506 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



mine which is which, and it will always be 

 so unless our Caucasians are different from 

 the average. I am mailing these cages of 

 bees on to F. A. Lockhart, Lake George, N. 

 Y., as he is the only breeder in the United 

 States that has made a specialty of rear- 

 ing Carniolans. We have no black bees in 

 this vicinity, and have not seen them for 

 years. I think he could come nearer deter- 

 mining, perhaps, which are Carniolans and 

 which are the others than any one else. 

 Medina, O., Nov, 8. E. R. Root. 



Mr. i^oot;— Your letter and the three cages 

 of bees you received from J. M. Davis and 

 forwarded to me are here. My decision is 

 AS follows: 



No. 1, Caucasians, but not pure stock. I 

 may be mistaken, as they look quite like 

 our common brown bees with a dash of Ital- 

 ian blood. They are a trifle larger than the 

 pure Caucasians. I could not judge their 

 temper in a cage. 



No. 2 was received in poor condition, the 

 bees being all dead, and therefore black 

 and shiny. I should say, however, that 

 they might be pure black or German bees. 



No. 3, I should say, contained Caucasian 

 bees, and about as pure as the average 

 Caucasians used in this country from im- 

 ported stock. F. A. Lockhart. 



Lake George, N. Y., Nov. 14, 1905. 



Mr. Root:- Yours of Nov. 25 was received 

 while I was in the West; and since my re- 

 turn I have been so busy I could not answer 

 it. Cage No. 1 contained pure Tennessee 

 brown bees, secured away back where there 

 are no Italians, and are about as pure stock 

 of this race as can be found. They have al- 

 ways had an occasional bee with a narrow 

 orange band next to the thorax. This is 

 usually quite dark orange. I have noticed 

 this all my life. I am now 58. This band, 

 as a rule, does not extend around the abdo- 

 men, but shows a splotch on both sides, 

 rather high up. 



No. 2 contained imported Caucasian work- 

 ers taken from a cage sent me by Professor 

 Frank Benton, secured twelve versts (about 

 eight miles) inland from Gagry, which is on 

 the coast of the Black Sea, Russia. They 

 are of the Abkahaz variety, and, Prof. Ben- 

 ton writes, are of the gentlest of this re- 

 markably gentle race of bees. I received 

 another queen from him, mailed two days 

 later from Tiflis, Russia, which he wrote 

 was of the gray type. I have workers from 

 both these importations, in alcohol. 



No. 3 were workers from a Caucasian 

 queen reared by Dr. Phillips at the govern- 

 ment apiaries at Arlington. This queen was 

 received last summer, and, at the time, I 

 supposed was an imported queen, as Prof. 

 Benton was to send me one as soon as some 

 queens were received that they had failed to 

 get last fall. 



As soon as I saw her progeny I knew that 

 they would be a dangerous bee to scatter 

 indiscriminately through the country, owing 

 to their remarkable resemblance to our na- 

 tive bees. If expert queen-breeders can not 



dislinguibh them, how on earth can we ex- 

 pect the uninitiated to know when they have 

 pure stock? 



One trouble will be that inexperienced men 

 who think nothing of injuring their neigh- 

 bors may buy them in order to have a bee 

 that they have no reason to fear, and rear 

 them ne::vr breeders of pure Italian stock, 

 greatly damaging the Italian race after the 

 bee- keepers of America have spent thou- 

 sands of dollars importing and building up 

 this valuable race of bees. I am decidedly 

 in favor of the government keeping Proi. 

 Benton in the East, looking up new races of 

 bees; but let us be careful how we scatter 

 them broadcast over the country, to the an- 

 noyance and detriment of men who have 

 spent much money and valuable time in in- 

 troducing and improving the bees we now 

 have that we know to be a superior race. 



There are many points that could be 

 brought out along this line, that we as 

 breeders should bear in mind. If I know 

 that a breeder of Italian bees is near a 

 would-be purchaser of Caucasians, and that 

 said purchaser is inexperienced, I will de- 

 cline his orders, as I know this would be to 

 the detriment of the party who had already 

 spent his money and time in establishing a 

 valuable race of bees. 



I bought the first Langstroth hive and the 

 first Italian queen sent to this county; and 

 during the 34 years since then our bees have 

 been greatly improved for many miles away. 

 Now, suppose some fellow who cares but 

 little for his neighbors should place only one 

 colony of these gentle bees near by me, 

 just to get a paltry bucket of honey. Why, 

 a wave of black blood would start out across 

 the country, and there is no telling ihe 

 damage it would do, and that with a race of 

 bees that we have no positive proof yet is 

 at all suitable to our country. 



By all means let us strive for the very 

 best; but be careful how we distribute these 

 new races until we know that we have a 

 better one than the Italian, which, in my 

 opinion, will be hard to find. I should like 

 to have these new races tested by experts, 

 if possible, before being sent out broadcast. 

 This was my intention in offering them last 

 summer. I will put a word of caution in 

 my 1906 circular, and I beHeve we should all 

 do so. The dark leather Italians sent out 

 by the Department are a very valuable bee, 

 and will be the bee for the honey producer. 



I hope Prof. Benton will succeed in get- 

 ting Apis dorsata, but I doubt their stand- 

 ing our climate. J. M. Davis. 

 Spring Hill, Tenn., Dec. 6, 1905. 



[We are quite in sympathy with the state- 

 ment made by Mr. Davis, that these queens 

 should not be sent out indiscriminately until 

 we know something more of their qualities 

 aside from the gentleness of their stock. 

 All the bees we have of this race are on an 

 island in Florida, in charge of A. I. Root, 

 where we are testing them. We do not ex- 

 pect to sell queens of this race until we can 

 test them on the island. 



