172 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



showing "freak" qualities due to manip- 

 ulation rather than heredity; therefore, 

 among the average of a large number of 

 like breeding we are likely to find the 

 safest breeder. 



HOW LOCAI^ITY MAY AFFECT THE VALUE 

 OF A QUEEN. 



And it is here that that the ways of the 

 queen breeder and the honey producer 

 part. The former must be able to judge 

 the hereditary uniformity of those from 

 which he wishes to breed. The latter 

 must obtain uniformit}' by equalizing 

 when necessary. Then, too, the stand- 

 ard we are to aim at, has much to do 

 with our results. Mr. Doolittle is inten- 

 sive; he wants the bees that are most 

 plastic in his hands, and that can be 

 brought to the proper condition by his 

 work. Mr. Coggshall, however, would 

 probably prefer those that will of them- 

 selves most closely approximate proper 

 conditions with the least manipulation. 

 Mr. Doolittle finds his own queens super- 

 ior to others, but he is in the business, so 

 this evidence must be thrown out. It 

 would probably be incorrect to consider 

 either that Mr. Doolittle is a poor bee- 

 keeper, in relation to queens bred by 

 others, or that other breeders intentional- 

 ly furnish him with poor material. He 

 objects principally to prolificness at the 

 wrong time. This suggests a matter wor- 

 thv the consideration of all queen breed- 

 ers. Is it reasonable to expect that a 

 queen produced from ancestors long bred 

 in one locality, will immediately so adapt 

 herself as to do well in another locality 

 with a totally different flora and climate ? 

 Ought not queen breeders to thoroughly 

 study the sul)ject of locality, and might 

 it not be possible that queens unseason- 

 ably prolific in their climate, would just 

 be right for some other climate ? It seems 

 to me that the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, and perhaps the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Association could collect data 

 on this subject if a suitable blank could 

 be circulated among bee-keepers. I 

 think it would be found that all localities 



could be divided into a much smaller 

 number of general classes than most 

 people suppose. In this connection I 

 refer principally to climate and flora and 

 not to the popular "locality" which, in 

 about 99 times out of loo, means the ;«a«. 



NURSE-INFI.UENCE. 



In discussing nurse-influence I believe 

 I fully explained that we could not rea- 

 sonably expect a sufficient immediate 

 change to alter racial or other extensive 

 characteristics. In mammals the ulti- 

 mate structure of the individual is not 

 largely determined by quality or quan- 

 tity of food. In the bee it is so de- 

 termined; and I am free to confess 

 that I do not know the exact meth- 

 od of nurse-influence; we know that there 

 are qualitative and quantative changes in 

 food made according as a drone, worker 

 or queen is reared, and that the difference 

 in the latter too, and probably the pro- 

 per growth of the former, are determined 

 by the changes in the food. If a mother 

 loses an arm just before the birth of a 

 child, it is not to be expected that the 

 child will likewise suffer; but at the same 

 time the shock may be of such severity 

 as to effect the nervous system and mind 

 of the mother to such an extent as to 

 have an appreciable effect upon the child. 

 While I do not believe the organic theory 

 to any such extent as Mr. Stachelhausen 

 does, at the same time it is a very good 

 arbitrary method of showing that a colony 

 of bees in a normal condilion may raise 

 queens of somewhat different quality 

 from one which has been made by uniting 

 parts of other colonies. Simply because 

 we do not know the exact relationship 

 between the mind and the body, between 

 anatomy, and physiology, and psycology, 

 is no reason why we should omit consid- 

 eration of that relation. A man with a 

 brilliant mind may be located under such 

 circumstances as to prevent success by 

 reason of ill health and nial nutrition. 

 A person weak in childhood may have 

 strength of mind sufficient to overcome 

 his surroundings by force of will power, 



