800 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15, 



ed the time factor. He speaks of pigeon- 

 skulls, page 615, and says there is a variation 

 of nearly an inch. True ; but to get that va- 

 riation has required hundreds of years of se- 

 lection. See? 



Meditating on the time factor in the red- 

 clover problem, I decided to write to Mr. Bur- 

 pee, one of America's leading seedsmen. I 

 asked him how long it took to produce Bur- 

 pee's bush lima bean from the pole lima, etc. 

 Mr. Earl replied to my questions as follows : 



Mr. Palmer, with whom the Burpee's bush lima bean 

 originated, worked on the variety for a period of about 

 four years. We do not know from whom you could 

 obtain a strain of red clover with a short corolla, and 

 think that this could be procured only by means of 

 very constant and careful .selection. 



W. Atlef, Burpee & Co. 



Per Earl. 



Now, it appeared to me when I wrote, that, 

 to change a vegetable so " set " in its ways as 

 the pole lima beau, from the vine to the bush 

 form, was a greater task by far than to shorten 

 the tubes of red clover. I was much surpris- 

 ed, therefore, that the change had been effect- 

 ed in the brief interval of four years. As 

 red clover is a biennial, while the lima bean 

 is an annual, it would be proper, perhaps, to 

 allow eight years equal to four. So, accord- 

 ing to this suggestion, we should be able to 

 get short-tubed red clover in eight or ten 

 years. This would seem to cross Mr. Hasty's 

 idea, page 681, that "five years or ten will be 

 only a circumstance in it ; " but in the same 

 article Mr. Hasty gives it away that he actual- 

 ly succeeded in finding a red clover that 

 " seemed to be pretty much all one could ask, 

 gained at one leap." The trouble was, his 

 " prize " proved to be a shy seeder. In other 

 words, he succeeded, except in getting seed, 

 and succeeded in "one leap." Mayhap the 

 next diamond will not have this " lamentable 

 shortcoming." I wish he zvoii/d " try those 

 three seeds for all they are worth." I wish he 

 would cross the flowers of one plant with 

 some prolific-seeding long-tubed plant. The 

 result of such a cross inight be a short-tubed 

 clover that would seed freely. 



By the way, this is a work for the specialist. 

 Working with fruits, there is Mr. Burbank, 

 "the wizard of horticulture." He plants 

 50,000,000 plum seeds, crosses and re-crosses 

 " every- which-a-way," gets 20,000,000 " new 

 creations ' ' in plum varieties, a few of which 

 prove veritable prizes, worth $3000 each. 

 Then there is Mr. Burpee, or the men who sell 

 him their results. Look at the wonders they 

 perform in the vegetable kingdom. Now, if 

 we bee-keepers properly present our case so as 

 to convince some of these experts and special- 

 ists that there's money in producing the red 

 clover of the future, we shall soon have what 

 we want. Who will furnish a basis to esti- 

 mate the cash value to the originator of red 

 clover with a short corolla ? 



"Improvement is the order of the age." 

 We feel sure it will be easier to originate a red 

 clover with short tubes than to lengthen bees' 

 tongues to reach the nectar in our present red 

 clover. We base this on the idea that at pres- 

 ent red-clover tubes are more than twice as 

 deep as a bee's tougue is long. To double the 



length of oitr bees' tongues will require about 

 a century, if it can be done at all. 



Would the farmers sow short-flowered red 

 clover after it is originated ? At present the 

 first crop is cut for hay, as it is practically 

 seedless. The short-tubed variety would bear 

 seed the first crop as well as the second. Clo- 

 ver hay with seed in it is not desirable, as it 

 causes horses to slobber, and is otherwise an 

 unwholesome feed for stock, especially horses. 

 Would our proposed new clover be tabooed 

 on this account, or could that be overcome by 

 earlier cutting? 



We should spare no pains to improve our 

 bees. Securing longer tongues is not all of 

 bee improvement by far. The difference be- 

 tween black bees and Italians does not arise 

 from differences in tongue-lengths so much as 

 a difference in energy. This may be proven 

 during any strong white-clover or basswood 

 flow. Given a colony of blacks and one of 

 Italians of equal strength during a flow easily 

 accessible to both, and the Italians, by reason 

 of superior energy and industry, presumably, 

 will far outstrip the blacks. 



It seems a pity that the Cyprian energy 

 should be lost. Extensive experiments should 

 be made with Cyprian crosses. If we could 

 get a strain of bees combining the good qual- 

 ities of Italians and Cyprians, especially re- 

 taining the remarkable energy of the Cyprians, 

 such a strain might form the working basis 

 for "the coming bee." 



Higginsville, Mo., Sept. 10.' 



Later. — Since the foregoing was written we 

 have received a letter from Mr. H. H. Hyde, 

 who seems to have been conducting some ex- 

 periments in crossing the races, with satisfac- 

 tory and perhaps substantial results. We 

 quote from his letter : 



We have found that the very best bee for business 

 was a cross between Holy I,ands and Italians. Queens 

 from pure Holy Land mothers mated to golden drones 

 are our preference. . . . This is a superior cross. 

 We will stake our reputation on them as being the 

 finest comb-builders, the finest bees to build up in the 

 spring, etc., in existence. 



Now, this, in my opinion, is work in the 

 right direction to accomplish results in bee 

 improvement. If cross pollination, or cross- 

 ing, accomplishes such wonderful results in 

 the vegetable kingdom, why may not crossing 

 the races of bees prove an effective means of 

 bee improvement? 



What is wanted (in addition to "selection ") 

 is to proceed in accordance with established 

 laws and principles of scientific breeding till 

 we get combined the energy and industry of 

 the Cyprians, the honey-gathering ability of 

 the Cyprians and Italians, and the prolificness 

 of the Holy Lands, with the gentleness of the 

 Italians, the beauty of the goldens — till we get 

 these and perhaps other good qualities com- 

 bined and blended into an established race. 

 This may be done point by point ; slowly but 

 surely it may be done, not all at a bound. 

 When done we shall have the Apis boom-lifi- 

 ca petfedo-dorsata and no mistake, which may 

 be called by a shorter name to be selected 

 later. 



It looks as if we should need some man on 

 "desert island " to do the establishing, else 



