Hi to all on BEE-L

Peter Borst wrote:
Yes, but we have never relied on "wild" or "native" bees.
We have purchased bees from as many sources as possible.
With bees coming in from Yugoslavia, Russia, Georgia, and
California, it seems that there would be enough variation.

Reply:
Perhaps it is about time those that wanted to were allowed
to rely upon wild and/or native bees that are acclimitized
to ones own geographical area, for fighting today's
problems of mites, beetles, and secondary diseases! Is that
such a hard concept to accept? Or just unpatentable?

Peter also wrote:
All the same, I would like to see importing opened back up
so we could really mix it up. We have nothing to lose and
perhaps something to gain.

Reply:
Seems we have already lost a lot with complex
mongrelization and enlarged foundations to fix the mixes!
In my mind there is nothing to be gained there.

Seems we go overseas to areas with good races/strains and
simple hybridization, that are surviving well, and then
bring them back here to the USA, and mix them up here into
a mess. Somehow this practice does not make sense, nor does
it seem to work as we expect.

Chow

Dee A. Lusby


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