44 



THE BrW-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



pound of any other kind, carrying the in- 

 ference that it is therefore to be preferred. 

 It would be pertinent to consider, pursuing 

 the same line of reasoning, that if only start- 

 ers of the other kinds had been used in the 

 test, the Dadant would have been clearly 

 distanced in the race in that particular and 

 that therefore we all ought to toss up our 

 hats for starters. 



At all the Farmers' Institutes which I have 

 attended during the winter, and at which I 

 have given talks upon the honey bee, the 

 attendance has been large, and often, 

 though the halls were generally large, even 

 standing room was in great request. Much 

 interest was shown everywhere in bee-keep- 

 ing, especially in the more northerly coun- 

 ties where a crop of honey was secured the 

 past season, and from which direction the 

 good seasons seem to be approaching. I 

 aimed in my talks to interest the mixed au- 

 diences which I addressed, consequently, 

 techincalities were neglected, and an effort 

 was made to make my hearers acquainted in 

 a general way with the inmates of the hive 

 and with their works and ways. If I may be 

 allowed to judge after the experience I have 

 had I should say that it would be difficult to 

 lind another topic that could so easily be 

 made of such general and intense interest 

 as this one. 



I generally made the remark in the course 

 of those talks that the worker bee presented a 

 curious nut for those who are interested in 

 heredity and evolution to crack, namely, 

 that while she is passionately fond of gather- 

 ing honey and pollen and performing the 

 other work that falls to her lot, none of her 

 ancestors upon either side for untold gener- 

 ations has had either the desire or the ability 

 to perform any of that work. Is there not 

 a point here that should receive attention in 

 discussing the question of breeding bees up 

 to a higher standard in respect to honey 

 gathering, or propolis gathering, or that of 

 breeding out the disposition to swarm, or 

 that of weakening the workers' power of 

 flight by clipping queens' wings ? 



It seems to be generally assumed that it 

 would be as easy to change the characteris- 

 tics of the worker bee by the selection of 

 queens and drones as it would be to change 

 the characteristics of other domestic animals 

 by the selection of parents. Is that safe 

 ground ? In the latter case the parents 

 transmit in a greater or less degree their 

 habits, peculiarities, faculties and desires to 



their progeny, but that can hardly be said 

 in the case of the honey-bee when the prog- 

 eny is a worker. He who should undertake 

 to create as great a difference among work- 

 er bees in outward appearance as there is in 

 domestic fowls between the gigantic light 

 Brahma and the diminutive bantam would 

 doubtless be considered rash ; why should 

 he be thought to stand on safer ground when 

 he undertakes to make as great a difference 

 among colonies of bees in respect to desire 

 to swarm as there exists between the Brah- 

 ma andthe Ijeghorn in respect to inclina- 

 tion to incubate, and as the inclination to 

 8 t is far from being bred out of the Leghorn, 

 how much less than reckless should he be 

 thought who undertakes to breed out of the 

 honey-bee tiie desire to swarm altogether. 

 By a like course of reasoning what possi- 

 ble ground for fear can there be that clip- 

 ping the wing of a queen will weaken the 

 power of her worker progeny to fly ? If the 

 fact that for many thousands of years at the 

 very least the queen bee as well as the drone 

 has neither exercised nor had the power to 

 gather honey and pollen from the flowers, 

 has neither destroyed nor weakened the de- 

 sire and the ability of the worker-bee to 

 perform that labor, we may safely dismiss 

 any fears we may have harbored that clip- 

 ping the queen's wing will in any way affect 

 the usefulness of her worker progeny. 



Lapeer, Mich, 



Feb. 10, 1896. 



How to Liquefy and Treat Honey so That it 

 will Remain Liquefied. 



u. m'knight. 



was interested 

 in Mr. R. L. 

 Taylor's article in 

 the Dec. number 

 of the Review, 

 under the Caption 

 " Honey and 

 Heat, " in which 

 he describes the 

 method he e m- 

 ployed in liquefy- 

 ing candied honey, 

 and the effect an excess of heat has upon its 

 color and flavor ; all of which accords with 

 my own experience. 



