The Rearing of Queens 
429 
chances of desirable matings by providing plenty of drones 
of good stock and restricting undesirable drones. When 
the workers begin to drive drones from the hives they may 
be protected by putting them in a queenless colony, where 
they will not be molested. 
Desirability of pure races. 
Above all, the desirability of pure races should be empha¬ 
sized. It is a common belief that hybrids (usually crosses 
of Italians and blacks) are good honey gatherers. Crosses 
of other races are also recommended. The first cross is 
often desirable from the standpoint of honey gathering but 
it is better to breed from pure stock only, for the offspring 
of a hybrid queen is exceptionally variable and it is rather a 
matter of chance if good stock results. Presumably the 
desirable characteristics of certain crosses might be fixed 
by judicious and intelligent selection, but this is a problem 
for a professional breeder and not for the honey producer or 
even for the commercial queen breeder. 
Danger from inbreeding. 
This has been much overestimated in the discussions of 
breeding in the bee journals. Inbreeding may accentuate 
undesirable characters but it may likewise help to fix desir¬ 
able characters, and it has been used with good results in 
other lines of breeding. The commercial honey producer 
need have little fear of harmful results, for if any signs of 
degeneracy are observed it is easy at any time to introduce 
new blood. 
