Transcriber Note
Text emphasis denoted by _Italics_ and =Bold=.
[Illustration: Bull. 1, new series, Div. of Entomology, U. S. Agriculture.
Frontispiece.
An Apiary in Maryland.]
Bulletin No. 1. New Series. (Third Edition.)
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY.
THE HONEY BEE:
A MANUAL OF
INSTRUCTION IN APICULTURE
BY
FRANK BENTON, M. S.,
ASSISTANT ENTOMOLOGIST.
[Illustration]
WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1899.
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
U. S. Department of Agriculture,
Division of Entomology,
_Washington, D. C, May 27, 1899_.
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith for republication a manual
entitled, The Honey Bee: A Manual of Instruction in Apiculture, by
Mr. Frank Benton, who has been in charge of the apiarian work of
this Division for several years. The constant demand for information
concerning bee culture for a long time indicated a need for such a
public manual, and the work was begun and nearly completed under the
direction of my predecessor, Dr. G. V. Riley. The manuscript was
submitted September 20, 1895, and the edition of 1,000 copies was soon
exhausted. In April, 1896, Congress ordered a reprint of 20,000 copies,
in which some corrections and additions were made by the author. He has
also taken advantage of the reprint of another (the third) edition to
make some slight additional changes.
The apiarian industry in the United States is practically a development
of the last forty years, although isolated individuals were engaged in
this work long prior to that time. The importance of the industry at
the present day is not generally realized, and the following figures
will probably be surprising to many well-informed individuals:
Apiarian societies in the United States 110
Apiarian journals 8
Steam factories for the manufacture of beehives and apiarian
implements 15
Honey produced in the United States in 1869 (according to
United States Census Report) pounds 14,702,815
Honey produced in the United States in 1889 (according to
United States Census Report) pounds 63,894,186
Persons engaged in the culture of bees (estimated) 300,000
Honey and wax produced, at wholesale rates (Eleventh Census) $7,000,000
Mr. Benton's estimate of the present annual value of
apiarian products $20,000,000
As supplementary to these figures it may be stated that in addition
to the 15 steam-power factories there is a very largo number of smaller
factories, using mainly hand and horse power, which are engaged in the
production of supplies, such as hives, smokers, honey extractors, sections,
comb foundation, and other apiarian apparatus. It is estimated
by Mr. Benton that the present existing flora of the United States
could undoubtedly support, with the same average profit, ten times the
number of colonies of bees it now supports. This branch of agricultural
industry does not impoverish the soil in the least, but, on the
contrary, results in better seed and fruit crops. The total money gain
to the country from the prosecution of this industry would undoubtedly
be placed at several times the amount given in the table above
were we only able to estimate in dollars and cents the result of the
work of bees in cross fertilizing the blossoms of fruit crops. In support
of this it is only necessary to refer to the fact that recent investigations
by another division of this Department have shown that
certain varieties of pear are nearly or quite sterile unless bees bring
pollen from other distinct varieties for their complete cross fertilization.
I respectfully recommend the publication of this manual as No. 1 of
the new series of bulletins of this Division.
Respectfully, L. O. Howard,
_Entomologist_.
Hon. James Wilson,
_Secretary of Agriculture_.
PREFACE.
This treatise is designed to make the practical management of an apiary
plain to those whose acquaintance with the subject is limited, and to
direct such as may find in it a pleasant and profitable occupation to
a system of management which may be followed on an extensive scale
with the certainty of fair remuneration for the labor and capital
required. With this object in view the author has deemed it best to
treat the natural history of the bee but briefly, and also to give
little space to matters which are in question, or to different methods
of accomplishing given results, or to such as are only adapted to a
limited portion of the country, but rather to explain one settled way
widely applicable and which will lead to success. The methods advised
here are such as the author has found practical during an extended
experience, yet in regard to numerous details many works--both foreign
and American--have been consulted, none more freely than Langstroth on
the Honey Bee, revised by Chas. Dadant & Son, and Bees and Bee Keeping,
by Prof. F. R. Cheshire.
Many of the illustrations were specially prepared for this bulletin.
Some have been taken from publications of the Department of
Agriculture. These include some of the smaller illustrations of
honey-producing plants and also Plates III to X, which are from reports
of the Botanist of the Department. Plates II and XI, and figures 5, 6,
8, 44, 50, 51, and 76 are copied from Cheshire; figs. 08 and 69 from
Simmins. The Department is also under obligations to the A. I. Root
Company, to Chas. Dadant & Son, T. F. Bingham, Hayek Bros., Tan Allen &
Williams, and Dr. T. L. Tinker, for electrotypes.
Frank Benton.
Washington, D. C.
CONTENTS.
Page.
Chapter I.--Classification of the honey bee 11
The different species and races 11
Common East Indian honey bee, _Apis indica_ 12
Tiny East Indian honey bee, _Apis florea_ 13
Giant East Indian honey bee, _Apis dorsata_ 13
Common hive or honey bee, _Apis mellifera_ 15
Cyprians 15
Italians 16
Carniolans 17
German, common black or brown bees 18
Chapter II.--Kinds of bees composing a colony Bee
products and description of combs--Development of brood 19
Kinds of bees in a colony 19
Bee products and organs used in their preparation 21
Nectar and honey 22
Propolis 24
Bee poison and the sting 24
Water 25
Silk 25
Wax 25
Combs 26
Development of brood 28
The worker 29
The drone 30
Chapter III.--Quieting and manipulating bees 31
Chapter IV. Establishing an apiary: Time--Selecting hives
of bees--Moving bees Selection of site 35
Selection of stocks 35
Moving bees 37
Selection of site 38
Chapter V.--Hives and implements 40
Hives 40
Implements 47
Bee smokers 47
Veils 48
Honey extractors and honey knives 49
Wax extractors 50
Queen introducing-cages 50
Bee feeders 51
Section folders 52
Bee escapes 52
Foundation fasteners 52
Comb-foundation machines 54
Chapter VI.--Bee pasturage 56
Cultivation of honey plants 59
Bees as cross fertilizers 62
Honey and pollen producing plants 64
Chapter VII.--Spring manipulation 69
Transferring 71
Queenlessness in spring 74
Chapter VIII.--Securing surplus honey and wax 75
Extracted honey 75
Comb honey 79
Putting on sections 81
Production of wax 84
Chapter IX.--Rearing and introducing queens 87
Mailing queens 92
Introducing queens 93
Chapter X.--Increase of colonies 95
Natural swarming 95
Clipping queens 97
Automatic hivers 98
Prevention of after-swarming 98
Artificial increase 99
Dividing 100
Driving or brushing 100
The nucleus system 101
Prevention of swarming 101
Dequeening 102
Requeening 102
Space near entrances 103
Langdon non-swarming device 104
Selection in breeding 105
Chapter XI.--Wintering bees 106
Outdoor wintering 109
Indoor wintering 111
Chapter XII.--Diseases and enemies of bees 112
Diarrhea and dysentery 112
Foul brood 112
The wax moth 113
Braula or bee louse 115
Other enemies 115
Robber flies, dragon flies, etc. 115
Ants and wasps 115
Spiders 116
Toads and lizards 116
Birds 116
Mammals 116
Robber bees 116
Laying workers 117
Brief list of books and journals relating to apiculture 118
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PLATES.
Page.
An apiary in Maryland Frontispiece.
Plate I. Honey bees 16
II. Digestive system of bee 22
III. Alfalfa (_Medicago saliva_) 64
IV. Esparcet or sainfoin (_Onobrychis sativa_) 64
V. Sweet clover or melilot (_Melilotus alba_) 64
VI. Acacia (_Acacia constricta_) 64
VII. Mesquite (_Prosopis juliflora_) 64
VIII. Blue weed or viper's bugloss (_Echium vulgare_) 64
IX. Crimson clover (_Trifolium incarnatum_) 64
X. Alsike clover (_Trifolium hybridum_) 64
XI. _Bacillus alvei_ 112
TEXT FIGURES.
Fig. 1. Worker cells of common East Indian honey bee
(_Apis indica_) 12
2. Worker cells of tiny East Indian honey bee
(_Apis florea_) 13
3. Comb of tiny East Indian honeybee (_Apis florea_) 14
4. Worker cells of common honey bee (_Apis mellifera_) 15
5. Ovaries of queen and workers 19
6. Heads of queen and drone 20
7. Modifications of the legs of different bees 21
8. Head and tongue of _Apis mellifera_ worker 22
9. Wax disks of social bees 26
10. Comb building, side of hive removed 27
11. Cross section of brood apartment 29
12. Use of veil and bee smoker 31
13. Manipulation removing comb from hive 32
14. Manipulation tilting to bring reverse side of comb
to view 33
15. Manipulation reverse side of comb brought to view 33
16. Manipulation examining reverse side of comb 33
17. Quinby closed-end frames 34
18. Box hive prepared for transportation 37
19. Frame hive prepared for transportation 37
20. An apiary in Florida 38
21. An apiary in California 39
22. Ancient Greek movable comb hive 41
23. Dadant-Quinby form of Langstroth hive with cap and
gable roof 41
24. Langstroth frame showing construction 42
25. Form in which to nail frames 42
26. Lock-joint chaff hive 43
27. Manner of nailing hives 43
28. Section of improved tin frame-rest 44
29. The Langstroth hive (Dadant-Quinby form), cross
section showing construction 45
30. The Nonpareil hive 46
31. Dadant-Quinby form of Langstroth hive open 46
32. The Bingham bee smoker 48
33. Automatic reversible honey extractor 49
34. Quinby uncapping knife 49
35. Bingham & Hetherington uncapping knife 49
36. Excelsior wax extractor 50
37. Simplicity feeder 51
38. Fruit-jar bee feeder, bottom of feeding stage and
perforated cap shown separately 51
39. The Porter spring bee escape 52
40. Daisy foundation fastener 53
41. Fastening starter of comb foundation in frame 53
42. Spur wire-embedder 54
43. Comb-foundation machine 55
44. Willow herb (_Epilobium angustifolium_) 57
45. Wagner's flat pea (_Lathyrus sylvestris wagneri_) 59
46. Dwarf Essex or winter rape (_Brassica napus_) 60
47. Summer or bird rape (_Brassica napus_) 60
48. Sacaline or giant knotweed (_Polygonum sachalinense_) 61
49. Russian or hairy vetch (_Vicia villosa_) 61
50. Mountain laurel (_Kalmia latifolia_) 63
51. Apple (_Pyrus malus_) 63
52. Heath-like wild aster (_Aster ericoides_) 64
53. Transferring drumming the bees from a box hive into
a frame hive 71
54. Transferred comb and inserted queen cell 73
55. Uncapping and extracting honey 77
56. One-piece "V"-grooved sections 80
57. Super with section holders and sections in place 80
58. Dadant-Quinby form of Langstroth hive, elevated from
bottom board and slid back for ventilation in summer 82
59. Langstroth hive with combined surplus case and
shipping crate 83
60. Honey shipping cases 83
61. Boardman solar wax extractor 85
62. Comb showing worker brood and queen cells 88
63. Queen cells and worker brood in various stages 89
64. The Benton queen cage fur transporting a queen and
attendants by mail 92
65. Caging a queen for mailing 92
66. Queen introducing-cage 94
67. Hiving a swarm of bees 96
68. The Simmins non-swarming system, single-story hive
with supers 103
69. The Simmins non-swarming system, double-story hive
with supers 103
70. Beehives with Langdon non-swarmer attached 104
71. Percolator for preparation of winter food 107
72. The American straw hive of Hayek Bros 108
73. Davis hive with newspapers packed between inner and
outer cases and brood frames on end for winter 108
74. Double-walled hive adapted to outdoor wintering as
well as summer use below 40 C north latitude in
United States 109
75. An apiary in Vermont winter view 110
76. Cheshire anti-robbing entrance 117
MANUAL OF APICULTURE.
CHAPTER I.
=CLASSIFICATION OF THE HONEY BEE=
THE DIFFERENT SPECIES AND RACES.
A knowledge of the structural peculiarities and the life history
of bees will aid anyone who essays to manage them for profit in
determining more accurately what conditions are necessary to their
greatest welfare. It is not to be understood that such knowledge will
take the place of an acquaintance with those conditions under which
actual practice has shown that bees thrive, but that it forms a good
basis for an understanding of whatever practice has found best in the
management of these industrious and profitable insects. It will also
assist in pointing out in what way practice can be improved.
In a small treatise like the present one, the object of which is to
give in plain language the information needed by one who engages in
bee keeping primarily for profit, it is not possible to do more than
present a mere outline of classification and a few general facts
regarding structure. The reader who finds them interesting and valuable
in his work is reminded that the treatment of these matters in more
extended volumes, such as Langstroth's, Cheshire's, etc., will be found
far more so.
Singling out from the order Hymenoptera, or membranous-winged insects,
the family Apidæ, or bee family, several marked types called genera are
seen to compose it, such as _Apis_ (the hive bee), _Bombus_ (the bumble
bee), _Xylocopa_ (the carpenter bee), _Megachile_ (the leaf-cutter),
_Melipona_ (the stingless honey bee of the American tropics), etc. All
of these are very interesting to study, and each fulfills a purpose
in the economy of nature; but the plan of these pages can only be
to consider the first genus, _Apis_, or the hive bee. Incidentally
it may be mentioned that the plan of introducing the stingless bees
(_Melipona_) from tropical America has frequently been brought up with
the expectation of realizing important practical results from it. These
bees might possibly be kept in the warmer portions of our country, but
their honey yield is small, not well ripened, and not easily harvested
in good shape, since the honey cells are of dark wax, like that made
by our bumble bees, and they are not arranged in regular order, but in
irregular clumps like those of bumble bees. The writer had a colony
under observation last year, and experiments have been made with them
in their native lands as well as in European countries. Of the genus
_Apis_ the only representative in this country is _mellifera_, although
several others are natives of Asia and Africa.
THE COMMON EAST INDIAN HONEY BEE.
(_Apis indica_ Fab.)
The common bee of southern Asia is kept in very limited numbers and
with a small degree of profit in earthen jars and sections of hollow
trees in portions of the British and Dutch East Indies. They are also
found wild, and build when in this state in hollow trees and in rock
clefts. Their combs, composed of hexagonal wax cells, are ranged
parallel to each other like those of _A. mellifera_, but the worker
brood cells are smaller than those of our ordinary bees, showing 36 to
the square inch of surface instead of 29, while the comb where worker
brood is reared, instead of having, like that of _A. mellifera_, a
thickness of seven-eighths inch, is but five-eighths inch thick. (Fig.
1.)
[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Worker cells of common East Indian honey bee
(_Apis indica_); natural size. (Original.)]
_The workers._--The bodies of these, three-eighths inch long when
empty, measure about one-half inch when dilated with honey. The thorax
is covered with brownish hair and the shield or crescent between the
wings is large and yellow. The abdomen is yellow underneath. Above it
presents a ringed appearance, the anterior part of each segment being
orange yellow, while the posterior part shows bands of brown of greater
or less width and covered with whitish-brown hairs; tip black. They are
nimble on foot and on the wing, and active gatherers.
_The queens._--The queens are large in proportion to their workers and
are quite prolific; color, leather or dark coppery.
_The drones._--These are only slightly larger than the workers; color,
jet-like blue black, with no yellow, their strong wings showing
changing hues like those of wasps.
Manipulations with colonies of these bees are easy to perform if smoke
be used, and though they are more excitable than our common hive bees,
this peculiarity does not lead them to sting more, but seems rather to
proceed from fear. The sting is also less severe.
Under the rude methods thus far employed in the management of this bee
no great yields of honey are obtained, some 10 or 12 pounds having been
the most reported from a single hive. It is quite probable that if
imported into this country it would do more. These bees would no doubt
visit many small flowers not frequented by the hive bees we now have,
and whose nectar is therefore wasted, but very likely they might not
withstand the severe winters of the North unless furnished with such
extra protection as would be afforded by quite warm cellars or special
repositories.
THE TINY EAST INDIAN HONEY BEE.
(_Apis florea_ Fab.)
This bee, also a native of East India, is the smallest known species of
the genus. It builds in the open air, attaching a single comb to a twig
of a shrub or small tree. This comb is only about the size of a man's
hand and is exceedingly delicate, there being on each side 100 worker
cells to the square inch of surface (figs. 2 and 3). The workers, more
slender than house flies, though longer bodied, are blue-black in
color, with the anterior third of the abdomen bright orange. Colonies
of these bees accumulate so little surplus honey as to give no hope
that their cultivation would be profitable.
[Illustration: Fig 2.--Worker cells of tiny East Indian honey bee
(_Apis florea_); natural size. (Original).]
THE GIANT EAST INDIAN HONEY BEE.
(_Apis dorsata_ Fab.)
This large bee (Plate I, figs. 2 and 3), which might not be
inappropriately styled the Giant East Indian bee, has its home also
in the far East--both on the continent of Asia and the adjacent
islands. There are probably several varieties, more or less marked, of
this species, and very likely _Apis zonata_ Guér. of the Philippine
Islands, reported to be even larger than _A. dorsata_, will prove on
further investigation to be only a variety of the latter. All the
varieties of these bees build huge combs of very pure wax--often 5
to 6 feet in length and 3 to 4 feet in width, which they attach to
overhanging ledges of rocks or to large limbs of lofty trees in the
primitive forests or jungles. When attached to limbs of trees they
are built singly and present much the same appearance as those of the
tiny East Indian bee, shown in the accompanying figure (fig. 3). The
Giant bee, however, quite in contradistinction to the other species of
Apis mentioned here, does not construct larger cells in which to rear
drones, these and the workers being produced in cells of the same size.
Of these bees--long a sort of a myth to the bee keepers of America and
Europe--strange stories have been told. It has been stated that they
build their combs horizontally, after the manner of paper-making wasps;
that they are so given to wandering as to make it impossible to keep
them in hives, and that their ferocity renders them objects greatly
to be dreaded. The first real information regarding these points was
given by the author, lb 4 visited India in 1880-81 for the purpose
of obtaining colonies of _Apis dorsata_. These were procured in the
jungles, cutting the combs from their original attachments, and it was
thus ascertained that (as might have been expected in the case of any
species of Apis), their combs are always built perpendicularly; also
that the colonies placed in frame hives and permitted to fly freely
did not desert these habitations and that, far from being ferocious,
these colonies were easily handled by proper precautions, without even
the use of smoke. It was also proved by the quantity of honey and wax
present that they are good gatherers. The execution at that time of the
plan of bringing these bees to the United States was prevented only by
severe illness contracted in India.
[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Comb of tiny East Indian honey bee (_Apis
florea_) one-third natural sized. (Original.)]
These large bees would doubtless be able to get honey from flowers
whose nectaries are located out of reach of ordinary bees, notably
those of the red clover, now visited chiefly by bumble bees and which
it is thought the East Indian bees might pollinate and cause to produce
seed more abundantly. Even if no further utilizable, they might prove
an important factor in the production in the Southern States of large
quantities of excellent beeswax, now such an expensive article. Should
these bees and the common East Indian bee (_Apis indica_), previously
referred to, visit in the main only such flowers as are not adapted
to our hive bees, their introduction, wherever it could be made
successful, would, without decreasing the yield from our hive bees, add
materially to the honey and wax production of the country. Theoretical
conclusions as to the results of such an introduction can not be of
much account unless based upon an intimate acquaintance with the nature
and habits of the bees to be introduced. Enough is known of the small
bee to remove all doubt regarding the possibility of its successful
introduction, and it is also probable that the large one would prove
valuable. In neither case does there appear any possibility that evil
results might follow their introduction. There are also numerous other
varieties or species of bees in Africa and Asia about which no more or
even less is known, but to investigate them fully will require much
time and considerable expense. It is a subject, however, that should
receive careful consideration because of the possible benefits to
apiculture and the wider beneficial effects on agriculture.
THE COMMON HIVE OR HONEY BEE.
(_Apis mellifera_ Linn.)
Besides the common brown or German bee imported from Europe to this
country some time in the seventeenth century and now widely spread from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, several other races have been brought
here--the Italian in 1860, and later the Egyptian, the Cyprian, the
Syrian, the Palestine, the Carniolan (Plate I, figs. 1, 4, and 5), and
the Tunisian. Of these the brown or German, the Italian, and, in a few
apiaries, the Carniolan bees are probably the only races existing pure
in the United States, the others having become more or less hybridized
with the brown race or among themselves or their cultivation having
been discontinued. It should also be remarked that so few have kept
their Carniolans pure that purchasers who wish this race should use
caution in their selection or else import their own breeding queens.
There are many breeders of Italians from whom good stock can be
obtained. Egyptian bees were tried some thirty years ago, but only
to a very limited extent, and, as has been the case with Syrians and
Palestines imported in 1880, and whose test was more prolonged and
general, they were condemned as inferior in temper and wintering
qualities to the races of bees already here, it not being thought that
these points of inferiority were sufficiently balanced by their greater
prolificness and their greater energy in honey collecting.
[Illustration: Fig. 4.--Worker cells of common honey bee (_Apis
mellifera_); natural size. (Original.)]
The Tunisians, for similar reasons and also because they are great
collectors of propolis, never became popular, although a persistent
attempt was made a few years since to create sale for them under the
new name of "Punic bees," the undesirable qualities of the race having
previously been made known, under the original name, by the author,
who had tested them carefully for several years--a part of the time in
Tunis.
_Cyprians._--Bees of the race native to the Island of Cyprus have
produced the largest yield of honey on record from a single colony
in this country, 1,000 pounds in one season. Everyone who has fairly
tested them admits their wonderful honey-gathering powers and their
persevering courage in their labors even when the flowers are secreting
honey but scantily. They winter well and defend their hives against
robber bees and other enemies with greater energy than any other known
race. When storing honey Cyprians till the cells quite fall before
sealing, and thus the capping rests against the honey, presenting a
semitransparent or "watery" appearance, which is undesirable. They
are extremely sensitive, hence easily angered by rough or bungling
manipulators, and when once thoroughly aroused are very energetic
in the use of their stings. These faults have caused a very general
rejection of Cyprians, especially by those who produce comb honey.
Even the producers of extracted honey do not seem to have learned how
to manipulate Cyprians easily and without the use of much smoke, nor
how much more rapidly they could free their extracting combs from
Cyprian bees than from Italians. Nor have they seemed to count as of
much importance the fact that Cyprians, unlike Italians and German or
common bees, do not volunteer an attack when undisturbed; that they
will, in fact, let one pass and repass their hives quite unmolested
and even under such circumstances as would call forth a vigorous and
very disagreeable protest from the other races just mentioned. It is
to be regretted that there has been such a widespread rejection of a
race having such important and well-established excellent qualities.
It would be easier by selection in breeding to reduce the faults of
this race than to bring any other cultivated race to their equal in the
other desirable points.
Cyprians are smaller-bodied and more slender than bees of European
races. The abdomen is also more pointed and shows, when the bees are
purely bred, three light orange bands on the three segments nearest the
thorax. The underside of the abdomen is even lighter orange colored
nearly or quite to the tip. The postscutellum--the small lunule-like
prominence on the thorax between the bases of the wings--is likewise
orange colored instead of dull, as in European races. The rest of
the thorax is covered with a russet-brown pubescence. Cyprians are
the yellowest of the original races, and their bright colors and
symmetrical forms render them attractive objects.
_Italians._--Through the agency of the United States Department of
Agriculture bees of this race were introduced direct from Italy in
1860. There had previously been repeated individual efforts to secure
Italians bred in Germany, where the race had been introduced some years
earlier, and a small number of queens had been landed here alive in
the autumn of 1859, but most of these died the following winter and
the few remaining alive seem not to have been multiplied as rapidly
as those obtained in Italy by a purchasing agent of the Department of
Agriculture and landed here early in 1860. Their good qualities were
soon appreciated, and they had become well established and widely
spread long before the Cyprians, imported twenty years later. For
this reason, together with the fact that they cap their surplus combs
whiter than some other races and because less skill is required in
subduing and handling Italians, they have retained their popularity
over bees which, though better honey gatherers, are more nervous under
manipulation. Their golden-yellow color has also proved so attractive
to many that the good qualities of more somber-hued races--gentler,
better winterers, and better comb builders--have not received due
consideration. Italians are, however, certainly preferable to the
common brown or black bees, for they show greater energy in gathering
honey and in the defense of their hives against moth larvæ and robber
bees, while at the same time they are gentler under manipulation than
the blacks, though they do not winter as well in severe climates.
Bul. 1, new series, Div. of Entomology, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.
Plate I.
[Illustration]
Honey Bees.
1. Worker, Carniolan variety of _Apis mellifera_--twice natural size.
2. Giant honey bee of East India (_Apis dorsata_), worker twice
natural size.
3. Giant honey bee of East India (_Apis dorsata_), drone twice
natural size.
4. Drone, Carniolan variety of _Apis mellifera_ twice natural size.
5. Queen, Carniolan variety of _Apis mellifera_--twice natural size.
Italian workers nearly equal Garniolans in size, and show across
the abdomen when the latter is distended with honey not less than
three yellow bands, which approach more or less a reddish or dark
leathery color. By selection in some instances, and in others by the
introduction of Cyprian blood, Italians and Italian hybrids have
recently been bred which show four or five yellow bands or which are
even yellow to the tip of the abdomen. They are certainly pleasing to
the eye, and in case due heed has been given to the vigor and working
qualities of the stock selected when establishing the strain, no
valid objection can be brought against them except the tendency they
have to revert to the original type of Italians. This is due to the
comparatively short time they have been bred, and with each season's
selection will of course grow less.
_Carniolans._--These, the gray bees from the elevated Alpine province
of Carniola, Austria, are the gentlest of all races, and as, besides
their other good qualities, they winter the best of any, it is not
surprising to see that they have steadily grown in favor. Their sealed
combs are exceedingly white, as they do not fill the cells so full
that the honey touches the capping, and they gather little propolis,
qualities highly appreciated by the producer of comb honey. They
are quite prolific, and if kept in small hives, such as have been
popularized of late in the United States, are somewhat more inclined
to swarm than the other races introduced here. This tendency becomes
more pronounced when they are taken into a country whose summers are
hot, like ours, and their hives are not well shaded, as they have been
bred for centuries, with only slight introduction of outside blood,
in a climate where the summers are short and cool. Moreover, the
practice in Carniola is to place the long, shallow hives used almost
exclusively there, in beehouses and side by side, one above the other,
with intervening air spaces, so that at most only the front ends are
exposed to the sun. This management long continued has doubtless tended
to develop and fix more or less permanently in this race certain
characteristics which should be taken into account in their management
elsewhere. With these precautions they do well in all parts of the
United States. (See Plate I, figs. 1, 4, and 5.)
The Carniolan worker is readily recognized by its large form, less
pointed abdomen, and general ashy gray coat, the abdominal segments
especially presenting a ringed appearance on account of silvery white
hairs which cover the posterior half of each of these segments. By
crossing Carniolans with Italians or with Cyprians a yellow type with
silvery rings is produced, and by continued selection in breeding the
gentle disposition of the Carniolans can be secured with the greater
honey-gathering powers of Cyprians should these be employed in forming
the new strain.
_German, common black, or brown bees._--These bees are found commonly
throughout our country from ocean to ocean, both wild and domesticated.
Exactly when they were introduced from Europe is not known, but
considerable evidence exists which shows that there were no hive bees
(_Apis mellifera_) in this country for some time after the first
colonies were established; also, it was not until near the close of
the last century that they reached the Mississippi, and less than half
a century has passed since the first were successfully landed on the
Pacific Coast.
Many bee keepers, having more attractively colored and frequently
better bees, are inclined to consider this race as possessing hardly
any redeeming qualities, or at least to underrate these because
accompanied by undesirable traits. While it is true that they have
some serious faults, the latter are not so great as those of some
other races. They have become thoroughly acclimated since their first
importation, over two centuries ago, and besides possessing good
wintering and comb-building qualities, they will, when the flow of
honey is quite abundant, generally equal Italians in gathering. But
the disposition which bees of this race have of flying toward one
who approaches the apiary and stinging him, even though the hives
have not been molested, their way of running excitedly over the combs
and dropping in bunches when they are handled, besides stinging the
backs of the operator's hands, unless the whole colony has first been
thoroughly subdued and the bees induced to gorge themselves with honey,
or are constantly deluged with smoke, are very annoying to the novice
who undertakes to perform necessary manipulations with them, and may
even so discourage and daunt him as to cause the neglect of work of
great importance to the welfare of the colony. The easy discouragement
of bees of this race when a sudden check in the flow of honey occurs is
also a peculiarity which does not commend them. These things, tending
to reduce profits, often dampen the beginner's enthusiasm before
he has acquired the knowledge and skill necessary to make the work
genuinely successful. He had therefore better choose either Italians
or Carniolans, and use as breeders only queens that are known to have
mated purely.
The common race shows considerable variation in its markings and
qualities. The workers have a dull, rusty brown color, especially
about the thorax. Some strains are however much darker than others and
in general the drones are darker than the workers. In size workers,
drones, and queens of this race are intermediate between the other
European races and those from the Orient. The same care and skill
applied in the selection of breeding stock would result in as great
improvement in this as in any of the more attractive yellow races.
[Illustration: Fig. 5.--Ovaries of queen and workers: A, abdomen of
queen--under side (magnified eight times); P, petiole; O, O, ovaries;
_hs_, position filled by honey sac; _ds_, position through which
digestive system passes; _od_, oviduct; _co.d_, common oviduct; E,
egg-passing oviduct; _s_, spermatheca; _i_, intestine; _po_, poison
bag; _p.g_, poison gland; _st_, sting; _p_, palpi. B, rudimentary
ovaries of ordinary worker; _sp_, rudimentary spermatheca. C, partially
developed ovaries of fertile worker; _sp_, rudimentary spermatheca.
(From Cheshire.)]