ITALIAN BEES. 127 



they are more industrious than tlie native bee, being 

 \ery active in storing honey in cool, windy, or 

 cloudy weather, such as keeps the native bees quiet 

 in the hive. 



The pure Italian, being larger and more vigorovis 

 than the natives, go greater distances to collect 

 honey, and as they are larger, they carry more at a 

 time, and being swifter of flight than the natives, 

 they go the same distance in much quicker time. 

 Then, too, the pure Italian bee is very beautiful, 

 nearly the entire body being of a golden color, so 

 that some of its admirers have given it the name of 

 "golden bee." It is very mild in disposition, 

 seldom offering to sting unless unreasonably 

 irritated. They show great activity in protecting 

 their hives from the bee moth, even when weak in 

 numbers. They also show the same trait in de- 

 fending their stores from the attacks of robber bees. 

 When the native bees have come buzzing around 

 a hive of Italians in search of plunder, I have seen 

 an Italian dart from the hive like a bullet, and seiz- 

 ing a native, while on the wing, bear him to earth 

 and dispatch him with a sting. This feat I never 

 saw a native bee accomplish. Being larger than 

 the natives they are able to reach the honey in 

 the red clover, and many other flowers not ac- 

 cessible to our common bees, which makes an es- 

 sential difference in the amount of honey collected. 



Rev. L. L. Langstroth says of the Italian bees : 

 "They gather more than twice as much honey in 

 the same localities, in the same time, as the swarms 

 of native bees." 



