566 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Sept. 3, 1903. 



Holy Land, Italian-Carniolan, Italian-German, Cyprian- 

 Holy Land, Cvprian-Carniolan, Cyprian-German, Holy Land- 

 Carniolan, Holy Land-German, and Carniolan-German. 

 However, in many forms of animal life the female is known 

 to transmit to the offspring certain prominent characters 

 or characteristics, and the male certain other characters. 

 This is notably the case in the breeding- of fancy poultry. 

 The same principle is recognized by many bee-keepers in 

 producing crosses between the races. If this be true — and 

 we have no evidence that it does not hold true — each of the 

 above crosses, or hybrids, is capable of producing two 

 strains, in all probability distinct (more or less) from each 

 other. As an illustration, the Italian-Cyprian cross could 

 be produced in two ways : First, by mating Italian queens 

 with Cyprian drones; and, secondly, by mating Cyprian 

 queens to Italian drones. The same holds true of each of 

 the above 10 crosses, making possible 20 strains. 



But if it be true that queens transmit certain character- 

 istics and drones certain other characteristics to the suc- 

 ceeding generation, then the above-mentioned 10 crosses are 

 not true hybrids. A true hybrid could only be produced by 

 the following procedure, taking the Italian and Cyprian 

 races as an illustration : An Italian queen mated to a 

 Cyprian drone will give a resultant strain, which, for con- 

 venience, we will designate as Italian-Cyprian. A Cyprian 

 queen mated to an Italian drone will result in a strain which 

 we will designate as Cyprian-Italian. If now an " Italian- 

 Cyprian " queen be mated to a " Cyprian-Italian " drone 

 (or vice versa), the resulting strain will be a true hybrid, 

 possessing the "drone characteristics " and " queen char- 

 acteristics " of both races. This gives us 10 more possible 

 strains, or a total of 30 strains theoretically possible, from 

 the five principal races. It is, of course, true, that owing 

 to the close similarity to each other, of certain of the five 

 races, many of the above-mentioned strains might be prac- 

 tically identical with each other. Theories are not always 

 borne out in actual practice, however, and the above will 

 give an indication of the possibilities along this line. 



Queen-Mating. — Closely connected with the above is 

 the problem of successfully controlling the mating of 

 •queens to such drones as may be desired. The Manum 

 giant mating-cage, and the use of the glass carboy, have 

 come very near to a solution of the problem, but its ultimate 

 solution will come, as will also a means of mating queens 

 more rapidly than by the use of nucleus-boxes. 



Honey-Plants.— These were mentioned in some detail 

 at the beginning of this report, and it is here sufficient to 

 reiterate that many promising foreign and American plants 

 remain to be tested, and the regions of Mexico, New Mexico, 

 Arizona, and even parts of Texas, may possibly yield native 

 honey-plants worthy of cultivation. 



Honey-Vinegar. — It seems probable that the cheaper 

 and darker grades of honey produced in several Texas 

 localities, and which now rarely net the producer more than 

 3>'2 to 4 cents per pound, could be converted into a high- 

 grade vinegar at a considerable profit, and this with but a 

 small amount of labor. There is room for profitable devel- 

 opment along this line. 



The ideal bee-hive has not yet been constructed, but a 

 careful study of conditions, and of the bees themselves, 

 together with careful experiments, should result in much 

 better equipment than is now used. 



At every turn the experienced bee-keeper meets un- 

 solved problems and questions which he can not answer. 

 Most of these offer suggestion for experimental work, which 

 the individual can not take up owing to lack of funds and 

 time, but which can be considered at the Experimental Api- 

 ary. 



It seems but pertinent, also, that we should call your 

 attention to the advisability of this Association taking 

 steps to disseminate among our farmers and fruit-growers 

 reliable information on up-to-date methods of bee-keeping. 

 Such measures could not but accrue to your individual 

 benefit and to the benefit of the State as a whole. Judici- 

 ally managed, such steps would rapidly increase the mem- 

 bership of the Texas Bee-Keepers' Association, would tend 

 to prevent the marketing (at low price) of " strained " and 

 " log-gum " honey, and would make possible an annual out- 

 put of honey at least four times as large as present crops, 

 and that without the least fear of " glutting " the market. 



WiLMON Nkvvei.i<. 



The convention tendered to Prof. Newell, who was 

 the former assistant in the Department of Entomology and 

 Apiarist in charge of the College Apiary, a vote of thanks 

 for the good work he has done while at the College, and 



they regret that he could not remain at his place at the 

 apiary. The secretary of the Association was instructed 

 to inform Mr. Newell of this resolution. 



It was also the sentiment of the convention, and the 

 bee-keepers at large, that they were well pleased to see the 

 position now filled by one of their own State, and one of 

 their own number, Louis H. Scholl, too well known to all 

 the bee-keeping fraternity to need extended introduction. 

 (To be continued.) 





Contributed Articles 



] 



Education of Apiarian Writers— The Hive 

 Question— Wintering Excre- 

 ments of Bees. 



BY F. GREINER. 



OUR good and esteemed friend from Rhode Island — it is 

 needless to speak his name — has given us a great many 

 interesting articles in the bee-periodicals of late. I have 

 read them with both pleasure and profit, and would like to 

 have a little private talk with you, Mr. Editor, for the gentle- 

 man is becoming rather personal in his last article in the 

 June Review. He seems to carry the idea it would be serv- 

 ing the interest of the bee-keeping fraternity if we poor, 

 every-day bee-keepers were "choked off" from having 

 anything to say in the future, and that only the highly edu- 

 cated gentlemen and scientific bee-keepers be allowed to 

 utter their ideas in public. Will it work ? 



It is without doubt a desirable adjunct for a writer on 

 any subject, apiculture included, to have a college educa- 

 tion, and to be " away up " in the sciences, and I wish that 

 I, and everybody else, could have had such a training ; but 

 there are probably many who do write, and have written, 

 good things without being educated ; it is quite evident that 

 a great many good things would not have been said had 

 these been shut out. 



Our good friend, the Rhode Islander, claims the bee- 

 periodical readers have so long been fed on methods that 

 they have lost all taste for the whys and wherefores ; he 

 urges looking into the latter first, and when we fully under- 

 stand them then talk method. I would not dispute the 

 soundness of such advice, but unfortunately we do not all 

 come to the same conclusions after ascertaining the correct 

 whys and wherefores. In many cases our conclusions are 

 nothing more than opinions. I am afraid it is so to some 

 extent with our esteemed and scientific friend, Mr. Miller. 



Let us see. He has come to the conclusion, after many 

 scientific investigations, that the Heddon hive is the best 

 hive, and meets the wants of bees and bee-keepers best of 

 any ; is the best compromise between bees and the keeper. 

 Other not less thorough and careful investigators come to 

 the conclusion that the many sticks and spaces, particularly 

 in the center of the hive, as in the tiered-up Heddon, are only 

 a hindrance to the bees and retard development. Mr. Reid- 

 enbach, editor of the PhaelzBienenzeitung, discussed this 

 matter at length in his paper. Dr. Dzierzon pronounces 

 his twin-hive (a bar-hive) as the best hive. Many others in 

 America, as well as elsewhere, are sure that better results 

 are obtained with an unbroken brood-chamber. 



Mr. Miller holds that a chaff cushion has no warmth of 

 itself, which is correct. But a woolen blanket has no 

 warmth of its own, and yet it gives us lots of comfort in a 

 cold night. An inch board, even a two-inch plank, is not 

 nearly as effectual. His claim that bees are not drawn to a 

 chaff cushion any more than to an inch board is not valid, 

 if I can understand the language of the bees correctly. 



methods of wintering bees. 



" As to what is the best method of wintering," again our 

 opinions and experiences are at variance. Mr. Miller has 

 not a very high opinion of the chaff-hive. He gives us his 

 whys and wherefores, etc. His conclusion is that bees 

 need no porous material around them. It is true that a 

 strong colony with good queen and an abundance of good 

 stores will winter in any sort of a hive without the least 

 protection ; but as colonies run, good results in wintering 

 are not secured without a good deal of protection and fuss- 



