522 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July, 1917 



WE HAVE NOT DONE IT 



Final Chapter in Mating Experi- 

 ment — May be cAnother Answer 

 to '''Can this be 'Done?" 



By the Editors 



SI X months 

 ago we be- 

 gan an ex- 

 periment to de- 

 termine whether 

 queens can be 

 mated under 

 cover and mat- 

 i n g controlled. 

 We chose to carry this experiment on be- 

 fore the entire audience of our readers, that 

 they might follow it step by step, judge the 

 whole procedure, and suggest if they would. 



We undertook this experiment, sparing 

 neither pains nor cost, because of the possi- 

 bilities for the betterment of beekeeping 

 that we felt might attend success in bringing 

 about control of mating under cover. With 

 such success would come line breeding and 

 all the improvement that must follow the 

 systematic retention of best-quality strains 

 of bees and the elimination of the poor- 

 quality strains. It would end haphazard 

 bee breeding and start the pedigreed bee. 



We have failed to accomplish mating 

 under cover in this first experiment and 

 under what we believe to have been the most 

 favorable conditions that have ever sur- 

 rounded this experiment — at least so lar as 

 the enclosure was concerned. We have not 

 predicted success in accomplishing iiiating 

 under cover at any time during the experi- 

 ment, altho we had hoped most earnestly for 

 it. We have simply done the best we could 

 in trying to accomplish a great possibility 

 for beekeeping; and we have no excuses to 

 offer, altho we made mistakes that we could 

 avoid another time. For instance, we 

 thought that we could get out - of - season 

 drones reared in the big greenhouse some 

 time in February by building up the original 

 experimental colony to a drone - producing 

 condition, but couldn't. So we were delay- 

 ed until we could get nuclei containing seal- 

 ed drone brood from the South, and a cold 

 spring prevented Southern breeders from 

 fui'nishing us this brood till very late. 

 Again, it proved a mistake to try to use 

 queen-cells started in queenless colonies en- 

 route from the South, for the queens so 

 secured proved a sorry lot. Finally, in the 

 first mating test (by unfortunate events for 

 which we and the weatherman were alike 

 responsible) we had few and poor queens 

 altho many drones; and in the second test 

 (told of below), we had enough good queens 

 but only a few drones. 



But — we do not seek to prove an " alibi," 

 as the saying is nowadays. We wholly 

 failed to secure the mating that we so much 

 desired, and now proceed to the last brief 

 chapter that tells of the conclusion of this 



experi m e n t — ■ 

 which we are 

 glad w e have 

 made. 



As reported in 

 tlie last number 

 we did not suc- 

 ceed in getting 

 any of the first 

 lot of queens mated — at least, none of Ihem 

 began laying, altho there were plenty of 

 drones — sti"ong, vigorous fellows flying in 

 the greenhouse at the time these first queens 

 were flying. Before we could get another lot 

 of queens ready most of these first drones 

 had disappeared. Four twin nuclei, each with 

 a virgin queen, and plenty of young vigor- 

 ous drones, were taken the last of May to 

 the building. These four virgins, together 

 with five others in other nuclei, were watch- 

 ed very carefully. These queens were not 

 defective in any way so far as we could see ; 

 but within ten days four of them had dis- 

 appeared entirely, and of the other five not 

 one was laying. It is true that the condi- 

 tions were not quite as favorable as at the 

 first test, so far as the sources of nectar 

 and the drones were concerned, for the first 

 cucumber - vines had practically stopped 

 blossoming, and the young vines planted 

 later were just beginning to blossom. While 

 there were good strong drones flying, there 

 were not nearly as many of them as during 

 the first test, when we thought the queens 

 were defective. 



The glass shutters in the roof of the build- 

 ing are now open a large part of each day, 

 hence further experimenting this year is 

 out of the question ; for even if queens were 

 mated we would not be able to tell whether 

 they mated inside the building or out. 



As a final word now, we give it as our 

 opinion that, while this exj^eriment is not 

 absolutely conclusive, yet we feel that if 

 mating under cover is ever accomplished the 

 percentage of mating may be so low that 

 the success will be interesting more from a 

 scientific than from a practical standpoint. 

 In other words, while the queens and drones 

 may fly naturally in a great enclosure like 

 the big gTeenhouse in which this experiment 

 was tried, yet conditions nevertheless are 

 not normal, as they are out of doors, and 

 any possible successful matings will doubt- 

 less be limited. Yet, having said this, we 

 are not yet quite pre- 

 pared to add that 

 " This can't be done." '^^1^^^/^ 



We may try the ex- 

 periment again — in- 

 deed, we are very like- i ! 

 ly to try it again, he failed us. 



