June, 1916. 



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197 



American Hee Jionrnal t 



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Beekeeping in Chile 



BY M. C. RICHTER. 

 IContinued from May.) 



CHOOSING a location in Chile is 

 very much like choosing one in 

 California. This is due to the 

 similarity of both the honey-plants and 

 the climate, the only difference being 

 that the seasons are the reverse. 



The writer, after examining bee ter- 

 ritory over a large area, finally decided 

 to locate in the Melipilla Valley at a 

 point about 40 miles from Santiago. 

 The location was half way between the 

 foothills of the coast range and the 

 river that flows through the valley. It 

 was expected that here the bees would 

 breed up in the spring on the mustard 

 and wild radish of the pasture lands, 

 which would put them in fine shape 

 for the foothill bloom from vuillai and 

 corontilla. Then, in summer, the bees 

 could work chiefly on alfalfa and white 

 clover. In the fall there would be con- 

 siderable peppermint along the river 

 that might yield a surplus. Altogether, 

 under California conditions, it looked 

 very much like a 300 colony location. 



THE CHILIAN BEE. 



The location was there, to be sure, 

 but how about the bees ? As stated in 

 the previous article, the bees are de- 

 scended from two colonies out of 25 

 that were brought from Italy 70 years 

 ago. The conditions following their 

 introduction were most adverse. Win- 

 tering, for instance, was passed in hives 

 having the equivalent in comb area of 

 but six or seven Langstroth frames. 

 Instead of having 30 or 40 pounds of 

 honey as winter stores, they had per- 

 haps less than 10. A winter loss of 

 nearly 50 percent was the result. Furth- 

 ermore, the swarming during this 

 period was incessant, due principally 

 to the very cramped condition of the 

 colony. For the queen, after filling 

 the equivalent of, say three Langstroth 

 frames of worker-comb and two of 

 drone, was soon compelled to leave 

 with a swarm. Moreover, second and 

 third swarms were nearly as frequent 

 as prime swarms. 



What was the eflfect then of these 70 



FIG. i.-ANOTHER VIEW OF SAN ANTONIO. FACING THE SAME DIRECTION 

 BUT SHOWING WESTERN PORTION OF THE APIARY— (Note liangini; swarm ) 



years of severe treatment upon this 

 Italian strain of bees ? Had they de- 

 generated ? Would they swarm to such 

 an extent that it would be most difficult 

 to handle them along practical lines ? 



With these thoughts in mind, the 

 writer, in the spring of 1912, secured 

 an old fashioned Chilian apiary. The 

 fall before it numbered 127 colonies, 

 but now it had dwindled to 84. These 

 were transferred to Langstroth hives 

 and increased to 200. This apiary was 

 called San Antonio (Figs. I and II). 

 Later in the season a nearby apiary of 

 100 colonies was added, making 300 

 colonies in Langstroth frames. 



Accurate records were kept of the 

 84 colonies transferred. After the 

 summer's honey crop was harvested, 

 six of these colonies were selected as 

 possible breeders. There had been ex- 

 tracted from these six an average of 214 

 pounds of honey, and during the entire 

 month of December their brood-nests 

 contained 10 solid frames of brood. 

 The one colony that was finally selected 

 to breed from had maintained a 10- 

 frame brood-nest from Nov. 18 to Jan. 



FIG. I. 



-APIARY SAN ANTONIO FACING WEST. AND SHOWING 150 COLONIES 

 ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE BUILDINGS 



15, and on Dec. 8 had as many as 14 

 frames of brood. This colony did not 

 swarm, and, in addition to drawing out 

 27 sheets of foundation, produced 220 

 pounds of honey. 



It is believed that the queen ances- 

 tors of this colony, for the 70 years 

 past, did not have room during the 

 height of the breeding season, to lay 

 even half the eggs that this queen did. 



The Italian bees of Chile have had a 

 hard struggle for existence. Inconse- 

 quence, those that survive today pos- 

 sess great vigor and hardiness, perhaps 

 to a greater degree than many of the 

 so-called modern apiaries in the United 

 States. 



But the reader must not imagine that 

 a Chilian apiary, transferred to mov- 

 able frame hives, within one or two 

 years can be made equal to an apiary 

 of properly bred bees in this or any 

 other country. There was but little 

 uniformity in the production of the 

 colonies of this apiary. It will take 

 years of proper application of scientific 

 breeding to overcome this. But "new 

 blood " is not necessary. The above 

 mentioned breeding colony, during 

 her second and third seasons, main- 

 tained her position amongst the "first 

 ten" of the 300 colonies in the apiary. 



The Chilian strain of the Italian bee 

 would be known in America as " leather 

 colored." Bees from various parts of 

 Chile were examined, and in every in- 

 stance the workers were of uniform 

 markings. The queens were, perhaps 

 slightly more uniform than our leather 

 colored. The drones, on the other 

 hand, were not at all uniform. They 

 were leather colored, or showed grad- 

 uations from leather to black, as we 

 find them in some of our colonies that 

 we term pure Italians. 



In disposition the Chilian bee is very 

 mild. It is not at all necessary, even in 

 large apiaries, to wear a veil before 

 extracting time. 



SW.VRMING. 



In apiary San Antonio the first sea- 

 son there were 49 swarms, the second, 

 a poor season, only 8. This indicated 

 that after all swarming was perhaps not 

 a serious problem. Such, however, 



