The Production Of So Many Drones Necessary In A State Of Nature To Prevent Degeneracy From In And In Breeding

I have often been able, by the reasons previously assigned, to account

for the necessity of such a large number of drones in a state of nature,

to the satisfaction of others, but never fully to my own. I have

repeatedly queried, why impregnation might not just as well have been

effected _in the hive_, as on the wing, in the open air. Two very

obvious and highly important advantages would have resulted from such an

arra gement. 1st. A few dozen drones would have amply sufficed for the

wants of any colony, even if, (as in tropical climates,) it swarmed half

a dozen times or oftener, in the same season. 2d. The young queens would

have been exposed to none of those risks which they now incur, in

leaving the hive for fecundation.



I was unable to show how the existing arrangement is best; although I

never doubted that there must be a satisfactory reason for this seeming

imperfection. To suppose otherwise, would be highly unphilosophical,

since we constantly see, as the circle of our knowledge is enlarged,

many mysteries in nature hitherto inexplicable, fully cleared up.



Let me here ask if the disposition which too many students of nature

cherish, to reject some of the doctrines of revealed religion, is not

equally unphilosophical. Neither our ignorance of all the facts

necessary to their full elucidation, nor our inability to harmonize

these facts in their mutual relations and dependencies, will justify us

in rejecting any truth which God has seen fit to reveal, either in the

book of nature, or in His holy word. The man who would substitute his

own speculations for the divine teachings, has embarked, without rudder

or chart, pilot or compass, upon the uncertain ocean of theory and

conjecture; unless he turns his prow from its fatal course, no Sun of

Righteousness will ever brighten for him the dreary expanse of waters;

storms and whirlwinds will thicken in gloom, on his "voyage of life,"

and no favoring gales will ever waft his shattered bark to a peaceful

haven.



The thoughtful reader will require no apology for the moralizing strain

of many of my remarks, nor blame a clergyman, if forgetting sometimes to

speak as the mere naturalist, he endeavors to find,



"Tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,

_Sermons_ in '_bees_,' and 'GOD' in every thing."



To return to the point from which I have digressed; a new attempt to

account for the existence of so many drones. If a farmer persists in

what is called "breeding in and in," that is, from the same stock

without changing the blood, it is well known that a rapid degeneracy is

the inevitable consequence. This law extends, as far as we know, to all

animal life, and even man is not exempt from its influence. Have we any

reason to suppose that the bee is an exception? or that ultimate

degeneracy would not ensue, unless some provision was made to counteract

the tendency to in and in breeding? If fecundation had taken place in

the hive, the queen bee must of necessity, have been impregnated by

drones from a common parent, and the same result must have taken place

in each successive generation, until the whole species would eventually

have "run out." By the present arrangement, the young females, when they

leave the hive, often find the air swarming with drones, many of which

belong to other colonies, and thus by crossing the breed, a provision is

constantly made to prevent deterioration.



Experience has proved not only that it is unnecessary to impregnation

that there should be drones in the colony of the young queen, but that

this may be effected even when there are no drones in the Apiary, and

none except at some considerable distance. Intercourse takes place very

high in the air, (perhaps that less risk may be incurred from birds,)

and this is the more favorable to the continual crossing of stocks.



I am strongly persuaded that the decay of many flourishing stocks, even

when managed with great care, is to be attributed to the fact that they

have become enfeebled by "close breeding," and are thus unable to resist

the injurious influences which were comparatively harmless when the bees

were in a state of high physical vigor. I shall, in the chapter on

Artificial Swarming, explain in what way, by the use of my hives, the

stock of bees may be easily crossed, when a cultivator is too remote

from other Apiaries, to depend upon its being naturally effected.