334 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



but furthers and includes it." I com- 

 mend the foregoing to the attention of 

 Mr. Doolittle and the American Bee Jour- 

 nal. Mr. Doolittle 's reading ought to 

 have taught him that evolution is accept- 

 ed by the mere intelligent members of 

 the clergy, both Catholic and Protestant, 

 and that that stronghold of orthodoxy, 

 the Chautauqua Circle, expressly teaches 

 it in its text-book of Geology. I would 

 like to ask Mr. Doolittle, or any one else, 

 how mechanical laws, either singly or in 

 combination, (for Gerstung is too fearful 

 here) are any less mysterious than vital 

 ones, and how their contemplation in that 

 light, shutting out as it does anything 

 which we can account for short of infi- 

 nite power, does not unspeakably widen 

 our conceptions of the Creator. Evolu- 

 tion, by the way, is ths necessary basis 

 for the "organic conception of the col- 

 ony." Thus the American Bee Journal, as 

 was to be expected, after issuing a solemn 

 pronunciamento against such subjects, 

 turns right around and prints them 

 again. 



The reason for the rearing of drones, 

 as stated by Dr. Dzierzon, and accepted 

 by every one in Germany until the birth 

 of the "new school," is that while colo- 

 nies can not forsee the opportunity for 

 swarming or queen-rearing, they do for- 

 see its possibility — thus crediting bees 

 with foresight and calculation. In like 

 manner, drones are said to be destroyed 

 because the colony foresees winter, when 

 the drones if kept would eat up all the 

 colony has stored. The editor states the 

 position of the "new school" to be, that 

 drones are the result of a surplus of al- 

 buminous matter in the brood food. 

 Worker brood needs on the average 40.62 

 per cent, of albuminous matter, drone 

 brood 43. 79 per cent., and queen brood 

 45. 14 per cent. The percentage of this in 

 the brood food is influenced by the flow 

 and the age of bees. The lack of this 

 surplus causes the destruction of drones. 

 A number of other items from this paper 

 I must reserve until next time. 



Montrose, Colo. Aug. 10, 1898. 



,:^x EDITORIAL 



The Review has twenty-seven sub- 

 scribers in the little island of Jamaica. 



«^jr«^n«^««^« 



"R. L. Taylor's articles are all right; 

 although they would please me better if 

 he would criticise ideas rather than the 

 language in which they are expressed. ' ' 

 This is the way one of my correspondents 

 puts it in a private letter. 



^«\L>aiU^^iU« 



Troubi^E comes to us all. Mr. and 

 Mrs. Thos. W. Cowan of England are 

 called upon to mourn the loss of a son 

 and daughter who lost their lives last 

 month in the wrecking of the Atlantic 

 Iviner, Mohegan. 



The Busy Bee has changed its name 

 and character to The Model Fanner and 

 the Busy Bee; raised its price to fi.oo a 

 year; and will hereafter come weekly in- 

 stead of monthly. It starts out well, and 

 I hope that Bro. Abbott will make a suc- 

 cess of it. 



The American Bee Journai, is giv- 

 ing a most excellently reported account 

 of the Omaha convention. I think it is 

 as good a report of a convention as I have 

 ever read. If you are not a subscriber to 

 the Journal, better take advantage of the 

 offer on the first page of the Review and 

 get this report. 



EXPERIMENTING ON TOO SM.\I,I, A SCALE. 



I have several times advised my read- 

 ers to try new things first upon a small 

 scale. If they proved satisfactory, then 

 they could be adopted on a larger scale. 

 My friend C. P. Dadant criticises that 

 position on the ground that small experi- 

 ments are not always conclusive. Mr. 

 Heddon takes the same position. I have 

 heard him argue against small experi- 

 ments. "You don't catch me that wav;" 



