November, 1912. 



American Vee Journal 



us who are trying to better ourselves ? 

 On tlie other hand, if it should happen 

 that you are mistaken, what possible 

 harm can come of it ? But there are 

 some of us who have had very good 

 proof that we are not mistaken, and we 

 wish you would stop trying to make a 

 hard thing any harder for us. 



I think the beginner will fairly in- 

 fer from what you say that the habit of 

 industry cannot be developed in the 

 bee. And from that it will be only a 

 short step for him to say, " All bees 

 are alike in industry, and under the 

 same circumstances one bee will gather 

 as much as another." Yet I think you 

 would tell him that under the same cir- 

 cumstances some bees will store more 

 than others. 



You say you believe management has 

 more to do with surplus honey crops 

 than the breed or color of bees. Well, 

 suppose it has, does that not still leave 

 it possible that the kind of bees is a 

 very important matter t Some of my 

 colonies store twice as much as others, 

 the management being precisely the 

 same. In such a case don't you think 

 that the kind of bees has more to do 

 with surplus honey crops than the 

 management ? 



You quote Mr. Doolittle as writing a 

 a book which was all management and 

 not a word as to kinds of bees, and 

 you seem to take that as proof that he 

 lightly esteemed the kinds of bees He 

 wrote another book in which he has 

 considerable to say about kinds of 

 bees, and not a word about manage- 

 ment for honey crops. If the first book 

 proved that the kind of bees doesn't 

 count, then the second proves that 

 management doesn't count. The fact 

 is that the book you quote was written 

 speciallj to teach management, and it 

 was not necessary to discuss kinds of 

 bees, any more than it was necessary 

 for him to discuss management for 

 crops when he was teaching queen- 

 rearing. 



You ask what has been done toward 

 permatnnt improvement, and refer to 

 the opinion of professional bee-keep- 

 ers. I suppose you would call me a 

 professional bee-keeper; at any rate, I 

 keep bees for the honey I can get from 

 them. I am ready to take my " affydavy " 

 that my bees are improved to such a 

 degree that year after year I get from 

 them crops of honey such as I cannot 

 get from the best stock I can buy. 

 Also I have improved (.') their vicious- 

 ness to such a degree that they are 

 holy terrors. 



You say " the knowledge of man goes 

 not back to the time when the bee was 

 different from what it is now, excepting 

 that we have yellow Italians." Why, 

 Doctor, don't you know that the bee is 

 different now ? I'm sure you don't for 

 a minute suppose that blacks, Italians, 

 Cyprians, etc., are all alike. And I'm 

 nearly as sure that you believe all these 

 different kinds came from the original 

 stock. And if the bee has changed 

 into so many different kinds, why may 

 it not change some more ? 



You quote me as saying that we are 

 not sure that the royal progeny of a 

 queen out of the ordinary will be like 

 her. The same thing is true in horses, 

 yet that doesn't prove that we cannot 

 improve horses. 



You think the bee cannot be im- 



proved because wild. Were not our 

 most improved domestic animals origi- 

 nally wild ? 



Your closing quotation concerning 

 the bee is "that little change has taken 

 place in her characteristics in .'i or 4 

 million years. That's a clincher. Only 

 it happens not to be true. Good au- 

 thorities sometimes say foolish things. 

 If little difference had taken place 

 there would be little difference in bees, 

 and any practical bee-keeper knows 

 there is a big difference in bees, in 

 other things as well as in color. 



What you say in the preceding para- 

 graph has a better ring to it. You quote 

 with evident approval: "I do not 

 know of any work in all apiculture 

 that pays so well as weeding out poor 

 stock." Let's shake on that. Doctor. 

 It's only another way of saying that 

 nothing else pays so well as improving 

 your stock. For you hardly brimstone 

 your poor stock to get them out of the 

 way. You weed them out by requeen- 

 ing with better stock. What is that 

 but improvement ? C. C. Miller. 



"The Guide to Nature" 



On the cover page of our Journal 

 will be found a reference to the " Guide 

 to Nature," a small monthly magazine 

 devoted to anything but the sordid in 

 life. Mr. Bigelow, of Arcadia, Sound 

 Beach, Conn., is one of the rare editors 

 who work for the love of the pursuit 

 and the study of the beautiful. He 

 writes us : 



" The 'Guide to Nature ' and the Asassiz 

 Association are both wholly labors of love 

 with me. except, of course, the satisfaction 

 ofdoingthework in Nature that I like to do." 



The "Guide to Nature" makes de- 

 lightful reading, and deserves more 

 than a passing mention. 



Makiug' Experiments 



When trying new methods of pro- 

 cedure with bees, beware of hasty con- 

 clusions, based upon experiments on 

 only one or two hives of bees. Too 



often isolated experiences have proven 

 to be exceptions instead of rules. To 

 be positive, an experiment should be 

 tried upon a number of colonies in 

 different conditions, and both condi- 

 tions and results noted. A repetition 

 of the same results in two different 

 seasons, under such conditions, will be 

 quite conclusive. Much trouble has 

 resulted from hasty and limited ex- 

 periments. 



Silly Stories iu the Dailies 



We are in receipt from Mr. Frank E. 

 Whiting, of Massachusetts, of a news- 

 paper quotation announcing the dis- 

 covery of a stingless bee, in the same 

 manner as announced in our Canadian 

 Notes in this number. But the clipping 

 goes further and gives the name of 

 a Mr. Atwater, of Kingston, R. I., who 

 rears " illuminated bees" by crossing 

 them with lightning bugs. 



There is no harm in a little " scien- 

 tific pleasantry," provided everybody 

 knows that it is a joke, but there are 

 too many who are prone to take such 

 jokes for the truth, witness the " scien- 

 tific pleasantry " about manufactured 

 comb honey, sealed over with a hot 

 iron, which went the rounds of the" 

 press some 30 years ago and has never 

 been fully extinguished in the minds 

 of the credulous. Why should it be so 

 difficult to get trutlis in the dailies, 

 when they so readily publish silly 

 stories 1 



Character Versus Mating 



Mr. J. L. Byer's remarks concerning 

 the gentleness of the progeny of queens 

 mated with Italian drones or drones 

 of gentle races tallies with our own. 

 We had often noticed the gentleness 

 of hybrids that issued from a black 

 queen and an Italian drone, but thought 

 nothing of it until we were told, at the 

 Paris meeting of liUlO, that it was gen- 

 erally conceded that the male gives the 

 character of his race to the progeny. 

 We would like to hear from authorities 

 posted on this subject. 



Miscellaneous ^ News Items 



Six Better than Ci 



following is quoted fi 

 sent out by the Secrc 

 souri State Bee-Kee| 

 for increasing the me 

 body : 



In order to increase c 

 our State and National 

 ciation. I ani offerinu six 



Kach 50 cents to be cou 

 stance, if you send 50 cei 

 with the name of an old 

 will be given credit for 

 member of the Mo. B. ! 

 send the name of an old 1 

 Si.S>J. you will be k'iven ci 

 he will be a member of 

 lional. and will cet the B 

 and other liood thines. I 

 edk'e is worth more to 

 than $50 worth of bees < 

 ciation arc not allowed t.. -. 



I'irst i)rize. one iframe nucleus: second, 

 one 2-frame nucleus: third, one iframe 

 nucleus: fourth. one tested queen: fifth, one 



honey exhibits are the very best ad- 

 vertisement that can be had for our 



