The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1865-05-13

ter than the common bee for nract;o.,
purposes. This is not the place to enlaroe
on the very important advantages Thea
bees have given to the theoretical bee keen.
or hs so nsy for the ov
to every bee keeper are the questions
" whether this bee is adapted to our eli.
mate, cnd if so, how much and whv Il !.
superior TO the common variety ?" NAM
fears were experienced on it's first miro.
duction that it was not hardy and could not
endure our climate. have found it more
hardy than our common bee, winterine
well out OF doors, working later in the ~
son than the other variety and venturin.
abroad in weather when no common hae
was seen to leave the hives. 1t ID mors
prolific also, increasing much faster Inn
the black bee, and il allowed to do M
swarming earlier and ofteEer. Thew cons
tinue also, to rear young later in the fan
and thus are prepared to go into the wintsr
strong and populous. 1t was said when
they were first Introduced that they conia
not sting, and by some they are now called
:the stingless bee. The experience of
those who have hitherto brought them in.
to this State has not confirmed these A..
counts, as they have been found even more
irritable than the common bee. ,bink
this proves conclusiveiy that few pure Ital.
ians have been brought here. The bybrids.
or cross between the italian and common
lee have always been reported in this
country and in Europe 10 he very irritable.
easily provoked, and AFTER once vexed, not
10 be appeased for loug time. Since
have seen the pure Italians, am willing
TO give them the reputation they have al.
WAYS borne for extreme docility; as thev
never sting unless greatly provoked. No
one can open a hive containing these besu-
tiful insects without being struck by the
y L. him Il
rieiy, AS they manifest no alarm or irrita.
ton. The queen, too. instead OF hiding asa
common one viii always DO, remains aui.
city in her place, ana uy her rich and light
coloring can be distinguished on frame
at a glance.
But after all that can be said, the main
questions with our matter ot-fact people
will he, twill they pay" and "how
,nuch?" the only way il: (which this can
be decided, think, is by comparing them
under the same circumstances of season
and location. II tell Of two hundred
pounds obtained from an Italian colony
| this season, some one else may bring re.
port Of what has been done by colony Of
native bees a. some other time or place, and
| neither statement, as / view the subject,
proves anything. What we want, TO de.
cidethe matter, is accounts OF their com.
parative yield, under the same circumstan-
ces. My experience on this point has been
as follows: In the spring OF 1868 had two
Italian colonies $50 called. though they
| were not pure.) They We're not strong
Through the season one OF them gave me
three swarms and stored 100 lbs in boxes.
The other gave me two swarms and stored
% lbs in boxes. All OF the swarms filed
their hives and all stored some in boxee-
had that same summer Sc hives Of COM
mon bees, from all Of which more or less
were taken, but not one Of them stored .
pound Of honey in boxes. That season was
The poores, honey producing season ever
| knew. Through the summer of 1853 l 0v-
era7ed from nine Italian colonies l19 lbs
eacn. The best one Of these shows thlsre.
cord in my journal Zone full swarm
taken ii ION, il on the Goth OF May. One
hundred and ifty-six pounds taken from
il in boxes. The swarm taken from it
made ~ pounds, and on the 18th of Angus.
threw OF a swarm which filled its hiveand
wn,ered well. This makes two valuable
swarrs and 236 pounds Of honey from one
colony Ia a single season.
With This I wish to contrast the fact tina.
! from thirty stands OF common bees that
season l obtained only SIX swarms and
1854 pounds of honey, or an average ofless
! than SIS pounds each. The greatest yield
from any one was So pounds. As these
bees were all wintered alike, in the same
sort of hives. and were managed in the
same way, under the same circumstances
of season and location, claim that this re-
suit proves beyond q doubt the great sups-
riority Of the Italia1AR
Iattribute this su kori,y totheir great
er industry, their energy, and their more
rapid increase of young IN the SpriRg, and
also their ability to gather honey from the
| red clover. =
| For valuable advice on the "Italianiga.
ton of the heney bee" would refer all in.
terested to a paper hy Richard Colvin.
Esq, of Baltimore. printed in the report OF
the Committee Of Agriculture for 1868.
ELLEN S. UPPER.