The American Apiciiltnrist 



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

 Published Monthly. Henry Aixet, Manager 



VOL. IV„ 



WENHAM, MASS., DEC. i, i. 



No. 12. 



Fo?- the American Apiculturixt. 



ITALIANS vs. HYBRIDS. 



11. L. Tavlor. 

 A STRONG PLEA FOR HYBRIDS. 



The question has occurred to me 

 whether apiarists have not laid too 

 much stress on the supposed superior 

 excellence of the Italian bees. I 

 shall make no comparison of them 

 here with the German bee nor shall 

 I now question their superiority, for 

 the purposes of the student or of any 

 who keep bees for pleasure or for 

 the sake of open-air exercise ; but for 

 the speciahst in the production of 

 comb honey I contend that the so- 

 called hybrid, the cross between the 

 German and the Italian bee, is im- 

 measurably superior. After several 

 years' experience with hundreds of 

 colonies, I take the ground with sur- 

 prise that any should be found to dif- 

 fer, that he who makes the production 

 of comb honey his principal business, 

 cannot afford to spend his time in 

 the busiest part of the season con- 

 tending with the idiosyncrasies of 

 the Italians. 



My readers will bear in mind that 

 I am looking solely from the stand- 

 ing point of the producer of comb 

 honey ; for the producers of extracted 

 honey, the objections to the Italians 

 are of somewhat less force. My chief 

 reasons for the position above indi- 

 cated are as follows : 



First, the disposition which the 

 Italian possesses to keep on hand a 

 large store of honey as near to the 

 brood as possible. 



The evil of this appears as soon as 

 31 



the spring opens. The Italian is slow 

 to attack capped honey especially 

 that in the outer combs. She wants 

 enough always in store to provide for 

 some possible season of dearth. She 

 chooses to rely on her own prudence 

 and economy, rather than to exercise 

 faith in the bounty of the opening 

 season. The consequence is that the 

 spread of brood is not increased as 

 rapidly as is desirable, and it requires 

 considerable manipulation to over- 

 come the disadvantages resulting from 

 this tendency. 



Again, at the opening of the sea- 

 son for surplus honey, and from that 

 time till the close of the season in 

 the autumn, there is an ever increas- 

 ing inclination to clog the brood 

 combs with lioney, so that the force 

 of the colony is greatly reduced be- 

 fore the close of the clover and linden 

 season, and rendered almost worth- 

 less so far as surplus from fall flowers 

 is concerned. You may say extract 

 from the brood-chamber ; but, grant- 

 ing that that would in any degree 

 remedy the evil, undertake to extract 

 from two or three hundred coml - 

 bridged brood chambers filled with 

 clinging Italians in the height of the 

 season, with swarms issuing and all 

 the seasonable work crowding, and 

 you will readily agree that it is im- 

 practicable. But suppose you should 

 succeed in the work of extracting 

 what would be your chagrin to hear 

 your yellow-banded economists 

 chuckling with delight that you had 

 given them a place to bestow their 

 burdens without the necessity of pro- 

 longing their journey to the sections. 



Some one may say, you have nc t 

 tried "my" strain of Italians. I may 

 (269) 



