BEBS, BEE-HIVES, AND BEE CULTURE. 95 



than can ever be located near them. There are also two or three 

 peculiar sources of honey which one would not have suspected, as, for 

 instance the blossoms of the onion plant, of .turnips, and in still 

 greater degree, the flower of the mustard plant. In those districts of 

 England where mustard seed is cultivated so extensively, it would 

 be well worth while for the farmers to keep large colonies of bees. 

 Another, but a very uncertain source of honey, is the " honey-dew," 

 which in some seasons appears in large quantities on the leaves of 

 the oak, the lime, and some other trees. 



It is important to mention that bees in the principal breeding 

 season require a plentiful supply of water. Owing either to their 

 carelessness or eagerness, they are frequently drowned when 

 drinking from any large quantity of water ; the bee-keeper should, 

 therefore, place near the hives shallow vessels of water containing 

 pebbles, on which the bees may alight to take frequent but 

 temperate draughts. 



THE LIGUEIAN OR ITALIAN ALP-BEE; 



A new, or rather a re-discovered, variety of bee has recently 

 been brought into practical use amongst apiarians in Germany and 

 America, as well as in this country. The ordinary bee is the Apis 

 Mellifica of naturalists; the new kind is the A^is Ligustica. It 

 was also named " The Ligurian Bee " by the Marquis de Spinola, 

 who found it in Piedmont in 1805 ; and he considered it to be the 

 principal species known to the Greeks, who speak of the " best 

 kind " of bee as being of a red colour. Leading apiarians agree in 

 pronouncing these bees to be justly entitled to the high character 

 given to them. Their special advantages are — greater fecundity of 

 the queens, less irascibility, and a more handsome appearance, 

 for being of a golden colour, they are prettier than our black bees. 



Our own experience with the Italian Alp-bee enables us to 

 corroborate the statements which have been made in favour of this 

 new variety. We find the queens more proUfic than those of the 

 common kind, and the quantity of honey produced is greater. 

 These two facts stand as cause and effect; the bees being multiplied 

 more quickly, the store of honey is accamulated more rapidly, and 

 the Italian bees consume, if anything, less food than the common 



