BEE NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1853, 27 May 1887, Page 8

BEE NOTES.

SAVAGE CROSSBRED BEES,

In an article strongly recommending the residents of Kangaroo Island to devote their energies to the raising of pure Ligurian •queens for disposal in the neighbouring colonies, the South Australian Chronicle says : — There are several races of bees bred and manipulated for their honey. Amongst these are the common black bee,' the Ligurian, the Carniolan, the Cyprian, the Syrian, and the Holy Land bee, each of which has its adherents. But no' bees have so many admirers as the Ligurian, none are such general favourites, and . for none is there such a constant and regular demand. When it is known that bees which are hybridised, after the first cross gradually acquire the bad qualities and lose the good qualities of both stocks, and that the fashion of crossing and hybridising has become so common that in some • parts purity of race has already become lost, the value of a place whence a pure race can be • obtained can scarcely be over-estimated. Even in Italy the craze for hybridisation and experiment has become so great that it is feared purity of race will become a thing of the past. It must be remembered that the mating of bees cannot be controlled like the mating of horses and cattle. All attempts in that direction have signally failed. If therefore there be two sorts of bees in a neighbourhood, the chance of purity being retained is at all times very uncertain, with a growing tendency to a dangerous cross.

Particulars have reached us of a case in which a gentleman, notwithstanding great attention to breeding, had a little time ago to destroy several swarms of the second cross, which had become so fiendish in disposition that nothing could live near them. They attacked the cattle, horses, fowls, and every living creature with demoniacal fury and determination, and followed the beemaster into the house, so that had it not been for their destruction it would have become uninhabitable. They attacked strangers going along a public road 50yds from the hives, and even settled in numbers with persistent viciousness on a toy dog that had been bought for one of the children. This viciousness seems the rule with second crosses.