88 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Oct., 



value. I am almost afraid to tell Novice, lest he 

 should p;et drowned in honey ; but then again, it 

 would be so sweet a death that perhaps he would 

 not care much, as we must all once die. Well, 

 what do you think it is ? Open your eyes, ears, 

 and mouths, and listen ! It is what we here call 

 tame peppermint. One of my near neighbors- 

 has a small patch of it, about six feet by twelve, 

 in his yard. I pass the place three times a day 

 in going to my meals, and observed the plant in 

 bloom long ago. They tell me it blooms until 

 frost. The bees are there busily engaged every 

 time I pass, if the weather allows them to be 

 out. I have an idea that the honey gathered 

 from this plant must have a very pleasant taste 

 and aromatic flavor. This patch was raised by 

 setting out a few stalks for tea, and in two years' 

 time it has spread to what it is. I think it pi'e- 

 fers a moist soil, but not too wet. Let those 

 who have fence corners and waste spots try it. 



Bees did not swarm much here in June, 

 though some did tolerably well in that way ; but 

 August swarms I see and hear of almost every 

 day. Your patience is no doubt running low, so 

 I will close this my first epistle, signing myself 

 ^ * A Miller by profession, 



hut not a Moth Miller. 



Duncan's Mills, Aug. 10, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



About Fertilizing Queen Bees. 



Mr. Editor : — The September number of the 

 Journal has made its appearance, and its 

 contents well digested. Like others we are not 

 satisfied until we have read all it contains. The 

 more we read and the more we learn from it 

 about the little pets, the more we wish to know. 



We have been very successful this season with 

 our bees. We have raised several queens, and 

 experienced considerable trouble in getting 

 them properly fertilized. Witli some, we had 

 success, but with others not. Some were fer- 

 tilized in confinement, and some in the open air. 

 We failed to a great extent with our new 

 fertilizing cage. It would not work as well as 

 expected. Like others before us, we "failed," 

 and have come to the conclusion that this mode 

 of procuring fertilization will never work as 

 was desired, though Mr. N. C. Mitchell claims 

 that he has brought it to a focus. I think na- 

 ture has provided a way, by which the bee may 

 propogate its species, and that the only way 

 with success. 



IN AND IN BREEDING. 



In last month's Journal, Mr. T. Hulman gives 

 us his views on in and in breeding. I must beg 

 leave to differ with him to a certain extent. He 

 refers us to the buftalo and other herds, and 

 speaks of the Jersey cow as coming from a 

 small island, where the stock has been bred in 

 and in for centuries, and still they exist distinct 

 and pure. 



But we do not call this in and in breeding, if 

 we understand the matter right. But if we 

 take a Jersey cow and a pure male from the 

 same herd, and raise calves from these two, and 



when they arrive at maturitj^, we breed to the 

 same male as before, and so on, and do not 

 change, what will be the result? Why the 

 stock will finally run out ; in other words, the 

 stock will degenerate until there will not be a 

 trace left of them. Although tlie Jersey cattle 

 come from a small i-sland, they were not allowed 

 to breed in this manner, but are bred carefully 

 not sister to brother, but to distant relatives. 

 So with the Italian bee. If you take a queen 

 and drones from her, and allow her oftspring 

 (queen) to mate and be fertilized by her drone 

 progeny, my candid belief is that they will 

 naturally degenerate and finally cease to exist as 

 Italians — that is, if you keep on breeding in 

 this manner for three or four generations. 



But some one will say, they are all Italians, 

 and how can you keep them from breeding in 

 and in when they have free access to the open 

 air? The answer is, the queens meet drones from 

 another mother and of a difi"erent family ; and by 

 so doing keep up the race to the standard mark 

 of its required qualities. iVsI have bred queens 

 and had them fertilized by drones of the same 

 mother, I found after breeding them in this way 

 for several generations, they would gradually 

 lose their good qualities, and finally become 

 dwarfed to a certain extent. 



Why do queen breeders, if you buy more than 

 one queen from them, state to you that "this 

 one is not akin to the rest I have sent you?" 

 Mr. T. speaks of the human family as not being 

 injured by intermarriage (that is the way I un- 

 derstand him). Now I do not believe in rela- 

 tions marrying at all ; it .does to some extent 

 injure their offspring. But this does not come 

 up to the point, as I view in and in breeding. 

 Suppose he takes the case of a brother and 

 sister marrying. Undoubtedly he will find the 

 case plain enough that their race (or offspring) 

 are deficient in more or less of the required 

 elements of the human family. I would guar- 

 antee that if this were the case, the human race 

 would so deteriorate or degenerate that there 

 would not be a sound or perfect man or woman 

 on the globe. 



In breeding queens, or anything else of the 

 kind, I always select from some otlier family, the 

 males from which I wish to breed ; and by so 

 doing I keep up the required qualities of 

 whatever stock I am breeding or raising. I will 

 admit that queens reared in a swarming hive, are 

 somewhat larger ; but as to their being any 

 better or longer lived, I am unable to determine. 

 I do not write this, Mr. Editor, tli inking that 

 the gentleman is wrong in his views, but he gave 

 his belief, and I give mine— a privilege which 

 each has a perfect right to enjoy. 



Beekeeping is waking up in these parts. I 

 intend to talk nothing but Italians hereafter to 

 those engaged in it. The Italian queens prove 

 to be more prolific than the black queeus are. 



Tell Mr. Gallup that we intend to hold on to the 

 almighty dollars, whether to buy lumber to make 

 one of his hives, or not. 



We are expecting to enjoy a splendid time at 

 the next meeting of our association at Man- 

 chester, and will report the proceedings of the 

 meeting at an early date, for publication. 



