816 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1 



FIG. 4.— DR. ERUN\lCH"i SOX .-^BOL'T TO PL.ACE THE CLLMEI- 



swarming as much as possible. It is a well- 

 known fact that a skilltul apiarist will reduce 

 swarming by not giving much drone comb, by 

 enlarging at the proper time, etc. I think, there- 

 fore, ihat Dr. Miller will not be totally dissatis- 

 fied with these figures. 



Mr. Spuhler, an old, experienced, and able 

 apiarist, tells me that his average of swarms in 

 those last years (he has 100 colonies at home and 

 in two or three outyards) is about 6 per cent, or 

 of swarming colonies about 4 per cent. 



I can give you still better results from another 

 friend of mine, Mr. Serf, also an experienced 

 queen-breeder. He gives me the following fig- 

 ures, having in one single yard about 60 colo- 

 nies (in our country you can not have profitably 

 more than 60 colonies in one placi-). 



1898, 12 '^i of swarms. 



1899, 0^ of swarms. 



1900, 2i<;'f of swarms. 



1901, O'i of swarms. 



1902, 4 <^f of swarms. 



This gives for the last ten yeais 3.3 swarms 

 from 100 colonies. What do you s:iy to this, 

 my good Dr. Miller.? Mr. Serf has, like myself 

 and many others, a short honey harvest; but he 

 has a good one because he has a very fine stock of 

 bees. 



That you do not pnssrss in America a satis- 



1903, 0* of swarms. 



1904, 2 4 of swarms. 



1905, 5f/fc of swarms. 

 1905, lo9t of swarms. 

 1907, 5 9t of swarms. 



factory race of bees is no 

 enigma to me. It is due 

 to the mania for new races 

 and the roaring " tam- 

 tam " of recommendation 

 of foreign races that it is 

 impossible for your bees 

 to assume a fixed type 

 and to become acclima- 

 tized. 



And now a few words 

 to Dr. Miller concerning 

 page 36. You wonder 

 how I can have the ar- 

 rogance to say " that I 

 am not yet convinced that 

 a pure strain of blacks 

 would not be the best for 

 you under yot/r condi- 

 tions. " I will tell you. 

 In Gleanings for 1905, 

 page 370, you can read a 

 most interesting notice 

 from Mr. L. H. Scholl, 

 of Texas, whom I con- 

 sider from this note alone 

 to be a very clever and 

 scientific queen-breeder. 

 He told you that he pos- 

 sessed an exceedingly fine 

 strain of blacks — fertile 

 queens, excelhnt honey- 

 gatherers, and — think ! 

 i(e.7:le bees. Queen-rear- 

 ing was then an easy 

 thing, thanks to the sta- 

 bility of his race. But it 

 was otherwise when he 

 uuroduced the beautiful 

 yellow bee. In brief, the 

 introduction of the Ital- 

 ian bee signified for him 

 thd deterioration of his 

 bee-yard. Well, doctor, should not that which 

 is possible in Texas be possible also in a nonh- 

 ern climate.? 



A word about Berlepsch, who seems to be to- 

 tally unknown to our American colleagues. In 

 the " History of Bee-keeping," by Bessler (1885) 

 the author says: " Through his book, ' The 

 Bee,' the best existing apistic work till now, he 

 has acquired immortal fame; and as long as bees 

 continue, the name of Berlepsch will shine with 

 the greatest splendor." Berlepsch invented the 

 frame in 1852, some years after Dzierzon had 

 given us the movable comb, which was fixed 

 only at the bottom in a rabbet. Undoubtedly, 

 in regard to the movable frame he was to Europe 

 what Langstroth was to America. It is true it 

 was Dzierzon who gave us the theory of parthen- 

 ogenesis; but it was Berlepsch who, by the aid of 

 Leuckart and Siebold, pro-zrd this theory to be 

 true and gained the general acknowledgment of 

 the Sv ientific world to it. It was, indeed, with 

 unflagging zeal that he investigated and solved 

 the finest problems in apiculture; and what he 

 claimed, he proved by numerous experiments 

 backed by an exceedingly keen intelligence. It 

 is a great pity that his work, " The Bee," is 

 quite unknown in America, for even to-day it is 

 a great delight to read this old book with its im- 



