> My question, which I address to all is: Wouldn’t a simple plan of 
> selecting from your best performers, automatically be selecting colonies 
> that cope best with the ‘environmental factors’ as defined by Phillips 
> 1918,  which include mites as such.  In other words, let the colonies 
> dictate which traits are essential for them to cope with the environmental 
> factors,  if hygenic behavior takes a second seat to grooming behavior, so 
> be it?

Selection using only the best of the best is a pretty typical selection 
method.  It seems sensible, and does work, but, if overdone, can lead to a 
dead end unless new stock is constantly brought in.

On the other hand, elimination of colonies that do not meet a minimum 
standard or those which exhibit negative traits from the breeding pool is 
less likely to result in such problems.

The former approach presupposes we can identify all the traits that we want 
and need to keep (doubtful IMO, since some are hard to spot).

The second approach presupposes only that we can recognize -- most of the 
time at least -- the qualities we definitely do not want, and secondarily 
that those qualities are not strongly linked to essential or desirable 
qualities. 

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