The American Apiculturist. 



% ^axxxnnl bttot^b to BtmxMc mtb |pntctital gcducping. 



EXTERED AT THE POST-OFFICE, SALEM, AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER. 



Puljlished Monthly. S. M. LocKE, Publisher .'t Trop'r. 



VOL. I. 



SALEM, MASS., DECEMBER, li 



No. 8. 



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CAUCASIAN BEES. 



By' Arthur Todd. 



A RECENT inimber of the Amer- 

 ican Apiculturist publishes an in- 

 teresting article upon the qualities 

 of this race of bees as noted in New 

 York State from the pen of a first- 

 rate apiculturist, Mr. Julius Hoff- 

 man of Fort Plain, N. Y. On the 

 occasion of a visit I made him 

 some months back he showed me 

 some of his colonies of Caucasian 

 bees, and we had a pleasant talk 

 upon their merits. Having recently 

 received through the courtesy of my 

 friend Mr. Layensof Paris, and Mr. 

 Bertrand the editor of the "Bulle- 

 tin d'Apiculteur" for Switzerland, 

 an entire collection of that journal 

 for the past three j^ears, I found 

 therein a report of an apicultural 

 congress held at Erfurt in Ger- 



many, where the followingquestions 

 were submitted for discussion. 



"Has the newly introduced race 

 of Caucasian bees any special 

 value to us from a breeder's point 

 of view, and what other race of 

 bees would be particularly advanta- 

 geous for crossing purposes ? " 



Mr. Hilbert replied as follows : — 



The greater part of those present 

 know I have just established a new 

 apiary, and that in buying stocks 

 I have endeavored to procure all 

 the known races of bees. The re- 

 ports of the Russian Councillor of 

 State, Dr. Butlerow, made known 

 the Caucasian bee. By the kind 

 intervention of this gentleman I 

 have received two queens, natives of 

 the Caucasus ; Mr. Gunther of Gis- 

 perslehen also sent me three 

 queens, so that I commenced with 

 five Caucasian queens. We may 

 sum up the qualities of this race of 

 bees in three words, — gentle, idle, 

 non-prolific. 



I recommend these bees as gentle, 

 although there are some few among 

 them that may prove diabolical for 

 stinging. You know, as well as I 

 do, that each race of bees has its 

 own distinctive shades of character ; 

 now the Caucasian race is the most 

 idle of all races. 



As regards "increase " my five 

 queens and their colonies devel- 

 (1C9) 



