THOUSAND ANSWERS 131 
to your other honey. It yields about the same time as white 
clover. 
Houses, Getting Bees From. (See Buildings.) 
Hybrids. — Q. Is the hybrid of yellow color? 
A. When the word “hybrid" is used concerning bees, it gen- 
erally means a cross between blacks and Italians, and such hy- 
brids may have one, two, or even three yellow bands similar to 
the yellow bands of Italians, but if only part of the workers have 
the three bands, then the colony is considered hybrid. I suppose 
the word “hybrid” might also apply to a cross between Italians 
and Carniolans, or between any two different varieties. 
Q. Are hybrids as good for honey-gathering as .full-bloods? 
A. Very often they are. 
Q. Are hybrid bees as good as pure stock? 
A. Sometimes they are better, and sometimes not so good. 
But even if better, they are more likely to run out than pure 
stock. 
Hydrometer. — Q. On page 5 of the American Bee Journal for 
1908, in an article on “Testing Honey as to Ripeness,” it is said, 
“it would be a good thing” to “get a hydrometer.” What is a 
hydrometer, and, especially, how is it used? Of course, I under- 
stand a “hydrometer” must be an instrument to measure moisture. 
Still, I repeat the question, what is it and how is it used? 
A. A hydrometer is an instrument for determining the density 
of liquids, consisting of a weighted glass bulb with a long stem 
on which there is a graduated scale. It is put in the liquid, where 
it stands upright, the denser the liquid the higher it stands, the 
figures on the scale thus showing the density. If an up-to-date 
dairyman is near you, he may have a hydrometer, which he calls a 
lactometer. 
Ice. — Q. If small particles of ice form on the hive-entrance of 
a colony that is wintering on the summer stand, is it an indica- 
tion that it is not in a good condition for winter? 
A. No, there is nothing alarming about it any more than there 
is in seeing a man’s breath form in icicles on his beard when he is 
out in freezing weather. 
Inbreeding.— Q. What do you call inbreeding? Give a practi- 
cal illustration. 
A. “Inbreed,” says the dictionary, means “to breed or to follow 
a course of breeding, from nearly related animals, as those of 
the same parentage or pedigree; breed in-and-in.” It would be in- 
