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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Aaron Morris <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 18 Jun 2001 13:06:01 -0400
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I hunted down this weekend my copy of Brother Adam's
_In_Search_of_the_Best_Strains_of_Bees_  to confirm (or not)
whether he incorportaed Apis s. in the Buckfast melting pot.

Indeed, he DID NOT get further into Africa than the northern
countries.  "His first objective was North Africa, but owing to the
political tension reigning at that time (1952), he was compelled
to restrict his search to Algeria and a few of the oases forming
part of that country."

In PART TWO of the book, Bro. Adam includes "AN EVALUATION
OF THE RACES AND CROSSES."  Included in his work are:
Apis mellifera ligustica
Apis mellifera carnica
Apis mellifera cecropia
Apis mellifera adami
Apis mellifera caucasia
Apis mellifera anatolica
Apis mellifera fasciata
Apis mellifera syriaca
Apis mellifera cypria
Apis mellifera intermissa

Sub-varieties of Apis mellifera intermissa (the hybrids
or what Dr. Roger Moses called, the mongrels) included:
Apis mellifera major nova
The Sicilian bee
The Iberian bee
The French bee
The Nigra
The Old English bee
The Healt bee
North-East European and North Asian sub-varieties
The Finnish bee
Apis melliferra sahariensis

Note, no scutelata.

In his conclusion Bro. Adam writes, "Breeding experiments
up to the present have been confined to the improvement
and intensification of uniformity of particular races, but these
will never be adequate to meet the demands of the future.
True the efforts made are of undeniable economic value, but
at the same time the possibilities are clearly limited.  Inbreeding
brings about in the honeybee a seriour deterioration in vitality
which raises unsurmountable problems in many directions.

The synthesisation of new combintions by way of cross-breeding
is, indeed, the only breeding worthy of the name.  It alone
enables us to actualise all the different potentialities involved.
For it alone has the power of bringing together all the various
races and strains with the desirable economic qualities, of
combining these into new types of bee, while at the same time
eliminating the deleterious traits, and thus producing a bee which
will completely answer all the needs of modern beekeeping."

I have been told in private conversations that some do not consider
Brother Adam to be as great a hero as he is cast in the States.
There are some who feel that Brother Adam did a good deal to
pollute the gene pool in his native country and that perhaps the bee
population would have been better off without his efforts.  It is worthy
of note that his breeding program would never be possible in today's
times in the States.  Look at how long it took and the protective steps
taken to import Russian stock.  I wonder if this is a good or bad thing.

Cheers,
Aaron

PS: Less I forget, and as I've stated before, _In_Search_of... is a great
read, and paints the best picture of the races of honeybees I have ever
seen.
The book is highly recommended!!!

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