AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



567 



The Races of Bees— Italians are 

 the Best. 



Written, for the American Bee Journal 

 BY WM. S. BARCLAY. 



It has been a long time since I have 

 written for the " old reliable," and I am 

 almost ashamed to confess that I do so 

 now seeking information. In looking 

 over the ground recently occupied by 

 our bee-keeping friends, I have almost 

 given up the hope that we were unjustly 

 charged, when a few years since we 

 were called a " set of cranks." 



How could I otherwise feel when I find 

 such men as Mr. Alley wishing to sell us 

 "Punic queens" (a black race, if I un- 

 derstand them) — him whom I look upon 

 as the best breeder of the Italian race ? 

 and still further, I find some who are 

 willing, at this late hour, to contest the 

 supremacy of the Italian, and earnestly 

 recommend the black or German bee. 

 To say that I am astonished at such 

 writing, will not express my full mean- 

 ing — I am worse than astonished — I feel 

 lost. 



I have had the Italian bee for a long 

 time (30 years). I have experimented 

 with many other races — Holy Lands, 

 Syrians, Hungarians, Carniolans, and 

 all other races except Egyptians and 

 Cyprians (and I want no more of the last 

 named). I believe I wrote an article 

 for these pages, or at least for some 

 paper, highly praising the qualities of 

 the Syrian bee ; nor is my confidence in 

 this race a particle lessened, for I am 

 fully pursuaded that our much-boasted 

 (future) Apis Americana will be pro- 

 duced (if ever) by a cross of our best 

 Italians, or Syrians, with our native 

 bees. 



But when I see some of our foremost 

 apiarists going back to the black race, 

 and strenuously recommending them to 

 the attention of our bee-keeping frater- 

 nity, I have about concluded that I know 

 nothing about bee-keeping, and had 



better quit ; indeed, after four bad sea- 

 sons in succession, I had almost con- 

 cluded to abandon the science alto- 

 gether, but this for one who loves it as 

 well as I do, is hard to do, and I have 

 concluded, like Col. Crockett, "to pick 

 my flint and try again," and here, par- 

 don me for saying to all young begin- 

 ners at least, stick to the business. In 

 this you cannot do wrong. Leave all 

 experiments to others who are older, and 

 better qualified to make them than your- 

 self, and take a race of bees recommend- 

 ed by the most prominent men in our 

 profession, and which have been found 

 truly worthy of your most careful atten- 

 tion. After an experience of longer 

 than a quarter of a century with this 

 bee, I feel truly sorry that the span of 

 life could not be lengthened, that I 

 could, by careful breeding, learn the 

 full capacity of the Italian race. 



Why, I ask, did we abandon the black 

 or German bee, and adopt the Italian ? 

 The answer is too plain, and I need not 

 worthlessly occupy these valuable pages, 

 and your time in reading, by attempting 

 to reply. This much I know, as do 

 others who have cultivated Italians, 

 that we have much more honey than we 

 used to have (and what else do we keep 

 bees for ?) ; that we have no trouble 

 from the moth, as we used to have ; and 

 that we have much fewer winter losses 

 than we used to have when we kept the 

 black or German bee. 



Besides, our careful breeders (!) have 

 advanced so far that they have painted 

 our favorite bee with five yellow stripes; 

 whether this will make it any better, I 

 feel like Dr. Miller, and say, " I don't 

 know." I feel that three stripes are 

 enough for me, and 1 want them dark 

 stripes, at that. 



Now, I do not write this to invite con- 

 troversy as to the merits of the Italian 

 vs. the black or German bee, but merely 

 to ask our bee-keeping brothers whether 

 they have not heard enough of the 

 black bee (Mr. Ellingwood to the con- 

 trary, notwithstanding). The pages of 

 our "old reliable" are too valuable to 

 be consumed by such writing, and if our 

 friends of black-bee proclivity must air 

 themselves in type, let them tell us how 

 to successfully winter bees ; how we 

 may get the most comb or extracted 

 honey ; whether any particular location 

 may be overstocked with bees ; or any- 

 thing else that will be of importance to 

 us in our labors. But do "give us a 

 rest," please, in the good qualities of the 

 black bee. 



Beaver, Pa., Sept. 26, 1892. 



