Brother Adam

[ShinySideUp]

Just a thought, but for subjective opinions where might we be if Brother Adam hadn't existed?

 

[Quis Custodiet]

We would be the poorer if he had not existed and sadly the Abbot(s) at Buckfast Abbey would have been happier.

 

[Fusion_power]

We have to ask what he did to determine the difference if he had not bred his Buckfast bees. I posit that he proved pedigree based breeding to be a viable means of improving honeybees. But this was done by others around the world in the same timeframe that Brother Adam was breeding his bees. So what made him different? He was observant of his bees on a level most beekeepers do not achieve. He was a capable carpenter. Tools were comfortable in his hands. He got up each morning with things to do. He had goals in mind based on finding the most efficient method of producing honey. To achieve these goals, he set out to find the traits his bees lacked and when he found them, he incorporated those traits into his strain of bees. His bees swarmed so he set out to find bees that did not swarm and incorporated that trait. His bees were not prolific so he set out to find prolific bees and he incorporated it into his bees. Take each of the traits he described and break it down to the most basic elements. There is where he worked to shift those traits in favor of honey production with minimum labor. Most important, he kept at it for 70 years which makes his breeding program the longest continuous bee breeding program to date.

It is only in the last 20 years that a few breeding programs have begun to see comparable levels of improvement. These are based on line breeding and therefore cannot leap forward as rapidly as he did with combination breeding.

So where would we be without him? We would still be breeding italians and carniolans and maybe Mellifera and telling everyone we had the best bees in the world. Not!

 

[Little John]

I'm curious about this topic, and am left wondering why is Brother Adam - alone - being put under the microscope ? There are a good dozen or more legendary names in the history of Beekeeping which, if they'd not done what they had, we'd not be doing the things we currently do.

As to trying to imagine what beekeeping would be like, had any of them not existed, is something of a dubious exercise ... for they DID exist, and they DID do what they did.

I'm left wondering if there might not be some kind of hidden agenda in the asking of this question, and that it might not simply be "just a thought" after all ?
LJ

 

[Finman]

We cannot know or imagine what the world would be without something, about what we do not know anything.

.

 

[B+.]

I'm curious about this topic, and am left wondering why is Brother Adam - alone - being put under the microscope ? There are a good dozen or more legendary names in the history of Beekeeping which, if they'd not done what they had, we'd not be doing the things we currently do.

As to trying to imagine what beekeeping would be like, had any of them not existed, is something of a dubious exercise ... for they DID exist, and they DID do what they did.

I'm left wondering if there might not be some kind of hidden agenda in the asking of this question, and that it might not simply be "just a thought" after all ?
LJ

Each of us has our own talents. Our own strengths and weaknesses. It is far better to ask what we can do and what we have not YET done.

 

[Erichalfbee]

We cannot know or imagine what the world would be without something, about what we do not know anything.

.

*****

 

[ShinySideUp]

I'm curious about this topic, and am left wondering why is Brother Adam - alone - being put under the microscope ? There are a good dozen or more legendary names in the history of Beekeeping which, if they'd not done what they had, we'd not be doing the things we currently do.

As to trying to imagine what beekeeping would be like, had any of them not existed, is something of a dubious exercise ... for they DID exist, and they DID do what they did.

I'm left wondering if there might not be some kind of hidden agenda in the asking of this question, and that it might not simply be "just a thought" after all ?
LJ

No, there is no hidden agenda. I am new to beekeeping and Brother Adam's name and that of the Buckfast bee crops up all the time. My interest is due to limited knowledge (but I am on the steep learning curve) as to the history of beekeeping, Brother Adam's part in it and how what he did affected beekeeping as we know it today. Also, I was curious as to the opinions of folk on this forum regarding Brother Adam's contribution. It's all grist to the mill.

Perhaps I could have worded it differently from the 'what if' format but it'll serve this time.

 

[Quis Custodiet]

Have you read his books? You probably have, but if not you should certainly do so.

 

[Beefriendly]

Br. Adam's initial tenet was the perfect honey bee didn't exist and had to be bred by man. With a good working knowledge of that new fangled science of genetics he produced what is arguably some of the best lines of honey bees that we have today. I understand from those who knew him he was gifted "stocksman" who could pick the cream from hundreds of potential colonies to take that rare cream forward to the next generation.
Bee keeping would be a much poorer place without his contribution and what he showed selective bee breeding could accomplish.
Br Adam's contribution lies in his bee breeding but modern beekeeping wouldn't be where it is without the major contributions of Huber, Dizerzon, Langstroth, Quinby, Demaree and so many others whose names currently escape me.
A deserved legend.

 

[Little John]

Br. Adam's initial tenet was the perfect honey bee didn't exist and had to be bred by man.

A well-expressed statement, but of a sentiment not shared by everyone. There are several groups of people who think that such a tenet is mind-blowingly arrogant, and that Natural Evolution cannot be improved upon by Human Beings.

Put simply, Evolution - by eliminating those not the 'fittest' (best suited) to a particular environment - has resulted in various strains of bee becoming the residents of such areas, to the exclusion of other strains. Hence the various sub-species of bees were created and became established in various areas around Africa, Asia and Europe by this process of evolutionary adaptation.

Perhaps AMM presents as being the best example of how one particular sub-species has been usurped by imported varieties of bee in Man's quest for 'perfection' (undefined). When seen from the perspective of those who champion a return of AMM to these islands, Brother Adam must appear to be the worst kind of genetic vandal imaginable.

That the OP is based in Cornwall, an area of the country where I understand AMM is being revived - and that this thread was started in the General Beekeeping sub-forum (rather than the Bee-Breeding sub-forum) - initially suggested to me that perhaps it was the wider implications of Brother Adam's legacy which could have been a hidden agenda within the topic. But it appears not to have been the case.

LJ (who has no particular interest in either AMM or Buckfast bees)

 

[masterBK]

Natural selection is likely to select for a very different bee to that required by the beekeeper.

 

[For want of a better word]

Just a thought, but for subjective opinions where might we be if Brother Adam hadn't existed?

Brave question....

Nos da

 

[Quis Custodiet]

Natural selection is likely to select for a very different bee to that required by the beekeeper.

Absolutely correct, but many seem to be quite unable to grasp this basic fact, or indeed any fact...basic or otherwise.

 

[Finman]

.
I have not read any sentence about Adams writings. Buckfast is very rare in our country.

 

[Little John]

Natural selection is likely to select for a very different bee to that required by the beekeeper.

Adaptation by Natural Selection of honey bees is past tense, surely ? This being how the various sub-species came into being.
LJ

 

[Beefriendly]

A well-expressed statement, but of a sentiment not shared by everyone.

You cannot please everyone, least of all beekeepers. As has already been said nature does not correlate survival with traits desired by beekeepers. So we breed and select what we wish...arrogant perhaps but also truthful.
Fortunately with the plethora of strains available one can artificially nurture in a purpose made construction any of these different types from productive honey monsters to locally adapted "wild" bees. The choice is yours.

 

[For want of a better word]

.
I have not read any sentence about Adams writings. Buckfast is very rare in our country.

Finnie my dear... Buckfast seems to be a descriptor that is used for any old mix of yellow hybridised bee in most of the English ( or near English) speaking world, and to be sure the hybridisation that BA never seemed to complete to his satisfaction and the so called Buckfast as invented by BA ceased to exist sometime during the last century.
Problem is that some get confused with hybridisation and selective bee improvement... as someone has already stated somewhat surprisingly the bees would select for something completely different if they were left to their own devices without mans interference!

to answer the OP, before the thread vanished down the usual hickory hole...

BA certainly raised the profile of bee improvement in the UK and his thinking and methodology and his dedication were incredible.

Yeghes da

 

[user 6228]

...
BA certainly raised the profile of bee improvement in the UK and his thinking and methodology and his dedication were incredible.

Yeghes da

His documentation of his hive insulation experiments left a lot to be desired