146 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIE^W 



other animals and plants have done 

 with their stocl:. But much better than 

 theoretical arguments is the yirr/' that 

 some persons have actually bred better 

 bees than those in Nature. 



That bees can be modified by breed- 

 ing' has been well shown by the pro- 

 duction of five-banded Italians. By 

 selecting for color, during a compara- 

 tively few generations, the yellow areas 

 of the abdomen have been increased to 

 cover five seginents instead of three. 

 Of course, the virtue of additional 3'el- 

 low on the abdomen may be clear only 

 to the breeder of that stock and his 

 amateur customer, but it is of value to 

 the breeder of honey-producing bees 

 also as an example of what can he done. 



There are a few strains of Italians 

 for which it is claimed that they work 

 on red clover more than ordinary bees, 

 on account of greater length of tongue. 

 The length of tongue seems to be dis- 

 cussed less than it was a few years 

 ago, but we still hear of it. What is 

 the history of such superior stock ? 

 Daughters of the superior queens are 

 sold and introduced into honey pro- 

 ducing apiaries, but in a generation 

 or two the strain loses its good qualities 

 and they become very ordinary Italian 

 bees, or, more likely, hybrids by mis- 

 matings, due to the fact that the honey- 

 producer is not versed in methods of 

 breeding, and not that the original 

 breeder does not have good stock. 

 Even in the hands of professional queen- 

 rearers, there are cases where such 

 stock has deteriorated because of care- 

 lessness in allowing drones of poor col- 

 onies to fly, and some breeders them- 

 selves have privatelj' acknowledged the 

 less value of their stock today. 



It will not be denied that the 

 man and his manipulations form a 

 good part of what is necessary in the 

 production of a good crop of honey. 

 However, manipulation is not the whole 

 of bee-keeping, and considerable de- 

 pends on the bees as honey producers. 



In articles in the journals, and in 



books on apicul- ire, references are 

 frequentl}^ made to the transferring of 

 brood from colonies that are strong to 

 those having a little brood, in other 

 words, queens not sufficiently prolific 

 are helped out, and that colony pro- 

 duces more honey and has more credit 

 given it than the queen is entitled to. 

 I would not criticise this manipulation, 

 except to point out that when it comes 

 to the end of the season, the compara- 

 tive value of the queens cannot be 

 known, and records are then almost 

 useless in the choosing of breeding 

 stock. Such manipulation makes the 

 yield per colony more uniform, but 

 does not aid the honey producer in 

 bringing his stock up to the standard 

 of the best in the apiary, and probably 

 does not increase the total yield of the 

 yard. Some colonies need less care in 

 the spring than others because the 

 queen is so prolific and the bees so 

 active that the brood will spread as 

 fast aa it can be taken care of. Such 

 prolific and vigorous stock is of con- 

 siderably more value to the honey pro- 

 ducer than stock which requires con- 

 stant attention. It is to be feared that 

 many bee-keepers blind themselves to 

 the true condition of their stock by 

 their skillful manipulation of brood 

 combs. 



The two characteristics of the repro- 

 duction of animals and plants which 

 make any advancement possible are 

 heredity and variation. Without these 

 two factors the breeders would not be 

 able to make the changes by artificial 

 selection which have been made, and, 

 what is of vastly greater importance, 

 there would not now exist in nature 

 the vast number of kinds of plants and 

 animals were it not for these great 

 forces. Thej' lie at the bottom of all 

 vital phenomena. Since these are the 

 tools of the breeder it may be well to 

 examine them briefly. 



Heredity is the name given to that 

 factor in living matter which is mani- 

 fested by the fact that animals produce 



