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Read before the Michigan State Convention. 



Merits of Different Varieties of Bees. 



BY FRANK BENTON. 



Had means been at my command I would 

 years ago, have been in the native lands of 

 some of the exotic races and species of bees 

 which 1 shall notice in this article, and then 

 I would not, to-day, be obliged to present to 

 you merely the views of our apiarian cous- 

 ins in the Old World, and information 

 derived from the accounts of travelers who 

 are not bee-culturists, and therefore give 

 very meager reports. These accounts, how- 

 ever, allowing a margin for their inaccu- 

 racies, still lead us to believe that in many 

 parts of the East there are varieties and 

 species of bees distinct from our own, and 

 at the same time, more valuable than any 

 bees we have yet cultivated. 



THE GERMAN OR COMMON BEE. 



This is our common black bee, with which 

 all are familiar. In the early settlement of 

 this country it was introduced from Europe. 

 I merely mention this bee because it is with 

 this and 



THE ITALIAN RACE 



that we must compare all foreign races. Of 

 the Italians I need to say but little, for all 

 bee-keepers up with the times recognize 

 their superiority over our common black or 

 brown bees. What a large part of the pro- 

 gress apiculture has made in the last 18 

 years is due to their introduction ! Who 

 can say but that equally great results will 

 come from the introduction of some of the 

 races more lately noticed ? Relying upon 

 the correctness, in the main, of the testi- 

 mony 1 have been able to obtain concerning 

 some Eastern races and species of bees, I 

 firmly believe similar results would follow 

 their introduction. 



THE EGYPTIAN BEE. 



Having experienced, on several occassions, 

 the effect of the wrath exhibited by Egyptian 

 bees, even when well treated, and which 

 exceeded that shown by any hybrid Italian 

 and black bees, I cannot recommend them 

 in any way except that they are diligent 

 workers and prolric breeders ; yet I do not 

 think they equal in these respects our gentle 

 Italians. 



THE HEATH BEE. 



This bee, found in the heaths or heathers 

 of Germany, does not differ greatly from the 

 common bee, except in its great disposition 

 to swarm. A single colony has been known 

 to increase in one season by natural swarm- 

 ing to twelve. On the heaths of Northern 

 Germany where the management of these 

 bees is best understood, by restraining their 

 disposition to swarm, large returns of honey 

 are secured. 



CARNIOLAN BEES. 



In their inclination to swarm these bees 

 are only second to the Heath bees. Coming 



from Carniola, in the south-western part of 

 Austria, near the Adriatic, they are dis- 

 tinguished for their gentleness and the ease 

 with which they can be subdued at all 

 times. They may be recommended especially 

 to beginners or such as experience serious 

 results from stings. In some provinces 

 of Central Europe the honey harvest was 

 very poor in 1875, and common and Italian 

 bees failed to secure enough honey for 

 winter, while pure and hybrid Carnio- 

 lans gave quite a surplus, under the same 

 conditions. Several eminent bee-keepers in 

 Europe, who have bred these bees, say they 

 excel the common bees in every respect. 



HUNGARIAN BEE. 



The bees among the mountains of 

 Northern Hungary and those found in Banat, 

 a Southern province, are probably the same; 

 at any rate the descriptions are substantially 

 the same. They are quite black, with some- 

 what longer bodies than our common bees— 

 the abdomen rather clumsier, and are 

 covered with light gray hajr. The colonies 

 have a greater inclination to swarm than 

 have the common bees, the queens are more 

 prolific, the bees are livelier in their work, 

 and show themselves somewhat less sus- 

 ceptible to severe weather than the common 

 bees, hence they have wintered well further 

 north than Hungary. They are easily 

 handled, and are very industrious. In 1875 

 they were next to the Carniolians, and 

 ahead of the common and Italian bees, as 

 honey gatherers in Central Europe. A bee- 

 keeper who tried them first in 1862, said, in 

 1875: "This bee is more industrious and 

 persevering in collecting honey than our 

 native bees, and deserves the preference." 

 His reason for only keeping them a few 

 years was that he obtained still better races. 



THE BEES OF DAEMATIA. 



This bee which comes from the Eastern 

 shore of the Adratic, has a slim, very wasp- 

 like body, which is a shining, deep black in 

 color, and whose rings are about half covered 

 with lightish yellow hairs. It is really a 

 beautiful bee. When the bees are old and 

 have worn off the hairy covering of then- 

 bodies in their diligent labors, their bodies 

 present a shining, blue-black, steel-like 

 color, and as they alight they resemble 

 black wasps. Evenings, after completing 

 their work for the day, these bees play at 

 the entrances of their hives like fli^s, chas- 

 ing each other about in sport. They are, 

 when undisturbed, far gentler than our 

 common bees, but if thoroughly aroused 

 they are more revengeful. By the use of 

 smoke they are easily kept under control, 

 however, and Count Kolowrat says that he 

 receives fewer stings from them than from 

 his common bees, yet he opens the hives of 

 Dalmatians at the most dangerous times. 

 It has been remarked that the honey of 

 the Dalmatians is very white and peculiarly 

 aromatic. After cultivating this bee and 

 closely observing it for years, a very intelli- 

 gent European apiarist says that he unhesi- 

 tatingly places it ahead of the Italians as 

 a much more valuable race. 



HERZEGOVINA, 



a province of Turkey bordering on the 

 Adriatic, and separated from Dalmatia by a 



