Again, I have kept both blacks and Italians side by side, and carefully observed and noted results during eight years of my experience. I have carefully collected data as to increase of brood, rapidity of storing, early and late habits in the day and season, kinds of flowers visited, amiability, etc., and I believe that to say that they are not superior to black bees, is like saying that a Duchess among short-horns is in no wise superior to the lean, bony kine of Texas; or that our Essex and Berkshire swine are no whit better than the cadaverous lank breeds, with infinite noses, that, happily, are now so rare among us. The Italians are _far_ superior to the German bees in many respects, and more--though I am acquainted with all the works on apiculture printed in our language, and have an extensive acquaintance with the leading apiarists of our country from Maine to California, yet I know of scarcely a baker's dozen that have had opportunity to form a correct judgment, that do not give strong preference to the Italians. That these men are honest, is beyond question; that those who disagree with us are equally so, there is no doubt. The black bees are in some respects superior to the Italians, and if a bee-keeper's methods cause him to give these points undue importance, in 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 superiority: First. They possess longer tongues (Fig. 20), and so can gather from flowers which are useless to the black bee. This point has already been sufficiently considered (p. 42). 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. Second. They are more active, and with the same opportunities 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 _box honey_, during the past season. These surprising figures, the best he could give, were from his best Italian stocks. Similar testimony comes from Klein and Dzierzon over the sea, and from hosts of our own apiarists.