96 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS ON APICULTURE. 



too cold. I have never had such crops of fall honey here (Norwich, Conn.) as I 

 have had down among those sand dunes, once in three or four years, strong 

 colonies laying upward of a hundred pounds. 



5-6. White clover and Clethra, about equal. 



7. Sumac. 



RACES OF BEES. 



Among the bees of Massachusetts are found representatives of those 

 kept in all parts of the United States. They occur only in relative 

 degrees of purity, due to the fact that young queens often mismate. 

 " Hybrid " means any cross between recognized races, but more par- 

 ticularly and generally the cross between Italians and Germans. 



ITALIAN BEES. 



According to the data at hand, 594 bee keepers say they have Ital- 

 ians. This does not mean pure Italians in every instance, but it does 

 indicate that practically half of the bee keepers who reported have 

 Italians, a highly encouraging condition. Furthermore, 342 report 

 that they have hybrids, which may almost universally be interpreted 

 as a cross between Italians and Germans. By adding this to the 

 number who report Italians, it makes 936, or about 80 per cent, of 

 those reporting who have some Italian in their hives. This clearly 

 demonstrates the popularity of the race. 



There are several strains of Italians, such as "long-tongued," or 

 " red-clover," and " golden," or " five-banded," and the like. Al- 

 though these strains are all found in Massachusetts, data concerning 

 them is not sufficient to decide their relative merits or popularity. 



GERMAN BEES. 



Pure German or black bees are exceedingly scarce. In the county 

 of Worcester the writer has seen what he believed to have been the 

 pure-blooded Germans ; but these colonies are seldom met with. Al- 

 though, as is shown in the table below, 196 persons report that they 

 have German bees, there is as much or even more doubt that these 

 are strictly pure as there is doubt that all of the Italians reported are 

 pure. This race, at least in Massachusetts, is destined to be sup- 

 planted by the Italians, although some bee keepers still complain that 

 their Italians are constantly being crossed with blacks. 



CARNIOLAN BEES. 



This race, from Carniola, Austria, is not generally used in Massa- 

 chusetts. Many who were interested when it was first introduced into 

 America tried it and since discarded it ; but 34 persons, or 3 per cent, 

 reported having it in 1906. 



