rtmm m^mmmicRn mnm joi^RifsiLr. 



399 



mind this machine makes the best 

 foundation, with very high side-walls, 

 and yet has a thin base for the bottom 

 of the cell. 



Certainly Dr. Miller was wasting 

 words when he said, " If Mr. Taylor 

 does not want to lose reputation as a 

 careful observer, he will do well to 

 make some critical measurements, and 

 send to the Editor." Why, can't any 

 bee-man get samples of foundation and 

 natural comb — and ascertain for him- 

 self whether I am correct ? And as 

 for reputation, I am not seeking after 

 that ; the reader can think that I am 

 joking or telling the truth, as far as I 

 am concerned ; but I am settled on 

 these points — workfer-cells to be 4J to 

 4i to the inch ; combs spaced 1| inches 

 from center to center ; and the hand- 

 somer and gentler the bees, is my 

 choice. 



St. Bernice, Ind. 



[The samples of comb foundation 

 accompanying the foregoing article 

 measure just as stated. Dr. Miller 

 surprised himself by taking some 

 measurements, as was shown by the 

 postscript to his article on page 365. 

 We fully agree with the Rev. W. P. 

 Faylor on all the points for which he 

 contends in the foregoing article, and 

 upon second thought we believe that 

 Dr. Miller will do the same. 



*This quotation is from page 105 of 

 the edition published in 1884. — Ed.] 



BEE-TALK. 



The Keeping of Bees and their 

 Improvement. 



Written ior the American Bee Journal 

 BY J. W. TEFFT. 



The breeding of honey-bees has be- 

 come a scientilic study, and all over 

 the world men of intelligence and 

 wealth are enlisting in the ranks with 

 rapid succession. That it is an hon- 

 orable business, no one will deny, for 

 even clergymen are now engaged in 

 endeavoring to raise the standard of 

 the honey-bee family — the noblest of 

 the insect kingdom. What bee-keeper 

 is there who does not delight in hand- 

 ling his bees these delightful June 

 days ? It makes a man like himself 

 and his family better, while the whole 

 world looks brighter, and daily toil 

 becomes easier. The vpheels of thought 

 are oiled with magnetism and anima- 

 tion, after a lively time with the bees, 

 and perhaps a brash with a little 

 " cyclone " of cross bees. 



"How do you account for the in- 

 creased interest in breeding fine bees?" 



queried Mr. Albert Daken, of Tully, 

 N. Y., during a pleasant visit which 

 we had recently. I replied, first of all, 

 that it is attributable to the trials of 

 Italian bees throughout the countrj' ; 

 they startled the world by being great 

 gatherers of honey, and many people 

 think that their good qualities and 

 record can never be excelled. They 

 are wonderful bees ; their wonderful 

 performances set the breeders to think- 

 ing, and the one great object was to 

 bring out a bee to dethrone them as 

 the honey-bees ! Breeders brought 

 forward the Holy Land bee, the Pales- 

 tine, Cyprian, Carniolan, Egyptian, 

 Caucasian, and, lastly, the "invinci- 

 ble " bee, being a cross of the black 

 and Caucasian. 



Breeders of bees all over the country 

 have been trying to out-do one another 

 for the past 25 years, or since the 

 grand circuit of the International 

 American Bee-Association was inaug- 

 urated ; and there is no telling what 

 the ultimate result may be. 



Another question propounded was 

 this : " You recently pui'chased a 

 few colonies of thoi'oughbrcd bees iu 

 Tennessee, to mate with your Cau- 

 casians. Now, why would it not have 

 been just as wise to have sent some of 

 your queens to be mated with some of 

 the great honey-gathering bees ?" 



I maintain that the drone controls 

 the action of the offspring more than 

 the queen, bebause he is the stronger. 

 This is true also in the human family, 

 in nine cases out of ten. Again, drones 

 cannot be shipped alive any great dis- 

 tance. 



"Would you as a breeder of quite 

 long experience, advise a young man 

 with limited means to buy thorough- 

 bred Italians, to mate with thorough- 

 bred Syrians, in hopes of rearing a 

 new type of bees, in preference to buy- 

 ing an equally good honey-gathering 

 bee ?" 



No, sir. A man with limited means 

 cannot afford to experiment. It is dif- 

 ferent in the case of Senator Doolittle 

 and myself, and perhaps others. If I 

 fail to get good results from my thor- 

 oughbred Caucasian drones from the 

 first cross, I can cross them again, and 

 get the honey-gathering instinct suffi- 

 cient to overcome the thoroughbred 

 desire to swarm. Thoroughbred blood, 

 as all know, gives finish and hardy- 

 staying qualities. I have been careful 

 in my selection of Caucasian queens, 

 to secure daughters of thoroughbreds 

 that possessed as much honey-gather- 

 ing action as possible, so that it would 

 be necessary to make but one cross. 

 Whether I will succeed or not, time 

 will tell. 



"You maintain that the drone con- 

 trols the blood, finish and action in 

 the honey-bee as well as in the human 



family. Will you please explain how 

 you formed that idea ? 



From i)ersonal observations I can 

 distinguish an Italian from a C3'prian, 

 in ninety cases out of a hundred, by 

 their actions. The gait and action is 

 inherited generation after generation. 

 There are but few exceptions even in 

 great grand-sons or great grand-daugh- 

 ters. 



"Then you do not regard a fine- 

 blooded Caucasian queen of so much 

 importance as a fine-blooded drone for 

 breeding ?" 



Understand me — it is the interming- 

 ling of royal blood that produces royal 

 results. I want the best of both that 

 money can buy, and the outcome must 

 be gratifying, as a rule. Life is too 

 short to experiment to any great ex- 

 tent ; but if we do not get out of the 

 rut and experiment a little now and 

 then, we will never have anything new. 



" Do you maintain that the surplus 

 chamber of a hive should be of the 

 same depth as the brood-chamber ?" 



Yes, most assuredly. But why men- 

 tion this subject now ? You know that 

 every useful invention has been carried 

 out and perfected by the co-operation 

 of many minds, or by the successive 

 application of varied geniuses to the 

 same object, age after age. The 

 mechanic and editor must aid the bee- 

 keeper, or he must stand still in his 

 inventions or demonstrations ; and the 

 inventor and editor must aid the 

 mechanic, or he will work without 

 wisdom and with intolerant stupidity. 

 Altogether, they solve intricate, mas- 

 terly problems. 



SPACING COMBS. 



The Close Spacing of Brood- 

 Frames in Hives. 



Written for the American BeeJourTial 



BY J. E. POND. 



Some years ago, when I gave the 

 result of my experiments in close 

 spacing of frames (and, by the way, 

 those articles of mine were the first 

 ever written on the point). I said, "I 

 believe the principle would in time 

 be adopted, and would work a revolu- 

 tion in bee-management." 



I still believe, as I then stated, for 

 while my ideas were then rather 

 laughed at, as being impracticable, 

 now they are being commented upon, 

 as perhaps being of some little value. 

 All I asked then was a trial ; and I say 

 now that I firmly believe that whoever 

 gives the method a fair and honest 

 trial, will become convinced that it 

 will accomplish all I ever claimed for 

 it, and more than can be accomplished 

 by any other method, whether used for 



