1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUKNAL. 



69 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Washington, September, 1871. 



We are in pressing need of No. 7, of the 

 American Bee Jouknal, of Volumes V. and VI. 

 (dated respectively, January, 1870, and January, 

 1871) ; and will pay twenty-five cents per copy, for 

 those numbers, till our wants are supplied, if sent to 

 the publication office, with the sender's name. 



Several copies of each of the numbers desired, 

 liave been sent to us in accordance with the above re- 

 quest, without giving us tlie senders' names, and 

 Lence we know not whom to credit, or thank. 



A large number of communications reached 

 us so late in August, that we were unable to use them 

 for this number of the Journal. Luckily there is 

 among them none likel}' to lose in interest by brief 

 delay in publication. 



We need not ask the reader's attention to Miss 

 Grimm's brief and clear report of her success in prac- 

 tical bee-culture, this summer, at one of her father's 

 apiaries, in Wisconsin — that will be a thing of course ; 

 and after reading it, they will readily join us in con- 

 gratulating her on an acliievemeut alike gratifying 

 and praiseworthy. The season there may have been 

 unusually tine, but to secure so large an amount of 

 lioney as ten barrels from a comparatively small 

 number of stocks, and with so little assistance, argues 

 uncommon skilfulness and unflagging assiduity on 

 the part of the young lady who accomplished the feat — 

 a feat unexampled, we believe, in the annals of bee-cul- 

 tuie in this country, or in any other. We have reports 

 from other quarters, quite satisfactory to those who 

 make them, and on the whole very flattering and en- 

 couraging; and there are more like them, and per- 

 haps still better, yet to come ; but, in view of all the 

 circumstances, we think the bee-keepers of the country 

 will cordially concur in assigning to Miss Grimm the 

 palm ol supereminent success in 1871. 



Mr. K. P. Kidder, we learn, is still endeavor- 

 ing to blackmail bee-keepers for using or having used 

 the triangular comb guide ; doing so under the pre- 

 text that the assignment to him of Clark's patent, 

 gives him the right to claim damages. The decision 

 of the U. S. Court in favor of that patent, was fraudu- 

 lently obtained — as Kidder well knows, having been 

 the prominent agent in that transaction ; and neither 

 lie nor Clark could sustain their demands by legal 

 process against parties determined to resist them. 

 Under stressof moral pressure, he sued Messrs. Lang- 

 siroth and Otis at their request, as it was their desire, 



and, as we are advised, the desire of the Court, to ob- 

 tain a re-adjudication of the case. But he (Kidder) 

 will take special care never to prosecute that suit to an 

 tss?«— being perfectly conscious of what that issue 

 must be. Meantime he is trying to put money in his 

 pocket, by victimizing uninformed or timid bee- 

 keepers. He will never bring or prosecute suit 

 against any who will resist his demands, with a de- 

 termination to contest his right to make them. 



HFTrom an account given by Dr. Preuss, in the 

 Biencnzeitung, of a conversation he had, last year, 

 with Dzierzon (which was substantially communi- 

 cated to the Journal, a few months ago, with com- 

 ments, by Mr. Adam Grimm), it seemed as if Dr. P. 

 desired to create the impression that Dzierzon either 

 did not venture, or felt himself unable, to maintain 

 the correctness of his theory of drone production ; if, 

 indeed, he was not himself disposed to doubt or 

 abandon it, at least in part. That this was all wrong, 

 was obvious to us from the whole tenor of the con- 

 versation, as reported by Dr. Preuss. Courtesy to a 

 visitor would disincline Dzierzon from engagiuff in a 

 discussion which must, in view ofthe Doctor's known 

 position in the premises, almost inevitably have led 

 to controversy. Yet we felt assured that the Doctor's 

 communication would, sooner or later, draw from 

 Dzierzon a distinct disavowal of the imputation that 

 he had changed his views, or had conceived doubt of 

 the tenableness of his own theory, or felt unable to 

 defend or maintain it. We have this now in a re- 

 cent communication to the Bienenzeituug, which we 

 have translated for this number of the Journal. It 

 will be seen from it that the Dzierzon theory of drone 

 production is still adhered to by its author, fully and 

 in its original form. Let those who have lieen led to 

 doubt, or who incline to entertain other opinions as 

 to drone production, read the article and reassure 

 themselves that there is no wavering there. For 

 ourselves, we need only state that every clear test to 

 which we could subject the theory, merely resulted in 

 corroborating its truth, and authorizes us to reiterate, 

 what we said on former occasions, that the drones are 

 the co7iclusive evidence of the true character and quality 

 oftJie QUEENS/ro>?i which they sjyring —their motiieks ; 

 that doubt or suspicion created by appearances con- 

 nected with them, must be regarded only as of weight 

 operating retroactively against those queens ; and that 

 all queens thus attainted, however large, or bright, or 

 finely marked, are utterly unfit to breed from, and 

 shoidd be unhesitatingly rejected, when purity of race 

 is designed to be secured or perpetuated. Mark this ! 

 The same principle, too, must be regarded as true, 

 and be adhered to, in scientific attempts to originate 

 and establish an improved breed. 



|^"The Seventeenth General Convention of Ger- 

 man Bee-keepers meets this year, on the 12th, 13th, 



