BREEDING TO PRODUCE A NON-SWARMING STRAIN 157 



colonies whicli do not swarm are usually the ones to store the big 

 crops. At any rate the bee-keeper prefers to make increase at 

 his convenience and not to be watching for swarms all summer. 

 In a large apiary where there is no control of swarming there is 

 little time for anything else than watching for swarms and getting 

 them hived. 



Breeding to Produce a Non-Swarming Strain. — In spite of 

 the fact that several writers, notably Dr. Bonney, take the posi- 

 tion that the honey-bee cannot be improved because of the diffi- 

 culty of controlling male parentage, much is to be hoped for 

 along this line. Even now some progress is being made and a 

 few leaders among the enthusiasts who are persistently following 

 up the method of selecting the best honey producers among the 

 non-swarming colonies and rearing queens only from them are 

 getting results. It is true that progress is slow and that dis- 

 couragements sometimes are to be met, but some claim a notice- 

 able decrease in the number of swarms as a result of such 

 breeding for a series of years. 



Experiments looking toward the artificial mating of queens 

 have been made from time to time with uncertain results. Once 

 let a satisfactory method of accomplishing this be found and the 

 great problem of breeding good bees is solved. As long as the 

 queen must mate in the air according to the natural provision 

 she may mate with any one of a thousand drones that chance to be 

 flying at the time she takes her marriage flight. If a method 

 of safe artificial fertilization can be devised this uncertainty 

 is removed and drones from the best colonies can be selected. 

 It will then be an easy matter to breed from stock showing any 

 particularly desired trait and as good results can be expected 

 as have resulted from similar efforts to improve live stock and 

 poultry. The non-sitting breeds of fowls are pretty good evi- 

 dence that it is possible to breed out even the strong natural 

 instincts. In a state of nature the sitting of the hen was essential 

 to the perpetuation of the race. The invention of the incubator 

 removed the necessity for sitting and the poultrymen proceeded 



