THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



69 



Gleanings In Bee-Culture. 



American Apiary in Cyprus. 



FRANK BENTON. 



The photograph, tlie best and larg- 

 est that could be obtained here, shows 

 only a small part of the apiary, whose 

 foreground is cut off, and which ex- 

 tends some distance to the right, and 

 a part of which is the large inclos- 

 ure back of the house. 



Most of the hives shown in the pic- 

 ture are plain boxes, of about 2000 

 cubic inches cnpacity; designed to 

 hold medium-sized colonies for queen- 

 rearing — all queens being reared in 

 full colonies. The whole apiary is 

 devoted to this liranch of bee culture, 

 and of course movable combs are 

 used exclusively, the loose-fitting 

 Langstroth being employed to the ex- 

 clusion of all other styles. The size, 

 however, is 9 Indies deep by 10 long 

 outside. Twelve of these are placed 

 in one story, but sometimes twelve 

 more are put into a second story, 

 placed above the other. ]3ut even on 

 four of these combs, a queen with 

 plenty of young bees and a good sup- 

 ply of honey will winter here. 



the same size as the others, but the 

 walls are generally a little over twice 

 as thick as those made of burnt clay, 

 being quite two inches. Of course, 

 they are very heavy, unwieldy things; 

 yet {since tliere are few trees in 

 Cyprus) these thick clay walls protect 

 the combs from the sun even better 

 than do the thinner burnt clay ones. 

 In winter, too, they keep the bees 

 warmer. The diameter of those 

 cylinders is greater at the rear end 

 than in front, in order to facilitate the 

 removal of combs of honey; for from 

 these, as well as from the other kind 

 of hives, tlie natives take such an 

 amount of honey as they think the 

 bees can spare, by cutting the combs 

 out from the back end, after the re- 



Franh Benton^s Apiary, Larnuca, Island of Cyprus, Mediterranean Sea. 



The costumes of Greeks, Arabs, and 

 Turks, witli the group of camels, give 

 to the view a decidedly Oriental air. 

 The camels have just arrived from 

 the interior of tlie island, and the at- 

 tendants are busy removing their 

 loads of clay cylinders— the native 

 bee-hives. A Turkish woman belong- 

 ing to the caravan stands near. 



In the group at the left is a priest of 

 the (ireekchurch.witli a Greek citizen, 

 and a (ireek ])orter, the latter being 

 about to start for tlie steamer landing, 

 with a case of bees for shipment, 

 while the two former are watching 

 "■ Amerikanns''' manipulate a hive of 

 bees. " But, can they be handled 

 thus with so many people and 

 animals?" asks some one. Certainly 

 they can. if one knows how to manage 

 them, and has a bit of patience. 



At tlie extreme left of the porch are 

 some twenty clay cylinders piled up 

 like drain-tiles. These are some of 

 the bee-hives of the natives, and this 

 shows exactly the manner in which 

 their apiaries are arranged— is, in 

 fact, a model of a Cyprus apiary. 

 The cylinders are made of clay, and 

 burnt, and each is about a yard long 

 and !1 or 10 inches in diameter, except 

 each end. whicli is a little larger. A 

 stone disc is fitted into each end, and 

 the crevices, except an entrance-liole, 

 filled with puddled clay. 



On the roof is another model (!) 

 apiary, such as may be seen at many 

 a Cypriote's home. The cylinders of 

 this collection are made of clay, into 

 which short straw has been incorpora- 

 ted, and they liave been merely dried 

 in the sun. Inside they are of about 



moval of the rear disc, and after.the 

 bees have been driven forward with 

 smoke. But brood and some dirt 

 often get mixed with the combs taken 

 out, which are then crushed, and the 

 honey strained out; hence tlie quality 

 is very poor; yet 13 cents per pound 

 (14 piastres per oke) iS the price com- 

 monly asked for it in the bazaars. It 

 often happens that the poor bees find 

 their winter stores have been stolen 

 from them, and that, after a hard 

 year's toil in the hot, scorching hot, 

 summer sun. they must starve in the 

 cold. Surely. I "hope there are no 

 Cypriotes in America, and that all of 

 the beautiful little workers I send 

 over there will fare better than would 

 have been the case if they had been 

 left to the not very tender mercies of 

 Greek or Turkish Cypriotes. 



