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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[March, 



on which a fertilized queen was walking. A 

 bee would sometimes stop and stare at the in- 

 truder, as much as to say, " Does your mother 

 know you are out?" Sometimes they would 

 hustle her out of the hive, nearly killing her. 

 Experiment only with vi'/ry young queens. 



Mr. Langstroth being called upon again, said 

 he thouglit the drone progeny of an Italian 

 queen would be pure Italian drones, be the drone 

 by which the queen was fertilized, a black drone 

 or an Italian drone. He said that when the 

 Italian bees were first introduced into the coun- 

 try there was opportunity to test the theory. 

 He said that in Avarm blooded animals where 

 there was a common circulation between the 

 mother and the unborn offspring, there was a 

 decided intiuence exerted upon the mother. 

 ]\Iares that have produced mules had years 

 afterward produced horses with mulish charac- 

 teristics and of mule-like build. 



Mr. Moon said that the drone progeny of an 

 Italian queen, crossed from a black drone, was 

 of a lighter color than the pure Italian drones. 



Mr. Langstroth said there was every reason 

 to believe that the Italian bee was itself a hy- 

 lirid. Long before the Egyptain bee was intro- 

 deced into this country, tliere was evidence of a 

 bee in America with a tuft on the head like the 

 Egyptian bee. It was said, too, that the Italian 

 bee could be produced from a cross with the 

 black bee. 



In regard to the fertile worker, he said that 

 Huber thought workei's had robbed a little and 

 eaten of the ambrosia with which the queen was 

 fed. Then they might be bees produced in im- 

 perfect queen cells ^■. e., cells not quite large 

 enough for a queen, and a little larger than tliat 

 in which the worker was produced. He said 

 instances had been found in which the head of 

 tlie bee was a drone and the anterior part a 

 worker, and vice versa. This was accounted for 

 upon Mr. Wagner's theory of a double germ. 



Mr. Gallup gave an ex))erience of his in which 

 he discovered a queen, with the forepart of the 

 body that of a drone. 



Mr. Langstroth said it was possible for a 

 Avorker grub or egg to be cultivated by the bees 

 and formed into a queen. 



i\Ir. Moon gave his experience as to honey- 

 producing plants. In dry seasons honey-pro- 

 ducing plants failed. While in good seasons 

 they were rich in sweetness. 



Mrs. Tupper said that in the region in which 

 she lived there were honey-producing plants all 

 the season. She had buckwheat sown at various 

 times, early and late every season. The weather 

 made a dilference. Wild cherry made a great 

 deal of honey, but it was unpalatable, as it 

 had tlie bitter taste of the tree. The Alsike had 

 been good. She believed in sowing for the bees 

 plants that could be used for something else. 



Mr. Peck said he found a plant in the South- 

 ern States that was the best of honey-producing 

 ])lants, but he had never heard a name for it. 

 The honey from it smelled like verbenas. 



Mr. Van Slyke said he had received the flower 

 of the tree spoken of by Mr. Peck, and had 

 named it, but could not remember the name. 



Mr. A. J. Mai'kley wanted to know if the 

 blackberry was a good bee plant. 



j\Ir. Van Slyke said as far as his experience 

 went the blackberry was not good. 



TentJi Topic. 



This was the question — "What is the benefit 

 of salt to bees?" 



Mr. Zimmerman said the bees were fond of it. 

 When put under the hive it prevented ants from 

 innovating the hive. 



A member said that he had learned from an 

 old and successful German bee keeper that he 

 had put salt upon the alighting board, and had 

 never lost a brood of bees. 



General Adair said he found salt a good disin- 

 fectant among bees during bee cholera. 



Eleventh I'opic. 



This topic was "the best method of introdu- 

 cing queens." Mrs. Tupper was called upon. 

 She scarcely ever lost a queen in introducing her. 

 She first detached a colony, put the queen with 

 it, then took the bees from the hive away and 

 allowed them to return a few at a time. The 

 detached colony .she put in a new hive, precisely 

 like the old one. Another way was to put the 

 queen in a wire cage and cover the end of it with 

 a thin coating of wax and put it in the hive. In 

 twenty-four hours afterward, or thirty-six at 

 most, the bees would liberate- her. Then they 

 never hurt her. 



Mr. King said he had lost five queens in that 

 way. There was a smell about imported queens 

 that bees hated. 



IVIr. Wright put the bees in a large cage, and 

 introduced with her thirty or forty of the colony 

 she was to preside over, one at a time. He 

 would allow them to stay with her thirty-six 

 hours, tlien would liberate her with them in the 

 hive. 



IMrs. Tupper had succeeded by taking the 

 queen from a hive, agitating it, and then in- 

 troducing the new queen. 



IMr. Porter liad smeared the queen with honey 

 and introduced her. 



Mr. Wright had seen queens deformed by 

 having their wings gnawed off by the other bees 

 in the cleaning process when smeared witli honey. 



Mr. Benedict removed the old queen and in- 

 troduced the new one at once. He first dipped 

 her in sugared water. 



Mr j\Iuth had done the same way, and had 

 only once failed. 



General .Vdair had had queens stay in the hive 

 two days, and then be killed. In a particular 

 instance a swai-m killed eight queens, and obsti- 

 nately refused a queen afterward. He usually 

 caged a queen for several days in the hive she 

 was to rule. 



Mr. Zimmerman had a refractory colony, and 

 by halving it and another colony, and creating 

 out of tliem two colonies, one-half of each of 

 which was strange to the other, he introduced 

 tlie (jueen to the queenless colony, where she was 

 well received. 



Mr. Markley gave an amusing account of his 

 difficulties in introducing queens, and his ex- 



