146 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



were very prolific, but not so much so 

 as the Eastern races, and the gentlest 

 bees in the world ; in fact, in this re- 

 spect, no other bees could be compared 

 with them. During the whole four years 

 that he worked with them in their native 

 country, he wore no veil, and yet hand- 

 led hundreds of colonies, even manipu- 

 lating the combs of strong ones late into 

 the night. 



Carniolans could be readily shaken 

 from the combs, and this feature made 

 it possible to find the queens very readily 

 by shaking all the bees out of the shal- 

 low brood-chambers such as were used 

 and had been used for a century or more 

 In Carniola. In fact, it is the way the 

 natives usually find the queens. Carnio- 

 lans could be shaken from their combs, 

 and not fly up and resent it as Italians 

 would sometimes do. They were not 

 lacking in courage, but the loss of a 

 queen affected them greatly. 



At first Mr. Benton thought they were 

 rather given to robbing ; but later he 

 found they were no worse than other 

 bees. On account of their capping 

 honey so white, and their gentleness, 

 Mr. Benton felt that the Carniolans were 

 the best bees for comb honey. 



Referring to their demerits, he ac- 

 knowledged that they were rather in- 

 clined to swarm ; but this trait had been 

 encouraged in them for centuries. The 

 native bee-keepers in Carniola practice 

 a method where excessive swarming 

 seems desirable. Their inclination to- 

 ward excessive swarming is simply a 

 trait that has been bred into them ; and 

 Mr. Benton thought that the same trait 

 could be bred out, or at least held in 

 subjection here in America. It would 

 be foolish for Americans to reject them 

 solely on this ground ; and while the 

 Carniolans have many valuable traits, 

 he did not think that they would en- 

 tirely replace the Italians. 



DALMATIAN BEES. 



These bees were found on the east 

 coast of the Adriatic sea. Their bodies 

 are rather slender, and are shiny blue- 

 black in color, with lightish fuzz. In 

 qualities they are similar to Carniolans, 

 being prolific, excellent honey-gatherers, 

 and builders of very white combs, 

 though not quite so gentle as the latter. 

 It would be desirable, he thought, to in- 

 troduce them into this country, and 

 study and test them more thoroughly. 



THE ATTIC, OK UKES OP HYMETTUS. 



Those bees were found in the plains 

 of Attica — probably the same race of 



bees that gathered honey for the gods. 

 They no doubt now gathered the same 

 honey, of the same quality that they 

 were reputed to have done in ancient 

 times ; but as the native bee-keepers put 

 the honey in goat-skins, Mr. Benton did 

 not think he would like to be one of the 

 "gods." The Hymettus bees look very 

 much like Carniolans, and their move- 

 ments are the same ; but they are very 

 cross, notwithstanding they are good 

 honey-gatherers. They used more prop- 

 olis, and were great breeders. 



Mr. Benton here related an incident 

 of a case where he had the Attic, or 

 bees of Hymettus, in an apiary alongside 

 of Carniolans. He had been handling 

 Carniolans, and by mistake opened a 

 hive of the Hymettus bees, treating 

 them as he would Carniolans. The re- 

 sult was, that they poured out in such 

 numbers that he was driven precipi- 

 tately from the apiary. These and cer- 

 tain other bad qualities would make 

 them rather undesirable for importation 

 to this country. 



CYPKIAN BEES. 



These were reared on the Island of 

 Cyprus, and were rather peculiar on 

 account of their isolation. They were 

 kept in mud cylinder hives ; movements 

 were very quick — so quick, indeed, that 

 they might flit on one's nose. As to 

 their honey-gathering qualities, they ex- 

 ceed all other known races; will often 

 gather honey when others are doing 

 nothing. The cappings of their comb 

 honey have a rather watery appearance, 

 and therefore they were not suited for 

 comb honey. They were prolific — more 

 so than the Carniolans. 



Eight at this point Mr. Benton wished 

 to emphasize the fact that it was not a 

 bad thing to have bees extra prolific, 

 because an intelligent bee-keeper — one 

 who knows how — could always turn this 

 quality to good account. 



As to the temper of Cyprians, they 

 feared nothing. Great quantities of 

 smoke would not subdue them ; in fact, 

 the more they were smoked, the worse 

 they became. They were very sensitive 

 to light ; and hence on opening a hive it 

 must be done gradually. By working 

 cautiously, using, of course, a veil, and 

 a slight amount of smoke, he could get 

 along with them very well. They win- 

 ter bettor than the Syrians and Pales- 

 tines. 



For extracted honey, ho believed they 

 were the best bees, in the world. If 

 honey wore to bo extracted it would 

 make no difl'erence whether the cappings 



