56 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 23, 1902. 



will explain it by an illustfation. To make it easier to un- 

 derstand, I'll take it in the human race. 



Suppose we have, say, three families of people, and it 

 is arranged that no one shall marry outside of his own 

 family. Suppose, also, that one family has a tendency to 

 weak lungs; the other to weak stomachs; and the third to 

 weak eyes. What would the result be likely to be? Why, 

 the probability is that the tendency to having weak lungs 

 would increase in the first family, as the generations go 

 by, until the last member would die of consumption. The 

 last family mentioned would finally become blind : while 

 the second would die out of liver or stomach troubles. 

 Now. suppose that, instead of having iheni marry in their 

 own families, we let them inter-marry and mix together. 

 Then some of the children may inherit some of the defects 

 of the father and some of the mother. Some, perhaps, the 

 defects of both parents: and some none of the defects at 

 all. Those that have inherited mostly the good qualities, 

 will remain. Tlie fittest zi'ill siirrivc. 



We do not know exactly how the present species of 

 plants and animals have originated, but we know beyond 

 a doubt that they have undergone many transformations, 

 and that those best adapted to their environments have sur- 

 vived. The above ilhistration may give an idea why those 

 propagated by mixing have survived, rather than those propa- 

 gated b}- in-breeding. 



THE breeder's W.\Y. 



Now. I am going to make a very bold proposition. 

 While, in Nature, in-breeding would bring bad results, it 

 does not necessarily follow tliat the same will occur in the 

 hands of a skillful breeder. 



In the above illustration, I took three families with 

 defects; but the breeder of bees or other stock need not use 

 defective stock or defective individuals. He can throw out 

 all the subjects that are objectionable for some reason or 

 other. 



Suppose we were to take a colony of bees upon an 

 isolated island. If we allow them to multiply just as ithey 

 please, o:' if we rear queens indiscriminatelv, the defects that 

 those bees may have will surely be perpetuated, as well as 

 their excellencies. But, if we select only the drones and 

 queens that possess the good qualities in the highest degree, 

 and the defects in the least degree, we shall surely im- 

 prove the good qualities, and eventually eliminate the defects 

 altogether. 



We have made one step. But the Question may be 

 asked: "Is that all that there is of it?" Granting that one 

 of the evils, or, perhaps, the chief evil, of in-breeding is the 

 transmission of defects: granting, also, that this can be avoided 

 by a proper selection, is it not possible that in-breeding may 

 yet be an evil in itself? 



To this, all that can be answered is, "What do the 

 actual facts show?" In breeding bees, we. as yet, have no 

 facts to show, owing to our inability to control the mating 

 of queens; but we have numerous instances in other kinds 

 of stock. 



Even a superficial knowledge of phvsiology will show 

 beyond any possible doubt, that the same general laws gov- 

 ern all the living creation— plants, insects, animals, and 

 even the human race. Of course, there are differences, and 

 they must be taken into consideration, but the underlying 

 laws, the fundamental principles, are the same throughout ■ 

 and if in-breeding can be practiced successfully with horses 

 cows, chickens, etc., we have all reasons to believe that it 

 can also be practiced with bees; at any rate, until positive 

 proof of the contrary is furnished. 



ACTU.\L FACTS. 



In 1828. a French Merino sheep-breeder had in his 

 flock a lamb with smooth, silky wool. He undertook to 

 cross him with the ewes of his flock, but very few of the 

 offspring showed the silky wool. However, when he was 

 mated with those of his own daughters that also showed 

 Silky wool, all the lambs thus produced had also the same 

 kind of wool. Thus was created the stock of silky wool 

 Merino sheep. The whole race descended from that one lamb. 



Concerning the Durham cattle, Chas. Colling had a 

 bull which served the whole herd, including his mother, all 

 of his daughters grand-daughters, etc., for six generations. 

 This was the foundation of the present Durham race of 

 cattle. 



There is. at Lyons, in France, a large establishment 

 which furnishes guaranteed reproduotors of the different 



H 



breeds of stock. As the object is to have perfectly pure 

 stock of the highest grade, the closest kind of in-breeding 

 has been practiced. First, because an immense number of 

 animals of each kind would have to be kept to avoid in- 

 breeding ; and, next, because the introduction of outside 

 stock would have given irregular and often inferior animals. 



On the Jersey stock the process has been followed 

 seven years; and on the Friesian twelve years, .-vll tne ani- 

 mals are as perfect as they can be, and everyone raised is 

 almost the perfect image of its ancestors. 



Tlic san.e can be said of the Jilerino sheep. Absolutely 

 no tendency to run out or degenerate has been observed. 



In the different races of pigs, the results are not so con- 

 clusive. The best races, that is, those that fatten the most 

 and the quickest, cannot be submitted to close in-breeding 

 without losing, to some extent, their reproductive powers. 

 The mating becomes difficult, and the females have too little 

 milk. 



Concerning the Belgian hares and other lireeds of rab- 

 bits, the results have been unexpected. All the breeds with 

 brown or gray-brown hairs have maintained themselves 

 throughout. Those having some white hairs, either in spots 

 or mixed, have invariably drifted toward albinoism ; that 

 is, toward a uniform white color accompanied with red 

 eyes. 



Tlie celebrated stock of Toulouse geese has not changed 

 a particle. The whole lot at the establishment is exactly 

 like the original stock chosen eleven years ago. 



Some of the chicken breeds have also denoted a tend- 

 ency toward albinoism. Those having white feathers finally 

 became entirely white when closely in-bred. Needless to 

 sav, that the animals having any defect have been invari- 

 ably set aside. This is absolutely necessary to successful 

 in-breeding. 



In regard to the in-breeding of swine, as noted nbove, the 

 same peculiarities have sometimes been noted in the b''eed- 

 ing of cattle. Bates, one of the founders of the Shorthorn 

 race of cattle, practiced the closest kind of in-breeding dur- 

 ing thirteen years ; but the fecundity of his stock suffered, 

 and he was compelled to introduce new blood three times, 

 to maintain the fecundity. It is hardly to be supposed that 

 the in-breeding in itself was the cause of the trouble. If 

 so. it would have manifested itself in the Jerseys, Friesians 

 and other milking breeds, as well as in the Shorthorns. 



On the other hand, the same defect appearing also in 

 the highest fattening breeds of swine, seems to show that 

 the excessive tendency to take on fat is incompatible with a 

 full develonment of the reoroductive faculties. This could 

 be expected, considering that an excessive disposition to 

 fatten is something of a disease itself. 



To obtain the best results in fattening, or creating a 

 stock disposed to take on fat quiclcly and in abundance, it 

 is necessary to keep the animals confined and very nuiet, 

 even in the dark, and fed with the richest food. Such 

 treatment must be, in itself, almost enough to destroy the 

 enerfv and the reproductive powers. 



Concerning the tendency toward albinoism in some of 

 the Belgian hares, the manner in which thev are kent may 

 have something to do with it. If, instead of being shut up 

 in more or less dark pens, they were in the open air and the 

 sunlipht, that tendency might not exist. 



Considerins' that our best breeds of horses, cattle, sheep, 

 swine and fowls have been obtained. I might say created, 

 hv choo'ing the best specimens, and then perpetuating them 

 bv the cl'^^pst kind of in-breeding. I think we are perfectly 

 safe in fnllowii'pr a similar course in our efforts to create a — 

 supe'-'or rp'-e of bees. — Bee-Keepers' Review. 



Knox Co., Tenn. 



Same ResuUs of the Season of 190!. 



'by J. S. HAKTZKLL. 



AS another season for the bee-keeper has ended, and wjtft 

 it the trials of implements and designs of various 

 kinds, it is but fitting to express our convictions from 

 experience. 



Much has been written relative to various kinds of 

 separators for supers, and, of the number, the so-termed 

 ' fence " and plain sections have apparently been the favor- 

 ites. I have been using for several years three kinds, viz.: 

 Tin, veneer or solid wood, and the fence. My first experi- 

 ence was with tin separators, and after the lapse of 12 

 seasons I stand with Mr. Doolittle in believing tin the most 

 economical, and that as fancy honey and as much per 



