42 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



the hereditary tendencies, whereas, as 

 soon as we get relatively unequal prepo- 

 tency we will have just so much more 

 difficulty. Besides this, as Mr. Getaz has 

 admirably pointed out, inbreeding, in- 

 tensifies both the bad and the good qual- 

 ities, and we must, therefore, wait for the 

 occurrence of a much more perfect bee 

 for inbreeding than we need have for 

 improvment without inbreeding. It 

 must be remembered that qualities are 

 relative only, and it is the balance be- 

 tween the good and bad which counts. 

 One difficulty of inbreeding is that the 

 more closely related animals are, the 

 more frequently it will happen that ani- 

 mals having similar good qualities will 

 also hav^e similar bad qualities, so that 

 unless the good are in overpowering force, 

 we will get practically no change in bal- 

 ance. On the other hand, if we can 

 breed the unrelated, we can more often 

 select equally good individuals whose bad 

 qualities will be opposite to each other, 

 and will thereby be antagonized and re- 

 duced while the good will be intensified. 

 We first judge by the honey crops as a 

 "sine qua non,'''' we then select those two 

 individual breeders, the average of whose 

 qualities will make the best balance. 

 Within the limits of what we consider 

 necessary traits and characters to distin- 

 guish the strain of breed, we choose the 

 most diverse in character. For instance, 

 we do not allow any one character to 

 lead us astray; we mate the longest-tongu- 

 ed with the shortest, the Grossest with 

 the gentlest, the svvarmer with the non- 

 swarmers, (within the limits of what we 

 considerer useful, we of course eliminate 

 all that possess anj- one absolutely con- 

 demning quality.) If our breeders are 

 tmrelated in the first instance, and from 

 remote localities, we will by that means 

 get great vigor by thus crossing; and, as 

 a result, our first few generations will un- 

 doubtedly' vary even much more than the 

 original breeders; but we should be care- 

 ful not to condemn any until we are sure 

 that the\ and their produce have really 

 become acclimated and accustomed to 



their environment, l^oth natural and in 

 reference to our management 

 UNEXPLORED FIELDS SHOULD BE EN- 

 TERED WITH THE SIMPLEST OF 

 PROBLEMS. 

 Soon we will begin to recognize the 

 most useful variations, and we will, con- 

 sequently, gradually narrow the limits 

 of our .strain, making the requirements 

 more restrictive, with the result that the 

 extreme types will be rejected; and, al- 

 though we will still mate the most diverse 

 which we retain, yet their characters will 

 gradually become more uniform, until 

 our efforts will be rewarded by uniformity 

 together with greater vigor, size and fer- 

 tility than we are likel}- to obtain by in- 

 breeding. By this tentative method we 

 begin in our unexplored field with the 

 most simple problem we can get, and 

 gradually educate ourselves up to the 

 higher and more difficult problems; which 

 seems a seusible course, especially when 

 at the best it must of necessity be most 

 difficult to recognize the most useful 

 characters from the first. 

 INBREEDING WITH BEES NOT LIKELV 

 TO BE SO EFFECTIVE .A.S WITH 

 HIGHER AN1M.\LS. 



So far as I have been able to learn, no 

 man of unprejudiced mind has yet claim- 

 ed that inbreeding will produce anything 

 that can not in time be produced without 

 it, provided we can supply a sufficient 

 quantity of unrelated in<lividuals. In 

 breeding the domestic animals, the great 

 element of time enters into the matter to 

 such an extent that inbreeding has prov- 

 ed a practical necessity; yet there is no 

 reason to believe it will be likewise with 

 the bee, for the generations are too fre- 

 quent. Also, as inbreeding cannot be in- 

 dividual, but only collateral, in bees, it is 

 doubtful whether it will have an\'thing 

 like the same effect for good and likewise 

 for evil as in the higher animals. F'ur- 

 thermore, we have as j-et no proof that 

 insects can be made to vary (hereditarily) 

 in as great a degree as the higher animals. 

 It is true that the same laws of develop- 



