248 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[May, 



last three years. Last summer I commenced 

 experimenting in breeding queens, in a manner 

 which I felt confident would enable me to prove 

 that my suspicions are well-founded ; but owing 

 to the great amount of work then pressing on 

 me, I was unable to carry out those experiments 

 fully. I shnll resume them this summer, and 

 then I shall undoubtedly be able to prosecute 

 them to an issue. 



As it is repeatedly claimed that queen breeders 

 have succeeded in getting queens impregnated 

 in confinement, while I have not been so lucky, 

 I herewith call on tliose fortunate ones to aid 

 me in experimenting, by taking drones from an 

 unimpregnated queen for impregnation. I can- 

 not, however, relVain from suggesting that the 

 yi.ung queen should be kept in confinement from 

 the moment she is hatched until she has actually 

 commenced laying worker eggs ; or that the 

 wings of the queen should be clipped, after 

 impregnation, so short that she will not under- 

 take to leave the hive. If such a queen, thus 

 impregnated by a drone from an unimpregnated 

 queen, becomes capable of laying worker eggs, 

 1 think we shall have evidence against which no 

 suspicion can be urged ; and I will then believe 

 that the drones of an Italian queen impregnated 

 by a black drone, are as pure as the drones of 

 her mother ; — but no sooner. 



The above remarks were written before I re- 

 ceived the March number, of the Bee Journal, 

 in which I found the interesting article of Mr. 

 Miller on pages 20G and 207. As the queen to 

 which Mr. Lliller refers, was an impregnated 

 fertile queen when she left me, and became drone 

 laying by being chilled, she cannot be classed 

 with unimpregnated drone-laying queens. I 

 should be pleased if Mr. Miller would inform 

 the readers of the .Journal whether the drones 

 from that queen were small or large drones. 



I will answer some of Jlr. Miller's queries. 



To 1. The queen was doubtless chilled in the 

 queen cage during the night following the day 

 after she was introduced in the cage. Bees will 

 in such cases, contract their cluster during the 

 night, and expand it again next day, covering 

 up and reviving the caged queen. 



To 6. Ill and in breeding produces light 

 colored peaceable bees. 



To 7. As a rule, in and in bred bees are not 

 good workers. If we find a high colored colony 

 that is a really good productive stock, the queen 

 is not perfectly pure. In breeding down one or 

 two generations, the impurity will crop out. 



A. Gkimm. 



Ji'fi\rso7i, Wis. 



[Fur the American Bee Journal.] 



All Drones alike Virile. 



Mk. Editor :— I read in the report of the 

 Cincinnati Convention, that Mr. Root advanced 

 the idea that drones from a virgin or unfertilized 

 queen are not capable of fertilizing queens, or of 

 procreation. In 1864, I learned that they are ; 

 and again, last sjn-ing, I had an opportunity of 

 testing them. In December, 18G9, I had a queen 

 hatched in my cellar. By the 4tli of April, I 



had drones flying, the progeny of this queen, 

 and had queens fertilized by them. On the 

 26th of A])ril I sent this queen, by mail, to Mr. 

 John M. Folliit, Atkinson, Ills. He had then 

 no Italian bees, and none were within nine miles 

 of him. He reared drones from this queen, and 

 h;id them mate with young black queens. The 

 pi'ogeny of the black queens showed two and 

 three yellow bands. From the above I do not 

 think there is a particle of doubt on the sub- 

 ject. I also sent Mr. FoUitt tested queens in 

 June and July. I have so much faith in drones 

 of this kind being virile, that I am now rearing 

 drones from a virgin queen, and will have them 

 hatched by the 2.')th of this month (March*. — 

 Some one made the inquiry in the Prairie Far- 

 mer last spring, as to whether drones from 

 an unfertilized queen were capable of fertilizing 

 queens. I do not remember to have seen any 

 reply given. We should all strive for facts. 

 My esteemed friend, j\lr. Langstroth, in his 

 valuable work on the " //m and Honey i>«0," 

 page 40, mentions liaving had a drone-laying 

 queen fertilized after she had laid eggs. I 

 would like to know if any of your readers have 

 had a similar case. 



Theo. G. McGaw. 

 Monmouth, Ills., March 10, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Cure of Foul Brood. 



Mr. Editor : — I have had a number of letters 

 inquiring about the permanency of the cure for 

 foulbrood in my apiary : and as the subject may 

 be of interest to others of your readers, I will 

 state to you the condition of my colonies that 

 were diseased, and ofier some suggestions not as 

 a teacher, but as a student, for yet I am only a 

 fellow-student in this disease. 



On the loth of December I put into my bee- 

 house, with twelve healthy colonies, six of which 

 were found diseased in the fall, but from which 

 all trace of disease had been removed. One of 

 these. No. 1, raised so much brood during the 

 winter that it used up nearly all its stores, and I 

 was obliged to transfer it to a hive with plenty 

 of honey ; but in their old hive I could not find 

 a trace of disease left behind. This hive had 

 contracted the disease quite late in the fall, after 

 honey had become scarce, consequently little or 

 none was sealed in the presence of the disease. 

 I shall introduce a swarm into the empty combs 

 this summer. 



No. 2 had the disease all summer, and conse- 

 quently there was little honey scaled except in a 

 contagious atmosphere. This colony also raised 

 much brood during the winter ; but there were 

 many cells with disease left. This I discovered 

 in February. Then I purified with cliloride of 

 soda, exposed the whole hive to a temperatui-e 

 six degrees below zero, and sulphured. March 

 Kith, there was evidently a return of the disease. 

 I removed tlie bees to strengthen another colony, 

 and reserved the combs for future experiments. 



No. 3 lost its queen, and the bees were too few 

 in number to experiment with. This hive I shall 



