TFIlv r,KF.-KEEri-::.s' rkview. 



21 



chance of that day is nut presented now; 

 hence, the chances for such an experi- 

 ment are not as good as then, even scien- 

 tifically. And when we come to the 

 practical part of bee-keeping, with the 

 rank and file, together with the surround- 

 ings environing the majority, there is 

 little pos'siblility of anything above a 

 practical result, as given in the Dzierzon 

 theory. And I also stand as squarely on 

 both feet on vvlut I wrote in "Scientific 

 Queen Rearing," when viewed from the 

 scientific standpoint, rather than the 

 practical. That is, when it comes to 

 "breeding to a feather," as the poultry 

 fanciers put it; for I cannot go back on 

 the results obtained. But as the rank 

 and file of our poultry keepers care not 

 one whit about this breeding to a feather, 

 so the rank and file of our bee-keepers 

 care not for the little contamination which 

 may resalt froin some virgin queen mat- 

 ing with a drone which may be a shade 

 less pure than herself. And, practically 

 speaking, the contamination in such a 

 m iling would be almost infinitismal as 

 conpared with a direct crossing of yellow 

 Italians ami pure Germans, or black bees. 

 Mr. Sim,js)n wishes to know on what 

 gr )unds I b use my "idea" [opinion was 

 the word I used] that the drone is the 

 s.ronger element, and has greater influ- 

 ence than the queen? then goes on to say 

 that "it is at present inpossible to know 

 these things from the bees themselves," 

 and convevs the impression that I must 

 have f<jrmed my opinion from relics of 

 the past, when farmer-horsemen did the 

 breeding, rather than the scientists of the 

 present. .'Mlow me to say that my opin- 

 ion in this matter comes very little short 

 of facts, or kn^ wledge which the bees 

 told me; notwithstanding that Mr. Simp- 

 son says it is "impossil>le to know of 

 these things from the bees themselves." 

 My e.xperience dates back to where there 

 was nothing but black bees in this section, 

 and I had the chance of knowing that my 

 first virgin queens from Italian stock 

 matetl with black drones and that virgin 

 queens from German stock mated with 



Italian drones; and in nine cases out of 

 ten the workers from those Italian queens 

 would show the characteristics of the 

 German bees by their stampeding on (and 

 ofT) the combs, by their quick, nervous 

 movements, sharp slinging qualities, 

 and their even, white capping of the 

 honey in the honey boxes — we did not 

 have sections then. On the other hand, 

 the German queen that mated with an 

 Italian drone gave workers which would 

 hold to the combs tenaciously, so they 

 could scarcely be dislodged from the same 

 by shaking, were not given to stinging on 

 the least provocation, filled the honey 

 box "s full of comb before they commen- 

 ced capping the honey, in good seasons, so 

 that none had a "wash-boardy" appear- 

 ance, and the cappings were placed close 

 to the honev, thus giving the combs that 

 watery appearance peculiar to most of 

 the imported Italian slock. And when 

 an aver.-ige of nine out of ten of the queens 

 of either race gave workers possessing the 

 general characieristics of the race from 

 the drone side, 1 was C)mpelled to give 

 up all preconceived notions and admit 

 the facts. 



vSince writing the above I have been 

 looking over the May 1901 Review, and I 

 see that there is someihing 01 pigesi4i 

 anil 142, by Mr. A. C. INIdler which should 

 have been noticed long ago, hut was not, 

 owing to the pressure of work. Mr. Mill- 

 er takes the ground in his a-ticle there 

 found, that the wood between the wall 

 of propolis, put on the inside of a bee 

 hive by the l)ees, and the wall of paint 

 put <ni the outside, answers in a degree, 

 at least, to the thin walls of the chaff hive, 

 the dry wood enclosed between this paint 

 and propolis taking the place of packing 

 between the thin u'alls of wood. .-It least, 

 this is the way I understand him. The 

 mistake which I think he makes is in as- 

 suming that this wooden wall remains dry 

 during the winter and s])ring. When I 

 became disgusted wiih painted hives, I 

 was that "out of conceit" with them that 

 I set the bees into chaff hives and split a 

 part of them up, putting them in the fire. 



