118 ITALIAN BEES. 
in cool, windy, or cloudy weather, such as keeps the 
native bees quiet in the hive. 
The pure Italian, being large and more vigorous 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 dis- 
tance 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 defending their stores from the 
attacks of robber bees. When the native bees have 
come buzzing around a hive of Italians in search of plun- 
der, I have seen an Italian dart from the hive like a 
bullet, and seizing 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 accessible to our com- 
mon bees, which makes an essential 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 locali- 
ties, in the same time, as the swarms of native bees.” 
I consider the pure Italian bee a valuable and very 
desirable acquisition. I have furnished several of my 
