POINTS OF SUPERIORITY. 113 



to the nearest oee-keeper was too great for mixture in mating, or else 

 the neighbors around stole a hive from the man who first started in bees. 

 Thus breeding from the same stock from generation to generation, it was 

 no wonder that a general complaint was heard: 'Father's, or grand 

 father's bees used to do well hsre; but some how, in late years, they have 

 run out.' Every observing bee-keeper has met with similar experience 

 in his own observations amongst ' old box hive ' bee-keepers. The im- 

 portance of this subject in bee-keeping, seems fortunately to have been 

 stumbled on while working for other ends. 



"Simultaneous with the introduction of movable combs, and such in- 

 crease of practical knowledge as tended to advance bee-culture, the 

 claim of the great superiority of the Italian bee, led to its being im- 

 ported, bred, and largely desseminated. Without now entering upon 

 the subject of the comparative merits of the Italian and native bee, it is 

 enough for the present purpose, to state that we believe a great deal of 

 the acknowledged good from the introduction of Italian bees into 

 apiaries, all over the country, comes from the introduction of new Mood. 

 "We are satisfied that the Italian bees are, in several respects, superior 

 to our native bees, but not according to the apparent improvement 

 when our Italian queen is introduced into, and bred from, in our 

 apiary. Many men whose bees had deteriorated from in-and-in breed- 

 ing, have found such superiority when an Italian was introduced as to 

 run to the opposite extreme, of overrating these new bees. The contro- 

 versy among the different apiarians at present, concerning the compara- 

 tive merits of the two varieties hinges, as we believe, just on this point. 

 Those who claim superiority or equality for the common bee, are par- 

 ties who have, to some extent, reared Italians, or else some of their 

 neighbors have had them, and thus the stock of common bees they 

 have had on hand, have been improved by the new blood, which 

 they do not feel is due to the Italians, because their bees are black bees, 

 or merely hybrids, from black queens, and Italian drones. It is well 

 known that some prominent breeders have claimed that the hybrids are, 

 in many respects, superior to Italians. We believe that the ordinary 

 apiarian will find it more profitable to get an Italian queen, and from 



