THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



179 



HOLY LAND BEES. 



By Henry Alley. 



Almost every one with whom I 

 Lave conversed concerning these 

 bees speak of them as being very 

 cross and the worst bees we have 

 to handle. 



I am aware that tliis bad repu- 

 tation was given them by dealers 

 in queens who never saw one of 

 them ; with the intention of 

 course to injure the sale of the 

 Syrians, and at the same time to 

 "blow their own horn." "Well, now, 

 are the Syrians such an inferior 

 race of bees as they have the repu- 

 tation of being? So little has been 

 said of them of late that what I 

 have to say will not be out of place. 

 Visitors, of whom I have had a 

 large number the present season, 

 say " we don't want Holy Land 

 bees they are so cross." Walk right 

 this way, my dear sir, and let us 

 look at them. Well, we go to a hive 

 solid full of fine and beautiful bees 

 of this race. I remove the honey- 

 board with the use of a very small 

 amount of smoke, take out one of 

 the combs and examine the bees 

 all we wish. No one is stung, and 

 it is very easy to demonstrate the 

 fact, that these famous bees are as 

 gentle as the most timid desire to 

 see. 



Mr. Daniel Howard, who went 

 to Palestine last fall for a quantit}^ 

 of the Syrian queens, and who is 

 now en route to this country, with 

 two hundred fine queens, has writ- 

 ten me many letters concerning 

 their characteristics. An extract 

 of one of his letters may be found 



in another column. Don't fail to 

 read what he sa3^s of them. I will 

 drop that part of the subject and 

 speak briefly of their other excel- 

 lent qualities. As honey gather- 

 ers they have no equal in any race. 

 Of all the bees I haA'e, the Syrians 

 are the only race that keep their 

 stock of honey all the time ; the 

 other races, now that forage is 

 scarce, are losing all the time, 

 while the Syrians are gaining some. 

 As to the story that they do not 

 ripen their honey properly, it is 

 mere nonsense, and such a com- 

 plaint never came from any one 

 who had much experience with 

 this variety of bees. 



I was at the apiary of a friend 

 some twe-lve miles from my OAvn 

 a short time ago, and he wanted 

 me to see his fine section honey. 

 Now bear in mind his bees are 

 black hybrid and Italians. The 

 combs in many of the boxes had 

 the appearance of being wet under 

 the capping ; or, in other words, the 

 honey did not appear to be well 

 ripened. I remarked to him, that 

 if he had had the Syrians he would 

 have accused them of not ripening 

 their honey. The fact is that, dur- 

 ing a wet season, most races of bees 

 do not and cannot ripen their 

 honey as well they should. But I 

 never saw anything of the kind 

 with the Syrians in any season. 



Here is another quality in which 

 the Syrians excel. No race of 

 bees can compare with them in 

 point of proliflcness. Their combs 

 are always full of brood in all 

 stages during the breeding season. 

 No queens are too prolific for me. 



