and its Economic Management. 41 



I have found many black bees more irritable than any I 

 have ever had, even rushing from the hive to attack a person 

 many yards off ; but by crossing the queens with Ligurian,_ or 

 by preference, Cyprian or Carniolan drones, we get some of 

 the finest and best tempered workers that can be desired. It 

 has been considered that hybrids are very vicious, but this is 

 only half true ; what I have stated above is strictly in 

 accordance with fact, but when any yellow queen is allowed 

 to mate wth a black drone, then, of course, the progeny 

 resulting therefrom will bs irritable, while their working 

 qualities will be inferior to those of the cross recommended. 

 Black drones are not required in breeding up a new strain, 

 and should be rigorously excluded. 



LIGURIAN, OR ITALIAN ALP BEES. 



These were the first yellow race introduced, 'and though 

 much abused in some quarters, they have gradually gained 

 ground until there is perhaps hardly a district where the 

 native bees have not to some extent, more or less remote, 

 received some benefit by the infusion of fresh blood. Indeed, 

 it is amusing to hear some apiarists assert that Italians are 

 inferior to the old-fashioned sort, and that they, will have no 

 more of them ; when, as a matter of fact, their original stock 

 has been greatly improved by the introduction of the foreigners, 

 short though their existence may have been ; and, moreover, 

 i:he probability is great that year after year such short-sighted 

 men are indebted to some distant bee-keeper for the continued 

 excellence of their blacks (?) ; as the new blood is carried fi-om 

 one apiary to another, through successive stages during suc- 

 ceeding seasons ; each cross showing less of colour, until in 

 the end there is scarcely any evidence to show that the dark 

 bees of the neighbourhood have foreign blood in their con- 

 stitution. 



The advantages claimed for Ligurians are as follows : 

 They are more proHiic, and consequently gather more honey 



