THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



289 



fBMElSI 



Answers by Practical Apiarists. 



IN-BREEDING. 



Query 'No. 38. As I nm a i-ender and 

 gie;it liieiid 1)1 tlie "API," I would like to 

 have the lollowing questions answeied in its 

 columns by some ol the practical bee men. 



As a general rule it is adopted that with all 

 animals, as horses, cattle, hogs and dogs, no 

 mating should occur between what can be 

 called brothers and sisters, nor is any in- 

 breeding allowed at all. 



How is it with the bees? When a swarm 

 issues a young queen is lelt in the old hive 

 and is lertilized by drones reared I'rom the 

 Bame queen in which the young queen was. Is 

 not that mating brother and sister? By such, 

 lertilization will not interior descendants be 

 the result? 



Jacob Wagner. 



ANSWER BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



Possibly in-breeding is not so 

 bad with bees as with horses, still 

 it is not likely to occur in the way 

 you mention unless there is no 

 other colony within, some sa}- three 

 miles, some say half a mile. 



ANSWER BY PROFESSOR COOK. 



1. Is the iirst statement correct? 

 Has not our ver}' best stock been 

 produced by careful in-breeding un- 

 der the close inspection of a wise 

 and expert breeder? 2. Do we 

 know that queens and drones from 

 some hives meet? 3, 1 doubt if 

 any one can answer this question. 

 "We simply do not know. Much 

 can be said on both sides. 



ANSWER BY G. W. DEMAREE. 



It is not at all certain that the 

 same laws apply to in-breeding of 

 bees which apply to the higher or- 

 der of animals. 



There is another matter to be 

 taken into account, and that is the 

 drone is a son of his mother onl^^ 

 (see the Dzierzon theory) and can- 

 not be a full sister to the queen. 

 2. If you will set an Italian col- 

 ony of bees in a large apiary of 

 black bees, you will be surprised 

 to see how difficult it is to get a 



case of in-and-in breeding. It is 

 a rare case that a queen is mated 

 by a drone of her own hive. 



ANSWER BY R. L. TAYLOR. 



I do not understand that it is a 

 general rule wuth careful breeders 

 to avoid in-breeding — rather the 

 eontraiy. 



The young queen would, I sup- 

 pose, be only half-sister to the 

 drone and even if they were full 

 brother and sister, inferior descend- 

 ants would not necessarily result 

 form such a cross. The fear of 

 deterioration among bees through 

 in-breeding is utterly groundless. 



But how do you secure the fer- 

 tilization of a queen by a drone 

 from her own hive? I would give 

 a good sum for a practical way to 

 do that. 



ANSWER BY JAMES HEDDON. 



There is this difference between 

 bees and human beings. Such in- 

 breeding as you speak of in the 

 human race would at once produce 

 direful results. If it produces any 

 evil results among bees they are 

 so slight that I have never heard 

 any one say tiiat they had actually 

 discovered them. I know that 

 many believe that bad results come 

 from in-and-in breeding among bees 

 but there are many things tirmly 

 believed by men which are not 

 true and for which they never had 

 the least evidence. Great natura- 

 lists tell us that with many kinds 

 of animals in-breeding is well wiien 

 it takes place upon the native soil 

 of the animals, but the same in- 

 breeding on foreign soil produces 

 bad results. 



ANSWER BY H. ALLEY. 



This is a question that upsets all 

 hands. Sui)i)ose some one pur- 

 chases a colony of bees and they 

 are kept three or four miles from 

 all others ; ^es, or even but one 



