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372 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Building Straiglit Combs.— The In- 

 diana Farmer remarks thus on this 

 subject : 



All colonies which have been liived 

 in empty frames should be examined 

 frequently to see that they are build- 

 ing the combs straight in the frames. 

 Hives should set perfectly level from 

 side to side. A very good plan is to 

 elevate the rear end of the hive three 

 or four inches. The bees will com- 

 mence at the highest point to build 

 the combs. After they have built the 

 combs about iialf way down the 

 frames, turn each alternate frame end 

 for end. This will tlirow the empty 

 end of the frames between the pieces 

 of comb built in the other frames, 

 and will almost insure the balance of 

 tiie combs to be built straight. Should 

 you lind they have built the combs a 

 little crooked push them back in 

 place, if too far gone for this cut tliem 

 loose and tie in place as in transferring. 

 Much care should be given to have all 

 tlie combs built perfectly straight at 

 the start, thereby saving much trou- 

 ble and vexation in the future. The 

 combs must be straight to secure the 

 benefits pertaining to tlie movable 

 frames. For unless the frames are 

 really movable, exchangable, tliey 

 are of no more benefit tluin box hives. 



Dzierzoii Theory.— Mr. B. F. Carroll, 

 Dresden, Texas, gives the following 

 in the Texas A(jricuUural Journal: 



I am skeptical about one feature in 

 the Dzierzon theory. The ninth propo- 

 sition is: "All eggs germinated in 

 tlie ovary of the queen develop as 

 males, unless impregnated by the 

 male sperm wliile passing the mouth 

 of tlie seminal sac or spermatheca 

 when descending the oviduct. If they 

 be thus impregnated in their down- 

 ward passage (which impregnation 

 the queen can effect or omit at pleas- 

 ure), they develop as females." I 

 claim that all the eggs are impreg- 

 nated, male and female, or they would 

 not hatch into a live insect capable of 

 reproduction. What I deny is that 

 " common or black queens fecundated 

 by Italian drones, produce mixed or 

 Jiybrid workers, indeed, but pure com- 

 mon or black drones exclusively." I 

 claim, and with as much sliow of 

 truth, Uiat if the male progeny of a 

 mammal, and especially our domestic 

 fowls, is tainted by mismating, then 

 we may expect the same of the honey- 

 bee. I claim that tlie male bee is 

 produced by the egg receiving a cer- 

 tain kind of very thin mucoid— which 

 is enough to satisfy nature, and when- 

 ever a queen is mismated her drones 

 as well as her worker progeny, will be 

 hybrids. 



Last spring I began operations with 

 twenty colonies. Nearly all had 



daughters of imported mothers— ex- 

 cept four purely marked home-bred 

 Italians, and one pure Cyprian mis- 

 mated. Three of the queens were 

 mismated, or in other words, were 

 fecundated by black drones. I reared 

 20 young queens from a pure Cyprian, 

 and some of these, I am satisfied met 

 drones from the mismated queens, as 

 one of the hives had nearly as many 

 drones as the other nineteen, and 

 their bees sliow plainly the black 

 blood. All the the queens— four in 

 number — tliat met the half-breeds, 

 show that they are not pure, as many 

 of their bees show only one and two 

 yellow bands, and hardly any full 

 black. 



I claim the above as facts demon- 

 strated in my yard in 1881, and it is 

 no pet theory, but direct from the 

 hive. If the Italian bee is only a 

 " thoroughbred," as some assert, the 

 facts are more easily proven. A cross 

 between a pure Italian queen and a 

 German drone, and a drone from this 

 mismated queen crossed on a pure 

 Cyprian queen, (which is a pure race) 

 will produce a beautiful bee, but now 

 and then the unmistakable signs of 

 the original Dutch "granddad" will 

 crop out, to prove to all who will be- 

 lieve the truth as I see it, that the 

 theory of parthenogensis in the pro- 

 duction of the male bee is without 

 foundation. 



Canadians Beware of Glncose.— The 



Rural Canadian gives the following 

 note of warning : 



In view of the following advertise- 

 ment which appears in the Olobe, we 

 must now keep a sharp look-out for 

 adulterations of Canadian confection- 

 ery and honey : 



" Glucose ! Glucose ! Glucose !— Tlie 

 Edwardsburg Starch Company now 

 offer to the trade the finest quality of 

 glucose, equal to any imported. 

 Canada Grape Sugar Works, Cardinal, 

 Ont. Office— Montreal." 



Long before there was any need to 

 do so, many of our people hesitated to 

 buy extracted honey lest it might be 

 mixed with glucose. The public 

 should know that it is not at apiaries, 

 but in city factories, that this adulter- 

 ation is done. Our bee-keepers are 

 alive to the mischief, and will brand 

 their honey so as to guarantee it 

 against vile admixture. Let honey 

 buyers purchase only of known and 

 responsible bee-keepers, and they 

 will be all right. 



Honey Crop in the South. —The 



Planters' Journal of Vicksburg says : 



Bees throughout all portions of the 

 Southwest are reported to be line, 

 healthy and in most excellent working 

 condition. The amount of forage is 

 large, and honey-making material 

 abundant. There is a good prospect, 

 and promise is ttiat the crop of honey 

 will l)e very largely in excess and 

 superior in quality to that which has 

 been produced in former years. A 

 special reason, however, for this, is 

 explained in the fact that the interest 



in this industry is increasing in the 

 South, and bees are being more ex- 

 tensively cultivated tlian formerly, 

 all of which is gratifying to the Plant- 

 ers'' Journal, which takes a lively 

 interest in this specialty. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Reply to Dr. L. James. 



Q. M. DOOLITTLE. 



As Dr. James wishes to know how 



1 manage to manipulate my bees in 

 early spring (see page 329) without 

 the intrusion of robbers, I will say : 

 As a rule I do not find it necessary to 

 open hives to any great extent till 

 pollen becomes plenty. In most 

 localities pollen is obtained from 6 to 

 8 weeks in advance of the main honey 

 harvest, and as or 8 weeks gives me 

 time enough to stimulate the beea, 

 tliereby getting them ready for the 

 harvest, I do not disturb them to any 

 great extent till their disposition for 

 robbing has become in a measure 

 changed to that of pollen gathering. 

 When busy gathering pollen, I find 

 but little difficulty Tn opening hives 

 as much as I please ; still, by a little 

 carelessness on my part, even with 

 plenty of pollen, I am sometimes 

 obliged to suspend operations during 

 the heat of the day. 



Tlie point is just this : If we can so 

 manage that no bee can get the first 

 taste of honey, and maintain such a 

 state of affairs all will go well ; but if 



2 or 3 bees get home with a load of 

 stolen honey, we shall soon be obliged 

 to suspend oi)erations from the cloud 

 of robbers which follow us. To illus- 

 trate : This spring I had been at 

 work with the bees several days with- 

 out trouble, when one day I seta comb 

 down behind a hive for a moment, 

 thinking to use it so soon that it 

 would be useless to set it inside the 

 box I always carry with me at this 

 time of year to hold such combs and 

 all scraps of lioiiey which are trimmed 

 off. When I wished to replace the 

 frame in the hive, supposing I had 

 set it in the box I opened the lid and 

 took one out of there. As it was just 

 about noon I was soon called to 

 dinner, and, of course, left the comb 

 where I had set it. When I came out 

 from dinner the fust thing I heard 

 was the shrill noise of robber bees, and 

 not knowing why I should see bees 

 trying to get into many of the hives 

 at the back side, I went into the bee 

 yard to see wliat the trouble was. I 

 was not long in finding my comb 

 black with bees and quite angry at 

 myself to think I had been so care- 

 less. Nearly a week elapsed before I 

 could work with my bees again with- 

 out a cloud of bees ready to pitch into 

 every hive as soon as I opened it. 



If I am obliged to open hives before 

 pollen is plenty I do it after the bees 



