"Let's face it, Brother Adam was on an ego trip and bred bees solely for the Buckfast Abbey situation - i.e. the very damp and mild climate of South Devon and to work the heather on Dartmoor nearby.  He claimed - and it is in that it was not true - that the native bee had been wiped out by the Isle of Wight disease; in fact, nothing could be further from the truth and despite his efforts and all the imports over the years, we still have around 50% native genes here in the UK."

Why so hard on him? His breeding program produced a very successful bee for his purposes. And from what I've read from him, he was very specific that he was developing those bees to best exploit his local conditions. Good on him, no?

Re: the genetics, he went with the information he had at the time. Thor Heyerdahl thought he had proved migration routes for the pacific islanders pretty persuasively. It was only gene mapping that conclusively proved him wrong.

S

Skillman,, NJ

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