646 



AMERICAN BEE lOUPNAL 



Oct. 10, 1901. 



The committee on " Resolutions and Petitions " handed 

 in their report, which was adopted. 



The South-Texas Bee-Keepers' Association, meeting in 

 conjunction with the other associations, asked that they be 

 allowed sufficient time to transact some of the Association's 

 business, and to elect officers for the ensuing year ; also to 

 decide upon a place to meet the next year. Officers elected 

 for the coming year : E. J. Atchley, president ; W. I ). Vic- 

 tor, vice-president ; W. H. Lewis, secretary. 



The next place of meeting will be at Beeville, Tex., on 

 the first Wednesday and Thursday in September, 1902. 



The committee judging the bee-keepers' exhibits 

 handed in their report of awards, as follows : 



AW.\RDS AND WINNERS. 



Coi,i,EGE Station, July 25, 1901. 

 JJtj Louis ScfioU, fSn-retiiry-Trfiisnri'r, Tcxn.s Bre-Keepers^ Associaliitn 



Single-eomb nucleus. Golden Italians, 1st prize, S2.50 — 0. P. Hyde 

 it Son. 



Single-comb nucleus, 3-band Italians, 1st prize $2.50 — O. P. Hvde 

 A Son. 



Single-comb nucleus, Holy-Land, 1st prize, $2.50 —O. P. Hyde A: 

 Son. 



Sweepstakes on bees, greatest number of different races, 1st, Sur- 

 prise package of valuable articles— O. P. Hyde tV: Son. 



Best section comb-honey exhibit — 1st, one-comb honey hire — G. 

 F. Davidson; 2d, Golden breeder queen — J. B. Salyer. 



Best sample case section honey. Special, 50 cents — G. F. Davidson. 



Best bulk comb-honey exhibit — 1st, 5 cases honey-cans — (i. F. 

 Davidson ; 3d, Golden breeder queen — J. B. Salyer. 



Best sample bulk comb honey. Special, .50 cents — G. F. Davidson. 



Best extracted honey exhibit — 1st, 5 cases honey-cans — G. F. Da- 

 vidson; 2d, Holy- Land breeder — J. B. Salyer. 



Best specimen extracted honey, Special, .50 cents — G. F. Davidson. 



Best exhibit beeswax — 1st, solar wax-extractor — Louis SchoU: 

 2d, Apiary tool-chest — J. B. Salyer. 



Best sample cake bright yellow wax. Special, .50 cents — Louis 

 SchoU. 



Best display honey-plants, pressed and mounted, 1st, Brass Hig- 

 ginsville smoker — Louis SchoU; Special .50 cents — Louis Soholl. 



Largest and best display apiarian implements, tst, Cash jirize, 

 S.5.00— Udo Toepperwein; 2d, Foundation fastener — O. P. Hyde & 

 Son. 



Sweepstakes, largest, best and most interesting and instructive 

 exhibit, all things considered, 1st, Cowan honey-extractor — Udo Toep- 

 perwein ; 2d, cash prize of $10—0. P. Hyde & Son. 



Best exhibit bee-keepers' supplies, Ist, blue ribbon — Udo Toepper- 

 wein : 2d, red ribbon — O. P. Hyde & Son. 



The other business was then all settled, and just before 

 adjournment, upon the entering into the room of the bee- 

 keepers' section of the Farmers' Congress, of Prof. Connell. 

 he was presented with a case of beautiful white section 

 comb honey, by the Association, from Mr. G. F. Davidson, 

 with very appropriate words by Mr. Atchley. Prof. Con- 

 nell accepted the same with words showing very pointedly 

 how this kindness was appreciated by him, and he thanked 

 them all for their kindness. 



The convention then adjourned. 



J. B. Salyer, Pres. Louis Scholl, Sec. 



\ Contributed Articles, i 



Queen-Breeding— A Review of the Subject. 



liV ADRIAN' GF,T.\Z. 



JUST now, in some bee-papers, a certain class of critics 

 have chosen to criticise our queen-breeders severel)', 



intimating that they don't know the fundamental prin- 

 ciples of the art. Some have even intimated that a college 

 course of study should have been taken, or at least a full 

 study of Darwin, Huxley, etc. Exactly what advantage a 

 college education in Greek, Latin, baseball and higher 

 mathematics would be to a queen-breeder, has not been 

 shown. It is even questionable if a full knowledge of Hux- 

 ley's and Darwin's theories concerning the " Origin of Spe- 

 cies " and " Descent of Man " would be of any use at all. 



Again, the fact that our leading queen-breeders are not 

 filling the bee-papers with learned (?) contributions on the 

 subject, is not at all a proof that they are a lot of igno- 

 ramuses. Some of them undoubtedly know a good deal 

 more than their critics suspect. The fact is, that these 

 critics who speak so learnedly (?) about in-breeding, and 



other similar topics, do not seem to know so very much, 

 after all ; and while they have succeeded very well in criti- 

 cising what is done, they have lamentably failed to show 

 what ought to be done. 



To-day it is raining, and I have nothing pressing to do, 

 so I will take my chances and dabble into the subject, run- 

 ning the risk of showing my own ignorance just for the fun 

 of it. 



HEREDITY. 



It is hardly necessary to say that heredity is a short 

 word to state the fact that any living being is similar to 

 his father and mother, or ancestors. So a cat is a cat simi- 

 lar to his ancestors. A plant of corn is similar to those 

 that furnished the grain from which it grows, and the pol- 

 len which fecundated the grain. (In writing this I use 

 common words in place of scientific terms, as far as pos- 

 sible). 



VARIABILITY. 



But the offspring is never the exact image of its ances- 

 tors. There is always some minor difference, sometimes 

 one way, sometimes another, sometimes in one particular, 

 sometimes in another — in size, color, different aptitudes, 

 etc. It is that disposition that enables us to improve our 

 stock. For instance, suppose we want a stock of cattle 

 especially good for producing milk, we first begin by choos- 

 ing the best milking cow procurable, and a bull a descend- 

 ant also of good milking stock. In virtue of heredity, their 

 descendants will be generally better milk-producers than 

 any kind of cattle taken at random. In virtue of the vari- 

 ability, some will be better, and some not so good, some 

 may be even better than their immediate ancestors, and 

 some may be worse. We choose the best, those, if possible, 

 better than their immediate ancestors, and repeat the pro- 

 cess again and again. Eventually we will get a stock 

 superior in aptitude to produce milk. 



It is almost needless to say that all our noted breeds of 

 stock — cattle, horses, chickens, dogs, etc. — have been pro- 

 duced, I might say created, by that process. 



SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. 



This is called a theory and often criticised or made fun 

 of. But it is a fact, not a theory. Let me give some 

 examples : Suppose some deer were put in a country 

 where there are wolves. Suppose some very fleet on foot 

 and some quite slow in running. The wolves will undoubt- 

 edly catch up with and kill the slow runners. The fleet- 

 footed will escape and breed. The result is that the next 

 generation will average a better running stock. Of these, 

 again, the slowest will be destroyed, the quickest remain. 

 The result is that eventually a swift-running stock will be 

 the result. 



Take the quails and partridges. They may have been 

 of any and all colors at the beginning. But the bright-col- 

 ored ones were the easiest to see, and were caught by the 

 hawks and other enemies. The brown and gray remained. 

 The striped ones, as we see them now, are the least distin- 

 guishable from the brown earth and dead grasses, and 

 finally remained alone. In domesticity, where all are pro- 

 tected, all colors stand an equal chance, except what choice 

 the breeder may make. 



ACQUIRED QUALITIES. 



Not only the peculiarities inherent to the animals them- 

 selves at their birth, but also those acquired, are, at least to 

 a certain extent, transmitted to their offspring. Take, for 

 instance, the pointer dogs. The first were evidently trained 

 to that mode of hunting birds — a very unnatural one. 

 Their descendants, or rather some of them, inherited that 

 disposition, at least, to some extent. The best were chosen, 

 and more thoroughly trained, and the processpursued until 

 now we have a breed of dogs in which it has become a sec- 

 ond nature. There is no doubt that the thoroughly trained 

 race-horse stallion transmits to his offspring his acquired 

 qualities as well as those he possessed at his birth. 



TR.^NSMISSION. 



There are some laws governing the transmission of 

 faculties and peculiarities from ancestors to descendants. 



1. The same circumstances and environments tend to 

 preserve the characteristics of animals from generation to 

 generation, while a change will increase the tendency to 

 variations. 



2. This can be expected if we consider that the pecu- 

 liarities of the animals were formed under those circum- 

 stances and best adapted to them in virtue of the law of 

 the survival of the fittest. Bnt let the animal be put in a 



