May 31), 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



343 



a lot of odd-sized hives. But now Mr. Doolittle says the 

 r.,ang-stroth is just as g-ood as the Gallup, and has the advan- 

 tage of being- regular. 



And that reminds me that Mr. D. has decried other 

 fads which he has since adopted. He condemned, for 

 instance, thick top-bars, on the ground that he wanted burr- 

 combs as "ladders" to enable the bees to climb up into 

 the supers ; and now he is recommending thick top-bars 1 

 If I mistake not, he once protested against the introduc- 

 tion of comb foundation, but is now using it. and sanctions 

 its use. Prominently among those who pushed the fad for 

 yellow or five-banded bees was Mr. Doolittle. If there is 

 any fad that has cost bee-keepers a few dollars (not thou- 

 sands), and for which there may have been little or no return 

 in honey, it was the rage for golden Italians ; and Mr. 

 Doolittle is still pushing them, if I mistake not. I do not 

 say there is anything wrong in selling them. If one 

 wishes beauty, he has a right to pay for it, and the breeder 

 to sell it ; but when Mr. Doolittle condemns others for 

 pushing the fad of long-tongued bees — bees that give a 

 promise of bringing in more honey — he should not forget 

 that there may be others who may be equally honest in 

 advertising and selling long-reach bees. 



He apparently questions the propriety of charging rflO, 

 -515, or S20, for queens. If so, it is wrong for him, but per- 

 haps in a lesser degree, to charge $5.00 for his best queens. 

 It may be that no single bee is worth $2.5. I have no quar- 

 rel with any one who so thinks. I know this : We refused 

 an offer of f25 for a daughter of our best breeder. If it is 

 right to sell stallions, Jersey bulls, dogs, and roosters of 

 high blood, at big prices, is it awfully wicked to sell queen- 

 bees at ten and twenty-five dollars? Certainly not; for 

 Mr. D. has said that the queen is the pivotal center of the 

 colony ; and in the same way an extra-good queen is the 

 pivotal center of a whole apiarj'. 



He quotes Stenog, in " Pickings," as saying that no 

 one claims that the long-tongued bees would be any better 

 except on red clover, and then goes on to say if this is cor- 

 rect " then these long-tongued bees are of no special advan- 

 tage to me nor to two-thirds of the acreage of North 

 America." / never claimed that the long-tongue bees 

 would be useful on red clover alone. The fact is, there are 

 other honey-plants that iiave deep corroUa-tubes. I refer 

 especially to the Coinposi/ir family. Then there are certain 

 corrolla-tubes in the heads of alsike that are too long for 

 the bees to reach to the bottom ; and there are certain 

 tubes of even white clover that are somewhat long for the 

 tongue-reach of the average bee. If there are other honey- 

 plants that have deep corrolla-tubes, then practically all of 

 Mr. Doolittle's argument falls to the ground. He certainly 

 knows that the flora of different localities of the United 

 States is decidedly difl'erent, especially in the South ; and 

 he must not judge the whole United States by the vicinity 

 in and around his place of residence in Onondaga County, 

 N. Y. 



He says, further, that he finds breeders in the extreme 

 Southern States, such as Florida and Texas, advertising 

 long-tongued queens, "just as if those long tongues were 

 a great desideratum for that Southern country." Why, Mr. 

 Doolittle, don't you know that most of the Southern-bred 

 queens are sold in the North ? Can't you see, for instance, 

 how a manufacturer of stump-pulling machines, located on 

 the prairies of Illinois, might sell such machines in locali- 

 ties in other States where such machinery would be in 

 demand ? 



The quotations Mr. Doolittle makes are, I find, from 

 one of Mr. Hutchinson's advertisements, from some of my 

 own writings, and from a statement or two in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. Right on the heels of these he says : 

 "To give misleading statements, or those that are actually 

 false, is something that our bee-papers of the present day 

 should not stoop to do — not even when the motive of gain 

 prompts the advertisers." Why, Mr. Doolittle, is it pos- 

 sible that Mr. Hutchinson, the editors of some of the other 

 bee-papers, and all these other brethren whom you have 

 quoted, are putting out " statements "...." that are actu- 

 ally false," and " stooping " to unfair methods simply for 

 " gain ■■"' I can not think you believe that. They may be 

 misled ; they may be mistaken : they may be wrong in their 

 opinions ; but falsifiers for gain, never. 



You say there are times when it is necessary to "call a 

 halt." I partly agree with you: but it seems to me, Mr. 

 Doolittle. in view of what I published on page 2'^^ of 

 Gleanings, that you are somewhat late in the day. After 

 making all those quotations, and putting them in such a 

 way as to leave the impression before the average reader 

 that those of us who sold long-tongued stock had quite lost 



our heads, you might, in all fairness, have given other 

 quotations from the same writers that hold up the danger- 

 signals. For example, on page 295 of April 1st Gleanings, 

 I said : 



" There is danger that many who t;et queens of this blood (lonsr- 

 tongue) will be disappointed, and in the end the whole business lie 

 condemned. .. .It is only proper to sound a note of warning. . ..\\\- 

 are not positively sure that the amount of honey a colony will {jathi-r 

 is in direct proportion to the length of the tongues of its bees. ... In 

 any case, let us nut lose our lieads." 



Again, on page 401 I published something more in the 

 same line. I did not give these editorials because I thought 

 it was necessary to call a " halt," but only to draw atten- 

 tion to certain phases of the question that were liable to 

 abuse, and to prevent, if possible, probable disappointment. 



In conclusion, let us bear in mind these facts : That 

 red clover is not the only plant, by any means, that has 

 long nectar-tubes. Second, that, if we succeed in getting 

 long-tongue stock, we shall have bees that will get more 

 honey out of alsike, as well as more honey out of red 

 clover. During the seasons of heavy rains, when the 

 clovers have a stocky, vigorous growth, I have seen the cor- 

 rolla-tubes of alsike as long as the tubes in ordinary red 

 clover in common seasons, and I have seen the nectar-tubes 

 of white clover — that is, the longest of them — too deep for 

 the average bees to reach the bottom of. 



I desire to say that I believe Mr. Doolittle is honest in 

 his position ; but he has allowed his prejudices to warp his 

 judgment, I fear. I bear no ill will toward him, and hope 

 he does not toward me. 



No. 3.— Practical Lessons for BesSinners in Bee- 

 Culture. 



BY J. D. GEHRIXG. 

 Continued from page 2' '5.) 



" Now, Mr. Bond," I said, after returning with him to 

 the hive chosen as our object lesson, " right liere is a prac- 

 tical illustration of what may be accomplished in the direc- 

 tion of success in bee-culture. This colony has done won- 

 ders so far this season. In fact, it has stood first-rank ever 

 since I first started it with its present queen. 



" Bee-books tell us that a queen should be superseded 

 the third or fourth year, because at that age queens begin 

 to decline in egg-laying power. I have seen this seemingly 

 orthodox deliverance asserted, re-asserted, and elaborated 

 in the bee-papers by bee-keepers whose orthodoxy one 

 would scarcely venture to call in question. But neither 

 bee text-books, bee-papers, nor leaders in bee-culture, are 

 entirely reliable in all things ; owing, however, to the fact 

 that many things come to our notice by practical experi- 

 ence and observation, as we pursue each his own theory or 

 plan, that are unique in the sense of being new, or without 

 precedent. My experience with this colony for three years 

 proves that this assertion, which may seem to some like an 

 unjust aspersion, is neither rash nor egotistical. 



" Well, to illustrate : I took from this hive, this morn- 

 ing before you came, four supers of 28 one-pound sections 

 each, all well-filled and beautifully finished, and nearlv as 

 white as snow. The fifth super — the one I took off a little 

 while ago — is also full of honey ; but, as the sections are 

 not all sealed over, I leave it on the hive until the bees com- 

 plete their work in it. But, in order to provide honey- 

 storing room for them I shall give them a fresh super 

 directly. 



" Now, you see, here is a honey-yield from this one 

 colony of five supers, or 140 pounds — all white clover honey. 

 And, the white clover yet being in fairly good condition, 

 there is a prospect of at least one more super being filled 

 and finished ; making six in all. Then there is the late 

 honey to come in yet, from which they may fill another 

 super for me, and store from 30 to 40 pounds for themselves 

 to winter on." 



" Excuse me, Mr. Gehring, for expressing my opinion, 

 but that's about the fishiest honey-story I have ever heard." 



Mr. Bond was leaning against the apple-tree under 

 which was the champion colony when he made this slangy 

 remark. When I turned to look at him in order to interpret, 

 if possible, the expression of his face, I saw that he had 

 removed his bee-veil, with his hat, and was — I thought 

 rather nervously — mopping his jovial face with his red 

 pocket handkerchief. It was evident that he had quite for- 

 gotten his previous precautions against danger. There 

 were no angry bees about just then, however, for I had not 

 yet opened the hive, but was standing near it with my 



