March, lyii. 



(American ^ee Journal 



Contributed 



Articles^ 



Improvement in Honey-Bees 



BY E. S. MILES. 



The desirability of improvement in 

 honey-bees is probably conceded by 

 all. There may be a question of the 

 possibility in some minds, but a glance 

 at some of our leading bee-keepers' 

 views should modify any doubts in that 

 direction. 



Let us begin by consulting G. M. 

 Doolittle, who says on page 1-W of his 

 book, "Scientific Queen-Rearing:" 



" By crossing the best specimens of my 

 home-bred stock with similar specimens 

 from different apiaries from loo to looo miles 

 from me, I have succeeded in securing bees 

 of the Italian race which are far more con- 

 stant in color than any I could get lo years 

 ago: while at the same time my bees have 

 vastly imfirin'cJas to theirworkingaualities." 



On page 71 of " Alexander's Writings 

 on Practical Bee-Culture," Mr. Alex- 

 ander savs : 



" You all know that a few years ago the A. 

 I. Root Co, told us that they had found in 

 one of their apiaries a queen whose bees 

 gathered far more honey than any other 

 colony, and that they saw such a decided 

 difference in favor of this queen and her 

 bees that they valued her at S200.00 for 

 breeding purposes. No>", as I was fortunate 

 enough to get 100 grand-daughters of this 

 $200.00 queen, and having those 100 queens in 

 our apiary for 3 seasons, I am sure I know 

 something of their real value. First, we 

 have had very few natural swarms from 

 those queens— I don't think over 20 from the 

 100 colonies duringthe 3 summers: and when 

 extracting we have always had very heavy 

 combs from those bees, usually of nice, 

 light honey, even when our buckwheat was 

 in full bloom. I am sure, therefore, that the 

 blood we now have in our apiary from that 

 $200.00 red-clover queen has given us several 

 tons of additional surplus honey." 



In " Advanced Bee-Culture," pages 31 

 and 32, Mr. Hutchinson says: 



"In brief, if I were to engage in the pro- 

 duction of either comb or extracted honey. 

 I should adopt pure Italians: then, by selec- 

 tion in breeding, get rid of the undesirable 

 traits, such as 'watery' cappings of the 

 honey, inclination to build large quantities 

 of brace-combs, undue swarming, etc. Every 

 bee-keeper of experience who has tried dif- 

 ferent strains of bees, knows there is a 

 great difference between different strains 

 of even the same variety. A bee-keeper who 

 is just starting in the business, or one 

 already in the business who has not taken 

 such a course, ought to get queens from sev- 

 eral of the best breeders, then adopt some 

 easily kept but comprehensive system of 

 recording the traits and peculiarities of 

 each colony. » * * jf ^^^g bees of 

 any colony prove vindictive, requeen it. If 

 the bees of another colony are poor comb- 

 builders, or cap their honey poorly, destroy 

 the queen and give them another. Do the 

 same if they build large quantities of ' brace- 

 combs,' or if they are unduly given to 

 swarming, or if they are poor honey-gath- 

 erers, or do not winter well. On the other 

 hand, the desirable traits should be watched 

 for and recorded, and queens reared from 

 the queens of such colonies. Care ought 

 also to be taken that no drones are reared 

 or allowed to fly from undesirable stock, 

 and pains taken to rea»- them in goodly num- 

 bers from the best colonies in the apiary. 

 By pursuing this course the bee-keeper will 

 eventually build up a strain of bees that 

 will be peaceable, hardy, good honey-gath- 

 erers, and good comb-builders. Well- 

 directed efforts at improving his stock, care- 

 fully watching and recording the traits of 

 each colony, getting rid of poor queens and 

 keeping the best, perhaps buying queens 

 occasionally and comparing their progeny 

 ■with the stock already on hand, always 



bruedinii from the best— such a course as 

 this will prove the most profitable of any 

 which a bee-keeper can pursue. The won- 

 der is that it is so greatly neglected." 



On page 4 of Gleanings in Bee-Cul- 

 ture for Jan. 1, 1911, Dr. Miller says in 

 a " Stray Straw :" 



"Whenever improvement in bees is sug- 

 gested, such as breeding for non-swarming, 

 the cry comes, 'Oh! you can't control the 

 drones.' Isn't that objection a little over- 

 worked? True, drones can not be directly 

 controlled. Indirectly they can be, and 

 /i:iz-c I'ceii. I grant you much quicker work 

 could be made with direct control of drones: 

 but do you believe you can persistently se- 

 lect queens with any one object in view and 

 not in time have the drones affected there- 

 by ? Look at color. Couldn't control drones: 

 but there are your bees, yellow from tip to 

 tip. I can't directly control drones, but I 

 have bred from biggest yielders. and have 

 thereby bigger crops. Do you think my 

 drones are not improved? 'They'll revert. 

 Let 'em revert. Keep breeding against re- 

 version. A perfect non-swarming bee may 

 never be; but a practical non-swarmer just 

 as well as a non-swarming hen. So long as 

 my record yields come fiom colonies that 

 make no attempt at swarming, I'm going to 

 keep up the chase." 



\Vh.\t Constitutes Improvement. 



Some of the traits which it is desir- 

 able to perpetuate are : Good honey- 

 gatherers, not given to swarming, 

 hardiness, gentleness, and good comb- 

 building. 



V.\RI.\TION. 



In order to accomplish any change 

 in the characteristics of a species we 

 must have a certain amount of varia- 

 tion to start with. If all specimens of 

 a species were absolutely alike there 

 would be no chance for selective breed- 

 ing. Fortunately for us, there is a va- 

 riation in all animal species. Pages of 

 testimonies could be produced from 

 our largest and most experienced bee- 

 keepers to prove that bees are no ex- 

 ception to this rule. But one who 

 would claim to the contrary would only 

 be advertising his own lack of obser- 

 vation or experience. 



So now we can take advantage of 

 this law of variation and breed from 

 those colonies that vary in the direc- 

 tion we desire. If this is done long 

 enough these traits will become "set" 

 so that they will be reproduced, for 



Like Produces Like. 



There is also a tendency in nature for 

 animals to lose an appendage or trait 

 that has, by changed environment, be- 

 come useless; c. g., horns on cattle, 

 and the wildness of all animals bred 

 and handled for a long time by man. 



The claim has been made with a 

 great show of wisdom that the bee is 

 " wild " by nature. What if it is ? Were 

 not all animals "wild" until man kept 

 them in subjection, and by handling 

 and selection in breeding overcame 

 that trait ? Some domestic animals are 

 more or less "wild" yet, and there is 

 considerable variation in this regard 

 among our domestic animals. Notice 

 the most handled by man are the least 

 wild, viz. : the horse and dog. 



The question naturally arises here, 



Are all bees equally wild ? Here, again 

 those of experience know that there 

 are strains of bees that may truly be 

 called tame, or domesticated, as com- 

 pared with others. What reason is 

 there to expect anything but "wild- 

 ness " in the majority of bees at the 

 present day? How long has intelli- 

 gent selective breeding and really 

 scientific care been applied to bees ? 

 We may say that it is to be expected 

 that the great majority of bees are 

 " wild by nature," since they have run 

 wild for hundreds, perhaps thousands, 

 of years. 



What difference whether a colony 

 lived in a hollow tree or a box in the 

 back-yard, so long as conditions of 

 shelter and size of brood-chamber de- 

 termined its survival ? Or what differ- 

 ence could be expected even from the 

 frame hive of best design if no control 

 of breeding vv-as had, but this all left to 

 circumstances, of size of brood-cham- 

 ber and location of same as to shelter ? 

 Under the old way, for hundreds of 

 years, those bees that swarmed were 

 considered the best, and that old no- 

 tion is still floating around the back 

 lanes in the bee-world, and some still 

 cling to the old, highly original idea 

 that when the bees swarm they are 

 "doing fine." This kind of bee-keep- 

 ing never has affected, and never can 

 affect, the bee's disposition, or give us 

 other than a bee that will swarm, sting, 

 and give us honey "sometimes." 



The Nox-Sittixg Hen, 

 When man learned to hatch eggs by 

 artificial methods, he was able to im- 

 prove his chickens ; developed strains 

 that were " non-sitting," and layed 

 more eggs. Before that he had to have 

 them "sit" in order to get more chick- 

 ens. And so it was before we knew 

 how to rear queens equal to natural 

 swarming — we had to have them swarm 

 to get more bees. But now, since as 

 good queens can be reared by artificial 

 methods — yes, better, because as good 

 queens that will produce better bees 

 can be reared — it is time to eliminate 

 the swarming trait. 



Here let me quote a little more from 

 Mr. Alexander, from "Practical Writ- 

 ings on Bee-Culture," page 67: 



"The most common and the worst mistake 

 that can be made in rearing queens is saving 

 the natural cells and virgin queens from 

 colonies that have cast natural swarms. I 

 have heard this method recommended by 

 men who were considered quite good au- 

 thority, and it seemed as if I could not keep 

 still and listen to them. We spend valuable 

 time at our conventions in discussing vari- 

 ous ways for preventing natural swarming, 

 and we frequently see long articles in our 

 journals, from noted writers, recommending 

 certain methods to prevent it. Almost daily 

 duringthe summer season we see bad re- 

 sults in our apiaries from excessive swarm- 

 ing, and then so many will do this thingof 

 all things that will perpetuate the desire to 

 swarm, by saving cells and virgins from the 

 colonies that are the first to swarm: and in- 

 variably wh^n this objectionable method has 

 been practiced a few years, a strain of bees 

 will be developed that is ready to swarm in 

 season and out of season. Nor is this all, 

 for a great step backward has been taken, 

 and the bees from the first will begin to de- 

 generate, and part of their yellow color will 

 be lost ; and the bees themselves being cross 

 and more irritable, they will fail to gather as 

 much surplus, and they become more nerv- 

 ous in winter. In a few years the apiary 

 will have degenerated until it is of little 

 value. It must then be built up again with 

 good stock," 



As "Eternal vigilance is the price of 

 liberty," so " keeping everlastingly at 



