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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Reports of the Season are 



daily growing better, from nearly all 

 over the, country, and bee-keepers (as 

 well as the bees themselves) are taking 

 new hope, and feel that the worst is 

 now past for this year. The basswood 

 seems to be yielding very heavy, and 

 clover is unexpectedly proving its old- 

 time claim to being an excellent yielder 

 of nectar. Gleanings, for July 15, 

 speaks thus editorially of the season at 

 Medina, Ohio, and particularly of the 

 basswood honey-flow : 



The flow from basswood has been ex- 

 ceptionally heavy. We never saw the 

 bees working so strong as they have 

 been during the last week. On or about 

 the first of July our colonies were on the 

 verge of starvation. At this date, July 

 12, all the hives are crammed full of 

 honey, and even nuclei have filled their 

 combs. This large supply of nectar 

 seems to come entirely from young 

 basswood trees, because the old ones 

 have been cut down for sections. 



Later.— It transpires that some of this 

 honey, at least, is from white clover, 

 which, this year, we thought would 

 amount to nothing. 



The So-Called Punic Bees. 



— Mr. Thos. Win. Cowan, one of the 

 editors of the British Bee Journal, has 

 returned from his trip to Northern 

 Africa, whither he went to trace the 

 origin of the so-called Punic bees. In 

 the issues of his paper for June 23 and 

 30,1892, he writes thus of the results of 

 his investigations, from which we make 

 the following extracts : 



Now that we have returned from our 

 travels in Tunis and Algeria, no doubt 

 our friends will like to know something 

 about the bees of these countries, of the 

 different apiaries we have visited, and 

 of our experiences with bees in Africa, 

 pleasant and otherwise. 



The journey was undertaken in the 

 interests of bee-keeping, and for the 

 purpose of removing, if possible, some 

 uncertainties that existed with regard 

 to the bees of North Africa. Our origi- 

 nal plan has been, with few variations, 

 carried out ; and after visiting Tunis, 

 Algeria, and taking Switzerland on our 

 way, we have returned home greatly 

 benefited by the change. During our 



travels we visited 32 apiaries, and gath- 

 ered very much information. 



Whether or no there were two races 

 of bees in North Africa was the object 

 of our visit, and we also wanted to see 

 for ourselves if the gentleman who had 

 supplied them had two races in his 

 neighborhood, and if the stories about 

 the difficulty of getting these bees were 

 true. 



On our arrival in Tunis, before going 

 to visit an old correspondent of the 

 British Bee Journal, who is a large pro- 

 prietor, cultivating 9,000 acres of land, 

 as well as being a bee-keeper, we en- 

 gaged a guide and interpreter, and 

 through him made our investigations. 

 Our readers, we hope, will not be sur- 

 prised to hear that we were on the very 

 spot from whence Tunisian bees had 

 been-sent to England, and the proprie- 

 tor was not a little astonished to hear 

 that his bees had been called Punies by 

 the importer. We very soon found out 

 all about them, and instead of there 

 being such a difficulty in getting them, 

 there was none at all. 



Now, as regards those bees that were 

 sent over to England : The closest in- 

 vestigation showed that they were just 

 the ordinary Tunisian bees, identical 

 with those of Algeria and Morocco. The 

 most careful inquiries were made, but 

 no other bees were found. We need 

 hardly say that no such race as "Punic" 

 was found, and no one that we came 

 across knew of any other race of bees 

 but the ordinary ones. The Regency 

 of Tunis is not large, and there was no 

 more difficulty in getting information 

 about persons there than there is in 

 Sheffield. We visited Carthage, and 

 saw all that there was to be seen, but 

 found none of the so-called Punic bees 

 there. 



Mrs. Jennie Atcnley has sent 

 us a sample of her very yellow bees, 

 which are indeed exceedingly active, 

 bright and beautiful. It is surprising 

 what pleasing results may be obtained 

 in the way of color and business in bees 

 by careful selection in breeding. 



Honey-Candy is made as follows: 

 " Take one pint of sugar, with water 

 enough to dissolve it, and four table- 

 spoonfuls of honey. Boil until it be- 

 comes brittle on being dropped into cold 

 water. Pour off into buttered pans. 



