1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



247 



We now know in what direction the bee tree is 

 Our next business is to ascertain its exact loca" 

 tion. We will leave some honey here for these 

 bees to work at to keep them telling other bees 

 at home that there is honey to be found until we 

 have them at work in a new pla ce. We will now 

 take our "traps" and follow the line nearly half 

 a mile to stand No. 2, where we proceed the 

 same as at the first stand, and from which we 

 soon have a line in tlie same direction north. 

 Hundreds of bees are here now at work, and 

 more cominsj. The tree cannot be far off. We 

 might possibly find it to-day by following the 

 line, and looking in the trees as we went. But 

 ■we do not know exactly how far it is from us, 

 and should i^robably look in a good many trees 

 where there are no bees. Each would take up 

 some time, and we have no time to spare. We 

 can save time by lining them at a right angle, or 

 nearly so, with the first one, showing us just 

 where to look for the tree. If you will follow 

 this line, I will follow the one from stand No. 3, 

 and we will meet at the angle. 



We have now been in the woods nearly two 

 hours hunting bees, without having once looked 

 in a tree for them. What have we been doing 

 all this time? What have we accomplished? 

 Let us see. When we commenced we knew 

 there was a bee tree somewhere in this tract of 

 timber. We had not the most remote idea as to 

 its situation, but by getting bees at work in 

 different places, and lining them from different 

 points, we have not only ascertained what part 

 of the woods the tree is in. but we have narrowed 

 down and contracted its location to a compass so 

 small that we have only a few trees to look in to 

 find it. In fact, there is but one tree here, near 

 where the two lines meet, that looks likely to 

 have bees in, and that is this large oak by the 

 side of which we are standing, and here they are. 

 Our bee tree is found. 



During the summer months bees are collecting 

 honey from flowers, and except in a season of 

 scarcity, or when it has been fed to them, they 

 will not notice it elsewhere, neither will they 

 come for smoke. At such season some other 

 course must be taken to get them at work on it. 

 I generally find some place where there are 

 jjlenty of flowers in which bees are at work, and 

 sprinkle thin diluted honey on all the tiowers on 

 a "patch" a rod square or larger, and place some 

 honey in the comb near it. In two or three 

 hours I will have bees at work in large numbers, 

 the whole colony becomes aroused, going out in 

 search of honey, and if I now leave it anywhere, 

 on or near the line, they will soon find it. 



J. H. TOWNLEY. 



Parma, Mich. 



[For the American Beo Journal.] 



About Purity of Drones. 



In an article headed "A Visit to Dzierzon*," 

 written by Dr. Preuss, in the German Bienen- 

 zeitung, Vol. 27, page G. I find the following 

 interesting statement :— "Of such perfectly pure, 

 i. e. without a single exception, golden-ringed 

 worker bees, as I raised from a queen received 



from Dzierzon, I saw only a moderate number ; 

 and I am persuaded that Dzierzon ships only a 

 small fraction of the queens reared by him. 

 The price, too, in view of the great labor in- 

 volved and the large sacrifice of honey required, 

 is a very moderate one." On page 7, Dr. Preuss 

 further says: — "We came to speak also about 

 the origin of the drones, and I stated that the 

 following fact had led me to very earnest reflec- 

 tion ; a queen already referred to by me, procur- 

 red from Carlsmarkt [Dzierzon] produced 

 besides the workers, the very prettiest drones — 

 having without exception golden rings. She 

 died after the lapse of two years. Her daugh- 

 ter, as she was undoubtedly pure, ought to have 

 produced drones equally beautiful, whether 

 fertilized by an Italian or a common drone. 

 Yet this was by no means the case. The drones 

 were black, and scarcely distinguishable fi'om 

 the German. The workers were hybrids." 

 There is, I continued, " no doubt that an unim- 

 pregnated queen lays drone eggs. But it is a 

 question whether the drones that have a fertil- 

 ized queen for their mother, are not also produced 

 by the influence of the father. I am aware of 

 all that Von Berlepsch says on this point, who 

 has likewise noticed the fact stated by me, that 

 pure Italian queens frequently produce black 

 drones, and exjilains it on the ground, that 

 there is still remaining in them a fractional 

 portion of black blood. I am also aware of the 

 miscroscopic investigation made by Siebold and 

 Leuckart, according to which spermatozoa are 

 found only in the worker egg, and not in the 

 drone egfx- But such investigations are too sub- 

 tle, stand too isolated, and require research." 

 Dzierzon li.stened patiently, though I expressed 

 doubt as to the general validity of his most im- 

 portant doctrine, and replied :—" I am regarded 

 as an authority in bee science, but I by no means 

 regard myself as infallible. One thing 1 liave 

 particularly remarked, that the constitution of 

 the mother exerts in process of time, increased 

 influence on her progency. The pure Italian 

 queen impregnated by a black drone, gradually 

 produces more and more bees resembling her- 

 self." 



I have translated these remarks to show that 

 Dzierzon concedes that he might be mistaken in 

 his celebrated theory, and that he did not find it 

 policy to explain Dr. Preuss' statement, or could 

 not do so. What happened to Dr. P. I have 

 also experienced a number of times during the 

 last six years. I look with much suspicion on 

 queens whose drones are highly colored, pa'^ticu- 

 larly since I made my large importation of c^,\eens 

 ditrect from Italy. Nearly all the queens I 

 reared from mothers with highly colorecl drones, 

 turned out hybrids, either in the first or the 

 second generation, even if their workers and 

 young queens were the prettiest I ever laid 

 eyes on. I have further noticed, in numerous 

 instances, that drones from pure mothers im- 

 pregnated by black or impure drones, are 

 higher colored than the drones of their mother 

 queen. I long since became suspicious of the 

 purity of those beautiful Italian queens bred 

 from queens imported from Germany ; and my 

 suspicion has gi-own stronger every year for the 



