1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



419 



of the readers of Gleanings, and especially 

 those who have asked for this information. 

 We are not desirous of more bee-keepers 

 "flocking" here, and are not advertising 

 for them, for we have lots of them ; but to 

 such, who want to know something about 

 the country, this has been given, and we 

 hope that it will be appreciated. 



[Mr. Jones' entrance- closer is as simple as 

 it is unique, and I am not sure but 1 have 

 seen it in use somewhere in the West; but I 

 have never seen it in any publication before. 

 We have marked it to go in the next edition 

 of the ABC book, and that is proof enough 

 that we regard it as something extra good. 



You will have to be careful how you invite 

 bee-keepers into your State or you will get 

 a bees' nest (of bee-keepers) in your hair. 

 On the other hand, it may be said that you 

 have the biggest State in the Union, and a 

 good deal of unoccupied bee territory, pro- 

 vided one is willing to sacrifice the comforts 

 of city or town life and move out into the 

 desert; for be it said that, strange as it may 

 seem, there are many good bee locations in 

 the desert portions of Texas. I have trav- 

 eled through localities in that State where 

 nothing would grow except mesquite, gua- 

 jilla, and the like, and yet these, despite the 

 awful dryness and the parching sun, would 

 yield immense quantities of finely flavored 

 light-colored honey; although it is but fair 

 to say that mesquite would more properly 

 be called an amber. —Ed.] 



I have just been reading in L'Apiculteur, 

 one of our French exchanges, an account of 

 Mr. Frank Benton's visit in Savoy, a moun- 

 tainous district in the southeast of France. 

 As there are many reasons just now for the 

 interest felt in Mr. Benton's journey to the 

 East in search of something new in the bee 

 realm, I have felt excusable for desiring to 

 lay before the readers of this journal a 

 translation of the article in question, in or- 

 der that bee keepers here may know how 

 our representative was received in France. 

 Besides this, it throws some very pleasant 

 sidelights on Mr. Benton's personaUty. 



The celebrated American bee-keeper, Mr. Frank 

 Benton, being just now on a tour through Europe, I 

 have just had the pleasure of passing two days in his 

 company, July 7 and 8, at Albertville, Savoy, at the 

 home of Mr. Mont-Jovet. 



Mr. Benton is known to bee-keepers throughout the 

 entire world by his writings, his researches, and his 

 work in all kinds of bee culture. In particular is his 

 name connected with the Benton cage for sending 

 queens by mail across continents and oceans. He is 

 especially popular in the United States, where for sev- 

 eral years he has exercised a great influence in apicul- 

 tural progress, as much by the great value of his direc- 



tions and counsels as by the legislative measures which 

 he has brought about, and the establishment of model 

 apiaries in the different States of the Union, in his 

 capacity as bee expert of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, Washington. He has established a national apiary 

 in that city, where queens are received from the prin- 

 cipal foreign breeders. 



Mr. Benton has traveled much. He has visited 

 Greece, Palestine, Egypt, East Indies, Ceylon, Austria, 

 Italy, Germany, France, and has traveled all over that 

 immense country the United States. He lived for 

 seven years in the island of Cyprus, and four at Munich, 

 Bavaria, rearing Cyprian and Carniolan queens which 

 he sent to the United States and Canada. In connec- 

 tion with Mr. Baldensperger, whose name also is well 

 known, he has brought the rearing of queens to a high 

 degree of art. 



Just now Mr. Benton is on a mission from his govern- 

 ment to make a comprehensive study of all races of 

 bees, and particularly two varieties peculiar to the East 

 Indies and Ceylon, known to naturalists as Avis dorsata 

 and Apis zonata, both of which are about double the 

 size of common bees, and having, on this account, 

 tongues longer than those of European bees, which 

 will enable them to work on flowers in a way that ordi- 

 nary bees can not. 



Mr. Benton has also undertaken the task of acclima- 

 tizing the puj e Caucasian bees in the Rocky Mountains, 

 especially in Wyoming, the climate of which resembles 

 the cold regions of Caucasus. Knowing that drones 

 transmit their traits of character and temper to their 

 kind, and that queens transmit their aptitude for work, 

 and fecundity, he has studied the possibility of realizing 

 practically the crossing of Cyprian queens, the most 

 fertile breeders of all, but the mo£t aggressive, with 

 Caucasian drones, a very mild race, hoping thus to 

 obtain a mixed strain which will combine all the qual- 

 ities of both races and at the same time eliminate their 

 defects. There will thus be obtained at the same time 

 a secondary result more important— that of favoring 

 the diffusion and popularizing of apiculture by dispens- 

 ing with stings, which hinder many persons from keep- 

 ing bees. Mr. Benton will at the same time study all 

 honey-bearing plants, known or unknown, and investi- 

 gate the means of importing and acclimatizing in the 

 United Stat, s those foreign plants which are the best 

 yielders of the nectar. It will thus be seen that his 

 trip is of much consequence to American apiculture. 



Leaving Washington June 2, Mr. Benton has already 

 visited a large number of bee-keepers in England, 

 France, Germany, and Switzei land. He is to continue 

 his explorations through Italy, Austria, Greece, Cau- 

 casus, Afghanistan, Hindoostan, the Nepaul, Java, 

 Borneo, Japan, the Philippines, Sandwich Islands, back 

 to San Francisco, thus having gone around the globe. 



Mr. Benton says the American government appropri- 

 ates $50,000 a year for the development of bee-keeping. 

 It will thus be seen that we are far behind America. 

 He is 53 years old, medium stature, gray mustache, 

 open countenance, tireless on the march, and indiffer- 

 ent to the heat of the sun. His face shows the effects 

 of his laborious voyages, but they have in no way 

 diminished his activity. He speaks French perfectly, 

 although he has not practiced it for ten years, some- 

 times thinking for a moment for the proper word. 

 He speaks also several other European languages. 



Mr. Benton is a man of very agreeable presence, a 

 good talker, and he held us charmed for two days, and 

 excited much interest on our part while relating some 

 of the adventures of his voyage, which would form a 

 very interesting volume. We were much surprised at 

 the profound knowledge of our eminent visitor. Before 

 leaving he selected several choice Italian queens to send 

 to America, and on the 9th of July took the train for 

 Italy. F. Fenouillet. 



A French exchange relates a curious case 

 that occurred in France. A certain man 

 there had a chronic inflammation of the 

 eyes, that baffled the skill of the physicians. 

 It so happened that he was stung one day 

 on the left eyebrow. The next morning, to 

 his great surprise, the light was no longer 

 painful to the left eye. Attributing the 

 good result to the action of the sting, he ap- 

 plied one to the right eyebrow, with exactly 

 the same result. Strange as the case may 

 seem, it is no more incredible than the many 

 instances of cures of rheumatism that have 

 been reported for years. 



