352 



THE BEK-KHBPFJLS* fi-EVIBW 



menter was secured only by a supreme 

 effort on the part of a few bee-keepers. 

 Letters were written and circulars sent 

 out to a large number of bee-keepers, 

 urging them to write to the members of 

 the agricultural board, visits were made 

 to the College, and considerable pressure 

 brought to bear upon the board. As soon 

 as Mr. Taylor was appointed, the pressure 

 was removed, and no great interest man- 

 ifested by bee-keepers, and, as a result, 

 other interests again pushed bee-keeping 

 out of the ring. Needed legislation re- 

 garding foul brood was not secured, be- 

 cause of the apathy of bee-keepers. Laws 

 will not be enacted, nor experimenters 

 appointed, simply for the asking. There 

 must be some hard pushing, and some in- 

 terest manifested. It must be shown that 

 a large number of people need and de- 

 mand these things. 



I would suggest that perhaps some- 

 thing might be done in the experimen- 

 tal line by the Nation;il Association. Of 

 course, either the membership or the fees 

 would need to be increased. I believe 

 that there are somewhere in the neighbor- 

 hood of 500 members. If the fees were 

 doubled, raised to $2.00, it would give 

 |;500 a year to use in experimenting. I 

 think that nearly every member would 

 willingly pay |i.oo more each year if he 

 knew that it would be wisely expended 

 in making experiments. 



*««<^«^H«Hrf* 



A NEW FE.\TURE IN BEE-KEEPING — 

 THE' MEASURING OF BEES' TONGUES. 



When this matter of measuring bees' 

 tongues first began to be discussed it 

 seemed to me frivolous — a sort of fad. 

 I supposed, of course, that their tongues 

 varied in length, but I supposed the vari- 

 ation was very slight — not enough to 

 amount to anything. In order to accom- 

 plish anything in the way of lengthening 

 their tongues by selection, I supposed 

 years and years of time must pass; be- 

 sides this, the matter of mating of queens 

 was so uncertain that it seemed to me 



that very little permanent improvement 

 could be expected. Perhaps I was not so 

 very far out of the way in some of my 

 suppositions, but the fact, if it is a fact, 

 has been brought out that bees' tongues 

 var}'^ in length from 13-100 of an inch to 

 23-100. As I said last month, I am great- 

 ly astonished at this difference. I have 

 not measuured any bees' tongues my- 

 self, but men in whose ability and truth- 

 fulness I have great faith have made 

 the measurements, and report these diff- 

 erences. 



We all know there is a great difference 

 in different strains of bees as regards the 

 amount of surplus that they will store. 

 As a rule, this difference has been attribu- 

 ted to the greater or less industry of the 

 different strains. Some bees hsve been 

 called lazy; others industrious. Have we 

 been mistaken in this assumption, or 

 have we been correct, or have we been 

 partly correct ? We have all along been 

 supposing that red clover was abovit the 

 only honey producing plant having such 

 deep tubes that bees could not reach the 

 bottom of them. Is it possible that there 

 are other plants bearing honev producing 

 blossoms with too deep tubes for the bees ? 

 If there are no such blossoms in any great 

 abundance, except those furnished by 

 red clover, then red clover must play a 

 very important part where there are bees 

 with long tongues, or else there is an ad- 

 vantage in long tongues with almost any 

 blossoms. Ernest Root has probably- 

 done more work in measuring bees' 

 tongues than any one else has done, and 

 he calls the finding of long tongues in 

 bees that are capable of storing ^reat 

 amounts, an "old, old story." That is, 

 length of tongue and great storing ability 

 are alwaj^s found hand in hand. Now, it 

 would be interesting to know if "lazy" 

 bees, so-called, had short tongues. If it 

 should turn out that bees store honey in 

 proportion to the length of their tongues 

 it would greatly simplify the matter of de- 

 ciding which are the best bees. Let's 

 not "lose our heads," over this matter, 

 and jump to conclusions; let us keep 



