144 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



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Non-Siaraiiii: Strains Of Bees. 



Written Jor the American Bee Journal 



BY J. E. ARMSTRONG. 



It seems to me that Mr. S. E. Miller, 

 in the Bee Journal for Dec. 28tb, does 

 not quite present the question fairly. 

 In the first place, there is not necessarily 

 an inseparable connection between in- 

 crease and swarming ; that is, the two 

 instincts, while intimately associated, 

 do not advance with equal pace. We 

 speak of a swarming-fever when several 

 swarms issue from a hive in quick suc- 

 cession ; tte second and subsequent 

 swarms issuing under the migratory 

 fever. We also recognize that these two 

 instincts vary when we speak of a race 

 of bees as being more liable to swarm 

 than some others, as the Carniolans; 

 and another as more prolific and less 

 apt to swarm, as the Italians. I do not 

 believe that many bee-keepers will ad- 

 mit that Italians are as liable to swarm 

 as the common black bee, while all ad- 

 mit the former are more prolific than 

 the latter. 



These are simply two of the instincts 

 of the bee. Now does Mr. Miller wish 

 to maintain that instincts cannot be 

 changed? If so, let him explain the 

 peculiar instincts of the various breeds 

 of domestic pigeons. All these varieties 

 have been produced from one parent 

 stock, but man has taken advantage of 

 seeming accidental variations of struc- 

 ture and instinct to perpetuate these 

 variations by selective breeding until 

 the desired peculiarity has become fixed. 



He asks further, "why all birds build 

 nests, lay eggs, hatch ani rear their 

 brood each spring ;" and then answers 

 it by saying, " Because they are built 

 that way." Now, I do not suppose I am 

 telling Mr. Miller anything new when I 

 say that they are not built that way, for 

 some birds do not build nests and rear 

 their young. The cow black bird and 

 the European cuckoo lay their eggs in 

 the nests of other birds, and so do not 



take the trouble of rearing their young ; 

 while the domestic canary has lost the 

 instinct of weaving a nest even when 

 set a liberty in its native land. If man 

 has bred out the desire to root from 

 swine, and the desire to sit from the 

 domestic fowl, why not the desire to, 

 swarm from the bee ? It is not that 

 man has tried to produce a strain of 

 fowls that would produce only pullets, 

 but non-sitters, and this has been well 

 done. Now in the same way we do not 

 wish to produce a strain of queens that 

 will lay no drone-eggs, but will lay few 

 drone-eggs, show the least or no desire 

 to swarm, and yet lay an abundance of 

 fertile eggs. 



If we could control the mating of 

 queens as we can the breeding of stock 

 or poultry, it would be an easy task to 

 take adv^antage of the various peculiari- 

 ties of queens and perpetuate them. No 

 wonder we soon " lose sight of the non- 

 swarming strains of bees," for although 

 that peculiarity has often shown itself 

 among strong and prolific queens, yet it 

 scarcely runs to the second generation, 

 because we are practically helpless 

 when it comes to mating. When the 

 gaunt, ungainly swine, sheep and cattle 

 of thirty years ago have had their very 

 bones and hoofs bred into monstrosities 

 of fat " lean ;" when the scratching, 

 crowing, ever-sitting biddy of a few 

 generations ago has been changed into a 

 plump, handsome fowl that lays "two 

 eggs a day and three on Sundays" — (if I 

 am wrong in this, Bro. Miller can cor- 

 rect me) — leaving her eggs to be hatched 

 by steam, and the chicks to be reared by 

 electricity ; when the seeds have .been 

 bred out of grapes and oranges, leaves 

 that never unfold bred into the cabbage, 

 and monster roots bred into the turnip 

 and the beet, why should we not expect 

 to breed out the swarming-fever from 

 the honey-bee ? 



As I said, the one drawback is the 

 fact that we are as yet unable to control 

 the mating of the queen, and so cannot 

 develop peculiar traits or instincts — but 

 is it impossible ? Queens have mated in 

 confinement, or within the hive in rare 

 cases. May it not be that some one will 

 succeed in developing this into an in- 

 stinct by a little patience and repeated 

 effort? If this can be once established; 

 there is no limit to the possibilities in 

 selective breeding, running out into the 

 various lines of utility and beauty, but 

 until this is done, all breeding of bees 

 will be a matter more or less of chance. 

 Here is a great field for experiment, and 

 the mau who solves this problem will 

 confer as great a boon upon the art of 



