1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



691 



when the honey season opened. They swarmed 

 about as much'as the Italians had been doino;, 

 Init were more gentle when being handled. 

 When it came time to put on the oomb-honey 

 supers thev were all in good condition, and I was 

 pleased with the way they entered the supers and 

 commenced work. ' It they continue to be as 

 good honev-gatherers as they have been so far, 

 no more of tlie yellow beauties for me. They 

 capped the honey nice and white, and the work, 

 in the supers couJd not be surpassed by any bee. 

 No discount on them there. The two first su- 

 pers to be removed, which were a fair sample of 

 all I obtained, were so nice that I took the 64 

 sections out of the supers, and had the honey 

 photographed. I inclose a picture of the honey 

 as it appeared then. This was not sorted over, 

 nor anv particular super selected for the purpose. 

 it was just a fair sample of what I obtained. 



There seems to be something about them that 

 makes them all want to defend their hive when 

 attacked. When the weather is not favorable 

 for handling bees you will find the Caucasians 

 about as cross as' any bee you may meet. 

 They will fight like tigers if you attempt to han- 

 dle them when the weather is cool. Leave them 

 alone then. They are are good defenders of 

 their homes, and are seldom robbed by other 

 bees. In handling them they will remain on the 

 combs just like Italians, and are in some ways 

 very much like them. 



The color is enough different from the blacks so 

 that they may be readily distinguished from 

 them. They raise lots of drones; and, conse- 

 quently, if you were to have Caucasians intro- 

 duced into your yard the chances are that, with 

 the large number of drones raised, they would be 

 likely to remain pure Caucasians. They will 



FIRST TWO SUPERS TAKEN FROM A COLONY OF CAUCASIANS IN 1907. 

 This shows the average quality of the sections, as no effort was made to pick out good supers. 



I have found the Caucasians more gentle than 

 the Italians, and with me they have stored more 

 honey, capped it nicer, finished off the sections 

 just as nice, put less propolis on the sections, and 

 did not attach so many of the sections to the sep- 

 arators. This last was quite an objection to the 

 Italians, for in some seasons they would attach 

 so many sections to the fence separators that it 

 was quite a loss, as more or less of them would 

 be damaged in being removed from the supers. 

 Now, there is quite a difference in bees in more 

 ways than one. I have found that, while the 

 Caucasians are gentle and easily handled when 

 the weather is warm and they are at work, they 

 must be left alone when it is cool and cloudy. 



start a large number of queen-cells, and are good 

 bees to have if you wish to raise queens, as they 

 will care for more cells than Italians or blacks. 



The one principal objection to them seems to 

 be their habit of gathering propolis; but I think 

 this is being greatly exaggerated. I find less 

 propolis on the brood-frames and on sections than 

 before I had them. It is a fact that they will 

 gather a large amount of propolis and deposit it 

 at the entrance to the hive in lumps as big as the 

 end of my thumb; but this is about as good a 

 place to have it put as I know of; in fact, this 

 is where I want to have it left, then I can raise 

 the hive off the bottom-board, scrape it off, and 

 it is done with. 



