DEVOTED TO SCIENTIFIC BEE-CULTURE AND THE PRODUCTION AND SALE OF PURE HONEY. 



VOL. XVII. 



CHICAGO, ILL., SEPTEMBER 28, 1881. 



No. 39. 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 

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Are the Cyprians More Ferocious ? 



In view of the division of opinion 

 which now prevails regarding the dis- 

 position of the Cyprian bee, the fol- 

 lowing letter from Mr. A. T. Williams, 

 St. Charles, Mo., will be read with 

 deep interest. The writer is a practi- 

 cal bee-keeper of much experience, a 

 shrewd, intelligent observer, perfectly 

 honest and candid in his opinions, and 

 his conclusions are certainly not influ- 

 enced by prejudice or interesteduess : 



As a general report on the Cyprian 

 bee seems to be in order, I will give 

 my experience. I make bee-keeping 

 a specialty, and rear but few queens 

 for sale. I received a fine imported 

 Cyprian queen from D. A.Jones early 

 last September, reared about 40 queens 

 from her, sold about 20, and the rest 

 were introduced to full colonies. 



They breed very late, and some of 

 them continued breeding so late they 

 used up all their stores and starved ; 

 the past winter being so severe it was 

 impossible to feed. I started last 

 spring with 11 Cyprian colonies, in- 

 cluding the imported queen. I had no 

 other bees in my home apiary except 

 Italians. My first swarm was from a 

 colony containing a Cyprian queen. 

 Of the 10 colonies. 8 swarmed before 

 I obtained one from the Italians, al- 

 though I had about 80 in the same 

 yard. From the 10 Cyprian colonies I 

 obtained more surplus honey than 

 from 10 of the best Italians in the 

 whole lot. 



This year I have reared over 300 Cyp- 

 rian queens, and have at present about 

 200 in full colonies. The queens are 

 more prolific, are a great deal more 

 nervous on the combs, especially the 



young, unfertile ones, which often fly 

 off the combs when lifted from the 

 hive. The workers are lighter colored 

 on the under side of the abdomen, 

 have a much more nervous disposition, 

 are very easily shaken off of the combs, 

 but will not drop from the corners of 

 the frames as the blacks do. They 

 are very easily disturbed, and will re- 

 sent any jar of the hive; they will 

 crawl out of the hive, and cannot be 

 driven with smoke as the Italians, but 

 with very careful handling they can be 

 manipulated faster than the Italians, 

 as the rapid motions do not seem to 

 disturb them as it does the Italians. 



I aimed to rear Italian drones to fer- 

 tilize the queens, but I think I have 

 had 25 or 30 fertilized with Cyprian 

 drones. They are much crosser than 

 the hybrids, and are not superior in 

 any particular. Some of them are so 

 cross there is no way to handle them ; 

 they cannot be induced to till them- 

 selves with honey, but when once 

 aroused will run and fly out of the 

 hives, are more rapid in their motions, 

 will sting as no other bees except 

 Egyptians can, will go long distances 

 from their hi ves to enter butldings and 

 attack, and they require a long time 

 to get quieted down. 



They are much easier to get in an 

 abnormal condition ; to deprive them 

 of their queen all seem to realize their 

 loss, and set to work to construct queen 

 cells ; will rear more queens, and they 

 will average better than those reared 

 by Italians. I believe the superior 

 prolificness of the Cyprian queens is 

 attributable to the extra care taken of 

 the cells. I have for years chosen the 

 crossest colonies of bees I had to rear 

 queens, and with the best results. I 

 claim a very quiet, industrious colony 

 of Italians will not build as many cells, 

 and the young queens will not average 

 as good as we can get from a nervous, 

 excitable colony of hybrids. On this 

 very point the Cyprians do excel. 



I believe the Cyprians are destined 

 to prove superior to the Italians in 

 prolificness of queens, better to enter 

 surplus boxes, easier to shake from 

 sections and combs, and earlier to 

 breed in spring. The only objection 

 to them is their disposition. I am un- 

 decided at present whether I will con- 

 tinue to breed them or return to the 

 Italians. If I should keep the Cypri- 

 ans, I will try and have choice Italian 

 drones to fertilize all my queens, and 

 rear no Cyprian drones. 



It will be seen that Mr. Williams 

 fully corroborates the opinion ex- 

 pressed in the Bee Journal of Aug. 

 10, page 252, regarding the disposition 

 of the Cyprians, and this is also borne 

 out by the testimony of others. It is 

 easy to imagine that the queens of 

 those who have found the bees so very 

 gentle and tractable have mated with 

 Italian drones, and thereby inherited 

 that amiable disposition which will 

 always make the better Italians a gen- 

 eral favorite. 



There is great unanimity in the tes- 

 timony of those who have crossed the 

 Cyprian stock with the Italian drones. 



They lose none of their vigor, they 

 are easily removed from the combs, 

 their industry is not diminished, and 

 their beauty is unimpaired. The dis- 

 tinctive traits of the Syrian or Pales- 

 tine bees are quite similar to those of 

 the Cyprians, and so far as our obser- 

 vation extends, the result of the cross 

 with the Italian drones is a decided 

 improvement. How far it will be 

 practicable to rear Italian drones for 

 this purpose we are at a loss to deter- 

 mine ; but imagine, in an apiary well 

 stocked with Cyprian or Syrian queens 

 it will be an impossibility to suppress 

 their drones, on account of earlier 

 breeding and swarming, and, hence, 

 their earlier drone-rearing proclivi- 

 ties. If, as seems to be the case, they 

 build proportionately more queen cells 

 when made queenless or preparing to 

 swarm (the queen-rearing atid drone- 

 rearing instincts being analogous), do 

 they tiot also rear more drones than 

 the Italians '( 



The disposition to breed later in the 

 fall and earlier in the spring will, in 

 Northern localities, prove an advant- 

 age ; but in central and Southern lat- 

 itudes it will be a serious objection, as 

 in the majority of winters breeding 

 will be kept up without intermission, 

 and starvation be the result, unless an 

 extra allowance of stores is provided. 

 During an unfavorable honey season 

 this in many cases would be impracti- 

 cable, in any latitude. 



If it should prove, after a full and 

 thorough series of investigations, that 

 the tongues of the Syrian and Cyprian 

 bees are of sufficient length to take 

 the nectar from red clover blossoms, 

 and it should be demonstrated practi- 

 cable to rear Italian drones with which 

 to modify their irrascible dispositions, 

 then these new races will prove an in- 

 valuable acquisition to our favorite 

 profession, and the further search for 

 the " coming bee " will be closed with 

 the glad refrain, "Eureka I Apis Amer- 

 icana I" But unless their dispositions 

 can be modified, they may bring bee- 

 keeping into disrepute in thickly pop- 

 ulated communities, and cities and 

 towns will unite in indicting us for 

 establishing and maintaining nui- 

 sances in their proximity. 



igf=We learn with regret that the 

 Rev. L. L. Langstroth's health is again 

 failing. In a private note to us he 

 says : " I am unable to take any inter- 

 est in bee matters." We much regret 

 this announcement, and hope that his 

 life may be prolonged and be more 

 cheerful as the years roll along. 



Extracting from Surplus Combs, etc. 



Mr. James Nipe, of Spring Prairie, 

 Wis., addresses us as follows: 



I would like to inquire, through the 

 Bee Journal, the best way and time 

 after the honey yield stops to extract 

 the surplus, where run for extracted 

 honey V Is it best to extract from the 

 upper story as soon as ripe, and return 

 the combs to the hives, or wait a few 

 weeks till cool weather comes and the 

 bees are reduced in numbers, then re- 

 move the honey and the upper sto- 

 ries at the same time, and save once 

 handling ? Would they not carry too 

 much below, if left that long ? 



Will it do to winter- a colony of bees 

 that cover 6 combs, on 3 combs nearly 

 empty and 3 filled full and capped V 

 My brood combs will be left pretty 

 empty, and I shall be obliged to give 

 winter supplies from the surplus. 



This summer I put combs contain- 

 ing moths into my hives ; if I am in a 

 hurry, the bees will clean them out 

 cheaper than I can. Such combs must 

 only be put in strong colonies. 



As soon as the honey yield has ceased 

 do your extracting, so as to give the 

 bees all the time possible for putting 

 their homes in order for winter. Many 

 bee-keepers of large experience do 

 their extracting at stated periods dur- 

 ing the season, or as fast as the yield 

 from each species of blossom has 

 entirely ceased, and this is quite nec- 

 essary where it is desirable to properly 

 grade and brand the honey. It is a 

 very difficult matter to sell honey as 

 white or sweet clover, if the purchaser 

 can detect one-fourth or one-half of it 

 as linden, and much buckwheat mixed 

 in will detract from the appearance 

 and price of heartsease and goldenrod 

 honey. We are of opinion, also, that 

 more honey will be obtained where 

 extracted as soon as the second story 

 is comfortably filled and properly ri- 

 pened, as the bees will work with 

 more vigor, and entertain less thought 

 of swarming. 



There need be little fear of the bees 

 carrying too much honey below, for it 

 can be easily detected when you over- 

 haul your hives to prepare the bees for 

 winter, and can remove some to give 

 the queen room to breed till the last 

 moment. This preparation should be 

 attended to during the last of Septem- 

 ber or first of October. 



Three empty combs are too many to 

 leave in the hive, where there are suf- 

 ficient bees to cover six frames. We 

 would prefer the other extreme : i. e., 

 one empty comb, four frames of honey, 

 and spread the five to occupy the space 

 of six. If a little honey is left in the 

 hive in spring it will do no harm, but 

 too many empty combs in midwinter 



