THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



105 



fer to be without a fertile queen 25 or 

 30 days, ratlier than to take the strange 

 task you' want to impose upon us. 

 And in running 100 nuclei it is out of 

 the question for one hand always to 

 keep them filled witli queens against 

 their will. If otliers can do it, tliey 

 can do what I never have done, in tlie 

 past 20 years, and I fear I am too old 

 now to learn tliat art. 



If any sliould ask why I rear dollar 

 queens, I answer, that the course pur- 

 sued by ottiers, sometimes leads us to 

 do things we do not approve. 



Camargo, 111. 



Ftir the American Bee Journal. 



More About the Best Bees. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



The reason why I am so anxious to 

 get at the cause of bee dysentery, is 

 because I hope that to know the cause 

 will aid in stopping the effect. But 

 in regard to the birth-place of Ital- 

 ians, Cyprians, and Holy Landers, and 

 the number of original rings, these 

 points liave as little to do with our 

 success in tlie pursuit, as a knowledge 

 of the rings of Saturn, and they are 

 of far less interest to me. There is 

 sublimity aboiit'the rings of Saturn, 

 but almost a quarrel about the rings 

 of bees. All we need to know is, 

 which are tlie best bees, and which is 

 tiie best way to produce better ones. 

 Why tlien should we spend time theo- 

 rizing about origin, color, partheno- 

 genesis, and " tweedle-dee and twee- 

 dle-dum,'" when the whole matter is 

 practically one capable of full demon- 

 stration. 



When we have produced apis Anieri- 

 citiitt— that is a fixed type of the best 

 bee on earth — then will be time enough 

 to count the spots and hairs sufliciently 

 to know them wherever seen. When 

 that time comes these bees will sell for 

 their qualities, and the spots will be 

 tin-own in. 



Mr. Demaree says it was kitid in me 

 to try to help Mr. Dadant out of his 

 trouble. That is the first intimation 

 I had that Mr. Dadant was in any 

 trouble. I hardly think anyone ex- 

 cept Mr. Demaree has made any such 

 discovery. Perhaps it is so, and it 

 may be quite natural that Mr. Dema- 

 ree should be tlie first to discover it. 

 If Mr. Demaree has got liim into 

 this tnnible, he should liave had more 

 respect for age. and priority of posi- 

 tion. Mr. Dadant is " old '' in the bee 

 business, and especially the importing 

 trade ; he has • been through these far- 

 off birth-placesof our imported .stock ; 

 lie has fooled the best judges and most 

 experienced American apiarists so 

 long, that to traj) him now, makes me 

 feel as though tlie stores of honey we 

 have obtained from bees of his im- 

 porting and breeding, may be only a 

 myth — a dream ! 



Mr. Demaree says that in a. late 

 article I intimate tiiat the opinion of 

 those who make large reports, is of 

 more worth than those who make 

 small ones, or none at all. Were Mr. 

 Demaree not a lawyer, he would never 

 have thoughtof borrowing that "none 

 at all " to strengthen his position with. 



It I have my eye on the remark that 

 Mr. Demaree alludes to, I said sub- 

 stantially this : That a friend got a 

 perfectly ernorninus yield of honey 

 and increase ; that he had been some 

 years breeding a cross between the 

 Italians and tJernians to get it with ; 

 that he got much of it from red clover; 

 that these " hybrids " stored 40 lbs. of 

 surplus comb' honey from red clover 

 alone, when the "golden Italians of 

 the period," did not obtain one pound ; 

 that another friend obtained 200 lbs. 

 of surplus comb honey per colony, 

 from 1.50 colonies, and from some of 

 the best 400 lbs. each ; he also had 

 mixed bees of careful breeding. The 

 reason the names of the parties was 

 not given is because they wish it so, 

 to the end that they would not be 

 written to for queens, which they do 

 not have to sell, surplus is their main 

 business. 1 thought these reports 

 which I knew I could depend on, pre- 

 sented a strong argument of the dem- 

 onstrative order. 



Does Mr. Demaree expect to wash 

 away this proof by giving the credit to 

 location entirely V Suppose the loca- 

 tion to be the best this side of the 

 Rocky Mountains (which I know is 

 not the case), would not good bees get 

 such a yield V Mr. Demaree fails to 

 explain why the Italians, of rings and 

 royal pedigree, in this same splendid 

 location got nothing. But I shall not 

 ask him to wade where the water is 

 over his head. 



Whether just or not, it is exceed- 

 ingly handy to cut down the merits of 

 others' successes by saying " grand 

 location," and excuse tlie failures of 

 your "ringed, striped and speckled" 

 bees by charging it all up to a large 

 honey crop. Upon this very subject, 

 hangs much of our future success or 

 failure. 



It seems to me that whoever makes 

 a convert to rings, hairs and down on 

 the hind leg, without practical quali- 

 ties, does him great harm. For that 

 reason I am earnest in the discussion 

 of the subject. I respect Mr. Dema- 

 ree's opposite opinions, and admire 

 his vigor of putting them, but I doubt 

 his ever having had the right sort, or 

 right amount of experience in the 

 matter. 



Dowagiac, Mich., Feb. 3, 1882. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Controversy about Pure Bees. 



CHAS. DADANT. 



Mr. Demaree, of Kentucky, says he 

 has overthrown all my arguments. If 

 so, he must have proved the assertion 

 he made, which was the subject of 

 this controversy: that the Cyprian 

 race is gentle and peaceable, and that 

 the dark Italians, which I have im- 

 ported for 1.5 years past, are ferocious 

 hybrids. He has also proved (as he 

 says), that the Italian race is not a 

 pure race. If all this is satisfactorily 

 proven, by Mr. Demaree, I will leave 

 the field to the victor, and allow the 

 reader to judge for himself. It were 

 idle to argue with so good a lawyer. 



Hamilton. 111., Feb. fi, 1882. 



Indiana Bee-Keepers' Convention. 



The annual meeting of the Indiana 

 State Bee-Keepers' Association, was 

 held in Indianapolis, Jan. 24. The 

 meeting was called to order with 

 President .1. II. Orear in the chair, all 

 the officers being present. Buta small 

 amount of routine business was 

 transacted when the meeting ad- 

 journed for dinner. 



The attendance after dinner was 

 considerably increased by the arrival 

 of belated members. 



Shortly after 2 o'clock. Gov. A. G. 

 Porter arrived, and entertained the 

 Society with a very neat address. In 

 the course of his remarks he said : 



The value of the honey produced in 

 this State in 1881 is reported by our 

 Bureau of Statistics to have been 

 $207,042. In 1880 the value of this 

 product was $239,525. The reduction 

 of value in 1881 was occasioned by a 

 short production which happened on 

 account of the extreme severity of the 

 winter, which was very destructive to 

 bees, and from the drouth of the sum- 

 mer, which diminished largely the 

 supply of " nectar " from which the 

 honey is produced. This reduction 

 was general throughout the country. 



The production of honey is not one 

 of the great industries of the State, 

 though the business when skillfully 

 pursued, is, I am informed, quite a 

 profitable one, and the climate and 

 " pasturage " of the State are favora- 

 ble to the bee and to a large product 

 from its labor. It will probably not 

 for many years to come be pursued 

 singly, to a large extent, as an indus- 

 try, but as a by-business of the farm, 

 to amuse tlie leisure of the farmer's 

 household, and at the same time add 

 to the receipts of the year, it may be 

 largely and most usefully increased. 

 There is nothing about which more 

 has been written than upon the bee 

 and its habits, and the more these are 

 studied the more entertaining and en- 

 gaging they become. 



Aristomachus, we are told, spent (30 

 years in the study; Lord Brougham, 

 the busiest statesman of his gen- 

 eration, took time to make chemical 

 analyses of the honey comb under va- 

 rious conditions. The interest shown 

 by this Association in bee-culture and 

 in the product of the hive, shows that 

 the industry is likely to excite more 

 and more attention. Like the butter- 

 maker, however, you are met by com- 

 petition. It lakes an extremely deli- 

 cate palate to distinguish between 

 oleomargarine and any other than the 

 very best quality of butter. Oleomar- 

 garine is eaten every day, on perhiqis 

 ij of the tables in our cities, without 

 a suspicion that it is not butter. The 

 artificial honey is hardly less decep- 

 tive, and unless honey is eaten from 

 the comb, there is little assurance to 

 the ordinary palate of its purity. It 

 is said, however, although the bee is 

 now assisted in its work by manufac- 



