TM AMERICAN 



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Apiculturist. 



A. Journal Devoted, to Practical BeeUeeping, 



VOL. IX. 



DECEMBER, 1891. 



No. 12. 



IMPORTATION OF BEES, ETC. 



There has been a, inurked disposition 

 on the part of a number of apicultural 

 ■writers to oi)i)ose all importation of 

 bees ; there certain!}' can be no good 

 reasons given for such unprogressive 

 ideas. 



It may he well enough to sn}^ that 

 there is no further use of importing the 

 Italian and Carniolan races that have 

 been improved and made better bj' hav- 

 ing been carefully bred from selected 

 specimens under the superior skill and 

 patience of American apiarists, till our 

 selected American bees are superior to 

 any beos in Ital}'. A little good sense 

 and judgment is as useful along this 

 line as in any other department of busi- 

 ness. The man that would not en- 

 gnge in importing Italian queens and 

 breeding from them l)ecause he imag- 

 ined that imported stock was an im- 

 provement, would be thought badly be- 

 hind the times. 



But progressive apiarists will con- 

 tinue to import new races of bees and 

 give them a fair trial as long as there 

 are new races brought to light in the 

 darkest corners of the earth. 



When Italian bees were first import- 

 ed to this country it was an experiment 

 pure and simple, and they were de- 

 nounced as "humbugs" by man}' peo- 

 ple without knowing anything prac- 

 tically concerning them. The first of 

 these bees I ever saw were about fourth 

 class hybrids and cost $25 per colon}'. 

 I then and there set down the Italians 

 as an unmitigated "humbug." But 

 after that, I met with the race in its 



best estate and I changed my mind 

 toward them sufficiently to give $10 

 for a queen and handful of bees, which 

 I built up into a strong colony and 

 thence commenced my career as a 

 modern beekeeper. At that time and 

 for years afterward the Italian was 

 believed to be a pure race of bees, and 

 at the stai't I shared in this common 

 belief. But, being a close observer of 

 all matters pertaining to bees, I soon 

 discovered that when breeding from 

 im[)orted queens I could find none that 

 did not "sport" in a wa}' that con- 

 vinced me that the Italian bee was a 

 hybrid, and I was the first American 

 writer who disclosed the fact to the 

 public, as a review of the old files of 

 the American Bee Journal will show. 

 I was opi)osed in my review b}'^ many 

 at the time, find suppoi-ted by none. 

 But it was noticeable that the "three 

 band test," followed I'apidl}^ on the 

 heels of my announcement. Now no 

 reputable writer would venture to 

 speak of the Italian as a pure race of 

 bees. In those days I owned one im- 

 ported mother that "sported" in her 

 offspring both worker, drone and royal 

 progeny in a fashion that opened up a 

 new field of study to me. I discovered 

 specimens among the worker progeny 

 that were pure yellow bees, minus any 

 stripes, bands or dark veins, and other 

 speciniens as black tis night with broad 

 short abdomens — the very picture of 

 what I have since seen in the new "Pu- 

 nic" race. I inferred from those out- 

 cropping specimens that tlie Italian 

 was a cross, of long standing, between 



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