T'MK MME'RICS.ISE WMM J©Piei<ISt. 



219 



I am happy to say I know nothing 

 of foul brood", only from reading, and 

 yon can get information from some 

 p.amplilet on the subject, worth a hun- 

 dred times a\y theories. — Eugene 

 Secok. 



Not any, provided you do it so that 

 not one of your bees ever gets a taste 

 of any honey from these combs, or of 

 the combs before they undergo the 

 •heating necessary to rendering the 

 wax. My advice is, to render the wax 

 somewhere else. — James Heddon. 



1. To say the least, you run too 

 much i-isk — more than any one who is 

 not anxious to become belter ac- 

 quainted with the disease can aftbrd 

 to run. 2. Do not bring them any 

 nearer your ajjiary than they are, un- 

 til they are thoronghly boiled ; and 

 even that is not entirelj' safe, if the 

 person who does the work is to be 

 near your bees soon afterward. — R. L. 

 Taylok. 



I should think that it would be pos- 

 sible to box the combs so closely that 

 no bees could get at them, and every- 

 thing could be so carefully conducted 

 tliat there would be no danger to your 

 bees. But why not render the wax 

 on the premises where the disease ex- 

 ists ? — G. W. Demakee. 



1. Foul brood is so insiduous, and so 

 easily carried from one hive to another, 

 that it is dangei'ous to fool with it at 

 all. Let it alone severely ; that is, do 

 not procure any comb or bees from 

 an)f apiary where the least suspicion of 

 the disease exists. An ounce of pre- 

 vention is worth many pounds of 

 cure. — J. E. Pond. 



1. I do not know what a Gary wax 

 press is, and I would have nothing to 

 do with the combs unless it was desir- 

 able to get them out of the way so that 

 j'our own bees would not get to the 

 combs. 2. You cannot be too careful. 

 Do not run any risks. It has cost Mr. 

 A. I. Root over $1,000, and a few years 

 ago it cost me from $300 to $500 in 

 one season. Do not let your bees touch 

 the combs. Boil them, and evei'j'thing 

 about them that can be boiled, and 

 wash you hands and everything that 

 cannot be boiled, in Mr. Muth's prep- 

 aration of salycilic acid. — A. B. Mason. 



Either have nothing to do with the 

 combs, or else render them into wax at 

 the apiary where they now are. You 

 would run a great risk by taking these 

 combs into your apiary, or placing 

 them where your bees could get at the 

 honey. — The Editor. 



THE DRONE. 



Our Poor, Slandered Drone Asks 

 for His Day in Court. 



Writteri for the American Bee Journal 



BY REV. L. L. LAKGSTBOTH. 



"Virgil, who was a great poet, but 

 not enough of a practical bee-keeper 

 to know a laying from a virgin queen, 

 was the first writer of much note, to 

 have his fling at me. To him I was 

 only an idle knave, born to consume 

 the fruits of others' labors, and deserv- 

 ing no better fate than death, by 

 ignominious expulsion from the indus- 

 trious Commonwealth. Ever since he 

 so grossly libeled me, to compai-e one 

 to a drone, is the most orthodox form 

 of denunciation for laziness, gluttony, 

 and what has been called ' general 

 cussedness.' " 



Now I am proud to say to this Court, 

 that I can disprove every charge 

 brought against me, by simply prov- 

 ing, that to the best of my ability I 



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 may be cultivated as a means of livelihood ; 

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 of recreation to the busy man. By S. 

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iSir Drone. 



fulfil the express object for which I was 

 born. Surel}' no creature can do any 

 better than this, and excuse me for 

 thinking that few men do as well. 

 Charged with liazlness. 



If any of my enemies had authority 

 to call the roll of my demerits, he 

 would surely begin by accusing me of 

 being too lazy to gather any honey. 

 But an expert in points of this kind 

 could remind him, that if he examines 

 my proboscis, he will see that it is 

 much too short for sipping nectar from 

 the opening flowers. 



makes no Wax. 



I am free to admit that I make no 

 wax, but even Cheshire himself, whose 

 microscopes have fairly turned me 

 inside-out, will tell you that I have 

 not a single wax-secreting gland, and 

 am also without those plastic, trowel- 

 like jaws which enable the worker- 

 bees to mold the wax into such delicate 

 combs. 



GalherH no Pollen. 



Now do not insinuate, that I might 

 at least employ some of my leisure 

 time in gathering pollen ! Can you 

 not see that my thighs have no basket- 

 like grooves, in which it could be 

 packed — and are quite destitute of the 

 hairy bristles by which the workers 

 hold the pollen in place ? 



Accused of being a I^azjr Coward. 



No doubt you have often denounced 

 me as a big, hulking coward, that 

 leaves to the women, the whole de- 

 fense of the State. Are you not aware 

 that I have no sting to fit me for acting 

 on the offensive ? Would thq^t I had 

 one proportioned to my bulk ! if only 

 that I might make proof of it, upon all 

 who berate me for not accomplishmg 

 impossibilities ! 



I am not at all ashamed to admit 

 that I spend the most of my timo^ not 

 given to eating, either in sleeping, or 

 in what you are pleased to call, listless 

 moping about the hive. Has it never 

 occurred to you, that if I should try to 

 assume the restless activity of a worker- 

 bee, I could be nothing better than a 

 meddlesome busy-bodj-, perpetually 

 interfering with the necessary business 

 routine ? I guess the silly meddler 

 who would put me up to such non- 

 sense, ought more than once to have 

 had a dish-cloth pinned to his rear, to 

 teach him not to bother the women in 

 their work ! 



IHlsnnde rstood. 



I am sorry to number Shakespeare 

 among those who have misconceived 

 me, bj' calling me " the lazy, yawning 

 drone " — but as one of my maligners 

 has likened me to Falstaff, I may be 

 allowed to quote in my own defense, 

 what this great braggart, when ' ac- 

 cused of cowardice, says of himself to 

 the Prince : "Was it for me to kill 

 the heir apparent ? Why, thou know- 

 est I am as valiant as Hercules ; but 

 beware instinct ; the lion will not touch 

 the true prince. Instinct is a great 

 matter ; I was a coward on instinct. I 

 shall think the better of mj'self and 

 thee during my life. I for a valiant 

 lion, and thou for a true prince." I 

 lie not, like the false knight, when I 

 say, that what you call my laziness, is 

 a matter of pure instinct. 



With all your boasted reason, you 

 seem to have entirely overlooked the 

 doctrine of the conservation of forces. 

 You upbraid me with consuming so 

 much of the precious honey, to the 

 gathering of which I contribute noth- 

 ing ! Well ! if I made a single un- 

 called-for motion, would not that 

 necessitate an extra consumption of 

 food ? What better can I' do, then, 

 than to keep as quiet as possible ? 

 Tliere is nothing either inside or out- 

 ide of the hive which calls for any 



