564 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Sept. 7. 1899. 



Director E)itcrson T. .Ihbott. 



course. Since that 

 time i t has been 

 completel)' negrlect- 

 ed, as it is in most 

 other States. 



When the mat- 

 ter is presented to 

 those in authority, 

 the excuse is made 

 that there is no 

 money to even pay 

 the board and trav- 

 eling' expenses of a 

 competent man to 

 present the subject, 

 yet money is found 

 to secure teachers 

 i n every other 

 branch of agricul- 

 ture, and every two 

 years our legisla- 

 ture is askt to make 

 large appropria- 

 tions for the benefit 

 of the agricultural 

 school and the ex- 

 periment station. 

 There is never a 

 hint of any of it be- 

 ing used for the ad- 

 vancement of api- 

 culture, notwithstanding the fact that there is a large num- 

 ber of bee-keepers in the State who are taxt to help advance 

 the interests of other industries. At the present session 

 the legislature will be askt to appropriate 530,000 to advance 

 the interests of horticulture, but there is no thought of any 

 money being used to promote bee-keeping, notwithstanding 

 the fact that the horticulturist is largely dependent upon 

 the bee-keepers, or at least the bees, for the perfect develop- 

 ment of his fruit. 



I would suggest to the bee-keepers of this and other 

 States that they now begin to make themselves heard with 

 regard to this matter. Taxation without representation 

 made some serious trouble a long time ago, and we give due 

 notice to the powers that be that it will not be our fault if 

 it does not do the same thing again. We herewith begin a 

 campaign in the interest of the proper recognition of api- 

 culture at every experiment station and in ever^- agricultu- 

 ral college of the land, and we ask all editors who believe 

 that bee-keepers have some rights, to join us in this import- 

 ant work. 



There is no rural industry about which people in gen- 

 eral have so little practical knowledge, and man}', even of 

 the graduates of agricultural colleges, could not even tell a 

 queen from a drone, and most of them are as absolutely ig- 

 norant of the interesting and delicate but very important 

 part which the bees plaj- in the production of perfect fruit 

 on vine, tree and shrub, as they would have been if they 

 had been born in the dark ages instead of in the burning 

 light of the 19th century. — Selected. 



Buchanan Co., Mo. 



Mating- Queens to Selected Drones. 



BY G. M. DOOI.ITTI.E. 



A CORRESPONDENT writes that he has bought two 

 queens — one from an imported mother and one of the 

 golden variety. Says he is going to rear queens from 

 one and drones from the other, so that he may secure a di- 

 rect cross. He further states that there are no other bees 

 within nearlj' two miles of him, and wishes to know if he 

 will not be nearly sure of his object under such conditions. 

 As something similar to this is propounded to me quite 

 often, I will try to give mj' views thru the columns of the 

 American Bee Journal so as to gain a little rest from an- 

 swering this same question over and over so many times. 

 And it must bean interesting question to many, else I would 

 not have it askt me so often. 



From what I have .seen and heard I believe that drones 

 have congregating places where they assemble in great 

 numbers from all over the country for miles around. Such 

 congregating of drones has always been of interest to me, 

 and should be of interest to all those who propose, as does 

 our correspondent, to rear drones from a certain queen, and 

 queens from another ; and al.so to all bee-keepers who have 



an}' ideas regarding the improvement of stock along cer- 

 tain lines. 



If drones congregate in certain places, it would be but 

 natural that the queens should be drawn to these places, 

 and the fact that I once observed something which proved 

 to mj' mind that the queen, at least, was mated at such a 

 congregating place, has led me to believe that nearly all 

 queens meet the drones at such an assembly. And if drones 

 do thus congregate, and the queens go to this cong'regation, 

 it must be apparent to all, that where there are any bees in 

 the woods, or bees kept by farmers within the flying dis- 

 tance of drones, our queens, reared with so much care, will 

 stand a poor chance of mating one of the desired drones 

 reared from our petted drone-queen, especially as the colo- 

 nies kept on the let-alone plan will, as a rule, rear 10 times 

 as many drones as will the one we are petting. 



Where I witnest the mating of a queen was on a high 

 hill when I was cutting weeds out of a cornfield the fore- 

 part of August. On every fine afternoon, from one to three 

 o'clock, there was such a humming- in the air overhead that 

 it seemed that a swarm of bees must be going over, and at 

 first I lookt for them ; but seeing nothing I concluded it was 

 flies of some kind. One very hot day, being- tired and 

 warm, I laid down between the rows of corn in the partial 

 shade to rest, and hearing this swarming noise I thought I 

 would see if I could not see something. The shade of the 

 corn helpt me in this, and then I shaded my eyes with va.y 

 hands and lookt steadily up into the clear sky. After a 

 little I could see thousands of living creatures shooting in 

 all directions, and finally I saw a dozen or so of these shoot- 

 ing objects give chase after another till one overtook it, 

 when the flight was less rapid. The two continued circling 

 around a few seconds, all the while nearing the ground, till 

 they final!}' stopt on the tassel of a cornstalk near me. I 

 immediately jumpt up. but before I reacht the stalk of corn 

 one of them flew away and the other fell to the ground. I 

 was quite near when the one flew away, and I was quite 

 sure it was a queen-bee ; and upon picking up the one that 

 fell to the ground I found it to be a dead drone. 



I had now solved the mystery of the humming noise to 

 the satisfaction of my own mind ; and when I have since 

 heard this same humming noise, as I very often do, I have 

 believed it to be drones in their congregating places. The 

 fact that this noise is heard only in the early afternoon of 

 pleasant days also proves that drones congregate, for I 

 never heard this noise except at this time of day, the same 

 being just the time the drones are out in full flight. If it 

 was made by the worker-bees it would be heard in the fore- 

 noon as well as in the afternoon. 



Another item 

 bearing on this 

 subject is the 

 fact, that, prior 

 to the advent 

 of the Italian 

 bee, there was 

 a man w h i ■ 

 lived near me 

 who had kept 

 black or Ger- 

 man bees for 

 nearly half a 

 century, while 

 at this same 

 time another 

 bee-keeper liv- 

 ing four miles 

 away procured 

 a 11 Italian 

 queen, w h e n 

 they first canu- 

 to this country. 

 H e purchast 

 this Italian 

 queen in July. 

 and from this 

 one queen 

 stockt his 

 whole apiary of 

 nearly SO colo- 

 nies, doing it 

 within 6 weeks, 

 there being no 

 drones reared 

 from a n y of 

 these Italian 

 queens that 



General Manager and Treasurer 

 Hon. Eugene Secor. 



