638 



GLEANINGS IN BEE OLTl.TL'KK 



OCTOBEK, 1918 



Around the Office — Continued 



well even in the fifth year. It would seem 

 quite probable to us that the progeny of 

 such a queen would be long-lived, and if 

 one continued breeding from such queens 

 they might in time produce bees with much 

 greater longevity than stock from which 

 they originally started. ' ' 



Those are the illuminatin beams of in- 

 formation Davis got from lony Fowls — and 

 I 'm guessin he got about all there is radiat- 

 in on the subject, too. But it didn't seem 

 satisfyin to one high muckamuck around 

 the office, so he put off to the queen rearin 

 yard for more penetratin light on the sub- 

 ject and got this from old Philosopher up 

 there: "The longevity of bees is determin- 

 ed by the work they do. Those that hatch at 

 the beginning of the honey flow only live 

 about seven weeks while those that hatch in 

 the fall live thru until spring — seven 

 months. Some bees probably have more 

 vitality than others and can work longer in 

 summer and also winter better. I know of 

 no way of distinguishing one from the other 

 except by observing these qualities. Breed- 

 ing from queens five or more years old, 

 which would naturally be rather low in vi- 

 tality, I would think would have a deterior- 

 ating effect on their progeny which would 

 more than offset any gain in the line of 

 longevity. " 



Waal, when this enlightenin elucidashun 

 filtered in from the queen -rearin yard, it 

 started every disputatious sunofagon around 

 the ofiice agoin it on this ere subject of lon- 

 gevity, and there was more talk than you 

 could jam into a session of the great Ameri- 

 can Congress — and that's some. All the 

 authorities were looked up — Doc Miller, A B 

 C and X Y Z, Doc Phillips, Pellet, Quinby, 

 Langstroth, et cettery. Nothin doin. More 

 disputin all the time, till finally lony 

 Fowls came down on the queen-rearin ' 

 yard's wisdom with this one: "If certain 

 varying combinations of factors produce a 

 given result, the presence of that result 

 does not prove the existence of each one of 

 the factors. In other words, altho longevity 

 may be a factor in the production of good 

 honey gatherers and good winterers, there 

 are also other important factors and the fact 

 that a colony produces a large amount of 

 honey and winters well, does not necessarily 

 prove that they have longevity. If he 

 thinks it does then the burden of proof lies 

 with him. A mere statement should not 

 suffice. ' ' 



Take that in your pipe and smoke it will 

 you, Mel, if it aint too strong. 



But what I am a reviewin the whole ease 

 for is to tell that seeker after pure truth, 

 Mr. Davis of Bangall, N. Y., that these old 

 bee wiseakers don't probably know a d-'rn,,n 

 thing about it, so they don't. [See, I had 

 the printer scratch out that word durnd.] 



I agree with Mel, and that almost ought 

 to settle it, so it had, — only I don't know 

 what Mel means. 



Dr, Miller QUEENS | 



We are again i-earing queens from 

 mothers supplied by Dr. Miller from 

 his apiary. These bees are proving 

 to be very gentle as well as hardy and 

 resistant to Foul Brood. Two queen- 

 breeders not interested in us at all 

 have declared them to be the gentlest 

 bees they ever saw. Our list of cus- 

 tomers that demand Miller Strain is 

 growing fast. Remember that we are 

 the only breeders that get breeders di- 

 rect from Dr. Miller. Can you find 

 a man more able than Dr. Miller to 

 select your breeding queens? Besides 

 that he has the material that he has 

 been working on for over fifty years 

 to select from. Safe arrival and satis- 

 faction guaranteed. 



One untested, $1.00; 12 for $10; 25 

 or more, 75c each. 



The Stover Apiaries 

 Penn, Miss. 



Formerly of Mayhew, Miss. 



QUEENS 



Bred for Honey 

 Production 



That are gentle and hardy. Beared 

 from the best mothers by the best 

 known methods. We will have 2000 

 mating nuclei in operation by June 

 15th. 



We may have some pound packages 

 to offer after June 15th but are not in 

 position to say until about June 10th 

 to 15th. Safe arrival and satisfaction 

 guaranteed. 



One untested, 75c each; 12 to 100, 

 60c each. Full colony in 8-fr. hive 

 with tested queen, $9.00; 10-fr. hive, 

 $10.00. Can make prompt shipment 

 of these. 



The Penn Company 

 Penn, Lowndes Co., Miss. 



