86 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Qarinolan Bees. 



BY C. .1 ROBINSON. 



Many pages of l>ee periodicals have 

 been devoted to recording the merits 

 and derai rits of Carniolan bee? and 

 discussion over their true markings 

 and color. The reason for the i ' erep- 

 ancy in describing the bees of Carni- 

 nola or the parts adjacent tu Italy and 

 Switzerland is the circumstance of the 

 yellow bees passing from Italy into 

 territory where the Carniolan rare had 

 first been kept. Of course the native- 

 bees crossed with the native Krauer 

 bees and became more or less mixed, 

 as shown by the markings on some of 

 the bees bred in that territory. 



! i' ke< ping of bees in Cannula has 

 been by peasants almoi exclusively. 

 No well-informed or scientific person 

 engaged in the business,so no progress 

 was made during ages. Some 30 years 

 ago it was learned that the bees in the 

 Alpine region of Krain showed pecul- 

 iarities that attracted attention and 

 colonies were shipped thence to other 

 countries. Some 10 years ago bees 

 were introduced into this country 

 from Carniola. Mr. Ambrozic, a peas- 

 ant of Lengfield, Krain, Austria, was 

 the first to engage in export iug the so- 

 called Carniolan bees. Mr. Frank Ben- 

 ton learned of the Carniolan bees and 

 took up his abode within the province 

 of Carniola and found that the bees 

 there were radically superior to the 

 yellow bees wherever found. In 1883 

 he commenced mailing Carniolan 

 queens to this country. He could not, 

 however, learn anything of the history 

 of the bees found in the parts where 

 he located, as the people were incom- 

 petent to give information, so he could 

 only learu what came under his obser- 

 vation concerning the type of bees 



which we found. Therefore, Mr. Ben- 

 ton is not authority on the question of 

 the identity of the typical bee of Gar- 

 ni "la, but he is the most competent 

 authority on the question of merits, 

 because he has had extensive experi- 

 ence with all of the different types of 

 b 'es that are known as hive bees. Mr. 

 Benton's description of the bees he 

 found in Carniola shows that they are 

 not uniform in color and markings, 

 and we may reasonably infer that 

 some of the bees there are mongrels 

 or cross-bred. Ever sinse 18811 have 

 been seeking information concerning 

 the history and facts pertaining to the 

 true type of the original native bees 

 of Carniola. I corresponded with Mr. 

 Ambrozic and with Benton, both of 

 whom informed me that some of the 

 bees there showed yellow while others 

 did not. This did not satisfy my su- 

 riosity. At length I learned of a party 

 who has been a resident of Carniola 

 for many years and competent to give 

 the history of bee matters throughout 

 the whole country. 'The i'oilowiug is 

 a portion of a letter written by the 

 party alluded to — Mr. Max Pauly. 

 The original letter is in German, but 

 I give a true translation of it: 



" The pure Krain bees are more 

 gray, long, heavy, rather thick body, 

 and have positively no yellow on them. 

 As Krain is especially a mountainous 

 country the climate is consequently 

 rough and changable, therefore the 

 original native race of bees have be- 

 come acclimated and hardened. These 

 bees, on account of their docile dispo- 

 sitions, are of the first rank and are 

 demanded from all nations of the 

 globe. Krain is the Eldorado of bee 

 culture. Everybody raises bees here 

 and many have hundreds of hives. 



The main :-ubsistance for bees here 

 ' buckwheat. The former 



