190 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



June 



with tin- Magic Girl for a winter va- 

 cation; but like every other good 

 b< i man, 1 wanted first to feel secure 

 in the knowledge that each colony 

 was queenright and snug for the win- 

 ter, and to be detained by one small 

 bee, although of royal blood, was 

 most exasperating. 



I hardly knew how to meet the 

 emergency which Jimmie's unap- 

 peased appetite for honey had cre- 

 ated. The nectar from flowers in my 

 neighbor's garden was at a precari- 

 ously low ebb, and only a few drones 

 were flying. To rear another batch 

 of queens under such conditions 

 would be a gamble; but with blue 

 curl and tar weed along the road- 

 sides and in the fields, I decided to 

 take a chance. Also Jimmie, with 

 covetous eyes on the honey-filled 

 supers brought daily offerings of be- 

 lated sweet clover and alfalfa and 



Milur sign of a queen. I had about 

 conceded her loss in mating, but Jim- 

 mie subtlj associating the return of 

 the queen with a plentiful supply of 

 honey for himself, continued to 

 against hope. Each morning found 

 him at bis post in front of the hive 

 with his floral offering, and each eve- 

 ning a disappointed little Jap trudged 

 hi imeward. 



Thanksgiving day arrived and with 

 it Jimmie. to begin his morning 

 watch. The air was soft and balmy, 

 an ideal day for bee work. For the 

 third time I opened the hive contain- 

 ing the colony of blacks. But my 

 last young virgin was not laying, nor 

 was lie to e found. Three weeks 

 had elapsed since the date scheduled 

 by the books for a normal queen to 

 assume the duties of family life, and 

 I began preparations to combine the 

 bees with another colony. But Tim- 



laid them in neat bunches at the hive 

 entrances. 



I soon had the necessary queen- 

 cells, which I placed in the belliger- 

 ent colony and left the bees to their 

 own devices. Jimmie, with what 

 strange workings of conscience over 

 the lost queen I could not fathom, 

 shared my labors. He witnessed the 

 grafting of the new queen-cells from 

 my best breeder, watched the cells 

 fill with jelly and grow until finally 

 the cap was fitted on; and when the 

 first virgin came, walking out of her 

 cell to which the cap was still at- 

 tached by a tiny wax bine. 

 samee littee door," his excitement 

 knew no bounds. 



Then came the period of waiting 

 when I was afraid to open the hive 



.ir they would ball their queen. 



i raid not to for fear they had 

 alr< ady balled her. 



But one dav I did look, Jimmie. my 

 faithful ally, at my heels. The col- 

 ony was lamb-like in disposition, but 

 no' queen could I find. The ni 

 it was the same, also the third day. 

 The colony appeared to be con- 

 though there was no brood or 



mie's expression deterred me. lie- 

 knew few "Mellican" words. They 

 were not needed. His troubled face 

 was sufficiently eloquent, and I de- 

 cided to wait still another day. 



About noon a radiant Jimmie came 

 flying to the house. "Honorable Mis- 

 sy President, she go in! She go in!" 

 luted. 

 \ few moments later I found her. 

 il insignia intact, a lovely yel- 

 a sinister background of 

 blai 1. < lerman bees. 



Los Gatos, Calif. 



More About Punics 



I our November issue we pub 

 lished an article by Ph. J. Balden- 

 sperger in which he takes issue 

 u ith ci ments of M r. Hew- 



itt in regard to the Punic bees. First 

 • ii,.. made for these bee. 

 by Mr. Hew nt and replies to each by 

 ponding number. Our readers 

 themselves whether 

 one writi i is entitled to more crc- 

 than the other. 

 We have since received a very 

 lengthy reply from Mr. Hewitt in 



which he reviews the history of the 

 introduction of Punic bees into Eng- 

 land and America. We have no space 

 to include the entire article, but we 

 wish to be entirely fair with Air. 

 Hewitt and to give him an oppor- 

 tunity tu state his case. Mr. Hew- 

 itt declines to permit us to print any 

 part of his article, unless we include 

 ■it all. hence we are compelled to de- 

 cline, since there are 80 pages of 

 manuscript. In order that our read- 

 ers may be informed as to his claims 

 fur these bees, we make the following 

 resume of hi* reply : 



1. He has kept pure Punic bees'for 

 32 years and has sent out thousands 

 of queens, without any complaint on 

 the part of his customers, that they 

 were not as good as represented. He 

 does not withdraw a single item of 

 what he has claimed for Punics. 



2. It is difficult to mate them 

 purely if drones of other races are 

 within five miles. 



3. He claims that since 1887 he has 

 been able to rear queens from the 

 eggs of fertile worker? as often as 

 desired, and that they prove to be 

 normal queens in every way. 



4. He has from time to time made 

 attempts to make known the fact 

 that fertile workers of the Punic 

 race are able to produce female off- 

 spring with the result that he has 

 been discredited. 



5. Under certain conditions they 

 build few queen-cells, but at times 

 they build very many, he having had 

 as many as 500 on one comb alone. 



In looking back over the article 

 complained of we cannot see where 

 Mr. Hewitt has suffered seriously. In 

 the June, 1918, number, Mr. John An- 

 derson pays him very high credit, 

 and places him in the class with Hu- 

 ber, and other great masters. In the 

 Baldensperger article, we find only a 

 difference of opinion as to the char- 

 acter of the race of bees under con- 

 sideration. 



The only question at issue, as far 

 as this journal is concerned, is 

 whether or not fertile workers do in 

 fact produce female offspring. If they 

 do. Mr. Hewitt was probably the first 

 to bring the fact to public attention. 

 His observations have later been con- 

 firmed by Jacks and Onions, but 

 questioned by other observers. 



Feeding Flour 



IN the American Bee Journal for 

 March, in the article "Building 

 Up Colonies in Spring," flour is 

 advocated for spring feeding. 



I placed several granite pie tins 

 and shallow pasteboard box covers 

 containing a little wdieat flour about 

 the yard. The bees paid no attention 

 to it. while two colonies actually 

 starved. 



What was my mistake? How 

 hould Hour be fed? 



NEW YORK. 



Answer. — You made a mistake if 



you lb. .nght that feeding flour would 



any colony from starving. 



Neither the field workers nor even 



the larvae can live on pollen only. 



I he adull I'..- . an live without pol- 



d thrive besl without pollen 



whenever they are confined to the 



