314 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



imported Caucasian, on Casey Island, 

 off the west coast of Florida. This 

 island has been thororighly Caucas- 

 ianized; and to insure a more perfect 

 matinf^, the bees across on the main- 

 land, some two or three miles distant, 

 are also being Caucasinized. From 

 time to time Mr. Shumard has been 

 sending us some of these queens. 

 These we have been placing in our 

 home apiary to test out their character- 

 istics before we make a general busi- 

 ness of selling them. 



As previously reported we find they 

 are ver\' gentle, but only slightly more 

 so, if any, than our select Italians. 

 The are slightly more nervous when 

 the hive is just opened, appearing as 

 if they would offer attack. Italians on 

 the other hand, will usually show no 

 difference in their general actions, 

 scarcely' showing a nervous movement. 

 But the Caucasians apparently are not 

 excited because their owner has opened 

 the hive, but because they are alert to 

 discover robbers. The minute one 

 poises on the wing, a Caucasian will 

 jump at it, and lucky is Mr. Robber if 

 he gets away without a rough-and- 

 tumble fight. The Caucasians are 

 splendid defenders of tlieir homes — no 

 question about that, at least judging 

 from the strain we have. This very 

 trait would indicate that in their 

 native haliiat they may be com- 

 pelled ta put up a strong resistence 

 against tlieir own race. At all events, 

 the Caucasians in our apiary seem to 

 be the first ones to rob. We have about 

 thirty colonies of them, and, before the 

 Italians know what is up. the Caucasi- 

 ans, which can readily be distin- 

 guished by their color and markings, 

 are ready to sieze on to the first sweets 

 in sight. Our Mr. W'ardell reports 

 that if there is any robbing going on it 

 often happens that there are nothing 

 but Caucasians at it, notwithstanding 

 there are about ten times as many 

 Italians in the apiary. 



They are active cell builders, and 

 for queen-breeding purposes they are 

 better than Italians. 



They are excessive propolizers, 

 chinking wads of gum in the corners 

 of the frames almost as large as one's 

 two thumbs. 



As to the amount of honey they will 

 gather as compared with Italians, they 

 easily hold their own. Indeed, some 

 colonies of them run a little ahead of 

 the yellow bees. 



In color markings they are rather 

 pretty. Instead of having dirty, 



muddy, indistinct ring like old-fash- 

 ioned black bees, the rings are quite a 

 pronounced silver gray. The bees as 

 as a whole do not look quite so bril- 

 liant as Carniolans, as in this latter 

 race the black shows up witli a sort of 

 bluisli cast, while the Caucasians sliow 

 somewhat of a tendency toward brown. 

 Yet a person who is not closely famil- 

 iar with the characteristic markings 

 of the two races would very easily con- 

 found one with the other. 



We have none of the Caucasians for 

 sale yet, for the bees are still on pro- 

 bation. Their robbing and propolizing 

 tendency may make them undesirable. 



There is one thing I can't help notic- 

 ing, and that is that no claim of superi- 

 ority is made for the Caucasians over 

 the Italians. It is said that they are 

 very gentle, but, as Mr. Root says, 

 they are slightly more so, if any, tlian 

 select Italians. That being the case, 

 I can see no reason for introducing 

 them, as Italians are certainly gentle 

 enough. 



THE DIFFERENCE IN STOCK. 



It May Be in Endurance as well as Length 

 of Tongue Perhaps in Laziness. 



We had four different strains of bees 

 in our Northern Michigan apiaries. 

 One strain fell far behind the others. 

 In the spring, the colonies of tliis 

 strain seemed as populous as the 

 others, in fact, they appeared to be 

 really stronger, yet they did not get 

 ttie lioney. Tliis strain was in two of 

 the apiaries, and thus compared with 

 two different strains. The manage- 

 ment was the same in all cases, but, 

 as I have said, these bees did not pro- 

 duce the results. It actually seemed 

 to me that they were lazy. When buck- 

 wheat was in bloom, and the bees of 

 tlie other strain were piling in the 

 honey, these lazy fellows would hang 

 in great clusters on the fronts of their 

 liives, fairly covering the fronts of the 

 hives. Inside there was plenty of 

 empty comb to be filled, but they 



