8 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
The drones are veritable “ gray-coats,” and 
stout, active fellows, having especially large 
wings. 
• arniolan workers are silver-gray in colour, 
large bodied and strong winged. The thick 
fuzz of the abdomen is disposed in light- 
coloured bands, and as dark drab is the ground 
colour of the bee, the effect is a decidedly 
ringed appearance. 
The following are the good qualities of the 
Carniolans : — 1. The race is a prolific well- 
established one. 2. The workers are gentler 
than any other bees. 3. They submit more 
readily than other bees upon the application 
of a small amount of smoke. 4. They are 
excellent comb-builders and their scaled combs 
are of snowy whiteness, o. They gather very 
little propolis. 6. Colonies in a normal con- 
dition are vigorous defenders of their hives. 
The workers are the largest bees of the 
species “ Apis melitica,’’ and their individual 
strength is greater than that of other honey- 
bees. 7. Carniolans cluster very compactly 
and quietly, and winter remarkably well. 
8. Queens, workers and drones are more beau- 
tiful than those of common bees. 
Their faults are, so far as I know 
1. When made queenless they are thrown 
into great excitement and neglect at first, to 
defend their hives well. 2. They are slightly 
more disposed during honey-dearths to rob 
than are Italians, though far less trouble- 
some in this respect than blacks or Italians 
crossed with blacks. 
Some might be disposed to bring up as a 
grave fault the disposition which Carniolans 
frequently show to cast numerous swarms. I 
believe this disposition in any race depends 
almost entirely upon the prolificness of the 
queens, in fact is, with all races, greater in 
proportion as the queens are prolific. Prolific- 
ness in queens is the beekeeper's corner stone. 
Swarming is Nature’s escape for the surplus 
strength of the stock, and the beemaster has 
but to direct this force. Whoever cannot do 
this is not a master in the art. This, to some, 
seemingly “ bad trait” is referable therefore 
to one of the most indispensable qualities — 
prolificness of queens, and is implied and 
properly included under the 7tli point above. 
It has been objected by people who claimed 
to have some knowledge of bee keeping, and 
even to know a good deal about foreign races, 
that “ they could not tell Carniolans from 
common bees.” Such persons will find there 
is still something for them to learn. Mean- 
while, let an esteemed colleague give his 
testimony. Rev. A. E. Abbott says, in the 
“ Busy llee,” St. Joseph, Mo. : “ As to beauty, 
we think Carniolans the equal of any of the 
yellow races. A number of writers have said 
that they could not be told from the black 
bees only by an expert. This is not true of 
the ones we have seen. There is very nearly 
as much difference between them and ‘ blacks’ 
as there is between them and the Italians, and 
we think any child twelve years old would be 
made to see this as soon as its attention was 
called to it.” 
Even if this objection were sustainable, it 
could not be regarded as a very grave fault. 
Colour is quite a secondary matter as compared 
with qualities, and as regards the latter, 1 am 
quite satisfied Carniolans are superior to all 
other European races of bet s . — From Frank 
Benton's “Bees,” Munich 
NOTES AND NEWS. 
A Queensland Apiary . — A very interesting 
article, entitled “ A Queensland Apiary,” by 
the agricultural reporter of the Queenslander, 
appears in that paper of 8th May. The apiary 
referred to is that of Messrs. Spry Bros , on 
the Cooper’s Plain-road, about four miles from 
Brisbane, and which has been named the 
Flowerdale Apiary. It is situated on a clear- 
ing of about ton acres of land, surrounded by 
heavily-wooded land, timbered by Eucalypts, 
Banksias, Acacias, Casuarinse, and Melaleuca 
— a very paradise for bees. The writer speaks 
in glowing terms of the melliferous flora of 
the district, and directs attention to the 
immense sources of pollen in the Acacias and 
of honey in the Melaleucas or ti-trees, and 
also what a favourite with the bees is the 
lom: flowering stem of the grass tree 
(“ Xanthorea Arborea.”) Such a flora as 
exists around the Flowerdale Apiary provides 
a perennial feeding-ground, and gives grand 
honey harvests to the apiarist. There are 
about 180 colonies, all in Langstroth hives, 
which are placed on the ground in regular 
lines, with about twelve feet between each 
line. The great aim of Messrs. Spry, so far, 
has been to make all colonies strong, rather 
than to increase their stocks. This is neces- 
sary, as they work for extracting only, and 
therefore tier up their hives in full stories, 
with full-size frames in the supers; each full 
frame giving about eight pounds of honey. 
There are workshops and extracting houses, 
which are described as patterns of order and 
neatness. All the hives are made on the 
spot, and all the honey made up in tins 
hermetically sealed. The bees kept appear to 
be chiefly Ligurian, and steps are in progre.-s 
for introducing the finest breeds direct from 
Italy, as well as Cyprians. Mr. A. Spry 
visited Europe last year, and brought out 
some fine Ligurian and Cyprian queens, 
which arrived safely in the Dorunda, which, 
it will be remembered, was quarantined at 
