43(5 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



Nothing can better attest the wonderful anat- 

 omy of the bee than the vast amount of litera- 

 ture devoted to it, especially in England. In 

 France and Italy, whose climatic conditions 

 are so pleasant, this might have been expected; 

 but to find so many bee-books from England, 

 printed at so early a time, and from the pens of 

 men standing in the highest walks of life, is 

 highly gratifying to one using their language 

 and belonging to their race. 



If one be tempted to smile at some of the con- 

 clusions of our ancestors, he should remember 

 that, before steam and electricity were harness- 

 ed up, communication was slow and expensive; 

 and printing, too, in particular, was very costly 

 when not over 240 impressions could be made in 

 an hour on the old hand-presses universally in 

 use before the year 1800. And then, again, how 

 greatly we are indebted to the microscope in its 

 present magnificent state! Let us rather ad- 

 mire the great results achieved by our fore- 

 fathers. Who will be reading a copy of the 

 ABC book 336 years hence? or Cook's Manual? 

 and how will such books stand the test of criti- 

 cism in the year of grace 2130? It seems proba- 

 ble, however, that future writers can only add 

 to the general conclusions now held in regard 

 to the bee, and not sweep them entirely to one 

 side as mere rubbish, as we are compelled to do 

 with the writings of those who lived 200 years 

 ago. That the queen is the mother of the bees; 

 that she is fertilized once for all by the drone, 

 and that the workers are undeveloped females, 

 will never be questioned. But that there is 

 room for improvement in the management of 

 bees is readily granted. 



The only regret one can have in describing 

 such books is, that the reader can not see them 

 himself and thus render a description useless; 

 but as that can not be done, the next best thing 

 will be resorted to. 



The first book I come to is entitled, " A Thea- 

 tre of Politicall Flying-Insects. Wherein espe- 

 cially the nature, ihe worth, the work, the won- 

 der, and the manner of right-ordering of the 

 BEE is discovered. Together with discourses, 

 historical, and observations physical concern- 

 ing them. And in a second part are annexed 

 meditations, and observations theological and 

 moral, in three centuries upon that subject. By 

 Samuel Purchas. London : Three Crowns in 

 Cheapside, 1657." 



The book has .387 pages, 5x7; type four times 

 the size of these letters. The work bestowed 

 upon it may be imagined when we learn that 

 the author compiled it largely from the works 

 of about 4(X) writers, ancient and modern, whose 

 names he gives. These names are printed also 

 in the margin, opposite a passage quoted from 

 their respective works. This is a very conven- 

 ient arrangement. But what a wilderness of 

 superstition the author makes his way through! 

 Strange to say, these same false opinions are, in 

 many cases, founded on a half-truth or imper- 

 fect reasoning from cause to effect. But it is 

 refreshing to see how readily Mr. Purchas turns 

 from some foolish beliefs that have survived so 

 many centuries. For instance, in speaking of 

 the theory of Virgil in regard to bees being pro- 

 duced by generation and putrefaction from the 

 bodies of bulls, lions, calves, etc., the author 

 says, " Whether there be any solidity in this 

 particular, I am somewhat dubious, because it 

 was never authentically proved." The idea 

 probably originated by seeing bees hovering 

 .over a fly-blown carcass. He quotes the words 

 of many ancient writers in reference to the gen- 

 eration of bees as well as of other animals; but 

 his conclusions in regard to the queen, drone, 

 and worker, are, so far as I can see, about as 

 follows: The queen is simply a director of the 

 bees. In all that Mr. Purchas says about her 



he seems not to have the least suspicion that 

 she is the only female in the hive, and that she 

 lays eggs. How that fact should so long escape 

 the notice of men is the most astounding thing 

 in the history of the bee. To prove that drones 

 are male bees, and not a separate and distinct 

 species, the author speaks of the bees "con- 

 ceiving" one year and bringing forth the next; 

 and that a colony well supplied with drones 

 will be stronger on account of it! that is, each 

 drone leads off a blushing worker for the next 

 dance, while the queen gives orders. Probably 

 the English of those days never dreamed that 

 queenhood and utility ever exist in the same 

 body, and hence a queen in the hive was sup- 

 posed to be as useless as one on the throne; and 

 so they interpreted the works of God by those 

 of men. 



Speaking of drones our author says, quoting 

 verbatim: "The Drone, whatsoever some may 



say to the contrary, is the Male-Bee by 



whose natural heat and masculine virtue the 

 Honey-Bee, which bi-eeds both Honey-bees and 

 Drones, conceiveth." What a revelation to such 

 a man would Cheshire's or Cowan's work be! 



If those worthy old writers had spent less 

 time in speculating about bees, and put a little 

 more of it on hives, they would have learned 

 more: for much of their error is directly trace- 

 able to the abominable skeps they used. In 

 speaking of the proper size of a hive, our author 

 says: "Hives are to be made of any size be- 

 tween a bushel and half a bushel;" but he con- 

 siders half a bushel rather small. But between 

 extremes he prefers a small hive— or. as we say, 

 an eight-frame one rather than ten-frame. 



Only four pages are devoted to hives, and 

 even that little suffices only to show the dense 

 ignorance of those limes regarding hives. This 

 was a hundred years before Huberwas born. 

 Concerning the material of hives the author 

 says: . . . "some [are made] of square boards, 

 three foot high, and a foot broad; so in scarci- 

 ty of hives, I have known some use Butter-fir- 

 kings ; some of earth, which they daub with 

 Cow-dung within and without, because the 

 smoothness is offensive, and the heat and cold 

 also otherwise would be too extream." 



The other subjects treated of are swarming, 

 enemies, diseases, etc. In spite of the many 

 grotesque fancies in this old book, it is fasci- 

 nating, no matter where it is opened. The au- 

 thor lived in a transition period, when men 

 were beginning to break away from their faith 

 in Aristotle, Ptolemy, Aristarchus. and others, 

 ani to think for themselves; still, they were 

 ready to quote the ancients if it helped their ar- 

 gument. The book gives us a glance now and 

 then of life in England when the government 

 was as headless as the late king (Charles I.), 

 and Ci'omwell was wielding the last of his brief 

 authority. Nine years after the book was 

 printed London was burned, and dimbtless the 

 priiiting-oflice with it where the type were set. 

 Such books tell us how far we have progressed 

 over the sea of human invention. W. P. R. 



Medina, May 20. 



Heads of Grain 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



MORE ABOUT CATFISH. 



Mr. Boot;— Please tell Mr. Levi A. Ressler, 

 of Napanee, Ind., p. 3.5.3, that the best variety 

 of catfish for fish-ponds is the blue (or channel) 

 cat. He can obtain them of W. H. Dye, Phila- 

 delphia, Hancock Co., Ind. 



Henry, 111., May 9. Beknakd Reisingek. 



