1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



809 



to sit has not been bred out of the non-sitting breeds. You 

 may scare a hen out of the notion (not breed out the desire) 

 of sitting, but I do not thinls the bees will be frightened out of 

 the " swarming habit." 



I believe with Mr. Norton, that to breed any trait or ten- 

 dency into a race there must be more or less of it there to be- 

 gin with. As to breeding a non-swarming tendency into the 

 bees, I think there is lass of it in the bees than would be neces- 

 sary to have in order to make it possible. 



Mr. Norton, no doubt, believes that a selection of the 

 queens whose bees are not so inclined to swarm, would, in the 

 course of time, produce a non-swarming bee. And why 

 shouldn't that be the case? Isn't that logical? For an ex- 

 ample, take a Plymouth Rock hen. A hen of this breed will do 

 well on less feed than either the non-si tting or the Asiatic 

 breeds. Now, by careful selection couldn't a person produce 

 a strain of chickens that would get fat on nothing ? 



Some people have large ears and some have very small 

 ones ; would it be possible to breed our ears off entirely ? We 

 can drive Nature so far, but no farther. 



Charter Oak, Iowa. 



What Dr. Miller Thinks. 



Bee-Keepees' Association. — Hon. George E. Hilton is 

 surely an enthusiast in the matter of bee-conventions, as 

 shown on page TTi. If he should be taken at his word, and 

 go to help organize an association in every township within 

 one or two hundred miles, he would have to hire an assistant, 

 for there wouldn't be enough days in the year for him to do 

 the work alone. He is probably safe enough, however, in 

 making the offer. Many who keep bees have never attended a 

 convention of bee-keepers, and they don't know how much they 

 are missing. 



Keeping-Qualities of Honey. — What Mr. Abbott says 

 on page 776 sets one to thinking. Why is it that in one case 

 honey keeps all right .300 years, and again it spoils in less 

 than that number of days ? As he suggests, much may be in 

 the treatment. Isn't there something also in the honey itself, 

 independent of the treatment ? More or less pollen is found 

 floating in honey. If there is much pollen present, a rumpus 

 might be expected on slight provocation. Might there not be 

 such a thing as honey practically free from pollen ? and would 

 not such honey resist fermentation even under tryine circum- 

 stances ? I'm with the writer, in preferring honey that has 

 never shown any inclination to ferment. And yet I've had 

 honey that had become fairly entitled to the designation 

 " soured," that became so changed as to become really good 

 honey. It was simply allowed to stand on the reservoir of a 

 cook-stove for a long time, perhaps two or three weeks. As a 

 rule, when honey is heated it is pretty nearly ruined for table 

 use. The heating should be very gentle and long-continued. 



Apiarian Nomenclature. — Referring to the editorial on 

 page 780, "bar" is a good deal shorter than "perforated 

 metal "or " queen-escluder." The latter is the common name, 

 and is open to the objection that it does not always express the 

 truth, for perforated metal is often used as an mcluder. "Bar" 

 would be appropriate in either case, for the perforated metal 

 hars the passage of the queen. But an objection to " bar" is 

 that it is also used so much in naming top-bars, end-bars, bar- 

 hives, etc. "Hive-floor" isn't much shorter than bottom- 

 board, but why say hive-floor any more than church-floor or 

 house-floor? " Floor " is enough. "Cellar" is a word that I 

 think we have a right to use as a verb. Instead of, " I put 

 my bees in the cellar," say, "I cellar my bees." 



The Strawberry-Gbowers Versus Abbott and Jolley. 

 — At the December meeting of the Northern Illinois Horticul- 

 tural Society, the question was asked, " Suppose I plant a bed 

 of Crescents with no staminate varieties within 40 rods, how 

 much of a crop will I secure in a series of years ?" All were 

 asked to arise to their feet who believed a halt a crop could be 

 obtained, but not a man arose. The same result was obtained 

 when a quarter of a crop was named. An eighth of a crop was 

 named, but not a man believed that could be obtained. Then 

 all were asked to arise who believed less than an eighth of a 

 crop would be got. Promptly they arose as one man. Secre- 

 tary Hartwell, himself a specialist in strawberry culture, re- 

 marked that to say that a crop of berries could be obtained 

 from a bed of Crescents, was one of those half-truths that were 

 mischievous in their tendency, and were sometimes used by 

 those who had a smattering of theoretical without practical 



knowledge. Especially the Crescent among those classed as 

 pistillates might sometimes produce quite a quantity of fruit 

 without other varieties near, there being sufficient stamens 

 present for that result, but that would warrant no intelligent, 

 practical fruit-grower in saying he could raise crops of Cres- 

 cent strawberries without the aid of staminate varieties. 



Those Questions. — In answer to question No. 1, on page 

 780, I think I'd like to have more of the advertising depart- 

 ment. Not that I like to read advertisements so much better 

 than other things, although I generally keep track of what is 

 being advertised. But the more paying advertisements, the 

 better the publishers can afford to make improvements, and if 

 advertisements crowd too hard on the reading pages,more pages 

 could be added. 



M. H. Martin's Yield.— What's the matter with those 

 figures on page 783 ? I don't call 1,400 pounds a "good 

 yield" for 70 colonies. Don't you mean 14,000? — [Yes; 

 that's a case where a cipher means something. 14,000 is 

 correc t. — Editor, ] 



% 



Strawberry Pollination Once More. 



by rev. m. mauin. 



A good deal has been said in the American Bee Journal of 

 late about strawberries, and the question is left in what seems 

 to me to be an unsatisfactory and misleading condition. It 

 has been asserted — and the assertion uncontradicted — that a 

 crop of berries can be raised from plants producing no sta- 

 mens without there being any plants in the vicinity that pro- 

 duce pollen. Now I feel very sure that this is a mistake. It 

 is possible that some of the pistillate varieties have, here and 

 there, inconpicuous stamens that yield enough pollen to pro- 

 duce a crop of berries, but it is not true of all of them. 



A man, living across the street from my home, told me last 

 summer his experience with strawberries. He said he sent 

 away and got plants of one of the highly-recommended varie- 

 ties ; that he cultivated them well ; and that they grew 

 luxuriantly and bloomed profusely ; but that they did not pro- 

 duce a strawberry. He kept them two or three years, and as 

 he got no fruit he dug up the plants and put something else in 

 their place. He had only the one variety. A friend of mine in 

 the country had a similar experience. His one variety pro- 

 duced no fruit at all. So if any of the readers of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal plant pistillate varieties alone, they will, 

 almost certainly, have their labor for their pains. 



^Our "Jolley " correspondent says that pistillate varieties 

 produce some runners that have perfect blossoms, and vice 

 versa. So, at least, I understand him. Now, I believe that is 

 a mistake. It is contrary to the rnio of Nature in the vegeta- 

 ble world, and in order to its acceptance it requires to be es- 

 tablished by very positive and abundant proof. As it is one of 

 the easiest things in the world to be mistaken, every step in the 

 process needs to be closely scrutinized. We might have a 

 plantknownto be pistillate. It must be planted by itself so 

 far from any other plants that the runners cannot intermingle. 

 Then if staminate plants are produced, the contention of Mr. 

 Jolley is sustained ; otherwise not. I am open to conviction in 

 regard to this matter, and to all others; but the evidence must 

 be conclusive, which, as yet, it is not. New Castle, Ind. 



[See Dr. Miller's comment on this subject, on this very 

 page. — Editor.] 



Liberal Book Premiums are offered on page 

 814, for the work 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 the generous pre- 

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

 work. Sample copies of the Bee Journal free. 



No'w is the Time to work for new subscribers. 

 Why not take advantage of the offers made on page 814 ? 



