BEE KEEPING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
97 
OTHER RACES. 
Practically every other race of bees known in the United States is 
on trial in Massachusetts. Several mention the newly introduced 
Caucasians. The Punic, Cyprian, and Banat bees are also reported. 
Considering the races by localities in the State, it is difficult to see 
that either the Italians or the Germans are more common to any one 
section than to another. Italian blood tends to predominate. Per- 
sonal observation, however, shows that hybrids or the more purely 
German are found in the back country, where newer methods of bee 
keeping usually receive less attention; the pure Italians and more 
recently introduced races are found near the large communities. 
Table VI. — Prevalence of different races of bees. 
Number reporting. 
Percentage 
Italian. 
594 
50 
Hybrids.** 
3-12 
30 
Black or 
German. 
L96 
16 
Carnio- 
lan. 
Other 
a Hybrids are largely an admixture of Italian and German races. 
HIVES. 
In 1852 Langstroth patented his movable-frame hive, which marked 
the beginning of modern bee keeping. In the same year he moved 
from Philadelphia, Pa., to Greenfield, Mass. Bee keeping was then 
in a deplorable condition, as he remarked, most of the hives in use 
being those impractical devices classed under the names of " box 
hives,'' " patent hives," and the like. According to the writer's ob- 
servations, these old-fashioned hives are fast being replaced by frame 
hives ; colonies in box hives in the country are being exterminated by 
disease; they are also bought up for transferring and for use in 
cucumber greenhouses; at present, bee keepers seldom, if ever, start 
with anything but frame hives. Of those who reported the kind of 
hive which they use, 10 per cent have exclusively box hives and 8 
per cent more acknowledge having a few. Moreover, there are a 
thousand persons who did not reply, and it is fair to presume that a 
considerable percentage of these have box hives. It will, conse- 
quently, not be exaggerating to estimate that 25 per cent, and possibly 
30 per cent, of the bee keepers of Massachusetts still use these hives to 
some extent. Lamentable, too, is the fact that the apiaries in Berk- 
shire County, against the New York State line, are perhaps in worse 
condition, so far as the box-hive problem is concerned, than other 
apiaries of the State, for figures show that one-third of the bee keep- 
ers of Berkshire County are using the old-fashioned hive. This 
circumstance is particularly unfortunate because the flora promises 
