240 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mak. 15 



F B G. M. Doolittle says that for thirty 

 years he has followed the plan of breeding 

 from the best (and, if I understand him 

 correctly, the more of a freak a queen was 

 by way of securing- exceptional yields, the 

 better she suited him as a breeder), and as 

 a result he has not only broug-ht up. his av- 

 era<^e, but has secured a much greater uni- 

 formity in the yields of different colonies." 



Dr. Miller's witness, Mr. Doolittle, has 

 for years told of the great labor and pains 

 he is at to get all his colonies of a uniform 

 strength in the spring; told of its impor- 

 tance in getting more unijorm results in 

 honey crop. Also on page 975, Dec. 15, he 

 says he has been keeping bees for 33 years, 

 and again refers to his effort at stimulat- 

 ing this year (1901 ), keeping the feeding up 

 until the 15th of June. On p. 976 he tells of 

 his average yield from colonies not drawn 

 on for queen-rearing was 175 to 180 lbs. He 

 omits giving the number of colonies. Next 

 he mentions four colonies, the tongues of the 

 bees of which measured from 25.4 hun- 

 dredths to 25.8 hundredths of an inch, the 

 difference, 4 one-thousandths, being infini- 

 tesimal. Incidentally he says the honey- 

 flow was the greatest in his experience. 

 Now from these four colonies the yield was 

 317 lbs., 54 lbs., 105 lbs., and 93 lbs. And 

 this is uniformity! The tongue length was 

 uniform enough; and unless Mr. Doolittle's 

 skill has failed him the colonies started of 

 uniform strength. Dr. Miller was unfortu- 

 nate in his selection of a witness. On the 

 streno-th of the evidence Mr. Simpson wins. 



But^here are some further combinations. 

 Mr. Doolittle says his care in selecting his 

 breeding stock (extreme freaks) has raised 

 his average honey-yield, and made the re- 

 turns per colony ''more uniform.'''' Great 

 Scott ! what were the previous extremes ? 

 This selecting has been done inside of 33 

 years; he has been able to select only the 

 females, the males being practically beyond 

 control. By his own statements the bulk of 

 his queen-rearing is done during the height 

 of the honey season — a time when drones 

 are abundant in all colonies, particularly 

 in his neighbors' yards and in wild stocks. 



To digress a little: Taking any species 

 of animal from its wild state, changing its 

 environment, food, etc., selecting both the 

 males and females, and it is, even under 

 such favorable conditions, years before any 

 perceptible variation is secured. To di- 

 gress further: Certain species of birds that 

 were known to exist under the same condi- 

 tions in the same locality for over 3000 

 years, and free to mate as they choose, 

 have not varied so far as can be perceived. 



To return to the bees: Our bees to-day 

 are living under practically the same con- 

 ditions that they have lived under since 

 man has known of them— over 2000 years of 

 written records. We have not been able to 

 change their habits, and we are able to se- 

 lect only the females. To claim that radi- 

 cal changes in structure and habit m a de- 

 sired direction could under these conditions 

 be secured in 33 years is, scientifically, an 



absurdity. In a neatly satirical article in 

 Gleanings for Dec. 15. p. 973, Mr. S. E. 

 Miller has shown the folly of making any 

 such claim or of deceiving oneself by any 

 such delusion. 



Mr. Doolittle has recently called particu- 

 lar attention to his 33 years of experience, 

 and to what he honestly believes he has 

 learned and accomplished in that time. He 

 alludes to this long experience in the open- 

 ing paragraph of his article, p. 975. On p. 

 983 the editor tells of a young and not ro- 

 bust lad who, from a start of 7 colonies, has 

 increased to over 500 colonies in five years. 

 Mr. Editor, you should be careful how you 

 put the ingredients for such explosive com- 

 parisons in the same issue. 



I do not make these comparisons for the 

 purpose of ridiculing any one. Mr. Doolit- 

 tle is a facile writer, and is popular with 

 many readers; but I think he has shown 

 that, in spite of his years of bee-keeping, he 

 is not successful in making correct deduc- 

 tions from the facts before him. It is not 

 his fault, but, rather, his misfortune. 



Dr. Miller is an entertaining writer, a 

 successful bee-keeper, and probably has 

 more friends among the bee-keepers than 

 any other living man; but if we may judge 

 from his own communications he is not 

 "up" on the latest accepted beliefs on 

 breeding, on development, and on heredity. 

 With his many duties and his advancing 

 years it is not to be expected that he could 

 be. But he and Mr. Doolittle are far from 

 being alone in misinterpreting the results 

 obtained under different methods and vary- 

 ing conditions. We have before us a very 

 complex problem. We desire to increase 

 our honey-yields, and practically all pro- 

 gressive bee-keepers (including Dr. Miller 

 and Mr. Doolittle) are, I think, agreed 

 that, to accomplish that result, we must 

 have improved strains of bees. To obtain 

 such we must breed from stock selected be- 

 cause of its excellence in the desired direc- 

 tion. But how shall the selection be made? 

 Evidently, tongue length isn't all, nor is 

 uniformity of strength in colonies a safe ba- 

 sis for comparison, nor is extent of honey- 

 flow an aid. Evidently, the first thing we 

 have got to do is to teach ourselves how and 

 what to observe. We have got to study the 

 same individual colonies for at least two 

 whole successive years — one won't do. By 

 experience and the careful comparison of 

 the results of many observers we must learn 

 what factors have weight and what may be 

 ignored. We are dealing with conditions 

 which call for keen eyes, and minds able to 

 discern all possible factors. The results 

 must be clearly and concisely stated. Gen- 

 eralities will not do; broad assertions will 

 not do, and oft'hand assumptions will not 

 do. And while we are learning to observe 

 we may busy ourselves still further in try- 

 ing to discover a satisfactory method of 

 controlling mating. This we have got to 

 have; for, to expect to advance in a specific 

 direction by the selection of the females, 

 without ability to control the males, is like 



