242 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Pni-e Races of Bees. 



Mr. Frank Benton, wrote the fol- 

 lowing letter, from the Mount Leba- 

 non Apiary, Beyrout, Syria, dated 

 March 6. 1882, to the editor of the 

 British Bee Journal, to correct an edi- 

 torial statement in the February num- 

 ber of that paper : 



In the British Bee Journal, for Feb- 

 ruary, page 214, 1 find in the " Reply 

 to Query No. 443," signed " Ed.," the 

 following statements, which are such 

 as to demand a word of correction 

 from me : 



■"It was claimed by Messrs. Jones 

 and Benton that the Cyprian and 

 Syrian bees weredistinctin character, 

 and they immediately set to work to 

 breed both races in the Cyprians' 

 apiary ; and the Italian breeders liave 

 been doing worse by breeding Cypri- 

 ans and Syrians in their Ligurian 

 apiaries, so that eventually it will be 

 difficult to find or keep a pure race at 

 all." 



True, Mr. Jones as well as myself, 

 think the Cyi>rian and Syrian bee 

 sufficiently "distinct in character " 

 to merit different names. But the 

 nextstatement can best be answered 

 by a brief account of the work under- 

 taken by Mr. Jones and myself. We 

 came to Cyprus together in March, 

 1880, and immediately establislied an 

 apiary in Larnaca. While purchasing 

 colonies in Cyprus and rearing (lueens 

 in tlie apiary at Larnaca, Mr. Joues 

 went to Syria and obtained a number 

 of colonies of Syrian bees, also from 

 Palestine a number of colonies were 

 obtained. Tliese were brought to 

 Cyprus and transferred at once from 

 the clay cylinders into frame hives. 

 The drones were destroyed in order 

 to prevent the mis-mating of young 

 Cyprian queens; and, in order to as- 

 certain what effect crossing Syrian 

 queens wilh Cyprian droiies" (the 

 handsomest of all drones) would liave, 

 a few Syrian and a few Palestine 

 queens were hatched ni the apiary at 

 l^arnaca. Then Mr. Jones started on 

 his homeward journey, taking with 

 him every Syrian queen and every 

 Palestine queen which he had brought 

 to Cyprus, and also all queens reared 

 from those mothers. 



After that a few daughters of the 

 original imported Syrian queens were 

 permitted to hatch, and were sent out 

 by me as Syrian queens fertlized by 

 Cyprian drones, butnoneof these were 

 sent to England or to Italy, except a 

 single one sent to the editor of the 

 British Bee Journal, and mentioned on 

 page 45, of July number, 18S0. All 

 colonies having been supplied with 

 queen cells from Cyprian mothers, 

 and the hatching of Syrian and Pales- 

 tine drones having been prevented, it 

 will readily be seen that there was not 

 after that time a drop of Syrian or 

 Palestine blood in the apiary, except. 

 of course, the few worker bees, the 

 progeny of the queens sent away. 



The past season also I obtained a 

 tew colonies from the mainland, and, 

 after sending the queens away, 

 hatched a few daughters from their 



brood, so as to produce a cross be- 

 tween Syrian queens and Cyprian 

 drones, and all the latter were sent to 

 Mr. Jones, in Canada, for purposes of 

 experiment. Thus, at the present 

 time there are no bees in Cyprus that 

 contain the least taint of any foreign 

 blood, nor has there in fact any ad- 

 mixture of races taken place. Further- 

 more, as the statement above quoted 

 brings in question the quality of 

 queeus sent out by me, I have only to 

 say that every queen sent out iis a 

 Cyprian queen is bred in Cyprus ; 

 everyone sent out as a Syrian is bred 

 in Syria; and every Palestine queen 

 comes from Palestine, and at least in 

 this part of the world, if not in other 

 parts, there exists not the least chance 

 of an intermixture of the races. 



It is true that the Italian queen 

 breeders have been getting Cyprian 

 bees. This they have done in the be- 

 lief that the latter would iuiprove 

 their own bees, and if they continue 

 in this direction they are not likely to 

 be disappointed, for the bees of Cyprus, 

 as well as those of Syria, possess an 

 animal vigor and power of transmit- 

 ting their qualities to their offspring 

 with other bees, not found aiiiong 

 Italian bees. 



Speaking of crossing Cyprian and 

 Italian bees. Count Gaetano Barbo, 

 President of the National Society for 

 the Encouragement of Bee-Culture in 

 Italy, and one of the highest authori- 

 ties in that country on bee matters, 

 recently wrote: /'I am convinced 

 that the crossing of Cyprian drones 

 with Italian queens will give good re- 

 sults." 



Professor Sartori, of Milan, another 

 of Italy's first aiilhorities in bee-cul- 

 ture, it was who imported the first 

 Cyprian bees into Italy, and since 

 then other prominent queen breeders 

 there have obtained them. I have 

 sent a number of consigniaents direct 

 from Cyprus there, but have sent no 

 Syrian "as yet, nor do I think any of 

 this last race have gone there alive. 



I have good reason to believe that 

 all the Syrian and Palestine bees thus 

 far landed in Italy were collected in 

 alcohol by an Italian queen breeder, 

 who then wrote some columns for 

 publication, in order to tell of his 

 wonderful exploit in capturing them ! 



In clo.sing I would like to mention 

 still another point which may not be 

 generally known in England, as I am 

 sure it is not in America, namely, the 

 fact that black bees exist in Italy. Of 

 this I can adduce many ant liori ties, 

 and from the Italian bee journals 

 themselves, as witnesses. Thus I do 

 not believe the introduction of Cyp- 

 rian bees there will make things any 

 worse, but it is quite possible an im- 

 provement may be effected in the bees 

 of Italy. 



We had supposed it to be pretty gen- 

 erally known in America that there 

 are, or have been, black bees in Italy. 

 The testimony on this point is not 

 only direct, but many of the bees 

 brought from there are more or less 

 corroborative on this point, unless it 

 be admitted that the Italian bees 



themselves are a mixed or non-dis- 

 tinctive race ; and perhaps both views 

 of the case are correct, as Count Barbo 

 has asserted that Italian bees have 

 been bred there with the peculiar 

 markings of the C.tprians. Queens 

 have been imported from there which 

 produced hybrid bees, and it is noto- 

 rious that neither the queens nor the 

 bees there are uniform in themselves, 

 or among their i)rogeny. Yet we do 

 know that superior bees have been 

 bred in America from the imported 

 Italians, either direct or through dis- 

 criminating selection. 



The proof is positive, however, tliat 

 black bees do exist in Italy. Mr. D. 

 A. Jones asserted publicly and posi- 

 tively he had seen black bees in the 

 vicinity of Rome Itself ; Mr. Frank 

 Benton says they exist in Italy, and 

 we stated in the National Convention, 

 at its session in Chicago, that we had 

 seen hybrids there. Other evidence 

 can also be adduced to the same 

 effect. 



I^Mr. \V. D. Wright, Knowers- 

 ville, N. Y., writes us as follows, on 

 April 13, 1882: "The Rev. Jasper 

 Hazendied at his home in Woodstock,. 

 Vt., on the SOlh ult., aged 92 years. 

 The older readers of the Bee Jour- 

 nal will remember him as a frequent 

 correspondent in the earlier volumes. 

 The deceased formerly lived in Al- 

 bany, N. Y., where he was much re- 

 spected and esteemed." 



Premiums.— Those who get up clubs 

 for the Weekly Bee Jouunal for 

 1882, will be entitled to the following 

 premiums. Their own subscription 

 may count in the club : 



For a Club of S,— a copy of " Beea and Honey." 

 " " SJ,— an Emerson Binder tor 1882. 



" " 4,— Apiary Register for 50 Colonies, 



or Cook's (Bee) Manual, paper. 

 " *' 5,— *' " cloth. 



" " 6,— Weekly Bee Journal for 1 year, 



or Apiary Reeister foriiOO Col's. 



Or they may deduct 10 per cent in cash 

 for their labor in getting up the club. 



CLUBBING LIST. 



We supply the Weekly Americiin Bee J' 

 mil anri any of tbe followiiie periodicals, one 

 at the prices quoted in the last column of flg 

 The flrat column ftives the regular price of 

 All postage is prepaid by tbe publishers. 



Piiblishera'' Price. 



The Weelily Bee .lournal f 2 00. 



and Gleanings in Bee-CuIture(A.l. Root) 'A 00.. 



Bee-Keepers' Magazine (A..J.King). 3 00.. 



Bee-Keep,ers'Instructor( W.Thomas) 2 ."iO.. 

 The 4 above-named papers 4 50.. 



Bee-Keepers'Exch'ngeiHouk &PeetKi 00.. 



Bee-Keepers' Guide (A.G.Hill) 2 ftO.. 



Kansas Bee-Keeper 2ti0.. 



The 7 above-named papers 6 30.. 



The Weekly Bee Journal one year and 



Prof. Cook's Manual (bound in cloth) 3 25.. 



Bees and Honey, (T. G. Newman) " 2 75. . 



Binder for Weekly, 1881 2 85.. 



Binder for Weekly for 1882 2 75.. 



our- 



year, 



ures. 

 botli 



Club, 



2 75 

 260 

 2 35 

 400 

 2 80 

 235 

 2 40 

 550 



son 



2.'0- 



2 75 

 2 50 



