78 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS ON APICULIUBE. 



of discoveries made by scientific work. It is not always recognized? 

 but it is nevertheless true, that careful systematic work on methods 

 of wintering, production of the maximum crop of comb or extracted 

 honey, or the like, is really scientific work on the behavior of the bee, 

 and, if done properly, is just as truly scientific work as any that has 

 been mentioned previously. Breeding of better bees and inspection 

 for disease or for honey adulteration are but practical applications of 

 scientific investigations. 



The question of breeding is economic and very important. It is 

 doubtless a fact that at least three-fourths of the colonies of bees now 

 found in the United States are not what they should be or what they 

 would be if proper attention were paid to breeding. By requeening 

 such colonies from good stock the annual output of honey would be 

 enormously increased, provided, of course, that the improved stock 

 were properly manipulated. 



At present the tendency among bee keepers is to accomplish by manipulation the 

 things which would be attempted in breeding. Thus, instead of breeding for non- 

 swarming bees, we have attempts at the construction of hives which provide environ- 

 ments conducive to nonswarming. Instead of breeding for prolificness we have trials 

 at using two queens in one hive to get the same result. Good wintering qualities are 

 replaced by extra care in wintering, and tongue length becomes less important by the 

 use of alsike clover for pasturage in place of red clover, the nectar of which is largely 

 lost to the honeybee. Activity in honey gathering is replaced by the keeping of a 

 large number of colonies. 



As long as the bee-keeping field is not more completely filled, these methods of avoid- 

 ing the breeding problem will be more or less successful. The time should come, 

 however, and probably will, when bee keepers can no longer neglect this line of work/' 



EDUCATIONAL NEEDS. 



While the problems above enumerated represent a vast amount 

 of work which must be done, the problem which entails the greatest 

 amount of labor is the spread of information to the individual bee 

 keepers who want it. Several agencies are now at work doing valu- 

 able service, among which may be mentioned the journals devoted to 

 bee keeping, associations of bee keepers, the teaching of apiculture 

 in some agricultural colleges, and the work of some experiment 

 stations. The Bureau of Entomology aims to aid in the work. 

 Most of the text-books on bee keeping are educational rather than 

 records of personal investigation, for in large part the}" very prop- 

 erly draw from many sources and prepare the data for the use of the 

 bee keepers. 



First of all there must be an improvement in the methods of com- 

 piling the work done by others. The literature on bee keeping is 

 so enormous that the average individual can not attempt to cover 



« 1908. American Breeders' Association, Vol. IV, pp. 200-201. 



