494 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Old Hybrids and Blacks — Would 

 I\[ew Blood Improve Tliem ? 



Query 867.— I have 60 colonies of hybrids 

 and black bees that have re-queened them- 

 selves for the past eight years, from their own 

 progeny. They are prolific, healthy, and 

 good workers. 1. Would you advise the in- 

 troduction of new blood ? 2. If so, from what* 

 race of bees ?— Minn. 



I think not. — A. J. Cook. 



Let well enough alone. — A. B. Mason. 



1. Yes. 2. Italians. — Jas. A. Green. 



1. Yes. 2. Italians. — Mks. J. N. 

 Heatee. ^ 



1. It might improve them, 2. Ital- 

 ian. — C. C. MiLLEK. 



I always believe in letting well enough 

 alone. — Mks. L. Harbison. 



If they are doing good work, I would 

 keep them as they are. — E. France. 



1. New blood would no doubt improve 

 them. 2. Italian. — J. P. H. Brown. 



Pure Italian blood will always be 

 profitable, and never injurious. — Da- 

 DANT & Son. 



I would introduce a few queens of the 

 dark grades of the Italians, every year. 

 — G. L. Tinker. 



New blood of some good strain will 

 put new vigor in your bees. Try Ital- 

 ian. — Will M. Barnum. 



1. No, decidedly not, unless for some 

 other reason than the prevention of in- 

 breeding.— R. L. Taylor. 



1. Yes. 2. Some good honey-gather- 

 ing strain of Italians — bred for business, 

 instead of color. — S. I. Freeborn. 



I would let good enough alone. But if 

 you really want new blood, I say Italian, 

 of course. — Mrs. Jennie Atchley. 



If they are doing well, let well enough 

 alone. They may be just what you 

 want for your locality. — H. D. Cutting. 



1. If they were mine, I would intro- 

 duce new blood, but I doubt whether 

 their honey-gathering quality would be 



much improved. Their temper would. 

 2. The Syrians are my favorites, but as 

 they are not in the market, I would take 

 pure Italians. — M. Mahin. 



An ounce of profitable experience is 

 worth a pound of theory. But are you 

 sure of the correctness of the first state- 

 ment ? — Eugene Secor. • 



1. Good, healthy, new blood should be 

 introduced at the rate of say a couple of 

 queens annually. 2. Italians, or Car- 

 niolans. — J. H. Larrabee. 



I should say that the bees were doing 

 well enough, but if I desired new blood, 

 I should only introduce the best Italian 

 or Carniolan stocks. — C. H. Dibbern. 



1. Yes. 2. Italians, unless you are 

 in a buckwheat country, or in some sec- 

 tion where you have found that some 

 other race does better. — P. H. Elwood. 



1. I should not advise the introduc- 

 tion of new blood, unless it was desired 

 for some particular and specific purpose. 

 2. I should advise in such introduction, 

 tqe old, tried and proved-to-be-good Ital- 

 ians. — J. E. Pond. 



If they were mine, I should try a fine 

 Italian queen as the mother of all queens 

 reared during 1893, allowing these 

 young queens to mate with whatever 

 drones they happen to. In this way I 

 think these bees could be improved as 

 to honey-gathering qualities, etc. — G. M. 



DOOLITTLE. 



1. Yes. 2. Italians, for the reason 

 that they work a good deal on red 

 clover, and are recommended by a 

 greater number of bee-keepers than any 

 other race of bees. (See Illinois State 

 Bee-Keepers' Report for 1892 — 75 per 

 cent, of the answers given were in favor 

 of the Italians.) — Jas. A. Stone. 



1. You should know best. If your 

 bees suit you, and are paying a good 

 dividend on the money invested, I see no 

 reason why you should take other peo- 

 ple's advice with regard to what to do 

 with them. 2. For general purposes, 

 the Italians are no doubt the best bees 

 known at the present time. — Emerson 

 T. Abbott. 



1. Yes, it pays me to introduce fresh 

 blood. 2. I prefer Italians for a cross. 

 Put in some pure Italian queens, and 

 encourage their colonies to rear large 

 broods of drones, while you suppress the 

 drones as much as you conveniently can 

 in the other colonies. Don't be in too 

 big a hurry about it. A great deal has 

 been lost by hurriedly " Italianizing." 

 I mean loss of surplus honey. — G. W. 

 Demaree. 



