A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



DEVOTEDTOTHE INTERESTS OF HONEY PRODUCERS 



^i.nn A f par 



E. B. TYRRELL, Editorand Publisher 

 Office OF Pu BLicATiON - - - 230 Woodlan d Aven u e 



VOL. XXV. DETROIT, MICHIGAN, JANUARY 1, 1912. No. 1. 



Improvement of the Bee — The Present Status of 



the Question. 



DR. A. F. BONNEY 



■^ AKING up bee keeping, I brought to the study of the little 



^j animals a mind trained to study and observation, and it was 



not long before it appeared to me that there was a vast field 



' srill unexplored, and as "Fools rush in where angles fear to tread," 



I began to pry into the secrets of the family .-l/^is. 



Failing to get results which would compare with other experi- 

 ments in biology and selection and breeding, it early appeared to me 

 that parthenogenesis was a disturbing factor, as is our inability to 

 control mating in other than isolated stations. There are such 

 places, but in them we find no natural bee pastures to tempt the 

 bee-keeper. I saw such in the N. E. corner of S. Dakota last 

 fall, a large stretch of country where a honey-bee has never been 

 seen, as there is no clover and no trees. Finally I decided to get the 

 opinion of students of biology, experimental evcilution, heredity and 

 bees. 



Before submitting the letters I liave received, I wish to ol^serve 



that it appears to me less work has been done with the bee than any 



^ other animal we know, for it was not until Father Langstroth had 



•^ made bee keeping a commercial possibility that we l^egan to think 



— of improving our breeds of bees, and all the efforts in that direction 



>j)^ seemed at first bent to produce a non-swarming bee. Later, atten- 



• tion has been directed to securing working bees of a good disposi- 



^ tion which will be hardy in our trying climate, and while a few men. 



'") as Prof. Phillips, and others, seem to have secured results, the tact 



remains that about ninety-nine per cent of bee-keepers have failed 



