THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



79 



[For the Americaa Bee Journal.] 



Queens Mating Twic3. 



Mr. Editor : — Several correspondents have 

 ;ivea instances of queens mating with drones 

 wo or tliree times. Now, I have no doubt but 

 that queens do mate with drones more tlian 

 once; In fact, I know that they do. But that 

 they are fertilized, or partially fertilized, more 

 than once, I do not believe. In the tirst place, 

 it must l)e admitted to be contrary to nature. 

 I have liad several queens go out and mate with 

 drones twice ; but they were not fertilized the 

 first time. Had they been, they would not 

 have left the hive the second time for that pur- 

 pose. 



I have made queen rearing my only business 

 during the hot weather, for several years, and 

 have reared liundreds of them (about six hun- 

 dred this season) ; and I am satisfied that rot 

 over one queen in one hundred ever mates with 

 a drone more than once. And I am as well 

 satisfied, also, tbat they are fertilized but once. 



I usually examine my hives that have j'oung 

 queens on the fifth day, to see whether they 

 have been fertilized ; and I do this soon alter 

 they have been out. It they have been fertil- 

 ized, tbe proof of it will be seen adhering to the 

 queen for hours after ; and in one case I had to 

 kill a queen after she had retained it over a 

 week. When the queen has met the drone and 

 is fertilized, the bees cannot remove it, as they 

 did in Mr. Hill's case ; hut where they meet the 

 drone and axe not fertilized, the bees seem to 

 know it, and will pull it away. If then the 

 next day is pleasant, such queen will go out 

 again, and will almost certainly be fertilized. 

 H. Alley. 



Wenham, Mass. 



[For the American Bee Journal.; 



Queens Mating Twice. 



Mr. Editor : — I am aware that the above 

 subject has been somewhat ventilated in the 

 columns of tlie " Jotjunal," but as yet it is far 

 from being exhausted, and I once more indite a 

 few lines in deiense of the side of this important 

 topic wliich I have heretofore taken. And let 

 me say here that, whenever I have used, or may 

 use, the word mate, I use it only in the sense of 

 copu'ation resulting in impregnation. 



There are parties who take \\\e affirmative of 

 this question, who would have us believe that 

 the spermatheca of the queen, like the inex- 

 haustible bottle of the conjurer, is full of parti- 

 tions, well defined and separate, each contain- 

 ing the seminal fluid of one of the different 

 drones cohabited with, so that by her own will 

 she can at pleasure fertilize the eggs laid, with 

 the semen of one or any of these drones — thus 

 producing either pure Italians or pure blacks, as 

 the case may be. 



This theory is certainly new, and is so far 

 contrary to the recognized laws of re[3ioduction, 

 that I must, in the absence of facts, be consi- 

 dered on the doubting side ; and I would say 

 to Mr. Davis that I do not see what/aci* he can 



bring to prove his position, if he relies wholly 

 on the queen mentioned on page 140, volume 4 ; 

 for he himself says she only mated with black 

 drones, consequently her progeny in no case 

 could have been pure Italians, even if his pro- 

 position is true. 



I xcill atdte a few facts. First, so far as I can 

 leai-n, there never has been an instance where a 

 fertile queen has left the hive on an amatory 

 excursion. Second, Italian queens mated wi'h 

 black, drones produce all the phenomena claimed 

 liy the affirmative. Third, there is not a case 

 to be shown where a queen raised from an Ital- 

 ian queen mated with a black drone, showed in 

 her progeny any evidence that slie was pure. 

 Fourth, the laws of reproduction are invariable, 

 and crossing of broods must either improve or 

 deteriorate, as half breeds can never again be 

 made pure ; return to the original stock again 

 after once crossing, and though you breed " to 

 all eternity," there will be a dash of impure 

 blood remaining. This law as much applies to 

 the worker progeny of the Apis, as to any other 

 form of creation. Consequently it would be 

 impossible for an Italian queen, mated with a 

 black drone, to produce any worker progeny 

 which was anything but hybrid ; no matter 

 whether such progeny has three bai^ds or not. 

 It is not by the bands of any one bee that we 

 decide the purity of the mother ; but the whole 

 pro<;;eny is examined, and if a single bee native 

 to the hive is found wanting a band, the evi- 

 dence is certain that the mother is impure. 



This subject is one to which I have given con- 

 siderable lime and study; and deeming it of 

 the utmost importance in bee-culture, I have 

 taken strong ground, and while I do not couit 

 (riticism, I still expect it, and trust I shall bear 

 it patiently, hoping that goodwill result from 

 it. In the present state of apicultural science, 

 it will be very easy \,o prove conclusively many 

 of the points of theory which have been advan- 

 ced on this question ; and we all know that 

 unproved and non-practical theories have been 

 the bane of bee-keeping in ages past. Let us 

 (the readers of the Bee Journal) see to it that 

 we are not misled by such in future. 



If the doctrine above mentioned is true, it 

 will be impossible to introduce and keep pure 

 the Italian stock in this country, or in any 

 oth'r, where the black bee exists; for years 

 must elapse, even under the most favorable cir- 

 cumstances, before all the drones within a 

 radius of three miles of every apiary can be 

 killed. And though you use the "Kohler" or 

 any other system, it is all "knocked in the 

 head " by some mistress queen, who sees fit to 

 leave the hive at any unexpected moment; and 

 the result soon shows itself. 



Hoping this subject may be thoroughly can- 

 vassed, in good temper, and completely exhaus- 

 ted by abler heads than mine, I am, 

 Yours truly, 



j. E. Pond, Jr. 



FoxBORo', Mass., Sept., 1869. 



Nearly forty pounds of honey will be ordinar- 

 ily used by a new swarm in filling their hive 

 with combs. 



