Evening journal., 1908-05-05

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The Egyptian bee has been under
cultivation for thousands Of years. II
is smaller than the Italian bee. but is
rather cross and difncult to handle.
The Cyprian is another cross race.
They were taken from Cyprus into
Europe in 1872 and brought to Amer
lea in 1880. They are remarkably fine
honey gatherers. but are difficult to
handle as they do not respond to the
quieting influence of smoke.
Inc Giant bee, of India, has had the
attention Of bee keepers, and Mr.. BEN
ton made an attempt TO bring them 10
this country, but did not succeed
These bees can take the nectar from
flowers that the ordinary bee cannot
reach, and it is the hope that IL thew
could be brought to this country thew
might take the place of the humble bee
IN working upon the red clover. In
these later years it has not been pos
slble to get the red clover fertilized.
because the humble bee has become al
most extinct The humble bee was the
bee that was at home on the red clo-
yer. In my opinion the wire fence Ia
responsible for the extinction of the
Dumble bee. When a boy 1t was no un-
usual thing to find a humble bees nest
In almost every fence corner, but now.
with the wire fence and the grass kept
cut under it. there is scarcely a place
Tor the bee TO build its nest. Years
ago. when the red clover was intro
duced into Australia, the complaint
came back that il would not produce
seed that would germinate. and the
humble bee was then introduced to fer
tilize It, If the introduction of the
Giant bee of India would serve to fer
tilize the red clover of this country, it
would be of great benefit to the farm
ers.
In Mexico and Central America there
is race Of stingless bees. This rouses
the interest of those who are afraid of
the sting, and they would like to see
them introduced into this country. At
tempts have been made to bring them
here, but they have not yet been able
to keep them through the winter. one
species of this race was exhibited at
Philadelphia couple of years ago,
and after witnessing the handling of
them, it was my conviction that 1
would rather handle the Italian, not
withstanding his sting. While they did
not sting, they would bite and get in
the hair and crawl into tha ears and
nostrils of the operator
The Carniolaus are good honey gath
,erers, and are said to be gentle, but
they are given to swarming too much.
The Caucasians are advertised as
being the quietest bee, but my ex-
perience with them has been that they
vary much as do the Italians. Some
of them are very quiet, and others
rather cross. They have not yet been
sufficiently tried to know whether they
have qualities that would commend
them above the Italians.
The German bee, or common black
bee, as it is best known, needs no de-
scription, as there are few communi-
ties in which there are not a number
of them. They are usually in the old
box hives. They are cross and not as
good honey gatherers as the Italian.
So far the italian has proved to be
the best bee for honey gathering, and
for handling, taking all things into
confederation. They are excellent home
protectors, and will keep out the moth
and repel the ants where other bees
will be destroyed.
In 1853 the first Italian bees were
brought to this country by Mr.. Wag-
ner and Mr. Colvin, of Baltimore.
Since that date many importatons
have been made and now this country
is we'll supplied with Italian stock.
They have proved to be not only good
honey gatherer, but they stand the
winter WELL
Any other colony of bees can be
easily Italianized by removing the
queen and introducing an Italian
queen.
One can thus change his common
black bees into Italian with all the
good qualities Of the same.
The Hybrid is a cross between tht
italian and the common bee. This
combination frequently produces
most valuable bee. Some Hybrids will
do equally as well as the pure Italian
but they are generally quite cross
more so than the black bee-and some
times these Hybrids are so cross tha
they might possibly be called vicious
In this case the removal Of their queer
and introducing a pure Italian will
bring them back TO the gentle disposi'
ton again.