. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 211 Bural New Yorker. The Influence of Food. PROF. A. J. COOK. We often hear farmers remark that food has more to do with fine stock than does pedigree. While we do not think this is true, yet we must con- fess that good feeding is no mean factor in successful stock breeding. Long and careful breeding, indexed by a valuable pedigree, insures sus- ceptibility, which makes great re- sults possible, but only with proper care. A 50-horse power engine pos- sesses great potency, but on one- fourth rations of fuel it would accom- pl
. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 211 Bural New Yorker. The Influence of Food. PROF. A. J. COOK. We often hear farmers remark that food has more to do with fine stock than does pedigree. While we do not think this is true, yet we must con- fess that good feeding is no mean factor in successful stock breeding. Long and careful breeding, indexed by a valuable pedigree, insures sus- ceptibility, which makes great re- sults possible, but only with proper care. A 50-horse power engine pos- sesses great potency, but on one- fourth rations of fuel it would accom- plish less than a 10-horse power. Yet it would be foolish to argue that fuel was more important than tlie style of the engine. Among higher animals we have no evidence that food produces rapid structural changes. Food, selection and time will change the form, car- cass, and even the habits, but only after long years of moditication. Among lower animals we have some startling facts that show most graphi- cally that food is sometimes a most powerful agent, able to effect a radi- cal structural change in a very brief time. We all know tliat, in the main, the animal functions are very simi- lar, even though studied in animals which are structually wide apart. The now generally accepted philosophy that all animals have a common an- cestry should lead us to give wise consideration to the peculiarities of lower animals, even in our treatment of the higher forms. If, then, we can show that food is potent to substan- tially modify the entire organism and life habits of bees, it should serve to exalt our estimate of its value and influence as affecting the higher ani- mals. The same egg may, yea will, produce either a worker bee or a queen, the character of the progeny depending solely upon the character and quantity of the food consumed. If the food is rich and abundant the result is a queen bee. If it is less nourishing and stinted in qiiantity, a worker bee is tlie result. Even after th
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861
