April 17, 1902. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



247 



roar. The bees from the new queen simply follow the ex- 

 ample and action of those of the old queen. 



SIIKVIVAI, <)l"'rnK I'lTTKST. 



In a measure, the workers do inlluence the future (,'en- 

 erations, but it is in a very indirect way. If the workers of 

 a colony are defectuous in honcy-j^'atherin^;- or some other 

 essential qualification, that colony will probably die during- 

 the foUowinf,'- winter, queen and all. That race of bees will 

 disappear. 



On the other hand, a race of bees better than the aver- 

 age will prosper, send out swarms, and eventually predomi- 

 nate, while less gifted ones will stay behind or even disap- 

 pear. 



INFLUENCE OF THE MALE. 



It is often said — and it is the opinion generally admitted 

 — that the male has a greater influence on the offspring 

 than the female. The question is almost impossible to 

 settle. 



When breeding from parents possessing the same quali- 

 ties, it is impossible to tell from which the offspring inher- 

 ited its characteristics. For instance, let us choose the 

 case of a calf descendant of a bull and a cow both of pure 

 Jersey stock. That calf probably will possess all the traits 

 of the Jersey stock. Did he inherit it fron the cow or the 

 bull, or equally from both ? We cannot tell. 



Let us try it another way. Let us cross two very differ- 

 ent stocks ; for instance, a Shorthorn bull with a Jersey 

 cow. Now, if the male has more influence than the female, 

 the calf should be more like a Shorthorn than a Jersey. 

 Yes, it should be, but it is not. In crossing very different 

 stock, the offspring is sometimes like the mother, sometimes 

 like the father, sometimes takes equally from both, and 

 sometimes exhibits particularities (or variations) that 

 neither parent possessed. 



We see such a case when crossing black with Italian 

 bees. Some colonies are uniformly two-banded, some 

 nearly black, and some have bees of all shades and colors 

 from the three-banded to the full-black. Nevertheless, all 

 or nearly all the stock-breeders will tell you that the male 

 has the greatest influence. 



Before proceeding any further it may be well to men- 

 tion that in crossing different stocks, the qualities that are 

 the best " fixed " are those which are transmitted, rather 

 than the others. 



What do you mean by "fixed"? In breeding Jersey 

 stock the originators have chosen a certain well-known 

 color ; they have raised exclusively from cows and bulls 

 possessing that color. Their successors have followed the 

 same rule, and that color has.become " fixed", that is, in- 

 variably possessed by Jersey animals. 



Now to return to our subject: The cows or mares owned 

 by the majority of farmers and breeders are of no particular 

 stock at all — common, scrub, hydrids, and nondescripts of 

 all sorts, sizes and colors, and nothing " fixed ". 



When needed, the services of some high grade hybrid 

 or pure-stock bull or stallion are secured ; then the calf or 

 colt inherits chiefly the qualities of his father. Why ? 

 Chiefly, and possibly altogether, because the father is of a 

 better stock and possessed of stronger and better-" fixed " 

 characteristics. Perhaps to some extent to his sex, but cer- 

 tainly not much, if at all. 



For full information on this subject, see the text-books 

 on breeding stock ; in preference the German writers. 

 Their works are far in advance of ours. Also Darwin, Wal- 

 lace, Huxley, etc., on the origin and variations of species. 



The conclusion drawn from the study of the higher 

 animals cannot be strictly applied to the bees. In the higher 

 animals, the concourse of both sexes is necessary to the 

 reproduction, whether the offspring is inale or female. 

 With bees the case is different. The drone has no 

 father and is exclusively the son of his mother. The female 

 (worker or queen, for both come from the same kind of egg) 

 is born exclusively from impregnated eggs. More than that, 

 the impregnated egg produces females and never males. 

 This seems to show that the female element comes rather 

 from the drone ; and, it is very possible — even probable — 

 that the workers and queens inherit their qualities chiefly 

 from the drone. We cannot, however, reach a final decision 

 until careful and extensive experiments are made. < >n this 

 subject see the text-books, especially Dzierzon and Cheshire. 



Knox Co., Tenn. 

 (Concluded next week.) 



r] The Premiums offered this week are well worth working 

 for. Look at them. 



Spreading Brood in tlie Hive in Spring. 



IIV O. M. IIOOrjTTLB. 



SI'iVICKAL subscribers to the American Bee Journal wish 

 me to give an article on spreading the brood in the 

 bee-hive in spring, and what is to be the object to be ob- 

 tained. To this I will say that it is a common trait in our 

 American people- that of desiring to get all that is possible 

 into the "now " of life — they are not being willing to wait 

 till another year for what, with a little extra exertion, can be 

 gotten this year; and so it comes to pass that in almost 

 every pursuit in life we see a reaching forth for the fruits of 

 lo-tlay, and the bending of every energ^y and nerve to accom- 

 plish great results during the present season. And bee- 

 keepers are no exception to this rule. 



The old and natural way was to allow the queen-bee 

 from four or five years in which to lay her 700,000 to 800,000 

 eggs Nature had provided her with, but the Yankee push says 

 she must lay all of these eggs in from one to three years, 

 if the thing is possible, and if the science of apiculture is 

 to demand our attention. Hence many plans have been de- 

 vised to stimulate the bees in spring, so that they in turn 

 would feed and coax the queen to lay the greatest possible 

 number of eggs, said eggs really meaning the laborers in 

 the harvest-field. 



Without going over the many plans devised to accom- 

 plish the object sought, I will simply say that after trying 

 nearly all, I consider the mode of stimulating known as the 

 " spreading of brood " the best of any, for by it the queen 

 can be coaxed to lay to a greater extent than by any other 

 which I have tried. 



Before describing the plan I wish to say that it requires 

 great care and considerable experience to be successful with 

 it. for an injudicious move will often make the colony worse 

 off than it would have been had it been let alone. 



As soon as we can reasonably expect warm weather has 

 come to stay, which in this locality is at about the time the 

 cherry and plum trees bloom, we go to a colony of bees 

 and lift out the combs to see the shape the brood is in. If it 

 proves to be a good colony we will find brood in five or six 

 combs, the two central ones being well filled, while the out- 

 side ones have little more than half a frame full. Finding 

 a colony in this condition at this time of the year, we do 

 what is called "reversing the brood-nest," that is, we put 

 the two central combs, or those having the most brood, at 

 the outside, and those having the least brood in, in the cen- 

 ter between the full ones. Now the six combs of brood oc- 

 cupy the same place in the hive that they did before, except 

 that those having the least are in the center of the brood- 

 nest. This places the most advanced brood near the outside 

 of the cluster of bees and the youngest in the center, and 

 allows the queen to lay her eggs in the warmest part of the 

 nest, instead of the coldest part, as she was doing before. 

 The bees are also averse to an empty comb-space in the 

 center of their nest, so see that it is filled in the shortest 

 time possible, thus coaxing the queen to fill those empty 

 cells with eggs in less than one-half the time she naturally 

 would. 



If the weather keeps favorable, in about a week we go 

 to this hive again and take one of the combs from the next 

 outside of the hive, one having considerable honey in it, 

 and after moving the combs along till we come to the cen- 

 ter of the brood-nest, we insert this comb, after having 

 broken the sealing to the cells containing honey, by pass- 

 ing a knife over them flatwise. The bees go at once to 

 removing this honey, and in doing so are stimulated to feed 

 the queen to a greater amount, and the heat of the colony is 

 increased so that the queen fills the cells with eggs almost 

 as fast as the bees remove the honey, through this still 

 greater incited activity. 



In this way we keep on inserting combs till all in the 

 hive are filled with brood. Should it so happen, before we 

 secure brood in all the combs, that the queen does not keep 

 up her egg-laying in the outside combs as the brood hatches, 

 this can be remedied by again reversing the brood-nest. 



As the season advances, so there is no danger from 

 chilling, through a greater number of bees and warmer and 

 more settled weather, two frames can be inserted in the cen- 

 ter at a time, every week, if need be. 



If all has worked well the hive should be filled with 

 brood in a little over one-half the time it would have taken 

 if let alone, so that double the number of workers will be 

 ready for the harvest, if we have planned our time of com- 

 mencement wisely, than otherwise would have been. 



If the honey harvest comes very early in your locality 

 you will want to commence to spread the brood five or six 



