QUEEN-REARING IN ENGLAND. 53 



duced by unfertilised queens and by fertile workers, being 

 reared in worker cells, are abnormally small, and their pro- 

 duction should be avoided. 



XI.— BREEDING FOR IMPROVEMENT. 



Ctossingf and Selection. — All animals that man has 

 domesticated have been more or less improved by breeding. 

 Two methods have been employed, crossing and selection, 

 and the best results have usually been obtained when they 

 have gone hand in hand, the one followed by the other. 

 Crossing effects a change at once, but it is only by selection 

 that any permanent gain is obtained. 



Unfortunately, very little permanent improvement has 

 been yet obtained in the case of bees. This is chiefly due 

 to the difficulty of controlling the mating of the queen. 

 Mating takes place during flight, and a queen may be impreg- 

 nated by any one out of the thousands of drones flying from 

 colonies of all kinds dwelling within a radius of two or 

 three miles. The obvious way to overcome the difficulty is 

 to get the queens mated in a spot Avhere none but drones of 

 selected parentage are flying within the necessary radius for 

 isolation, which has been estimated at from three to six miles, 

 but no doubt varies under different conditions of tempera- 

 ture and weather. There is probably no spot in Great 

 Britain or Ireland where isolation could be obtained except 

 on high moors, bleak coasts, or islands, where low tem- 

 perature and strong winds would render mating \'ery pre- 

 carious. Several mating stations have, however, been lately 

 established, among the mountains of Switzerland, by the 

 Swiss Bee-Keepers' Association, and no doubt Canada, with 

 its vast tracts of unsettled country enjoying high summer 

 temperatures, abounds in suitable places. 



In Ripple Court Apiary selection by isolation has, of 

 course, been impossible, but a method of selection by colour, 

 described below under the heading of Mendelism, has been 

 devised and carried out with some success. 



The objection may be raised that, considering the 



