1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



was used and abandoned years ago;" and, to 

 knock all the vanity and conceit out of the sup- 

 posed inventor, it goes to work and pn/ves it by 

 records in its columns. Here's a case in point. 

 But. Mr. Editor, don't hit the poor fellow too 

 hard. Leave sotue of hiia. 



A GREAT "discovery." 



In the American Bee-heeper, page 275, Mr. 

 John Clark says that, while experimenting, he 

 •■ discovered " a new plan to get tlie wax out of 

 old comb. Take an old lard or oil can and cut 

 a hole in the side of it as large as the exhaust- 

 pipe on your waterworks. Then fill a basket 

 ( ..ppose a bushe baskeu will do) with your 

 old comb. Put a little water in the can. Now 

 stuff in the basket of old comb, and cover with 

 carpet. Now harness it to the waterworks by 

 pushing the can on to the exhaust-pipe. In 

 three short minutes the job is done. If this is 

 new, and a splendid success, I want an exhaust- 

 pipe. If you have them in stock, Mr. Editor, 

 send me one immediately, already loaded, mind 

 you. But I think that A. I. Root "knocked 

 the stuffin' out of "old comb years ago, with 

 steam. Is it not so? 



HOW TO EDUCATE THE TAIL END OF A BEE. 



For two hundred years entomologists have 



been deceiving us. Two hundred years! and 



during all ihat time I have never raised my 



voice in protest against them. But now it is 



time they were brought to bay. When I tell 



you that I intend — 



To be remembered, in my line. 

 With my land's language, 



you will see that -they will have a foeman 

 worthy of their steel, and one that's not to 

 be fooled with. I draw the line at the worker- 

 bee. I emphatically deny that he is a woman. 

 I most indignantly repudiate the thought. 

 Where are the sweet, tender, gentle, kind, and 

 sympathetic traits of womankind? Echo an- 

 swers, " Where?" No I he is a male man, or at 

 most he is nothing more than a female man— 

 the most vindictive, fierce, prodding, probing, 

 punctuating, piercing, penetrating, "get there 

 anyhow" kind of a beast that I ever knew. 

 Yes, entomologists have led us astray on his 

 anatomy. The wrong end of the bee is the 

 right end. No, that is not it. The head end is 

 the tail end. No, that is not it either. Now 

 look here. What I mean is, that the entomolo- 

 gists have placed the brains of the bee in his 

 head, whereas I contend that all his intellectual 

 and business faculties lie in the tail end of him. 

 This is the point where you must begin his 

 education. His mind lies in the wrong end of 

 him. The fore part of his body is an automatic 

 machine which was built solely to rear a house 

 and store away supplies. Now, Mr. McArthur, 

 of Toronto, meets my views exactly. In A. B. 

 J., page 65,3, is an account of a new strain of 

 bees originated by him. They have long and 

 penetrating stings, but never use them. Mr. 



McArthur commenced at the head — that is, 

 the tail — of the bee, to reform it. Now. here is 

 where everybody else fooled themselves. They 

 began at the head, whereas 1 have clearly 

 shown that his whole business force lies in the 

 other end of him. All experiments in reform 

 heretofore have failed — ignominiously failed — 

 because they began at the wrong end. But 

 Mr. McArthur struck a bonanza when he took 

 the same view of it that I do. He began the 

 reformation right, and he succeeded. You can 

 kick his hive over, and then kick it back again, 

 and they make no resistance. You can grab 

 them up by the handful, throw them into the 

 air, and kick them and cuff them as they come 

 down again. Will they fight? No, sir. They 

 will sneak away, back into the hive, and begin 

 to cry. Mr. McArthur doesn't intend to begin 

 selling queens from this strain of bees till their 

 stings rust off for want of exercise, and then 

 he will have a race of stingless bees. Mr. 

 McArthur is still pushing his reformation up 

 the spinal cord. But I think he has gone far 

 enough. If I were in his place I would not try 

 to reform the left end of him; if he does, he 

 may paralyze the honey-gathering machinery. 

 But, won't there be a picnic wlicn the boys of 

 Toronto know for a cirtainiy that Mr. McAr- 

 tbur's bees won't sting? Won't the streets of 

 Toronto flow with honey when the boys know 

 that the bees have reformed ? O sweet-scented 

 streets of Toronto! how I should love to be 

 there to enjoy the " feast of reason and the flow 

 of sole!" Then will echo from corner to corner, 

 "Run, boys, run! run for McArthur's apiary! 

 all you have to do is to kick over a hive, paw 

 the bees off the combs, and send them home 

 crying to their mother! Run, boys, run! Hur- 

 rah!" Oh, the glorious, happy day when the 

 boys will get all the honey, and the bee-keeper 

 — nothing! 



Now I just want to offer a little criticism on 

 the above "circus" of Mr. McArthur. He be- 

 gan right— at the right end — but he went too 

 far. Some of the " reform " must have touched 

 the spinal marrow at the root of the sting, and 

 thus paralyzed it. The reform was too strong, 

 and should have been diluted. I am now going 

 into the "reform" business myself; but you 

 will see a different result. I will begin on their 

 moral nature (which is rather attenuated at 

 present) and teach them to distinguish between 

 friend and foe. I will instill into their innocent 

 minds a love for the family of the bee-keeper. 

 The course of study will be so thorough and so 

 effectual that the children can play " hide and 

 go seek " in the apiary while the little tots are 

 sitting down playing with the bees in front of 

 the hives. Scouts to hunt a home will be abol- 

 ished, and instead a deputation will be sent to 

 the house to proclaim the glad tidings to the 

 family that a swarm is soon to come out. 



But, on the contrary, I will cultivate to the 



