584 



GLEANINGS IN HEK CULTURE. 



Aug. L 



voice our " stocks." When the roll was finally 

 taken. June 1st, about 40' answered at this 

 ranch; but some of them were fit subjects for 

 the hospital, and I find I have the liveliest 

 and best outfit in the neighborhood. Some 

 have held memorial si'rvices over their dead 

 hopes — all gone. It's the grip, I suspect. One 

 man who had about fifty colonies last year, 

 and who lost all but one. said he wouldn't 

 have cared a fig if Secor had lost all his too. 

 There's sympathy for you. 



Swarming at a lively rate now, and storing 

 honey from clover. " It is good that a man 

 should both hope and quietly wait" — especially 

 hope. EuGEXE Secor. 



Forest City, la., .July D. 



PUNIC BEES— THEIR HISTORY AND ORIGIN. 



NOT A NEW RACE, BUT THE OLD TUNISIAN 



BEES THAT HAVE BEEN TESTED AND 



DISCARDED. 



By Ernest R. Root. 



Those of our readers who take the BriUsh 

 Bee Journal know something of the controver- 

 sy that has taken place in the columns of that 

 periodical in regard to Punic bees. Hallam- 

 shire Bee-keeper, or John Hewitt, of Sheffield, 

 England, the importer of Funics, and the editors 

 of the British Bee Journal have been the 

 parties in the controversy. Finally the former 

 threatened to enter proceedings for libel against 

 the latter; but, so far as we can ascertain, no 

 such action has as yet been formally taken, 

 nor is there any likelihood that there will be. 



Editor Cowan insisted that there were, strict- 

 ly speaking, no such bees as Funics — that they 

 were only Tunisian bees — a race that was long 

 ago tried and discarded by competent European 

 apiarists. To remove some uncertainties in 

 regard to the bees of North Africa, Mr. Cowan, 

 at his own private expense, made a journey 

 into Tunis and Algeria, Africa, visiting on his 

 way som(> .i2 apiaries, to determine, beyond a 

 question or doubt, whether the Tunisians were 

 the same as the Funics, or wh"ther the Funics 

 were a distinct race. He found no bees what- 

 ever '" bordering on the Great Sahara." but he 

 did find plenty of Tunisian bees, in their own 

 native country, and the very man himself 

 who exported the so-called Funics to Hallam- 

 shire Bee-keeper in England. The exporter 

 was greatly astonished that Hewitt, the import- 

 er, should claitii that they v ei-e a new race of 

 bees; that he (Hewitt) had claimed that they 

 were caiTied fi'om the borders of the Sahara 

 on the backs of donkeys and on the heads of 

 negroes to hahitalile regions, and tlience for- 

 warded on to England at an enormous exi)i'ns(>: 

 or. in the words of Hewitt, at a cost that he 

 ■'dare not mention for fear of being regarded 

 as a crank or lunatic." The facts are, the ex- 

 porter, a resident of Tunis, lives only ten miles 

 from the railway station. He bought up the 

 queens from the Anibs in his vicinity, as all 

 kept a few hives. The queens were th(>n put 

 into cages and sent liy mail postpaid to Hal- 

 lamshire Bee-keeper, or John Hewitt, for about 

 S'LChjeach. Making due allowance for the fact 

 that some of the quffiis died on or behire ar- 

 rival, the actual cost of the live queens could 

 not have much exceeded ?2.0(). x\s ISIr. Cowan 

 sarcastically remarks, '• It is no wonder tliat he 

 did not dare to mention the cost for fear of bo- 

 ing thought a crank or a lunatic." In the 

 Canadian Bee Journal for 1891, page 4.58, Mr. 

 Hewitt, after telling the donkey story and the 

 enormous cost of the liees. etc., actually con- 

 sents to sell afeui at the nomiiuil price of forty 



dolUtrs to help defray the expense of importing 

 theiu from Africa ! It appears from this that 

 Mr. Hewitt intended to make only 2000 per cent 

 on his investment. 



We regret very much to cotue out with these 

 facts: btit it seems to us to be only justice and 

 right that we should do so sitice we inserted 

 Hewitt's advertisement* to prevent unsuspect- 

 ing bee-keepers of this country from sending to 

 England and paying these enormous prices, 

 when the facts are, these queens can probably 

 be purchased direct from Tunis for an insig- 

 nificant sum. 



We will conclude this with a statement from 

 the editor, Mr. Cowan, which details carefully 

 the characteristics of the bees as observed anS 

 found in their native home. It is only necessary 

 for us to state, that many of these characteris- 

 tics tally very closely with our own Funic bees. 

 We should probably find that they would all 

 tally exactly were it not for the fact that we 

 have had them for only a limited titne. The 

 following extract is taken from the British 

 Bee Journal for July 7, page 2.54, and it will be 

 read with interest: 



VVe have now been able to satisfy ourselves that 

 tliei-e is only one race of ]u»ney-bees in Tiniis and 

 Algeria, and that this j-ace is Apis incUifirn and not 

 Apis )ii<jer. We have broug-ht specimens from dif- 

 ferent parts, and in due time we shall exhiliit them 

 in tlie proper quarters. Tliese North African bees, 

 as a climatic variety, are Ijlaeli, and as small as the 

 small black bees found in this country, as well as 

 in other parts of Europe. Tlie queens are prolific, 

 and the workers industrious; but this is the most 

 that can l)e said in tlieir favor. _ Thej' are certainly 

 the most vindictive bees we have come across, more 

 so even than Cyprians or Syrians. They will sting- 

 without the slightest provocation, even when one 

 is not near the hives. We found strong colonies al- 

 ways inclined to sting, and only weak colonies and 

 those having young bees less inclined to do so, al- 

 thougli we were told that sometimes they were 

 quieter. They were said to be " the tamest bees 

 known." " The honey-producer l^eing the party to 

 appreciate the bee that does not sting" (C. JB. J., 

 p. 45V, 1891), but this is not borne out liy our own ex- 

 perience, or the unanimous verdict of those culti- 

 vating tliese bees. On one occasion, before we got 

 near the apiary we were attacked and were pursued 

 for a considerable distance by enraged bees, and 

 this was not during their swarming time. It was 

 useless to attempt any iTispcction of tlie bees with- 

 out veils and a profusion of smoke. So well is this 

 character of the bees known tiiat the liee-keepers 

 take great care to place their apiaries as far away 

 frcnii houses as possible. Not satisfied witli sting- 

 ing, they even bite. Tlie queens resemble tlie 

 eastern races, in that they are extremely prolific, 

 but are very short-lived, and a colony fi-equently 

 renews its queen several times during the year. On 

 the lossof a queen alarge number of fertile workers 

 commence laying. 



This race of bees swarriis frequently, and it is not 

 unusual to iiave from five to eight small swarms. 

 Alaige number of (lueeii-cells are raised, and we 

 luive ourselves counted as many as sixty on one 

 conil). The swarms are small, and tlie after-swarms 

 frequently consist of almo.st as many queens as 

 worker-liees. The workers spread over the hive, 

 and do not protect their brood so well as other races. 

 Til ey are the most persistent robbers, alii lough it 

 has bi'en stated that they aie " non-robbing." ')ur 

 eorresponde-t, Mr. Ph. J. Baldensperger, on p. 227 

 of the '{. '{. J., gives a c:ise of robliiim- and we our- 

 selves liad an opportuiniy of witnessing a hive lie- 

 ing robbed. A liee-keeper ia Tunis, having 12() hives, 

 is so annoyed at lieing so pt rsistently st ung liy his 

 liees that he talks < f living ilieni up, and we met 

 several who were going to import Carniolan queens 

 to improve the race or to supersede the natives. 



We shall have a good deal more to say abc ut 

 these liees and tlie i>ieasant limes we spent with the 

 beekeepers in Afi-ica, in due '.ime. These bees, as 



* Hewitt, true to all reports in England, from 

 parties outside of the controversy, refuses to reply 

 to our statements. We question, from some un- 

 published evidence, if he ever intended to pay for 

 the advertising. 



