18S2 



GLE7^N1NGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



169 



a heretic by the bee-keeping fraternity if I gave my 

 opinion in the matter. Aftei a little consideration, 

 I thought it would be cowardly not to stand up for 

 what I believed to be the truth in the matter, and so 

 I have answered the many questions propounded by 

 friend II., to the bestof my ability. I am well aware 

 that many will say that the statements about extra- 

 pure queens are no credit to mo, or of benefit to 

 queen-breeders; nevertheless, if I say any thing on 

 any subject, I must say what 1 believe to be the 

 truth about it, whether it is or is not a credit to me. 



WHAT WAS DONE WITH THE EXTRA QUEENS. 



NotT, to further questions: On page 579, Glean- 

 ings for 1881, friend H. wants to know what I did 

 with the 67 extra queens I told of rearing more than 

 were accounted for by sales, etc., and says, "No, it 

 can't be possible that Doolittlo has been guiKy of 

 selling (foliar queens." Yes, Doolittle was guilty of 

 selling one of his best tested queens for fl.OO to a 

 gentleman who desired a good tested queen for a 

 dollar, saying he could not afford to pay more for 

 one, as he was short of this world's goods. So we 

 have 66 left. Well, three of our friends claimed a loss 

 of queens, by letting them lie around for a day or 

 two carelesslj', as it looked to me, and these I re- 

 placed at half price. Six of my friends wrote me 

 that they lost their queens in introducing, but made 

 no claims upon me, as they considered the loss all 

 their own. After I had filled all the orders I had 

 booked, I sent each of these a queen as a present. 

 Then I exchanged queens with three different psr- 

 ties, and one of them died within a week after she 

 was introduced, so I had to take one of my own to 

 replace her. This brings it down to 50, while six of 

 these were given to neighbors. The remaining 50 

 were considered as not coming up to my standard of 

 queens, so their heads were pinched off. Friend H., 

 if your inquisitive nature is not entirely satisfied, 

 just let yourself rest for a little while till I get breath 

 again. 



ABOUT THOSE TWO EXTKA-PURE QUEENS. 



Jerome Wiltse seems to be " astonished at the 

 doctrine," and thinks Doolittle not explicit enough, 

 and says I mention no owner, and give no character- 

 istics of the bees. The queen from which "there 

 were hiindreds of queens raised daring three years, 

 none of which ever produced aught but three-banded 

 bees," was purchased of H. A. King, of Nevada, O., 

 and owned by a neighbor bee-keeper. As I was then 

 young in the business, and wished to travel around 

 among bee-keepers to learn what I could, he pro- 

 pssed to take me in as a partner, he raising the 

 queens and 1 taking them around with me, and sell- 

 ing them, which was accepted. Thus we worked for 

 three years, he raising all thequeens from this same 

 mother. As nothing but bands was guaranteed, of 

 course we did not stop to test them, and all were sold 

 for pure Italians. The queen which produced the 

 63 queens which produced all three-banded bees was 

 purchased by myself of A. I. Root in 1873. Friend 

 Wiltse seems to get my quotation from page 13;J, 

 Vol. II. of Gleanings, mixed with the present time; 

 while the "past season" refers to the time of the 

 quotation, which was 1871. Now, as to the charac- 

 teristics: The bees from all these queens were just 

 as docile as any bees I ever handled, and all parties 

 pronounced them pure Italians, some of whom con- 

 Bidered themselves experts. After a second cross, 

 when more or less black bees were produced, then it 

 was that the irascibility of the hybrid was mani- 



fested. The bees produced by the granddaughters 

 of these two queens quoted above were the worst 

 bees to handle ot any I ever owned. As regards the 

 sentence, " It is said that a cross of the black bee 

 with the Egyptian will, in three generation-!, produce 

 a bee which no one can tell from the best Italian," I 

 quoted from memory. It strikes me that Mr. Lang- 

 stroth is the author of it; but I can not tell for cer- 

 tain, and I have not the time at my disposal to hunt 

 it up. 1 have never tested the matter, for I never 

 had an Egyptian bee. Now, gentlemen, I have given 

 you the facts in the case, and leave the matter here, 

 for I have no lime for long arguments. In conclu- 

 sion, I wish to say, that, from my practical experi- 

 ence, I have been led to believe that the breeding of 

 bees is not analogous to that of swine, sheep, etc., 

 and thus a long-winded argument to that effect es- 

 tablishes nothing. The facts as I have given them, 

 and the corroboration of them by others, are 

 stronger than theories, in my mind. 

 Borodino, N. Y., March, 1882. G. M. Doolittlle. 



FOUL BROOD. 



DIRECTIONS FOR ITS TREATMENT AND CURE. 



FRIEND from California sent me two piecesof 

 comb, requesting me to state whRther they 

 were infected with foul brood or not. Most 

 of the cells were capped, and, removing the capping, 

 the cells appeared to be empty. I examined closely 

 those two pieces of comb, and found that eggs had 

 developed into larvie in both of them. While the 

 cells were capped, the larvte died, dried up, and 

 shriveled up into so small a mass that it was not vis- 

 ible any more to the naked eye in some cells. In 

 others it was still visible, and in some it was very 

 plain indeed, showing even yet the shape of the 

 nymph. These latter were apparently the cells 

 most matured when they took the disease. The 

 smaller piece of comb showed this state of affairs 

 more plainly than the large piece, because it was of 

 more recent date, and consequently the dead brood 

 was not dried up to quite the same extent. 



It is in this sh ipe in which the insidious character 

 of foul brood is most dangerous. The diseased larvaa 

 dries up in capped and uncapped coils, so that the 

 best of us will be deceived. But it is there; and 

 just as sure as you hang one of those combs in a 

 healthy colony, and an egg is laid in one of those 

 cells, that hive will be affected with foul brood just 

 as soon as the egg developes into a larva, and soft- 

 ens up that mummy. If that infected cell would 

 have been filled with honey, the infection of the col- 

 ony would have been postponed only to the time 

 when the bees would have made use of its honey, 

 and fed it to larvos. However, if j'ou had taken a 

 little brush and washed out those cells with salicylic 

 acid, as Mr. Hilbort does it, those mummies would 

 have been made harmless. But that is a particular 

 and a serious job, more especially in a country like 

 ours, where time is money. I render, therefore. In- 

 to wax all combs that have been in an infected hive, 

 and let the bees start out anew in a clean hive, on 

 comb foundation, with a Jar of honey with perfor- 

 ated cover inserted above them, the honey prepared 

 as given in my "Practical Hints," page 31 — an 

 ounce of the medicine to everj' quart of the food. 

 Being out of combs and brood and stores, the bees 

 partake of the food very readily (more especially be- 



