256 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aprii, 1. 



TRAVEL-STAIN NOT CAUSED BY THE SALIVA 

 OF BEES. 



Breeding out the Swarming ImpuLse; what has 

 Already been Accomplished in the Vegetable 

 and Animal Kingdoms by Careful Selec- 

 tion and Breeding. 



BY J. E. CRANE. 



In GivEANiNGS for 1899, page 353, is an ar- 

 ticle by S. P. Culley in which he advances a 

 very ingenious theory as to the cause of travel- 

 stain. He says it is caused by the saliva of 

 the bees, which first turns the combs yellow 

 and then black, as tobacco does a pipe. I 

 have had no occasion to change my view on 

 this subject. During the past season I have 

 had but few combs but were badly stained ; 

 not only were the outsides of the cappings 

 stained, but the inside as well, and all the way 

 through them ; and not only the cappings, but 

 the combs also, from center to circumference, 

 and all through one side to the other ; but as 

 the color corresponded very closely to the col- 

 or of the pollen of the white daisy, on which 

 the bees worked freely, returning to their hives 

 well covered with its yellow dust, I was led to 

 believe this to be the cause. 



Most of us have found that the amount of sali- 

 va depends on the amount and quality of food; 

 but Mr. Culley says it is right the other way 

 with bees — a very ingenious adaptation of the- 

 ory to the condition of things. I am not go- 

 ing to quarrel with him about it — only disagree 

 — that is all. 



Further on he takes me to task for compar- 

 ing the swarming instinct of bees to the sitting 

 instinct of hens, as I did a year ago in the of- 

 fice of GivEANiNGS ; and then he proceeds to 

 throw cold water on my pet hobby of a breed 

 of " non-swarming bees." 



Now, lest Mr. Culley and other readers of 

 GivEANiNGS should think that the arguments 

 which he puts forth have squelched me, "I 

 lise to say " that I still believe, not only in the 

 possibility of producing such a breed, but also 

 in the practicability of it for those sections 

 where the harvest lasts as a rule from two to 

 four weeks only. 



Mr. Culley says : " Is Mr. Crane really sure 

 that the swarming impulse or instinct is right- 

 ly compared with the sitting impulse or in- 

 stinct? " (Quite sure.) " Bees are different 

 from chickens." ( I believe it.) "There is 

 the colony which perpetuates itself by brood- 

 rearing." (Just so.) " Then the increase of 

 colonies requires swarming." (No doubt of 

 it.) "The comparison involves some fine 

 points." ( Not necessarily. ) " But inasmuch 

 as the bee can not live an individual life, as 

 chickens do, the question is whether the 

 swarming instinct is not allied to the propagat- 

 ing instinct, which is universal and ineradica- 

 ble. From this point of view one might con- 



tend that the production of a breed of non- 

 swarming bees can be compared only to the 

 production of a breed of fowls that fails to 

 propagate." 



I presume so ; but that is not my point of 

 view. He goes on to say, " If it can be proven 

 that the swarming instinct is comparable with 

 the propagating instinct of fowls rather than 

 with the sitting instinct, then Mr. Crane's ar- 

 gument fails ; for non-sitting, we believe, re- 

 sults from an increase of propagating or egg 

 production." I doubt it. The question is, 

 whether a strong natural instinct can be bred 

 out. If we were to admit his theory I can not 

 see that the swarming impulse is any more a 

 propagating instinct than the desire of birds 

 to sit on their eggs, and thus increase the 

 number of families or individuals. 



He continues: "There is a limit to man's 

 control in breeding to produce certain results. ' ' 

 (I am with him here.) "He can produce a 



^4'' 



f -# 



J. E. CRANE. 



cow that gives ifwre milk." (I have extract- 

 ed the sweet lacteal fluid from the well-filled 

 udders of many such); " a sheep that bears 

 more wool " (I have seen thousands of them); 

 " a strain of bees that gather more honey " 

 (it is in the air); " but has he ever produced 

 a new trait, or been able to eradicate a primary 

 instinct ? 



How about the various traits of dogs or 

 pigeons, as in the pouter or tumbler that have 

 been developed by man, and by careful breed- 

 ing have become hereditary ? How about the 

 Sea Island cotton that was brought from the 

 West Indies as a perennial plant, yet in the 

 hands of skillful planters, by careful selection, 

 has become an annual of great value? 



As for eradicating a primary instinct, how 

 about the incubating instinct of certain varie- 

 ties of gallinaceous birds ? Has it not been 

 largely eradicated ? Is it not a primary in- 

 stinct ? 



" He can manipulate what already exists, 

 but can not create." Just what we propose to 



