THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



39 



Mr. Pike runs any risk in l)uying breed- 

 ing stock from bees sold by him some 

 yelirs ago. I slioiild prefer to infuse 

 new blood were I sure it was as good 

 blood as I liad in my own apiary ; other- 

 wise I should prefer to breed from my 

 own stock. 



Unless Italian bees from Italy are 

 superior to our own — and why should 

 they be ? — we gain nothing by import- 

 ing. If ours are better than imported 

 stock, we lose. I believe we have as 

 good here. If not it speaks ill for our 

 breeders. 



Italiaus have certain distinctive pe- 

 culiarities, which may be varied by in- 

 terbreeding diflerent strains, under 

 the careful eye of the breeder. By 

 crossing different races we can work 

 to tix the good features of all the races 

 and eliminate the undesirable charac- 

 teristics, and not those simply of one 

 race. Therefore I say no. 



AgricitUural College, Mich. 



ANSWERS BY C. W. DAYTON. 



I think they could be preserved only 

 by in- breeding. 



It would be nearly as much of in- 

 breeding as if tliey had remained in 

 Mr. Pike's apiary ; but in time might 

 have possessed peculiarities and char- 

 acteristics of one or more distinct 

 strains or varieties. 



I have noticed some of the charac- 

 teristic mai'kings on bees that were far 

 from being pure Italians. 



Albinos are a particular strain of 

 Italiaus, probably not so good as many 

 of the strains of bees of the 1001 brag- 

 gadocios. It is Tom's Jersey, Dick's 

 Jersey and my Jersey cow. We crossed 

 them, sent them across and became 

 cross ourselves and in the end had 

 nothing more than a Jersey. Where 

 we had improved our stock there was 

 less Jersey but more beef. 



In breeding Albino bees we have to 

 follow one certain line so thoroughly 

 that there is little chance to reach out 

 for valuable characteristics possessed 

 by other varieties and strains of bees. 

 Therefore, ten or lilteen years more 

 ought to render them nearly worthless. 

 Unless they are crossed with some other 

 variety of bees it might take a shorter 

 time. In-breeding is not always dete- 

 riorating unless accompanied by im- 

 proper selection, and the selection of 

 stock for honey gatliering should not 

 and cannot depend upon colors as "it 

 is not always gold that glitters." 



The fact that there are several who 

 claim to be originators of Albino bees 



well sustains the idea of their "spor- 

 tiveness." 



As to Albinos being the gentlest and 

 best honey gatherers, I can say quite 

 positively that I get the most honey, 

 and the most stings out of the same 

 hive. 



3. I think that with proper selec- 

 tion of breeding stock in an apiary of 

 fifty colonies would not deteriorate in 

 the space of one man'sbeekeeping; and 

 with well-managed aj)iaries witiiin a 

 few miles of each other, we might do 

 well without infusing new stock. We 

 should infuse strange stock in order to 

 keep abreast with the most improved 

 strains as the bees are liable to "sport" 

 antl become permanent improvements 

 in other and valuable characteristics, 

 the most prominent of which is honey 

 gathering. 



ANSWERS BY DR. TINKER. 



Mr. ]). A. Pike has made no secret of 

 the fact that he has in-bred his strain 

 of bees for a long time, the object being 

 to produce a strain of white-banded 

 bees. lie has made the same mistake 

 that a number of other breeders have 

 made in breeding for color. They have 

 invariably ruined the working quality 

 of the bees. But Mr. Pike was not 

 obliged to in-breed so closely to pro- 

 duce his strain, for his were not the 

 only white-banded bees that had been 

 seen. There have been many imported 

 queens whose worker progeny were 

 more or less white-banded and such 

 bees can be found in most of the large 

 Italian apiaries, none of which are le- 

 lated to Mr. Pike's bees. Not long- 

 since Mr. W. S. Kline of Bolivar, O., ob- 

 tained an imported queen of A. I. IJoot 

 that produced many large and line wiiite 

 bees. My own stock of Syrio-Albinos 

 were bred up from a Syrian queen, 

 an Italian queen of my own impor- 

 tation, whose workers were mostly 

 white-banded and a few'choice queens 

 from Mr. Doolittle's fine strain of Ital- 

 ians. By selecting queens and drones 

 according to the rules published in the 

 January number of the ".A pi" I have 

 produced a strain of white bees in the 

 space of four years that are in-bred to 

 no great extent. But all of my best 

 queens were mated to select drones at 

 an isolated mating station in the coun- 

 try at which I have rarely lailed to get 

 queens mated as desired. 



To prevent deterioration of my 

 stock from in-breeding, I have already 

 introduced a fine Albinoqueen from Mr. 

 Abbott L. Svvinsou and engaged a num- 



