ILJLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



181 



low bees in every respect that I have 

 ever noticed, both as honey-gatherers 

 and as to iiardiness; they are more 

 energetic in honey-gathering-, and 

 more docile in handling, and it would 

 ibe imipossible for me to think of going 

 back to the yellow bees; I wouldn't 

 take the best stock of Italian bees an4 

 run them without superseding their 

 queen, if a man gave them to me; I 

 am just that much of a crank on 

 bees. I prefer the Caucasian bee to 

 any other race I have ever seen, and 

 esi>eclailly to the Italians. They are 

 much more easily induced into the 

 boxes. 



Mr. Dibble — ^I would like to ask Mr. 

 Morgan something about the swarm- 

 ing tendencies, and, also, about their 

 faults; if they are worse than Italians 

 as to propolis? 



Mr. Morgan — I don't think they are 

 more likely to swarm than the or- 

 dinary Italians, that is, the hybrids, as 

 they are generally kept in this country. 

 Of course, the very best strains of 

 Italians, wihen they are pure, are not 

 quite so liable to swarm as the Cau- 

 casians, but, for me, that is rather a 

 good feature. They are more indus- 

 trious and 'more vigorous; and, as I 

 said here once before in this room 

 last winter, when any animal or stock 

 of ibees is in a very vigorous condi- 

 tion, they are more likely to increase 

 and' swarm tlhan they would be other- 

 wise. Other things being the sarnie, I 

 don't think they are any more liable 

 to swarm than the Italians. In re- 

 gard to propolis, they gather a good 

 deal and use a good deal of it around 

 the entrance to tihe hive in the fall 

 of the year, in order to protect them- 

 selves. I think that is a characteris- 

 tic they .may have by living in a 

 Nortlhern climate. I think they do not 

 use the propolis around the honey any 

 more than other bees. 



I>r. Jones — ^I would like to enquire 

 how they are in regard to gentleness 

 in comparison with the Italians? 



The President — I thought Mr. Mor- 

 gan answered that question. 



Dr. Phillips — I think Caucasians are 

 by far the gentlest bees that have 

 ever been brought into this country. 

 I have never seen any Italians that 

 would compare with them in gentle- 

 ness, and I woTild also agree with Mr. 

 Morgan in regard to their propolizing 

 tendencies. They do propolize their 

 entrance almost solid, but they ap- 



parently do not propolize any other 

 parts of the hive any more than any 

 other race. The chiet objections I 

 w^ould have to the Caucasians is that 

 they build burrs and burr combs over 

 everything. Do you find that, Mr. 

 Morgan ? 



Mr, Morgan — Yes, I find they do not 

 do that so much in a well spaced hive. 



Dr. Phillips — Even in that kind of 

 hive they will often build comb into 

 the proper space, and that was, to my 

 mind, the worst feature of the Cau- 

 casian. Their propolizing has never 

 seemed to me to be anything serious, 

 and I am inclined to agree with some 

 of the Russian writers In attributing 

 this tendency to the fact that it is a 

 very primitive race. Italians are one 

 of the more highly specialized races. 

 If a colony of Caucasians or Cyprians 

 is made queenless they raise a large 

 number of queen cells, or if they 

 fail to raise queen cells they very eas- 

 ily become fertile workers, showing 

 that the division of labor between 

 the queen caste and the worker caste 

 is not so well defined. I would -there- 

 fore consider that races with such 

 characteristics are more primitive; 

 and I think this propolizing of the 

 entrance is the going back to an an- 

 cestral condition where they had to 

 build not only an entrance, but per- 

 haps a large part of the nest. It may 

 go back to something like a bumble- 

 bee tendency, particular the sting- 

 less bee of South America. 



Mr. Darby — ^I had a little experi- 

 ence just last week in handling some 

 of these bees, and I want to say that 

 this burr comb is one of the worst 

 features I see about it. One yard was 

 so badly glued up that the owner - 

 took his hand axe and went at it with 

 main force to get those frames loose so 

 that he could examine them. I find 

 when they are crossed that they are 

 as bad to sting as any bees I know 

 of. In fact with those that I have 

 had to work with I have not seen 

 the great difference In the gentle qual- 

 ities that some speak of, but I know 

 there is a great difference in differ- 

 ent strains of bees, and I think pos- 

 sibly these were not of the gentlest. 

 Another thing I noticed was that in 

 these 5^ards there was not the honey 

 that there was in the neighboring 

 yards of the Italians within a quarter 

 of a mile of them, and I have noticed 

 this difference two years in succes- 



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