202 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



the people from capture and death. Be- 

 hind the church was a httle garden, and in 

 it were a dozen bee-hives which it was tlie 

 girl's duty to care for. Seizing a hive, she 

 ran up on the fortress wall and hurled it 

 down among the enemy. Again and again 

 she repeated the process until ten or more 

 swarms of maddened bees were stinging 

 the Turks. Tliey were blinded and dis- 

 mayed, and, unable to cope Avith tlie in- 

 sect foe, beat a hasty retreat. They had 

 been discomfited by a girl's device." — Am. 

 Bee Jdiirnal. 



A few years since I met Mr. SB. Par- 

 sons of Flushing, N. Y., the person who 

 inti'oduced the first Italian bees into 

 America. In speaking of the draft; riots 

 in the city of New York during the Rebel- 

 lion, Mr. Parsons s;iid he was prepared 

 for the rioters if they attempted to cross 

 over into Flushing and invade his prem- 

 ises. Mr. Parsons' bees were located on 

 quite an elevation, and it was his inten- 

 tion to send the hives down the bank into 

 the crowd. Had the hives been filled with 

 Cyprian bees, a whole army of rioters 

 would have been easily put to flight. 



Determining the sex of bee eggs. 



M. S. Morgan, South Elgin, 111., on 

 Sept. 27, 1888^ writes : 



I am obliged to dissent from the com- 

 moi'ly received theory that the volition of 

 the queen determines the sex of her eggs. 

 In my opiniim. after her fertilization any 

 one of her eggs will produce a worker, a 

 queen or a drone, according to the pur- 

 pose and manipuliition of the workers. 

 \ proof that a worker- egg may be made 

 to produce a drone, may be obtained in 

 this way: Divide a colony, giving to the 

 new hive, bees with sealed Avorker-brood 

 only, together with a queen-cell. Be sure 

 that there are no drones in the new hive. 

 Now from a colony that has killed off 

 their drones, select any one frame of en- 

 tire worker brood having a few imhatched 

 eggs ; place this frame in the new hive ; 

 and I will guarantee that upon this frame 

 will be found the clong.-ited cells of drones, 

 whilst in the colony from which it was 

 taken, there will i)e workers only. The 

 egg with the sperm attached produces a 

 worker; the same egg Avith the sperm de- 

 tached, produces a drone; the separation 

 l)eing made l)y the volition of the worker, 

 and not i)y the volition of the queen. — Am. 

 lii'K Jonrnal. 



I believe Mr. Morgan is entirely wrong. 

 The eggs that would produce the drones 

 in the hive that had dcstro^'ed their drones 

 would not be permitted to mature in any 

 event, us that colony had decided not to 

 rear more drones at that time. But when 



such a comb is placed in a queenless colony, 

 the bees will nurse and rear a drone from 

 every drone eg^ and from no others. A 

 colonj^ having capped and unsealed drone 

 brood will destroy all such brood from 

 the egg to the capped l)rood Avhen they 

 have decided to rear no more drones. 



Anyone desirous of testing the matter 

 as presented by Mr. Morgan can do in this 

 way: Insert a clean comb of all Avorker 

 cells in the centre of a brood-nest of a full 

 colony after the honey harvest is over. 

 Let it remain there a Aveek or longer, then 

 place in a queenless colony and Avatch for 

 results. Not a drone Avill be reared from 

 those eggs, though the colony would do so 

 from any eggs that Avould produce drones, 

 his one experiment will thoroughly dis- 

 prove the position of Mr. Morgan. 



Corr^sponb^ixce. 



John's Boy. 

 M. A. Kellet. 



His name is John, but as that is his fa- 

 ther's name also, the neighbors called 

 him John's boy. He was a good boy, obe- 

 dient, kind, obliging; he made friends of 

 all. Truthful, honest, manly, all re- 

 spected him. Handsome, frank, jovial, 

 who could help loving him? Truly, John's 

 boy Avas a young prince. Somewhat of a 

 hero too Avas he. It Avas thus. His fa- 

 ther kept bees. One day in June they 

 swarmed. Tliere were no "men folk" at 

 home to hive them, but the boy Avas on 

 hand; clad in his father's bee hat and veil 

 he secured and hived tiie bees. Just then 

 he heard a cry of pain from Lucy, his lit- ^ 

 tie playmate, a neighbor's child. A play- 

 ful calf had overturned a iiive of bees near 

 Avhere Lucy stood Avatching John hive the 

 swarm. The little girl knew not what to 

 do. Many angry bees were flying around, 

 while some had already stung her. But 

 the l)rave boy came at once to the rescue. 

 To off with his hat and veil and put them 

 on Lucy was but the work of an instant. 

 Then willi his own bright face, exposed to 

 all the fury of the now enraged bees he 

 caught up the girl in his arms and carried 

 her in the house. He had quite a load and 

 both hands being engasred he Avas at the 

 mercy of bees. Stung? Yes, but what 

 of that? lie did not falter, but saved 

 Lucy. 



This was some years ago. John's boy is 

 a man now, and has bees and a boy of his 

 own. They call the bright-eyed prattler 

 John, and his mother's name is Lucy. 



Milton, W. Va. 



