^OQ 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ber of fifty can be packed into a Sponge satura- 

 ted with honey and safely transmitted from one 

 point to another through the mails. If a mail 

 robber should chance to open one of these pack- 

 ages without being aware of its nature be would 

 soon be taught a stinging lesson." 



Michigan Bee-keepers' Association. 



Pursuant to notice a large number of bee- 

 keepers met at Jackson, Michigan, on the 7th 

 of April last, to organize a State Association, 

 and to discuss questions of interest to those en- 

 gaged in bee-culture. The following named 

 gentlemen were chosen ofScers for the ensuing 

 year, viz : 



President — Ezra Rood, of Wayne. 



Vice Presidents — J. II. Townley, Tompkins ; 

 Rev. J. G. Putman, Dowagiac ; A. Harwood, 

 Maple Grove. 



Secretary — A. J. Cook, Lansing. 



Treasurer — R. G. McKee, Lansingburg. 



Executive Board— Martin Mctcalf, Grand 

 Rapids ; A. F. Moon, Paw Paw ; C. L. Balch, 



Kalamazoo; Hoff, Jonesville ; 



Tyler, Detroit; O. E. Wolco'.t, Byron; G. 



Smith, Lexington ; Hastings, Casscounty; 



L. Foster, Ann Arbor ; J. T. Rose, Petersburg. 



The Convention continued in session two 

 days, and a number of questions, proposed by 

 a committee, were discussed ; but no regular 

 report of the proceedings has been furnished to 

 us. 



[For the Americau Bee Journal.] 



The Season of 1868. 



Bees did very poorly here last season. I had 

 fiiiy hives last spring, all in good condition ; 

 and the prospect early in the season was very 

 good. 1 bad drones flying on April loth ; and 

 while the crab apples were in bloom, most of 

 the stocks stored more or less honey in the sur- 

 plus boxes. But, after the crab apples were 

 dene blooming, bees almost ceased to work, 

 and killed off their drones in a few days. White 

 clover was tolerably plenty, but I could scarce- 

 ly ever find a bee on it. I did not hive a sin- 

 ale swarm, and did not get over a hundred 

 ■pounds of honev. 



C. T. Smith, 



Trenton. Ills., March 24, 1969. 



Bonner says — " I have often had good hives, 

 with few or no drones in them, during the 

 whole year. 



[For the Americau Bee Journal.] 



The Truth of the Dzierzon Theory. 



Mr. Editor : — I see on page 90 of the Bee 

 Journal for November, 1869, that Mr. J. H. 

 Thomas, of Brooklin, Canada, claims that the 

 Dzierzon Theory of the reproduction of the 

 bone}'- bee is not true, and says that Mr. John 

 Lowe, of Edinburgh, raised from an Italian 

 queen, fertilized by a common drone, workers 

 and drones which he called hybrid in their 

 character, and which bore unmistakable evi- 

 dence of the influence of the male parent. Mr. 

 Thomas fully endorses the conclusion arrived 

 at by Mr. Lowe, that drones are, in some way, 

 affected by the act of fecundation. 



My experience is different from that of Mr. 

 Lowe and Mr. Thomas. In the year 1805 I had 

 two black queens which were fertilized by Ital- 

 ian drones. Their worker progeny was hand- 

 somely marked in part, and the remainder was 

 black bees. When the drones made their ap- 

 pearance, I examined them to see whether they 

 bore Italian marks. I suppose I have caught 

 hundreds of them for examination, and found 

 not one that showed the least indication of Ital- 

 ian blood. I also caught drones from other 

 stands, and laid them side by side, for the pur- 

 pose of detecting a trace of Italian blood, if 

 any could be observed ; but could perceive 

 nothing warranting such an inference. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I haye in my possession the 

 first volume of the Bee Journal, published in 

 Philadelphia in 1861. containing an article in 

 which the Baron of Berlepsch states that among 

 twenty common queens raised in his apiary and 

 fecundated by Italian drones, which produced 

 a more or less mixed worker progeny, there 

 was not one drone bearing the slightest resem- 

 blance to the characteristics of an Italian drone, 

 all being thoroughly of the common race. 



Hence I am forced to believe the theory of 

 Dzierzon will stand, in defiance of all investiga- 

 tion of the subject. 



In conclusion, allow me to ask Mr. Thomas 

 if he will tell me how many black queens he 

 has raised, that were fertilized by Italian drones, 

 whose drone progeny, as well as the workers, 

 show positive marks of the Italian blood ? 



h. rosekstiel. 



Lena, Ills. 



A swarm of bees and a bountiful store of wild 

 honey were recently found in a tree by wood- 

 choppers on the west side of the Sierra Nevada 

 mountains. The incident is recorded as the 

 first discovery of the kind on the Pacific slope. 

 There were no wild bees beyond the Sierras 

 when that portion of the country was first occu- 

 pied by emigrants from the Atlantic board; but 

 it was soon discovered that bees imported from 

 "the States" thrived well, and several persons 

 who engaged early in the business acquired 

 large fortunes from the production of honey 

 for the markets. 



It cannot be denied that bees have their vice*, 

 as well as their virtues. — Bonner. 



