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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL.. 



experimented carefully claim that 

 drones from a virgin queen are not 

 virile. Such being the case, all queens 

 producing workei'-bees must have mated 

 with drones from a fertile queen. — G. 



M. DOOLITTLE. 



1. It would, but not as likely to get 

 strong, healthy stock. Follow the course 

 of nature as nearly as possible. 8. There 

 are too many possibilities connected with 

 these experiments to consider them a 

 safe and infallible guide. — Mrs. L. Har- 

 bison. 



1. I think so, if one could do it. 

 Virgin queens do not always lay eggs. 

 See my article on reproduction soon to 

 be published in the Bee Journal. 3. 

 Yes, granting there is no mistake ; but 

 how can any man be sure that his 

 queens are certainly pure with no trace 

 of black blood. — A. J. Cook. 



1. No. 2. Such drones would not 

 prove fertile. 3. Such experiments, I 

 believe, must conform to the above rule. 

 The recent article of our worthy brother, 

 G. W. Demaree, was just " my senti- 

 ments." The progeny of an Italian 

 queen mated to a black drone, must of 

 course be tainted. — W. M. Baenum. 



1. I do not think it would be safe so 

 to do. 2. This opens up too big a ques- 

 tion to be answered in this department. 

 3. The doctrine of parthenogenesis is 

 proved to be true, still the doubt remains 

 as to how far impure copulation affects 

 the drone progeny. It is safe to breed 

 from pure drones — why not do so ? — J. 

 E. Pond. 



1. I think not. There is no necessity 

 for such a course, even if such drones 

 were certainly fertile. In my late arti- 

 cle in the Bee Journal I have laid 

 down the proposition that it can be 

 demonstrated by experiment whether or 

 not the drones of a virgin queen are fer- 

 tile. Until this is settled, it is useless 

 to discuss probabilities. — G. W. Dem- 

 aree. 



No ; leaving the scientific discussion 

 of this subject to naturalists, and to 

 those who have time and talent for 

 lengthy experiments, I will say to the 

 propounder of 852, if he wishes good 

 bees, not to depend upon drones reared 

 from virgin queeas, for the conditions 

 necessary to the rearing of good drones 

 will be greatly lacking in a colony that 

 cannot rear worker-brood. — S. I. Free- 

 born. 



Parthenogenesis Is not a theory. It is 

 a fact. The assumption that the drone 

 progeny of a queen are In no way 



affected by her mating, is theory that 

 has not been proven, and perhaps can- 

 not be. I think it likely that they are 

 thus affected. The question is of little 

 practical importance. It would not be 

 profitable to rear drones as you suggest, 

 even if they were as good as any as 

 breeders, and you would have to rear 

 drones from a number of such queens, 

 in the average locality, to stand much 

 chance of their being valuable under 

 any circumstances. — James A. Green. 



1. I believe that drones from virgin 

 queens, and even from laying workers, 

 are virile, and as potent as any. I be- 

 lieve that the drone progeny of a queen 

 is unaffected by the drone she has mated 

 with. 3. I do not think that any ex- 

 periments prove that there is any taint 

 in the drone progeny of a queen from 

 the drone she has copulated with. There 

 are too many sources of mistake for ex- 

 periments to be of much value. — M. 

 Mahin. 



1. Yes, so far as regards purity, but 

 generally, no. 2. Because drones reared 

 from a queen that did not succeed in 

 getting mated, and in a weak colony of 

 old bees such as hers would be likely to 

 be, would probably be wanting in vigor, 

 and of a race wanting in good qualities 

 generally. 8. The mating of bees for 

 several generations is too uncertain a 

 thing to base any scientific conclusions 

 upon — at least in most localities. — R. L. 

 Taylor. 



We are told that in some cases in the 

 human race, after a white woman has 

 had a child to a black father, subse- 

 quent children to a white father may 

 show traces of black blood. Something 

 like this may hold good with bees, but 

 for practical purposes I should be satis- 

 fied with drones from a thoroughbred 

 queen impurely mated. But how could 

 there in any case be impurity in "drones 

 from pure Italian virgin queens ?" — C. 

 C. Miller. 



1. No. 2. For the reason that all ex- 

 perience has shown that the drones of 

 virgin queens do not possess virility, and 

 are therefore worthless ; although the- 

 ory and scientific deduction proclaim 

 to the contrary. 3. Yes ; but the differ- 

 ence is probably in the elemental life 

 forces imparted to the eggs rather than 

 in material substance. — G. L. Tinker. 



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