. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. 354 AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL September olan bee. The Swiss are devoting- themselves to the black Alpine bee; the British to the brown Dutch; and there are breeders in Egypt, Cyprus and elsewhere, producing queens of native stock. In this country queen-breeding and selection have been carried to an ex- tent and a nicety of practice unknown elsewhere, but little has been at- tempted, as yet, in the province of hybridizing. The rage for bright golden color seems to have died down, and the Italian three-bander is the bee of the moment. I have been one of thos
. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. 354 AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL September olan bee. The Swiss are devoting- themselves to the black Alpine bee; the British to the brown Dutch; and there are breeders in Egypt, Cyprus and elsewhere, producing queens of native stock. In this country queen-breeding and selection have been carried to an ex- tent and a nicety of practice unknown elsewhere, but little has been at- tempted, as yet, in the province of hybridizing. The rage for bright golden color seems to have died down, and the Italian three-bander is the bee of the moment. I have been one of those bee-fever patients who try evei-ything going. I have handled at least ten American strains and, in addition, Carniolans and blacks. I am by no means satisfied that the best strains of three-banded Italians can- not be improved. I have never han- dled any Italian strain whose temper, throughout all seasons, could com- pare with that of the Carniolans, nor whose power of building up rapidly in chilly spring weather could com- pare with theirs. I have handled a strain of black bees which never did anything that the textbooks say they do. Their deportment was always calm and sedate. They were early abroad, and did not sulk in cool, cloudy weathei-. The Carniolans were worse swarmers than even the text- books foretell—in early summer—but afterwards settled down and did mar- vels. Their bad point, I should say, is that the fuss they make, when swarming, upsets Italians in the same apiary; they coi-rupt respectable neighbors with their mania, but do not communicate their virtues. The blacks were the equal of any Italians I have handled, and were conspicuous non-swarmers, but their queens were hopelessly invisible. Yet I feel sure that Carniolan temper and fertility and black hardiness will ultimately be among the attributes of the ideal bee. The first task should be to breed the Carniolan temper into the Italian three-bander until it becomes con- stant, and color bands remain in
Size: 1454px × 1719px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861
