THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



GOl 



annoyance in bee-keeping which ex- 

 cels in anger-provoking qualities, it is 

 crooked combs. 



Tliis season's experience has con- 

 vinced nie that straight, natural 

 combs are obtained like many other 

 things in bee-keeping, by attention at 

 the riglit time and in tlie right man- 

 ner. 1 am an advocate tor improve- 

 ments, and searcli with eagerness for 

 any thing ttial tends to the advance- 

 ment and benetit of apiculture, and 

 I test all the claimed improvements 

 according to my best ability, and con- 

 sider many of them great acquisitions 

 to the comfort and prosperity of the 

 bees, and the pleasure of their owners. 



But the question on which I started 

 out, is purely a tinancialone, a matter 

 of profit and loss. I need not multiply 

 words. I cannot clearly see that the 

 balance is entirely on the credit side 

 of the account, and if I cannot be 

 assured that there is a gain by the use 

 of foundation either in comfort and 

 convenience, or in dollars and cents, 

 then I propose to discard it, for I have 

 never known any one to acquire any 

 great amount of gain by merely 

 " swapping pennies." Perhaps loca- 

 tions so widely ditfer that " what is 

 one man's meat may be another man's 

 poison." I hope to hear, through the 

 columns of the Bee Journal, from 

 other localities and other experiences 

 in this matter. 



Fredonia, N. Y. 



Rural New Yorker. 



Careful Breeding of Bees. 



PROF. A. J. COOK. 



Of late there is no subject connected 

 with bee-keeping that has attracted 

 more attention from our best writers 

 and most successful workers in this 

 field, than that of breeding. We all 

 desire the bee that will give us the 

 greatest returns in honey, and we 

 wish to couple with this, amiability, 

 and if possible, beauty. The ques- 

 tions desirable to consider are: can 

 our bees be improved ? and how can 

 it be done V 



That our bees of all races vary in 

 quality, no ob.serving beekeeper will 

 doubt. The law of variation, then, 

 holds among bees as well as among all 

 higher animals. Every experienced 

 bee-keeper is equally certain that the 

 law of inheritance is no less potent 

 among bees than among horses and 

 cattle. If we breed from the queen 

 of a colony which is cross, we are 

 very likely to secure bees that are 

 irritable as a result. That all our best 

 bee-keepers select their best colonies 

 for breeding, is full proof that this 

 law is well understood. 



These two laws once granted, it 

 becomes at once evident that we have 

 not attained perfection as yet. nor can 

 we ever reach the best. Here, as 

 everywhere, God proclaims that hon- 

 est effort shall not go unrewarded. 



The next inquiry is, how can we 

 best reach toward perfection V Here, 

 as in all breeding, we must select ani- 

 mals which possess desirable charac- 

 teristics, and by wise mating and 

 closest— severest— selection, we may 



reach most rapidly toward the ideal 

 bee. Thus far. 1 think there is no 

 discord of sentiment among our best 

 and most successful bee-keepers ; but 

 at this point there comes in a wide 

 divergence of oiiinion. Some — prol)- 

 ably the majority— claim that we 

 should select the best race, all points 

 considered, as the Italian, tlie Syrian, 

 etc.. for our foundation, and then 

 breed wholly within this line— just as 

 our breeders of horses and cattle 

 claim that in breeding, crossing is 

 never desirable. They claim, and cor- 

 rectly, I think, that each breed has 

 its peculiar and distinctive excellence, 

 and that to cross or mate animals of 

 different breeds, failing to improve, 

 introduces the element of uncertainty, 

 and tends to confusion. 



Other bee-keepers— and these are 

 men whose opinions are too valuable 

 to push rudely aside— claim that in 

 our foundation we should select two, 

 three, or even all the races, so that 

 we may secure the valuable points of 

 all, and then, by skillful selection 

 long practiced, weed out the undesir- 

 able, and retain all that is best. 



Is this position tenable V and, if so, 

 how is it to be explained that the 

 same is not true in the breeding of 

 liigher animals 'i Modern biology 

 shows conclusively that all animals 

 are much the same in their develop- 

 ment, and that laws which hold in one 

 case, are almost sure to be true in all. 

 In case of horses and cattle, each 

 breed has its separate purpose. The 

 Shorthorn is for beef ; the Ayrshire 

 for milk ; the Jersey for cream and 

 butter. No breed can be excellent in 

 all these directions. It is enough 

 that an animal gives very rich milk, 

 without giving a very large quantity. 

 Beef and milk qualities of the highest 

 excellence cannot co-exist in the same 

 animal. So, too, the draft horse and 

 the roadster are wide apart in their 

 form and habits, as also in the kind 

 of work which each is expected to 

 perform. 



With our bees, however, this is not 

 so. What we all desire is the bee 

 that will gather the most honey, take 

 the seasons as they go. If the Ger- 

 man bees have some points of superi- 

 ority, if they go into the comb-honey 

 receptacles most readily, and give us 

 the whitest honey, then they may well 

 be used in the foundation, which is to 

 result in the best improvement. If 

 the Italians are the quickest, the most 

 amiable, and the quietest while being 

 handled, then they may well be used 

 to give their desirable characteristics 

 in securing the best bee. If the Syr- 

 ians are the most rapid breeders, the 

 best to build queen-cells, and have 

 longer tongues than other bees, then 

 they should not be left out. Surely 

 there is no snch reason to avoid cross- 

 ing in breeding bees for excellence, 

 as we believe exists with cattle and 

 horses. In case of hogs, the Poland- 

 China ranks very high, if not first, 

 and it was originated in just this way, 

 if we are rightly informed. Hogs aie 

 reared for one purpose, and so the 

 crossing of several breeds, each pos- 

 sessing real excellence, might result, 

 after years of careful selection, in a 

 breed superior to any of the founda- 



tion breeds. The same is true, I 

 think, of bees. 



If any race of bees, then, has supe- 

 rior excellence, it may well be selected 

 in breeding for the future. Some bee- 

 keepers tliink that tliey have secured 

 a sujieriiir race by crossing the blacks 

 and Italians, and they have persuaded 

 others of the truth of this opinion. 

 This only shows that practice and 

 true theory walk hand in hand. It 

 seems to nie that a judicious combina- 

 tion of the Carniolan bee— a variety 

 of the (Jennan race — the Italian race 

 and the Syrians, followed by long, 

 close, careful selection, promises well 

 to give us the " Poland-China " among 

 bees. 



That crossing adds vigor, is well 

 known. One of our best breeders of 

 cattle says that he prefers a high 

 grade, for feeding, to a pure-bred 

 animal. All bee-keepers know with 

 what vigor the first cross between 

 German and Italian bees work. This- 

 again, is a reason for combining dif- 

 ferent races. 



The conclusion is, then, that i« 

 breeding bees, there is no natural law 

 in the way of securing the greatest 

 improvement through a judicious- 

 crossing, followed by careful selec- 

 tion. 



Lansing, Mich. 



For the American Bee Journals 



Is it Bee-Diarrhoea? 



"W. 31. WOODWARD. 



On page 556 Mr. S. J. Youngman 

 springs a new topic for the readers of 

 the Bee Journal, which is, I think, 

 worthy of further notice. After 

 losiiigT colonies by disease, last win- 

 ter, I became deeply interested in the 

 study of '* bee-diarrhoba," and have 

 been on the watch for every hint that 

 might even lead to light upon it. A» 

 some of my observations are com- 

 plementary to the incident Mr. Y. 

 there describes, I wish to place them 

 before the readers of the Bee Jour- 

 nal, hoping that other observations- 

 may be called out. This matter of 

 the true nature of healthy bee-excre- 

 ment, lies at the bottom of any proper 

 understanding of the condition in 

 disease. 



From early spring, I carefully watch 

 for the droppings of the bees, and the 

 condition they were in, and have 

 often seen full drops fall, and at the 

 same time made as close examina- 

 tion as I could with the naked eye ; 

 and as a result, I liave uniformly 

 found it liquid, sometimes so clear as 

 to scarcely leave a stain on paper, but 

 at other times more or less thickened 

 with pollen or other grains, even dur- 

 ing the best honey-flow from white 

 clover. After the above observations- 

 I should have much enjoyed that 

 scene with Mr. Y., and should have 

 expected to find the drops increased 

 both in frequency and size as we ap- 

 proached the apiary ; as I had before 

 observed them pass it in the air, first 

 a larger then a smaller, and then a 

 still smaller drop, the three being dis- 

 tinctly visible. This I have observed 

 only very occasionally when it occur- 



