196 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 28, 1901. 



and must be learned by reading. We all learn by picking up an idea 

 here and a thought there. Then in the aggregate there is quite a good 

 deal of practical value gathered together. It is much like the bee 

 when getting the nectar which it transforms into honey — a drop here 

 and a drop there, of sweetened liquid, then to the hive where it is 

 "boiled down" into the honey that is so delicious. We must, after 

 reading, " boil it down," by thought and meditation, to the consis- 

 tency that shall make it usable and valuable. Thus will our reading, 

 of whatever kind, prove to be helpful and profitable. 



I Contributed Articles. | 



No. 2. 



(Edition of 18<)0-1900.) 



A Review of " A B C of Bee-Culture." 



BY PKOF. A. J. COOK. 

 (Continued from page 149.) 



PAGE 147 — It is stated that there are 53 different vari- 

 eties of goldenrod. This is an incorrect use of the 

 word variety. The goldenrods are species. The same 

 as our bee — Apis mellifera. A variety or subspecies is one 

 of the less markt divisions of the species. The Italian bee 

 is a variety or subspecies of Apis mellifera. In the figure 

 on the same page, the three plants each represents a species. 



Page 172 — I am surprised at Mr. Root's style on this 

 page. " Tarnal nuisance " and " pawed out " might do in 

 Gleanings in Bee-Culture, possibly, but some would quite 

 object to them in a book like "AB C of Bee-Culture." 

 Still, this is a matter of taste, and I may be hypercritical. 



Page 173 — The typographical errors in this book are 

 few, but there was evidently faulty proof-reading in refer- 

 ring to the first figure on this page. The letters should be 

 reverst. 



Page 174 — The figures of the book are usually clear 

 and admirable, but the second one on this page I think a 

 failure. I think the first one on the previous page gives a 

 much clearer idea. This figure appears to me like a small 

 cube inside a larger one. I should consider it a right- 

 angled figure. 



Page 177 — A strange error occurs here, for which I fear 

 my own poor chirography may be to blame. Mr. Root 

 speaks of the coccids as scab insects. This certainly 

 should be scale insects. I have a dim recollection that in 

 one of my own articles written some years ago, the type- 

 setter made my scale a scab. I fear that this is what misled 

 Mr. Root. The statement is also made that these honey- 

 dew-secreting insects — plant and scale lice — propagate in 

 the topmost limbs of the trees. I doubt if this is correct, 

 in fact I know it isn't. They attack the tree anywhere 

 where they may happen to locate. All female scale insects, 

 and many plant-lice, are wingless, and so are conveyed 

 from tree to tree by bird or other insect. If they are left 

 on the topmost branches by these carriers, they would 

 very likely locate there. They are only carried when very 

 young, and they are at this time exceedingly minute, and 

 if left to their own means of locomotion, make progress 

 slowly. We see, then, that accident alone determines 

 what part of a tree they will occupy. 



Page 179 — I am quoted on this page to the effect that 

 much aphid honey-dew is deliciously wholesome, and the 

 honey from it superior. Mr. Root follows this with the 

 assertion that " the ordinary stuff that we have in Ohio, and 

 that which I have seen in other localities, is usually of a 

 dark color and rank flavor, to me very sickening and 

 unpleasant, and as Prof. Cook says, it should be sold to 

 bakers and others desiring an inferior or strong-flavored 

 honey." The error Mr. Root makes here is easily 

 explained. I have no doubt but that the honey from 

 Aphides is almost always of pleasing flavor, and so always 

 makes good honey. I have never seen a case in which this 

 was not true. While in the Yosemite last summer, away 

 upon one of the highest peaks (Cloud Rest) 10,000 feet 

 above the level of the sea, we ran across plant-lice on the 

 pine trees. There were no bees in the region, and the 

 honey-dew was present in great drops so that it was very 

 easy to test it. All of our party pronounced it excellent. 

 Perhaps I should say this was before they were told where 

 it came from. This aphid hotiey-dew is common every 

 year in nearly all sections of the country. Yet it is so 



unobjectionable that almost no one knows it. The bees 

 take to it, and I doubt if they will often leave this even for 

 the nectar of flowers. I have certainly known them to 

 work on the honey-dew of the larch right at the time of 

 the white clover bloom. Many of the bees were gathering 

 from the clover, others were taking from the honey-dew. 

 The mixture all sold readily as clover honey, and I am sure 

 no wrong was done any one. The bark-louse, or coccid 

 honey-dew on the other hand, is not so common, and is 

 only present in certain years when the scale are very 

 numerous. Another fortunate peculiarity is that it is dis- 

 tasteful to the bees, and they gather it only in times of 

 drouth when the flowers are not secreting. Indeed, the 

 scale insects of the East prosper most in a succession of 

 dry seasons, just at the time when the flowers do not furnish 

 nectar. The honey from this source is dark and rank, and 

 well deserves the opprobrium Mr. Root has put upon it. I 

 think our bee-keepers should all understand this distinc- 

 tion, and should become acquainted with the aphid honey- 

 dew. It may be flavored. If so, it has not come under my 

 observation. 



Page 185— Two mistakes of faulty proof-reading are 

 evident on this page. One of the beggar-ticks — Bidens 

 frondosa, is referred to as Burr marigold. This should be 

 Burr marigold. Likewise, Leonurus cardiaca should be 

 motherwort instead of motherwork. 



Page 193 — Our author refers to the thorax of the bee as 

 the shoulders. He shows the abdomen detacht, and states 

 that it is detacht from the shoulders. This use of the word 

 is not warranted by any good usage that I know of, and as 

 thorax is a perfectly good word, I see no need of coining a 

 new one. 



Page 204 — The letter "O" is omitted as marking that 

 division of the work. Uniformity would be better observed 

 if the " O " were supplied. 



Page 213 — A case of misspelling is made very promi- 

 nent on this page. I think it is always spelt jasmine or 

 jasmin. I have grave doubts as to the honey from this or 

 any other plant being poisonous. It would be so easy to 

 make the mistake. We know that honey makes some 

 people seriously ill whenever eaten. That it might occa- 

 sionally make a person sick who usually was proof against 

 the ill effects is easily to be believed. I can understand 

 how Xenophon might have made a mistake. A lot of 

 hungry soldiers eating freely of honey would in almost any 

 case give employment to the doctor. We know that false- 

 hood once on the race-course spans the world while truth is 

 harnessing her steeds. We can easily see how this idea of 

 poisonous honey, once started, would run rapidly. If jas- 

 mine or mountain laurel do furnish poisonous honey, I can 

 not understand why the evil effects are not more frequently 

 experienced. I have received this so-called poisonous honey 

 several times, and have eaten it without any ill effects. If 

 I found any really poisonous honey, I should look to find if 

 the arsenites had not been used at the time when the bees 

 gathered the honey. I have known of cases where 

 the larva; of bees have been seriously poisoned by 

 receiving honey poisoned with Paris-green which had been 

 applied at time of bloom in the apple-orchard. 



Page 214 — In describing the way that bees get pollen, 

 Mr. Root credits the tongue with an important part of the 

 work. I have never noticed that the bee used its tongue to 

 get the pollen. The antennse cleaner on the front leg 

 gathers the pollen, not from the tongue but from the 

 antenna. I hope others will observe and see whether Mr. 

 Root is right in the explanation. My own observations 

 would the rather teach that the compound hairs which 

 clothe the body so generally, and the legs of the bees, are 

 the instruments used to gather the pollen. I doubt if the 

 tongue has anything to do with it. 



Page 222 — Our author does well in using the develop- 

 ment theory to account for the color of blossoms and birds. 

 It is perhaps modest to say, "I can not positively affirm." I 

 think, however, that no scientist to-day has any use for 

 the interrogation-point in using the evolution hypothesis to 

 account for the color in flower, fruit or bird. To question 

 it shows that the writer or speaker is not conversant with 

 the latest in scientific research. We are glad that Mr. 

 Root has never been one to be afraid of truth. 



Page 227 — Is it wise to say that ten-day queens may be 

 just as good as any ? If I am right, experience, no less 

 than theory, would argue against such queens. The bees 

 give us a good lesson in this matter. When things are 

 normal they start the queen from the egg. I think the 

 wise breeder will always do the same. 



Page 230 — It is very interesting if Mr. Root's views 

 regarding the presence of eggs or larva; stimulating the 



