6 BEEKEEPING 



Honey-bees, too, will vary in the en- 

 thusiasm with which they attack their first 

 work in spring. The black German bees 

 are inclined to be of a rather morbid dis- 

 position, chary about getting their feet 

 wet in spring and much preferring to sit 

 around the fireplace at home and talk it 

 over rather than hustle out to see what is 

 doing in the orchard. The various '^ hy- 

 brids," crosses of the blacks with better 

 sorts, usually inherit the tavern-haunt- 

 ing tendencies of their unworthy ances- 

 tors — ^not to mention the fact that they 

 carry a dirty dagger in their tails. 



The yellow Italian bees, however, seem 

 to have a much more cheerful disposition. 

 They seem eager for the sun and if it 

 shows its face for but a few minutes, and 

 sometimes if it does not show at all, these 

 southern bees will be out hustling for 

 whatever they can find. This is written 

 in January and from my window I can see 

 two "pet" colonies that I have near the 

 house for the purposes of study and ob- 



