THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



171 



coal, and is said to be a great honpy- 

 makor, building a whiter comb than 

 any otlicr species. They are smaller 

 than our native bees, or Italians. They 

 are the tamest bees known ; the only 

 time it is possible to get them to sting 

 is when the swarming fever is on 

 They have been rubbed on the back of 

 a person's hand and then will not sting. 

 This is a great desideratum with peo- 

 ple who have not gone into the busi- 

 ness through fear of injury by stings. 

 It is said the queens are very prolilic, 

 hard workers, live longer, fill and seal 

 sections fuller and cap them whiter 

 than any otiier kind, hiiihi ui) from one 

 to twenty cind possibly yield 1000 

 pounds of sin'plus honey. 



This si)ecies of bees was discovered 

 in Africa in the Saliai'a D.;sert. They 

 were carried to the coast by natives. 

 The first importations cost $75 apiece, 

 butpnre mated queens can be had now 

 for $5 apiece. Mr. Gregg is raising 

 twenty young queens and ten are lay- 

 ing. Tlie second generation has gone 

 to work and the tliird will be ready to 

 fly in about two weeks. If the bees 

 turn out what the importer claims for 

 them, Mr. Gregg intends to sui)plant 

 his present colonies with Punics. 



Mr. Gregg has 150 stands of 

 bees, and he will harvest about 

 7000 pounds of lioney this year. 

 Last 3'ear his bees made 10,000 

 pounds, and he realized about $1000 

 from tlie business. Alfalfa has been 

 scarce this year, whicli is the cause of 

 the small crop. Mr. Gregg says there 

 is always a good demand for honey, 

 and that he could have sold 20,000 

 pounds this year if it was to be had. 

 He gets 12J cents a pound for his hon- 

 ey. Mr. Gregg makes his own hives, 

 boxes, foundation forcoml)s, etc., and 

 has a warehouse on liis property' for 

 the alcove purpose. He lias been in 

 the bnsiness nine years and tlie sale 

 of hone}' brings him in a good income. 

 The bees do not require much at- 

 tention. Mr. Gregg furnishes the 

 hives and the bees do the rest. He 

 calls his bees little hustlers, Mr. 



Gregg commenced the business with 

 four stands. His first bees were the 

 common l)rown bees and were obtained 

 in tbe woods. He Italianized them, 

 and, from a modest beginning he now 

 owns 150 stands. 



GLKANINGS. 



Tlie last Bee-Keepers' Review is an 

 excellent number. It discusses the 

 subject of house apiaries. In our 

 judgment, the best article on the topic 

 is from the pen of James Heddon, and 

 it covers every point. Among other 

 good things, he said : "Never let any 

 one advocate the use of any hives, 

 frames, cases, or brood-ciiaml)ers that 

 are fixed within the building." 



You are quite correct, Mr. Heddon ; 

 and you might have added that they 

 prevent the bees from escaping into 

 the room, for all outside hives are sup- 

 posed to be bee-tight. One great rea- 

 son why the house apiary was aban- 

 doned, was because tlie hives or com- 

 partments for holding the frames are 

 fixed to the sides of the building, and 

 it is not easy to make these so they 

 are bee-tight. 



Again lie adds: "The annoyance 

 from rolibers is the one great cause of 

 irritability among the bees of an api- 

 ary ; and I want to tell you that, if 

 3'oti have a colony that is so confound- 

 edly mean that yon expect to be stung, 

 even when using the smoker, put them 

 in the house apiary and the bees will 

 behave perfectly." I have noticed 

 this very thing myself; and, in fact, 

 it is a veiy rare thing for bees to sting 

 inside of a building.' To find them- 

 selves suddenly in-doors takes all the 

 fight out of them. 



In winding up, Mr. Heddon con- 

 cludes : "On the whole, I think tlie 

 house a|>iary, when rightly made ang 

 managed, is, in many localities, a thisy 

 of comfort and piotit. It is an ear; 

 thing to pack colonies in for winteat 

 and after being packed, I can see what 

 splendid advantages can be gained 

 from stove heat during extremely cold 

 weather." 



