200 
Beekeeping 
\ 
over Italian queens they often sold for twenty dollars each. 
Italian bees are now found everywhere that beekeeping is 
conducted and are usually considered preferable to all 
others. In the United States, special attention has been 
given to the breeding of Italian bees and it is probably true 
that better Italian stock can now be obtained in America 
than in Italy. 
To distinguish differences in strains of Italian bees and 
in part to provide trade names, various names have been 
given by American beekeepers to certain types. The five- 
banded or “Golden-all-over” bees have been bred specially 
for an increase in the yellow color on the abdomen.. The 
red clover Italians sold several years ago were supposed to 
have a tongue-length above the average, sufficient to allow 
them to get nectar from the red clover blossom. Various 
strains are distinguished by the name of the breeder. The 
specially yellow bees are not usually considered as desirable 
for commercial beekeeping as the typical Italians, which 
are commonly designated as three-banded or leather-colored. 
German. 
These bees are black in color and are generally known 
among American beekeepers as “Black bees.” It is of 
interest to note that according to Dzierzon there were yellow 
bees in Germany before Italians were introduced and this 
helps to explain the variation in the German bees. v. Buttel- 
Reepen, following distinctions made by Dzierzon and other 
early writers, divides the German bees into two varieties, 
the typical variety and the heath bees. The typical variety 
is native to Germany, Russia, Scandinavia, Denmark, 
Holland, England, Switzerland, Austro-Hungary and parts 
of other European countries. The heath bee is darker than 
the typical variety, swarms excessively and is especially 
adapted to honey-flows coming in late summer (buckwheat, 
heather): young queens in after swarms lay drone eggs 
abundantly the first season. This variety is found in Hano¬ 
ver, Holstein, Oldenburg and Holland. There is a possi- 
