> The Starlines were great except that I thought they were a bit sloppy in
capping the corners in
 > their rush to go to the next super. The following year they turned mean
and poor producers.

Starlines are an example of deliberate and carefully tuned hybrid
'superbee'.  My understanding is that they are often created from two parent
lines that by themselves can be very poor.  I have heard of such parent
lines that barely sustain themselves through a season, yet which add
something to the first cross which makes the cross very successful.  The
offspring of such hybrids are seldom much good.  If they are, it is only a
matter of luck.  This type of bee is different from the more common strains
of bees raised by most commercial breeders which are not as highly tuned.

In my experience, the offspring of non-special, non-hybrid commercial breeds
are usually not too much different from the parents and crosses between them
are usually quite AOK.  The quality of such offspring is pretty much
dependant on the conditions under which they are raised, and with a little
selection they can be very good.

allen