316 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15. 



that never yield as much honey as rape; and so 

 I may say that the great facility of my wander- 

 ing system helped me to a gain I should not 

 have had otherwise. 



However, this is not the only case in which I 

 have had good luck. There has not been one 

 year when I did not wander with my bees more 

 than once. Every year, in the beginning of 

 July, I took all of them 30 miles to the buck- 

 wheat-fields, and in the month of August to 

 the large plains of the Erica vulgaris. 



Well, friend Root, what a great boon it would 

 have been for me if I had had at that time a 

 bicycle, and had been such a perfect rider on 

 the wheel as you are! How easily would I have 

 discovered by a ride, the best honey sources in 

 the surrounding country ! Yes, the bicycle has 

 a future for bee-keepers, at last, in Germany. 



Wilsnack, Germany. 



Ti) be continued. 



[We will explain to some of our older sub- 

 scribers that the hive used by friend Graven- 

 horst is somewhat after the pattern of the old 

 straw skep, except that it is oblong, larger, and 

 has movable frames. Instead of using boards 

 for tops and sides of the hive, he uses woven 

 straw. From the engraving it will be seen ihat 

 the hive is opened only at the bottom. To ex- 

 amine into the brood-chamber it is tipped over, 

 and the frames drawn out while it is inverted. 

 The frames are self-spacing, and friend Gra- 

 venhorst is a firm believer in the idea of han- 

 dling hives instead of frames. Well, as the 

 reader will notice, the hives are all ready for 

 moving. All that is necessary is to tie the 

 cloth over the bottom, invert it, and set them 

 up in a wagon, as shown in the cut. Perhaps 

 such an arrangement would not be quite satis- 

 factory to the bee-keepers of the United States; 

 but it is nevertheless a fact that Mr. Graven- 

 horst is not only a practical bee-keeper, but 

 one who gets the honey; nor does he waste a 

 good deal of labor in doing it, either. 



Yes, yes, friend G., the bicycle would be a 

 great help to you; and we hope to hear, before 

 many months, of your riding from one apiary 

 to another as you may establish them. 



We may state that Mr. Gravenhorst writes 

 his articles in good idiomatic English, and so, 

 of course, he is perfectly familiar with what 

 has been done by English-speaking bee-keep- 

 ers, not only in England but in this country. 

 " Bilberry " is our word for huckleberry. — Ed.] 



HYBRIDS OR MONGRELS— WHICH ? 



THK WKONG USE OF TERMS IN APICULTURE IN 

 GENERAL. 



By Rev. L. J. Templin. 



The offspring of a cross between different 

 species is a hybrid; and the result of a cross 

 between different members of a species, or be- 

 tween different races of the same species, are 

 mongrels. The offspring of hybrids is a hybrid, 

 and the offspring of mongrels is a mongrel. 

 Now, the question before us is: Are the Ger- 

 man black or brown bee and the Italian bee 

 distinct species, or are they only different races 

 of the same species? Of course, if they are 

 different species their crosses are hybrids; but 

 if they are only races their crosses are only 



mongrels. To determine this question, it is 

 necessary to inquire as to what are specific, and 

 what are only racial or varietal characters. 

 To speak of those qualities that do not consti- 

 tute specific characteristics I will first mention 

 that neither size nor shape is to be regarded as 

 specific characters. We have but to look 

 around us to see abundance of evidence of the 

 truth of this statement. The horse, the ox. the 

 sheep, the pig, the dog, and the hen, furnish 

 abundance of evidence of the truth of this 

 proposition. Compare the Percheron horse, 

 weighing more than a ton, with the Shetland 

 pony, two and a half feet high, or the deer-like 

 Jersey cow with the " big ox," weighing two 

 tons, or the poodle dog, seven inches long, with 

 the enormous mastiff' or Newfoundland that 

 can almost carry a man; or, again, look at a 

 bantam hen beside a Cochin hen, for examples; 

 yet no one thinks of placing these respective 

 pairs in different species. 



As to shape, I need but mention the difference 

 between the heads of the greyhound and the 

 bulldog, and that between the carrier and 

 short-faced tumbler pigeon. 



A difference of instincts does not necessarily 

 indicate a difference of species. The setter, 

 the pointer, the trail hound, and the bulldog 

 exhibit very distinct characteristics; yet they all 

 belong to the same species; and among hens we 

 find some breeds that are very much inclined to 

 be broody, while other races are almost entire- 

 ly non-sitters. So the temperament of bees, 

 their readiness or reluctance to go into the su- 

 pers, their manner of sealing their combs, 

 whether white or dark, and other minor differ- 

 ences among the different kinds of bees, may 

 be only racial distinctions. 



Again, color is not a specific character. A 

 glance at the vegetable world, especially culti- 

 vated plants, will prove that color has nothing 

 to do in marking the diffeiences of species. 

 Take the rose tribe, which varies in color from 

 pure white to almost pure black. Yet all be- 

 long to one species. The same is true of the 

 chrysanthemum, the portulacca, and scores of 

 other flowering plants and shrubs. In the ani- 

 mal world the same rule holds good. I need 

 scarcely call attention to the different species 

 of domestic animals among which color has no 

 significance as to specific distinctions. Among 

 our various kinds of domestic animals we find 

 all colors, and all shades and combinations of 

 color. Take the horse, the ox, the pig, the dog, 

 and the hen, and, in each of these species, all 

 kinds of color prevail. Even in the sheep, that 

 has been bred for color through countless gen- 

 erations, we find white, gray, grizzled, mottled, 

 brown, black, and red. If in both the vegeta- 

 ble and animal worlds, so far as we know, color 

 is never a specific character, is it not pushing 

 our assumptions beyond warrant to claim that 

 color in bees is a mark of species and not of on- 

 ly race or variety ? 



