THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



97 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



WASHINGTON, NOVEIMBEIl, 1807. 



(t^"TnE American Bee Journal is now 

 published monthly, in the City of Washington, 

 (D. C.,) at $2 per annum. AH communications 

 should be addressed to the Editor, at that place. 



The revived discussion of the question whcth. 

 er the drones are, in any respect, alfected by the 

 fertilization of the queen bee producing them, 

 has induced ns to republish from Prof. Von 

 Siebold's treatise on ''True Parthenogenesis in 

 Bees and Butterflies,^^ that portion which re- 

 lates to the reproduction of bees. The work 

 was translated and published in England ten 

 years ago, and a few copies have reached this 

 country; but not having been rcpiiuted here, 

 the portion most interesting to them is not gen- 

 erally accessible to American apiarians. The 

 article will occupy three or four pages in three 

 consecutive numbers of the Jouunal, and can- 

 not fail to be instructive to inquirers. 



Dzierzon, it will be seen, was the first to no- 

 tice the phenomena which liave also attracted 

 the attention of apiarians in this country; and 

 was, in consequence of his manner of treating 

 them, charged with abandoning one of the chief 

 points of his own theory. Eut Prof. Siebold 

 conceives that the matter is susceptible of an 

 explanation in no wise militating against that 

 theory. 



"No facts have yet been adduced which we 

 can regard as necessarily contravening the doc- 

 trine that fertilization is not needed for, and 

 does not influence the production of drones; or 

 as at all conflicting with the views expressed 

 on page 175 of the second volume of the Bee 

 Journal. 



[For the AmeFican Bee Journal.] 



"Woe be them Attic dapsterlings what writ 



Thom sassy 'pisHes, with them plenty wit, 



As dabbles 'bout them fjiims 'tliout sides "round it! 



There's many a. grins in lots o'scribblin' fiz, 



Since 'talian flies gets piur, an bugs is riz. " — Ignus Faluns 



Mr. Editor: Among the many futile attempts 

 which have been made of late years, with a 

 view to improve inventions which cnlightined 

 minds have hiiherto considered i)erl( cT, none 

 are more conspicuous and ludicrous than those 

 pertaining to the culture of the honey bee. 

 Extraordinary as has been the intelligent ial 

 skill, wasted upon investigations innunierable 

 as the stars in the azure vault above, in the 

 fruitless attempt to discover how the human 

 mind reasons, there is yet this to recommend 



the pursuit of the abstract sciences that they 

 fuinish fruitful themes of healthful, mcMital ex- 

 ercise, during hours of recreation, whicli could, 

 in rainy weather, be not more useful: y em- 

 ployed. 



You may sayllobbes, "the man of a hundred 

 heads," war rif/hi in demonsi rating that there 

 was no dilference between right and wrong, 

 yet you cannot say the same of the inventor of 

 a bee hive who has never become proof against 

 the sting of t]i(> beo. You may say Locke, Des- 

 carte-!, and ^Mah'branche were rif///.f., li;ul they 

 proved to j'^ou that the human 77iiiid Is impressed 

 upon mule skin, yet you cannot say tlie same 

 of the inventor of a bee hive whose absence oj 

 mind is stamped upon every i)art of his inven- 

 tion. And you may excuse David Ilume even 

 Avho believed that there was no belief, yet you 

 cannot thus excuse the inventor of a bee hive 

 who believes that everybody believes there is no 

 belief -AH jrcrfcct as his own. 



Simplicity being the first predicate of perfec- 

 tion, it follows that complicated bee hives are 

 a nuisance. Porosity, lightness, and warmth 

 being the three prere(|uisites of a perfect material 

 for a bee hive, it follows that in the absence of 

 corktrunks we have to rely on straw and porous 

 M'ood; and now since the durability of these 

 has become objectionable on account of their 

 negative qualities in these respects, perforated 

 sheet iron, tin, and zinc, and cast iron, with 

 the addition, perhaps, of steel and platina, bid 

 fair to take the lead as articles, jier excellence, 

 in the construction of all perfect hives, except- 

 ing the only good for nothina:, old fashioned, 

 ugly-looking, ill-shaped, bee-killing, honey- 

 producing "cracked old kittle," which cost 

 Prof. W. A. Flanders & Co., and 'Smallei 

 'taties," such an immense amount of lungs, 

 cash, and literary efforts, to reclaim from the 

 inevitable doom of oblivion. 



But, ]\[r. Editor, my purpose was not to be 

 seduced by a subject so fascinating, for I have 

 got a bee hive of light, durable, airy material 

 and construction, which I have been so fortu- 

 nate as to invent, through the instrumentality 

 of Prof Flanders' invaluable "Bee Charm.'"' 

 (See BiiE Journal volume 2d, pp. 18G, 206 ) 

 There is no patent obtainable upon it, and 

 therefon-, mj'- dear ]\Ir. Bee Journal, I would 

 like to secure j-our assistance in the perpetua- 

 tion of another impeachable good upou all who 

 are in favor of getting the cheapest, bestest, 

 and most handiest bee hive in these United 

 States and all Anu-rica besides. I've got a 

 whole book of Greek and Latin (juotations all 

 readj^ for any emergencj', and if I should not 

 succeed in my laudable enterprise, I will send 

 the book to any editor, of good standing, with 

 one of my immovable, immortal, and immacu- 

 late bee hives, free gratis for nothing at all, ex- 

 ce|)t a puff or two in his county pajier. 



INIeanwhiie, I shall remain, as belore, respect- 

 fully, yoLir super-|)roli\' ai.iloquax, 



Prof. A PIASTER Alsatius, a. ]\r.. 



Corresponding Secretary of Coon Island 

 Golden Ap'ary, 12^ miles from shore. 



C^There's lots of folks what think them 

 there tin skips of mine more better as any they 

 was used to. 



