AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



459 



black race. It amounts to the dift'ertMU'e 

 of the cost of Winter stores, in my 

 locality, in the average season. 



"They protect their hives better." 

 This means more than is seen on the 

 surface. The Italians not only protect 

 their hives better from robber bees, but 

 much better from the inroads of the 

 moth worms. They are better sani- 

 tarians. The sections taken off are less 

 liable to be infested with moth eggs, to 

 hatch out worms to prey upon the combs. 

 I can crate my sections immediately 

 after removing them from the hives. 

 Dare any man do that when taking sec- 

 tions from black colonies? 



But now I will add a fourth superior 

 quality in the Italians that Mr. Elling- 

 wood will readily admit : The Italians, 

 when the hive is opened, are not so 

 sensitive to the admission of the light 

 into their hives. They do not lose their 

 heads, go wild and scamper and stam- 

 pede, like wild cattle, as do the native 

 bees. They stand their ground, stick to 

 their combs, and protect them from any 

 robbers that may be prowling after 

 plunder. Therefore, they are more 

 rapidly handled, and the work is done 

 with less worry, and time is saved. 



There is a fifth superior trait in the 

 Italians that could not have escaped 

 Mr. Ellingwood's attention : They bear 

 up under adversity in a way that the 

 native bees are utter strangers to. I 

 have seen a mere handful of Italian bees 

 keep from 20 to 30 combs of Langstroth 

 size clean and pweet through the two 

 hot months of July and August, living 

 from hand to mouth, day by day, from 

 the few drops of nectar gathered from 

 flowers that are never visited by black 

 bees. 



I cannot admit all of the few modest 

 " superior " traits of the black race set 

 down to their account by Mr. Elling- 

 wood. They are not extravagant, but 

 my experience is not in accord with 

 them. 



As to the wintering qualities of bees, 

 my locality is too moderate in climate to 

 make my observations valuable when 

 judging bees in this respect. In ray 

 locality I can see no difference if the 

 conditions are the same, but less feeding 

 is necessary with the Italians if the 

 honey season chances to be poor. 



As to their robbing proclivities, all 

 bees that I have handled do not object 

 to " plunder,*' and the strongest are the 

 most dangerous if they once get a taste 

 of "boodle." The black bee is not so 

 daring and plucky a robber as is the 

 yellow bee, but as a persistent sneak 

 thief she has no rival among her yellow 



sisters. Her " ways are dark and her 

 tricks are vain." An old friend of mine 

 who kept black bees exclusively, used to 

 declare that there were " professional 

 robbers " among his bees, and they kept . 

 his apiary in an everlasting "stew" 

 during a honey dearth. 



As to their swarming less than other 

 races of bees 1 cannot say how this is ; 

 perhaps different persons would decide 

 differently on this point. If the honey- 

 flow is profuse and extended, the black 

 bee shows off at her best, and will teach 

 other races of bees, and the apiarist, 

 too, a lesson on swarming. Being more 

 easily discouraged, however, than their 

 yellow sisters, they may swarm less in 

 a general way. 



I think the best and most tenacious 

 races of bees will give the apiarist, who 

 wishes to suppress swarming, the most 

 trouble. It is in accord with all we see 

 in nature that it should be so. 



Mr. Ellingwood says of the black bees: 

 "They gather more surplus honey." 

 This is the first time I have seen or 

 heard of such aii assertion. It is con- 

 trary to my experience, and contrary to 

 nearly all of the numerous reports that 

 I have read touching the matter. 



I know it has been claimed— and, I 

 believe, hastily conceded by many — that 

 the black bees enter the surplus cases 

 more readily than do the Italians, but I 

 have never seen the slightest evidence 

 that such are the facts, though I have 

 handled them in the same apiary with 

 Italians for years. 



I believe that bad management and 

 lack of knowledge concerning the honey- 

 flow is at the bottom of all the complaints 

 about bees entering the surplus cases. 

 Bees cannot store honey in surplus cases 

 when there is not enough honey coming 

 from the fields to justify the starting of 

 new work. When the honey-flow is on 

 in my locality, my bees go right into the 

 surplus cases, and the greatest trouble 

 is they will store more of their honey in 

 the surplus cases than is safe for them 

 to do, if they have a greedy master. 



In conclusion, I have to say that Mr. 

 Ellingwood's experience with Italians 

 and hybrids, as related by him, is so 

 utterly dissimilar to the experience of 

 thousands of others who have handled 

 both races together, that his account 

 must be set down as a rare exception. 



He may advertise in all the bee-peri- 

 odicals, and he cannot find another 

 intelligent bee-keeper who will report 

 that 6 colonies of black bees have gath- 

 ered and stored more surplus honey 

 than 35 colonies of Italians and hybrids, 

 in the same apiary, and at the same 



