306 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



May 18, 1899. 



found that fermentation had set in and the cork was forced 

 out. Talk about rank odors 1 I suppose there are worse 

 smells in this world, but I have fortunately not come across 

 them, nor I don't want to, either. I hardly think the honey 

 the bees would be able to store from these flowers would be 

 like the odor I have mentioned, as the bees would put the 

 nectar through a process that might rob it of its objection- 

 able features. Above I said I did not see anything wonder- 

 ful about this plant. I must make an exception ; it is the 

 odor of its nectar. This peculiar smell is noticeable, to 

 some extent, in the flowers. 



The Agave, or Century Plant, as it is commonly and 

 improperly called, is a native of Mexico and South Ameri- 

 can countries. By some it is referred to as the American 

 Aloe. This is' incorrect. There are several varieties of the 

 plant, one of which, I believe, is a native of California. In 

 South Ataerica the natives make a kind of cordage from 

 the leaves. In Mexico juice obtained from the leaves is fer- 

 mented and made into a drink which is said to be agreeable, 

 tho intoxicating. I should think if this drink was as odori- 

 ferous as I have found the fermented nectar to be. a man 

 would have to have a strong stomach to tackle it — one for 

 instance that could delight in storing away limburger 

 cheese. Alameda Co., Calif. 



Dr. Miller Pitcht Into About Pure Italians, Five- 

 Banders and Albino Bees. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



FOR several j-ears Gleanings kept an arena for Dr. Miller 

 and Doolittle to fight in, and it seemed to do Editor 

 Ernest Root lots of good to see Miller and Doolittle 

 "lock horns " therein. But our Editor York is such a peace- 

 maker that he would not allow of any fighting anywhere 

 about him, so it will be of no use to call on him to open up 

 an arena for anj- one. Nevertheless, I am going to pitch 

 into the good Doctor " just a wee little bit " to see what the 

 result will be. As Dr. Gallup used to say in these columns, 

 that he, when a boy, would hit the " old tom-cat between 

 the eves just to see what efl'ect it would have." And so he 

 . would hit Flanagan, Quinby and others, and the effect was 

 something which brought lots of practical things out in the 

 good old American Bee Journal. With this introduction 

 finisht, I now call on Dr. Miller to stand up and defend him- 

 self. 



You say on page 198, in reply to " Johnny Bull," "The 

 original pure Italians that came from Italj- were three- 

 banded, that is, the first three bands of the abdomen next 

 the thorax were yellow." Now, Doctor, did you ever see 

 anj- pure Italians that came from Italj- ? If so, in what 

 sense do you use the word "pure"? If you use it in the 

 sense of " free from mixture," as the Standard Dictionary 

 speaks of purity, how did it come about that bees were bred 

 from this original pure stock having " all the bands yel- 

 low," as you speak of in describing the golden Italians? 



Then, Doctor, did you ever see an Italian bee which 

 came from Italy, except a queen ? If so, were the first 

 three bands (?) next the VaoriL's. yelloivf And did you ever 

 see even one bee from an imported queen that had three 

 yellow bands ? 



But what do j-ou mean by bands ? You saw that ques- 

 tion-mark back there, did you not ? That doesn't mean 

 " sic," exactly ; but I had supposed the yellow was on the 

 horny segments of the abdomen. In other words. I had 

 supposed that the abdomen of each bee was composed of six 

 horny segments, instead of six " bands of the abdomen.'' as 

 you put it, or would have, had you spoken of the six instead 

 of the three. 



Now, if " bands," as you used it, meant segments, did 

 you ever see one single bee from an imported queen that 

 liad three yellow segments ? If so, you have seen something 

 that I never saw. In the first place, I never saw a single 

 worker-bee from an imported queen that had a.ny yellozv on 

 it at all. The color was always a maroon, chestnut or 

 leather color, not yellow. 



In the next place, I never saw a single bee from an im- 

 ported queen that had three segments which were all of a 

 maroon color. Did you ? W»s not each of the three seg- 

 ments next the thorax composed of both maroon color and 

 black or dark brown, and did not these stripes of maroon 

 color and black, running around the top part of the seg- 

 ment, constitute the bands? Then as these pure (?) ma- 

 roon-banded bees were bred in this country, did not the 

 color of maroon become changed to orange yellow, so that 



we had the American Italian bee with three yellow bands 

 on the first three segments of the abdomen ? 



Don't sit down yet. Doctor, for I want to hit you some 

 more. You further tell " Johnny Bull " that " breeders in 

 this country by selection have secured workers with five 

 yellow bands." Now, did you ever see a single worker-bee 

 that had both yellow and black (thus making bands) on five 

 of the segments of the abdomen ? If j-ou have, you have 

 seen something which I never did. I have seen workers 

 with both yellow and black on /our segments, but when it 

 came to pass that a yellow and black band was found on 

 the Ji/th segment, some of the other segments lost the dlack 

 entirely, so that a part of the segments (usually the first 

 two, three or four next the thorax) were a solid yellow, this 

 making the vporker appear like " a lump of gold " when out 

 sporting at the entrance for its " first play-spell " in the 

 sunshine. 



Next you tell "Johnny Bull " that " breeders in this 

 country by selection have secured workers some hav- 

 ing all the bands yellow, these last being called golden." 

 Now, Doctor, look out, I'm going to hit you hard, right 

 straight between the eyes. Did you ever see a single 

 zvorker-hee having all the bands {segments) yellozv f If so, I 

 stand read}' to give you ten dollars for the mother of that 

 bee. There, I knew that ?10 would hit you hard, for I see 

 vouaredown. " Ten dollars lost I" did I hear you exclaim ? 

 Not so. You can never lose something j-ou never had. See ? 



But I am not thru with you yet, even if j-ou are d9wn. 

 You tell "Johnny Bull" that "albinos among bees are 

 much the same as albinos among the human race — bees 

 which have been so bred that the coloring-matter is some- 

 what lacking." Did you ever see an albino bee? If so, 

 what part of it lackt in coloring-matter — the head, thorax 

 or abdomen ? Was the coloring of the horny segments of 

 the abdomen so lacking that the yellow or maroon part of 

 the bands were white ? The Students' Standard Dictionary 

 says albino means " a person, animal or plant unnaturally 

 white ; a person with milky-white skin and hair, and pink 

 or red eyes." And as you " swear " by the Standard Dic- 

 tionary, and tell us that " albinos among bees are much the 

 same as albinos among the human race," of course we shall 

 all be looking for a bee whose head, thorax and abdomen 

 are milky-white, all but the eyes, which should be either 

 pink or red. Now, Doctor, doubly look out, for I'll give 

 vou twenty dollars for the mother of such a worker-bee as 

 that. 



Remember. I a'm going to leave you now, lying there 

 under that pile of thirty dollars till you reflect a little while, 

 and tell us what j-ou really meant by those answers to 

 "Johnny Bull," but I have " another grist " for you from 

 the same number of the American Bee Journal, and would 

 "go for J-ou " still further, but I always considered it mean 

 to trample on a man after he was down. 



(Aside to the reader.) I have purchast several albino 

 queens, and all the difference I could see between their 

 workers and those of the ordinary Italians was, that the 

 majority of the workers had white or graj- hairs on them 

 instead of the yellow or dark-brown hairs of the Italians. 



Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



The Laying' of Young- Queens— Queon-Rearing-. 



BY HKNKY .^LLBY'. 



SOME time the past winter I read a quotation in this 

 paper that was decidedly wrong, and I have been ex- 

 pecting to see it denied by some of the old correspond- 

 ents. As no one has done so, I am moved to say something 

 about it. 



The quotation was taken from a foreign bee-publica- 

 tion, and the wrong statement was by a foreign bee-keeper 

 who, it seems to me, must be a person of limited experience 

 in queen-rearing, to say the least. The writer said some- 

 thing like this : 



" Young queens never lay their eggs compactly as old 

 queens do, but scatter them over the combs." Such a state- 

 ment is as far from the truth as any statement can be. 

 The best evidence that a young queen is of no value, or an 

 old queen, as for that, is the fact that she does not laj' her 

 eggs compactly. If she " skips " even a few cells, she is 

 not up to the standard I place upon all queens. 



When a queen scatters her eggs, pinch her head — she 

 has lost her usefulness. The queen that deposits an e%^ in 

 every cell, and every egg alike, is the queen for me, and 

 shows every indication of being well-bred, and of the first 

 quality. 



