354 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



September 



olan bee. The Swiss are devoting- 

 themselves to the black Alpine bee; 

 the British to the brown Dutch; and 

 there are breeders in Egypt, Cyprus 

 and elsewhere, producing queens of 

 native stock. 



In this country queen-breeding and 

 selection have been carried to an ex- 

 tent and a nicety of practice unknown 

 elsewhere, but little has been at- 

 tempted, as yet, in the province of 

 hybridizing. The rage for bright 

 golden color seems to have died down, 

 and the Italian three-bander is the 

 bee of the moment. I have been one 

 of those bee-fever patients who try 

 evei-ything going. I have handled at 

 least ten American strains and, in 

 addition, Carniolans and blacks. I 

 am by no means satisfied that the best 

 strains of three-banded Italians can- 

 not be improved. I have never han- 

 dled any Italian strain whose temper, 

 throughout all seasons, could com- 

 pare with that of the Carniolans, nor 

 whose power of building up rapidly 

 in chilly spring weather could com- 

 pare with theirs. I have handled a 

 strain of black bees which never did 

 anything that the textbooks say they 

 do. Their deportment was always 

 calm and sedate. They were early 

 abroad, and did not sulk in cool, 

 cloudy weathei-. The Carniolans were 

 worse swarmers than even the text- 

 books foretell — in early summer — but 

 afterwards settled down and did mar- 

 vels. Their bad point, I should say, 

 is that the fuss they make, when 

 swarming, upsets Italians in the same 

 apiary; they coi-rupt respectable 

 neighbors with their mania, but do 

 not communicate their virtues. The 

 blacks were the equal of any Italians 

 I have handled, and were conspicuous 

 non-swarmers, but their queens were 

 hopelessly invisible. Yet I feel sure 

 that Carniolan temper and fertility 

 and black hardiness will ultimately 

 be among the attributes of the ideal 

 bee. 



The first task should be to breed 

 the Carniolan temper into the Italian 

 three-bander until it becomes con- 

 stant, and color bands remain invaria- 

 ble — until you get a permanent hy- 

 brid, and not a mere cross. Then, 

 should this hybrid show swarming fe- 

 ver, get rid of it by selection, or by a 

 further admixture of Italian blood. 

 There will remain an interminable 

 vista of further tasks confronting the 

 breeder, but this first step, that of 

 introducing the temper and fertility 

 of the Carniolan into the present 

 American-Italian, is one that should 

 allure amateur and professional alike, 

 for it will mark an undoubted stage 

 in the advance towards the ideal bee. 



Virginia. 



(The greatest fault we find with 

 the Carniolan is its lack of definite 

 markings. A slight mixture of them 

 with the common bees is impossible to 

 distinguish, while the slightest mix- 

 ture with the Italians shows itself at 

 once. But our correspondent is cer- 

 tainly correct in saying that the strain 

 suited to Florida might not be the 

 best for high altitudes. We have tried 

 practically all the difTerent races, and 

 by all means prefer the Italian. — Ed- 

 itor.) 



UNEDITED LETTERS OF HUBER 



introduction 



By Edouard Bertrand 



The "New Observations upon bees" 

 of Francis Huber make very inter- 

 esting reading. When I resolved to 

 read them, however, I did not antici- 

 pate the intense pleasure which they 

 gave me. 



Indeed, if there are still literary 

 productions of the late eighteenth 

 century that are read, we know in 

 how small a proportion. Hardly one 

 book in ten thousand has withstood 

 the test of time. What a lesson in 

 philosophy and what a menace to- 

 wards the future of our contemporary 

 works! Concerning works of science 

 this proportion is still more aisas- 

 trous. Everything has changed, 

 everything has been perfected in so 

 speedy a manner that the recital of 

 information dating back a century 

 generally offers no interest for us. 

 From the enormous accumulation of 

 scientific works of that time, there ai-e 

 few capable of instructing us yet; 

 and they are nearly all on Natural 

 History. Among this elite, the "New 

 Observations" of Huber shine with a 

 particular eclat, with an ensemble of 

 qualities so harmonious and original 

 that we would seek them vainly else- 

 where. The charm of a style which is 

 always pure is allied with a very sim- 

 ple and yet very clever expose; the 

 ingenuity of the observations is so 

 extraordinary that one soon gives 

 way to the sentiments of an aroused 

 admiration for this blind man, whose 

 genius was at all times equal to well- 

 nigh insurmountable difficulties. 

 I. 



Francis Huber, born in Geneva in 

 1750, died in 1831. * Note. 



When he became blind he was en- 

 gaged to a Miss Aimee LuUin, and 

 this young lady was faithful to him, 

 in spite of contrary advice which was 

 given her. She was to be rewarded 

 for it by the happiness of her entire 

 life. 



Huber narrates himself (New Ob- 

 servations, page 1) how he became in- 

 terested in bees. He was fond of 

 sciences and did not lose this fond- 

 ness when he lost his eyesight. He 

 had his servant, Francis Burnens, 

 read to him the best works on physics 



Note — His father, Jean Huber, had 

 the reputation of being one of the wit- 

 tiest men of his time and was often 

 cited by Voltaii-e, who appreciated his 

 conversation ; he was a pleasant mu- 

 sician, wrote poetry which was even 

 praised in the Ferney drawing rooms, 

 was known for his quick i)iquant re- 

 joinders, was an easy and talented 

 painter, excelled in the art of cutting 

 out paper landscapes in such a man- 

 ner that he appeared to have created 

 this method, carved better than an 

 amateur sculptor, and to these talents 

 he added the taste and art of animal 

 study.' His work upon the flight of 

 birds of prey is even now referred to 

 with profit by naturalists. Jean Hu- 

 ber transmitted most of his ti.stes to 

 his son. (From the notice of P. A. 

 De Candolle upon Francis Huber.) 



and natural history. This man took 

 great interest in these readings and 

 Huber quickly noticed his wonderful 

 aptitude as an observer. He resolved 

 to cultivate this talent, and caused 

 him first to repeat some of the most 

 simple experiments of physics. These 

 he executed with a great deal of skill, 

 improving upon the few instruments 

 that were intrusted to him, applying 

 them to new uses and even making, 

 himself, the implements which he 

 needed. 



"The continuation of our read- 

 ings," says Huber, "having led me to 

 the beautiful works of Mr. Reaumur 

 upon bees, I found in his book such a 

 fine plan of experiments, observations 

 made with so much art, a logic so 

 wise, that I resolved to study particu- 

 larly this celebrated author, to shape 

 my helper and myself at his school, 

 in the difficult art of studying na- 

 ture. We began by watching bees in 



Huber, the blind Naturalist 



glass hives; we repeated all of Reau- 

 mur's experiments, and we secured 

 exactly the same results when we 

 used the same processes. This agree- 

 ment of our observations with his gave 

 me great pleasure, because it proved 

 to me that I could rely entirely upon 

 the eyes of my helper. Emboldened 

 by these first trials, we attempted to 

 make upon the bees some entirely 

 new experiments; we contrived the 

 building of several hives, of which I 

 had never thought, and which pre- 

 sented great advantages, so we had 

 the good luck of discovering remark- 

 able facts which had escaped the no- 

 tice of Swammerdam, Reaumur and 

 Bonnet. It is these facts which I now 

 publish in this work; there is not one 

 of them that we did not try several 

 times over, during the eight years in 

 which we made researches upon the 

 bees." 



This modest expose retains sur- 

 prises for the reader, for it xloes not 

 give a presentiment of the importance 

 and of the difficulties of the re- 

 searches which followed. 



Francis Burnens was not only an 

 intelligent man, he was gifted with 

 great tenacity. He often would fol- 

 low, for 24 hours, without lood or 

 rest, the actions of a few worker-bees 



