Talk:Italian bee

Brother Adam on Ligustica

I thought this might be useful for the discussion of Ligustica, since it needs more sources. sklundy (talk) 14:36, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

This race embraces a number of clearly distinguishable varieties. From the commercial and breeding point of view the best is the dark, leather-coloured bee which has its home in the Ligurian Alps. The lighter coloured variety, which was at one time all over the world from the region round Bologna, proved satisfactory everywhere, but showed the drawbacks of the race more clearly than the darker bee. The very light coloured strains, common in North and South America, New Zealand and Australia have a great number of advantages as well as disadvantages but as far as we have ascertained they are less well suited for breeding purposes. The golden variety, or the Aurea, which was once so greatly admired, has proved to be a failure form all practical aspects. Any results which do not state the exact variety in question can lead to mistaken conclusions. The four varieties of the Ligustica cannot be lumped together or brought under one common denominator. Unfortunately this often happens.

From the commercial and breeding point of view the value of the Ligustica lies in a happy sythesis of a great number of good characteristics. Among these we must mention industry, gentleness, fertility, reluctance to swarm, zeal for building comb, white honey-cappings, a willingness to enter supers, cleanliness, resistance to disease, and the tendency to collect flower honey rather than honey dew. The last-named trait is of value only in countries where the colour of the honey determines the price. The Ligustica has shown that she is able to produce good crops from the red clover. In one other characteristic has the Ligustica proved exceptional and that is in her resistance to Acarine. This is especially true of the dark, leather-coloured variety, whereas the golden strains are highly susceptible to Acarine.

However the Ligustica has her drawbacks, and these are serious. She lacks vitality and is inclined to excessive brood rearing. These two faults are the root cause of her other disadvantages. She has too a tendency to drift which is caused by a poor sense of orientation and this can prove a drawback where colonies are set out in rows facing in one direction as is the common practice in apiaries almost world-wide.

Curiously enough, all the above mentioned faults of the Ligustica appear in greatly emphasised form in the very light coloured strains, with an additional one, an unusually high consumption of stores. In European countries such strains have proved highly unsatisfactory as they tend to turn every drop of honey into brood. These light coloured varieties are likewise as already stated unusually susceptible to Acarine. The reason for this is not known in spite of all the work spent on trying to find it. It is all the more surprising when we consider that the dark, leather-coloured Ligustica has over a period of more than 60 years proved to be one of the most resistant to Acarine.

The almost exclusive concentration of these light coloured Italian strains in North America seems to be due to the fact that in sub-tropical Southern and Western States the large queen-rearing centres are concerned mainly with the sale of bees, where honey production plays a secondary role. Hence they need a bee which is given to brood rearing to an extreme degree, something which in entirely different climactic conditions constitutes a serious drawback.

In the dark, leather-coloured Ligustica we have a unique combination of factors of economic and breeding value, thanks to which she has found a welcome in every part of the world. When properly handled she is second to none in answering the needs of the commercial beekeeper, both when pure bred or crossed. For cross breeding she is suitable both on the mother's and father's side and this applies too when crossed with any other races. This universal aptitude for breeding with establish the Ligustica as the foundation for future developments of combination breeding.

— Brother Adam, "Breeding the Honeybee" (Northern Bee Books: Mytholmroyd, 1987), pp. 96-98.

Comments and suggestions

The article needs to be fixed and it could use some expansion.

1. The section entitled "Strenghts" lists:

a. "for areas with continuous nectar flow and favorable weather throughout the summer"

b. "industry"

c. "a willingness to enter supers"

d. "tendency to collect flower honey rather than honey dew (of value only in countries where the colour of the honey determines the price)"

a. sounds silly

b. should be "industrious"

c. sounds silly (what's the meaning of it is beyond me)

d. it's redundant with the previous section

2. The last three entries of the section entitled "Weaknesses" seem inappropriate and don't sound like weaknesses but rather like suggestions

3. Under "Selective breeding", "Availability and queen cost" does not make much sense to me.

4. The last entry in the "Worldwide distribution" is a total mess and it needs to be rewritten.

ICE77 (talk) 06:00, 1 December 2012 (UTC)

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