240 



NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



warmth of our summers, and that consequently the hives should be 

 well protected by shade. 



Cyprians, Holy Lands, or Syrians have scored the highest honey 

 record of any bees ever tested in this country, 1000 pounds from a 

 hive in a single season. They were brought from Cyprus. They 

 are a small bee, slender and active, with the first three bands of the 

 abdomen orange above and all the segments underneath yellow, often 

 to the tip. The white appearance of honey is chiefly due to a little 

 harmless deception on the part of the bees that make it. Instead of 

 filling the cells full they leave a little bubble of air under the cap, 

 and this looks white by reflected light. The Cyprian bees are too 

 honest for this and fill the cells full of honey. Their pains, however, 

 gives the honey a dead, "watery" look, which injures its selling 

 quality. It is said that they never molest one that may pass their 

 hives or be working among them, unless a hive itself be directly inter- 

 fered with. Then they are the fiercest and most persistent of fighters. 

 They thus protect their hives better than any other race from robber 

 bees, bee moths, and all other intruders, but this character has ren- 

 dered the handling of them so disagreeable that their culture has not 

 made much progress in this country. 



As may be inferred from the above, the effort is to obtain the best 

 variety of bee in the world. When this is discovered, the stock may 

 be still further improved by selection and breeding, as in the case 

 of other domestic animals and plants. Just now the attempt is being 

 made to find a bee whose tongue is long enough to reach the nectar 

 in the red clover. If any child can find a honeybee that is working 

 on red-clover blossoms and can discover the hive to which it belongs, 

 he may help along this work and possibly make a name and a fortune 

 for himself. Both the farmer and the bee keeper would be benefited. 

 It would doubtless make possible the more complete cross-fertilization 

 of the clover and give the farmer more and better seed than he now 

 gets by the help of bumblebees. The bee keeper could then save 

 the barrels of nectar that now go to waste in the red-clover blossoms. 

 "Lining" bees is a topic that may well be studied during an 

 excursion, or even in the school yard, if bees can be found. Take 

 a little honey, and after allowing a bee to fill her honey sac take the 



