Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1907-08-10
NEW KIND OF H0NEYBEE
Indian Territory Man Believes
He Has Found One.
TOUGHER THAN COMMON VARIETY.

Captain Holder Says II stores It's
Honey In "a Sack Under the Ground.
Most of Them Are as Large as
italian Queen Bees-Trying to Cross
Them.
Captain John Holder who lives in a
cabin In the Arbuckle mountains, III
Indian Territory, believes he has dis
covered a new kind of honeybee, and
he Is trying to cross it with the ordi.
nary bee, says the Kansas City Star
He thinks that If he succeeds in get
ting the two kinds of bees to cross
breed he will have produced bee SUI
perior to either, because it will be bet
ter adapted to that country and eli
mate than any bee now known.
Captain Holders home is on Colbert
creek twelve miles west of Davis, l.
T. II, claims ownership to 1000 acres
of wild mountain land there and cult
Yates enough of it for his own needs.
Near his cabin are forty hollow stumps,
each inhabited by colony of bees.
bee discovery:
at Is strange mOngrel honeymaker
They appear to be a mixture Of gray
coated bumblebees and yellow striped
honeybees. Most Of them are as large
as Italian queen bees. They gather
honey and deposit 1t in honey balls in
holes which they excavate in the
ground. The honey balls, or sacks, con-
sist Of a waxy substance and are about
as thick as morocco leather. Nearly
every sack, or cell, contains about half
a pint Of the sweetest honey magma
BILE. Its flavor is far superior to COM
mon honey, and it acts like pepsin upon
the digestive organs. The mongrel
honeymakers cover their deposits of
sweetness with a lot of fine grass-in
fact, with a waterproof roof A good
ly number of the mongrels are detailed
to act as guards to repel invaders, such
as skunks, opossums, raccoons, ants
and other creeping things In search of
sweetness.
"Polecats dearly love honey. The
queer bees, however, generally succeed
in the battle, as | have found several
dead skunks near the honey deposito-
ries, where they had been stung to
death
Some of the honey nests are watch
ed over by from two to ten bees. The
larger families, however, always. help
the endangered smaller colonies, as
such families always make their home
close to their more populous neighbors.
"The new kind of bees always work
early In the morning and until about
the middle of the afternoon, but l never
espied one gathering sweetness about
or after sunset
1.-THE mongrel bees make honey
where arlstocratic honeybees would
starve to death, and therein lies their
great. value. They gather sweetness
on humble blackjacks, swamp willows,
mountain qHlnine plants, on the preva-
lent broom weeds, on watermelons,
sweet corn, sorghum cane, wild fox
grapes, on sumach blossoms and poison
oaks. Those bees are great enemies to
A cur that has ever been stung by one
of them can never be coaxed to again
nose around their honey balls
81 have been experimenting with the
new found honey gatherers. l have
been trying to tame them so that they
will mix and live with my civilized
bees. The newcomers are curiously in
spected by the old settlers in the hollow
stump or bee gums Often a terrific
battle takes place, but l noticed that
when a moth attempts to enter the
hive during the conflict the mongrels
cease fighting their cousins and prompt
ly dispatch the intruding moth. Then
very often the aristocratic bees enter
into amlable relations with the new
corners by letting them crawl into thelr
hives. I am watching this cross breed
ing process with keen delight and will
continue to introduce as many of the
mongrels as l can capture. l think
that, like Burbank In the vegetable
kingdom, may succeed In producing
a new and more profitably honeybee
than Is yet known to the world"