1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



23.5 



pairs in various parts of the wor'd, in accordance 

 with the will of Him who has ordered the reproduc- 

 tion of the differtnt races. It would be hardly lair 

 to restrict God to the creation of one pair only, when 

 we sec an infinity of creations around us. 



OEOIiOGICAL nKCOUDS AND BANOES. 



Geologists teach that our continent is an ancient 

 sea-bed elevated above the surrounding sea, and of- 

 fer the petrifie 1 remains of marine animals, gather- 

 ed upon its surface, as evidence that can not be gain- 

 said. That their views are correct, is a self- 

 evident fant. Were North America to sink 1000 feet, 

 it would be covered by a body of sea-water extend- 

 ing from the GulCof Mexico to the Arctic Ocean, and 

 the eastern coast of the west part in the State of 

 Nebraska would be in about the same longitude as 

 Omaha. Were it to sink 10,000 feet, all that would 

 remain would be a few Islands extending from a 

 few hundred miles south of the source of the Platte 

 Elver, to a few hundred miles north-west of the 

 source of the Missouri River; and we should then 

 have existing here, conditions similar to those ex- 

 isting on the Eastern Continent at the time of the 

 so-called Flood, or the subsidence of that continent, 

 when, Herodotus says, many inhabitants were saved 

 on the highest mountains. The sea is uniformly the 

 same in bulk; and when this continent was in the 

 condition given above, the sea was drained from 

 elevated positions elsewhere, and the earth's center 

 of gravity probably was not as at present. In com- 

 pensation for the sea-bed formed here, what is now 

 the bed of the Paciflo Ocean may have been elevat- 

 ed into dry land, and continuous from the Eastern 

 Continent to this. In such case, the races common 

 to that continent would gradually find their way 

 toward this part of the world, and eventually, as 

 this continent reached a higher elevation, spread 

 out over the dry surface of land. Similar conditions 

 may have existed along the eastern part of the con- 

 tinent, producing similar results there. This would 

 account for the two great geographical ranges to 

 which so many races are almost exclusivelj' confined. 



I.INES WHICH THE HONEY-BEE MUST HAVE FOLLOWED. 



The honey-bee, reaching the elevated lands of the 

 West, could spread only as the waters receded, and 

 the river-courses became timbered. Ages would be 

 required for the suitable conditions to be reached, 

 and ages more for them to colonize the vast extent 

 of country over which they are known to have 

 spread. By the way of the large streams of the 

 North, and their tributaries, they could reach the 

 timbered sections of that part of the world, and 

 spread over Minnesota and the Hudson's Bay Terri- 

 tory, as they have been shown to have done (see 

 Gleanings, July No., 1880), and they could reach 

 New Mexico along the line of the mountains; but, 

 owing to the vast timberless tracts of prairie on the 

 west, they were compelled to follow the course of 

 the Missouri River and its tributaries to reach hero. 

 Advancing from here along the course of the Mis- 

 souri and its tributaries until they reached the tim. 

 bered lands of the South, they would spread indefi- 

 nitely. Jerome Wiltse. 



Falls City, Neb., April, 1883. 



MB. CAPP9' RTATKMENT. 



I have lived in Missouri aiul aloiicr the Missouri River since 

 1S46.' I liave been accustomed to hunt bees, and have handled 

 them all my life. I have seen yellow bees freixuently. ever since 

 wo first arrived in Missouri. In the year IS.'il or '55, 1 killed a 

 deer in Kans.as, near the Missouri River, about 17 miles above 

 St. Joe, and largo yellow hees, mariced with yellow b.inds on 

 their bodies, came ami sucked the blood, and "retunicd to their 

 tree iu sufBcient nunjbers to have lined thenj; but owjuf to the 



thick prowth of vines and brush and rushes, we were unable to 

 tret thcni. It was the body of the bee, and not the hair, that 

 was yellow. AV. J. Cuts. 



Many thanks, friend W. Were it not tliat 

 Mr. Capps is an old bee-keeper, and used to 

 handling bees, I should be tempted to sug- 

 gest that those yellow bees were some sort 

 of a yellow- banded hornet that has its nests 

 in trees and swauipy j unfiles. 1 have seen a 

 sort of wild bee, with yellow bands, that for 

 brilliancy far outrivaled any Italian ; and 

 from what I know of their habits, I should 

 judge them far more likely to suck up the 

 blood of the deer, as he states, than any kind 

 of honey-bees. 1 really beg pardon, friend 

 W. ; but is it not possible that he was mis- 

 taken in thinking these were veritable hon- 

 ey-bees? We are very much obliged indeed 

 for the trouble you have taken to collect and 

 furnish these facts. 



i» ■»«! 



COMB FOUNDATION. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



FERITAPS never before in our lives, Mr. Editor, 

 did you and I come so near agreeing upon 

 ■ any important subject as we do upon this one 

 above. There are, however, a few less vital though 

 not unimportant points in the highest successful 

 use of comb foundation upon which we do not seo 

 quite alike. 



Here is one. You say, that the sample of Given 

 thin fdn. I sent you has not as thin a base as some 

 fdn. you have had sent in, and made upon your 

 roller mills. Can it be that I made a mistake In 

 not sending you a fair sample of my thin Given fdn.? 

 By this mail I inclose one in a box to you, and 

 this is a sample of what I can and did make upon 

 the press rapidly. Now, who wants a thinner base 

 than this? Is not a majority of natural comb of 

 thicker septum? Does this sample not contain a 

 bulky line, for fdn. that runs 10 to 11 feet to the 

 pound? Please weigh and measure this sample. I 

 do not recommend so light fdn. for full sheets in 

 boxes. I prefer that about 8 square feet per pound, 

 with thin base. Comb foundation has a lively value, 

 outside of procuring straight combs and inducing 

 early commencement on them; it also aids very 

 greatly in tboir i-apid development. For this latter 

 object we want the heavy line, or side wall, contain^ 

 ing plenty of wax. 



I have received, both solicited and unsolicited, 

 very many samples of fdn., and I have never seen 

 any thing in the line that equals the Given for thin- 

 ness of base and heft of line combined, or either 

 one taken by itself. Tho sample that you "could 

 not locate." that is almost " artificial comb," was a 

 portion of a sheet that we madfe upon our 13-inch 

 heavy Vandervort mill; and though very many 

 good and experienced judges would choose this in 

 preference to tho more homely flatter-lined Given, 

 our experiments proved that the bees took to tho 

 Given first, drew it out quicker, faster, further, and 

 thinner, and consequently made a much more deli- 

 cate and beautiful comb. 



We differ in our opinion as to the desirableness of 

 the manufacture of a " real honey-comb," for I do 

 not believe that science will ever "evolve" wax in- 

 to comb, said comb being eatable; and as for the 

 brood department, do we not now have more trouble 

 than, tho bees do, with the manufacture of tho 

 shallow cells we are making? 



