The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1879-08-20
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length of time expires for their eggs
to hatch as it does the Italian. It will
take from seventy to ninety days be-
fore the Italian bee disappears, show
ing conclusively, that they are longer
lived and can endure more hardships
than the native bee of our country.
Thus, 1t will be seen, that the short
period of their lives depends much
upon their everyday exposure
which is necessary to their welfare"
We have buried bees under ground,
protecting them well from dampness,
and kept them in fine condition for
eight months.
The Italian bee has fully sustained
Its European reputation, and all that
has been claimed for them, although
it is to be regretted that so little re-.
gard has been given to it's improve
ment. The Italian bee is just as sus-
ceptable of improvement as any other
stock. By wise and judicious Sc
lection of both drones and queens,
great improvement could be made.
They have come from the Italian
Alps, where little or no attention
has been given them. They are sup
posed to be the same variety de-
scrlbed by Aristotle in his day, as
variegated in color.
Virgil also describes them as flour
ishing in his time, Gas variegated and
of a beautiful golden color" The It.
allan bee may be described as fol-
lows: The workers are smooth, beau
tiful and glossy the color of their
abdominal rings is a medium between
the pale yellow, and deeper yellow
black ease or bordle1s so that the gel
low, or more properly (called leather
colored), constitutes the principle
ground work, and is seemingly barred
over by slight rings or borders, which
looks beautiful when the bee is filed
with honey. The drones differ from
the workers, the upper halt of their
abdominal rings being black, while
the lower half is ochery yellow.
The queen differs in color, ranging
from a dark chestnut to a light vel
low. When imported direct from It.
ally, many of them are nearly as
dark as our native queens, except,
small rings can be seen around their
body. Many times these dark:queens
have proven to produce the finest and
most uniform workers, besides the
most peaceable and prolific workers
lin fact they have proven the most
hardy bee, 1t has been the custom
OF some breeders to select the light.
est-colored queens to breed from.
In doing SO it has been claimed by
many OF our most practical and ex-
perienced apiarists that the constitu-
ton of the bee has to certain ex-
tent been impaired. Our experience
corroborates these facts, that they
have not proven to be as great honey
gatherers as those bred direct from
Italy, .. G., speaking of them in gen
eral. Fancy has to certain extent
controlled this matter. Persons Or
dering queens, many of them say:
Send me the lightest- cclored queens
you have. This being fact, has led
bee- keepers to breed directly in this
strain, without much regard, as to
promote those qualities most essen
tIal to the greatest profit, "while it is
tact, in breeding the Italian bee in
this country, Notwithstanding we
breed direct from imported queens,
that every succeeding generation
both the queens and workers-are
inclined to grow brighter in color,
great care is needed in making the
necessary cross to avoid extremes in
either way. This alone can be eff
tected only by judicious selections OF
both drones and queens" When
aplarians will seek to excel in quail
lty, each striving to see who will pro-
duce the best, then we may hope to
see great advancement and improve
ment made in the Italian bee.
A. f. Moon.
L. \