March 7, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



149 



issue. I used this method for years and with no failure, so 

 far as I know. 



Page 6 — Is not Mr. Root a little too enthusiastic re- 

 garding;: alfalfa honey, when he says " the quality of al- 

 falfa honey is probably superior to anything- that the world 

 has ever produced from any other source " ? I claim to be 

 something of a judge of honey, and I think alfalfa is no 

 better than clover, linden, sage, and I think I might find 

 even others quite equal to it. 



Page 7 — In California it does not take three years to 

 get the best yield from alfalfa. In fact, we often get a 

 maximum yield the very first j'ear in the later cuttings. 

 Alfalfa is a wonderful crop. I often say that I think I 

 would rather have a good alfalfa field than an orange-or- 

 chard. I have known several cases where seven cuttings 

 have been made in a year, and it is not uncommon to se- 

 cure two tons per acre from a cutting. In this same ci>n- 

 nection, Mr. Root hints that there is so much sweet in al- 

 falfa that the bees even gather (sic) from the dry hay. 

 This is putting it altogether too strong. Still I do not think 

 that too much can be said in favor of alfS.lfa for it is a 

 marvelous crop. 



Page 10 — Mr. Root says that digestion is the separation 

 of the nutrient part of the food from the non-nutrient, and 

 the conversion of the nutrient into a liquid fit to mingle 

 with the blood and thus nourish the body of the insect. 

 This is given as a question but he was not happy in his se- 

 lection of authority. Digestion is simply the fitting of the 

 food to be absorbed. I tell my class that " digestion is ren- 

 dering the food osmotic." Many authors say that diges- 

 tion is merely to dissolve the food. This is not a good defi- 

 nition. Some of the food that is already dissolved, like 

 blood albumen and cane-sugar, must be digested before it 

 can be absorbed from the stomach into the blood. That is 

 before it is osmotic. Absorption, not digestion, does the 

 work of separation. One other of our bee-books makes 

 this same mistake. 



Page 10 — In speaking of the urinary tubes appended 

 to the stomach, Mr. Root calls them the "malphygian 

 tubes." It should be "malpighian," as they were named from 

 their discoverer, Malpighi, a distinguisht Italiati physiolo- 

 gist and microscopist. Mr. Root says further of these 

 tubes, " It is not certain what their office is, but it is thought 

 that they are the urinary organs." This is no longer true 

 as urea, etc., have been found in these vessels, so we now 

 know that they function as kidneys. 



Page 44 — In speaking of the advantage of black bees, 

 from the fact that they can be shaken off the comb so eas- 

 ily, Mr. Root says, " For that reason alone some prefer 

 them, or hybrids, to pure Italians, which can hardly be 

 shaken off." I have very little trouble to fell at one 

 shake every Italian bee from the comb if the latter fully 

 fills the frame. This requires a peculiarly sharp jerk which 

 every apiarist should learn to give. He should also learn 

 to keep the frame perfectly vertical else the comb may fol- 

 low after the bees, which is about jis annoying a thing as 

 can happen in the apiarj'. I should make this characteristic 

 a count against the black bee and in favor of the Italian. 

 As our best men love their homes so well that they alwaj's 

 stick to them if possible, so I prefer the bees that endeavor 

 to stick by their comb. 



Page 45— Mr. Benton did not spend the best years of 

 his life in the jungles of India, in search of new bees. Mr. 

 Benton was in India only a few days. I think he was only 

 a few days in Ceylon, where he secured Apis dorsata. 



Page 47- -It is unfortunate that our authors use the 

 term worm and grub as synonymous with larva. I know 

 this is commonly done but it is wrong, and how shall we 

 correct errors unless our authors avoid them ? Entomolo- 

 gists confine the term grub to the larva of beetles, while 

 worms are not insects at all. Worms, as instanced in the 

 angleworm, never have any legs at all, and look essentially 

 the same from first to last except for size. All mature in- 

 sects have legs and are very different from the larva, or in- 

 sect, just after hatching. Why not always speak of the im- 

 mature bees as larvae and be correct ? 



Page 49— It is here stated that it is supposed that this 

 larval food is pollen and honey, partially digested by the 

 young or nursing bee. I with others have positively proved 

 that this larval food is perfectly digested pollen, with or 

 without the addition of honey. Planta has shown that the 

 drone-larva- have mixt with this food toward the last a little 

 undigested pollen. 



Page 50— In speaking of viper's-bugloss (Echium vul- 

 gare), Mr. Root calls it blue thistle, and speaks of the dan- 

 ger of introducing the seed. This belongs to the borage 



family and is no thistle at all. This name should never be 

 used. It is like borage in being no serious pest. 



Page 98 — Are the drones from the laying worker eggs 

 smaller than those from the queen's eggs ? I am sure this 

 is not always true. I think Mr. Root right in questioning 

 the fertility of such drones, tho I am of the opinion that 

 they are functionally perfect. I arrive, of course, at this 

 judgment from a study of their anatomy. 



Page 101. It is very doubtful, indeed, that unimpreg- 

 nated eggs will ever produce workers. That queens with 

 imperfect wings sometimes lay eggs that produce worker- 

 bees would seem to prove that occasionally a queen may 

 mate in the hive. I feel quite positive that I once had a 

 queen that was so mated. I can explain the case in no 

 other way. Yet it is so exceptional that I still feel a doubt 

 in the matter. I think in writing we should use the word 

 fecundate or impregnate rather than fertilize, as we also 

 better use the word pollinate instead of fertilize. Let us re- 

 serve the word fertile to indicate that the male or female is 

 functionally perfect or sexually perfect. 



Page 126 — A case is given where night work with bees 

 was carried on successfully. I occasionally practiced night 

 working with bees where it was imperative, but I did not 

 like it and would not recommend it except in extreme cases. 

 The bees have such a way of crawling around and are not 

 discriminating. Were I to work at night I should want a 

 string around my "pantlegs," as also my wrists, and should 

 desire my bee veil tuckt well in at the neck. Our author 

 recommends this night work to prevent robbing. The bee- 

 tent and other suggestions given in all our best bee-books 

 are, I think, greatly to be preferred. 



Page 126 — "You could feed white sugar so as to produce 

 very nice looking honey, but it would be sugar syrup in 

 honeycomb after all, as you would find to your sorrow if 

 you should attempt to sell it as honey." This is simply not 

 true, as one experiment will satisfy anyone if he will but 

 try it. I believe in telling the truth even if it confronts the 

 prejudices of the whole bee-fraternity. Mr. Abbott at the 

 last National convention stated and reiterated this untruth. 

 If Mr. Abbott will feed his bees pure granulated sugar 

 syrup and then taste of the product, he will find that it is 

 certainly honey and not sugar syrup. It surely will lack 

 any aroma which might be secured in the nectar of flowers, 

 but it will have decidedly the taste of honey, and will be 

 preferred by many to any other kind of honey, as I have 

 proved more than once. Yet it will rarely if ever pay to do 

 this even if there were no prejudice against it, and in view 

 of the prejudice it would certainly be unwise. Let us talk, 

 however, of its nonprofitableness, and of its unwisdom, 

 and not state what we can all so easily prove is not the 

 truth. I was brought up to believe that untruths never 

 pay, and I have never yet seen reason to believe otherwise. 



Page 129 — I have always wondered at the statements 

 we so frequently see of bees expelling water from the honey 

 while on the wing. I never saw it and don't believe they 

 ever do it. We have so many reports that there certainly 

 must be some ground for the opinion. If a fine mist does 

 escape from the bee, it is surely one of two things — either 

 excreta from the intestines, or perspiration from the bee. 

 The bees excercise very severely and must of necessity cool 

 off. This must be done thru perspiration. This perspi- 

 ration must occur in the breathing tubes as the thick chiti- 

 nous crust of the bee's body would preclude much if any 

 sweating from the exterior surface. I have no doubt that 

 much evaporation of moisture escapes from the trachea of 

 the bees when the latter are hard at work in very hot 

 weather. That this might descend in a mist is possible. I 

 should like, however, to see it. 



Page 142— Our author speaks of honey from the nectar 

 of fruit-blossoms as of poor quality. I would like to hear 

 from others on this subject. I was once so happy as to get 

 some unmixt apple-blossom honey. I thought I had never 

 tasted any so excellent. Others to whom I gave this were 

 equally enthusiastic. 



Page 144—1 have often been puzzled, as has Mr. Root, 

 in the varying opinion among fruit-growers as to the value 

 of bees in the work of pollination of fruit-blossoms. I 

 know positively that some varieties of fruit are at times en- 

 tirely fertile to their own pollen, and again utterly sterile 

 to the same. The vigor of the tree must play no small part 

 in this matter. Yet no fact in pomology is better attested 

 than is the necessity of bees in or near the orchard if we 

 are to secure the maximum fruitage. 

 (To be continued.) 



The Premiums offered, this week are well worth work 

 ing for. Look at them. 



