190 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



June 



Bee Journal 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT 



First Nat'I Bank Bldg., Hamilton, 111. 



Entered as second-class matter at the 

 Hamilton, Illinois, Postoffice. 



C. P. Dadant, Editor. 



Dr. C. C. Miller, Associate Editor. 



Frank C. Pellett, Staff Correspondent. 



IMPORTANT NOTICE 



THE SUBSCRIPTION PRICE of this lour 

 n.il is $1.00 per year in the United States of 

 America and Mexico; 3 years, $2.50; 5 years. 

 $4 00; in Canada, 15c extra, and in all other 

 countries in the Postal Union, 25 cents a year 

 extra for postage. Sample copy free. 



THE WRAPPER LABEL DATE indicates 



the end of the month to which subscription is 

 paid. For instance, "decl8" on your label 

 shows that it is paid to the end of December, 

 1918. 



SUBSCRIPTION RECEIPTS— We do not 

 send a receipt for money sent us to pay sub- 

 scription, but change the date on your ad- 

 dress, which shows that the money has been 

 received and credited. In case of errors, please 

 write us. 



(Copyright: 1917, by C P. Dadant.) 



THE EDITOR'S VIEWPOINT 



Foulbrood 

 Kill or Cure? 



The appearance of friend F. Dun- 

 das Todd's article on pages 161-3 of 

 our May issue, sustaining the method 

 of applying fire for the destruction of 

 Foulbroody colonies is giving rise to 

 vehement protests. A subscriber asks 

 whether we approve of this method. 

 We do not. Then why did we insert 

 it? Because our friend of British 

 Columbia has a very forcible way of 

 disease might bring it again. If his 

 isolated location, it may be safer to 

 destroy the few cases of the disease 

 found, although one might suggest 

 that the same cause that brought the 

 disease might bring it again. If he 

 loll,, we<l this method to a finish he 

 would not do for a physician. If you 

 had sni.iUi>,i\ or some other con- 

 tagious disease, he would probablj 

 bring you a revolver and a coffin and 

 demand that you put an end to the 

 ,,i contagion by self-destruc- 

 tion. 



We kept bees some 40 years w ith- 

 out seeing a trace of foulbrood anj 

 where. Then all at ince we found i 

 pretty well disseminated in our api- 

 aries. That was some 10 or 12 years 

 ago. I lad we followed friend I i idd's 



id we would probably lie out oi 



the bee business by this nm, In 



stead of that we cured the disease 

 and in 1916 harvested a record cro 

 of 125,000 pound- ,,i honey. 



I f you are a careful beck, eper, 



and find among 



your 1:- ghtened, but 



follow the directions fi 

 given everywhere by inspectors and 

 w liters. But if you are cat'eh 

 hesitate to follow instructions, better 

 do as Mr. Todd suggests, build a big 



bonfire and destroy thai which you 

 do not have the courage to cure. 



Fabre and Parthenogenesis 



An enquiring subscriber wants to 

 l.now whether parthenogenesis can 

 be accepted as an established fact, in 

 spite of Fabre's condemnation of it, 

 just because of the editor's experi- 

 ence with unfertilized queens. (See 

 page 156 of the May number.) 



We understand the implied criti- 

 cism and would not expect a novice 

 to accept our assertion without fur- 

 ther proof. We might have given 

 this in the May number. Here it is: 



There are hundreds of queen breed- 

 ers who have had experience with 

 drone-laying workers. Many other 

 beekeepers have also found them in 

 queenless hives. Each of them is an 



evidence of parthenogenesis, for the 

 drone laying worker is an undevel- 

 oped female who has only rudiments 

 of ovaries and an atrophied sperma- 

 theca. The fact that she can lay eggs 

 that hatch, without her having been 

 previously mated, is sufficient to affirm 

 the Dzierzon theory. The word "Par- 

 thenogenesis" is composed from two 

 Greek words meaning "reproduction 

 from virgin." The drone-laying work- 

 ers cannot be anything but virgins, 

 since they are incapable of mating. 



In tin present number will be found 

 an article from our learned Scotch, 

 friend, John Anderson, M. V, whic 



reproduces the assertions of two 



i - that some African bi 

 have laving workers whose eggs 

 hatch as workers, queens or drones. 

 Either those so-called workers arc 

 capable of mating, or they arc not. 

 If they are, then they are really 



fully developed females. If they a 



not. and cannot mate, then they give 

 additional evidence of parthenogene- 

 sis, though with a variation in the 

 result. 



As no evidence of the production 

 i if anything but drones from the eggs 

 of laying workers, in the European 

 races, Black, Carniolan, Caucasian, 

 Italian or Cyprian, has ever been 

 given, we must needs be content .with 

 the Dzierzon theory, against which 

 so many arguments of all shades 

 have been used. 



In a nutshell, this parthenogenesis 

 may be described as follows: The 

 queen and some workers may lay 

 eggs that will hatch without previous 

 mating. 



A Notable Work 

 on Honey Plants 



H. B. Parks, who has lately moved 

 from Missouri to the Texas College 

 of Agriculture, has completed the 

 most thorough survey of the honey 

 plants of Missouri as yet under- 

 taken in any State. The work was done 

 under direction of Dr. L. Haseman, 

 the State Entomologist who has di- 

 rect charge of all work in beekeeping 

 in connection with the Missouri in- 

 stitution. Mr. Parks spent much time 

 in field work in various parts of the 

 State and has mapped the flora of 

 Missouri relative to the occurrence 

 of the various honey plants. 



A study was made of 22S native and 

 introduced species as to range of the 

 plants, blooming dates and object of 

 the bee visits, whether for honey, 

 pollen or propolis. 



There is great need that such work 

 be done in every important honey- 

 producing State, and Missouri is to 

 be congratulated upon being one of 

 the first to complete the survey of 

 her nectar-bearing resources. It is 

 to be hoped that the authorities of 

 the university will see fit to publish 

 the manuscript without delay, as stu- 

 dents of similar problems in other 

 States are hampered for lack of ref- 

 erences. Its appearance will be 

 awaited with interest. 



The Greiner Brothers 



We lake pleasure in giving to the 

 readers of the American Bee Journal, 

 on another page, pictures of two men 

 who have been constant readers and 

 contributors of the Journal for over 

 20 years. Messrs. Greiner are both 

 methodical, careful and neat men. 

 Iln\ have been successful and are 

 always willing to explain their meth- 

 ods, which are the result of long 

 years of practice. (Editor.) 



