1900 



THE AMERICAN B^JE-KEEPEB 



103 



is so distinct that in some affected yards 

 where tlie bees are of a mixed character, 

 the surviving bees are all of the yellow 

 race. 



As a producer of comb honey I have 

 not been able to see a sufficient advant- 

 age in it to Italianize all my colonies, 

 and, although I have from year to year 

 introduced new Italian blood, purchas- 

 ing queens of many different breeders, 

 my stock to-day shows much more the 

 character of our native bee than that of 

 the yellow bee. But now, since this 

 black brood has made its appearance in 

 our state and with it the danger of its 

 spreading and visiting our own yards, I 

 feel that it would be a measure of safety 

 to radically change over to the Italian, 

 and that the bee-keepers of our state 

 would act wisely to consider this matter 

 and then make an effort in the direction 

 pointed out. 



Very many of us bee-keepers here are 

 pretty well satisfied that the Italian is 

 inferior to the native as a comb honey 

 producer, but that should not deter us 

 from adopting this precautionary meas- 

 ure. There is nothing to hinder us from 

 partially engaging in the production of 

 extracted honey; in fact I find it much 

 easier to run our apiaries both for comb 

 and extracted honey instead of comb 

 only. I may have to say something on 

 that subject in the near future. 



I notice in March number of The 

 Amebican Bee-keeper our old and 

 esteemed friend Thielmann speaking of 

 his experiments and observations along 

 the line of the Dickel theory. As a word 

 of caution and for the benefit of others 

 who may think of testing the matter for 

 themselves I want to say that it requires 

 a great deal of care to conduct experi- 

 ments of that order, lest the results may 

 be misleading. According to Dickel an 

 egg from drone comb, selected for an 

 experiment, must be so fresh that not 

 one bee has had an opportunity to touch 

 it; it must be taken as soon as deposited 

 by the queen. That a far-reaching in- 



fluence is exerted upon each egg by the 

 first bee that visits it has been proven 

 repeatedly by Dickel and has not been 

 contradicted to my knowledge. In case 

 of the queen, as well as in case of the 

 drone, the sex is decided by this first 

 visit of a worker, and when the sexual 

 development has once begun no after 

 treatment can bring about any change. 

 This peculiar feature of the Dickel 

 theory has not been brought out suffici- 

 ently by other writers, and yet it is a 

 most important one. 



Mr. Dickel had edited the Nordlinger 

 Biencnzeitung for about two-and-a-half 

 years. During his editorship the circu- 

 lation of the paper has more than 

 doubled, and yet the paper has ceased to 

 exist with Nos. 23 and 34 of the volume 

 of 1899. Dr. Miller, in speaking of the 

 "Death of the Bienenzeitung'''' says the 

 following in a "Straw" in Oleantngs : 

 "Its able editors were succeeded by Herr 

 Dickel, who used its pages to advocate 

 his Dickel theory, and then it died." To 

 tell half the truth is sometimes not tell- 

 ing the truth at all. In this case it 

 leaves the reader with the impression 

 that Mr. Dickel was not an able editor 

 and that the paper ceased to exist be- 

 cause Dickel used its pages to advocate 

 his theory. Neither is true! I have 

 pointed out to Dr. Miller the unfairness 

 of the way he has represented the mat- 

 ter and he attempts to set it right in 

 March Oleanings, but utterly fails to do 

 so. In justice to Mr. Dickel I must say 

 the above. There were reasons why the 

 paper was discontinued which were he- 

 yond the control of Mr. Dickel, who did 

 not own the paper but simply acted as 

 editor. 



Whether the Dickel theory is right or 

 wrong is another question and we will 

 know more about that some future day. 

 It is stated that Prof. Paulke has made 

 microscopical examinations of 800 eggs 

 taken from drone cells that had not been 

 in the hive over twenty minutes and no 

 trace of sperm was found except per- 

 haps in three, while in the eggs taken 



