418 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 8, 



which we believe Is Spanish. This will help greatly to 

 familiarize the people with modern progressive bee-keeping, 

 and tend to create a deeper interest in the care and profltable 

 culture of the busy bee in the land of the Montezuraas. 



Purity of Italiaii Queens and Drones. 



BY DR. E. GALLUP. 



On page 322, John McArthur, under the head of " Purity 

 of Italian Queens and Drones," has succeeded pretty effectually 

 in building up a man of straw and calling his name " Gallup," 

 and then knocking him down so effectually that he probably 

 never will get up again. 



The real Gallup believes, and knows, that bees can be 

 improved as well as any other living animal or insect, as well 

 as human beings. Even as far back as old Bible times Jacob 

 understood this law to a certain extent, when he raised his 

 ring-streakt and speckled cattle. Dr. Fowler proves pretty 

 effectually that a mother, while pregnant, imparts the dispo- 

 sition and characteristics to her offspring by her own thoughts, 

 surroundings, etc., hence one child may be of a very sweet 

 disposition and another the reverse; one will be an architect, 

 another the reverse, etc. Still, he Goes not teach that the 

 one will be black and the other white. 



Mr. Aaron Benedict went to Kelley's Island early in the 

 spring while the weather was cold and windy, with his little 

 4x6 boxes of nuclei, containing a few eggs and a few bees in 

 each box without regard to age— in all probability past the 

 age of nursing — and he said he succeeded in rearing a few 

 small, inferior queens, and they were as black as crows, and 

 he attributed the fault all to the queen. And there was where 

 the dispute came in between him and the real Gallup. He 

 acknowledged afterwards that the queen that he reared those 

 inferior ones from was a pure queen, but still would not 

 acknowledge that the fault was in his methods. 



Now Mr. McArthur has consigned his man of straw, that 

 he has named Gallup, back to those times of rearing queens 

 in small nuclei, with everything lacking to rear good queens. 

 Well, let him stay there. No one should go back 50 years, 

 but press forward. 



Now, where did we get our Italian bees ? From Italy, of 

 course. Adam Grimm said that the most of his imported 

 queens (and he went there and selected them) produced per- 

 fectly black drones, and smaller, if anything, than drones 

 from our native black bees. About that time one queen- 

 breeder advertised his bees as extra pure, for his drones were 

 extra large and yellow — conclusive proof at that early date 

 that they were hybrids. 



Many queen-breeders are becoming convinced, and 

 honestly so, that an Italian queeu mated to a black drone 

 affects her drone progeny to a certain extent, and I am one of 

 that number. Here is what one says in his circular : 



" We have proved to our entire satisfaction that the fer- 

 tilization of a queen affects her drone progeny. In other 

 words, drones from an Italian queen that has mated with a 

 drone other than her own species are not pure Italians." 



Here is what another queen-breeder says In his price-list . 



" A few years ago 5-banded queens were highly praised, 

 and largely advertised by some queen-breeders. Having a 

 great many orders for them, we finally concluded to breed and 

 test them thoroughly. The stock we obtained was claimed to 

 be the original Dooliitle strain. The fj-banders do not prove 

 to be a fixt strain. Some are fairly good workers, but they 

 seldom eijualed and never surpast oUr 3-banded Italians in 

 honey-gathering. We became so thoroughly disgusted with 

 them that we discontinued breeding them. Our experience 

 with the golden bees has been the same with many bee-keepers 

 and breeders." 



Now I will give my experience. I am not rearing bees for 

 sale, and being well known, many queen-breeders are anxious 

 for me to test their strain of bees, and so tbey are sending 



queens for me to test and report, and having received queens 

 from some 20 different breeders, it gives me an excellent 

 opportunity to compare stock or strains of bees. Nine out of 

 ten of those that purchase, select for markings, or looks and 

 beauty, instead of profit and production, and I must say that 

 so far the Albinos or golden beauties, as some call th^m, do 

 not come up to my standard. I am of that class who believe, 

 and honestly, that bees can be Improved, and I am not going 

 to say, just yet, that they cannot be improved in color and 

 markings as well as in other good qualities. 



Instead of being prepared to say that I have written, or 

 intended to write, erroneously, or am selfish in the least, as 

 Mr. McArthur says, I have always intended to give facts. 

 Still, I may be misunderstood at times, as it is a hard matter 

 for me to give the whole history of bee-keeping in one short 

 article. 



I am contemplating writing an article next fall, or after 

 the season is over, on the difference in the strain of bees I am 

 testing. I shall not give the names of breeders in that 

 article. 



Right here I wish to publicly thank those breeders that 

 donate queens. Orange Co., Calif. 



% 



Distinguishing Purity in Bees — Swarming. 



BY DB. C. C. MILLER. 



Mr. McArthur, on page 339, thinks it is ridiculous that 

 any breeder of thoroughbred stock should describe with accu- 

 racy the progeny and yet not be able to describe the sire or 

 dam. Does sound somewhat in that direction when you put 

 it that way, and yet I have to see the first instance, so far as 

 I remember, in which purity of Italian bees was described in 

 any other way than by giving the marking of the workers. 

 The thing that puzzles me, however, is that while he takes 

 me to task for my ignorance, Mr. McArthur doesn't throw the 

 slightest ray of light upon the question any more than I do. 

 Practically, he says it's an easy thing to give the markings of 

 a pure Italian drone and queen, but if he has given such 

 markings, or if any one else has, I don't remember it. 



Now, I'm not a scientific breeder — just an everyday 

 honey-producer, and not always a very successful one, either 

 — and I confess I can't tell by looking at a queen or a drone 

 whether they are of pure stock Italian, or half black. Very 

 likely I might know a good deal more than I do about the 

 matter, altho I feel just a trifle skeptical as to being ever able 

 to say with positiveness from looking at a drone whether it's 

 pure Italian or not; but at any rate I'm anxious to know bet- 

 ter than I now do, and I'll look with interest to have Mr. 

 McArthur tell us in the " Old Reliable " how to diagnose a 

 case of pure blood. 



NATURAL SWARMING VS. DIVIDING. 



On page 370, Mr. Faylor has the Dadants and myself 

 somewhat mixt, or if he has us all straight in his own mind 

 he tells things in such a way that he leaves us mixt in the 

 minds of the readers. That is, the understanding will be 

 that by preference my Increase is made by natural swarming, 

 little or no increase being made otherwise, while the Dadants 

 make every effort to prevent natural swarming, preferring 

 artificial increase. As a matter of fact, I don't believe the 

 Dadants dislike natural swarming with the intense dislike I 

 have for It, but for some reason they have so little natural 

 swarming that they are obliged to resort to artificial increase. 

 On the other hand, not one case in fifty of my increase is by 

 natural swarming, the few cases that do occur being entirely 

 without my wish. 



Mr. Faylor Is right in raising his hives •'(, of an inch, but 

 It will not prevent swarming in nine cases out of ten in all 

 places. My hives are raised, not only |>n' of an inch, but 

 oftener half an inch or more, but it seems to have little effect 



