On September 28th, Allen Dick wrote:
 
<This sounds like real work!  Not only does one have to have enough hives
<to compare, but he has to manage them to make honey, while carefully
<measuring results.
 
<We have tried to do a bit of this, but a lot of the time I am not sure if
<it is the queen or the position in the yard, etc.  And if it is the queen,
<is it her age, her upbringing, the particular batch of sperm she is
<processing at the moment, or is it her own genetics?  I must confess to
<not having the patience to keep the kind of records necessary to come to
<valid conclusions.
(...)
 
<We simply haven't had the dedication to evaluate the progeny beyond
<observing that they are average or better in most regards.
 
As some of you might already know, it is now possible to sore your beekeeping data in a meaningful way, so that conclusions regarding selection criteria can be easily drawn. I am of course referring to that Danish computer
program BIDATA,developed for the Danish beekeeper association Edbi, and available in several languages,
including english. I quote from their info text:
 
TO ORDER PLEASE CONTACT:
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
            EDBi
   ZDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD?
   3 Peder Kjaersgaard      3
   3 Rimmersvej 20, Gl.Rye  3
   3 Dk-8680 Rye            3
   3 Denmark                3
   3 Phone +45 86 89 86 42  3
   @DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDY
 
best regards, Hugo
 
                                Hugo Veerkamp
   ####################################################################
   |                          BEENET INTERNATIONAL                    |
   | E-mail :                              | mail : the Bee bbs       |
   | [log in to unmask]        P.O. BOX 51008    |
   |      ( or press reply button)         |        1007EA AMSTERDAM  |
   |                                       |        The Netherlands   |
   | Beenet : 240:31/0                     | modem: +31 20 6764105    |
   | Fidonet: 2:2801/28                    | voice: +31 20 6715663    |
   ####################################################################