AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



13 



simply because it is your way. Make 

 "Improvement" the watchword of 

 your home and your apiary. Improve 

 your mind ; improve your methods ; and 

 also improve your surroundings. 



There are homes and apiaries in this 

 Sunny Southland of ours that has been 

 of a monotonous sameness for years. I 

 need not say that these are not the 

 happy homes, or prosperous apiaries. 

 The great ocean must move in order to 

 avoid stagnation, and homes and api- 

 aries must advance, or they will retro- 

 grade. Let us bring the products of 

 ingenuity to our aid, borrow and lend 

 the results of experience until all shall 

 know the pleasures and benefits of well- 

 directed efforts in the art of bee-culture 

 and proper living. Let every wife and 

 mother of all sections fully co-operate 

 in improving our homes, and systems 

 and home surroundings, which means 

 the apiary as well as the front yards 

 and gardens, thereby uniting on a most 

 effective plan for elevating American 

 manhood and womanhood. 



Again, I say, let us make it our first 

 object in all things to bring the most 

 good to the greatest number. What a 

 change might be wrought in the condi- 

 tions of mankind by the application of 

 this rule I How unselfish and how far- 

 reaching as compared with seeking the 

 greatest good of a chosen few. There is 

 a great deal of work to be done, and the 

 fields are white with the harvest. What 

 part will you take in this great and 

 grand work of helping others ? It may 

 be by this poorly written article, or it 

 may be by personal influence in your 

 own home and neighborhood ; widely 

 different are the means capable of appli- 

 cation, but there is work for all. 



For whosoever shall give you a cup of 

 water to drink in my name, because ye 

 belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, 

 he shall not lose his reward. 



After proper home influences, we have 

 a subject in whom each seed sown should 

 bring forth good fruit. For such a per- 

 son the scenes of nature and the inci- 

 dents of life all teach lessons for the 

 broadening of the mind and the develop- 

 ment of the soul. Travel will open new 

 avenues of thought at every change, and 

 books will prove mines in which most 

 precious gems are stored. All fellow 

 creatures should be teachers, and each 

 note of nature should awaken new and 

 deeper instincts for good. In such a 

 person happiness is ever present, and 

 must light the way for all associates. 



•'Bees and Honey" — see page 5. 



Drones for Breeding Purposes- 

 A Large Question. 



Query 852.— 1. Would it be safe Tor me to 

 rear drones from pure Italian virgin queens 

 to breed from, with respect to the purity of 

 the future progeny, since it was holden by a 

 majority of those answering Query 843 (see 

 page 598—1892), that there was no difference 

 between eggs as they existed in the ovaries 

 of virgin and impregnated queens ? 2. If not, 

 why not ? 3. Would not the experiments of 

 Mr. Doolittle and other prominent apiarists 

 along this line, by mating pure Italians with 

 black drones, and continuing to mate for two 

 or three generations pure Italians to the 

 lineal drone descendants of this first progeny 

 or drone offspring of a pure Italian and black 

 drone, in which case they obtained drones 

 from pure Italians showing marks of im- 

 purity, show that the eggs in the ovary of a 

 f)ure Italian virgin are different from the eggs 

 n the ovary of a pure Italian that has mated 

 with a black drone, the theory of partheno- 

 genesis and its exponents to the contrary 

 notwithstanding ?— P. R. O. 



Yes, don't do it. — James Heddon. 



1. Let those who have differed on this 

 point, answer this. 3. Yes. — Jas. A. 

 Stone. 



I don't know anything about it, but I 

 believe the male has some influence on 

 the offspring with bees as well as with 

 other folks. — E. France. 



All I have time and space to say now 

 is, that I now hold the ground that the 

 drone is affected by the mating as well 

 as the worker, but may be not so much. 

 — Mrs. Jennie Atchley. 



I see no good reason for doing so. 

 Though it might be safe, I should prefer 

 to follow only safe, well-known rules for 

 breeding the purest and best bees, as 

 well as other livestock. — C. H. Dibbern. 



1. This is a pretty tough question for 

 a starter, but I will venture a yes. 3. 

 The trouble is they cannot be sure how 

 their queens were mated, whatever they 

 may say to the contrary. — J. H. Larra- 



BEE. 



Drones from a virgin queen must of 

 necessity be of the same "blood" as 

 their mother ; but the trouble which 

 meets us here is, that many who have 



