424 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



resulting from this cross are sometimes vigorous bees and 

 good workers, but are likely to be the meanest bees to 

 handle that we have. The practical impossibility of con- 

 trolling the moth where black bees are kept should alone 

 suffice to relegate this race to the backwoods. 



The Italian bees have been popular since their introduc- 

 tion in 18G0. The}^ are a large, light-colored bee, readilj^ 

 distinguished from the black by having at least the first 

 three bands of the abdomen 3'ellow or leather-colored. They 

 are quiet and gentle, and hence easily manipulated. They 

 cling to the combs when those are lifted from the hive, and 

 thus the queen may be readily found at any time. In re- 

 sistance to bee moths, prolificness, honey production and 

 other valuable qualities, the Italian bees are seen to be far 

 superior to the blacks. The race has so long almost monop- 

 olized the attention of progressive apiarists, that a number 

 of superior strains have l)ecn produced by careful breeding 

 and selection. 



The Carniolan bees wore imported from the Alpine prov- 

 ince of Carniola in 1884. They are large, ashj^-gray bees, 

 with silvery white hairs, ver}^ beautiful and gentle. Pro- 

 fessor Benton calls them " ladies' bees," and they are espe- 

 cially recommended to beginners or children. Carniolans 

 cap their honey extremely white ; they winter best of any 

 race ; they do not tolerate the moth in their hives ; they 

 are industrious, working especially well on late flowers ; 

 and they are VQvy prolific. About the only questionable 

 quality of the Carniolans is said to be their excessive swarm- 

 ing, but this may bo largelj^ controlled by proper shading 

 and by giving plenty of room in the hives. 



The Cj^prian bees, introduced from the island of Cyprus, 

 are a small, slender bee, with three bands of the abdomen 

 yellow above, and all the segments, often to the tip of the 

 abdomen, yellow underneath. They arc industrious and 

 energetic, and hold the record over all other races for honey 

 production, 1,000 pounds having been secured from a single 

 swarm (spring count) in a season. They may often be ob- 

 served activelv at work while other bees are "loafing;." It 

 is said that they never molest any one passing or working 



