470 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



vided with very expensive cells) when 

 they must know (through tlie use of 

 their live senses) that other legitimate 

 queen-cells are built at the same 

 time ? I have had them hatch in this 

 apiary, and the colony has become 

 very prosperous and strong. I have 

 also seen some torn down as is done 

 even to the bona fide cells. When 

 they hatch before her majesty they 

 get the chance of existence, but if 

 she hatches first, some of them staud 

 a poor chance, and are generally torn 

 down, but not always. 



3. If impregnation takes place up 

 into the open air, who, when, where 

 and how have they witnessed it V I 

 think, all things considered, the im- 



Firegnation question must be going on 

 rora the moment the queen has suf- 

 ficient age for the purpose, or even 

 directly after birth inside of the hive, 

 and the queen takes a trip out for an 

 airing before going properly to work 

 in laying. I do not believe in fertile 

 workers, but I do believe in a drone- 

 laying queen, and I am afraid that 

 they are such as are called fertile 

 workers. 



4. Is the queen impregnated " once 

 for all," which lasts her life time, or 

 does she renew the process each time 

 of natural swarming, or is the busi- 

 ness carried on constantly in the hive V 

 I think the latter is much more rea- 

 sonable to believe. 



5. How can it be possible that so 

 small a sack of the seminal fluid can 

 prove sufficient for impregnating so 

 many thousands and thousands of 

 eggs laid by her during her life time, 

 if even but of short duration V This, 

 I think, must be constantly renewed 

 in the hive by the drones, for the safe 

 and prosperous keeping of the family 

 or colony. 



I must beg pardon for occupying 

 your precious time in reading this ; 

 but I hope you will excuse me as I 

 am a very great enthusiast in the 

 science of apiculture, and have, there- 

 fore, applied to your better knowledge 

 and practice on the subject. I am al- 

 ways on the look-out for your articles 

 in the bee papers, and have thought 

 often of asking you the question : 

 Why do you not write a standard 

 work on apiculture, embodying all of 

 your own experience in practice up to 

 the present time and style of work- 

 ing y Such a work would be worth 

 its weight in gold. I for my part 

 would willingly pay $5 for a copy. 

 Try and get up such a one, and let it 

 be in Mr. Langstroth's style, but up 

 to the times in every respect. I hear 

 of Prof. Cook's new book, and have 

 sent for one. but I think you have 

 proven to the fraternity that you 

 " have got there." I am very sorry 

 to hear of your winter losses, but trust 

 you will make it up again soon. 

 Please encourage the bee reading 

 public with something good every 

 time. 



I am a Dane, so please, excuse my 

 English writing and explanations ; 

 but as a practiciu man, I presume you 

 will understand me. 



I have now working 80 colonies of 

 the common brown oee. They have 

 been transferred from Palm-logs into 

 the Van Deuzen-Nellis improved (by 



me to suit this climate) Simplicity 

 hives, and are doing pretty well, con- 

 sidering the bad season we have had 

 this year. I am just through with 

 this lot, and I am going to increase 

 with .50 more colonies just brought in 

 Palm-logs. I am doing all in my 

 power to introduce apiculture scien- 

 tiBcally here, and feel so happy to 

 hear constantly of its progress in the 

 United States and Europe. 



Lorenzo J. de Sobotker. 

 Santo Domingo, West Indies. 



Answer.— 1. Prof. Cook is a much 

 better personage to answer your ques- 

 tions than I am, and as you say, truly 

 these things have less to do with 

 our dollar and cent success, and I 

 commenced very poor in the busi- 

 ness, having to make dollars and 

 cents out of it, or go hungry to bed. 

 I have paid most of my attention to 

 the practical part of apiculture. As 

 I understand the Dzierzon theory, 

 drones are always hatched from un- 

 impregnated eggs, whether laid by an 

 impregnated or unimpregnated queen, 

 and that the drones hatched from 

 eggs laid by an unimpregnated queen, 

 whether in queen or drone cells, are 

 in every way a perfect male bee, pos- 

 sessing all the functions of the same. 

 If what we have supposed to be fertile 

 workers were unimpregnated queens, 

 they certainly resemble a worker bee, 

 and may as well be called fertile 

 workers as queens. 



2. I think this is the first time I 

 ever heard of " royal drones," and 

 was of the opinion that when drones 

 or workers hatched from queen-cells, 

 it was only another of the mistakes 

 which proves the failure of bee 

 instinct. 



3. I know of one reputable man who 

 says he saw a queen surrounded by a 

 whole bundle of droues fall to the 

 earth. This man knew nothing of 

 the modern impregnation theory. 

 Never read a bee journal or book. 

 Twice I have seen a' queen return to 

 a nucleus with what I took to be evi- 

 dent signs of recent impregnation. 



4. If queens are impregnated on the 

 wing only, then we know one impreg- 

 nation lasts for life. 



5. So wonderful are things in na- 

 ture, when seen by the telescope or 

 microscope, looking into the far-off 

 in either direction, that I am not pre- 

 pared to say that what might look to 

 the naked eye as a small particle 

 might not be divided up into thou- 

 sands and thousands of particles, each 

 efiicient in its nature. 



All the above has less interest to 

 me than other themes connected with 

 modern apiculture. Very many have 



asked me the same question, why I 

 do not write a standard work on api- 

 culture, or publish a bee journal. Let 

 me here make my reply. I do not 

 consider myself capable of doing 

 either, and doing it well. I might 

 associate myself with some one and 

 get out a respectable journal, but I 

 have been far enough behind the 

 scenes to fully realize that he who 

 publishes a good journal, is giving his 

 life to his patrons, something that I 

 am too selfish to exchange for honors 

 or money. 



Regarding a book on apiculture, in 

 my judgment no one man in the 

 United States has or can write a book 

 to meet the present demands of pro- 

 gressive bee - keepers. Once that 

 could be and was done by Mr. 

 Laagstroth, but to - day the de- 

 mands are beyond the power of any 

 one person to supply. I consider 

 Prof. Cook's book worth more than 

 its price, for its treatise on botany 

 and entomology, but in my judgment 

 he should have stopped there, naming 

 his book " The Entomology and Bot- 

 any of Apiculture." • 



Our " winter losses " are among the 

 forgotten, as we now have 300 colo- 

 nies in good condition, and believe for 

 the first time during our 16 years ex- 

 perience that we are about to master 

 the wintering problem. 



Thanking you for your eulogistic 

 words, I will say that I am continually 

 making new determinations to make 

 my contributions more pleasant and 

 profitable to the reader. Your good 

 letter needs no excuses. 



Leather-Colored Italians. 



Will Mr. Heddon please answer the 

 following questions in the Bee Jour- 

 nal : 



1. Are the leather-colored Italian 

 queens of a distinct race, or is the 

 dark color caused by a cross from 

 other strains of bees V 



2. Will a colony of bees accept a 

 queen that has fertile workers V 



3. Will a fertile worker lay eggs ifi 

 worker comb V 



4. How do you manage a colony 

 that has a fertile worker, to get rid of 

 them ? 



5. Which is the best, natural base 

 foundation or flat bottom V 



6. Where can I get the Parker foun- 

 dation fastener ? 



Harvard T. Bush. 

 Monticello, N. Y., Aug. 31, 1883. 



Answers. — 1. The leather-colored 

 variety of the Italian race may be 

 thus dark colored from crossing with 

 the German race far in the past in 

 their native home, Italy. I do not 

 know how that may or may not be. 

 I do not think any one knows. This 



