14 



at a subsequent date, to give my ex- 

 perience and opinion of them. I kept 

 very careful records at that time of the 

 comparative value of the diflfer- 

 ent varieties and their crosses, as 1 

 realised that ultimately w© should have 

 to cultivate one variety — the best. 



The Holy Landers and Syrian bees were 

 so near alike in their characteristics 

 that I may bracket them together. 1 

 found them fair workers, but not so 

 good as Italians, and of about the same 

 temperament as to handling. They were 

 lighter in colour and a trifle smaller than 

 Italians. The Cyprians, well — ^I have 

 seen many contradictory statements con- 

 cerning them — so far as their working 

 qualities are concerned, there cannot be 

 two opinions about them — they are 

 beauties; but their temper for handling, 

 ugh! they are demons. I know that 

 some 'have spoken very highly of them 

 with regard to their temper; well, mine 

 came direct from the Island of Cyprus, 

 sent by the person who bred them there, 

 and I can assure my friends I was no 

 novice at handling bees at tbat time. 

 If any person had told me ^before I got 

 the Cyprians that I could be conquered 

 by bees I would have laughed at him, 

 but I confess the Cyprians beat me. 



Until the colonies got strong they 

 seemed to be as easily handled as Ital- 

 ians, but when up to full strength they 

 were simply unmanageable. I always 

 worked with my shirt sleeves turned up, 

 and I oan truly say that on one or two 

 occasions a pin point could scarcely have 

 ibeen put between the stings on both 

 arms and hands. I was determined to 

 master them, but in the end they were 

 the victors. Smoke made them more 

 vicious, and the more smoke I gave them 

 the worse they were; they would even 

 try to sting the tin smoker. I tried 

 crossing them with Italians, but, if any- 

 thing, the hj^brids were worse. I and 

 my assistant had on two or three occa- 

 sions to make an ignominious retreat; 

 we then considered it time to get rid 

 of them, which we did. Two or three 

 customers who bought Cyprian queens 

 from me before I had fully realised their 

 viciousness had to get rid of theirs. 1 

 subsequently sent them Italian queens 

 to replace the Cyprians. 



Carniolans were sent me nine years 

 ago from the Ajmerican Grovernment 

 Apiary — two queens in nucleus colonies. 



They proved very prolific indeed, so much 

 so that they consumed a very large part 

 of the honey they gathered in providing 

 for their brood, and naturally this in- 

 duced swarming. 



Of all the bees yet tried under domes- 

 tication none have been found to come 

 up to the Italians; that is the opinion 

 of practically the whole commercial bee- 

 keeping world. The majority of British 

 beekeepers, however, seem to prefer the 

 common bees, but that predilection arises 

 chiefly, I think, from the want of ex- 

 perience of Italian hees. 



FIRST EXHIBITION OF BEES, 

 HQiNlEY, lAND APPLIAJSTCES. 

 The first exhibition of bees, honey, 

 beeswax, and all the new apipliances, 

 such as .movable-frame hives, honey ex- 

 tractor, leomb-found'ation, etc., took 

 place in November, 1879, at the Auck- 

 land Agricultural and Bastoral Associa- 

 tion's Spring Show, held at the race- 

 course, Ellerslie, I being the only ex- 

 hibitor. For business reasons I staged 

 an extensive exhibit, and had my bees 

 in an observatory hive at work, flying 

 abroad through a hole pierced in the 

 wall of the building, while the work 

 going on in the interior of the hive 

 could be seen by visitors through glass 

 on each side of each frajne without be- • 

 ing interfered with hy the Ibees. I had 

 similar exhibits each year at the as- 

 sociation's shows until I left the 

 Thames. It is needless to say that 

 great interest was created in the new 

 ibee culture, and very .much good re- 

 sulted in bringing honey to the fore 

 as an article of food. 



MRST GENERAL BEE AND HONEY 

 SHOW IN NEW ZEALAND. 



Several communications had passed 

 between our leading beekeepers during 

 1883 on the subject of holding a bee and 

 honey show at an early date. It was 

 realised that a large and attractive ex- 

 hibition of honey, and the appliances 

 used to secure it, would promote the 

 use of honey in the household, and 

 thereby create a greater demand for it. 

 It was considered advisable to arrange, 

 if possible, to include our exhibits in 

 that of the next "Auckland Gardeners' 

 Horticultural Society's" Exhibition, to 

 be held in March, 1884. 



