. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. April, 1912. American ^ee Journal III "Improvement of the Honey- Bee" BY E. S. MILES. I wonder, Mr. Editor, when, if ever, we will get this much-used-of late title worn out ? There seem to be many and learned reasons ic/ty the honey-bee can not be improved: then, again, some of our learned friends take a hitch in their sails and tacking toward another quar- ter, go on to show that it has not been done, anyway! In short, their state- ment is about like this: The honey-bee is " sot " in her ways— you can't " improve'? her; you c
. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. April, 1912. American ^ee Journal III "Improvement of the Honey- Bee" BY E. S. MILES. I wonder, Mr. Editor, when, if ever, we will get this much-used-of late title worn out ? There seem to be many and learned reasons ic/ty the honey-bee can not be improved: then, again, some of our learned friends take a hitch in their sails and tacking toward another quar- ter, go on to show that it has not been done, anyway! In short, their state- ment is about like this: The honey-bee is " sot " in her ways— you can't " improve'? her; you can't improve her much : she won't stay im- proved after you get her improved ; and, finally, you can't improve her suddenly and permanently. And a knowing one here and there adds, " And when she is 'improved' it will be by a scholar who has studied Mendelism. Partheno- genesis, Darwinism, and all the other /.<?«.-;. and whose mind is trained to apply 'em to the task in ; Now. it ought to be becoming for an ignorant and unlearned man to con- fess his ignorance before so much learning, so I, for one, am willing to do so. I hereby confess that in my ignorance, when I found a colony of bees better all around than any I'd seen after several years' experience with quite a number of colonies, I knew no more than to suppose that if I'd rear queens from that one I'd get more like it! You see, I'd never even heard of Mendel or///.s-/.'.-;«.';. My! wasn't I hap- py .' that is, if, as they say, "ignorance is ; Yes, those were blissful days. Well, I reared those queens from that good colony, and as sure as I don't know much, the biggest share of 'em zvere like their parent. How do I know that ? Well, may be I don't, but I was under the impression that they yielded more honey with less labor than any other bees I had before or since. Because, for one thing, hardly any of 'em swarmed, and they had a knack of getting strong early, and always being out afte
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861
