1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



m 



[Concluded from last month.] 

 I cannot close the subject of stings, with- 

 out speaking of the wonderful similarity be- 

 tween the mechanism of the sting of the 

 bee, and the apparatus furnished many in- 

 sects for sawing and boring into wood and 

 other substances, for the purpose of deposit- 

 ing their eggs. Almost precisely the same 

 apparatus is used, but the barbs on the ex- 

 tremities are saws instead of the sharp 

 hooks, [f you will look at the cut, you will 

 see that but very little change need be made 

 in these barbs to convert them into saw 

 teeth, and then we should have an engine 

 for cutting and boring holes, that might eas- 

 ily be patented, if old dame Nature were so 

 disposed. Now listen. If the insect had 

 but one saw. even though he had strength to 

 draw it back and forth, his Light body would 

 not give him purchase enough to do much 

 execution with it. It is true he might "dig 

 in his toe nails." and hold himself down so 

 that he could work it to some extent, but 

 then he could not change his position, ac- 

 cording- to his work. etc. When the saw was 

 worked, instead of its cutting into the hard 

 timber, his light body would be simply slid 

 to and fro; but, with two saws, like the 

 barbed spears of the bee sting, working in a 

 sheath to hold them together, he can stand 

 his ground and use his enormous muscular 

 strength to do rapid cutting, even if his body 

 does not weigh only a half grain, or less. 

 While one saw goes forward, the other goes 

 backward, and the rapidity with which these 

 insects work them enables them to make as- 

 tonishing progress, even in substances so 

 hard that one would not suppose they could 

 make any impression at all. Now here 

 comes in again the wonderful law I have 

 spoken of so many times, on these pages. 

 The insect that has the most effective and 

 perfect set of tools will lay most eggs and 

 have them most secure from the depreda- 

 tion of enemies, and his species will stand a 

 better chance of survival than the individ- 

 ual or class with poorer tools. By giving a 

 constant preference to the best workers, and 

 taking into account how nature sports and 

 varies, would it be strange, if, after the lapse 

 of ages, the result should be the beautifully 

 finished work we see through the micro- 

 scope. I do not know that bee stings could 

 develop into saws, or saws into bee stings. 

 but if an insect should be found using its 

 ovipositor as a weapon of defense, as well as 

 for the purpose of egg laying, it might look 

 as though the thing were possible. 1 am 

 not an entomologist, and T do not know that 



any such insect has ever, been discovered. 

 Who will enlighten us? 



SPIDER PLOW2E [CVeome Pun- 

 gens). This has but recently been brought 

 into notice as a honey plant. It belongs to 

 the same family as the ROCKY MOUNTAIN 

 BEE plant, which it much resembles. All 

 I know of it is given on pages 292 and 329 of 

 last year's Gleanixgs. 



SUMAC {Bhus). This is a sort of 

 shrub, or small tree, readily known by its 

 bunches of bright red fruit, having an in- 

 tensely sour taste. The acid property, how- 

 ever, seems to be only on the surface of the 

 fruit, in the red dust that may be brushed 

 off. I have had no experience with the hon- 

 ey, which the bees sometimes get in large 

 quantities from the small greenish flowers, 

 but give the following from page 9f5, Glean- 

 ings for 1874: 



June 22d, 1874. — Contrary to expectations, we are 



now in the height of a wonderful How of honey from 

 sumac, which of late years has not yielded much. 

 Everything- in the hives is filled full, and I am kept 

 busy hiving - swarms, as it has become too much of a 

 job to keep them from swarming: by removing 

 frames of brood. O. F. Mekria.m, Topeka, Kan. 



SUCTFIoOWER {Helianthus). This 

 plant embraces a very large family, but the 

 principal ones for honey, are the common 

 sunflower, and the Jerusalem artichoke. 

 During some seasons and in some localities, 

 the bees seem to be very busy indeed on 

 these plants, all the day long. The mam- 

 moth Russian sunflower bears flowers of 

 enormous dimensions, and from the way 

 the bees crowd each other about the necta- 

 ries, one would suppose they yielded much 

 honey. The seed, which is yielded in large 

 quantities, would seem almost to pay the ex- 

 pense of cultivation. The following is taken 

 from page 36, Vol. Ill, of Gleanings. 



My boy had a small box of sunflower seeds, which 

 hr kept as one of his playthings. Last spring- he ac- 

 cidentally spilt them in the g-arden by the fence, 

 and, old as they were, they came up profusely. They 

 looked so thrifty, 1 took it into my head to trans- 

 plant them. 1 set them all around in the fence, out 

 of the way. where nothing else would grow to advan- 

 tage, and.' if you will believe me, I had an enormous 

 crop. When They blossomed the bees went at them 

 in earnest, and after the bees got through with them, 

 there were several quartB of seed. I sold a dollar's 

 worth to my druggist, and the balance 1 fed out to 

 my hens, and as a writer of old has said, I found 

 nothing so good and nourishing for laying: hens as 

 sunflower seeds. Then I out off the empty heads, 

 place them near the bee hives, fill them with sugar 

 and water, and that suits the bees to a T. Bo you 

 see I was at no expense, and they paid well. I write 

 this that others may be benefited as well as myself. 

 On. R. Hitchcock. 



Smith Xorwalk, Conn., Feb. :i, 1875. 



SWARMING-. AH animated nature 



seems to have some means of reproducing 

 its like, that the species may not become ex- 

 tinct, and, especially among the insect 

 tribes, we find a great diversity of ways and 

 means for accomplishing this object. In the 



