850 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1 



through unhurt, a third strikes on his head 

 and is killed, and so on. Without the bur- 

 den, each one might have gone through safe- 

 ly. Moral: Cage j'our queen a day before 

 mailing. [All of these points are worth con- 

 sideration, but I do not believe we can give a 

 positive answer to an}^ one of the questions, 

 with our present knowledge. — Ed. J 



I'm afraid, Mr. Editor, that you and I 

 do not attach the same meaning to the word 

 "incidental," or you would not object to 

 "incidental proofs" that IS days are enough 

 for tlie development of a queen. To go by 

 the dictionary, proofs "happening or com- 

 ing" without regularitj^ or design" may be 

 as positive and emphatic as those coming 

 in the course of a carefully planned exper- 

 iment. Such proofs I have had, and they 

 are none the less reliable because inciden- 

 tal. [I attached exactly the same meaning 

 that you do; but my point was this: That 

 if these proofs happened to come along 

 without regularity or design, you, the ob- 

 server, would not be watching the matter 

 as closelj' as if you had set in motion a 

 train of events to prove or disprove the 

 proposition. We may see a thing- happen a 

 thousand times, but learn nothing from it, 

 either as to its cause or prevention; but, 

 however, I accept the 15 days, as I think at 

 present the balance of evidence is in favor 

 of that length of time rather than in favor 

 of 16.— Ed^J 



After trying for years to get people to 

 say "colony" when colony was meant, 

 Gleanings has given up being so hide- 

 bound, and now allows "stand" for "colo- 

 U3'," and on page 816 "hive" is used for 

 "colony." Of course, "swarm " for colony 

 is equally admissible, and is, in fact, used, 

 p. 817. It gives variety to have several 

 names for the same thing and several thing-s 

 for the same name. It's a good deal of 

 trouble always to choose carefully the right 

 word, and it will be a good deal easier if 

 any old word will do. Then there will be 

 a pleasing variety in the various ways in 

 which tlie same article will be understood. 

 [If you had to read all the proof that goes 

 into a bee-periodical, I am afraid you would 

 find it difficult to alzvays substitute the word 

 "colony "for "swarm." But for the sake of 

 avoiding repetition our plan is to allow the 

 use of the word "stock" or "stand" for 

 "colonj';" but we always aim to make a 

 discrimination between "swarm" and " col- 

 on }\" Certainljs doctor, you would not 

 compel a farmer alwaj's to use the word 

 "cattle," and never say "stock," as ap- 

 plieti to the same class of animals. In- 

 deed, the great power of the English lan- 

 guage rests in its choice of words. — Ed.] 



DooLiTTLE, in AiHcr. Bee^Jourtial, speaks 

 of 108,000 bees from one queen being in a 

 hive at the same time, as if it were an easy 

 possibilitj'. I commit him to the tender 

 mercies of the editor of the bee-journal call- 

 ed Gleanings. [I have just consulted Doo- 

 little's article, and I can not make out that 

 its writer considers 108,000 bees as within 



the range of "easy possibilities " for one 

 colony. To quote him exactly, he says, 

 "We can have in that hive, barring acci- 

 dents, if the hive is properlj' managed, 108,- 



000 bees." Italics mine. What he means, 



1 take it, is that such a number is a possi- 

 bility, not as if it were a common or "easy 

 possibility," as you put it. Say, doctor, 

 those glasses of yours are slant-eyed — eh? 

 Now, I will make you a proposition. If you 

 can find in any one of your eight-frame col- 

 onies next summer — yes, we will make it a 

 two-story eight-framer, 100,000 bees, by ac- 

 tual weight, shaken off the combs into a 

 box, and weighed, and counting 5000 bees 

 to the pound — well, I will give you the best 

 layings queen, outside of our best breeder, 

 we have in our apiary. Perhaps 100,000 

 bees might be crammed into a two-story 

 hive with comb and brood; but in the ordi- 

 nary course of events. I do not believe one 

 will find more than half that number as the 

 progeny of one queen. Understand, I am 

 g-iving you a pick of your ivhole apiary. — 

 Ed.]' 



"Are the drones from a queen that has 

 never met a drone virile?" is a question 

 suggested \)y the editor, p. 778. Dzierzon 

 holds that they are. On p. 224 of American 

 Bee Journal, Vol. I., the baron of Berlepsch 

 gives a posteriori proof that is aliiicst con- 

 clusive. On p. 246 of the same volume is 

 g-iven the testimonj^ of no less an authority 

 than Prof. Leuckart, which, I think, settles 

 the question. He says: "Those originat- 

 ing from the eggs of unfecundated or drone- 

 producing queens are, as I have ascertain- 

 ed, as perfectly developed and as fully vir- 

 ile as others. So likewise are those dwarf 

 or diminutive drones, which are occasional- 

 ly^ bred in worker cells. Nay, even in a 

 drone hatched in a royal cell, though pre- 

 maturely' dead, sent to me by Mr. Kleine, I 

 have unquestionably found seminal fila- 

 ments and male org-ans. The case is pre- 

 cisely similar also with drones hatched from 

 eggs laid by fertile workers. Mr. Vog-el 

 inserted in a hive of common bees a drone 

 comb containing eggs laid by an Italian 

 worker (which he had seen laying in a 

 queenless stock), and removed the colony to 

 an isolated locality. Italian drones were 

 hatclied, and two common queens, fecundat- 

 ed while these drones were flying-, produc- 

 ing partly common and partly Italian work- 

 ers. As there were then no other Italian 

 drones in that neighborhood, those queens 

 must have been fertilized by drones produc- 

 ed from the eggs of the fertile worker." 

 [This ought to be sufficient proof. — Ed.] 



T. P., A'v. — The statement has been made 

 several times that pure Italian bees are not 

 so subject to the ravages of black brood as 

 are black bees. Beyond this we can give 

 3'ou no information. But if I were in a lo- 

 cality afflicted with that disease I would 

 Italianize as rapidlj' as possible, as I be- 

 lieve it would pay, whether the yellow bees 

 were or were not immune to black brood. 



