> To an outsider looking at the UK, France, or Spain for example, it seems a matter of preferring the native bees because "they're our bees" -- like 'em or not.
>
>

I like 'em because their special traits match our conditions and it 
makes them a lot easier to keep.  They use very little stores in our 
winter, can get a honey crop in unreliable weather and don't need large, 
heavy brood boxes.  When we try other races they need, by or standards, 
huge amounts of feeding both Summer and Autumn.  This is particularly so 
in the more western counties where we get the most rain.  In addition to 
the aspects of keeping them in hives we all hope that one day bees will 
return to the wild and the native race is the one best adapted to 
survive without aid.  If I were an American I would not worry about the 
last point so much as Apis mellifera are not native in any case and I 
would expect other pollinators to adequately support the natural flora, 
but in the Uk it's different.

Steve Rose, North Wales

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