466 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



drop down between the rabbets. But would 

 the objection be a valid one if hives and 

 frames be made to fit as they should and as 

 they do fit in all the factory-made equip- 

 ment? Others have urged that they wanted 

 the long ears for the purpose of handling 

 frames during extracting; but I never han- 

 dle by the ears, but grab the frames just 

 inside of the end-bars, where 1 can get a 

 good firm hold.— Ed.] 



So A SCRAMBLE is to be made for laurels 

 in the Sibbald non-swarming plan, p. 408. 

 Let me put in my bid with the rest. Please 

 turn, Mr. Editor, to p. 163, " Forty Years 

 Among the Bees," where the "put-up" 

 plan varies by having hive No. 1 set on top 

 mstead of at the side. It has the advantage 

 that the bees are sure to go where you want 

 them. [You have about as good a claim as 

 some of the others to priority, and in saying 

 this I do not mean to convey the impression 

 that the other claims are not good. A cor- 

 respondent may be confused, though, as to 

 which plan presented elsewhere in these 

 columns, under the discussion of the various 

 mo lifted Sibbald plans, is best. Each one 

 will have to do a little studying for himself, 

 and then select the one which to him pre- 

 sents the least difficulty for accomplishing 

 the result desireJ. — Ed.] 



To THE CHARGE which you mention, Mr. 

 Editor, p. 412, that dealers' catalogs are all 

 printed on the same type, you reply by ask- 

 ing why the Root Co.'s dealers' should not 

 be. But the charge was that all dealers' 

 catalogs were printed on the same type, and 

 to that you make no reply. Why, for in- 

 stance, if the charge be true, should the 

 Lewis Co. have catalogs printed on the same 

 type as the Root Co.? [Of course, it is not 

 true that all dealers' catalogs are printed on 

 the same type. I had not noticed the state- 

 ment before, but it is about as accurate as 

 some of the other statements made by the 

 same correspondent. Each of the manu- 

 facturers prints his own catalogs. Some of 

 them furnish their defers with catalogs 

 printed on the same type or plates as the 

 catalogs they use themselves. This is all 

 perfectly legitimate and proper, and is the 

 plan pursued by all reputable manufacturers 

 in other lines of goods to a very great ex- 

 tent. -Ed.] 



Bro. Doolittle has given us some inter- 

 esting facts in his very readable article, p. 

 413; but if he means us to understand that 

 Gf Langstroth frames ' ' are enough to enter- 

 tain the best queen to her full capacity as to 

 egg-laying," with only the qualification that 

 he's talking to comb-honey producers, and if 

 he means that to apply to my locality, then 

 I demur. I have no doubt that in general 

 a queen with extracting-supers lays more 

 eggs than one with section-supers— not so 

 certain about Bro. Doolittle' s theory that 

 she lays more because " there is something 

 about extracting honey that causes the bees 

 to feed the queen, or force her egg-laying 

 powers," etc. To be sure, any excitement 

 in the way of great acquisitions will make 



the bees feed the queen; but in a full flow 

 of nectar the bees are already feeding the 

 queen constantly all she can take, and how 

 can they do more? Besides, extracting is 

 not a daily occurrence, and the few times of 

 extracting can hardly affect a fourth of the 

 queen's time of egg-laying. Then how about 

 those who do not extract till the season is 

 over? Surely extracting has nothing to do 

 with the laying of the Dadants' queens till 

 the harvest is gone; and I don't believe the 

 Dadant queens would lay an egg more if the 

 honey were extracted every day, so long as 

 there is a full flow of nectar. Is not the 

 difference rather in the fact that in one case 

 there is plenty of room ready for the honey 

 in the upper story, and in the other case 

 they crowd honey into the brood- apartment 

 rather than to get ready fresh room above ? 

 Admitting all possible difference during 

 the harvest, is there any possible difference 

 before supers are given? In a clover region 

 it may happen that not an egg laid after 

 work begins in supers can produce a bee 

 that ever affects the harvest, for the har- 

 vest may be over in three weeks; and in gen- 

 eral, in this locality, the laying of the queen 

 after storing begins is a very secondary 

 matter compared with the work before that 

 time. Up to the time supers are given I 

 want just as much room for my queens as 

 if I were not a comb-honey producer; and 

 during that preparatory period I should 

 greatly dislike to limit best queens to 6| or 

 even lOf frames. Finally, is the capacity 

 of the queen any less in one case than the 

 other, or is it the difference in opportunity? 



GlEjNINCSFRi^ THE PaGIFICCOAST 



TELEGONY. 



This is the word Herbert Spencer and 

 other scientists use for the theory that im- 

 pregnation, or mating, imparts traits of the 

 male to the female. To illustrate: A short- 

 horn cow is bred to a Jersey. Ever after- 

 ward she has a Jersey taint in her blood; and, 

 though she is delivered of a calf sired by a 

 pure short- horn, Jersey blood may show in 

 this offspring. 



The foundation for this belief was laid in 

 some experiments of one Lord Morton, in 

 England, who bred a mare to a zebra, and 

 thus produced a hybrid. He then used a 

 horse for a sire on the same mare, and the 

 colt showed stripes. 



TELEGONY WITH CHICKENS AND BEES. 



Some of our best and most painstaking 

 breeders of poultry, and of bees as well, 

 claim that telegony holds with these animals 

 no less than with mammals. If this be true, 

 then the mere presence of the sperm-cells 



