1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



761 



Gleanings principally, and to some ex- 

 tent by other bee- journals and their corres- 

 pondents, that the three-banded Italian is 

 the best all-around bee; and from my limit- 

 ed experience with this bee I don't see how 

 it could be improved upon for g^eneral g^ood 

 qualities. I must confess that I am afraid 

 of the other foreign races of bees — so much 

 so that I would not now order a queen from 

 a breeder who claims to breed them all "in 

 their puritj'." I don't care how- far apart 

 his apiaries maj' be. We all know that the 

 mating^ of queens is very hard to control, 

 and that two races of nearly the same color 

 may be crossed, and the only distinction in 

 the cross might be in the disposition of the 

 bees. I have a neighbor who bought, or at 

 least ordered, Italian queens from a breed- 

 er who has given some attention to (foreign) 

 other than Italians, and I am persuaded 

 that he got some mixed blood, from their 

 general appearance, and from what he says 

 of their " mean disposition." I am anxious 

 for the purity of the Italian blood. I am 

 not afraid of the black (native) bee. We 

 can trace him, and weed him out; but I 

 don't want to mix with a color we can not 

 detect, and distinguish from the Italian 

 without consulting their tempers. 



I suggest to your readers who may "side" 

 with me that we organize a three-band-Ital- 

 ian-bee club, for the purpose of taking bet- 

 ter care of these bees, purifying and im- 

 proving them, and for the purpose of dis- 

 couraging the breeding and scattering of 

 other races of bees over the country, thereby 

 endangering the purity of the Italian bee, 

 and jeopardizing the interests of apiarists 

 everywhere. 



I do n,ot want to be put down as saying 

 that queen-breeders as a rule are unscru- 

 lous enough to breed any thing that they 

 can make money out of; but I know, and 

 we all know, that the world at large is for 

 ever and eternally' after something new, 

 and a man is not always to blame for try- 

 ing to make money out of their mania; but 

 it should not be tolerated in this instance, 

 to the detriment of the world's best — the 

 gentle hustling, three-banded Italian bee. 



Statesville, N. C. 



ANOTHER HONEY.PLANT. 



BY A. C. WATTS. 



I wish to add to j'our list of bee-plants 

 the Palestine olive-bush. It commences to 

 bloom about the first of June, and continues 

 till about the first of September, and is the 

 greatest bee-plant I ever saw. The plant 

 is raised from the seed, and will commence 

 to bloom the second year of its age. I have 

 had the bush three years. I find it does 

 well in East Texas, and I guess it will 

 grow anywhere in the United States. This 

 bush needs no cultivation. You can plant 

 it in the j'ard or in the corners of the fence. 

 Ir will grow anywhere about the place. 



My bees are working at the bloom on this 

 bush every morning before it is daylight. 

 If any one wishes to try this bush I have a 

 few seeds that have come on my bush this 

 year. It can be sent hy mail. 

 Nettie, Tex., Aug. 5. 



PARTHENOGENESIS. 



Three Kinds Explained; a few Wonderful and In- 

 teresting Facts in the Reproduction of Cer= 

 tain Kinds of Insect Life. 



BY E. F. PHILLIPS. 



[The writer of the following article, Mr. E. F. Phil- 

 lips, is the scientist who spent some weeks with lis 

 here in Medina, investigating the subject of partheno- 

 genesis. As I have previously explained to our read- 

 ers, he is taking a post-graduate course at the Univer- 

 sity of Pennsylvania, He is thoroughly familiar with 

 all that has been written on the subject of partheno- 

 genesis, notwithstanding that the literature bearing 

 on that interesting subject would make quite a libra- 

 ry. He found that there were some phenomena con- 

 nected with this subject that had never been satisfac- 

 torily explained. Desiring to investigate the matter 

 still further, he asked for and received the privilege 

 of coming to Medina, and drawing from our apiaries 

 such material as he might need. At the time of his visit 

 here he was preparing a thesis on parthenogenesis— a 

 paper that will be read by some ot the best scientific 

 men in the world. This, or the first draft of it, he 

 was kind enough to read to me, and I was so much 

 interested in it that I asked him to prepare, if he 

 would, one or two articles on the subject, tor popular 

 reading, leaving out all scientific terms, and giving us 

 a glimpse into the wcnderful realm of nature. This 

 he has done in his first article. Now that you may 

 know something about Mr. Phillips and his qualifica- 

 tions for a work of this kind, let me tell you briefly 

 who and what he is. 



He graduated in Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa., 

 in 1890. He taught science in the New Brighton High 

 School for two years He then entered the post-grad- 

 uate department of the University of Pennsylvania in 

 1901, holding Universitj- scholarships for 1902 and 1903. 

 He was appointed Harrison Fellow in Zoology for 

 1903 and 1901. In 1902 he began his studies on the sub- 

 ject of parthenogenesis, and during his spare moments 

 is still working on it. He has already finished some 

 work on the compound eye, and at my request he will 

 in later issues tell us somethingabout these wonderful 

 structures in insects. 



I secured from Mr Phillips a fine photogravure of 

 von Siebold, and have had the same reproduced for 

 our readers In 1885 this remarkable man died, but 

 his work is living after him. — Ed.] 



The occurrence of parthenogenesis in the 

 case of the honey-bee is familiar to most if 

 not all bee-keepers; and the theory of Dzier- 

 zon is the basis of many of the most ap- 

 proved methods in practical apiculture. It 

 is of interest to notice that the first case of 

 parthenogenesis which was recorded, and 

 the significance of which was fully real- 

 ized, was that of the bee. Many other 

 cases have since been observed, and many 

 different manifestations of this same phe- 

 nomenon have been recorded; but the honor 

 of the first discovery is due to a bee-keeper, 

 Dzierzon. It is the purpose of this paper to 

 give a suggestion of the scope of our knowl- 

 edge at the present time of this most inter- 

 esting subject, and to bring before the read- 

 ers of Gleanings a few facts concerning 

 other animals, especially other insects, 

 which will show the widespread occurrence 

 of parthenogenesis. It was mj' privilege to 



