94 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



bryo physical, mental, and moral qualities that 

 will be as lasting as life. Food, temperature, 

 moisture, altitude, and possibly other conditions 

 and influences, have a shai'e in modifying ihe 

 traits of a race of animals or plants, and should 

 be taken into account. If the climate is rigor- 

 ous, the race will become " acclimated," either 

 by the less hardy dying off and leaving only 

 the more enduring to propagate, or by some 

 change in the constitution. A permanent sup- 

 ply of abundance of food tends to increased 

 size, earlier maturity, and an increased dispo- 

 sition to take on fat: while a scant siipply of 

 food tends to I'educed size, retarded maturity, 

 and greater activity. But. of course, these 

 changes are very slowly produced, and they are 

 produced by a gradual change in the constitu- 

 tional chnracteristics of the race. On page 921, 

 1893, Dr. Miller teaches that it is the food fur- 

 nished the f<etus that gives it its distinguishing 

 characteristics. A white cow bred to a black 

 bull produces a white calf because the food 

 that developed the embryo was furnished by a 

 white mother. In other words, if I understand 

 Dr. M., the color of the mother determines the 

 color of the offspring. But, suppose the calf is 

 black, roan, or pied, as it is just as likely to be 

 as it is to be white. Where does it get its color 

 then? Are all young animals the color of their 

 dams? What has the food furnished the ani- 

 mal through the placenta, before birth, to do in 

 forming the inherent traits of a young animal, 

 more than the food furnished through the udder 

 afterbirth? No man can say that it has any. 

 Can the natural traits of an animal be changed 

 by the food on which it is raised? Can a short- 

 horn calf be changed to a Jersey cow by feed- 

 ing it on Jersey milk ? Can a white child im- 

 bibe negro traits at the breast of a negro mam- 

 my? If so, an Italian queen can be given the 

 trails of black bees by being raised in a hive of 

 such bees. According to Dr. M.'s theory, she 

 should be changed to a black queen. The food 

 only nourishes and develops the latent powers 

 inherent in the germ before the feeding began. 

 The egg that produces the queen contains po- 

 tentially all the natural traits of the race or 

 races to which the parents belong. All that 

 feeding can do in all ordinary cases is to enlarge 

 and develop those potential forces. I am of the 

 opinion that those persons of whom Dr. M. 

 speaks, who have believed they had evidence 

 that the character of queens is changed by the 

 nurse-bees, are laboring under a mistake. The 

 changes that they liavc^ observed in their (pieens, 

 and that they have attributed to the influence 

 of th(! nurses, most likely have been the result 

 of some of the obscure influences mentioned 

 above; or they have resulted from improper 

 mating. The mating of qiieeiis is such an ab- 

 solutely unknown quantity in a problem of this 

 nature, that it is far mon; rational to And in it 

 the key to any anomalous traits appearing in 

 our queens, than to attribute them to a cause 



that does not operate, so far as we know, in any 

 other part of the animal kingdom. I conclude 

 that it is a perfectly safe method to do as Dr. 

 Miller has done, and, as I suppose, most other 

 queen-raisers have done, entirely ignore the 

 character of the nurses to which eggs are com- 

 mitted for the raising of queens, provided they 

 are populous in young bees, have abundance of 

 food, and not a large stock of unsealed brood. 

 Canon City, Colorado, Dec. 28. 



[If we are correct. Dr. Miller did not say 

 that, in the case of mammals, the nurse might 

 transmit through the food her characteristics 

 of markings or disposition to an offspring of 

 other parents, but that, from numerous obser- 

 vatiDns, it seems possible that there may be an 

 exception in the case of the bee. The bee, on 

 hatching from the egg, is not a perfect individ- 

 ual. It hatches a larva, and it is then that it is 

 supplied with a new food which helps to make 

 it a perfect bee. In the case of mammals, the 

 young is a perfect individual as soon as it comes 

 forth into the outer world. The larva of the 

 bee is not. Our correspondent has given us 

 some interesting facts on this subject of hered- 

 ity, and his article will be read with interest. — 

 Ed.] 



^ I ^ 



HOW TO ADVERTISE HONEY. 



IMI'OKTANCE OF BUILDING UP A REPUTATION 

 ON HONEY. 



By Wilder Orahame. 



Shortly before the honey is ready for market, 

 but not until you are reasonably sure of its pro- 

 duction and quality, place an advertisement in 

 the paper selected, in which your trade-mark is 

 given good prominence. A small advertise- 

 ment will cost less, and, if well displayed, at- 

 tract more attention than a larger one of poor 

 makeup. I have seen half-inch advertisements 

 that I should prefer as trade-bringers toother 

 half-column advertisements in the same paper. 

 Still, half an inch is rather small in a daily. 

 Two or three inches ought to do the work if 

 continued long enough. But don't go into the 

 " want " column. It is worked to death, and 

 not appropriate for a trade advertisement; at 

 least, it should be supplemented by display; 

 and the latter, if properly done, can do the work 

 alone. Remember, too, that a little toad seen 

 often gets acquainted sooner than an elephant 

 appearing rar(>ly. You want your advertise- 

 ment to get acquainted and familiarize the peo- 

 ple you are trying to reach with your trade- 

 mark. Then when you are ready to place a 

 small consignment of goods with the grocer 

 who deals with this same class of readers, your 

 trade-mark on the goods will attract their no- 

 tice and remind them of what they have read 

 about it. Even if they have not read it they 

 will be familiar with the trade-mark, and the 



