October, 1914. 



American ~Bae Jonrnal 



Canadians and Americans celebrating July i 

 Holguin. Cuba Mr. Kendall, besides bei 

 colonies boueht July 20. iqr. have given an 

 percent increase.— D. W. Millar. 



the instantaneous perversion of the 

 sense of smell, resulting from inhaling 

 smoke. Undoubtedly these two factors 

 are directly responsible for the success 

 of the smoke method. The excessive 

 inhalation of smoke, or the assimila- 

 tion of odoriferous vegetables, such as 

 onions, garlic, etc , will render the or- 

 gans of smell and taste unreliable tem- 

 porarily in humans, and why not in 

 bees ? 



While some have made an attempt 

 to ignore the part that odor performs 

 in the domestic economy of the hive, 

 that element is in the minority, and 

 the consensus of opinion among pro- 

 gressive American beekeepers is that 

 odor transmission is tlie basic princi- 

 ple of successful queen introduction. 



Birmingham, Ohio. 



at the Finca of Mr. Rolando Kendall, near 

 ns a fruit grower, is a " bee bug."' Twenty 

 average of over 10 gallons per colony and 100 



Ancient Apiculture— Aristotle 



BY E. M. MACDONALD. 



WHEN we read over the works of 

 old beekeepers, the wonder is not 

 that they knew so little of bees 

 and their ways, but that they knew 

 so much. Aristotle lived some 2300 

 years ago, having been born in 384 

 B. C. in Grecian Turkey. He seems 

 to have been an omnivorous reader 

 and amassed a vast stock of facts 

 gleaned from others and also from the 

 fruits of his own observations. His 

 classification forms the groundwork 

 of later labors. He was the earliest 

 to note and describe the tour membra- 

 nous wings of bees and other insects, 

 he described the various parts of 

 their six legs, and he was the first 

 to accord to the two magic working 

 horns or feelers in front of the head, 

 the name of antennae, "because they 

 hold them forth before." 



He gives the first and best summary 

 of Greek knowledge of the structure 

 and habits of the bee. and his observa- 

 tions served as a model for subsequent 

 writers, even until a comparatively 

 recent period. Virgil, Pliny and Co- 

 lumella drew largely on his facts and 

 fancies, and even our own classic But- 



ler had a great admiration for this 

 ancient scientist, for he tells us that 

 Aristotle "discovered more at large 

 about bees than he did on any other 

 living creatures." 



The generation of bees was a great 

 puzzle to this author as well as to all 

 early bee writers. He says, "All are 

 not agreed about the generation of 

 bees. Some say they collect them 

 from the flowers, others that the rul- 

 ers (the King then, our Queen) pro- 

 duce the young of the bees. By some 

 they are called the mother-bees as if 

 they were the parents of the rest, and 

 they agree that unless the ruler is 

 present, drones only are produced, 

 and no worker-bees. Others affirm 

 that drones are males and bees fe- 

 males." How near the actual truth 

 these ancient beekeepers were! 



He observed the eggs in the cells, 

 and even noted that at first they lay 

 in an angular position and change 

 later. From this egg proceeded a 

 worm (larva) and he had at least a 

 dim idea of the feeding process after 

 the egg hatched. The egg at first 



increased by its own powers, contain- 

 ing as it did the material "necessary 

 lor augmentation." Honey is placed 

 beside the larvae for conviently trans- 

 mitting it to the brood-cells, and they 

 breed best when honey is coming in 

 plentifully. He noticed the royal jelly 

 and looked on it as matter for gener- 

 ation as well as for augmentation. 

 Queen cells were observed in hives to 

 the number of six or seven before 

 swarming. He noticed that they were 

 destroyed later, also that supernumer- 

 ary queens were killed off as useless, 

 if not indeed mischievous. 



Aristotle accorded to bees the or- 

 gans of sight, smell, touch, taste, but 

 had doubts of the sense of hearing, 

 and he held that they cannot sueak. 

 "Insects have neither voice nor speech, 

 but make a sound with the air within 

 t'lem (spiracles), not with that which 

 is external, but they make a sound 

 with the membrane beneath the di- 

 visions of the body." "They can smell 

 from a great distance, and can scent 

 honey or fields of nectar when very 

 far away. Any contamination in the 

 hive is an offence, and they ca/ry out 

 dead bees before they display signs of 

 putrefaction, while they void their ex- 

 crement outside so that it may not 

 contaminate the hive atmosphere. 

 They dislike all offensive smells and 

 the scent of alcoholics and readily 

 sting persons who use such things." 

 He taught his successors a bad lesson 

 in stating that bees were weak in the 

 sense of sight. We moderns must 

 marvel at the statement as this is 

 one of th.T points in which they are 

 most perfect. 



He was much puzzled if drones are 

 males why they should be in subjec- 

 tion to their females, "because na- 

 ture never gives females the power 

 to defend themselves and destroy the 

 males." Drones, he declares, are use- 

 less — yet because of their presence 

 bees are more industrious and hives, 

 in their absence at the right time, 

 fail to do their best work. "Drones 

 are thieves." Beekepers even at this 

 early date had a species of drone trap 

 or excluder. They narrowed the en- 



Roasting the pig at Mr. Kendall's July i. igij. The animal is drawn and a slick passed 



through him lengthwise. He is then slowly turned before the fire until done. 



U is a long job. but " mighty fine doings."— L). W. Millar. 



