248 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Those Half-Found Sections. 



W. D. WRIGHT. 



Mr. "W. Z. Hutchinson, on page 151. 

 seems to be very solicitous for the 

 welfare of the half-pound sections. 

 He thinks they liave been sadly 

 abused, etc., etc. Well, from some 

 cause or other, perhaps over-abuse, or 

 perhaps from the experiences of the 

 past season in their use, they appear 

 to be on the decline. Bee-keepers in 

 general, appear to be more at rest on 

 this subject than they were last win- 

 ter and spring, and I have noticed 

 that these sections have not even been 

 quoted in the market reports during 

 the past fall and winter. For what 

 reason, I know not. 



I have also noticed that the col- 

 umns of the different bee periodicals 

 have not been over-crowded with re- 

 ports of the success of these half- 

 pound sections. Cannot some one 

 come to the rescue and give us a 

 booming report on them, Hnancially 

 and otherwise, in.suring their success 

 beyond all doubt '? Mr. Heddon's re- 

 port on half-pound sections has just 

 come to light in the March number of 

 the Bee-Keepers' Magazine; and that 

 is not very re-assuring. He acknowl- 

 edges that they have been a damage 

 in his trade, and as far as he has used 

 them they liave also been detrimen- 

 tal. Probably just what " those who 

 were frightened (V) at their advent" 

 expected. 



Like many of our commodities of 

 the present day, I believe the demand 

 (what little there is) for these half- 

 pound sections, has been created by 

 the supply. Mr. Hutchinson says : 

 " Bee-peepers, who did not under- 

 stand tlie principles underlying the 

 production of comb honey, have writ- 

 ten long articles in whicli they at- 

 tempted to prove that not nearly so 

 much honey could be produced bv the 

 use of small, as bv the use of large 

 sections.'" 



On page 8, Vol. XES of the Bee 

 Journal, Mr. F. C. Benedict gives 

 the conclusions arrived at after three 

 years' experience in the nse of these 

 sections. He also gives the opinions 

 of J. C. Xewraan & Son., and W. S. 

 Benedict ; all of whom were pioneers 

 in the use of half-pound sections. 

 They claim that not nearlv as much 

 honey can be obtained by their use as 

 with larger sections. They do not 

 now attempt to prove it, but have 

 proved it by past experience, and 

 probably their experience is just as 

 valuable as the experiences of " some 

 of our leading comb-honey producers,"' 

 as Mr. H. states. But, perhaps, these 

 men do not " understand the princi- 

 ples imderlying the production of 

 comb honey," which, of course, would 

 account for their adverse experience. 



Again, Mr. H. says : " Perhaps ex- 

 tracted honey can be put up for sale 

 in small packages more cheaply than 

 the same thing can be done with 

 comb honey." Just so ; it is not a 

 parallel case, at all, with comb honey : 

 as extracted lioney is adapted to al- 

 most unlimited division. It can be 



put up in penny packages if desired, 

 or even " two for a cent," as it does 

 not increase the labor during the busy 

 season, and is taken from the bees in 

 bulk. It can be put up in these small 

 packages at any time, and that by 

 cheap inexperienced lielp. 



I suppose that Mr. II. will admit 

 that tliere are extremes to be avoided 

 in either direction, in deciding the 

 size of sections that will be most ad- 

 vantageous to both producer and con- 

 sumer. At the present day, I believe 

 the six-pound box would be tlie ex- 

 treme in one direction, and if the half- 

 pound section is not the opposite ex- 

 treme, it savors very strongly of it. 



Probably these half-pound sections 

 were profitable at the start, when 

 monoplized by a few apiarists, as few 

 knew anything about them; but I be- 

 lieve them to be wholly impractical 

 for general adoption, especially by 

 men who have hundreds of colonies 

 to manipulate. 



Knowersville, N. Y. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Drones from Worker Eggs. 



C. TIIEILMANN. 



B. F. Carroll, in his able article on 

 page 102, explains how bees can change 

 a worker egg, so as to produce there- 

 from a drone bee, by removing the 

 sperm of the egg which it receives in 

 passing the seminal sac of the queen 

 in the act of laying. 



I am convinced by the experience of 

 last summer, that bees can, at their 

 will, rear drones as well as queens out 

 of worker eggs ; but I am not so sure 

 that bees change the sex by removing 

 the sperm from the egg. If this is 

 true, the egg, of course, would be with- 

 out male -sperm, and powerless to 

 generate after the drone is matured. 

 Is this reasonable in nature '^ If the 

 drone-eggs which are laid by a per- 

 fect queen are not impregnated by the 

 queen, where do the drones of such 

 eggs receive the sperm or power to 

 generate V Some will say : they get it 

 in the food in their larval state. Is 

 this answer correct V If it is, then bees 

 produce queens by feeding them with 

 royal jelly ; but does this prove that 

 the eggs from ^hich the bees rear 

 queens, are impregnated by the 

 mother V Or, does it prove that the 

 larva, or egg, which is fed on drone 

 jelly, is not impregnated, or the sperm 

 removed by the bees ? Has !Mr. Car- 

 roll any way to explain it V 



O. L. Earlle. on page lo4, writes 

 tlius : '■ Tlie theory becomes more 

 reasonable, if we can find a similar 

 case in nature. For instance, the fe- 

 male fish first lays her eggs, and is 

 closely followed by the male, who 

 sprays the fertilizing fluid over the 

 eggs.'" It looks to me as though there 

 is as much difference in the fertiliza- 

 tion of the eggs of fish and the eggs of 

 bees, as there is between the eggs of a 

 hen and of a fish. The fish is not im- 

 pregnated before laying eggs, as bees 

 are, and is of another nature. I be- 

 lieve that all the eggs laid by a proper- 

 ly impregnated queen, are" fertiuzed 

 before they are deposited in the cells, 



and that the bees make the sex at will, 

 by way of food. 



One thing is certain : if bees can 

 make either a worker or a queen from 

 what is supposed to be a worker-egg, 

 impregnated, then the impregnation 

 of such an egg has, surely, nothing to 

 do with the sex ; and it must be all in 

 the food. This makes me believe that 

 the eggs only receive from their par- 

 ents the sperm to generate. 



Why are drones produced by laying 

 workers, not able to generate '? Be- 

 cause the worker bee possesses no 

 generating sperm, as she is not ferti- 

 lized. It is also shown on the offspring 

 of the difCerent hybrids of black and 

 yellow bees, that drone-eggs are im- 

 pregnated before laid by the queens, 

 and have received the sperm of the 

 cU-one to enable them to generate. 



Theilmanton, Minn. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



That "Priority of Location" Theory. 



.JOHN A. BUCHANAN. 



^ly observation through 20 years of 

 experience, fully coincides with Mr. 

 .lames Ileddon's views on this ques- 

 tion. I understand his proposition to 

 be this : A field that has been selected 

 and occupied, either partly or wholly, 

 and sustaining, or in the new future 

 to sustain, all the bees that would be 

 profitable to keep in that floral field ; 

 it would be folly in the extreme for 

 others wishing to engage in the same 

 pursuit, to enter that field to pursue 

 the same calling, either as a specialty 

 or only as a side issue. True, the civil 

 law does not recognize any one as the 

 sole proprietor and controller of any 

 apicultural area; but, with Mr. H., I 

 do claim that the law of right, reason, 

 justice and common sense, will make 

 it plain that none have a right to enter 

 that field, more especially since it 

 would not be found difficult to enter 

 others unoccupied. If one has secured 

 a fair field \vhere he is able to make 

 the business fairly profitable, no need 

 of getting excited over a fortune at 

 the business any place, it would be a 

 great mistake, and an injustice to the 

 first occupant of that field, for others 

 to attempt to reap any part of the 

 harvest. And should the rights of 

 the first, especially the law of ad- 

 vantage, be ignored by others enter- 

 ing the same field regardless of conse- 

 quences, the chances are that the first 

 occupant will be greatly crippled in 

 his business, and the transgressors on 

 his riglits will make an ignominious 

 failure, losing their bees and capital, 

 as well as credit. Many of us have 

 seen this truth verified. 



There is scarcely a community 

 where, at some time, the bee-fever has 

 not run its course. The only medicine 

 that ever was discovered that would 

 allay this fever, was a dose of stuff 

 called by some, "overstocking syrup." 

 We have seen people grow very en- 

 thusiastic, using every effort to in- 

 crease their bees to the greatest num- 

 ber of colonies. Did the field become 

 overstocked, or not V Does this state 

 of affairs make more or less bee-keep- 

 ers ":' Is it wisdom on the part of bee- 



