they 

 are just hatched, or even queens already 

 fecundated. 



A very intelligent young man, Ernest 

 Ruffy, of Vaud, assists him in his work, 

 and the Professor shares with him a 

 portion of the profits, on account of his 

 great aptitude and cleverness in the 

 business. 



Just as we arrived, Mr. Rufly was 

 engaged in closing up a nucleus to go to 

 Paris, containing a beautiful queen with 

 three pounds of bees, and had still 

 another to prepare for the same 

 destination. 



We passed the evening together to a 

 very advanced hour, and I do not need 

 to tell with what pleasure and profit to 

 myself. I am indebted to the profound 

 wisdom of the Professor, and to his 



enlightened experience, as also to his 

 amiability, for many useful and pBj?,ti- 

 cal hints for which I take this oppor- 

 tunity to express my deep gratitude. 



One wish of the Professor would be to 

 establish in some good honey locality in 

 Lombardy, an apiary of 200 to 300 

 colonies, which would be transported, 

 when the honey-flow is past in the 

 plain, to the mountains of Lake Mag- 

 giore, in order to profit by the flowering 

 of the walnut trees, buckwheat and 

 heather. 



Early next morning I left Locarno by 

 rail, and stopped at Gordola. At a short 

 distance from the station stands two of 

 the apiaries of Mr. Jean Pometta, a 

 clever and ingenious mountaineer. 



One of the Pometta apiaries is at 

 Tenero, three-quarters of an hour from 

 Gordola; another at Gudo, at a great 

 altitude, and about two hours' distance 

 from Gordola ; the third is at Laver- 

 tezzo, in the Valley of Verzasco. 



I did not meet Mr. Pometta at Tenero, 

 but was received by the amiable Dr. 

 Galletti, in whose house and garden 

 Pometta keeps his tools, and about 150 

 colonies and nuclei scattered around on 

 the grass. Several of the hives are the 

 same as those of Prof. Mona, but the 

 others, of a newer make, are of the 

 American pattern. 



I found the bees here singularly 

 beautiful, with three distinct yellow 

 rings, and the Doctor told me that 

 Pometta conscientiously gives great 

 attention to the selection of the queens, 

 The Doctor, while showing me some 

 sheets of foundation, said, " It is hardly 

 to be believed how well the bees know 

 what to do with foundation, in the cells 

 of which we often perceive on the second 

 day, honey and eggs." — L 'Apiculteur. 



Feeding Bact Partly-Filled Sections. 



G. W. DEMAREE. 



The early honey season in this part of 

 Kentucky accorded with the predictions 

 of the prophet, Samuel Wilson, of Ten- 

 nessee, as made known to me by a 

 postal card from that gentleman in the 

 latter part of last Winter. It was fairly 

 good, and my honey crop is above the 

 average. My bees, however, were kept 

 together at work, instead of letting 

 them spend their opportunities and 

 forces splitting up into fragmentary 

 swarms. Each apiarist, however, must 

 study his own locality, then act intelli- 

 gently. 



