654 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. 10, 



ferry-boats. Mr. McArthur claims to have laid the founda- 

 tion here of a race of non-stinging bees. Not but that they 

 have slings that arc f nlly developed. His claim is that they 

 are bred of such gentle parentage thoy have lost the disposi- 

 tion to sting. The exhibition made by him certainly goes far 

 to establish his claim. On our arrival at the apiary the first 

 thing he did was to kick over a hive tilled with bees. We nat- 

 urally turned tail and lied to a respectful distance, expecting 

 that the bees would swarm out in angry thousands. But be- 

 yond the appearance of a few guards to see what was the mat- 

 ter, there was no demonstration whatever. Mr. McArthur 

 set the hive right side up, and immediately kicked it over 

 again from the other direction. Still there was no sign of re- 

 sentment. Putting the hive in place again, he at once pro- 

 ceeded, without use of veil or gloves, to open the hive and take 

 out the frames. The bees were quieter than flies. They 

 seemed unconscious that anything out of the way had hap- 

 pened. We all drew near and examined them at our leisure. 

 The queen was easily found, and a beautiful one she was. 

 Talk of five-banded queens ! This queen was yellow all over, 

 from head to tip. The shade of yellow was light, a kind of 

 straw color, not bright golden. She somewhat resembled the 

 lighter class of leather-colored Italians. Tne workers were of 

 similar hue, and, singly, reminded one of Dr. Miller and his 

 stray straws. We inspected several hives, the queens and 

 workers being wonderfully uniform in appearance, and all 

 having the same characteristic of gentleness. 



Many were the expressions of astonishment and admira- 

 tion. Mr. Doolittle said, '-This knocks the wind out of my 

 sails." Mr. Benton expressed a very decided opinion that a 

 new breed of bees had been originated. Mr. Calvert thought 

 they had some bees just as quiet at the " Home of the Honey- 

 Bees." Most of us were speechless, but like the noted parrot, 

 " thought the more." It was a new thing under the sun to all 

 of us. We " lingered near" like Mary's little lamb, and in- 

 wardly wished that all our apiaries were stocked with bees of a 

 similar disposition. We admired the drones, next to the 

 queens. Big, burly " fellows" nearly as yellow all over as the 

 queens, and very much alike in size and marking — we thought 

 what desirable fathers they were ! The workers were large, 

 shapely, and active in their movements. Mr. McArthur as- 

 sured us that their working qualities were all that could be 

 desired. It looked liked it, for at the close of a very bad season 

 the hives were well stocked with stores, and some extracting 

 had been done. The bees were busy on melilot clover, of which 

 two varieties have been sown — the white and yellow — the 

 white being apparently most frequented by the bees. They were 

 also at work on the golden-rod, of which there are two species 

 in bloom, one the common kind with spiral and bent-over 

 heads, and the other having a flat head and somewhat brighter 

 color. Mr. McArthur considers the flat-top variety the best 

 honey-yielder. A large number of other flowers were in bloom, 

 and a late crop of white clover seemed to be giving nectar, for 

 the bees were thick upon it. The profusion of flowers made it 

 look more like spring than fall. 



It is not necessary here to detail the minutia of Mr. Mc- 

 Arthur's efforts to establish a race of pure-bred and docile 

 bees. A full account of the process from his own pen may be 

 found in two numbers of the American Bee Journal — those of 

 Nov. 29, and Dec. 6, 1894. I may just say, for the informa- 

 tion of those who have no file of the journal named to refer to, 

 that Mr. McArthur commenced operations with a choice Car- 

 niolan queen, and some hand-picked Italian drones of the old 

 J. H. Thomas, of Brooklyn, Out., stock. Crossing has been 

 carried to the 2ith degree, and, from the 17th cross, Mr. Mc- 

 Arthur thinks the strain has been fully established. There has 

 been no " harking back " since then. The course pursued has 

 been similar to that adopted by the great cattle-breeders, to 

 whom we are indebted for the Shorthorn, Hereford, Jersey, 

 and other bovine races, with two important points of difler- 

 ence. First, sire and daughter cannot couple, nor mother 

 and son, because the sire dies at mating, and the mother is fertil- 

 ized but once during her life-time. A second important diff- 

 erence is that the strongest, fleetest, and best drone secures 

 possession of the virgin queen when she takes her wedding 

 flight. So the principles of " natural selection " and "survival 

 of the Attest" have full swing. This therefore cannot be 

 called " in-and-in breeding, " such as must be practiced to es- 

 tablish a race of cattle. Yet in spite of the closest relation- 

 ship between sire and mother, in breeding choice races of cat- 

 tle, vigorous and healthful progeny is obtained. In breeding 

 bees, the guaranties for this are much more certain, for the 

 reasons just given. 



After the convention was over, the writer took time to 

 visit Mr. McArthur's home apiary, and melilot clover planta- 

 tions. The apiary is located close to one of the frequented 

 thoroughfares in the city. The trolley cars run within 50 



feet of the bee-hives, and foot passengers throng still nearer. 

 But the bees annoy no one. A similar process of rough hand- 

 ling to that witnessed on the Island was gone through here, 

 with the same result. Bees were scooped up by the handful, 

 and the operators breath was blown on them in close puffs, but 

 not a bee hoisted its tail, or showed the slightest sign eitherof 

 anger or disturbance. " It was never so seen in Israel," or 

 anywhere in the course of my travels and observations among 

 bees. 



Mr. McArthur is as peculiarly well situated for the culti- 

 vation of bee-forage, as he is for the production of pure and 

 quiet bees. His home is on the bank of a high and steep ra- 

 vine, which stretches along in a curve all around North To- 

 ronto. There are hundreds of acres too steep to be climbed 

 by cattle. Here his bee-forage can flourish undisturbed by man 

 or beast. For a number of years he has been sowing honey- 

 yielding plants of all kinds in these places, which may almost 

 be said to be accessible only to bees. The extent of his seed- 

 ings may be gathered from the fact that he expects to harvest 

 at least a hundred bushels of melilot clover seed alone this 

 fall, besides golden-rod, catnip, mint, mignonette and other 

 nectar-giving plants " too numerous to mention." 



Mr. McArthur is enthusiastic in his praise of melilot clover, 

 notonly as a bee-forage, but for general agricultural purposes. 

 He showed me where an old lady lives, who has several cows 

 that have lived all summer and given abundance of milk by 

 cropping at one of his melilot plantations. This plant grows 

 on barren soils, and flourishes in spite of the worst spells of 

 drought. Horses as well as cows eat it freely. The taste ap- 

 pears to be an acquired one, but once established, is like the 

 fondness of human beings for tomatoes. It stays. Mr. Mc- 

 Arthur has also a very liigh opinion of the plant on account of 

 its value as a fertilizer, which he thinks only second to that of 

 red clover. 



As a Canadian bee-keeper, 1 am proud of the work done 

 by two of my fellow-countrymen in the way of improving the 

 races of bees. Mr. D. A. Jones was the pioneer in the work, 

 and spent a large amount of time and money in testing various 

 breeds of bees on isolated islands in the Georgian Bay. He 

 had Holy Island, Cyprus Island and Italy Island, and demon- 

 strated the superiority of the Italians to his entire satisfaction. 

 Now, Mr. McArthur on Toronto Island seems to have discov- 

 ered that the blending of the two gentlest known races of bees 

 results in a breed more amiable than either. Personal inspec- 

 tion on the part of so large a number of practical bee-keepers 

 during and just after the recent convention, dispels all doubt 

 that a great and good work has been done, for " in the mouth 

 of many witnesses shall every word be established." 



Liberal Book Premiums are offered on page 

 658, for the worlf of getting new subscribers to the Bee Jour- 

 nal. It is a fine chance to get a complete apicultuial library. 

 Think of it — 40 cents' worth of books given to the one send- 

 ing a new subscriber ! Remember, please, that only present 

 subscribers to the Bee Journal can take advantage of that 

 offer. The publishers of the Bee Journal believe in making it 

 an object for the old subscribers to push for new readers 

 among their neighbors and friends, hence tlie generous pre- 

 lum offers to them. It is hoped that all may begin now to 

 work. Sample copies of the Bee Journal free. 



■*-—¥■ 



The Alsike Clover L,eaflet consists of 2 pages, 

 with illustrations, showing the value of Alsike clover, and 

 telling how to grow it. This Leaflet is just the thing to hand 

 to every farmer in your neighborhood. Send to the Bee Jour- 

 nal office for a quantity of them, and see that they are dis- 

 tributed where they will do the most good. Prices, postpaid, 

 are as follows : 50 for 25 cents ; 100 for 40 cents ; or 200 

 for TO cents. 



Xlie KIcEvoy Poul Brood Treatment is 



given in Dr. Howard's pamphlet on " Foul Brood ; Its Natural 



History and Rational Treatment." It is the latest publication 



on the subject, and should be in the hands of every bee-keeper. 



Price, 25 cents ; or clubbed with the Bee Journal for one year 



—both for $1.10. 



<-•-» 



NO'W is the Time to work for new subscribers. 

 Why not take advantage of the offers made on paga 658 ? 



