Jan. 26. 19C5 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



61 



last year I encountered two apiarists who had Caticasiaii 

 bees. They were represented to me as stingless bees; 

 they were in Berlepscli hives; they stung me twice! They 

 were swarming entirely too much, they informed me, 

 which was perhaps due to the smallness of the Berlepsch 

 hives. They had not proven to be profitable. They said 

 they were not gathering as much honey as the Carniolans. 

 The Carniolan predominates in the greater part of Ger- 

 many, although some very nice Italian bees can be found. 

 The parties who owned these bees did not seem to be 

 very favorably impressed with them. One said he would 

 net continue them another year unless they proved bet- 

 ter than he anticipated. 



Mr. Titoff — They will rob worse than other bees. 



Prof. Benton — That has not. been my experience. I 

 have not had a large number of the pure cult but I liave 

 not seen that those pure bees were endeavoring to rob, 

 and I had them among other colonies and I would have 

 noted it at once. I have quite a number of Caucasian 

 queens bred to Carniolan and Cyprian drones, and I 

 formed a very favorable opinion of those crosses, and I 

 am disposed to think that Caucasian males will be most 

 excellent as crossing material with the Cyprian bees to 

 modify the temper of the Cyprian and still retain the ex- 

 cellent working qualities. One reason is that the type 

 is much nearer that of the Cyprian, therefore, I think they 

 will coalesce more readily. I do not believe such a race 

 of bees would serve my purpose, but I do believe in this 

 country, where so many bees are kept in the cities and 

 public highways that such a valuable and fairly productive 

 race would have its place and would make bee-keeping 

 popular, and many of the difficulties in connection with 

 people coming to this Association and complaining that 

 their neighbors are interfering with their keeping bees 

 would be done away with in a great measure. 



Mr. IMiller — Prof. Benton, you know that the cross 

 of the Italian with the common black bee results in mak- 

 ing the progeny crosser than either one. In case of 

 crosses with these Caucasian bees, are the crosses in all 

 eases gentler than the blacks or Italians? 



Prof. Benton — Yes. I have been crossing Cyprians 

 and Carniolans for the past nineteen years, various crosses 

 starting sometimes with the Cyprian and breeding to the 

 Carniolan drone, and sometimes with the Carniolan and 

 breeding to the Cyprian drone or the Syrians, and I have 

 crossed them back again and it is invariably my experi- 

 ence that the male had the main influence in both the 

 temper and constitution of the worker progeny. I have 

 taken a pure Cyprian and mated it with the Carniolan and 

 I have bees that are much gentler than the Cyprian. The 

 fact that the Caucasians are gentler and are a fine type 

 to coalesce inclines me to believe if we used the Caucasian 

 males we would have better crossing material to use upon 

 the Cyprian than if we used the Carniolan. 



Mr. Muth — I would like to know whether the Cau- 

 casian bees swarm more than the Carniolan. 



Prof. Benton — I can't say. I hardly believe they 

 would under the same circumstances. 



Mr. Hyde — I would like to know how they cap honey, 

 and if they are good comb-builders? 



Prof. Benton — They are good comb-builders and cap 

 their honey fairly white. People have told me that they 

 were good workers, good gatherers and storers of white 

 honey, but would not work on buckwheat. I cannot be- 

 lieve that if they would work well in the early spring 

 that they would not be in condition to store buckwheat- 

 honey. 



Mr. Titoflf — I know nothing about crossing bees with 

 the Carniolan or Cyprian, but some of the Russian bee- 

 keepers have crossed Caucasian bees with Russian black 

 bees and they have found that the progeny is more like 

 the pure black or pure Caucasian bees. I cannot answer 

 Mr. Muth's question because I have not had the experi- 

 ence. I think those who have had experience say that the 

 Caucasian bees are greater swarmers than others. 



Mr. Kretchmer — Permit me to. ask Prof. Benton with 

 regard to the crossinc. Isn't it a fact that an Italian 

 queen or a Carniolan queen crossed with a Cyprian drone 

 produces crosser bees than if the reverse were the 

 fact? 



Prof. Benton — Certainly. In my experience the Cy- 

 prians are the greatest gatherers of honey of any race 

 that I know of, but there are some exceptions to that. If 

 the Cyprian is mated with the Carniolan drone they are 

 more likely still to get more honey than if purely nir •■■d. 



for the simple reason that the constitution is made hardy 

 and the bees do not dwindle in the spring; they have the 

 tongue-length and energy of the Cyprians with the hardy 

 constitution of the Carniolans. 



Mr. Whitcomb — For the last twenty years I have been 

 superintendent of the honey show at the Nebraska State 

 Fair, and every single first premium that has been awarded 

 on comb-honey has been on honey put up by hybrid 

 bees. 



Prof. Benton — It has been my idea that we should 

 place these Caucasian queens at the State Experimental 

 Station and a few of them in the hands of skillful breeders 

 in different parts of the country where they might be mul- 

 tiplied and put upon the market. In answer to one of 

 the members, I would say, pick out the gentle bees for 

 honey. 



QUEEN EXCLUDERS, EXTRACTED HONEY AND SWARMING. 



"On 10-frame Langstroth hives shall I use an excluder, 

 not being on the ground in swarming time, for extracted 

 honey?" 



Mr. Hyde — I would answer no. 



Mr. Andrews — We found in several hundred colonies 

 we put on excluders and it increased the swarming from 

 50 to 75 percent for extracted honey. 



Mr. Holecamp — Did you .give plenty of ventilation 

 under the hive? 



Mr. Andrews — No. 



SWARMING AND BEE-TREES. 



"How can you hold a swarm of bees when you select 

 the bee-tree?" 



Mr. Dadant — I believe I understand what the gentle- 

 man means by the question. He thinks after a swarm 

 has selected a tree that you will not be able to hive it be- 

 cause it will go to that tree. I know that a swarm can 

 select a bee-tree and still be hived and abandon the idea 

 of that bee-tree. We had near our apiary a tree with 

 a hole in it and I saw bees at the hole cleaning it out, and 

 I said there was a swarm in that tree, and there was a 

 swarm out at the aiiary and I hived those and never 

 sav/ bees at the 'ree afterwards. 



Mr. Andrews — Did you put brood in that hive? 



Mr. Dadant — No, sir. 



Mr. Hall — I have had a number of experiences the 

 same as that of Mr. Dadant, and I am satisfied that they 

 can be collected afterwards if they have a place to go. 

 You can change them from where they have already gone 

 to another place and they will, as a rule, stay where you 

 put them. Under some circumstances they won't at all, 

 but they generally will. 



Mr. Reinccke — My experience has been if you put a 

 comb or two of unsealed brood in, it holds them very 

 well. 



IMPROVING BEES BY SELECTION. 



"Can any one race of bees be improved by so-called 

 judicious selection?" 



Prof. Benton — Yes, every race. 



Dr. Bohrer — If it has reference to the working quali- 

 ties I don't know whether they can or not. 



Mr. Dadant — I believe we can improve their work- 

 ing qualities. 



Prof. Benton — It does not need to be a matter of 

 belief; it has been done with every race. 



EXTRACTING UNSEALED HONEY. 



"How much more honey can be obtained by extract- 

 ing before the honey is sealed than if the honey is left in 

 the hives as it ought to be?" 



Mr. France — I wish to issue a protest against this 

 idea of extracting unripe honey. 



Mr. Putnam— How did Mr. France get his honey 

 sealed this year? 



Mr. France — I got it ripened, though it took from the 

 time they gathered it till today, and it is in the hives yet. 

 and it is capped over and the hives are standing three 

 stories high, and they will stay there till spring, and it 

 will be good honey, too. 



BOTTOM STARTERS IN SECTIONS. 



"How do you put the bottom starter in sections?" 

 Mr. Abbott— The way you put the top one in. 

 Dr. Miller— Put it in the s ime way you put in the top 

 one; put in the bottom one lirst. 



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