THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



45 



of bees resembling blacks than those re- 

 sembling their Italian ancestors. Are 

 the Italians contaminated? Are tlie blacks 

 inbred? Or, are the Italians deficient in 

 pre]H)U'iu-y that the blacks possess? 



Controlled mating will be the greatest 

 discoverer of facts from a scientific stand- 

 point, and many of our differences of 

 opinion must wait until then. 



Cuba, N. Y. Feb. 4 1902. 



LONG-TONGUED BEES. 



HY G. G. MILLER 



Length of Tongue in Bees may be of 



Some Value, but it is Still an 



Unsettled Question. 



Modest doubt is call'd the beacon of the wise — shakesi'HEark. 



FRIEND Hutchinson, the Review is 

 doing a good work in bringing out 

 some real information about the rearing 

 of queens. I congratulate you. 



AnVANT.\GKS OK FACE TO PACK 

 DISCUSSIONS. 



I have read over several times the sec- 

 ond column on page 340, and I am not 

 entirely certain whether I understand it 

 correctly. There sceiiis to be in it a hint 

 that red clover is the only plant to be 

 considered as having long tubes. I very 

 strongly suspect that if Mr. Simpson and 

 I could sit down by the wood-pile and 

 talk it over, we would find there is not a 

 particle of disagreement between us as to 

 the value of long tongues. But here we 

 are at loggerheads in print. He says, 

 "I contend that tongue-length, of itself^ 

 is practically of no value," while my 

 creed might be worded, "I contend that 

 tongue-length, of ilscif, is practically of 

 great value." 



LONG-TONGUED BEES MAY BE LAZV. 



Then he defines his meaning and shows 

 that he has in mind something entirely 

 diflferent from the meaning I attach to 

 his words, when he adds, "that is. that 

 the additional length does not carry with 

 it a guarantee that the possessor is supe- 

 lior." I curb the inclination to say, "Who 

 says it does?" and reply, "In that I am 



entirely agreed with you." I believe 

 that a bee may have a tongue of extra 

 length and at the same time be a lazy bee. 



V^HERE I.ONG TONGUES MAY BE 

 OF VALUE. 



But I insist that when the bees of a 

 certain apiary have access to ten acres of 

 red clover, none of them having tongues 

 long enough to reach the nectar, except 

 the bees of a single colony, the extra 

 tongue-length of that colony is of great 

 value; even though that colony be infe- 

 rior in general 10 the others. And I think 

 we would be agreed on that. But I think 

 the real point of disagreement would 

 come when friend Simpson would add, 

 "But that is an exceptional case, and the 

 amount of flowers with long tubes is so 

 small as to make tongue-length practical- 

 ly of no vahie." On the contrary I think 

 the red-clover crop and the crop from 

 other flowers with deep tubes of enough 

 consequence to make tongue-length prac- 

 tically nl great value. Well, we can hold' 

 different views on that point and still re- 

 main good friends, can't we, Mr. Simj)- 

 son? We are entirely agreed, however, 

 in saying that, for general purposes, extra 

 tongue-lengtli does not necessarily prove 

 extra value. 



LONGEVITY. 



There is a possibility of misunderstand- 

 ing the first paragraph on page 341, be. 



