1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



75S 



these queens were mating', of course I ex- 

 pected m3' queens to be purely mated. I 

 examined the lirst that began to hatch, and, 

 to my surprise, found black bees in every 

 nucleus. I then decided to wait until the 

 bees from the other queens hatched, but, 

 alasl the}' were just like the others — every 

 queen produces both kinds of bees, while 

 some of them produce bees nearly all three- 

 banded; others produce nearly all blacks. 

 Some may say the imported queen died and 

 the bees reared another that is not pure; 

 but that is not the case, for the tip of one 

 wing' was cutoff, and it is so yet. I should 

 be thankful for an expl Anation of the above. 



D. P. BUFKIN. 



Stringer, Miss., July 12. 



[Mr. Benton's suggestions and opinions 

 should have some weight. We have had 

 quite a number of reports where the stock 

 seemed to chang'e, as indicated in the item 

 above. In view of what Mr. Benton has to 

 say, and the opinion already oJi'ered by W. 

 Z. Hutchinson, I am open to conviction, al- 

 though I have put myself on record as not 

 crediting- second mating after laying-. Let 

 the evidence come in, whatever it may be. — 

 Ed.] 



A RETROSPECTIVE GLANCE. 



How the Late Charles Dadaat has been Vindicated 

 in Prance. 



TRANSLATED FROM L'APICULTEUR BY DR. 

 C C. MILLER. 



[It is, perhaps, not gefierally known by American 

 bee-keepers that Mr. Gharles Dadant was practically 

 the introducer of the movable frame in France, and, 

 in fact, over a large part of the continent of Europe. 

 His progressive ideas were accepted by all French 

 journals save one. That journal, L' Apiculteur, op- 

 posed him most violently, especially during the life- 

 time of its former editor, Mr. Hamet. Mr. Dadant 

 knew he was right — knew that the movable-frame 

 hive was hound to supplant the old box hive or straw 

 skep ; and he persisted in advocating these newer 

 ideas. L,ike Galileo of old, he would not recant, but 

 persisted in trying to make the world see and know 

 what he knew. As our re-s^pected friend drew his in- 

 spiration from L,angstroth and modern bee-keeping 

 as it is known here in America, it may be somewhat 

 interesting to our readers to see that the last opposing 

 prop has been knocked out, and all France has come 

 to recognize the value of the system first brought to 

 the woild by father Langstrotn: but it took a Dadant 

 to b ing it to the knowledge of the French people. 

 That he was finally vindicated in the very journal 

 that so violently opposed him can not be other than a 

 source of great satisfaction to Mr. C. P. Dadant, who 

 writes the article defending the position maintained 

 so valiantly by his father. It is to be regretted that 

 this vindication could not have been during the life of 

 the elder Dadant. The foliowing introductory note 

 from the editor of Z.-l/i/Vrt/Z^/iy is self-explanatory. — 

 Ed.] 



[It is our good fortune to be able to pre- 

 sent to our readers an article from one of 

 the most renowned apicultural writers, Mr. 

 C. P. Dadant, who kindly assures us of 

 his collaboration. The movable-frame hive, 

 which alone he advocates, was, at its de- 

 but, violently opposed in the Apicultetir; 

 but what progress has not been opposed at 

 its birth? Besides, is not some conflict 



necessary to make us appreciate that which 

 is new? 



" To conquer without peril, we triumph 

 without glory." 



At all events, this alliance of the descend- 

 ants and successors of former adversaries 

 is a sign of the times; we doubt not it will 

 rejoice the hearts of French bee-keepers 

 who honor us with a perusal. — Editor Api- 

 culteur. ] 



Mr. Editor: — In accepting to-day tfce title 

 of corresponding member and collaborator, 

 so graciously ofi'ered by the Society, and 

 by the oldest and best- established of the 

 French apicultural journals, I desire to cor- 

 rect the impression that may be left by the 

 obituary notice of the senior Dadant, pub- 

 lished on the first page of the Apiculteiir 

 for September, 1902. Of the twenty or thir- 

 ty bee- journals that have up to this time 

 mentioned his death, the Apiculteur is the 

 only one that has found any words of criti- 

 cism upon his works. I believe that, if the 

 author of this criticism had had before his 

 eyes the exact facts he would have express- 

 ed different views. 



Among the subscribers of the Apiculteur, 

 very few, without doubt, read it thirty- five 

 years ago. Only those who did can recall 

 the controversy' over the movable-frame sys- 

 tem. Let them read again, if they have 

 kept them, the numbers of the Apiculteur 

 from 1869 to 1875 and they will see the ef- 

 forts made by my father to be heard in the 

 cause of apicultural progress and the man- 

 ner in which he was received. It is not, 

 then, astonishing that there was bitterness 

 of heart upon this subject. Elected as a 

 member of the Central Society, his name 

 was arbitrarily erased from the register 

 because he insisted on maintaining positive 

 views upon apicultural progress. But it is 

 a mistake to believe that he disliked what 

 came from France. He was a Frenchman 

 at heart as well as by birth; and they who 

 attacked France were sure to find in him 

 an adversary as fierce for his native land 

 as he was for the cause of progress. 



For thirty years he kept up the gratuitous 

 battle for progress, in one journal or anoth- 

 er; but at the last, especially in the Revue 

 Internationale, a journal which has only 

 lately ceased publication, after twenty-five 

 years of conflicts crowned with success. 

 Not only did he love discussion, but he 

 sought it, and was never more happy than 

 when he found an error to combat. Cer- 

 tainly that injures him only with his ad- 

 versaries. A French writer eulogizing Des- 

 cartes said, " The last crime to be pardon- 

 ed is that of proclaiming new truths." But 

 it is also the best means of compelling 

 progress. 



Student and collaborator of my father, I 

 was eighteen years old when the conflict 

 began for him. I am now fifty- three. The 

 reader will kindly permit me to rehearse 

 the past. I do not seek controversy; contro 

 versy is not to my taste. I only wish to 

 mention the progress made, the establish- 

 ment of the movable-comb hive and extrac- 



