Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 February 1914 — BEES AND BEE KEEPING [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BEES AND BEE KEEPING

THE CAUCASIAN BEE. - Most Desirable and Profitable Breed To Keep. The Introduction of the Caucasian bee in this country is one of the beneficent 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 proceeded 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. It was found that almost nothing that a 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 or when they had been robbed by. other bees. With the exception of the testy Cyprian bees, they were found to be the equal of any bees in the gathering of honey. It is believed that they will revolutionize the honey business. 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.

It will take a long time to eradicate from the American mind the fear of a bee. Long proximity to the stinging varieties has deeply impressed upon the American the wliF dom of giving the busy, buzzing bees a wide berth. The first bees brought to this country were 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 creature, it poorly defended its supplies of honey against other bees. It was lazy in the matter of gathering honey. Just as soon as the supply of q.eotar began to decrease and a little efiergy was required in order to find it the bee gave up the effort. It 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 1860 the comparatively gentle, prolific and industrious Italian bees were imported the beekeeping world became much excited. Fabulous prices were paid for the queens. Then a 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. Occasionally 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 Carnlola, Austria. These bees were gentle and also good gatherers of honey. Last of all have come the Caucasian bees, which one can handle practically with no more danger than if they were so many files.