1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1183 



tempers, and I have yet to record the first 

 sting. 



Now, why will a magazine like the Amer- 

 ican Bee-keeper come out and try to give 

 such a race a black eye? 



I suppose it is because they are a new 

 race (I mean, of course, the bees) that they 

 are thus attacked; and I am told that, when 

 the Italians were first discovered or brought 

 out in this country, they were denied the 

 qualities we now know that they possess. 



Perhaps the friend who writes against 

 Caucasians imagined he had Caucasian bees 

 when, perchance, they might have been a 

 cross, or the queen had not been purely 

 mated before he got her. 



I personally am inclined to think that he 

 did not have any real Caucasians at all. I 

 know they are far being a worthless race. 



Mr, E. L. Pratt, of Swarthmore, Pa., has 

 some 38 colonies of pure Caucasian bees, 

 and he has not found them worthless; and 

 his experience and word have great weight 

 with me, for I consider him one of the 

 brainiest bee-keepers in this or any other 

 country, and without an equal in practi- 

 cal knowledge] of the habits of the honey- 

 bee. 



Give the Caucasians a chance; and before 

 any one condemns them, let him be sure 

 that he has pure Caucasians and not a hy- 

 brid. 



CAUCASIAN BEES. 



Gentle and Industrious, but Bad Propolizers. 



BY J. G. BAUMGAERTNER. 



On pp.ge 1067 the American Bee-keeper is 

 quoted as not being in favor of the Cauca- 

 sian bees. As it may be interesting to re- 

 ceive other reports regarding this race of 

 bees I will give my experience. I have one 

 colony of Caucasians. The queen is very 

 prolific, although she is smaller than most 

 other, queens. The workers are exceedingly 

 gentle — so much so that I can at any time 

 of the day open the hive, and jar and shake 

 the combs, without smoke or veil. When 

 one frame is taken out, and bees shaken 

 back over the rest of the frames, they will 

 not fly up, but run right down between the 

 frames. I have never seen any bees that 

 were less inclined to boil over. 



They protect their hive well, equal to the 

 Italians. They are uniform in color, but a 

 trifle smaller than other races. 



Regarding their working qualities, I had 

 only limited opportunity of testing them, as 

 this year was a total failure. During the 

 four or five days when Spanish needle was 

 in bloom, before the rain spoiled it, I watch- 

 ed them closely, and compared them with 

 other colonies of equal strength (Italians, 

 Carniolans, and Holy Lands), and had the 

 imj)ression that they did as well as any of 

 their competitors. But when it came to glu- 

 ing up the hive they were at the head too, 

 and in this respect I am displeased with 



them. However, I am of the opinion that, 

 if the average run of Caucasians are up to 

 the colony I possess, we have reason to be 

 grateful to the U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture for its efforts in obtaining this ex- 

 tremely gentle race of bees; for, even if 

 they are not superior to some of the other 

 races of bees in working capacity, and the 

 average bee-keeper could get along very 

 well without them, they are, nevertheless, 

 an acquisition to city bee-keepers, where a 

 colony of them could even be kept on the 

 back porch, providing it were placed high 

 enough so little children could not take them 

 in hand. These are also the bees for the 

 timid beginner or the lady bee-keeper. 



HOME-MADE WINTERING-CASES; THE USE OF 

 ROOFING PAPER. 



I wonder if those 30-cent home-made chaff 

 hives of Mr. McGlade's, page 1078, are bet- 

 ter than the wintering-cases I made this 

 fall, I bought some three-ply tar roofing- 

 paper for $1,25 per roll, and got some dry- 

 goods-boxes, which would usually cost ten 

 cents apiece. However, this time I got them 

 for the hauling. They were made of |, J, 

 and one inch stuff. I took every thing that 

 was large enough and too large. The big 

 ones I cut down to the required size. They 

 were made large enough to go down over 

 the hive and leave two or three inches of 

 space all around and on top. Now, these 

 boxes were covered with tar roofing. One 

 roll of paper is just enough to cover eight 

 cases for eight-frame L. hives; so the paper 

 for each box cost about 15J cents. In pre- 

 paring the hives for winter I let the bees 

 seal down the cover hermetically (no quilt 

 under it) ; next, old newspapers or old car- 

 pet paper, if folded, in several layers, over 

 and around the hive. On top of this are put 

 old carpets, gunny sacks, etc., sufficiently 

 thick to fill out the space between the hive 

 and case, which is now slipped down over 

 the whole. When the packing is finished, 

 the apiary presents a neat appearance, and 

 these case sought to last a number of years 

 too. Should the weather affect the paper 

 after a few years, it will not be a great ex- 



Eense to give them a coat or two of the as- 

 estos preparation used on roofs, and then 

 they would be as good as new. 



But what is of greatest importance, thus 

 packed the bees will be as warm as or warmer 

 than any chaff hive can keep them; and pa- 

 per and gunny sacks will not cause such a 

 litter in the yard in spring, when unpacking 

 is going on, as chaff or sawdust would. Of 

 course, some will argue that, with such air- 

 tight packing, there is no upward ventila- 

 tion. But I don't believe there is as much 

 in this upward- ventilation theory as some 

 think. Where is the upward ventilation in 

 the old box hives or in most of the hollow 

 trees, where bees winter perfectly? 

 New Memphis, 111. , Oct. 20. 



[Your winter cases are cheap and good, 

 friend B. I think you will find that they 

 will work well too.— Ed.] 



