BEES. 



58 



BEES. 



that name has been generally adopted, we 

 retain it. For particulars regarding these 

 bees the reader is referred to Hybrids, 

 which see. The Italians are spoken of 

 specifically, also, under the heading of Ital- 

 ians, elsewhere in this work. 



BLACK OR GERMAN BEES. 



Black bees are so common in nearly every 

 vicinity that very little description is neces- 

 sary. As the name indicates, they are black. 

 One variety in the South is of a brownish 

 black; another distinctly black, and, if any 

 thing, a trifle smaller. 



Comparing the Germans with the Italians, 

 they are more inclined to rob, are not as 

 good workers, but are equal when nectar is 

 abundant, or when there is dark honey like 

 that from buckwheat to be gathered. They 

 are much more nervous ; and when a hive of 

 them is opened they run like a flock of sheep 

 from one corner of the hive to another, boil- 

 ing over in confusion, hanging in clusters 

 from one corner of the frame as it is held 

 up, and finally falling off in bunches to the 

 ground, Avhere they continue a wild scramble 

 in every direction, probably crawling up 

 one's trousers-leg, if the opportunity offers. 

 Their queens are much harder to find, the 

 bees are not so gentle, and, worse than all, 

 they have a disagreeable fashion of follow- 

 ing the apiarist about from hive to hive in a 

 most tantalizing way. This habit of poising 

 on the wing in a threatening manner before 

 one's eyes is extremely annoying, and some 

 bees will keep it up for a day at a time un- | 

 less killed. We generally make very short 

 work by smashing them between the palms 

 of C'ur hands, or batting them to death with 

 little paddles we keep near. It is useless to 

 strike at individual bees while they are in 

 the air, for one is much more liable to miss 

 than to hit them. Our practice is to take 

 two sticks, one in each hand, and work them 

 back and forth in front of our face very rap- 

 idly, just about as one would operate a fan 

 on a hot day. This rapid movement excites 

 anger in the bees, with the result that they 

 make a dive for the whirling sticks ; and in 

 less time than it takes to tell it, one by one 

 they get their heads rapped, and go down 

 into the grass. 



Comb honey from the blacks is a little 

 whiter, if any thing, than that made by pure 

 Italians, because the capping is raised up, 

 leaving a slight air-gap between it and the 

 surface of the honey in the cell. But this 

 difference in the whiteness of capping is so 

 very sli,ii;ht as compared with that on comb 

 honey made by the Italians that it really cuts 



no figure in the market. The blacks are also 

 much easier to shake off the combs than 

 pure Italians, which can hardly be shaken 

 off, that some prefer blacks or hybrids, when 

 extracting, for that reason alone. 



CARNIOLANS. 



The Carniolans, evidently a variety of 

 black bees, which they very much resemble, 

 were introduced into this country in 1884, or 

 thereabout. Tht-y are said to be very gentle; 

 but the few colonies we have tried are no 

 more so than average Italians, and in one 

 case they were more vindictive than the Cyp- 

 rians. As stated, they resemble blacks, and 

 might easily be mistaken for them ; but 

 there is a difference. They are larger, and 

 their abdomens are of a more bluish cast, 

 the fuzzy rings being very distinct. They 

 are gentler, as a rule, and do not, like the 

 blacks, boil over in confusion when the hive 

 is opened, although one of our Carniolan 

 colonies did this very thing. They have not 

 the fixity of character of the Italians— colo- 

 nies of the same race differing quite widely. 

 The general verdict is, that they are exces- 

 sive svvarmers, and this trait alone makes 

 them very undesirable. Their close resem- 

 blance to black bees makes it difficult to de- 

 tect the crosses of the two races. This fact, 

 coupled with their great swarming propen- 

 sity, will largely prevent their meeting with 

 general favor. 



But Carniolans have one good trait in 

 their favor, and that is, they deposit as little 

 propolis as any bees ever known. Some 

 colonies that we had, actually deposited al- 

 most none. In the production of comb honey 

 this is quite an important item. 



CAUCASIANS. 



This is a race that looks very much like 

 Carniolans and the common black bee of this 

 country, but it resembles the latter more 

 than the former. So close is the general re- 

 semblance that even experts in some cases 

 have been unable to distinguish them. But 

 there is a vast difference in their general 

 habits and temperament. 



The claim has been made that Caucasians 

 are the gentlest bees known; and this claim, 

 in part at least, has been established, al- 

 though they are no more so than some good 

 strains of pure Italians. Bee-men are not 

 agreed, however, as to their honey-gathering 

 qualities. Some consider them very inferior, 

 while others believe they are equal to any 

 race in this respect. All admit that they 

 are bad propolizers, sticking large chunks of 

 gum in all parts of the hive— a trait that be 



