134 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ous examination of the subject, marked, 

 in the manner of conducting the same, 

 by the greatest perspicacity. The author 

 gives his experiments with seven different 

 species, and closes his work witli the 

 chapter summarizing his conclusions. 



Early in the controversy regarding the 

 trutli of partheuo-genesis, the possibility 

 of the queen being a hermaphrodite was 

 seriously broached, but v. Siebold demon- 

 strated the falsity of this proposition. 

 He has likewise discovered that some 

 species produce males and others females; 

 and that this is not a matter of chance, 

 but that the PoUstes, Vespa and Nemata, 

 as well as the bee, produce only males, 

 while the Apus, Artema and Limnadia, 

 always produce females. The same holds 

 true of certain species of liymenoptera. 

 He has no doubt but that further investi- 

 gation will prove it to be no isolated ex- 

 ception to the law of reproduction, but 

 that it occupies a hitherto unthought-of 

 range in creation. 



To such as feel reluctant to abandon 

 the belief in the hitherto universally ac- 

 cepted law or theory of reproduction, 

 which requires, in all cases, a co-operation 

 of sexes to produce an animate creature, 

 he recalls the words of Aristotle, " Ob- 

 servation is more trustworthy tlian theory, 

 and the latter is only to be accepted when 

 it agrees with the former." 



John P. Bruck. 



Los Angeles, Cal. 



* I m 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Remedy for Foul Brood. 



Mr. Editor. — Some years ago, and 

 during several seasons, about the middle 

 of summer, when the weather was very 

 dry, several of my hives gave forth a very 

 offensive odor, perceptible some distance 

 off, and made me apprehensive that the 

 bees were troubled with foul brood. They 

 appeared to be in a healthy condition, 

 and I did not open the hives to make an 

 examination, but waited to see if such 

 should prove to be the case. After a time 

 the offensive odor ceased to be perceived, 

 and the hives proved to be as healthy as 

 ever. I then came to the conclusion that 

 the cause of it was lack ®f a supply of 

 pure water, and made arrangements to 

 supply them with it, which I have done 

 ever since, and have not since then found 

 any signs of unliealthiness among any of 

 my bees. On the contrary, I have reason 

 to believe that tlie plan I have adopted is 

 the surest to ward off disease. And it is 

 my belief that impure water is the prime 

 source of foul brood in any locality, and 

 would earnestly recommend to all api- 

 arists who are troubled with it among 

 their bees, to give this plan a fair trial, 

 feeling confident that if they will do so, 

 all traces of the disease will disappear, 

 and never be known among them again 



so long as they keep their bees supplied 

 with pure, fresh water, which they con- 

 sume in large quantities during the height 

 of the breeding season. 



On the north side of my apiary is a. 

 fence, just outside of which is a cistern 

 of pure rain water. From a small reser- 

 voir containing four or five gallons of 

 water, a small iron pipe is conducted un- 

 der ground abnut tvvent3^-five feet, termi- 

 nating in the apiary gnmnds, in a nipple 

 two feet above the ground, through which 

 a small jet of water issues, falling into a 

 small vase or basin, through which the 

 pipe has been conducted. This is sup- 

 plied with fresh water daily during the 

 season, and is very freely visited by my 

 bees, especially during seasons of drought, 

 which we sometimes have in thisclimate. 

 My apiary is not a large one, but on some 

 days I have estimated that over 20,000- 

 bees would visit this little fountain. 



Natchez, Miss. .J no. R. Bledsoe. 



For The American Bee Journal.- 



Honor to whom Honor is Due. 



Several times, seeing Mr. Dadant hit at 

 in the Journal, I concluded to give my 

 testimony in case of imported queens. In 

 October, 1869, rather late in the season, I 

 received an imported queen from Mr. 

 Dadant and introduced her successfully- 

 This queen was well marked, but not as 

 light as others I have, but she was the 

 only one I ever had who reproduced her- 

 self every time, and I raised quite a num- 

 ber of queens from her during three 

 years. This queen was good for four 

 years. At the end of the third season she 

 was superseded, and I found a young 

 queen besides the old mother in the hive- 

 At once I removed the old queen and in- 

 troduced her to a rather weak colony, 

 where she laid some, but before cold 

 weather set in, I found her again su- 

 perseded and gone. If I could get a queen 

 like that again, no price would be too 

 high ; but this may be an exception, a» 

 I paid a few dollars extra for selecting a 

 good queen ; and sure enough, I never 

 have seen abetter. 



Jefferson, Wis. W. Wolff. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Effects of the Extractor on Brood, 



My experience and observations on 

 this subject are quite difterent from any 

 opinions I have ever seen explained. 



With an extractor that runs steady, it 

 is perfectly easy to turn it fast enough to 

 empty new honey in warm weather with- 

 out the least injury to eggs or worker 

 brood; but it is more uncertain about 

 drone larva?, as the cells are so large that 

 they lay perfectly loose in the cells when 

 they are a» large as half-grown workers, 

 and at that size they are heavy enough to be 



