826 THE BEE-KEEPER’S MANUAL. 
versus Ligurian Bees,” the Journal of Horticulture for February 
12, 1880, reprints from the Banffshire Journal the folowing 
article signed “Robert Gordon,” which is worthy of the most 
careful consideration from those interested in the subject :— 
“Having studied closely the habits of bees for a long time, 
and having kept and experimented with them successfully for 
the last eight years, it may not be out of place to offer a few 
observations on the Ligurians. : 
“A hive of Ligurians and a hive of blacks, from their very 
natures, cannot be placed within a few yards from each other 
on equal terms, and the reason is obvious to every intelligent 
observer, whether bee-keeper or not. All Ligurian fanciers 
claim for them that they work in wet or dry earlier and later 
than do the blacks. Now any one can sce that as soon as there 
is honey in the flower, so soon will the black bee go for it, and 
so long as there is honey so long will the black remain gathering 
it. Since the Ligurian can no more make honey than the black, 
and since it finds honey after the blacks have failed, it must 
obtain it from some other source than the flowers. Ligurian 
bee-keepers tell me—and I see no reason to doubt the state- 
ment—that the Ligurian thrives amazingly for a time where 
plenty of black bees are kept, and that nearly in the same pro- 
portion to the number of black hives within reach, so will be 
the honey-producing power of the Ligurian. I have often seen 
them coming out of the black hives, and certainly they were 
not helping the blacks, because in nearly exact proportion as 
they increased in weight the blacks decreased; and this transfer 
of the honey is not always accompanied with fighting, the 
Ligurians having what all successful pilferers generally have— 
viz., the knack of introducing themselves unchallenged any- 
where if what is wanted is to be had. 
“Tt isnow a good while since first these persistent marauders 
were imported, and from their swarming propensities (I should 
have said that their breeding powers are said to be immense), 
and the number of swarms and queens sent annually over the 
country, one wonders how there can be such a thing as a pure 
black. Doubtless there would not by this time were it not for 
the Ligurians’ liability to disease. Every now and then I read 
