1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



471 



[In the above, friend Doolittle has surely pre- 

 sented something of value to every bee-keeper 

 in the region of basswoods. We have just been 

 looking over our trees, and find the little blos- 

 soms which Mr. D. speaks of. They are not 

 nearly so plentiful as a year ago; but it will be 

 remembered that, at that time, we had an un- 

 usually heavy flow from basswoods. It is sel- 

 dom if ever that two heavy basswood seasons 

 come in succession; and this is true of all sorts 

 of fruit-trees. A tree that yields heavily one 

 season is not so liable to do as well the next 

 season. Nature seems to have exhausted her- 

 self in the effort. We think that, if our readers 

 will take pains to read the above article 

 through carefully, it will save them perhaps a 

 good deal of unnecessary expense in bringing 

 bees to a basswood region when there will be 

 no honey worth going to get. But, as a general 

 thing, if basswoods grow in profusion in any 

 one locality it will pay to place a certain num- 

 ber of colonies within their reach.] 



ARE HYBRID AND BLACK BEES WORTH IM- 

 PR0VING1 



WHAT .1. A. GREEN THINKS. 



I was greatly surprised to see, in the answers 

 to Query 867, how many there were who said, in 

 effect as well as in words. " Let well enough 

 alone." I should have little fault to find with 

 those who take the drift of the inquiry to be 

 whether or not the bees have degenerated, or 

 are likely to degenerate or "run out," through 

 close in-breeding. Although in-and-in breed- 

 ing often produces bad effects with other ani- 

 mals, 1 do not think it probable that bees under 

 ordinary circumstances will breed so closely 

 within a certain strain that deterioration will 

 result. Nature has guarded against this by 

 providing that the mating of the queen shall 

 take place in the air, at a distance from the 

 hive. I think it is an entirely unwarranted as- 

 sumption, that the bees in question have re- 

 queened themselves for years from their own 

 progeny. All of the queens might have been 

 reared by the bees themselves, but the drones 

 with which they mated may have come from 

 several miles away. It is for this reason that I 

 should not apprehend any degeneracy from in- 

 and-in breeding. Still, it is often the case with 

 bees, as with other animals, that an infusion of 

 new blood gives renewed vigor. This is espe- 

 cially the case when different varieties are 

 crossed. 



What I especially deplore in these answers is 

 the advice to " let well enough alone.'' Where 

 would the world be if men had been satisfied to 

 work on this principle? There is scarcely an 

 animal or plant that man makes use of for his 

 pleasure or profit that has not been greatly im- 

 proved by breeding or selection. Within the 

 memory of the present generation, careful se- 

 lection, and crossing and breeding, have great- 

 ly improved our domestic animals, and added 

 millions of dollars to our national wealth. 



The long, lean, slab-sided, razor-backed hog 

 of a few years ago was considered good enough 

 by its owner; but the modern hog is a far more 

 valuable and profitable animal. See how the 

 cow has been improved as a producer of butter 

 and milk as well as of beef. Witness how the 

 standard of horses has been raised, both for 

 speed and draft. The same improvement may 

 be noticed all along the line of our domestic an- 

 imals, to say nothing of fruits, grains, and veg- 

 etables. Are we to conclude that any mongrel 

 breed of bees is " good enough " ? 



It would seem, from the language of the que- 

 rist, that he has paid little or no attention to 



the breeding of his bees. It is a fair inference 

 that he has had no bees of improved strains 

 with which to compare them. How, then, is he 

 to know that his bees are as good, comparative- 

 ly speaking, as he believes they are ? He says 

 they are healthy, prolific, and good workers. 

 This might truthfully be said of almost any lot 

 of bees; but a trial of them in comparison with 

 the best-bred strains might show that, as com- 

 pared with these, they were very inferior. 



" Every crow thinks its own crowling whit- 

 est;" and the owner of live stock of any kind, 

 even if it is only a yellow dog, is verv apt to 

 consider it about as good as there is. The men 

 who are wedded to such ideas as that must ex- 

 pect to be left behind in the march of progress. 



The bee-keeper has the advantage over the 

 breeder of stock of almost any other kind, in 

 that he may make a comparative test for him- 

 self of the different varieties, at only a trifling 

 cost. If the breeder of horses or cattle should 

 wish to make a complete change in the breed of 

 his stock he must go to a great deal of expense 

 in disposing of every animal and getting others 

 in their place. If he adopts the usual plan of 

 '■ grading up" he must still go to considerable 

 expense for pure-bred sires. 



The bee-keeper can make a complete change 

 in his stock at comparatively small expense, and 

 have every bee of the new variety within less 

 than three months. With a money outlay that 

 is really insignificant he can have all of his bees 

 reared from superior stock, and having nearly 

 all the good qualities of the improved race. 

 For two or three dollars, or less, he may test im- 

 proved varieties for himself alongside of his old 

 ones. In this way he may gain knowledge from 

 practical experience, which is always the best 

 of teachers. 



The best way for the inquirer to do would be 

 to procure from some reliable breeder one of his 

 best breedingqueens, andrearqueens from this. 

 It is almost certain that this stock would be an 

 improvement on what he has, so he would 

 probably be safe in rearing from them enough 

 queens to supply his whole apiary. Unless he 

 is certain that his breeding stock is desirable in 

 every way, it might be safer for him to buy two 

 or three queens of each of several breeders, and, 

 after a thorough test, get a good breeding queen 

 of the stock that suited him best. 



If he can afford the money better than the 

 time required to rear the queens, let him get 

 from reliable breeders several dozen queens, 

 which, at the proper season, may be procured 

 at very low rates. Then let him rear all queens 

 from selected colonies, or, if he prefers to let the 

 bees rear their own, keep drone-traps on all un- 

 desirable colonies, which will somewhat reduce 

 the chances of impure mating. To keep an 

 apiary pure when there are other races within 

 bee-flight, requires a constant struggle; but the 

 bees of almost any apiary may be very much 

 improved by a very little trouble in the way of 

 selection and rejection. 



As to race, there is really but little question. 

 The Italians have faifly won the right to be 

 considered the best variety of bees cultivated. 

 Although a few good bee-keepers think very 

 highly of the Carniolans, all the other races 

 that have been introduced, some of them with 

 much blowing of trumpets and highly imagina- 

 tive recommendations, have proven undesira- 

 ble, and have been discarded. In this connec- 

 tion, be it observed that the so-called " Golden 

 Carniolans " are not Carniolans at all. 



The beginner is specially warned against 

 spending his money for any novelties in bees 

 unless he wishes to test them in comparison 

 with what are recognized as the best, and can 

 afford to spend money for that purpose. 



The Punic- bee fiasco should be a sufficient 



