> Itialians will do poorer in cold,  carniolas will have smaller brood.  Black bees and Russians do better in cold climates.

First off, this isn't true. In the 1880s Italian bees were imported to the US and Canada and they were just as capable of wintering as the black bees. Further, you can't use Italians and Russians in the same sense. The Italian bee is a geographic race (Ligustica) where the Russians are an amalgam of different types. 

Which brings us to the more significant point: there are two agendas here and they have to be distinguished. One, the conservationist agenda which seeks to identify and support reasons for conserving local, native bees. Two, the productionis agenda which wants a vigorous productive bee, regardless of its pedigree. 

Brother Adam was a pioneer in this latter endeavor, and he created the Buckfast bee which was intended to be a hybrid. His concept was that by crossing many types, most of which had traits that he didn't want, he could produce a bee that was closer to his ideal. This is what breeders typically do, they are experimenters.

Basically, these two agendas are contrasting the difference between natural selection and artificial selection. Natural selection is what happens as a result of a variety of forces including random variation, genetic drift, and environmental pressures. Human selection is a creative process which seeks to bring out the full potential of an organism. 

Two different things.

PLB

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