THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Tanuar 



Cuba just as well as in the United ence with Punic bees for twelve yea 



States and, in fact, much better than is so different to what Prof Bentc 



in Florida, and can be kept just as says they are, that I feel sure the 



long; in fact, it is produced both must be either some very great mi 



summer and winter, and constant and take, or there is something unde 



expensive vigilance is not required neath the surface that I know not 



here in Cuba as it is in Florida. ing of. 



I have kept comb honey here the I see you say, on page 213 "th 



year round and had no "weeping" or they have been active honey gathere 



sweating from it ^vhatever. In regard and have been, under all circur 



to producmg a hne class of comb stances, very gentle and amiabh 



honey in Cuba, I will say that it all Surely this does not confirm Pre 



Ifrl Th fi T"^""';, 7^^ "^T Benton's statement on page 204, th 



care, the finer the product, and let they are "spiteful stingers, as vi 



ron.f':. 'h^ '•'■' r^u' ,^h^" the dictive as the worst race known." 



honey producers m Cuba learn this, a t i. -j t , 



then the desired results will be accom- , ^^ ^ , ^^ ^^'°' ^ "^^e kept Puni 



plished. fo.^ twelve years, and my experien 



1 have taken 400 pounds of first- "^'^^ ^^^'^ '^ ^^ follows: 

 class comb honey from a colony in ^- Their temper. — I have nev 



a single season. My comb honey is found them more irritable than ai 



sold in Havana for ten cents per other kind of bee. I have always be^ 



pound. This is what I get for it in able to handle them well and comfoi' 



gold, laid down there. ably; in fact, my experience has bc' 



Remember, as a rule, when you are that they are less irritable than sor 



producing a fancy class of comb hon- kinds I have had to do with, especi; 



ey, you are simply catering to the ly the Ligurian, which I found a mc 



users of luxuries. Wealthy and savage race. 



stylish customers will have a fine 2. Wintering.— I never found a. 



article at any price A little intelli- race winter better and wanting le 



gence will prove this. See that not attention and care than Punic be. 



one pound of comb honey leaves They require less covering and sta 



your apiary that is not in first-class ^^^ ^ ^f this climate admirab 



shape. A successful apiarist will 

 look well to this point. Grade all 

 the honey honestly. Above all, I be- 

 seech you, let taste and neatness be 

 your leading star. 



keeping perfectly healthy and kee 

 ing their hives clean and dry. 



3. They are proof against fc 

 brood. I have not had a single ca 

 of disease since I began to keep th 

 race. I have on more than one occ 

 sion given a swarm to friends who 

 hives were infected throughout wi 

 foul brood, which they put in the 

 An English Clergyman Who Has apiaries and not a single swarm 



gave took the disease. 



I was much struck by the fact th 

 an "expert" of the British Bee-Kee 

 ers' Association, who had "laug 

 at," "scoffed at" and "ridiculed" r 

 apiary of Punic bees, for at least t\ 

 years, when on his rounds visitii 

 this district, entered an apiary bad 

 infected with foul brood, and he sa 



EDITOR AMERICAN BEE- to the owner: "You have the disea 

 KEEPER:— I notice a long arti- badly here. All your hives ha^ 

 cle by Prof. Frank Benton in it except one, and this one is healtl 

 your October issue, and I am not a and strong, and these appear to be^ 

 little surprised at some of his state- different kind of bee. Can you a| 

 ments. I scarcely know how to ex- count for this?" And the owner rj 

 press my astonishment at the state- plied, "Oh, yes; those are M 

 ments I refer to, because my experi- Kempe's kind of bees. They are 



Matanzas, Cuba, Nov. 25, 1904. 



PUNIC BEES AGAIN. 



Kept Funics for Twelve Years, 

 Disagrees Emphatically with Prof. 

 Benton. 



By Rev. J. A. Kempe, 



Vicar of the Parish of S. Veryan, 



Cornwall. 





