Publisht Weekly at 11_S Michigan St. 



Georgb W. York, Editor. 



?1.00 a Year — Sample Copy Free. 



38th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., MARCH 17, 1898. 



No. 11. 



Improving the Race of Houey-Bees. 



Br REV. L. J. TEMPLIN. 



It seems to be the consensus of opinion among bee-lseepers 

 that improvement in the honey-bee is a consummation de- 

 voutly to be wisht. That this is practicable admits of little 

 doubt. Indeed, there have already been such improvements 

 in modern times as to give lively hopes of still greater advance 

 along these lines in the near future. In order that time and 

 effort be not thrown away, it is important that all such efforts 

 in this direction shall be based on intelligent, scientiflc prin- 

 ciples. 



Two general laws lie at the foundation of all propagation 

 of organic beings. These are, first, the tendency of all off- 

 spring to resemble, in all essential qualities, their parents. 

 This law is embraced in the axiom, " Like begets like." The 

 second law referred to consists in the well-known fact that 

 there is a tendency in every individual to vary in slight par- 

 ticulars from all other beings of the same species. 



By the first of these laws we know with a certainty, 

 within certain limits, what the result of the mating of two 

 animals will be. We know that the ofl'spring will re'emble, 

 in all essential characters, the parents from which it sprang. 

 Any violent departure from the specific type is considered a 

 monstrosity, and is rigorously destroyed — In nature, by the 

 uncongenial environment, and in domestication, by the will 

 of the breeder. It is to the second law mentioned above that 

 we must look for the means for improving any race of domes- 

 tic animals. It is only to a very limited extent that we can 

 control or influence these variations. Yet, by food, shelter, 

 etc., we may do something towards improvement. But it is 

 by careful observation and grasping and fixing the variations 

 that are continually arising from the operation of occult laws, 

 of which we know nothing, that the breeder may make prog- 

 ress towards the goal that he seeks. It Is by seizing these 

 slight variations and adding them up In certain directions that 

 progress may be made. 



To become an eminent breeder of improved stock of any 

 kind requires a nicety of discrimination, and a correctness of 

 judgment possest by comparatively few. What may be ac- 

 compllsht by this method, of the accumulation of slight varia- 

 tions, is seen in the different races of domestic animals. There 

 is little doubt but that the different breeds of horses, cattle, 

 sheep, swine, poultry and dogs originated in a single source 

 for each species respectively. It is perhaps somewhatdlfficult 

 to conceive that the difference between the extremes of some 

 of these races, as that of the Shetland pony and the Percheron 

 or Clydesdale horse, or between the greyhound, the Newfound- 

 land and the spitz or poodle dogs could be the result of breed- 

 ing and selection along different lines of variation. But tho 

 these differences are great they do not amount to specific 

 value. Indeed, divergences greater than these may exist with- 

 out exceeding specific limitations. Mr. Darwin says : 



" Altogether at least a score of pigeons might be chosen, 



which, if shown to an ornithologist, and he were told that 

 they were wild birds, would certainly be rankt by him as well- 

 defined species. Moreover, I do not believe that any ornithol- 

 ogist would in this case place the English carrier, the short- 

 faced tumbler, the runt, the barb, pouter, and fantail. In the 

 same genus ; more especially as In each of these breeds several 

 truly-inherited sub-breeds, or species, as he would call them, 

 could be shown him. Great as are the differences between 



the breeds of the pigeon, I am fully convinced that all 



are descended from the rock-pigeon (Columbia livla)." 



All these differences, wide as they are, have been produced 

 by the selection of those individuals that varied in the direc- 

 tion of the chosen staudard, while those that varied in the 

 wrong direction, or that failed to vary in any perceptible de- 

 gree were rigorously excluded. Now it seems probable that 

 the different races of hive-bees were produced by this same 

 process of selection, aided by the influences of environment. 

 Some have regarded the differences existing among the bees 



Rev. L. J. Templin — See page 169. 



of Europe aud western Asia as of specific value, but there 

 seems to be no good reason to consider them so. These differ- 

 ences consist in variations in size, form and color, but they 

 are but little greater than are found to exist between indi- 

 viduals of the same race ; and certainly not to be compared 

 with the differences existing among the races of higher ani- 

 mals. The fact that such markt variations should have been 

 produced by the art of man in the past shows the plasticity 



