1918 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



375 



350 francs, and that they sold it for 

 500 to 700 francs. 



The scarcity of honey is, unfortu- 

 nately, too real, much below the av- 

 erage per colony, with scarcely 40 

 per cent of the colonies in existence, 

 as compared with 1914. For . two 

 years past, it has been impossible to 

 obtain sugar for feeding, and the 

 loss of bees will be greater next win- 

 ter. 



The demand for honey is tremen- 

 dous, and for that reason, the brim- 

 stone-bee-killers, "etouffeurs," will 

 be very active, and will find numer- 

 ous opportunities to buy colonies ; 

 for our country women (paysannes) 

 will sell them the more readily, since 

 prices are high and their many occu- 

 pations prevent them from caring 

 for their bees. It is therefore cer- 

 tain that colonies will be destroyed 

 by tens of thousands in Brittany, in 

 October and November. If I could 

 have a furlough at that time, I would 

 buy several hundred skeps to 

 strengthen my colonies that have be- 

 come weakened by want of attention. 

 Skeps will sell at 40 to 50 francs each 

 ($7.30 to $9 in current exchange 

 rates), and they are very small in 

 this region. Unluckily, I will not be 

 at home. 



I estimate that the spring of 1919 

 will open with not over 25 per cent 

 of the colonies existing in 1914, in 

 France. Yet the needs will be 

 greater, as drought has increased 

 the shortage of sugar. At the pres- 

 ent time, we are allowed only 500 

 grammes (1 pound 2 ounces) of sugar 

 per head, per month; how will it be 

 next year? So you may imagine the 

 demand in colonies and swarms. 

 Everyone wants to have one or more 

 hives, to secure a little honey. But 

 it is almost impossible to find 

 chances of purchase. It would be 

 advisable that the State permit the 

 apiarists to resume their work." 



The information imparted by the 

 above correspondence is encourag- 

 ing to American beekeepers. We 

 might add to this that the man- 

 ager of the "Federazione Api 

 stica Italiana," Mr. Cotini, returned 

 to the stockholders, for the crop of 

 1917, 640 lire per 100 kilos for their 

 honey. This price, at present ex- 

 change rates, would figure $44.61 per 

 100 pounds. 



The demand for bees is extensive, 

 not only in France, but in England, 

 as well as on other parts of the Eu- 

 ropean continent. So it behooves 

 our beekeepers to take the utmost 

 care of their bees and to be ready 

 for the coming season. 



But while they are greatly encour- 

 aged, the beekeepers must not boost 

 prices too high. Honey has never 

 before been higher than beeswax. It 

 is selling at more than beeswax in 

 some instances. The above shows 

 that there is a demand for regula- 

 tion of honey prices, in some coun- 

 tries. It is much better to be rea- 

 sonable in our demands than to find 

 ourselves restrained by government 

 rules. It is to our interest to keep 

 within the bounds of moderation. 

 We must also bear in mind that 

 these extraordinary prices are only 

 temporary, as sooner or later sugar 



production will bring rates back to 

 normal. The very short crop of the 

 present season, through the entire 

 world, is also responsible for the in- 

 cr ase. 



Punics and Parthenogensis 



By Ph. J. Baldensperger 



JUST a little over 27 years ago — I 

 was then living at Jaffa, in Pal- 

 estine — I read a few very er- 

 roneous remarks about our Oriental 

 bees, as well as about Punics or 

 Tunisians; the writer, John Hewitt, 

 of Sheffield, signing "A Hallamshire 

 Beekeeper," to introduce Punics into 

 England, gave them virtues that they 

 do not possess and charged the Ori- 

 entals, as the scape-goat of Israel, 

 with all sins. 



Previously, in 1884, writing of fer- 

 tile workers in the July 1 number of 

 the British Bee Journal, J. H. said: 

 "If a queen of these new races (Cy- 

 prians and Syrians) is removed, in 

 rearing another a lot of fertile work- 

 ers are also reared, and these begin 

 laying as soon as the young queen, 

 or sooner." 



This bad reputation is certainly not 

 founded on any very serious base. 

 We raised hundreds of Cyprians, 

 Syrians and Palestinians, and the 

 fertile workers never troubled us 

 more than did those of their congen- 

 ers of European races, several years 

 afterwards. Proper beekeeping, un- 

 der such circumstances, would have 

 been, if not impossible, at least highly 

 disagreeable. 



Certainly the Oriental races, having 

 to fight bitter enemies, as hornets, 

 wasps, bee-eating birds (the Merops 

 apiaster) etc., sometimes attacking 

 the colonies in swarms, they are 

 more impatient than brown bees, 

 Ligurians, etc. But this impatience, 

 shown in rapid flight, stinging pro- 

 pensities, liberal use of propolis, 

 wasp-like music, etc., has no influ- 

 ence on their intrinsic characteris- 



tics. I had then not yet seen John 

 Hewitt's study on worker-bees, 

 which your correspondent, Mr. John 

 Anderson, M. A., of Scotland, thinks 

 is parallel to the works of Schirach, 

 Huber and Dzierzon (American Bee 

 Journal, 1918, page 192). I noted 

 down a few erroneous remarks of 

 Hewitt, and if his "laying-worker 

 theory," in Punics and Syrians were 

 really well founded, I wonder why he 

 ever dropped it. I noted the strange 

 virtues ascribed to Punics and as I 

 had seen a few of them myself, I put 

 my remarks in a margin and will now 

 give them for what they are worth. 



Although Dzierzon studied only 

 European bees, his theory holds good 

 for every race of "apis mellifica or 

 mellifera" and neither Punics nor 

 Syrians have, to my knowledge at 

 least, such a marvelous advantage as 

 to be able to rear workers from a 

 virgin. 



John Hewitt, in order to give his 

 Punics a shift, very carelessly pro- 

 pounded their qualities, and no other 

 beekeeper then living seconded his 

 views, or was lucky enough to see 

 his assertions verified. 



In the American Bee Journal for 

 May 28, 1891, No. 22, page 701, John 

 Hewitt (Hallamshire Beekeeper) 

 writes about Punics : 



Hewitt's Assertions 



1. They are the tamest bees so far 

 known, the only time when it is pos- 

 sible to get them to sting being when 

 they have the swarming fever. 



2. In crossing with other races, 

 this docile quality is very marked, 

 not even Cyprian blood being able to 

 make them bad-tempered. 



3. They are the hardiest bees 

 known, being able to fly from and 

 return to their hives, with safety 

 with snow on the ground and mer- 

 cury 30 above zero. 



4. They do not fly into the snow 

 like other bees. 



5. They begin work at "peep of 

 day": before the sun rises they are 

 out in full force and have the ground 



R. A. Ashcraft's twelve-frame hives at Wichita 



