THE AMERICAN APICULTU RIST. 



65 



PUNIC BEES. 



The August (1891) issue of the Api 

 contained a long description of this new 

 race of bees. The demand for that 

 particular copy of the Api has been so 

 large that the supply has become ex- 

 hausted, and it is necessary to again 

 give a descri|)tion of these wonderful 

 bees for the benefit of our new read- 

 ers. 



As this new race has been in our api- 

 ary since July, 1 891, the statements be- 

 low are founded on the experience the 

 writer has had with them. 



The Punic bee, Apis niger, is small- 

 er than our native black bees, or Ital- 

 ians. The young bees are the color of 

 green ebony, shading off to true raw 

 ebony to polislied ebony when old and 

 all hairs are worn off them. 



Their qualities are : ist. They are 

 the tamest bees known. 



2nd. In crossing with other races, 

 this quality is very marked. 



3rd. They are the hardiest bees 

 known. 



4th. They do not fly into the snow 

 like otiier bees. 



5th. They begin work before sun- 

 rise and have the ground picked over 

 before other kinds are on the move. 



6th. If the day is rather dull, or 

 cool, they will be working in full blast 

 though no other kinds of bees will be 

 flying. 



7th. The queens are very prolific. 



8th. In a fair season the smallest 

 nuclei will build up without feeding 

 into a grand good stock for winter. 



9th. They beat every other kind in 

 their working energies. 



loth. It is claimed they will fill and 

 seal sections fuller, and cap them whit- 

 er than any other bees. 



nth. For extracted honey they have 

 no equal. 



12th. They cluster well on their 

 combs, spread evenly over them, and 

 shake off readily. 



To sum up, we have a bee, docile, 

 hard-working, prolific, and best for 



comb hone\\ They have many other 

 good points, that are more in lavor of 

 the queen breeder, horticulturist, etc., 

 than the honey producer ; this being the 

 party to appreciate the Punic. 



If a ])nre Punic drone mates with a 

 queen of any other race, the resulting 

 bees ah-nost equal pure Punics for honey 

 gathering, and in other respects the 

 cross is very marked. 



I have never seen their ecj^ual in 

 building comb, which is nearly always 

 worker, as white as snow. 'Iheir brood 

 is always compact and sealed in such 

 a manner that I could easily pick out a 

 frame of I unic brotxl from among a 

 thousand. 



In "buihliug up" all we have to do 

 is to see that they have plenty of stores, 

 if not, then feed them as rapidly as 

 possible and \vi them alone. 



All the Punics require is plenty of 

 room, and sure enough they will find it 

 if left alone. 



I have tried Palestines, Syrians — 

 Italians. Cyprians and Carniolans, with 

 the results that I find that the only bees 

 which excel are the Punics. Yellow 

 Carniolans are a good strain and stood 

 first on the list. 



Mr. Hewett claims that it is quite a 

 regular thing for a first swarm to leave 

 200 queen cells behind, while 600 is 

 really nothing to be surprised at. If 

 a frame filled with drone foundation, or 

 a drone comb cut down to midrib, is 

 put in a stock about preparing to swarm, 

 ev.ry drone cell will be worked out into 

 a queen cell, that is vertically, but hex- 

 agonally, and when sealed every bee- 

 keeper would say it was drone brood 

 that was sealed o\er. I think it is 

 quite possible to get 2,000 cells sealed 

 in this manner. 



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GEO. H. STAHL,,Pat. A Sole Mfr., QuiDcy,Ill. 



