302 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



On Important Subjects. 



Black or German Bees Compared. 



G. M. DO0LITTLE. 



During the forepart of this year there 

 seemed to be more than the usual 

 amount of discussion in the American 

 Bee Journal relative to black bees, 

 some claiming them superior to the 

 Italians, while others considered them 

 fully their equals, as to aj.1 the good 

 qualities which go toward making the 

 desired bee of the future. 



In answer to Query 810, I see that 

 the Dadants hint that these black bees 

 may be as liable to sport as to color as 

 are the Italians, and, if my memory 

 serves me rightly, at the Albany conven- 

 tion, Mr. C. P. Dadant claimed that 

 there were black bees in this country 

 varying as. much as to color as the Ital- 

 ians varied. 



These claims remind me of the claims 

 of Several years ago, when it was said 

 there was a great difference in the black 

 or German race of bees, as to color, dis- 

 position, etc., some claiming that there 

 was a little black bee that was nearly 

 worthless, while from the same race of 

 bees there could be obtained a large 

 brown bee that was equal, if not super- 

 ior to the Italian. Others claimed that, 

 if we would have the best bees known 

 to the world, we must procure the light 

 gray bee ; and still others were equally 

 sure that the dark gray bee," of the same 

 race, was far ahead of any other bee 

 there was. 



As I have always been anxious to have 

 the best, I have tried all kinds that have 

 ever been in the United States, except 

 the Egyptians and Punics. In these 

 trials I " took in " all of these different 

 strains of the black or German bee, to 

 see what there was in »the different 

 claims put forth for them, and how 

 these bees — brown, gray, etc. — differed 

 from the bees kept by our fathers ; and 

 I must say, without desire to hurt any- 

 body's feelings, that I could not detect 

 the slightest difference in any of them, 

 or between them and the bees I formerly 

 kept before I became acquainted with 

 the Italians ; and this is why I claim 

 that these bees are a fixed or distinct 

 race. They do not, with me, sport as to 

 color, as do the Italians. 



This sporting of the Italians, proves 

 conclusively to my mind that this va- 



riety of bees came from an intermingling 

 of races, for were it otherwise, why 

 should they not be as constant as to 

 color as are the German bees ? 



The last of the Germans I tried, was 

 the large brown bee, claimed to be in- 

 digenous in Arkansas. As this queen 

 came late, she did not lay any after she 

 came that fall, so no young bees were 

 reared until after they were put out of 

 the cellar the next spring. In May, 

 upon carefully comparing their color, 

 actions, etc. (after there were plenty of 

 these bees in the hive), with all the 

 others which I had, I could not detect 

 enough difference between then* to be 

 noticeable. However, in these close ex- 

 aminations, there was one thing which 

 I did find that made me love the Italians 

 better than ever, and which I wish to 

 tell the readers of the American Bee 

 Journal about. 



Having tired of the " gray " bees 

 which I had been experimenting with, I 

 changed their queens at about the time 

 I got the "brown" queen spoken of 

 above, giving Italian queens to these 

 colonies, and as they had not reared 

 brood during the winter, less than one- 

 fourth of the bees were young Italians 

 in these cases, and about the same pro- 

 portion of young black bees in the other 

 case. When I opened the colonies 

 where the young Italians were, they 

 " stood their ground" on the combs, the 

 same as all Italians will, while a little 

 too much smoke, or. a little jar, would 

 set the black bees to running like a flock 

 of sheep over these young yellow bees to 

 such an extent as to nearly knock them 

 off the comb ; still they would not run or 

 stir, only as they were carried with the 

 multitude that was surging by. 



To tell it just as it was, I had a feel- 

 ing of pride come over me for the good 

 behavior of these young, fuzzy little 

 bees, which showed so much more brav- 

 ery and steadfastness than their older 

 companions. 



Upon going to the colony where about 

 one-fourth of the bees were young 

 blacks, I found things just the reverse. 

 Here the young bees would dodge about 

 among the older Italians, run down to 

 the bottom of the combs, and tumble off 

 on the ground, or into the hive, accord- 

 ing to where the comb was held ; and 

 when I came to the queen she was so 

 nervous and fidgety that it was no 

 pleasure to look at her ; yet the older 

 Italians "stood their ground," never 

 seeming to care how badly their younger 

 sisters and mother were frightened. 



The pleasure with which Italians are 

 handled is, alone, quite a large item in 



