. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. 822 THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. Dec. 2A, years in succession they would cease to have owners, and if they existed at all, it would be in a wild state. That there is a vast difference in the profits of different colonies in the same apiary, I think no bee-keeper of experi- ence and observation will deny. One colony, or a majority of the colouie!', of an apiary may yield satisfactory returns while others just as favorably situated and in equally as good con- dition in the spring will give no profit. The only legitimate conclusion that I can arrive at is t
. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. 822 THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. Dec. 2A, years in succession they would cease to have owners, and if they existed at all, it would be in a wild state. That there is a vast difference in the profits of different colonies in the same apiary, I think no bee-keeper of experi- ence and observation will deny. One colony, or a majority of the colouie!', of an apiary may yield satisfactory returns while others just as favorably situated and in equally as good con- dition in the spring will give no profit. The only legitimate conclusion that I can arrive at is that there is a great differ- ence in the bees even of the same variety. (Viz.: Italians, German, Carniolan, etc.) Neither is it surprising that such should be the case. We find the same condition of things among other domestic animals. There are cows kept which are an absolute bill of expense to their owners. Most dairymen realize that there are cows in their dairy that are not for sale, while others are. I will not lengthen this article by particularizing, but simply say that the same degree of merit and demerit obtains among horses, cattle, sheep, swine and poultry, and an effort is being constantly made to propagate the good qualities and eliminate the bad. That is just what we should do with the honey-bee, but we should start with the hest. The 3-banded Italians I take as the best domesticated honey-bee yet brought to public notice, and I understand such to be the verdict of the world's best apiarists to-day. By way of practical experience I will say that I kept black bees for about 20 years, and would have given up bee-keeping in dis- gust had not new hope dawned on the pursuit by the intro- duction of the Italian bee. When the seasons were jiistriyht results were satisfactory, but it took about three years of favorable conditions (rainfall, etc.,) to produce one good honey- year, and the blacks couldn't stand grief. The wax-moth was troublesome with the blacks. They were
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861
