April 24, 1902. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



263 



such thitij,'^. The bee-keeper who produces lipht-vvoiKht 

 honey and sells it by the case without specification or limit 

 is decidedly wrong — just as wronji as the wholesaler and 

 retailer who wants him to produce lit^'ht-weight sections to 

 be bouf,'ht by the pound and sold by the piece -the wliole 

 thing is of the same rotten piece of cloth, This everlasting 

 shifting and changing to gain a tem]Jorarv advantage over 

 somebody is a sad thing in our commercial life, I care not 

 ■who does it. 



I have told you somewhat of how and why we have a 

 light-weight section, and that which follows — light-weight 

 cases. Not every middle man has been g^uilty of taking 

 advantage of it as herein indicated, but such things have 

 been done. Having studied out all these things, threshed 

 over and over the straw to get every grain of truth in it, 

 Colorado bee-keepers have adopted a fair and honest nietliod 

 of grading and selling. The proof of my statement is in 

 our Grading Rules, which specifically state that certain 

 minimum weights shall obtain in every case. Any buyer 

 who buys under these rules, so far as weights go, is pro- 

 tected, and so is the producer. I defy any man, whoever he 

 may be, to prove to the intelligent reader and business 

 man, that there is anymore fair and honorable plan than 

 that adopted by the Colorado State Association. It shows 

 in itself that it has honesty as its basis — the greatest 

 amount of protection to all concerned. 



Again, I wish to call the attention of producers to the 

 idea of profit or loss as between light and heavy weight 

 sections. On the basis of general averages, prices of com- 

 modities will adjust themselves sooner or later, and any 

 gain you can hope to make by light-weight sections is only 

 temporary, soon discovered, then a readjustment comes, 

 If you do have less than a pound in a section, when you sell 

 by the pound you are the loser, because your cases and sec- 

 tions cost you just as much for light as heavy weight. If 

 you sell by the case and have not the weight therein — if the 

 shortage is known it only creates suspicion, prejudice, and 

 a disposition to hold you down to a lower price. The honest 

 pound gives confidence, and should be striven after. But, 

 as every bee-keeper knows, it is impossible to have absolute 

 uniformity of weight, but you can hold confidence and pre- 

 sent a fair basis by guaranteeing and selling a minimum 

 weight per case — it is fair to all, and should be done by all. 

 Colorado Grading Rules are a protection to buyers, and the 

 buyer purchasing under these rules gets all or more than he 

 pays for, because every case is to weigh so much, a minimum 

 limit placed on each individual case, and a general average 

 on the whole lot, so there can not be any " pig in the bag " 

 about it. 



If honey must sell at wholesale by the pound, it must 

 also sell at retail by the pound, but it does not. The " pig 

 in the bag " does not apply to Colorado, but the " nigger in 

 the wood-pile " has been made to serve to the hurt of some 

 Colorado honey-producers. Our rules are all right, and 

 every buyer should insist on their observance when he 

 buys; their enforcement protects the wholesale buyer, and 

 limits the producer, preventing fraud. The very purpose of 

 the adoption of our rules was to avoid sharp dealings. It is 

 the common understanding that 24 pounds is a case of 

 honey, and buyers knowing this will buy a car of honey to 

 be delivered in Chicago, or other market, at say 10 cents a 

 pound, or $2.40 a case. When the honey arrives, and the 

 buyer weighs it — which he will do — and finds only 21 pounds 

 to the case instead of 24, he kicks, and having everything 

 his own way because the honey is in his possession, he re- 

 fuses to pay $2.40 a case ; he will pay but $2.10, because he 

 bought at $2.40 a case, and the case is three pounds short. 



We have, therefore, adopted a standard of weights, so 

 that while it is impossible to have absolutely even weights, 

 we can have a rule that protects each way — both seller and 

 buyer. 



But the Editor -miW again ask, "Why not sell simply by 

 ■weight ?" Well, if we sell simply by weight, why, sir, I will 

 put into first grade honey every very nice 10, 12 or 13 ounce 

 section — its only fault being light weight, and thus there 

 may be sold as No. 1 honey many cases as light as 15 to 20 

 pounds. But our rules will compel the producer to put in a 

 minimum weight in every No. 1 case, and, no matter how 

 fancy his honey may be otherwise, he must ha.ve zi'eight. too. 



Larimer Co., Colo 

 (To be continued.) 



The Premiums offered this week are well worth working 

 for. Look at them. 



No. 3.- Improving the Races of Bees. 



BY AKKIAN GBTAZ. 



(Continued from paffe 247., 



INI'LUKNCK Ol rKKVIOUa MATING.' 



The opinion has often been expressed that while the 

 egg producing a drone is not impregnated, it may neverthe- 

 less be influenced by the drone which mated with thequeen. 

 In support of this the assertion has been made that a young 

 animal sometimes resembles not only his fatherand mother, 

 but also the male which had mated with the mother at some 

 previous time. 



We will discuss the second question first. Such an in- 

 fluence in an impossibility. When the female germ (the 

 scientists call it the egg) is ripe, it cuts itself completely 

 loose from the organ that produced it and decends in the 

 womb ; there it meets the male germs. These are extreinely 

 minute, being posses.sed of a distinct and independent life. 

 The majority of them soon die and are thrown out. Some 

 meet the egg and enter into it. When the egg is thus im- 

 pregnated, a sac is formed around it. The egg develops 

 itself from within— inside of that sac. The only communi- 

 cation that the new being has with the mother is an open- 

 ing in that sac, through which the blood of the mother 

 brings nutriment to the offspring, and carries out the re- 

 jected matters. 



How could the male germs have an influence later on, 

 when they were never a part of the mother's body, when 

 they were completely loose, as foreign bodies would be, and 

 soon die or become a part of the young oflspring ? 



Now I will answer some of the arguments in favor of 

 this doctrine. In the first place, the fact that a calf or colt 

 sometimes resemble the male used in a previous mating has 

 hardly any value as an argument. A number of calves and 

 colts are neither exactly like their mother nor exactly like 

 their father, especially in regard to color. That occasion- 

 ally some would resemble a male previously used is no more 

 than should be expected. 



The case of fowls is altogether difTerent. The fact is, 

 that one mating is sufficient to impregnate the eggs for sev- 

 eral days, from S to 8 or even 10 days. That is, the male 

 germs live in the hen's body that length of time, ready to 

 impregnate the eggs as they come to maturity. 



Suppose that before the 5 or 1 days are over, another 

 mating takes place ; then for a few days that hen will carry 

 the male germs from both roosters, and whatever eggs ma- 

 ture during that time may just as well happen to beimpreg- 

 nated by the germs of the first mating as by those of the 

 second. The chicks resulting will actually be offspring of 

 the first mating. In this case, like in the preceding, there is 

 no back influence from a previous mating. For full in- 

 formation on this subject, see the scientific works on physio- 

 logy. The elementary books found in the schools and 

 ordinary bookstores are not sufficient. Munn & Co.. of New 

 York, N. Y., can furnish any scientific book published any- 

 where, and give the information necessary to make the 

 right kind of purchase. 



Concerning bees, the assertion is that the drones, 

 though born of unimpregnated eggs, are, nevertheless, in- 

 fluenced by the drone which mated with the queen. 



In the first place, this alleged influence is an impossibi- 

 lity, as far as we can ascertain. When a queen mates, the 

 drone-germs enter in a sac situated near the end of her 

 body. The pressure of the mating operation opens the sac 

 and puts the germs in. Then the sac closes and they remain 

 therein, entirely cut off and without any communication 

 with any other part of the queen's body. 



The eggs are formed in what are called the ovaries, situ- 

 ated farther up in the queen's body. As they mature, they 

 separate and come down through what might be called a 

 tube, and pass before the sac containing the drone-germs 

 and are discharged. The sac has a small aperture which 

 the queen can open for an instant, when an egg passes. If 

 she opens it one male germ slips out and enters into the egg 

 through an opening that exists there. The egg is then im- 

 pregnated and becomes a female egg possessing the rudi- 

 ments of the organs of both queen and worker. The amount 

 and quality of feed given during its development deter- 

 mines which set of organs will develop. If the egg is not 

 impregnated, it will produce a drone, no matter whether 

 the queen has mated or not. 



The proof advanced in favor of the above assertion is 

 something like this : An Italian queen mates with a black 

 drone. Her workers are of course hybrids. According to 

 the principles generally accepted her drones ought to be 

 pure Italians, but they are darker than the apiarist expected. 



