No. 4.] 



BEE KEEPING. 



423 



tering may be reduced to a minimum by attention to this 

 point. Most of the difficulty of handling "cross" bees 

 may be met in the same way ; and this is no small matter 

 with beginners, amateurs, and those who keep bees in towns 

 or cities. 



For nearly fifty years the United States Department of 

 Ao-riculture has been searching the world over to discover 

 superior races of bees, and has imported and tested a num- 

 ber of them. As a result, we now have the following races 

 (exce\)t Aj^is dorsafa), the comparative advantages of which 

 may be seen at a glance from the table given below. Ten 

 indicates highest excellence and so on down. 



From the rating in the table we see that probably no one 

 would keep l)lack bees, if he knew better. Further than 

 this, an}' one who keeps black bees in a locality endangers 

 the purity of his neighbor's stock. In most sections of the 

 State this constitutes the greatest difficulty connected with 

 the maintenance of pure high-grade bees, since the black 

 bees are likeV to produce great numbers of drones, which 

 mate with the virgin ((ueens of other races. The hybrids 



* See "Nature study and life," Giim & Co., 1902, p. 241. This table jrivos 

 Professor Frank's latest rating, including also the Caucasian race, under date 

 July 17, 1904. 



t This is ApU dorsata, Fab., the giant honey bee of East India. All attempts 

 to import it having failed, little is known concerning its relative value. It 

 builds huge combs five or six feet in lengtli and tliree or four feet wide;, attached 

 to overhanging ledges or to Imuiclies of lofty trees. 



