THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



127 



^oxxj^spomlcnu. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Improvement of the Italian Bee. 



Had time and health permitted, this reply 

 to Ch. Dadant vvoukl have appeared before 

 this. I will write as briefly as I can. In vol. 

 12, page 205, Mr. Dadant says his ideas 

 differ much from mine. Let us see wherein 

 and how much. 



When I made the statement that not 

 mucli attention was paid in Italy to the im- 

 provement of the Italian bee, I had no idea 

 of lesssning the merits of any one; I spoke, 

 of course, comparatively. I never doubted 

 but there were just as good and talented 

 bee-keepers in Italy as in any other coun- 

 try; but is it the good and talented that 

 breed, sell and export improved Italian 

 queens? If Mr. Mona and others had paid 

 as much attention to imi)rovement as Mr. 

 Langstroth and others have, there would 

 not have been so many complaints about 

 dark and impure queens; but in justice let 

 me say, a dark Italian queen is not neces- 

 sarily impure. Many, however, have 

 thought so, from a want of proper know- 

 leilge of the origin and unstable character 

 of them. 



In order to show that I was somewhat 

 justified in making remarks upon the back- 

 wardness of bee-keeping in Italy, permit 

 me to give an extract from a letter written 

 by one of Italy's talented men. Dr. Blom- 

 hoff; vol. 4, page 83: 



"But alas, bee-culture is still greatly in 

 the rear, in this country. Most bee-keepers 

 have still no idea of the great advance made 

 latterly in other countries, nor any concep- 

 tion of an improved system of bee-culture, 

 foundetl on a rational mode of management. 

 With few exceptions, they pay no attention 

 to their bees, except during the swarming 

 season. The swarms ai-e hived and simply 

 consigned to the care of Providence." 



Now it was such testimony that induced 

 me to say that Italy might with advantage 

 come to America and take back improved 

 Italian bees; as England had come here 

 and taken back improved stock of lier own 

 breeds of cattle. As this reads in the Bee- 

 Keepers^ Magazine, where it was first 

 printed, it is neither truth nor sense. Who 

 is at fault I know not. 



When 1 stated there were black bees in 

 Italy, I had no unltind or selfish motive in 

 view. I verily thougiit I was speaking the 

 truth. Mr. Dadant says there are no black 

 bees in Italy. Well, at the mouth of 2 or 3 

 witnesses, let every word be established. 

 A. B. J., vol. 1, page 17, the Kev. George 

 Kleine says: 



"As early as the time of Aristotle the 

 existance of the two races was known, and 

 Virgil clearly describes the difference be- 

 tween them in the Fourth book of his 

 Georgics. Varro and Columella also men- 

 tion them; and at this day both varieties 

 are met with in various fjar'ts of Italy. Mr. 

 Deus, of Dusseldorf, found the orange- 

 colored bees at Genoa, and the black in 

 Nizzia. Spinola found both kinds in Pied- 

 mont, though the covimon bee was less 

 frequent there than the pure Italian." 



On page 213, same vol., we have au ac- 

 count of your German bee-keepers who 



made a tour through Italy, the writer says: 



"On our arrival at Nizzia we were morti- 

 fied to find only the coinrfion bee prevalent 

 there. We were also repeatedly assured 

 that the common kind only was found in 

 the Kingdom of Naples and in the warmer 

 districts of upper Italy." 



Vol. 3, page 31, Von Siebold also believed 

 that two kinds existed in Italy. He says: 



"The statements which Varro and Colu- 

 mella have made upon bee-keeping, show 

 that in Italy the gold-colored or varigated 

 bees, and the unicolorous blackish-brown 

 bees, occur together." 



Vol. 8, page 8(3: Mr. Dadant was in Italy 

 as late as 1872, he writes, " Sartori says that 

 there is some black blood mixed with the 

 Italian on the frontiers of Italy." Again, 

 on page 87: " Sortori, who was born in the 

 Tyrol, says that he does not understand 

 why Uhle, who raises queens for sale, es- 

 tablished himself in the Tyrol were the 

 bees are as black, and as cross as hybrids." 

 Same page, Mr. Dailant makes this remark- 

 able statement: "I am now wondering why 

 Mona wrote that all the bees of the Italian 

 peninsula were pure Italian, when he ought 

 to have known that there were such 

 enormous differences in their color and 

 character." 



Now, is the above testimony sufficient to 

 prove the truth of my statement ? If not, 

 then the witnesses must be impeached. 



That the Italian bee is a variety, none, I 

 think, will deny; but that it is a fixed 

 variety, few will admit. Most of the intel- 

 ligent German bee-keepers, and our own 

 respected Langstroth, say it is not. Mr. 

 Dadant's own experience, in his reply to 

 my article, shows it is far from being very 

 reliable. I have never seen a queen that 

 would duplicate herself for any length of 

 time. Indeed, there are few that have fail- 

 ed to see and lament the want of uniformity 

 in their stocks. It was this that led me to 

 look around for a cure, and I came to the 

 conclusion that the improvement of our 

 drones would, in a measure, in time remedy 

 the defect. Why not ? The males of all 

 animals, the human being included, exerts 

 a powerful influence on their off'spring. Is 

 the bee an exception ? 1 think not. Mr. 

 Dadant himself recognizes this principle in 

 vol. 4, page 220, when he says: 



"Furthermore, tne best queeii-breeders in 

 Italy, living at the foot of the inascessible 

 Alps, cannot meet the light color so 

 fashionable in Germany. Their endeavors 

 in this direction are always frustrated by 

 the drones of their neighbors." 



I agree with Mr. Dadant when he says 

 that the matter of color can be overdone. I 

 thought I was well guarded and plain 

 enough to be understood, when I said the 

 careful breeder can easily avoid this (too 

 close breeding) by exchange or new impor- 

 tation. A noted poultry breeder of this 

 country says: "There is but one way to 

 reach uniformity in breeding, no matter 

 whether it is horses, cattle or fowls, and 

 that is by ' in-breeding,' and like poison it 

 may kill or cure us just according as we 

 display good judgment in its use." 



I did not mean to be understood as advo- 

 cating color at the expense of any other 

 good quality. I distinctly said that it 

 would be an advantage if we could work 

 for (or keep up) all otlier points at the same 

 time. It would indeed be very unwise to 

 let any point run down, in order to obtain 



