Supei-writy of Italians. 193 



forming his judgments, then his conclusions may be wrong. 

 Faulty management, too, may lead to wrong conclusions. 



The Italians certainly possess the following points of supe- 

 riority ; 



First. They possess longer tongues, and so can gather from 

 flowers which are useless to tlje black bee. This point has al- 

 ready been sufiiciently considered. How much value hangs 

 upon this structural peculiarity I am unable to state. I have 

 frequently seen Italians working on red clover. I never saw 

 a black bee thus employed. It is easy to see that this might 

 be, at certain times and certain seasons, a very material aid. 

 How much of the superior storing qualities of the Italians is 

 due to this lengthened ligula, I am unable to say. Mr. J. H. 

 Martin has a very ingenious tongue measurer by which the 

 length of the tongues of bees in the several hives can be quick- 

 ly and accurately compared. I have made a very simple and 

 convenient instrument to accomplish the same end ; two rec- 

 tangular pieces, one of glass and. the other of wire gauze, are 

 so set in a frame that the glass inclines to the gauze. At one 

 end they touch ; at the other they are separated three-fourths 

 of an inch. Honey is spread on the glass and all set in the 

 hive. The bees can only sip the honey through the gauze. 

 The bees that clean the glass farthest from the end where it 

 touches the gauze have the longest tongues. This gives only 

 relative lengths, while Mr. Martin's register tells the absolute 

 length. 



Second. They are more active, and with the same oppor- 

 tunities will collect a good deal more honey. This is a matter 

 of observation, which I have tested over and over again. Yet 

 I will give the figures of another : Mr. Doolittle secured from 

 two colonies, 309 lbs. and 301 lbs. respectively, of eomh honey, 

 during the past season. These surprising figures, the best he 

 could give, were from his best Italian stocks. Similar testi- 

 mony comes from Klein and Dzierzon over the sea, and from 

 hosts of our own apiarists. 



' Third. They work earlier and later. This is not only 

 true of the day, but of the season. On cooldays in spring, 

 I have seen the dandelions swarming with Italians, while not 

 a black bee was to be seen. On May 7th, 1877, I walked 

 less than half a mile, and counted sixty-eight- bees gathering 

 from dandelions, yet only two were black bees. This might 



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