170 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



oped veiy late in the season* ceased 

 the soonest to have any eggs or 

 brood, and several of the hives had 

 no honey at all. 



Now we have in Germany quite 

 enough idle and \n.7.y bees ; why then 

 should we import any more ? As you 

 already know, I have often ex- 

 pressed my opinion on the subject 

 of the importation of bees, I have 

 condemned this enormous impor- 

 tation, more especially on account 

 of beginners, because many of that 

 class vie with each other in procur- 

 ing bees of foreign races. Indeed, 

 many go so far as to say that we 

 ought not to import any bees at all. 

 I cannot absolutely conform to this. 



Following in the steps of our 

 agriculturists, let us infuse into our 

 domestic animals fresh blood from 

 outside ; in this manner we regen- 

 erate our bees by crossings with 

 other races. The cross of the Ital- 

 ian bee, for example, with the 

 Egyptian has a good effect. As 

 regards the absolute material form- 

 ing the cross, according to my 

 judgment the Italian bee has not 

 come up to the mark, for the queens 

 are weak, and the more I try to pre- 

 serve the race pure the greater 

 become my losses. 



The Cyprian bee, on the contrary, 

 has admirably sustained the test 

 from the point of view of vitality ; 

 with it we have obtained good pro- 

 ducts by crossing, I do not care 

 to have only Cyprians, on account 

 of their abominable habit of sting- 

 ing. Let those of you who do not 

 know the Caucasian bees not trouble 

 j^ourselves to make their acquaint- 

 ance. 



Mr. Vogel continued the discus- 

 sion thus : 1 have received for three 

 years past Caucasian bees from two 

 different quarters of that country, 

 thanks to the help of Dr. Butlerow, 



In the spring of 1879 twelve were 

 sent to me which did not come di- 

 rectly from the Caucasus, but by 

 mistake from the country of the 

 lower Don. The colonies with 

 these Caucasian queens developed 

 prodigiously. In July the hives 

 were crammed full of bees but — 

 there was no honey in them. 



These bees were gentle beyond 

 all description, for in the very 

 w^armest weather I have not been 

 able to make them sting. 



The wintering of these colonies 

 as well as of those raised later on 

 was excellent. During the summer 

 of 1880, the product in honey of 

 these Caucasian bees was still 

 equal to zero : the hives filled up 

 again in June and July with brood 

 and bees, but, in autumn they had 

 no honey, gathering-time in my 

 location ending with the reaping. 

 This Caucasian bee was therefore 

 of no value for my country ; there- 

 fore I cease to raise them. They 

 might perhaps do better for coun- 

 tries where there is plentj^ of honey 

 to gather in the autumn. 



In the course of the summer of 

 1879 I again received from Dr. But- 

 lerow four queens coming directly 

 from Weadikowsky in the Caucasus. 

 Of these four queens there were 

 above all two which distinguished 

 themselves in 1880; their hives 

 were populous, and very rich in 

 honey. The colonies raised by 

 me from these two queens distin- 



