18'.t2 



(;i>EAMX{;s IN HEE CULTURE. 



585 



wo st:itf(l in li. li. J. fur 1801. i>. asi. Iiiivt> liocii tiiid 

 ill E\in>iu' siiier 1ST4. and li.ivc lioen aliaiuloiifd. and 

 it is fdiliiiiatc tliat not iniin\ Ikivi' Iioimi inl I'lxiuccd 

 into tliis coiiiitrj . so not much liarni lias lucn done. 

 It is to the civdit of oiif dealers that tliey have had 

 nothinvr to do wit h them. No doubt tl race that will 

 rear hundreds of (Hieon-eells is .a valnalile one for 

 the virKi"-<l>ii>eM dealer, l>nt siicii a race is not one 

 for tlie l)Ce-keCi>or whoso <d)ject is lioiu'y. 



These bees are cultivated in a vi'ry siinv>lo fashion 

 by the natives. The nomad .\rabs that live in tents 

 have a few hives— sometimes tivo or six— which they 

 plaot' at a distance from their tents. These hives 

 are o\ lindors of cork or basket-work, or oven in 

 some places ihey are madi'of the llower-stems of 

 the>riant fennel. The hi\ es are about three feet 

 loiifr and ei.irht ini-hi's in dianieti'r, and are eovoreii 

 with cow-diiiifi-. They are plaec^d horizontally, and 

 have a i>ieet' of cork bark or wood at each end. wiih 

 a hole for an entrance cut in them. When the Arab 

 wishes to take the honey, 1h' removes the board at 

 one end. and thoroiigidj' smokes the bees. For this 

 piiipose dry eow-dun^, reduced to a p(.wder, is set 

 on tiro in a pan, ami the dense smoke is blown into 

 the end of the hive. This drives the bees forward, 

 and nearly stiipofli-s thorn. The Arab then cuts out 

 about a third of tlie combs, replaces the board, 

 opens the hole, and turivs the hive round. In this 

 way the combs are constantly renewed. The combs 

 are then mashed up tog'et her with brood anfl iiollen. 

 This moss is used as lionov, and the w;ix molted and 

 sold. 



The Kabylos. who live in vdlag'es, cultl\-ato bees 

 more o.vtonsively, and sometimes have as many as 

 from 2lK) to rOd of such hives, generally of cork. We 

 have lii'ontrht home some Arab hives, and hope to 

 show them to our friends. We were offered queens 

 by many of the bee-keepers, but preferied to bring 

 them pinned out in our insect - case to taking- 

 them alive, so convinced were we from what we 

 saw that they would not be an acquisition, and 

 would oidy damage our more quiet races. What 

 we want besides industry is good temper; and in 

 this respect there are no bees superior to Caruio- 

 lans. 



Eveiy bee is suited to its own countrj'; and our 

 advice to our African friends was, to make the best 

 of their bees by selecting the quietest for breeding, 

 and eliminating the bad-tempered ones, and thus 

 improve their own breed. The entire behavior of 

 these boos showed that they were suited oidy to a 

 warm climate. Thej' are enormous propolizers, and 

 rear a large quantity of drone brood. In fact, one 

 bee-keeper showed vis frames that had been fitted 

 with Worker combs where the bees had cut clown 

 the combs and constructed drone comb, so intent 

 were they on liaving a large number of drones. 

 This certain Ij- is consistent with their habit of rear- 

 ing a large number of queens. 



VVe will just conclude by observing that the place 

 from wiionce these bees wore sent to England is 200 

 miles from the <lesert. Moreover, there are no bees 

 at all in the desert, nor for some distance before 

 one gets there, the upper phiteaus being arid and 

 barren. We traveled as far into the Desert of Sa- 

 hara as the third oasis, Sidi-Okba, but did not see a 

 single bee, either wild or domesticated. In fact, 

 there are no flowers for them to gather rrom, and 

 little else besides date-palms are cultivated in the 

 oases. 



[Gleanino.'; desires to be fair in all things, 

 and to give all the facts, pro and coti. Since 

 our adverse statement ill regard to the Puiiic 

 bees in our last issue, we have received from 

 Mr. Alley a letter which he received from one 

 of his customers that speaks verj- highly of the 

 queen he received, and we give place to it here:] 



Editor Am. Ai)iculiuiiHt :'T\tcre has been .so much 

 said concerning the Punic bees, and the many good 

 qualities claimed for them, 1 will give j'ou my ex- 

 perience from last October up to date. I procured 

 a Punic queen from Henry Alley about the tlist of 

 October, and introduced her to a small colony— not 

 over one quart of bees— and no honey. I fed them, 

 and the queen began layiiifj the third day after she 

 was introduced. By the first day of Dect-mber thej- 

 Were more than double in numbers, and had plenty 

 of honey for the winter. By .May l.")th they were 

 the strongest colony I had.' I liave taken from 

 them 14 frames of honey and brood for other hives, 

 and divided tliera once, and now the old hive con- 

 tains 1.5 frames of brood and honey, 13.xl2. and the 

 new colony is full of honey and brood, and in fine 



condition. M.\- new <'oloiiy of I'niiics have gatliered 

 as much honey as an.\(if the old colonies of the 

 n.Mtivo liees; and the old colonj- of Punics have 

 gathered nearly twici> the amount of honey of any 

 of the otiier colonies. So far tlie.\ have come iij) to 

 all the good qualities elainied for them. They are 

 (liiick aiKl active, woik t-arly and late; thev are 

 woi'king before the otiu'i-s are mit, and .ifler all 

 others iiavo (luit. lam saiistled thev are t he com- 

 ing boo; and if they are given a la iV trial 1 think 

 they will give perfect satisfaction. 1 am well 

 pleased with mine, and hope other bee-keepers will 

 give them a trial. t^.^.; I. N. Mooke. 



I-os Angeles, Cal., July 12 



[There is nothing in the:abovo that directlv 

 contradicts Mr. CowaiTs statement. Punics 

 may l)e good worki'rs and prolific, and yet have 

 (itlirr ciiaracteristics that would make thera 

 very undesirable. Cyiirians were both prolific 

 and good workers, hut, oh my! nobody wants 

 them now. They can't even be l)oiiglit in this 

 country.] 



Heads of Grain 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



A DISCOUK.VGING REPORT FROM A. E. MANU-M. 



I am sorry to say that honey is almost a fail- 

 ure with mo. Nothing has secreted any honey 

 of any account this year except clover, white 

 and alsike. But when these were at their best 

 we were favored with rain. rain, rain, wind and 

 wind, with plenty of cold days thrown in. The 

 14th and l.ith, basswood commenced to open: 

 and when I saw that the blos.soms wore fresh 

 and idump. I thought sure we should get a good 

 flow from that source; and fearing I might get 

 short of foundation, and have no time to make 

 it, I wired you to send me 30 lbs; but before it 

 arrived I decided I did not need it. as there was 

 no honey in the basswood -blossoms. It is not 

 in full bloom: but the bees take no notice of it. 

 They are barely picking a living— the strongest 

 colonies— while I am obliged to feed my nuclei. 

 I shall have only about one-fourth as much 

 honey as I had last year, or about one-eighth 

 of a crop. I never was so surprised and com- 

 pletely done up as I am this year over the fail- 

 ure of the basswood. But. what can't be cured 

 must be endured. I hope bee-keepers in other 

 localities have met with better success. I never 

 had my bees in better condition than now. 

 They were ready, and are now waiting for fall 

 harvest, which, I ho[)e. may help us out. The 

 prospect surely looks fair from that source. 



Bristol, Vt.. July :12. A. E. Manum. 



MIGRATORY BEE-REEPIXG IN FLORID.^. 



I shall go south down the river 125 miles with 

 my bees about the -.'Oth of August, for a full 

 crop. This migratory bee-keeping is a great 

 thing. I have already taken two good crops 

 of honey, and am now preparing for a third 

 one: and this is the most certain on(>, of all 

 — the pennyroyal — as it yields honey for three 

 months: and it makes no diflcrence wiiether it 

 is wet or dry, warm or cold: the honey is there: 

 all you want is to go where the bloom is, and 

 have plenty of surplus combs, with hives full of 

 bees. These are the winning cards. 



New Smyrna, Fla.. .Inly 14. A. F. Bitowx. 



IX-HREEDINf;. AND ITS PIFFECTS. 



Please inform me whether bees will deterio- 

 rate, run out. degenerate, or become in-bred, by 

 starting with one sA\arm where there are no 

 other bees, and kei'piiig them for si.\ years. 



IlackbeiTy, Ariz. Mrs. Tiios. B. Shipp. 



[We think .so to a certain extent. The bees of 

 Mr. Murdock may l)e an exception. See p. .5.56.] 



