The American Apiculturist. 



KNTKRED AT THE POST-OFFICE, WENHAM, AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER. 

 Published Monthly. Henry Alley, Manager 



VOL. V. 



WENHAM, MASS., SEPTEMBER 



No. 



We (leal in first-class apiari- I 

 an stii)plies of all kinils, lowest | 

 prices. Prompt shipment. 



Send for price list. | 



Established in 1883. Terms : | Any yearly subscriber is en- 

 $1.00 per year, 50 cents per six I titled to one of our selected 

 months, '25 cents per three I queens anytime between June! 

 months. Cash in advance. | and Oct. l", by remitting 50 cts. 



Address all communications, AMERICAN APICULTURIST, ^^enham, Mass. 



For the American Apiculturist. 



HYBRIDS OR NOT. 



J. E. Pond. 



The questions of "What race of 

 bees are the best?" and "Are h^'- 

 brids better than pure bees?" have 

 been called quite prominently in 

 times past to the attention of the 

 readers of the various bee journals, 

 but there has been a lull upon the 

 subject until quite recently. If it 

 were not for one important point, I 

 myself should give more credence 

 to the expressed ideas of the cham- 

 pions of hybrids, and that point is, 

 that they either are breeders of hy- 

 brids themselves under the cloak of 

 a strain, or are anxious for some 

 reason or other to boom the hy- 

 brid strains thus advertised. As 

 a lact, however, the Italian forms 

 the basis on which these wonderful 

 strains are built. In the first 

 place we heard of a strain, built 

 up by crossing the German or 

 black bee with the Italian. This 

 cross it was said produced a bee 

 that was gentle and a first-class 

 hone}' gatherer. The fact, however, 

 that this strain was not so gotten 

 up that it could be identified by any 

 fixed markings prevented from 

 fear of imposition its general ac- 

 ceptance. Seeing this important 

 point, another breeder of queens 

 started the boom on a so-called 

 Syrio-Italian, claiming that it was 



17 



not only perfection in possessing 

 the gentleness of the Italian, and 

 the smartness of the Syrian, but it 

 had the distinguishing marks of 

 the yellow races, viz., the three 

 bands. 



The argument was then made, 

 " How shall we be able to distin- 

 guish this new race fi-om those from 

 which it was built?" and, further, 

 Will the hybrids hold their own 

 or will they by continued crosses 

 go back to their originals? Seeing 

 the importance of these questions, 

 and the bearing they must inevi- 

 tably have upon the boom being 

 made, it is now attempted to cry 

 down the Italians b}' saying they are 

 hybrids, that the only pure bees we 

 have are the blacks, and that it 

 makes no real difference which hy- 

 brid we adopt, so long as we have 

 good, clever working bees. Now 

 for myself, it is well known that I 

 have for years been a champion of 

 pure Italian bees, and that I have 

 fought for them to the best of my 

 ability. I must say, however, that 

 the Italians need no champion. 

 They have been before the public 

 foi- more than thirty years, and 

 while they met with the severest 

 opposition on the first attempt at 

 introducing, yet they have won 

 their way to favor against this op- 

 position, till now the}- are admitted 

 by all disinterested beekeepers of 

 experience to stand at the head and 

 front of them all. This being the 



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