A few weeks back I was given a copy of an old magazine called "Gleanings in Bee Culture." This particular issue was dated July 1977. That is a 42 year old copy! Nevertheless, as I was reading it with great interest, I came across an article by Charles Mraz from Middlebury, VT which I found quite interesting.
Here are some quotes from the article:
It is now more than 40 years that "scientific queen breeding" started to produce a superior bee by artificial insemination and other "revolutionary" methods. Personally, I believe the results of this "scientific breeding" have been disasterous [ibid.].[...] Fifty years ago we had far better bees in many cases than we have now. [...] Mother Nature is still the best queen breeder, she's had an awful lot more experience.
Remember my bee entry "Little white bees" and my comment in it about honey bees having lost their sensuality somewhere along the line? Well Charles' observation certainly provides a clue as to how it has happened! It has been bred out of them in search of the perfect slave bee, tireless mass producer of honey! They have been artificially inseminating bees since at least the 1930's. Greedy bastards. This insane mindset that has contaminated so many people on Earth is so deleterious and disrespectful of Life...
It is my hope that perhaps one day these people will wake up and realize the insanity of their actions and if not, at least I hope that the rest of us are smart enough to end supporting these people and falling for their empty promises of progress.
Let me end this entry with another quote from Mr. Mraz:
Of course, if we are to believe the "scientists", whoever they are, bees
do not "think", they do everything by "instinct". Perhaps this is true,
but after almost 60 years of beekeeping, I seem to be more convinced that the bees are smarter than the "scientists".