Mr. Bingham, Mich., had two queens 

 which were wingless, that some way 

 became fertilized, and both laid eggs 

 which produced worker bees. He asked 

 Prof. Cook if it would not be well to 

 extract the wings from some queens 

 and note the result V 



Prof. Cook— I have frequently cut 

 one, two and three wings, but never 

 have had them properly fertilized. 



Mr. Clute, Iowa, offered the following 

 resolution ; which was adopted : 



Resolved, That this Convention has heard with 

 much interest the able essay of Prof. Hasbrouck, on 

 " Fertilization in Confinement ;" that we recognize 

 the great value of the results attained ; that we 

 hope these results will prove to be generally practi- 

 cal, and that we extend to him our hearty congratu- 

 lations over his success. 



James Heddon, of Mich., read an 

 essay entitled 



Qualities in Bees. 



I will try, in as few words as possible, to 

 give you my opinion in regard to qualities 

 in bees, and in different races. Of the Ger- 

 man or black bee we have two types common 

 to this locality— one, the smail black; the 

 other, the larger brown. Of these two 

 varieties, I find the most desirable qualities 

 with the large brown. After making this 

 division in the German race, I will make 

 another in the brown variety, by stating that 

 I have seen these bees much more peaceful, 

 and better workers, in some localities than 

 in others. I will now make one more di- 

 vision with this same variety by further 

 saying, that in the most prosperous apiaries 

 I have seen some colonies of equal numbers 

 that far excelled those by their side. This 

 physiological difference that gave the apiar- 

 ist so much better profit and more pleasure, 

 is in no way to be found out except by a 

 season's trial. There are no signs that re- 

 veal these differences even to the most 

 expert. 1 feel that every bee-keeper present 

 is fully aware of what I have stated above. 



I will now take up the other popular race 

 of bees — the Italians. The same divisions 

 and subdivisions are in the same way appli- 

 cable to that preferred race. We have two 

 very distinct varieties of them, viz : the 

 shorter bright yellow bees, and the long, 

 leather-colored. In my acquaintance, every 

 bee-keeper who has had both varieties, is 

 enthusiastic in his preference for the long, 

 leather-colored bees. My experience is the 

 same. These bees possess more desirable 

 qualities than all the other varieties men- 

 tioned. They do not, however, embrace 

 a few of the valuable traits of character 

 that we find in the large brown German 

 bees. I may here mention that some of the 

 hybrids produced by a cross between the 

 dark Italian and light German, are in my 

 judgment the very best bees we have ; but 

 it is important that the mother should be of 

 the Italian variety. One very singular and 

 unlooked-for, but acceptable fact, is that 

 this hybrid is not excelled for good nature 

 by any other bee that I have ever seen. 



It might not be out of place to mention 

 some of the traits of these dark Italians 

 that make them so much preferred. They 

 excel in good nature ; in good behavior ; 



as honey gatherers ; as comb builders (all 

 except the large brown German bee); most 

 emphatically as breeders and vigilant 

 watchers, being about moth and robber- 

 proof ; last, but first in importance, they 

 have with me far excelled any other type 

 of bees in wintering and living through 

 sickness called bee cholera. In no other 

 animal under the control of man do we see 

 more of a disposition toward variation or 

 sporting, both physiologically and charac- 

 teristically considered. 



Here, then, is a grand opportunity for 

 man to improve this little race of animals, 

 up to a standpoint yet hardly conceived of. 



First, we must get it out of our heads that 

 physical markings go hand in hand with 

 mental traits. My experience, observation 

 and reading convinces me that they do not. 

 We must stop saying, " The Italians are the 

 best bees." Bees with three yellow bands 

 are called pure Italians. 



Porter has such bees, and says they are 

 not better than black bees. I believe him. 

 Dadant has such bees also, and says they 

 are much better than the blacks. I also be- 

 lieve him. 



I once wrote that black bees were as good 

 as Italians. Again, I wrote that they were 

 nowhere near as good a bee. I never wrote 

 a falsehood, if 1 knew it. 



Black bees will compare more favorably 

 with any Italians as honey gatherers, if 

 white clover is the surplus crop, and near 

 the apiary ; but where long flights or deep 

 nectaries are the order of the day, give us 

 none but the long-bodied, dark colored 

 Italians, and their iucky crosses with the 

 large brown German bee. 



Stop and think what a wonderful law of 

 nature it is, that will almost certainly pro- 

 duce a hybrid bee, crosser than either of the 

 races from which it was born. And stranger 

 still, why should this law cease to exist 

 when we cross the dark Italians with the 

 light Germans. We need not at present look 

 after the whys or wherefores, but let us take 

 advantage of the facts, and make a march 

 onward in the desirable qualities of our 

 stock. No class of growers has a better 

 chance to do this than we ; first, because of 

 the wide variations in the qualities of bees, 

 and second, because of the rapid production 

 of generations. We can have Miss Queen, 

 Mrs. Queen, Grandma Queen and Great- 

 Grandma Queen, all never having seen a 

 night twelve hours long. For four years 1 

 have been working in this direction, and I 

 feel that I am well paid for my trouble. 

 Various and many are the methods that ne- 

 cessity has suggested to control the fertili- 

 zation of my queens, and weed out all 

 undesirable traits of character from that 

 direction as well as from the others. (I hope 

 to mention some of these plans under the 

 topic of " Queen-rearing"). 



I am rather of the opinion that all of our 

 Italians are hybrids, and I further think that 

 a race of bees, or strain of any race, cannot 

 be made to duplicate themselves. Further, 

 we don't want any exact duplicates of bees, 

 or anything else. We want better ones. 

 We now have better ones than we used to 

 have, and we are going to have still better 

 ones yet, and so on, better and better. I 

 believe we have some as good, if not more 



