THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



343 



Planter's Journal. 



The Song of the Bee. 



ALBERT F. KEHCHIVAL. 



With dreary hum, I go ami come. 

 J. Ike liittiiic. tiiiry maiden : 



And come und Ko where zephyrs blow 

 With Howery incense laden. 



In hermit f.'leil, from haunts of men 

 Afiir, 1 seek mv treasure. 



And revel long wh re heauties tlirong 

 To list ray tender measure. 



By fount and spring, on wayward wing, 

 Each fancy hriglit pursning. 



Amid ttieir bowers I s»"e the flowers. 

 And trance them with their wooing. 



With thrill of hli!*s bright lips I kiss. 

 Nor dream of faithless wronging. 



And hour by iuuir from flower to flower. 

 I tell my tale of longing. 



O'er hill and lawn, from rosy dawn, 

 Till sunset's lances quiver. , 



I flit and sing and sip and cling 

 Live lover fond forever. 



And all day long with careless song 

 I drift o'er flowery meadows. 



And sine and dream, and flash and gleam, 

 Till fall the twilight shadows. 



For ttie American Bee Journal. 



Mr. Heil(Ion'i5 Reply. 



WJI. F. CLAKKE. 



I am at a loss for lannrnage suffi- 

 ciently expressive of tlie entire satis- 

 faction, liiftli admiration, and sincere 

 pleasure with which I read jNIr. Hed- 

 don's" Reply to Mr. Clarke" in the 

 Bee Journal, of May 17th. He has 

 fairly " won the cake " by the manly, 

 and may I add. Christian way in 

 which he has answered me. His arti- 

 cle leaves nothing to be desired on 

 my part, except the visit he so kinkly 

 invites me to pay him, and, believing 

 that it is not a mere formal invita- 

 tion, I iiromise him that I shall cer- 

 tainly "drop in" upon him, so soon 

 as time and money can be spared for 

 the trip. Still somewhat critical and 

 sceptical on points not fully demon- 

 strated to my obtuse mind, 1 have a 

 lingering doubt whether he will be 

 able to convince me that his stomach 

 is " not even bacterions." For. do 

 not physiologists maintain that there 

 are bacteria in every human stomach? 

 I " specks " there are some both in his 

 and mine. 



A duty of explanation is thrown 

 upon me in regard to some points 

 touched upon in Mr. Ileddon's cour- 

 teous rejoinder. First, as to the 

 pollen theory. Yes, I have read state- 

 ments in the Bee Journal, and 

 other ai)icultiiral periodicals, indicat- 

 ing that pollen is a source of trouble 

 in wintering bees. The private let- 

 ters referred to I have not seen, of 

 course I freely admit that, under cer- 

 tain circumstances, bees may eat too 

 * much of it, justas human beings may 

 eat too much of so wholesome a food 

 as bread. If I iiartake too freely of 

 fine Hour bread and hot biscuit, of 

 both which I am very fond, the result 

 is a disordered stomach. But am I, 

 on this account, to be wholly deprived 

 of these articles of food V Must I 

 have the stalf of life taken away alto- 

 gether because I sometimes lean on it 

 too much ? In like manner, I do not 

 think we should clear our hives of 

 pollen, but rather surround our bees 



with such conditions, that they will 

 follow their natural instinct and take 

 pollen, only in such proportion as will 

 be healthful. For, I cannot but 

 think that in a thoroughly normal 

 state of things, even adult bees con- 

 sume some pollen. "Who shall de- 

 cide when doctors disagree V" While 

 Mr. lleddonand other high authori- 

 ties, whose opinions I respect, take 

 the anti-pollen ground, there are tliose. 

 equallv deserving of deference, who 

 hold ail opiiosit.e view. For exami>le, 

 Mr. (jallup, than whom, perhaps, 

 there is not a more experienced bee- 

 keeper on this continent, has this 

 " touch on pollen " in the last number 

 of Gleaninqs: ''Your old colony, 

 with 'lots "and slatliers'of pollen, 

 would winter the best; your new 

 colony, witli new comb, and but very 

 little 'pollen, are the worst to winter 

 everv time." In transferring colonies 

 from" old box hives I never found one 

 ttiat was in iirinie condition in all re- 

 spects, but it hail •■ lots and slathers " 

 of pollen in it. Mr. Ileddou has had 

 more experience in this line than I 

 have, and will, I am sure, bearthe 

 same testimony. He will say. per- 

 haps, that the liees being in lirst class 

 condition, let thi' pollen alone, hence 

 tlie (|uaiititv found in these hives. I, 

 on mv part woiiUl say, if the bees are 

 all right in other respects, there is no 

 need to deprive them of their stores 

 of pollen, lest they indulge in it too 

 freely. Bees, like human beings, are 

 sometimes led or compelled by cir- 

 cumstances over which they have no 

 control, to do what they would not do 

 were the circumstances different and 

 more favorable. All the trouble in 

 liee-keeping grows out of our imper- 

 fect knowledge of what is the best 

 environment of circumstances. When 

 we discover that, and conform to it, I 

 fancy bee-instinct may be safely 

 trusted to do the rest. 



Let me explain very briefly on an- 

 other point, that I do not " hold to the 

 ancient custom " of convincing peo- 

 ple "by a little screw applied to their 

 thumbs," nor to the modern custom 

 of making them swear by a creed of 

 any kind. I believe in free thought, 

 anil— free speech. In the old thumb- 

 screw days, men could think as they 

 pleased ; it was the utterance of their 

 thought that made tliem obnoxious 

 to bigots. It is so now. The thumb- 

 screw is absolete, but there are still 

 modes of persecution and torture in 

 vogue for tlie punishment of men who 

 have the courage of their opinions, 

 which are a disgrace to the age we 

 live in. I take no stock in bigotry of 

 any kind, whether ancient or modern. 

 " I love, oh 1 how I love, the free !" 



Mr. Ileddon rather misunderstands 

 my meaning when he asks whether 

 " the time has not gone by when you 

 can satisfactorily answer a man's 

 argument by pointing at what you 

 think to be a hole in his coat V" I did 

 not consider there was a liole in his 

 coat at that spot. In fact, I tliought 

 it was a particularly sound part of the 

 garment. He declined to believe in 

 the absence of meridian evidence. 

 That's riglit. Honesty is, and always 

 will be, the best policy. It is better 



than a mere policy, for it is grand in 

 principle. This first, and last. 



"To thy own self be true, 

 Thou can'st not then be false to any man." 



Fortunately, as I think, for me, my 

 "labors -inil incomes" have been con- 

 nected with both science and the 

 supernatural. This supernatural is 

 the key that unlocks the mysteries of 

 science. I never expect by searching 

 to liiid (Hit God. I see the traces of 

 his wisdom and power. He is " won- 

 derful in counsel, excellent in work- 

 ing."' and nowhere more so than in 

 that marvellous microcosm, the bee- 

 liive. 



lain just aching to attend one or 

 two of those family bee conventions 

 which are daily held in the Heddon 

 bouse, and hope I may have that 

 lil.-asure before very long. 



Listowel, Out., May 19, 1882. 



For the American Bee JoumaJ. 



Matins;: of Queens. 



J. M. SHUCK. 



The statements of Prof. Kroeh, on 

 page311,18SL', of the Bee Journal, 

 will appear to many like a new neck- 

 lace of old beads, and it is not often 

 that anything seen in print is at vari- 

 ance with tills old statement of facts, 

 so called. 



In 1879 I had two wingless queens 

 that produced workers, and drone 

 progeny in satisfactory proportions 

 and numbers. In 1880 I clipped four 

 queens just as they emerged from the 

 cells, and conlined the nuclei iifteen 

 days ; two produced workers and 

 drones, and two were lost. In 1881 I 

 clipped six queens, as in 1880, four of 

 which matured into satisfactory 

 queens and two were found dead. 



I have witnessed laying queens 

 le-aving the hive for a flight unat- 

 tended by a swarm, many times, and 

 think it natural and proiier that they 

 should do so, for if the flight of queens 

 be entirely restrained for generations, 

 ma V it not occur tliat while the beauty, 

 size", and lengtli of tongue be increased, 

 that the power of wing be greatly 

 diminished. Our bees must l)e 

 equipped with strong, tireless wings, 

 the (lueens must possess them, and in 

 order to iirodnce the best results, 

 must occasionally use them, in a long, 

 airy, raiiid fliglit. 



Des Moines, Iowa. 



For the American Bee Jou-mal. 



About "Dollar" (Jueens. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



Mr. Hutchinson, the Bee Journal 

 and myself, all agree in regard to 

 what I believe to bea funtlamental 

 iirincipal in progressive bieeiiing, 

 viz: That tlie "best bees will have 

 just the requisite number of stripes, 

 whether it he one or a dozen." Mr. 

 Hutchinson asks me if these "hybrids 

 can be lired in-and-in, or if the strains 

 must bekejit up by continual en ss- 

 ings with pure races V" I answer 

 emphatically, by breeding in-and-in. 



