180 



THE AMERICAN APICULTUIUST. 



tiaii bee when brought to Europe 

 and America. In fact, after fouf 

 j-ears of experience with the bees 

 of Palestine I regard them as con- 

 stituting an inconstant race form- 

 ing a connecting link between the 

 Syrian and Egyptian bees, resem- 

 bling more nearly the Egyptians 

 than any other race, yet to be 

 preferred rather than the latter, 

 although not equal to the Syrians. 

 Such is the true '■'-Holy Land" bee. 

 Going northward on the main- 

 land lying adjacent to the Med- 

 iterranean, we find, after passing 

 the mountain-range above men- 

 tioned, a A'ery different bee — -the 

 race of S^ria proper. These bees 

 are larger and more golden yellow 

 than those of Palestine, very 

 uniform in general color and mark- 

 ings. The queens are generally 

 larger, a greater number are yel- 

 low^ rather than leather colored, 

 and they are even more prolific 

 than the queens of Palestine. The 

 drones, instead of being such a 

 complete gray in color, are more 

 or less mottled with yellow. The 

 workers do not run on the combs 

 nor do they drop oif at all unless 

 the combs are shaken. They can 

 be handled much more easily than 

 the bees of Palestine, and, even if 

 aroused, are less vindictive. They 

 are beautiful bees. The fuzz on 

 their bodies is brown with just a 

 tinge of gray, and the three golden- 

 yellow bands are distinct and never 

 lacking. The type is well fixed, 

 and in all parts of the Lebanon 

 only a distinctly golden-yellow, 

 active, strong-winged race is to be 

 found, which distinguishes itself 



for its prolificness and its good 

 honey-gathering qualities. In 

 short, we see here a race far more 

 closely related to the Cyprians 

 than to the Palestines, and like 

 the Cyprians, they winter better 

 than do Italian bees, while, with 

 care, they can be manipulated 

 more rapidlj' than Italians. Such 

 is the Syrian race of bees, which, 

 introduced into America in its 

 purity, cannot fail to find favor 

 with the mass of intelligent apia- 

 rists. I never recommend the 

 "Holy Land" bee further than the 

 above recommends it, and though 

 I have better facilities for procur- 

 ing these bees than the Syrians 

 and can get them at somewhat less 

 cost, yet I must state my convic- 

 tion that, of the two races, the Sy- 

 rian is decidedly the preferable one. 

 I have addressed many queens of 

 each race to Europe and America 

 and have never failed to mark 

 plainly' on each box the name of 

 the locality from which its contents 

 came so that if, in the face of my 

 remonstrances, some have per- 

 sisted in mixing them together and 

 calling them all "Holy Land" 

 queens, I am not to be blamed for 

 the present jumbled-up state of 

 public opinion regarding Eastern 

 bees. Nor should the good bees 

 of Syria forever bear a bad name 

 because somebody chooses to make 

 them associate with bad company. 

 For my part I have always called 

 and shall continue to call, the bees 

 from north of the mountain range 

 mentioned Syrian bees, and re- 

 strict the term Palestine bees to 

 those from so\ith of that range. 



