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in the following years. At the same time, as on all his other trips, Brother Adam reported in words and pictures on traditional bee-keeping methods in Spain and Portugal. Here again, however, the main purpose of the expedition was to obtain accurate information about the history and origin of the local races of bees "as well as to discover the environmental factors which had shaped and developed a particular strain of bees".
1962
Morocco, South Turkey, North Greece, North-East Yugoslavia (Banat),
Egypt and the Libyan desert
At the end of March Brother Adam arrived in Morocco. As on many of his other journeys, he was accompanied by native bee-keepers who had met him at various bee-keeping congresses. Research into the dark North African bee was not his aim. His interest was in the Saharan bee. This unusual race of bees is found in a group of oases lying between the Atlas Mountains in the North-West and the Sahara desert in the South and East. "P. Haccour from Sidi-Yahia du Gharb, one of the most experienced bee-keepers that I ever met, proved to be an indispensable help, since he also spoke fluent Arabic, as well as having the necessary experience in contact with the Arab population." This undertaking too proved to be an extremely hazardous and demanding exercise for all participants. A month later, Brother Adam went on to Turkey, where he thoroughly researched the Southern half of the country and then collected more queen bees for special breeding purposes in various particularly interesting areas discovered in 1952. He continued his journey through Northern Greece and into North-Eastern former Yugoslavia where the Hungarian and Romanian frontiers meet. In June he returned to England to carry out important work on his own bees. In October he flew to Egypt, where he was particularly interested in the Nile delta. Bee-keepers, especially those in Europe, have always been particularly interested in the native Egyptian bee. This was not because of any capability of outstanding performance, but rather because of its outward appearance, the glowing orange color in conjunction with its particularly thick hair! Brother Adam's interest, however, was in a completely different characteristic: in various strains of the Egyptian bee, he found the only race of Apis mellifera which did not collect propolis! This was a characteristic that bee-keepers value. Great efforts were therefore made in the following years to fix this characteristic in the new mixed-stock and then introduce it into the Buckfast strain.
Brother Adam did not return to Buckfast until January 1963 after visiting various state-controlled bee-breeding laboratories in the Libyan desert.
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