l!_ii)4 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



181 



hv I'unie race, and we are now able 

 glean many facts; tirst, it is prac- 

 ically worthless as a honey bee com- 

 )ared with Funics, and second, they 

 ill not cross-mate and therefore it is 

 [uite useless for "crossing" purposes. 



This bee I first imported in 1886. It 

 s of the genus Apis Nigra, and there- 

 ore all black, in fact blacker than any 

 )ees native to any part of Europe or 

 America; it comes from Ancient Poeu- 

 a in North Africa, and was cultivated 

 or its honey long before the Romans 

 )egan to practice husbandry of any 

 iud. ^^'e are indebted to the Poen- 

 ans for the best features of horticul- 

 ure and agriculture, whose success so 

 ncited the Romans they at last suc- 

 eeded in crushing them; the, bees 

 lowever, remained pure and uncontam- 

 uated up to 181(1, when I imported a 

 arge number of queens to start their 

 •reeding here. 



These bees ace proof against foul 

 •rood, and if hives are large enough, 

 hey will not swarm. They are the 

 amest bees known; in fact just the 

 )ees to produce honey in the greatest 

 uantity with the least trouble, and it 

 5 on these lines the most dollars will 

 »e raked in. 



These bees have made themselves at 

 lome In every country no matter hovr 

 lot or how cold, hence when Major 

 5mith wrote to the British Bee .Tour- 

 lal on October 3rd, 1901, page 397. for 

 dvice in starting bee-keeping in India, 

 nd the editors told him to take out 

 European queens and introduce theni 

 the native stock of bees. Apis In- 

 lica, I wrote to him to caution him 

 gainst following such advice, as these 

 »ees will not, on any account, accept 

 ny queen of any European race, and 

 iven if it could be done, the queen 

 ould not lay eggs in their combs as 

 he cells ace too small. These bees (A. 

 ndica) build combs 5-8 inch thick, 

 paced 7-8 inch from center to center; 

 et these people who profess to know 

 11 about all foreign bees, with a libra- 

 y of 10,000 volumes, gave t^Js absurd 

 dvice to Major Smith. They, know- 

 Dg of Major Smith's success, told an- 

 ther party on August 2()th, 1003. page 

 36, that all the European bees sent to 

 ndia have sooner cc later died off, and 

 dvised the keeping of the Native 

 pis Indica in English hives. 

 In writing to Major Smith, I ad- 

 ised him to try the Funics as they 

 ad the happy peculiarity of making 

 emselves at home and doing well in 

 very country I sent them to and they 



were the only race I knew of which 

 had not been tried in ludia and failed. 

 Early in December, lOOl, I received a 

 letter from him asking me to pack up 

 a nucleus of Punic bees, for his broth- 

 CB." to bring with him. As soon as I 

 had read it, a telegram came from his 

 brothei':- to send them that day for him. 

 The bees had been unable to fiy for 

 two months through ])ad weather and 

 it was ^•ery frosty. The bees had to 

 be safely packed and combs wired fast 

 to the frames, but I got them off in 

 time to reach London at 8 a. m., and 

 I arranged the box so that the bees 

 could l)e given a fly on the way, and 

 particularly requested that this should 

 be done. As a matter of fact, his 

 brother was afraid to let them out 

 and they never got even one fly on 

 the way, with the result nearly all the 

 bees were dead on arrival. 



Major Smith says under date of Jan- 

 uary 11th. 1002, "I ct)uld only see very 

 few bees between the combs ; to me 

 there did not seem as if there were 

 more than about a hundred, if so 

 many, but did not lift out the frames 

 and examine them as it was rather 

 cold." Yet these self same bees in- 

 creased to six full stocks in two-story 

 hives and yielded 2.") pounds of honey 

 before the end of the year. 



I soon after received another order 

 for a nucleus of Punic bees for India, 

 which I sent ofl" after the frost had 

 broken up and they not only had a 

 good fly before I sent them, but also 

 three on the way. They arrived with 

 two patches of sealed brood, though 

 the queen was not laying when sent. 

 These were for George Oakes, Esq., 

 Walpole House, Ootacamund. India, a 

 neighbor of Major Smith's, who has 

 written to me several times. In one, 

 dated April 11th. 1903, he says there 

 is no "cross mating with Apis Dorsata 

 or Apis Indica and I infinitely prefer 

 Funics to either variety. A gentle- 

 man near here expressed his surprise 

 at my Funic bees, he said when he 

 was last at home they had a bad name 

 for viciousness, but as far as my ex- 

 perience goes, one could not have bet- 

 ter mannered or more tractable bees, 

 and they will take a lot of beating in 

 any respect.'' Since he wrote this I 

 have noticed an editorial article in 

 the "Field" for September 5th, page 

 440. which reports their doings down 

 to .Tune 1st. when eight of the lots had 

 produced 13 sealed sections and 2.34 

 pounds of honey, but as the best part 



