May, 1908. 



American ^ae Jiournal 



some nuclei, as we will need some 

 queens to take the place of those that 

 are lost. It is also the clay on which 

 to make our increase. 



Those 95 queens all hatch at about the 

 same time. The practical honey - pro- 

 ducer, where running several yards, must 

 have a certain line of work that fits 

 every colony in that one yard, the same 

 day. 



Whv There Is No Swarming. 



Many will ask the question ; "When 

 these young queens hatch will we not 

 have some swarming?" In taking away 

 the last 1,000 queens, not one of the 

 colonies has swarmed. At this time, 

 they do not hatch until just after the 

 honcy-fiow. 



Why We Requeen. 



First, for the improvement of our 

 bees. Second, it gives us complete con- 

 trol of our bees, in every yard, from 

 start to finish. 



Hhrdly one colony in 100 is ever 

 queenless. Again, it is remarkable how 

 £veH our colonies are at all times. This 

 is a big thing, as all our colonies arc 

 ready for the same kind of work at the 

 same time. 



These young queens build our colonies 

 up for winter better than old queens 

 can, and they lay later in the season, 

 giving more young bees for winter. 



S. D. Chapman. 



Does Mating Affect the Drone Prog- 

 eny? 



"Subscriber" writes that when one of 

 his young queens of pure blood meets 

 a black drone the worker progeny will 

 vary in color, but the drones show no 

 signs of black blood, and are just as 

 bright as the drones of the queen's 

 mother or of her purely mated sisters. 



Dzierzon, along with other authorities, 

 held that the drone was in no way af- 

 fected by the mating of his mother, but 

 there are some who believe differently. 

 The case may be considered from the 

 standpoint of reasoning, and also of ob- 

 servation. The eggs that produce drones 

 not being fertilized, it is certain that 

 they can not be affected in exactly the 

 same way as eggs which are fertilized 

 and produce workers. It sometimes 

 happens that a queen which has never 

 been fertilized nevertheless lays, her 

 eggs producing only drones. In this 

 case certainly fertilization can have no 

 effect, for there has been no fertiliza- 

 tion. Neither are the eggs of a normal 

 queen fertilized, and they can not be af- 

 fected by fertilization unless fertilization 

 has wrought an actual change in the 

 queen herself. 



What does observation show? At the 

 present day there is such a mixture of 

 black and Italian blood that satisfactory 

 observations are difficult. The localities 

 are very few where blacks and Italians 

 may both be found in their purity. Yet 

 there are many places where a pure yel- 

 low queen may meet a drone of mi.xed 

 blood, and "Subscriber" testifies that in 

 such a case the drones show no effect 

 of mismating. On the first introduction 

 of Italians, there was abundant oppor- 

 tunity to observe the result when a yel- 

 low queen met a black drone, and it 

 would be the natural thing that close 

 watch should be kept. Is there testi- 

 mony on record that there was plain evi- 



dence of such mismating in the color of 

 the drones? 



As before hinted, whatever change is 

 produced in fertilization upon the drone, 

 it must be through a change in the queen 

 herself. Has any one observed a change 

 in a yellow queen after meeting a black 

 drone? Some one has said that he has 

 observed a gradual darkening of the col- 

 or of such a queen. Unless the change 

 in color were quite conspicuous, it would 

 be difficult for one to carry in one's 

 memory the shade of a month or a year 

 ago to compare with the present shade. 

 Also a queen may become darker in ap- 

 pearance through losing her plumage, 

 just as a worker-bee does. 



If mating vvitli a dark drone changes 

 the color of a queen, would not a white 

 hen or any otiier white female show 

 more plainly a cliange in color after re- 

 peated mating with a dark male? 



On the whole, does it look reasonable 

 to believe that the mating of the queen 

 has very much effect on her male 

 progeny? 



Honey- Analyses — Bulletin No. 110 



This office is in receipt of Bulletin 

 No. no of the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, entitled "Chemical Analysis 

 of and Composition of American Hon- 

 eys, by C. A. Browne, Chief of Sugar 

 Laboratory, including A Microscopical 

 Study of Honey Pollen, by W. J. Young." 

 Few but scientists will understand the 

 explanations given as to the methods of 

 analysis, but every bee-keeper should be 

 interested in the results of the analyses 

 themselves. 



Three main purposes in the undertak- 

 ing of the work are given : 



1st, to determine the general composi- 

 tion of our native honeys. 



2d, to establish a general range for the 

 variation in the composition of Ameri- 

 can honeys, which should be of assist- 

 ance to the food chemist in the examina- 

 tion of commercial samples ; this latter 

 being made especially necessary by the 

 recent passage of the food and drugs 

 act. 



3d, to investigate and improve, if pos- 

 sible, the official methods of honey- 

 analysis. 



No attempt will be here made to give 

 a systematic review of this pamphlet 

 numbering 93 pages, but some points 



of interest here and there will be men- 

 tioned. Of the 100 samples, 90 were 

 labeled with the name of one definite 

 flower, the other 10 being labeled mixed. 

 But microscopic examination of the pol- 

 len grains showed that not a single 

 sample was derived exclusively from 

 the nectar of one kind of flower. Of 14 

 samples labeled clover, and no doubt sup- 

 posed to be pure white clover by the bee- 

 keepers who sent them, not a single 

 specimen had less than 6 kinds of pollen 

 obtained from other flowers ! So it 

 seems that when we talk about pure 

 honey of a particular flower, it is not to 

 be understood in too strict a sense. 



Surprise is occasioned by finding al- 

 falfa pollen in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, 

 Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wiscon- 

 sin samples of clover honey. Do bees 

 in these States work on alfalfa so much 

 more than is generally supposed, or can 

 it be possible that some other pollen was 

 mistaken for alfalfa? The latter seems 

 hardly a reasonable supposition when 

 one looks at the illustrations of 48 dif- 

 ferent kinds of pollen grains, magnified 

 250 diameters, and varying as much in 

 size and shape as the flowers them;elves. 



Formic acid "is wanting in the pollen 

 and nectar of flowers and is supposed to 

 be introduced into the honey by the bee 

 just previous to capping the cell." That 

 sounds like an echo of the theory ema- 

 nating from the late Rev. W. F. Clarke, 

 who asserted tjiat just previous to cap- 

 ping the cell the worker dropped from 

 its sting into the honey a tiny drop of 

 poison. Is there any intelligent bee- 

 keeper who holds such a view now- 

 adays ? 



It is perhaps a common belief that the 

 inversion of sucrose, or cane-sugar, 

 ceases when the liquid is deposited in 

 the cell. Not only does it not cease then, 

 but we are told, "It has happened in the 

 experience of the Bureau of Chemistry 

 that samples of honey taken by inspec- 

 tors from casks and bottled and sealed 

 have decreased considerably in sucrose 

 content within 4 months." 



This bulletin can be secured only 

 through the Supt. of Documents, Gov. 

 Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 

 Send 30 cents in coin or money-order 

 (stamps not accepted), and if the price 

 is less the difference will be refunded. 

 (Continued on page 150) 



flfiscellaneoJ 

 flews -Items 



Report of the Dtuoit National Con- 

 vention 

 A reporter for the coming National 

 convention is one of the things to be 

 looked after with care. Possibly, not 

 more than 10 percent of the members 

 can attend the convention — fhe rest must 

 depend upon a printed report of what 

 was said and done. They pay their 



iiiuiiLV to support the Association, and 

 we owe it to them to give them a com- 

 plete and accurate report. The best re- 

 porter tliat we have ever employed i> 

 Mr. Geo. Angus, of Toronto, Ontario. 

 Canada. He has had a lot of experi 

 ence in reporting bee conventiotis, ha^ 

 caught on to the technical terms, and 

 furnishes a report all correctly worded. 



