760 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



in every direction, will cover a profit- 

 able field for an apiary. 



The greater the light thrown on this 

 subject, the greater is the evidence that 

 bees do not work profitably at a great 

 distance from their base of operation. If 

 bees fly in quest of honey 3, 4, and even 

 7 miles, as some have reported, I am un- 

 able to account for the fact that my bees 

 fell so much behind my friend's bees 

 under the circumstances above related. 



HONEY — THE PROCESS OF RIPENING. 



Last season (1891) the weather was 

 just right for the production of the very 

 finest flavored honey, while this year 

 (1892) was the very opposite. This 

 year the humidity of the atmosphere has 

 been abnormally excessive, and there 

 has been no first-class honey secured 

 this year (1892). Ought not this sim- 

 ple fact of weather causes, to settle the 

 question concerning bees "digesting 

 nectar" into honey? I have experi- 

 mented carefully along this line, and I 

 do not yield facts to " theory." 



One of my repeated experiments to 

 test this matter of ripening nectar must 

 carry with it conclusive conviction, that 

 the ripening process of perfect honey 

 depends upon conditions outside of the 

 bee's transporting sac. My experiment 

 was conducted as follows : 



Last year (1891) I was crowded for 

 room, as the yield of nectar was rapid 

 and abundant, and to keep the bees 

 going I departed from my usual custom 

 and took a great number of combs that 

 were only partly sealed. These combs 

 were first passed through the extracting 

 process to remove all the unsealed 

 honey, and this unsealed honey was put 

 into a tank by itself — then the uncap- 

 ping was done, and the honey from this 

 source was put into another tank. 



No experienced honey-producer could 

 fail to discover a marked difference in 

 the quality of these two lots of honey. 

 That taken from the open cells was 

 thinner than the other lot, and its flavor 

 was not so distinct ; and when granula- 

 tion took place, when cold weather came 

 on, the difference was still more remark- 

 able. No close observer would have ad- 

 mitted (not knowing the facts) that the 

 two lots of honey came from the same 

 hives at the same time. 



The honey that came from the open 

 cells had a white, starchy appearance, 

 and developed an undue amount of 

 "glucose," no doubt brought about by 

 the slower process of artificial evapora- 

 tion. The past season the experiment 

 was repeated with more marked results 

 in the same direction. 



It is a remarkable fact that the more 

 rapidly nectar is gathered, the better 

 the quality of the honey. 



I think the secret of good, normal 

 honey is locked up in good weather. 

 Good weather makes good honey. 



DRONES — PROGENY OF VIRGIN QUEENS. 



Are they capable of propagating the 

 race as potent male bees ? This is the 

 question pure and simple. If such 

 drones are sterile — incapable of co-oper- 

 ating with the female in propagating 

 their kind, then "parthenogenesis" is 

 nothing but a fact that can have no 

 other interest than ordinarily attaches 

 to any other freak in nature. 



No well-informed entomologist will 

 doubt or deny " parthenogenesis" as he 

 understands its true application to bees. 

 But those sanguine authors who assert 

 that the fertile male honey-bee descends 

 from the mother-bee without the direct, 

 or indirect, or recurring co-operation of 

 the male, should not be surprised or 

 offended if they are asked for the proof, 

 since this is a matter that can be dem- 

 onstrated by practical experiment. Let 

 us have the proof before we are charged 

 with "snorting at high criticism." 



I have labored for years by practical, 

 and practicable, experiment to prove 

 that the progeny of the virgin queen is 

 fertile. The climate of my locality is 

 peculiarly suited to such experiments. 



All that is necessary to a fair test of 

 the "fatherless drones," is to keep over 

 the winter some virgin queens, provide 

 them with drone-combs so as to have 

 the drones well developed in size ; now 

 rear some young queens so as to have 

 them old enough to fly out to meet the 

 males two or three weeks before drones 

 are out from hives that have fertile 

 queens. In my locality the experiment 

 must take place between the first of 

 March and the 10th or 15th of April. I 

 have watched the young queens and the 

 " fatherless drones " as they would take 

 their flights in a most natural way, but 

 all has been a failure, though the ex- 

 periment has been repeated time and 

 again. Not in a single case have I suc- 

 ceeded in having a young queen mated 

 until drones were out from colonies hav- 

 ing fertile queens. 



To me the experiments were conclu- 

 sive, but they might be repeated in some 

 seclusive locality where no mistake 

 could be made, and it is to be hoped that 

 some capable person, favorably situated, 

 will take up the experiment and pros- 

 ecute it to an undisputed conclusion. 



Christiansburg, Ky. 



