744 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Nov. 21, 1901. 



course this was all since the time when flowers had no nectar 

 at all, and bees had no use for honey, but made their living in 

 some entirely different way. However, we must sadly admit 

 that no assumption and lo!?ic based on natural selection can 

 satisfactorily explain the uniformity of color in worker-bees, 

 especially when we consider how variable in this respect are 

 both queens and drones — the progenitors — and how shockingly 

 they disregard all color-lines in mating :' also, how little they 

 could tell (if they wanted to know) what complexions their 

 children would have, from the looks of each other. 



But coming more directly to tlie subject of breeding- bees. 

 we really face the fact — which in proportion as it is known 

 constitutes so much true science — that by careful selection we 

 may induce changes in our bees in various directions until we 

 reach the limit which the Creator has established : but beyond 

 that we can go no further. The evolution of the yacht has 

 shown continual increase of speed for many years. But the 

 fact that this year's " Constitution "couldn't outsail last year's 

 " Columbia " awakens us to the realization of what we should 

 have already known, that the speed of sailing-vessels can not 

 increase forever. A swifter yacht than '■Columbia'" might 

 yet be built; but some vessel must some time be built than 

 which none can be raad(> any swifter. And so with bees, or 

 poultry, or anything else domesticated. But we should strive 

 to improve as far as improvement can be made. If we take 

 care of the improvements, the limits will take care of them- 

 selves. 



The writer does not assume to tell eminent and successful 

 queen-specialists what they should do to better their strains; 

 he will be content if he brings out any established truth that 

 they may have overlooked, or the "laity" have forgotten. It 

 is a mistake to assume that development can be carried on in 

 only one direction at a time. Our Italian bees may be made 

 (and they have been made) better in more respects than one. 

 To take any one example among domestic animals: the Hou- 

 dan fowl was in some period bred into one having a large, 

 shapely crest and muff, a peculiar comb, regular character- 

 istics of color, good size, "Teat proliticness in egg-laying, and 

 small amount of offal, and with the sitting instinct about 

 entirely bred out. And witli all this the fowl is hardy and 

 strong. Now all these make a great many features to work 

 for in the same bre(!d, but tlie result was surely achieved. 

 And we can find the same to be tru(> of too many varieties of 

 fowls, cattle, etc., to be mentioned. Henci> we may conclude 

 that we need not look to long tongues alone in breeding bees. 

 We can carry on simultaneous improvements in hardiness, 

 length of life, length of tongue, gentleness, beauty, and other 

 points, until we reach the bounds of each. Do not, therefore, 

 di'cry any one of these because it is not what you have been 

 developing heretofore; and do not be in such great haste to 

 develop one that you forget to keep up the others. It is true 

 that inability to control ((ueen-mating is a great handicap: 

 but <'nougli has already been done to show that progress can 

 be made despite this obstacle; and, besides, those who make 

 so much of natural selection must admit that it has less con- 

 trol of mating of queens and drones than man can exercise. 



The idea is often advanced that crossing would be a 

 means of improving varieties. This does not seem in keeping 

 with all the facts. If crossing carries the better points of 

 jiarents into the oft'spriug, it carries the poorer ones as well. 

 In crossing you cannot say what shall or shall not be perpet- 

 uated, li'rom its very nature crossing does not carry charac- 

 teristics bodily from either parent so much as it divides or 

 averages those of both. If each had one good point carried to 

 excess, the cross might make a better average; but its greater 



variability, resulting in more types to select from, would be 

 offset by the greater difficulty of making the mongrels uniform 

 and stable. Hence, there is more hope in selecting from the 

 best among established varieties, because each step is more 

 easily kept. 



And, tinally, it should be urged upon the masses of apia- 

 rists to patronize the regular queen-breeder. Especially does 

 this apply to those who live in districts rich in honey and filled 

 with bee-keepers. You are far more at your neighbor's mercy 

 and under the power of wild bees than is the case in any other 

 kind of stock-raising. The majority of your neighbors will 

 not try to improve. No matter what you may try to do in the 

 way of bettering your stock, you must lose it through the 

 swarms of drones from inferior stock produced around you. 

 You must, more or less often, have recourse to the permanent 

 improvements made by breeders who have succeeded in get- 

 ting places where their own drones mate with their queens. 

 You thus help yourselves, and at the same time help the 

 the breeders to maintain the business which you would be sure 

 to miss should it fail through lack of patronage. 



Monterey Co., Calif. 



Quotinii the Honey Market— Other Matters. 



BY FKANCISCO BROWN. 



IWI.SH to add my approval to that portion of Mr. Cooley's 

 criticism, on page 663, in reference to the commission- 

 houses quoting fully up-to-date. I am particularly inter- 

 ested in the market quotations, but I wish them up-to-date. 

 There is a feature in one of the bee-papers, if 'no more, of 

 which I distinctly disapprove, in reference to said quotations, 

 and that is. a house, quoting regularly, depreciating the bee- 

 keepers' interests by cry of "overstock," or words to that 

 effect, and creating the impression that the price is going 

 down, and then saying, "We are not a commission firm.'' This 

 kind of quotation is simply advertising their own honey. I 

 wonder if the publishers of that paper would give all the rest 

 of us a standing " ad " by telling them honey was worth so 

 and so. I'll warrant the honey-dealer referred to does not tell 

 his customers that honey is " down," " big crop," etc. I have 

 dealt with commission-houses in honey for 13 years. Some, 

 like the Horrie-Wheadon concerns, have treated me scandal- 

 ously, and others have treated me remarkably fair. Under 

 the present conditions of business we cannot well get along 

 without the honest commission men. In some instances the 

 producers are the gainers by consigning their product — not 

 selling outright. How? Why, if we have a fancy, gilt-edged 

 article, it brings the top price when buyers bid against each 

 other. When we wish to sell outright, maybe only one or two 

 buyers come along. For my part, I want the commission man, 

 and I want him to know that I am alive — to my business; that 

 the house that gets me the best price is the one that handles 

 my honey. I have been converted to this decision more than 

 once. To illustrate: 



I once had a crop of extracted honey that I wanted to sell 

 outright. I offered it at 8 cents, and would have taken 7. 

 After sending him a sample, a commission man wrote: "Send 

 me your honey — I will sell to best advantage, and you will be 

 the gainer." I sent it. He put it into small glasses, and sold 

 it at 16 cents, netting me 1'^ cents a pound. In the course of 

 time this man sold nearly 50,000 pounds for me, selling my 



VO COMBS IN DR. MILLER 



