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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



September 



the way as was also the little prov- 

 ince of Carniola, in southern Austria, 

 with the result that the four years 

 from 1886-90 were spent in the fast- 

 nesses of the Carnic Alps in inves- 

 tigating, breeding and giving to the 

 world the docile bees native to these 

 mountains. 



In 1890 Dr. Benton was commis- 

 sioned by Dr. C. V. Riley, the United 

 States Entomologist at Washington, 

 to proceed to the Orient for the pur- 

 pose of carrying on further investiga- 

 tions of the' giant bees of India, and 

 to study and import the Blastophaga 

 wasp from Smyrna in the interest of 

 establishing the Smyrna fig indus- 

 try in California. Unfortunately, 

 this commission passed Dr. Benton 

 on the high seas, as he had already 

 sailed from Hamburg for New York 

 in December of 1890, after an absence 

 from his native land of eleven years. 



On his arrival in America Dr. Ben- 

 ton was offered a chair in modern 

 languages at Cornell University, and 

 at the same time came an offer from 

 the United States Government to go 

 into scientific work at Washington. 

 It was not an easy matter to decide, 

 especially for one so rarely gifted in 

 both fields of endeavor. But at the 

 parting of the ways Dr. Benton, at 

 the age of 39 years elected to go into 

 scientific work, thereafter becoming 

 only indirectly identified with acade- 

 mic life as an occasional lecturer. He 

 proceeded to Washington in July, 

 1891, the proposed trip of exploration 

 abroad being held in abeyance for 

 the time being, and fourteen years 

 intervened before this second jour- 

 ney was finally undertaken. 



It was not until June, 1905, that Dr. 

 Benton finally undertook his second 

 tour of apicultural and botanical ex- 

 ploration which became a world em- 

 bracing expedition, and everywhere 

 he was welcomed and given the high- 

 est attention and every consideration 

 by both scientific workers and mem- 

 bers of apicultural societies and of 

 the apicultural press. One leading 

 periodical in summarizing his work 

 closed with the statement, "Happy 

 America that can speed such a man 

 on such a journey!" — an index of his 

 appreciative reception abroad. The 

 overland route through the Balkans 

 to Constantinople was followed and 

 from thence the Caucasus was vis- 

 ited, where, in spite of the Russian 

 revolution of that year, much data of 

 value was collected, and representa- 

 of the Caucasian races of bees 

 ted. During the height of the 

 revolution the Bishop of Armenia 

 extended to Dr. Benton the hospital- 

 ity of his monastery at Erivan, where 

 Dr. Benton took refuge for several 

 weeks until able to proceed to Baku 

 on the Caspian Sea, from which point 

 the long journey inland through Asia 

 was started. Turkestan an 1 Bokhara 

 were visited, from where was im- 

 the Turkestan melon, now be- 

 coming extensively grown in this 

 country as a table delicacy. Turning 

 southward. Dr. Benton organized a 

 caravan, traveling a thousand miles 

 gh Persia, reaching Teheran 

 early in January, 1906, and India the 

 fore part of March. During the 



Frank Benton 



next seven months every part of In- 

 dia was visited, from Quetta in the 

 northwest to the jungles of Assam, 

 from the plains of Jubbulpore to the 

 Himalayas of Simla and Darjeeling, 

 and extensive studies made of the 

 native honeybees which were cap- 

 tured and kept under observation in 

 experimental hives. The guest oi 

 His Highness, the Maharaja of 

 Kashmir, Dr. Benton had placed at 

 his disposal a herd of elephants and 

 retainers which greatly facilitated 

 the work of exploration that he was 

 engaged in. Finally, in September, 

 the Philippines were reached and 

 several months were spent in a long 

 tour of this thousand-mile archipel- 

 ago. At Zamboango, in Mindanao, 

 Dr. Benton was very ill with fever 

 contracted in the jungles of Assam, 

 but despite these difficulties he was 

 able to rally and continue his work 

 of investigation. The homeward 

 journey was made by way of the 

 Chinese coast, and some time was 

 slient in Japan, Dr. Benton reaching 

 America early in 1907, after an ab- 

 sence of nearly two years, with his 

 long-planned journey an accom- 

 plished fact. 



The Barbeau Queen-Rearing System 



WE have received a number of 

 enquiries concerning the above 

 system, described in the July 

 number. Although we have not 

 tried it ourselves, owing to lack oi 

 time, we are informed that it is quite 

 successful, and the fact that Mr. Bar- 

 beau offers it free to the public 

 should not deter beekeepers from the 

 appreciation of it. Replying to our 

 enquiries, Mr. Barbeau sent us the 

 following letter from one of his pu- 

 pils, who owns several large apiaries. 

 This we translate from the French: 

 "I am glad to be able to say to you, 

 in answer to your request, that I 

 have well succeeded with your meth 

 od of producing queen-cells. I raised 

 700 queens the past summer and ob- 

 tained 90 per cent of queens fro 

 cells which I produced. With thi old 

 method I succeeded in only 35 to 50 

 per cent of the cases. Your method 



is better, for it gives less labor and 

 secures more queens. 



"The best way to succeed is to 

 have plenty of young bees in the 

 colonies that rear the queens. For 

 that purpose I give the orphan col- 

 ony some combs of brood ready to 

 hatch. 



"To rear queens in time of dearth, 

 it is necessary to feed the queenless 

 hive two days before giving it the 

 queen-cells and continue to feed it 

 for 6 days afterwards, provided it is 

 strong enough." 



Yours truly, 



O. FONTAINE, 

 St. Guillaume D'Upton, Q. 



The advice to keep the queen- 

 breeding colonies fully supplied with 

 young bees, and fresh food in plenty, 

 is also strongly recommended by 

 Mr. Barbeau and this advice tallies 

 with the experience of all queen- 

 breeders as well as with the recom- 

 mendations of the writers of all the 

 practical works on bees. 



Mr. Barbeau describes 3 methods 

 of queen-rearing by his system, as 

 follows : 



First Method. Remove the queen 

 from a strong colony, and allow the 

 bees to rear queen-cells in the nat- 

 ural way. But after 7 or 8 days, re- 

 move all the queen-cells, whether fin- 

 ished or just begun. At the same 

 time, shake or brush into the hive, 

 after having smoked it, the bees of 

 2 or 3 frames from another colony 

 Be sure to locate the queen of each 

 colony so as not to remove her. 



Better still, if you happen to have 

 a small swarm, would be to unite it 

 with the queenless colony. The aim, 

 in all this, is to have a large number 

 of young bees to feed the royal lar- 

 va:. 



Three or four hours after having 

 prepared the colony as above stated, 

 cut out, with the punch, such larva; 

 as you may wish to use from youi 

 best selected colony. Let them be 

 larvae about a day old, of the size ol 

 a lettuce seed. After having removed 

 as many as you desire, 20 or 30, or 

 more, insert them into the cupules 

 and screw these cupules into a brood 

 comb of the queenless colony. At the 

 end of 10 to 11 days, the queens will 

 hatch. 



The above method is a little slow, 

 but it is very sure, especially for 

 beginners. 



Second method. This consists in 

 removing from the hive the queen 

 and all the combs of unsealed brood. 

 Leave in the hive only 2 combs of 

 entirely sealed brood almost ready 

 to hatch. Add to these also some 

 combs of honey and, if you wish, an- 

 other comb or two of entirely sealed 

 brood and young bees from other 

 hives. Always be particular to lo- 

 cate the queens of each hive so as 

 not to give them by error to the 

 queenless colony. 



Prepare your queen-cells as before 

 and insert them into a dry comb, 

 which you then place in the centei 

 of the queenless hive. This comb 

 hould be placed into the breeding 

 hive only 3 or 4 hours after having 

 prepared the colony. 



Third method. This consists in 

 placing a queen-excluder between the 



