Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1906-06-15
THE CAUCASIAN BEE.
Most Desirable and Profitable Breed
To Keep.

Most Desirable and Profitable Breed
! To Keep.
The introduction of the Caucasian
bee in this country is one of the be-
ne6cent works of the Department OF
Agriculture. In 1902 Frank Benton,
the expert apiarist In charge OF the
governmental hives at Washington,
d. c., brought a number OF mated
Caucasian queens to this country.
After the manner of queen bees,
upon their arrival here they proceed
ed to lay eggs by the thousand. In a
short time the government had a
number of queens and thousands
upon thousands of the gentle honey
gatherers. They were studied most
carefully 1t was found that almost
nothing that human being could do
would persuade them to attack him.
Their hives could be shaken. One
could rub them off the comb with the
unprotected hand. They were not
disturbed In the least. The only
times they showed any irritation
were on cool mornings when the
hives were severely Jared, OF when
they had been robbed by other bees.
With the exception Of the testy Cy-
! prlan bees, they were found to be
the equal of any bees in the gather
ing of honey. 1t is believed that they
will revolutionize the honey busi-
| ness. A number of queens have been
distributed, but the only imported
queen bee Of the race In the apiary
of the department died some time
ago.
1t Will take long time ia eradi'
cate from the American mind the
| fear of a bee. Long proximity to the
singing varieties has deeply i'm
pressed upon the American the wis
dom of giving the busy, buzzing bees
wide berth. The first bees brought
to this country We're the common
brown, or German, ones, They came
over In one of the tubby vessels OF
the seventeenth century, For two
centuries they held their own, and
were distributed from the Atlantic
to the Pacific. In comparison with
the other races now known, they
have nothing to recommend them.
For all this bee was a spiteful crea-
ture, 1t poorly defended its supplies
OF honey against other bees. 1t was
lazy in the matter of gathering
honey. Just as soon as the supply of
nectar began to decrease and a little
energy was required in order to find
hit the bee gave up the effort. 1t did
not multiply rapidly, so the hives at
the beginning Of the harvest were
likely to be as shorthanded as the
Kansas wheat farms. Therefore,
when In 1850 the comparatively gem
tie, prolific and industrious Italian
bees were imported the beekeeping
world became much excited. Fabu-
lous prices were paid for the queens.
Then score of years later came the
Cyprian bees, from Cyprus. These
bees were hustlers In the matter Of
gathering honey. One colony has a
record of one thousand pounds In
one season. But they were veritable
devils. Nothing would subdue them.
Smoke only irritated them. Ocea-
sionally they went out hunting for
trouble The story Is told OF one
swarm of these bees which drove an
entire family into the cellar and
stung every living animal In the
neighborhood, including horses,
cows, pigs and chickens. These were
followed by the large gray bees form
the Alpine provinces of Carniola,
Austria. These bees were gentle and
also good gatherers of honey Last
of ali have come the Caucasian bees,
which one can handle practically
with no more danger than If they
were so many flies.