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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



with its tail as large as a rolling-pin ; 

 the dog scamper, howling and turning 

 summersaults in the direction of the 

 barn ; chickens seeking the shelter of 

 bushes, frantically trying to scratch off 

 the bees from their combs ; horses and 

 cows will throw up their tails, and seek 

 shelter; and the apiary will be so demora- 

 lized that it will be days before quiet 

 reigns, so that a person can enter it 

 without molestation. 

 Peoria, Ills. 



Progeny of Italian Queen Hated 

 with Black Drone, Etc. 



Written for the American Bf-e Journal 

 BY S. E. MILLER. 



The above is the subject of a Query 

 on page 172, and the question is, "Do 

 you believe that an Italian queen, yel- 

 low or dark colored, mated with a black 

 drone, will produce all three or more 

 banded worker bees ?" 



Messrs. Mason, Miller, Cutting and 

 others say " No." Hambaugh, " Yes." 

 Mrs. Heater, " Yes, but not often." But 

 I should consider Prof. Cook on this 

 question like the elephant at the con- 

 vention — he weighs more than all the 

 others together. He says: "I think 



that in rare cases she might do so 



Crossing bees works just as crossing 

 higher animals." This last sentence is 

 hitting the nail squarely on the head, 

 and so long as we cannot know posi- 

 tively with what kind of a drone a queen 

 mates, the best we can do is to judge 

 them in this way. 



Let us make a comparison. We will 

 say, mate a pure, or, if you please, a 

 thoroughbred brown Leghorn hen with a 

 Plymouth Rock cock. Who will say 

 that all of the eggs from this hen (so 

 long as she remained fertile from said 

 cock), if hatched and reared to maturity, 

 would show all the markings of the 

 Leghorn race ? Who can name a case 

 of this kind ? I very much doubt whether 

 one has ever been known, or a similar 

 one, with any kind of animal, hogs, 

 cattle, or any stock. On the other hand, 

 I believe, and my observations confirm 

 my belief, that the progeny of any ani- 

 mal is more likely to follow in appear- 

 ance and characteristics the sire than 

 the dame. 



STANDARD OF PURITY IN BEES. 



All three-banded workers are a good 

 enough standard of purity in the Italian 

 bee for me, but there is no telling how 



soon the standard will be raised to five 

 bands, and then some fellow will 'go to 

 rearing ten or twelve banded workers ! 



SEVERAL EGGS IN A CELL. 



Mr. A. C. Aten, on page 333, has 

 noticed that a queen sometimes lays 

 more than one egg in a cell. This is not 

 so very uncommon when there are not 

 bees enough in the hive to cover the 

 brood and eggs. 



MOTH-WORMS AND BLACK BEES. 



Mr. E. France, on page 648 of Glean- 

 ings for Sept. 1st, says : " Black bees 

 are as proof against moth-worms as 

 Italians." I will admit it if the black 

 colony is very strong, and the Italians 

 very weak. He cites a case in which 

 moth-worms were plentiful in combs in 

 a quadruple hive, while his black bees 

 were not infested in another apartment 

 of the same hives. I do not blame the 

 worms for not bothering the bees so long 

 as they had plenty to eat without going 

 among the bees. 



BLACK BEES VS. ITALIANS. 



Mr. R. A. Shultz, on page 338 of the 

 Bee Journal, also stands up for Mr. 

 Ellingwood on the " Blacks vs. Italians " 

 subject. Well, just let those fellows 

 keep their black bees. I am not afraid 

 of any of their old black drones mating 

 with my Italian queens. 



GOLDEN-ROD AND SPANISH-NEEDLE. 



Somebody (I believe it was those 

 " miserable Frenchmen " over at Ham- 

 ilton, Ills., as Dr. Miller calls them) in- 

 timated that much of the golden-rod 

 and aster honey (so-called) was gathered 

 from Spanish-needle. Here it is re- 

 versed. All of our Spanish-needle honey 

 is gathered from boneset, aster and 

 golden-rod — mostly from boneset. 



Bluffton, Mo. 



Distance Bees Fly for Xectar. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY J. H. ANDRE. 



When haying this season, I saw Ital- 

 ian bees working on the clover blossoms. 

 Being well acquainted with the vicinity, 

 I knew there were no Italian colonies 

 nearer than 1% miles, unless they were 

 wild ones. 



Several days ago I caught one of the 

 bees about 1}4 miles from the apiary, 

 and set it to work on thin syrup. Prob- 



