108 



THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



they are not inclined to rol) other 

 hives — "honesty" being with them a 

 ruling guide or principle. 



15th. They swarm earlier than any 

 others. 



16th. They fill all cracks or chinks 

 with an enormous quantity of propo- 

 lis, and if natural supplies fail, noth- 

 ing sticky comes amiss, such as bird- 

 lime, coal tar, etc. Some may deny 

 this as being a desirable quality, Ijut 

 with it they keep their combs clean, 

 and they thus make anything do for 

 hives, even baskets. 



17th. They cluster well on their 

 combs, spread evenly over them, and 

 shake oft" readily. 



To sum up, we have a bee, docile, 

 hard-working, prolific, non-robbing, 

 and best for comb honey. They have 

 many other good points, that are more 

 in favor of the queen breeder, horti- 

 culturist, etc., than the honey i)ro- 

 ducer ; this being the party to api)re- 

 ciate the bee that does not sting, and 

 Avill build up from 1 to 20, and pos- 

 sibly yield 1,000 lbs. of surplus honey. 



I have reared and sent out very 

 many virgin queens the past summer, 

 and so well are the parties being sat- 

 isfied with them that I am fairly lie- 

 sieged with requests for more. One 

 well known party offers me £1 (|15.00) 

 each for half a dozen ; but I can't let 

 him have any till next spring Others 

 are sending in orders for next season 

 to have them in time to be early ; all 

 these being from parties who have 

 tried them, so there must Ije some- 

 thing good in them. 



They also have the following char- 

 acteristics : if a pure blooded queen 

 mates with a drone of any other race, 

 her bees are a blend of the two races ; 

 and though better than the race mated 

 to, are not quite so good as pure. If 

 a pure Punic drone mates with a queen 

 of any other race, the resulting l>ees 

 almost equal pure Funics for lioney 

 gathering, and in other respects the 

 cross is very marked — Caruiolans, for 

 instance, using propolis as much as 

 pure funics. 



I have never seen their equal in 

 building comb, which is nearly always 

 worker, as white as snow. Their 

 brood is always compact and sealed 

 in such a manner that 1 could easily 

 pick out a frame of Punic brood from 

 among a thousand. 



In "building up" all we have to do 

 is to see that they liave plenty of stores, 

 if not, then feed them as rapidly as 

 possible and let them alone. They 

 will breed away like mad, and work- 

 hard too, in picking up. 



No stimulating, slow feeding, brood 

 spreading, etc. All they recpiire is 

 plenty of room, and sure enough they 

 will find it if left alone. 



Talking of "feeding," I have not 

 had to feed any established stock yet ; 

 other bees may have dried combs, but 

 they won't. 1 often, in the fall, feed 

 nuclei to work them up into stocks for 

 winter, and again may give them a 

 feed in the spring 



I have tried Palestines, Syrians — 

 which are the best yellow race — Ital- 

 ians, Cyi)rians and Caruiolans, with 

 the residt that 1 find that the only bees 

 which excels are the Funics. Carui- 

 olans are a good race and stood first 

 on the list. 



I have been "much asked" for Fu- 

 nic queens, imported and pure mated : 

 and I have not been able to su[)ply 

 any, though I have reared and distrib- 

 uted several hundred virgin ones. I 

 have tried for years to get more im- 

 ported ones, without succeeding until 

 the past summer, when I managed to 

 get an importation, at a cost which I 

 dare not mention (or fear of being re- 

 garded as a crank lunatic. But for 

 all that, I am going in for more, and 

 hope to get fifty queens at least, in 

 February, or early in Rlarch, 1891. 



The ditficulties to contend \\\{\\ may 

 be guessed at a little when 1 say that 

 I have to make and prepare travelling 

 hives here, and then get them to their 

 native land in Africa, on the l)()rders 

 of the great Sahara desert. They have 

 to be carried to and from the coast, 

 either on the heads of negro natives 



