THE AMERICAN EEE JOURNAL. 



469 



For the Amencon Bee JournaL 



Shall we Breed Hybrids? 



.lAMES HEDDON. 



1 liave no barren statements to offer. 

 I conceive that the uiiiul of the bee- 

 keeper of to-day would relisli some- 

 thing in accord with his pres- 

 ent knowledge of bee-culture. An 

 assertion of wliat I am doing, and 

 have done, still falls upon the ear of 

 the most credulous as merely an as- 

 sertion. 1 wisli. if possible, to con- 

 vince the reasou of every reader. My 

 prcterence for hybrids, or crosses be- 

 tween the best strains of German and 

 Italian bees, is based upon certain 

 facts, many of which are well known 

 to the reader of less experience. 



Did you never think it strange that 

 the product of two races of bees 

 should, as a rule, posse-os certain 

 traits in a more radical degree than 

 either parent race ? Apropos to the 

 above, do you not distinctly remem- 

 ber that the decisions of bee-keepers 

 have been largely in the majority — 

 that hybrids, crosses between Ital- 

 ian and" German bees, were excellent 

 honey gatherers V equaled by few and 

 excelled by none ; but oh I so univer- 

 sally cross. 



.lust why it should be a rule that 

 this product possessed more belliger- 

 ency than either parent, attracted my 

 attention "some years ago. I first 

 built up a theory to account for the 

 enigma, to which by fitting every day 

 facts, I proved to my own satisfac- 

 tion to be correct. 



My lirst proposition is. that we have 

 but two distinct races of bees — the 

 dark, and tlie yellow ; and second, that 

 the yellow race of bees possess much 

 the most belligerent disposition. 



A thousand voices will now ask, 

 •• Why has the black bee been called 

 the crossest V" I will try to explain. 

 If you receive ." or 4 stings during the 

 manipulation of 10 colonies of dark or 

 (German bees, and only one sting in 

 liandling tlie same number of yellow- 

 colonies, would you not arrive at the 

 conclusions so unanimously declared 

 by bee-keepers of the past? Still, a 

 mistake has been made. In opening 

 a hive you are very rarely stung by 

 bees that do not take wing. A well 

 known and marked characteristic of 

 that branch of the yellow race, known 

 as the Italians, is, that compared with 

 the dark or German bees, they are 

 very tenacious of their foot-hold on 

 the combs and in the hive. I think I 

 am safe in saying that during the 

 manipulation of a colony, from s to 10 

 times as many bees take wing when 

 handling the (German bees as would 

 when handling Italians. 



Now, as the proportionate number 

 of stings received is not one-half as 

 much against the German bees as their 

 greater proportion are in condition 

 to sting, here is an argument of two 



to one in favor of the good-nature of 

 the (iernians ; but here are more ar- 

 gunuMits based on what your experi- 

 ence has already taught you. There 

 are ways to lest the disposition of 

 bees when on tlie wing— ways which 

 we all use of necessity. Apply smoke 

 equally to the race's under e(iually 

 unfavorable conditions, and while the 

 (ierinans mind its admonitions and 

 give up at once, the Italians seem to 

 " lay back tlu'ir ears'" preparing for 

 battle, as soon as the fog clears away. 



Another way: When it is too ct>ol 

 for bees to tly, if you approach a hive 

 carefully (I mean in the winter), and 

 cautiously pull back the cloth cover, 

 black bees, as a rule, will show no 

 resentment, while Italians will tip up 

 their posteriors and thrust out their 

 stings. By tlie worst of treatment 

 arouse a colony of Italians till they 

 take wing quite freely, and you have 

 nothing worse to fear from blacks. 



It seems that the offspring of these 

 two races, as a rule, inherited about 

 equally from the dispositions of the 

 parents, while those crosses coming 

 from the little blacker, German strain, 

 and the bright, yellow Italians were 

 most sure to partake of the light- 

 footed, take-wing tendency. Does 

 this not account for the fact that the 

 hybrids were, as a rule, worse to 

 handle than either parent race in its 

 purity y Does it not also account for 

 the ferociousness of the tlyprians':* 

 They possess to the full extent the 

 inate meanness of the yellow race 

 and light-footedness of the blacks. 



Now, if you will rid your apiary of 

 all German bees, except the larger 

 brown variety, and of all the yellow 

 bees except the leather- colored Ital- 

 ians, you will lind cross hybrids largely 

 in the minority. You will find that 

 most of your hybrid colonies are as 

 good-natured as any bees you ever 

 saw, and standing well up to, or above 

 the reputation given them by the bee- 

 keepers of the past— as being par ex- 

 cellence as surplus honey producers. 



Yoti must not forget that this most 

 valuable strain is not a fixed race ; 

 that it is lial)le to sport from one 

 " side of the house "to the other;). 

 e., strongly show the tendencies, some- 

 times of one parent and sometimes of 

 the other. Tliey will rarely fall below 

 the aggregate worth of either parent. 

 This sporting tendency gives a most 

 excellent opportunity to breed for 

 qualities. Were I keeping either race 

 in its purity, I should always breed 

 for qualities, rearing my queens from 

 my .best colonies, which produce the 

 largest quantity of surplus honey, and 

 good behavior as one of the main 

 points of valuation. No matter 

 whether you have purchased a queen, 

 and are breeding for Germans or Ital- 

 ians in their purity, or their crosses 

 in their excellency, if you do not di- 

 rect their breeding, rearing your 

 queens from your best colonies, you 

 will fall behind those who do, and you 

 will always need to purchase queens 

 from them. 



For the benefit of many who are 

 now breeding from hybrids, let me 

 say that it is my advice to breed from 

 the greatest honey-gatherers, and al- 

 ways such bees as stick to the combs 



in the good old-fashioned Italian 

 style. I want no (Cyprians or Syrians 

 to knock lit my ai)iarian gate, iinless 

 they are possessed of the fast-footed 

 tendency. I cannot admit such a 

 (jueen, even though she came mantled 

 in a ten-dollar greenback. 



My opinion is, that very many who 

 suppose that they have' "good-na- 

 tured Cyprians," "have only Italian 

 bees. If we lind such radical differ- 

 ences in disposition of different colo- 

 nies of the new races, as is reported 

 from those who Ihitdc that they have 

 the pine Cyprians and Syrians, then 

 surely there is little fixedness to be 

 found in these new races. Next to 

 the crossed strain of bees above de- 

 scribed, I prefer the leather-colored 

 Italians in their Simon-purity. Early 

 and late brood-rearing are now being 

 proven to be injurious qualities. My 

 students will tell you that our 45 colo- 

 nies that could not breed at all till 

 they gathered the pollen of issl, not- 

 withstanding they ceased breeding 

 early last autumn, are now the strong- 

 est colonies we have in our yard ; 

 and every one has been the pink of 

 health for a year past. 



W^ould that I were as sure of an 

 1884 fall honey-crop as that the intro- 

 duction of the Cyprians and Syrians 

 into this country has been a serious 

 draw-back to our business. I have 

 tried to appeal to known facts and 

 reasons, asking you to take therefrom 

 nothing for granted. How well I 

 have succeeded, 1 leave the reader to 

 judge. 



Dowagiac, Mich. 



Knr the American Bee JoumaL 



The Honey Crop in Texas. 



n. K. CARROLL. 



This part of the State of Texas has 

 been truly blessed with another grand 

 lioney flow. About .lune 1. as soon as 

 the terrible floods subsided, our bees 

 began to work on the mint. At that 

 time I had -50 full colonies set apart 

 for honey gathering, and the balance, 

 all weak colonies, were broke up into 

 two and three-frame nuclei. I put 

 supers on a few hives, and as I had 40 

 acres in wheat and oats, 28 acres in 

 corn, and i20 acres in cotton and mil- 

 let, I had my hands full. I hired a 

 man to run the farm, and I would 

 run the bees ; but he (juit me about 

 the time I was badly needed in the 

 apiary, and I got fearfully behind. 



I offered S2 per day for a hand to 

 work at the extractor, but none could 

 I get. I finished mv grain crop and 

 let tlie cotton go, anci began running 

 the extractor. Hy this time all the 

 hives were full, and the honey well 

 sealed over. In two weeks I was up 

 with the bees, but lost over 4,000 

 pounds of honey. I took a little over 

 6,000 pounds of extracted honey, and 

 a few pounds of comb honey. I will 

 get about 1,000 pounds more, making 

 an average of about 140 pounds per 

 colony. My big colony swarmed, and 

 the old queen went to the woods. A 

 second swarm gathered 100 pounds ; 

 the old colony 277 pounds, making 377 

 pounds ; and if I could have saved the 



