246 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



Punic race, of which so little is known after 

 seven years in this country. 



Will you, Messrs. Editors, for the benefit 

 and protection of your readers, give us any 

 information as to the value of this bee, and 

 what is known of it in its own country ; 

 Reference is made to Gleanings, the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, and the Canadian Bee 

 Joifrnal. Could you give any of the arti- 

 cles ? — iNqUIBER. 



[As a rule we do not like to import into 

 our columns controversies originating in 

 other journals, but as our correspondent 

 asks for information for the benefit of our 

 readers we will give all we know about Afri- 

 can bees. We know nothing of the experi- 

 ence of the persons mentioned, and have 

 received no reports from any of our numer- 

 our correspondents about Punic bees. We 

 know of no such race. Amongst African 

 bees with which we are acquainted are those 

 from Algeria, Moroco, and Tunis— all vari- 

 eties of ^^>/.s nicllifica. They are prolific 

 black bees, said to be good workers, but 

 which have not sustained their reputation 

 when introduced into Europe. (Queens of 

 any of these varieties could be purchased for 

 a few francs, and some years ago Algerian 

 •lueens were offered for ten francs ajiiece by 

 M. Feuillebois at Beni-Amran. The variety 

 cultivated by the Kabyles is shiny black, and 

 the workers much smaller than the avera :e 

 European bee; the drones, however, are 

 quite as large. The Kabyles inhabit the 

 mountains lying towards the desert of Saha- 

 ra, where they live in small village*, and 

 derive a considerable income from honey, 

 and more particularly from wax. These 

 bees are called ' Uiiziznna tliik'' arriiii,'' and 

 are cultivated in cylinders of cork-bark, 

 basket-work, or earthen-ware. Some of the 

 natives have as many as rM) such hives. 

 They were first imported into Prance in 

 1874, and, by their behavior, showed that 

 they came from a warm climate. They are 

 great propolisers, wliich shows that they are 

 not used to the cold. Although quiet at 

 times, if stimulated they become very sav- 

 age, and not only attack persons, but, even 

 enter the houses in their vicinity. They 

 have not proved satisfactory in Europe, and 

 we know no one now who cultivates them. 



We know nothing about the so-called 

 Punic bees a'ld can give no information as 

 to their value. Possessing as we do one of 

 the largest libraries of bee literature in the 

 kingdom, it is strange that we have never 

 found such a race alluded to. The word 

 I'linic means faithless, treacherous — neither 

 of which should be considered good qualifi- 

 cations for bees. Punic bees are said to 

 come from Africa, but the only varieties of 

 African bees we know of are those alluded 

 to above, besides the various species men- 

 tioned on page IJGG of B. B. ./. for 1888. 

 With regard to the American i)ai)ers above 

 referred to by onr correspondent, tlie only 

 other person besides 'A Hallamshire Bee 

 Keeper' (otherwise .John Hewitt) who has 

 written in favor of Punic bees, is E. L. 

 Pratt, a queen breeder and deahu-. who is 

 advertisiniz queens imported by ' Hallam- 

 shire Bee Keeper ' at 80 dollars (!(!/.) each. 



We wonder how many bee keepers will be 

 induced to give this price, or even hi. r)s. for 

 one. As so little is really known about these 

 bees we hardly think it necessary to advise 

 our friends in their own interests to wait for 

 reports from experienced and well known 

 bee keepers. We shall take care to give any 

 reliable information that may come to hand 

 and be of value to our readers. — Eds.] " 



I have received a queen of this variety 

 from E. L. Pratt. She looks like a Carnio- 

 lan queen, and the bees accompanying her 

 look exaclly like Carniolans— have the char- 

 acteristic bands of whitish gray fuzz. Of 

 course we ought not to say what kind of a 

 queen a dark queen is, judging simply by 

 her looks: and the accompanying bees may 

 not h^iye been her bees — may have been 

 Carniolans. Mr. M. H. Hunt had some 

 Punic bees and a queen on exhibition at the 

 Detroit Exposition. They came from E. L. 

 Pratt. They certainly were different from 

 the Carniolan. They were blacker and more 

 shiny— almost a jet black. 



Securing Workers for the Harv St.— ^Hill's 

 Review of Advanced Bee Culture. 



In accordance with his promise, Bro. Hill, 

 of the Ut(i(h', has reviewed the sei-ond chap- 

 ter of " Advanced Bee Culture." I am hap- 

 py to say that it is very fairly done. Here 

 is what he says: — 



" "J'his article contains three pages of non- 

 pareil type. We have road it carefully and 

 we do not think a single prominent feature 

 of it is true, nor are the directions generally 

 followed by bee keepers. He commences 

 with the old Hosmer theory of wintering 

 weak stocks in the cellar to save stores, and 

 then by st>ecial fine manipulation and pro- 

 tection build them up in the spring in time 

 for the surplus honey yield. It is too bad to 

 have our bee books filled up with such dam- 

 aging theories. 



If we contract the hive or so manage as to 

 cause less than the usual amount of brood 

 reared during -luly, August and September, 

 our bees will l)e just that much weaker the 

 following .Tune and our surplus just that 

 much loss, and there is no advanced bee 

 culture known that can change the results. 

 Small colonies can be kept healthy and 

 breeding well but they cannot be made to 

 show much gain in bees until after warm, 

 settled weatiier, about the first of June, 

 then they gain very rapidly. To take bees 

 out of the cellar in sjiring and pack them 

 in sawdust and boxes as recommended to 

 build up weak colonies, is a thing not prac- 

 ticed by advanced bee keepers. Then why 

 should we fill up (jur bee books with direc- 

 tions that no bee keeper evvr follows. Is 

 the object just to injure tlie novice and cause 

 him trouble and cost for notliing? He says 

 he favors wintering in the cellar and 

 then packing with sawdust on summer 



