270 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



this summer's success has tumbled me 

 down below zero. 



I tell you, I don't know. I don't un- 

 derstand this queen-mating business. I 

 let bees rear all the drones they choose, 

 and the drones had full liberty to fly, 

 and there were multitudes of what I 

 thought to be pure Italian drones flying 

 in and around my bee-yard ; and now, if 

 it were not for the old queens in my 

 yard that are pure, I would have a yard 

 full of hybrid bees. There must have 

 been a large congregation of my neigh- 

 bor's black drones that had their regular 

 meeting-place near my apiary all this 

 season. 



Mr. Wheeler will say, "Your queens 

 were not all purely mated last year, and 

 this year the black blood is cropping 

 out." Now, I have some queen-bees 

 that were three years old last year, and 

 their daughters produced bees that were 

 all well marked. This year the daugh- 

 ters of these same old queens produced 

 hybrid bees. How does he reconcile 

 that? 



I am very much interested in this 

 mating of queens, and am doing some 

 hard thinking on this matter. I cannot 

 yet agree with Mr. Wheeler that a pure 

 and yellow Italian queen mated with a 

 black drone will produce all well-marked 

 worker-bees, although his predictions in 

 my case came true to a dot. 



I now believe that the place where 

 the drones locate there congregating 

 spot has something to do with this mat- 

 ing of queens. I don't know. Oh, how 

 I do wish I did know. Won't some one 

 be so kind as to tell me, in the columns 

 of the "old reliable" American Bee 

 Journal,. 



Woodside, N. C. 



A Young Attorney's First Case, 



A. C. TYRREL. 



A number of years ago I had occasion 

 to visit a new settlement in Tennessee, 

 and while waiting for the person I 

 wished to see, I followed a motley 

 throng to the court-house in which a 

 case of unusual interest was pending, 

 at least to the parties directly interested. 



The judge — a kindly disposed, well 

 meaning old man — although not very 

 well versed in Blackstone, had been 

 elected by the people of his district not 

 on account of his legal lore, but because 

 he advocated certain principles then 

 popular with the masses. 



The attorney for the plaintiff — Adol- 

 phus Skinner, Esq. — had lately " hung 

 out his shingle," and by dint of much 

 persuasion and promising to divide with 

 his client the amount of the judgment 

 rendered against the defendant, suc- 

 ceeded in being retained as counsellor 

 in the case. 



The defendant's attorney was a 

 stranger to the residents of the county, 

 having been sent by the "National Bee- 

 Keepers' Union " to defend the case ! 



The action was called for trial, and a 

 jury impaneled after" much whispering 

 between the plaintiff and his attorney, 

 those only being retained who had no 

 opinion on this or any other subject, and 

 without prejudice for or against either 

 party — taking their word for it. 



The plaintiff's attorney then arose 

 with as much dignity as his small 

 stature and calibre would admit, cast 

 his eagle eye up to a spider's-web on the 

 wall, and over the sleepy jurors, thrust 

 his hand into his pocket for an enormous 

 chunk of " pig-tail" tobacco (which he 

 .hastily crammed into his mouth), 

 hemmed and hawed to clear his throat, 

 and commenced to state his case in a 

 falsetto voice, by saying that the de- 

 fendant was a man of vicious and vulgar 

 habits, and wholly unfit to be entrusted 

 with the care, custody and control of 

 bees in the young and growing city of 

 Podunk ; and that he expected to prove 

 by his witnesses — men of a high degree 

 of moral character and rectitude — that 

 his client on or about the 15th day of 

 July, 1888, received serious injuries by 

 reason of the running at large of noxious 

 insects owned and controlled by de- 

 fendant. 



Having proceeded thus far to his evi- 

 dent satisfaction, he suddenly lost his 

 voice and thread of the argument, and, 

 taking the petition, read a curious 

 medley of synonyms, once very popular 

 with lawyers, now but seldom (?) used. 

 The following is a copy of the petition : 



In the Superior Court in and for the 

 County of Dhawalaghiri, State of Ten- 

 nessee. 



John S. Smith, 1 



Plaintiff. 

 vs. [ Petition. 



Tom A. Jones, 



Defendant. 

 To said Honorable Court : 



The plaintiff complains of the defend- 

 ant, and for cause of action states and 

 says : 



1. That the defendant is a person 

 formed, organized and existing for the 



