104 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



June 



Dear Brother Hill: 



Without waiting for me to say yes to 

 your request for opinions, you have gone 

 and published my letter. I feel like — 

 well, never mind. You have put your 

 foot into It, and as I do not want to leave 

 you ill the lurch, I will have to help you. 



In a late number of the American Bee 

 Journal I noticed that a Peelee Islander 

 has gone for the champions of the bees 

 as agents in transferring pollen. He is 

 giving jome facts which seem to have 

 heretofore been carefully avoided by the 

 bee-men. Refreshing! Incidentally he 

 has shown up some errors of the man 

 from Borodino. Dangerous I 



In the same paper I find this: "In 

 natural conditions a colony may be 

 several miles from other bees and prob- 

 ably requires all the drones that it may 

 produce." . . . . " Yet, to avoid in-and- 

 in breeding, which Nature so abhors, we 

 should not breed both queens and 

 drones from the same colonies.'' (The 

 italics are mine.) Evidently, Dame 

 Nature sometimes gets confused. The 

 same writer continues in the next para- 

 graph with "These propositions being 

 well established," Phew ! How long 



since? And this in the twentietli 

 century, and from the Hancock County 

 veteran ! 



Here is a bit of advice from nn Em- 

 pire State woman : " A good instruction 

 book, a periodical and a few colonies at 

 the start." Excellent ! But what book 

 and what periodical ? A youngster 

 came to me the other day to ask me 

 which book he should get. Do you 

 know, I did not dare answer off-hand, 

 and finally I gave him Langstroth, not 

 revised. As to periodicals, I suppose 

 you think I said The American Bee- 

 KEEPEK ? Well, I did ; and one other to 

 go with it, just to balance it, you know. 



I am decidedly skeptical as to the 

 value of increased tongue-length: if it 

 enables the bees to get honey from red 

 clover, what is to prevent their getting 

 it from undesirable flowers also, which 

 were previously beyond their reach ? 

 The "get there" of the bees lies more in 

 their energy than in the length of their 

 tongues. With humanity it is likewise. 



In Gleanlnris for May 1, I see that the 

 Borodino veteran has an article headed. 

 '■^Working for Comb Honey." (my italie>i. 

 He would be sure of it if he tried to run 

 eight or ten apiaries on that system. 



In the same number a Rhode Islander 

 says, apropos of thoroughbred queens: 

 " Do not confound scientific in-breeding 

 with in-and-in breeding.'" Isn't he rather 

 mixed ? 



You will find hats with elastic bands 

 on sale at AVauamaker's. Order by mail. 

 Get it before you read the editorial in the 

 same number of Oleanings on what you 

 have done for The American Bee- 

 keeper. .Harry, my boy, don't believe 

 all vou read, for sometimes it isn't all 



