THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



181 



There is somethins: that induces Dr. 

 Tinker to write for the press, besides 

 the five dollars he may get for the 

 trouble. For this reason his coiumu- 

 nications on bee culture are of great 

 value. Now this thought brings us to 

 another subject that is agitating the 

 minds of some of those who write for 

 bee periodicals. 



Paying for copy. 



Well, didn't our remarks and com- 

 ments given in a recent issue of the Api 

 wake up several sleepy fellows? 



I said that most of those articles 

 found in the bee-papers and for which 

 the authors were paid five dollars each 

 were not as good, or as valuable, as 

 many that have appeared in the Apr, 

 and for which we were charged little 

 or nothing. I did not wish anyone to 

 understand that all articles found in 

 the bee journals were included in this 

 charge. There are many valuable ar- 

 ticles in nearly all the bee-papers, and 

 then there are some that it seems to me 

 the authors feel as though they must 

 fill up with wind what they lack in 

 ideas, and that they must sny some- 

 thing in order to stretch the article to 

 a certain length for tlie money prom- 

 ised for the work. 



I have seen articles that filled three 

 columns that were totally devoid of 

 all information or valuable ideas. 

 Had the editor who used them not 

 been short of copy or had not prom- 

 ised the writer several dollars for the 

 article, it would no doubt have been 

 reduced to about a dozen lines or 

 thrown into the waste basket. 



Since I took charge of the Apr, 

 there have been three of our friends 

 who have said that they did not care to 

 furnish more copy without being paid 

 for it. Well, they are good writers, 

 but I had to let them drop out as we 

 couldn't afford to pay much for copy. 

 The time is not far distant, however, 

 when we can afford to be more liberal 

 with our friends who send us articles. 

 The Api has more than paid expenses 

 the past two years, and the prospect 



is that it will pay much better another 

 year. 



Don't fail to read the January, 1891, 

 issue and note the improvements in 

 its make-up. 



Do the Italians deteriorate? Markings of 

 Carniolans, etc. 



Our friend Robbins takes us to task 

 for our remarks as given in a recent 

 issue of the Apr concerning the liabil- 

 ity of the Italians to deteriorate. Af- 

 ter having a word or so about the color 

 and markings of the Carniolans, I will 

 try to convince friend R. that our po- 

 sition and opinions heretofore ex- 

 pressed in these columns, concerning 

 the races and their markings are about 

 correct. 



Yes, I know that Frank Benton, 

 Dr. Morrison, Brother E. L. Pratt and 

 a good many others have said that the 

 Carniolans should show no yellow 

 bands. Yet, some of these well-known 

 gentlemen are honest enough to tell 

 their customers that they cannot rear 

 Carniolan queens whose worker pro- 

 geny will not show more or less yellow 

 bands. I do not know that any of the 

 above mentioned parties claim that 

 they can, or ever have reared very 

 many of what are considered 25Mre Car- 

 niolan queens. It has been found 

 impossible to rear pure or typical Car- 

 niolan bees here in this country. I 

 know as well as friend Robbins and 

 others that the Carniolan bees should 

 show no yellow bands. 



On this point, it seems to me, I 

 have given friend R. some good ideas. 

 Now, I will see what I can do about 

 the Italians. I shall try to show that 

 the Italians are not a fixed or distinct 

 race of bees, and that they are hy- 

 brids even in their purest state. 



I do not know how extensive friend 

 Robbins' experience has been with the 

 Italians ; but I do know that he has 

 a wrong idea concerning their purity 

 and markings. I have found in my 

 thirty years' experience in rearing Ital- 

 ian queens that beautiful bees and 

 queens cannot be reared except by the 



