294 



THE AMERICA!^ BEE JOURNAL. 



either has stocked it to its utmost 

 capacity, or intends doing so. " Let 

 us Hgure," as Mr. Heddou observes. 

 In a given locality there is a bee- 

 keeper who has 200 colonies, and con- 

 siders that about enough for the field. 

 This, I think, is not far from the 

 average which Mr. H. thinks sufficient 

 for Dowagiac. Another bee-keeper 

 comes along. For reasons cogent to 

 his own mind, he would like to settle 

 in that particular spot. He surveys 

 the field, and concludes that it is rich 

 enough to give 500 colonies all the 

 work tliey can do. Certainly he is 

 not " mean," because he honestly 

 holds that ophiion, and if it turns out 

 correct, he is not " mistaken." But 

 Mr. Heddon, in advance, assigns this 

 man a place in "the ranks of the 

 mean or mistaken." Or, to suppose 

 another case. In a particular spot, 

 there is a bee-keeper with .50 colonies. 

 These give iiim a better living than 

 the mass of farmers get off 100 acres 

 of land. Another bee-keeper, who 

 would like to settle there, talks with 

 this man, and finds that as fast as his 

 means allow, he intends to increase 

 the number of his colonies until he 

 has fully stocked the field. Bee-keeper 

 No. 2 reasons "thusly :" This man is 

 making a comfortable living now. He 

 can double or treble his present colo- 

 nies, and still leave me scope enough. 

 I can keep 100 or 150 colonies, quite 

 as many as I care to be bothered with, 

 and not interfere with him. Is he a 

 very near relative " to the knave or 

 fool " if he decides to locate there '? 

 So Mr. Heddon attirms. But I fail to 

 see the justice of this opinion, and I 

 think thegreat mass of common-sense 

 bee-keepers will agree with me. Mr. 

 Heddon says, "there are plenty of 

 unoccupied areas." But there are 

 thousands of instances in which peo- 

 ple want to live in a particular local- 

 ity. It matters nothing that " there 

 are plenty of unoccupied areas " else- 

 where. " The world is all before us 

 where to choose," and if a man hon- 

 estly believes that there is an opening 

 tor him in a place where he wants to 

 be. and that he can settle there with- 

 out improperly trenching on tlie rights 

 and interests of his neighbor, is it 

 rigbt to hurl such epithets as "knave," 

 "fool," "mistaken," "usurper," 

 " mean," at his luckless head '? I ven- 

 ture to think it is not. 



I do not know where Mr. Heddon 

 will rank me after he has read this 

 article, whether among " the froth of 

 tlie profession," the " self-interested," 

 or the " honest and sincere," but I do 

 know that I have written froni the 

 best of motives, and with no other 

 wish than to benefit the interests of 

 bee-keeping and bee-keepers. While 

 I do not wish to blow a trumpet for 

 the purpose of rallying a multitude of 

 recruits, who, when gathered, will 

 only increase " the awkward squad" 

 of unsuccessful bee-keepers, I do 

 want to see more general attention 

 directed to bee-keeping, not only for 

 the sake of adding to the already 

 large army of specialists, but in order 

 to increase the means, and add to the 

 comforts of multitudes of people 

 whose incomes are scanty, and who 

 might easily supplement them by be- 



taking themselves to bee-keeping in a 

 small way. I will also own that I 

 greatly prefer to have a large number 

 of those who keep about so many bees 

 as they can personally manage well, 

 rather than a comparatively few mo- 

 nopolists who have to depend largely 

 on hired help with the attendant dis- 

 advantages admitted by Mr. Heddon 

 in the article I anx criticising. 



I prefer this for reasons similar to 

 those which lead me to prefer the 

 state of things on this continent, 

 where a large number of farmers each 

 owns his 10 i acres or thereabouts, to 

 the state of things in Britain, where 

 a few own the entire public domain. 

 " The greatest good to the greatest 

 number" is what I desiderate. 



Speedside, Ont. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



New Races of Bees— Fertile Workers- 



JOHN HEWITT. 



Mr. G. M. Doolittle, in the Bee 

 Journal for 1883, page 500, gives his 

 opinion regarding these bees, and 

 after reading his letter very carefully, 

 I came to the conclusion that he is 

 very much mixed about these bees, 

 and that the new races of bees he 

 has, are mixed also ; and as tliere are 

 many more people in America who 

 have mixed bees, and are entirely in 

 error regarding their true character, 

 I write this hoping that it may be of 

 some use in removing the errors and 

 putting these bees in their true posi- 

 tion. 



The Eastern bees, bred and sent out 

 by Mr. Benton, consist of the Cyp- 

 rian, Palestine and Syrian races. Mr. 

 D. speaks of Syrian and Palestine as 

 identically one ; but this is not so ; 

 there is more difference between 

 them than between hybrids and Ital- 

 ians, both in color and disposition. 

 How these bees came to be considered 

 as one, lam puzzled to find out ; but 

 the error applies not only to America, 

 but to some extent to England also. 



In OleaningstoT 1883, page 169, II. 

 B. Harrington says : " VVe reared 

 quite a number of queens from Mr. A. 

 I. Root's Mount Lebanon queen, and 

 as we took great pains to secure 

 drones from our Bethlehem queen, we 

 think im have as pure Holy Land bees as 

 can be found." 



Jfow, if it is remembered that Mt. 

 Lebanon is in Syria, where Mr. Ben- 

 ton rears his Syrian queens, and that 

 Bethlehem is in Palestine, where he 

 also has an apiary, it is plain that Mr. 

 H. reared only cross-breed queens. 

 As to that part of his statement 

 which I have italicized, I have no 

 doubt lie is quite correct ; though I 

 think he would have found that there 

 was a great difference, had he reared 

 some Syrian drones as well ; but this 

 he, no doubt, prevented in order to 

 avoid the chance of in-and-in breed- 

 ing. 



Prof. A. J. Cook, in the Bee-Keep- 

 ers^ Magazine for 1883, page 223, very 

 fairly describes the Syrians ; but at 

 the end of his article, the " Ed." says: 

 " If the word ' Syrian ' is altered into 

 ' Holy Land,' all confusion will be 



avoided." And so the error has spread 

 from teachers to pupils. The Syrian 

 bees are so much like Cyprians, in 

 fact, very much more so than Pales- 

 tines, that I think it highly probable 

 that they have been taken for each 

 other, and so mixed up. 



To describe and compare these bees 

 one with the other, in every particu- 

 lar, would make this article a very 

 long one ; but to give a few features, 

 will be advisable. 



For instance, all 3 races are smaller 

 bees than either blacks or Italians • 

 but when crossed with either kind of 

 drones, the offspring are of the same 

 size, and the Syrians show the 3 yel- 

 low bands ; though in the black cross 

 the shade is darker ; but still they are 

 all evenly marked like pure Syrians. 

 The (jueens of the 3 races seem dupli- 

 cates of each other, and I cannot tell 

 one from another ; so I think if all 3 

 races were mixed and bred into each 

 other, the queens would still look like 

 pure ones of either race. 



The Syrian drones carry an orange- 

 colored band, but the Palestine bees 

 do not ; in fact, if it were not for 

 the gray, fuzzy hair on them, they 

 would pass very well for black drones. 

 Then if you open a hive containing 

 Syrians, when the sun shines, you may 

 do so with impunity, without any pro- 

 tection, preparation, or attempt to 

 quiet them whatever, providing they 

 are not jarred, smoked or allowed to 

 smell it. This is a fact which smok- 

 ists cannot comprehend, thinking 

 they must require some kind of " doc- 

 toring" to be able to manipulate 

 them ; but this is not so, for unlike 

 blacks or Italians, they are naturally 

 very tame, as may be proved by sit- 

 ting close to a hive entrance at any 

 time, to watch them ; while the Pal- 

 estines must be smoked, and then the 

 manipulations must be quietly and 

 quickly performed, as they quickly 

 empty their sacs of honey, and they 

 cannot be made to regorge them- 

 selves ; at least I never could make 

 them do so. 



I will now describe the Syrian bees, 

 as it is with these I have had the most 

 experience. They are the ones I like 

 the best, and they will yet make their 

 mark. They are the most peaceable 

 bees I have ever seen, and I should 

 have no hesitation in placing 50 or 100 

 colonies around my house door witli- 

 out the slightest fear of any one ever 

 being stung. 



In opening them (which I always 

 do while the sun is shining), I draw 

 the quilt off diagonally, very gently, 

 when up comes some bees, trying to 

 feel the sky with their lances, and 

 stretching upwards as much as pos- 

 sible to accomplish it. They are not 

 cross when in this condition, nor if 

 they take wing. I then commence 

 immediately to remove the combs ; 

 and if it is June or July, I find in a 

 full colony 28 square feet of combs 

 full of brood in one stage or another. 

 This brood is all in one compact mass, 

 completely filling the frames, which 

 are 14xl0?8 inches. The bees will be 

 quietly sitting on it, as if nothing 

 were going on, and being smaller 

 than blacks, and never gorging them- 

 selves with honey, they look like a 



