1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



are driven through one of the notches, surface 

 side, into the end of the grain of the other 

 board, there can be no splitting:; but when it is 

 driven through the edge of the notch, you will 

 notice that there is nothing to prevent the 

 dovetail from spliiting. The doctor made a 

 feeble defense in favor of his way: and al- 

 though lie did not s<(u he tliought I was right, 

 I think he thousht so. 



FIG. 4.—" .SCOHCUING." 



The ne.xt day it became necessary for me to 

 make my way off again. The bicycle was oiled 

 up, and Dr. Miller showed me the way. Well, 

 here is the result in Fig. 3, for Emma had the 

 Kodak, and was recording things as they went 

 on. Mrs. Miller stands in the background near 

 the house. Your humble servant — well, you 

 know who he is; and the doctor (for it was a 

 hot day) stands pointing down the road, with 

 his coat and vest off. The Miller residence 

 shows in the background, but. unfortunately, 

 it is a rear view. In spite of the weeds, men- 

 tioned by the small boy, the Miller home has a 

 pretty approach along a winding driveway. 

 Near the hitching-block stands Dr. Miller's 

 horse that has seen many a day's service among 

 the bees, and knows perfectly well what it is to 

 draw bee-loads. 



should ever assume such an attitude, which I 

 confess I do in hill-climbing. As I started to 

 leave, the doctor looked sober. Said he, as I 

 was about to pull out, " Ernest, I'm sorry you 

 are going. I have enjoyed your visit greatly. 

 I only wish it might be longer." 



Fig. 5 shows how sorry he looked as Emnta 

 caught us just as I was preparing to give the 

 pedal a shove for Wisconsin and its bee-keepers. 

 I might I'emark, also, that my position in riding 

 is usually as there shown — neither a straight- 

 up bean-pole position nor a scorch. 



Some of my friends think that my recent 

 sickness was owing to some of my long hard 

 rides. I never felt better in my life; and if any 

 one tells you that long bicycling, or such riding 

 as I took, is injurious to health, just tell such a 

 one that he does not know what he is talking 

 about. It was not long riding, but overeating 

 after I got home, caused by an appetite whetted 

 up to a keen edge, that made me sick. You 

 see, when I got down to hard ot'Hce work and no 

 exercise, those big dinners made mischief. 

 There, now, I think I'll not confess any more; 

 and my only excuse for referring to it is, that it 

 may be a warning to others. 



FIG. .5. — "ERNEST, I'M SORRY YOU ARE GOING." 



After the doctor had told me the route that I 

 was to take to get into Wisconsin I told him I 

 would illustrate to him what "scorching" 

 meant. Well, Emma has shown the result in 

 Fig. 4, and the doctor is greatly shocked that I 



BY G.M.DOOLITTLE.BOROOINO.N.Y. 



» I m II n i; I.I im: I II n |i II » I M :i 1 .11 > I F I 111 !l i; '.I ' rr^ - 



CONTAMINATING QUEENS THROUGH HYBRII> 

 BEES AND ROYAL .JELLY. 



Question.— I have two colonies of hybrid bees 

 in an isolated position, which I wish to have 

 rear some queens from Italian larvse by the 

 plan given in your book. Now, if I supply the 

 cell-cups with royal jelly from a hybrid colony, 

 place larvte in them from a pure Italian queen, 

 and place these prepared cups in a hybrid col- 

 ony for completion, will the queens hatched 

 therefrom be pure Italians? 



Answer.— In the first place, I object to the 

 calling of our Italian bees or queens pure, for 

 they are nothing but what would be properly 

 called a thoroughbred variety of bees. This 

 is proven in the fact that we have all shades 

 and colors of these bees, from those having a 

 golden abdomen nearly its whole length, tO' 

 those which are so nearly black that it takes 

 an expert to tell whether they have any Italian 

 blood about them, only as it is known that they 

 were imported from Italy— the very same place 

 from which came the progenitors of the most 

 beautiful bees obtainable in this country. Had 

 the Italian bees been pure, in a sense equal to 

 that of the pure German bee, no such change 

 of color could possibly have come about by years 

 of breeding for color. Kut, to the question. 



I take it that the questioner is in doubt about 

 the part played through the bees which pre- 

 pare the food for the queen larva?, he evidently 



