368 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



my failure, or even more than she, to say 

 nothing of the drones with which the 

 young queens mated. 



I may be able to illustrate my point 

 better from facts in vegetable life. A few 

 years ago I found an ear of twelve-rowed 

 corn among an eight-rowed variety that 

 I prized very highly. "Now," I said to 

 myself, "I will plant the corn from this 

 twelve-rowed ear, separate, and see the 

 result. " I did so, expecting that I should 

 get perhaps fifty per cent., or more, of 

 twelve-rowed corn. I confess to some 

 surprise when I found not more than two 

 or three per cent, was twelve-rowed like 

 the seed I had planted. The eight-rowed 

 ancestry was more potent, by far, than 

 the twelve-rowed parents. Again I se- 

 lected the best twelve-rowed ears, and 

 planted the seed. At harvest I found a 

 great gain. It may be that ten per cent, 

 was twelve-rowed. Again I planted; and 

 the next season from twenty-fiv-e to fifty 

 per cent, was twelve-rowed. Now, it is 

 easy to see, that if the experiment were 

 continued for a few generations farther, 

 the eight-rowed variety would almost 

 wholly lose its influence, and the other 

 become practically supreme; or, in other 

 words, it would become a thoroughbred. 



I have read that English breeders of 

 horses admit an animal to be thorough- 

 bred that has been crossed for five or six 

 generations with thoroughbred stock. 



That the parent should transmit the 

 character of its ancestors, as well as its 

 own, may seem very strange and mys- 

 terious, but that it is a fact I believe few 

 can doubt who have given the subject 

 much attention. It was a wise answer 

 that the educator gave when a parent in- 

 quired when a child's education should 

 begin: "Begin with his grandfather," was 

 the reply. 



Except for this law, species would soon 

 run into endless varieties; and varieties, 

 or families, or breeds , would soon lose 

 thoi'- character and identity. It gives 

 character, or, rather, I should say, stabil- 

 ity of character — something we can de- 

 pend upon. 



From the foregoing will be seen the 

 importance of using good queens to breed 

 from; queens from our most productive 

 colonies; not only that, but it is even 

 more important, if we would secure the 

 best results, that the ancestors of our 

 breeding queens should have been from 

 extra-producing-stocks also — and that for 

 many generatiotis. Not onh- the queens, 

 but the drones, if possible, should like- 

 wise come from such stocks. 



Our chances of success are nmch 

 greater by the use of queens with a pedi- 

 gree than with a chance-(\\\e&n of even 

 ujiusual excellence. Given two colonies 

 of bees of the same race, with queens of 

 the same age, and of the same strength 

 and vigor in spring; one has a queen that 

 for many generations has come from un- 

 usually productive colonies; and gives us, 

 say, seventy-five pounds of surplus, while 

 the other, of uncertain pedigree, or whose 

 ancestors for a number of generations 

 have not been particular!}- productive, 

 yet it gives us, beside the other, one hun- 

 dred pounds of surplus honey; I should 

 much prefer to rear my young queens 

 from the colony producing the seventy- 

 five pounds of surplus. I should feel 

 quite sure of better results next year than 

 if I had used the other queen. 



I have spoken of my failure to improve 

 my stock, some years ago, by using one 

 of my own queens that showed superior 

 qualities; let me add that in 1898 I receiv- 

 ed a queen from a breeder who had for 

 many generations bred with reference to 

 the ability of the bees to accumulate 

 stores, and I have watched with a good 

 deal of interest the results, this j'ear, in 

 hives whose queens I bred from this 

 thoroughbred queen. While some of 

 my own were in just as good condition. I 

 found in my home-yard, where I watched 

 the results more carefully, when I 

 come to look them over for winter, that 

 those hives in which I had introduced a 

 pedigree-queen would average about ten 

 or twelve pounds more honey than the 

 average of hives having my old stock of 

 bees. The past season has been a very 



