HYBRIDS. 



282 



HYBRIDS. 



are a cross between tlie Italians and the 

 common bee.* If one buys an Italian queen 

 that is pure, he can at once set about rear- 

 ing qneens if he chooses, for it matters not 

 how many common bees there are around 

 liim; and if he rears all his queens as we 

 direct under Nuclei and Queen-keak- 

 ING, he may have the full benefit of the 

 Italians so far as honey-gathering is con- 

 cerned, just as well as if there were no other 

 bees within miles of him. This seems a 

 paradox to most beginners, for we have let- 

 ters almost daily, asking if it will be of any 

 use to purchase Italians when other bees 

 are kept all around them. If you are keep- 

 ing bees for the honey they produce, and for 

 nothing else, we do not know but that you 

 are better off with other bees in the neigh- 

 borhood. The queens that you rear will be 

 full-bloods like their mother; but after 

 meeting the common drones, their worker 

 progeny will of course be half common and 

 half Italian, generally speaking. These are 

 what we call hybrid bees. In looks they are 

 much like the Italians, only a little darker. 

 Sometimes a queen will produce bees all 

 about alike ; that is, they will have one or 

 two of the yellow bands, the second and 

 broadest being about as plain arid distinct 

 as in the full-bloods. Other queens will 

 produce bees variously striped, from a pure 

 black bee to the finest three-banded Italian. 

 We have had black queens fertilized by Ital 

 ian drones, and these seem to be hybrids 

 just the same as the others. We have not 

 been able to distinguish any particular dif- 

 ference. 



As honey-gatherers, these bees that have 

 the blood of the two races are,'vs e believe, tak- 

 ing all things into consideration, fully equal 

 to the pure Italians. There are times, 

 it is true, when the full-bloods seem to be 

 ahead; but we think there are other times 

 and circumstances when the taint of black 

 blood gives an advantage, in respect to the 

 amount of honey gathered, that fully makes 

 up the difference; and we would therefore 

 say, if honey is your object, and nothing else, 

 you are just as well off to let your queens 

 meet such drones as they may happen to find. 

 Why, then, do hybrid queens find slow sale 

 at about one-fourth of the price of pure Ital- 

 ians? It is because of their excitability and 

 vindictive temper. 



Italians, as they generally run, are dis- 

 posed to be quiet and still when their hive is 

 opened, and to remain quietly on their combs 



*For test as to what constitutes a hybrid, see 

 Italian Bees. 



wliile they are being handled, showing nei- 

 ther vindictiveness nor alarm. Black or com- 

 mon bees, on the contrary, are likely to be- 

 come friglitened, and either make a general 

 stampede, or buzz about one's head and eyes 

 in a way quite unlike the Italians. Italians 

 do not stand still because they are afraid 

 to make an attack, for, let a robber approach, 

 and they will sting it to death in a way so 

 cool as to astonish one who has seen only 

 connuon bees under similar circumstances. 

 A race of bees so prompt to repel intruders 

 of their own kind, it would seem, would also 

 be prompt to repel interference from man; 

 but such is not the case. They do not seem 

 to be at all suspicious when their hive is 

 opened and a frame lifted out. Well, these 

 half-bloods inherit the boldness of the Ital- 

 ians, and, at the same time, the vindic- 

 tiveness of the blacks; and to raise the cov- 

 er from a hive of hybrids, without smoke, 

 during cool or chilly weather, is a bold 

 operation for even a veteran. Without any 

 buzz or note of alarm, one of these daughters 

 of war will quietly dart forth and inflict her 

 sting before you hardly know where it comes 

 from; then another, and another, until, al- 

 most crazed with pain, you drop the cover, 

 and find that they are boimd to stick to you, 

 not only out into the street, but into the 

 house or wherever you may go, in a way 

 very unlike either pure race of bees. Some- 

 times, when a hive is opened, they will fix on 

 the leg of one's trousers so quietly that you 

 hardly dream they are there until you feel 

 them stinging with a vehemence that indi- 

 cates a willingness to throw away a score of 

 lives if they had so many. This bad temper 

 and stinging is not all. If you should desire 

 to introduce a queen or queen-cell to these 

 bees they would be very likely to destroy 

 all yon could bring; while a stock of either 

 pure race would accept them without trouble. 

 During extracting time, when taking off sur- 

 plus honey, you will find little trouble, pro- 

 viding you work while honey is still coming 

 in; but woe betide you if you should leave it 

 on the hives until the honey-flow is past. 



In preparing hybrid stocks for wintering, 

 we have seen them so cross that it was almost 

 impossible to get in sight of the hive after 

 they had once been roused up; and when we 

 attacked them suddenly with smoker in 

 excellent trim, they charged on us as sud- 

 denly, took possession of the smoker, buzzed 

 down into the tube in their frantic madness, 

 and made us glad to beat a retreat, leaving 

 them in full possession of not only the "•field," 

 but the "artillery" as well. This was a very 



