AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



721 



Punic bees I know in this neighborhood 

 have the reputation of storing more 

 honey than other bees last season, and I 

 suspect it was from white sage. 



That nameless disease, or bee-para- 

 lysis, has attacked about 15 of my colo- 

 nies. In the colonies attacked, the bees 

 all wear yellow stripes, while out of 6U 

 colonies that show no yellow stripes at 

 all, all are healthy and vigorous. 



Pasadena, Calif. 



Puzzled on Reproduction in 

 Iloney-lSecs. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY DAVID K. BRIGGS, M. D. 



Having lately caught the "bee-fever," 

 I have read everything in reference to 

 bees with a great deal of enthusiasm, 

 but I have recently run across a state- 

 ment that sets all the accepted laws of 

 reproduction at variance, that I write 

 for further information and enlighten- 

 ment on the subject. 



On page 16 of "Bees and Honey," in 

 speaking of the egg-production of the 

 queen, the author says: "Each egg. 

 which receives one of the seminal fila- 

 ments in passing, will produce a worker 

 or queen, while an unimpregnated egg 

 will produce only a drone. The sperma- 

 theca of an unfecundated queen contains 

 only a transparent liquid with no semi- 

 nal filaments, and the eggs of such a 

 queen produce only drones." 



Again, on page 462 of the American 

 Bee Journal for April 13th, Mrs. Jen- 

 nie Atchley says: "I noticed that 

 every single queen that became stimu- 

 lated for egg-laying, never became im- 

 pregnated, but was always a drone- 

 layer." 



It has been generally accepted as a 

 fact that it requires impregnation from 

 the opposite sex before reproduction can 

 take place, be it flowers, insects, ani- 

 mals, etc., and I did not think that bees 

 were an exception to this rule. While 

 intercourse is not necessary for egg- 

 laying, it is absolutely necessary for 

 fecundation. If some one should tell 

 Mrs. Atchley that if she kept no rooster 

 with her hens, that if she would set the 

 eggs they would hatch out all roosters, 

 she would laugh at the idea. 



I think that where a queen was stim- 

 ulated for egg-laying before mating with 

 a drone, that after she had mated her 

 eggs woul(3 be more likely to hatch out 

 drones, than in a queen which had 

 mated before becoming stimulated for 



egg-laying, as suggested by a theory 

 lately advanced, "that the greater the 

 passion of one of the parents, the off- 

 spring would be of the opposite sex." 

 Blackville, S. C. 



[The fact that a queen that has never 

 met a drone may lay eggs which will 

 hatch, was fully established by the 

 great bee-master Dzierzen 40 years ago. 

 It was bitterly opposed for a time, but 

 the introduction of the Italian bee gave 

 opportunity to settle some of the chief 

 points at issue in the Dzierzon theory, 

 and all intelligent apiarists soon gave in 

 their assent. Other points of great in- 

 terest are involved, and whoever wants 

 to have an intelligent understanding of 

 the subject should not fail to invest 15 

 cents in the little book containing the 

 " Dzierzon Theory," which can be had 

 at the Bee Journal office. — Ed.] 



Report of Experiments in W^in- 

 tering: Bec!^. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY B. TAYLOR. 



Nearly all apiarists agree that suc- 

 cessful wintering is one of the most im- 

 portant questions connected with bee- 

 keeping. There is more loss from fail- 

 ure in wintering than from all other 

 causes combined. There has always 

 been much difference of opinion among 

 leading lights as to the real cause of 

 bad wintering. Some apiarists laid the 

 cause to lack of ventilation in wintering- 

 cellars ; others, to the over-abundant 

 supply of pollen ; others, to poor food — 

 honey-dew, late fall honey ; too much 

 ventilation of hives ; too little ventila- 

 tion ; and many other fancies have been 

 brought forward. 



Lately sealed covers have been 

 brought forward as a great remedy for 

 winter troubles. Books have been print- 

 ed and widely advertised recommending 

 this new discovery. This new theory 

 was from the first, to my mind, contrary 

 to both theory and practical experience, 

 yet I gave it a thorough trial, only to 

 meet with severe loss. 



In the fall of 1892 I resolved to begin 

 a series of more careful experiments in 

 regard to the part the preparation of 

 hives themselves played in wintering. I 

 had, what I have now reason to believe 



