Originally Posted by
The Drone Ranger
His comments on Queen Breeders might have been true of breeders at that time though
This is Pellet's description of black bees (took a long while to type just as he wrote it)
"One of the worst objections to the blacks is excitable nature. When the hive is opened they run nervously , and often boil out over the top in a most disconcerting manner.
The queens are difficult to find because of the fact that instead of remaining quietly on the comb attending to business , they run with the workers and often hide. They do not gather as much surplus on the average as Italians, under American conditions, are more inclined to be cross, and are more susceptible to brood diseases.
It is a difficult matter to save an apiary of black bees, once they become infected with European foul- brood. In comparison with Italians the latter have proven so much better that there is a very general tendency to replace the blacks with Italians and in many limited neighborhoods where beekeeping is scientifically followed, the blacks have disappeared."
He then goes on to describe Cyprian bees, Syrians ,Carniolans, Caucasians, Banat bees, Tunisian bees, Egyptians and his favorite Italians
The rest of the book includes things like mini mating nucs and lots of queen rearing methods and equipment well worth a read
Here it's the same though
You need to read Pellet's comments in the context of a man who although he knew full well that the strain was more important than the race he still couldn't help himself from having a rant and tagging on "scientific" at the end to add weight
I was reading a Scientific bee site (American) just a couple of days ago with similar rants fueled by third hand information and prejudice