1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



W, 



(From American Bee Journal). 



THE LAWS OF BREEDING-APPLI- 

 OATION TO BEES. 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



There is no chapter in recent history 

 more replete with marvel, fascination 

 and real economic importance than 

 that devoted to the laws and practice 

 of breeding. A single generation has 

 seen the startling development of the 

 Hambletonian trotting horse. What 

 can rival in interest the work of the 

 florist or plant breeder as he origi- 

 nates those gems of the floral world, or 

 those wonders of the garden ? AVho 

 can eat the delicious chop from the 

 Shropshire or Southdown ; the appe- 

 tising steak from the Hereford or 

 short-horn ; or feast on our delicious 

 fruits, without grateful acknowledg- 

 ment of the blessings received at the 

 hands of those who have applied the 

 laws of breeding to the arts of life ? 



It is difficult to name a man who 

 has done more brilliant service in the 

 realms of scientific research than the 

 late Charles Darwin. His writings 

 have stimulated research to a marvel- 

 ous extent ; have quickened thought 

 in all lines of investigation ; have 

 revolutionized ideas and theories in 

 all the domains of investigation. Yet 

 Darwin was directed to his fascinating 

 and wonderful studies by consideration 

 of the breeding of plants and animals. 



When Theodore Schwann, in 1839, 

 discovered the nature of the cell, that 

 it was the basal structure alike of all 

 animal and vegetable tissue, he con- 

 ferred an individual blessing on the 

 world. Not only have all animals fun- 

 damentally the same structure, but all 

 plants have just the same that all ani- 

 mals possess ; and so the same laws of 



growth and development maintain 

 with the simplest plant, like the sea- 

 weed and the most complex shrub 

 or tree, and also with the almost 

 structureless promotion and the high- 

 est of animals — even to man himself. 

 With this truth in view we may with 

 sufficient caution assume a truth re- 

 garding animal function or law from 

 knowing it true of the vegetable 

 world ;, likewise and more safely can 

 we deduce a law of highest animals, 

 even of man, from the fact that it al- 

 ways holds true of the lower, and con- 

 triwise, a law of function in the high- 

 er will be likewise true of the lower. 

 We hardly appreciate our indebted- 

 ness to this knowledge of the similari- 

 ty of structure and functions between 

 higher and lower animals. 



The wondrous strides in surgery 

 came from knowledge gained by work 

 with lower animals. The beneficent 

 work being done by the student of 

 microbes owes its value to the fact 

 that all animals are similarly affected 

 by the virus resulting from microbe 

 affection. The human death rate is 

 diminishing rapidly in all civilized 

 countries and the expectancy of life is 

 correspondingly increasing. This gra- 

 cious consummation is the result of 

 the knowledge referred to above. Man 

 has studied the lower animals and by 

 experimentation has arrived at con- 

 clusions that are of tremendous im- 

 portance in maintaining health and 

 prolonging life. 



The method of reasoning referred to 

 above applies to the matter of inheri- 

 tance and variation among animals, 

 and consequently to the)laws of breed- 

 ing. And it is well known that the 

 laws of breeding plants and animals 

 are strikingly alike. All animals and 



