96 



1HE AMERICAN BEE-KEEl'ER. 



wholly free from yellow bands. When- 

 ever yellow is found among bees in 

 Carniola it is to be taken as an evi- 

 dence of Italian blood. Carniola is 

 located in the southern part of Aus- 

 tria, near the head of the Adriatic 

 Sea, and is only separated from Italy 

 by a single narrow province — Gorizia. 

 The line between the last named 

 province and Carniola follows a range 

 of mountains extending in a souther- 

 ly direction from the main part of the 

 Carnic Alps. The history of bee- 

 keeping in Carniola shows that the 

 migratory system has been followed 

 there for some centuries. During the 

 buckwheat yield many thousands of 

 colonies of bees are brought by rail 

 and by wagon from all parts of Carni- 

 ola, and from adjoining districts to- 

 ward the centre of the province. I 

 have seen a railway train bearing five 

 thousand hives of bees and their at- 

 tendants to the buckwheat fields. 

 Some colonies are even brought over 

 the mountain range which separates 

 Gorizia from Carinola, whose elevation 

 is from 1200 to 2500 feet. Bearing 

 in mind that Gorizia borders on Italy 

 and that its surface slopes toward the 

 Italian line and the Adriatic, and, in 

 fact, that between the Carnic Alps 

 and the great valley of the Po, which 

 drains nearly the whole of the north- 

 ern plain of Italy, there is no moun- 

 tain barrier to prevent an ad -mixture 

 of the bee.- native to these districts, it 

 i- easy to understand' how it is that 

 the bees southwest of the Carnic Alps 

 shade off or merge gradually into 

 Italians, since migratory bee-keeping 

 is m>t practiced to ony great extent in 

 the northwestern province of Italy. 

 With these mixed bees more or less 

 yellow blood ha.- been brought from 



Gorizia into Carniola and scattered 

 about In buying or breeding bees in 

 ( Jarniola I have always avoided queens 

 whose workers showed any yellow or 

 rust-eoloied tinge. Such bees are 

 generally more irritable than the pure 

 Carniolans; they do not breed true to 

 type, and in fact are more like hybred 

 bees. Nor have I been able to dis- 

 cover that they possess any traits su- 

 perior to those shown by the distinct- 

 ively gray bees which are so largely 

 in the ascendency all ovei the prov- 

 ince of Carniola. The bees offered 

 for sale in this country under the 

 name of ''Yellow Carniolans," or 

 "Golden Carniolans," are simply 

 hybrids; are bees having blood of 

 some of the yellow races- Italians, 

 Palestines, Syrians or Cyprians — in 

 their make up. Verily, some do love 

 the color of gold. 



I forbear further remarks, beyond 

 stating definitely my own preferences. 

 For the skilled bee-manipulator, who 

 ha.- no prejudices, but wishes to han- 

 dle his bees rapidly and secure large 

 quantities of extracted honey, Cy- 

 prians pure; a selected strain. For 

 the novice and the producer of fine 

 white comb honey, gray Carniolans, 

 the pure race, always gentle and easi- 

 ly managed. 



Look to your hive covers and see 

 that they are tight. A leaky roof is 

 not only injurious to the bee-, but 

 spoils the looks of your nice new sec- 

 tions. 



Paint your hives in light colors, as 

 dark is too warm in summer and often 

 causes trouble by melting the combs. 

 Unpainted hives look badly, warp, 

 leak, and are soon worn out. 



