488 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



teid, the nitrogenous iDortion of the food. 

 Of this there is a i^ereentage of 64.4 per 

 cent. This high proteid content is not 

 strange when we consider that pollen is 

 mainly protoplasm, a substance largely 

 made np of proteid. There are 9.23 per 

 cent of fat. This fat is remarkable in that 

 some of the oils composing it are very vol- 

 atile, and have a penetrating disagTeeable 

 odor. There is a sugar content of 9.5 j^er 

 cent. This is 1.3 per cent cane sugar and 

 8.2 i^er cent sucrose. A large part of this 

 sugar comes from the honey used in mixing 

 the bee-bread. An analysis of pollen alone 

 would be necessary to ascertain the exact 

 amount. I was surprised to find consider- 

 able wax, 3 to 5 per cent, in the bread. 

 Dr. E. r. Phillips believes this to have 

 come from careless removal of the pollen 

 from the cells in which it is stored. How- 

 ever, as I was particular to avoid that very 

 thing I believe that most of the wax was a 

 part of the bread. Dr. Phillips maintains 

 that pollen will keep without i^resen-atives 

 being used. I endeavored to preserve dan- 

 delion pollen in the laboratory, but failed 

 because of mold, and it would seem that 

 tlie controlled conditions in the laboratory 

 would be better adapted for keeping pollen 

 than those obtaining in the hive. I there- 

 fore believe the wax is used as a preserva- 

 tive. 



The following is a tabulated resume of 

 the analysis: 



Water, 12.75 per cent ; proteid, 64.4 per 

 cent; fat, 9.23 per cent; sugar, 9.5 per cent 

 (cane sugar, 1.3 per cent; sucrose, 8.2 per 

 cent) ; wax, 3 to 5.00 per cent. 



Syracuse, N. Y. 



WHY THE BEES DID NOT EAT THE FRUIT 



BY BENJAMIN W. DOUGLASS 



[Mr. Douglass was formerly State Entomologist 

 for Indiana. Politics threw him out of office. He 

 is now largely engaged in fruit-growing, and is edi- 

 tor of The American Horticulturist, published at 

 Indianapolis. He ought to know what he is talking 

 about, and does.— Ed.] 



Bill was always a hard person to get 

 along with, and all of Ms neighbors avoid- 

 ed contact with him just as much as possi- 

 ble ; so I was not unprepared when he came 

 to me with his tale of woe. I keep bees, 

 and Bill has a few peach trees and some 

 grapevines. I also have a few peach trees 

 — in fact, several thousand more than Bill; 

 but that does not keep Bill from tliinking 

 tliat he is the original and only fruit grow- 

 er. Bill was angry. His peaches were be- 

 ing eaten up by my bees, and his grapes 

 were being ruined. Something had to be 



done about .it. His entire croji was threat- 

 ed with destruction, and he demanded just- 

 ice. I realized that I faced a diplomatic 

 problem, and so I jDroceeded with caution. 



"Bill," said I, "how many times did you 

 spray your peaches this spring?" 



"Nary a time. My laeaches don't need 

 sprayin'. They was always all right until 

 you brought your pesky bees out here." 



"Well," I pursued, "was not this past 

 season a particularly severe one on 

 peaches, inasmuch as the warm wet weather 

 has caused them to rot more than usual*?" 

 He admitted that it was. "Now, Bill," I 

 said, "did you ever actually see a bee eating 

 a hole in a perfectly good peach?" 



Bill is fairly truthful, particularly when 

 he suspects that you have the drop on him, 

 and he hesitatingly admitted that he had 

 never seen a bee at work on a perfectly 

 sound peach, but that their first work was, 

 without exception, at a rotten spot where 

 the skin was soft or even broken. With 

 this admission I took the liberty of crowd- 

 ing Bill into a corner where he could not 

 get away, and proceeded to give him a lec- 

 ture on the w^ay bees "damage" fruit. 



It is practically impossible for a honey- 

 bee to "eat" through the skin of any of our 

 common fruits; and if they do any damage 

 it is jjurely secondary in nature. If the 

 fruit grower would turn his attention to the 

 proper methods of caring for his crop he 

 would find that the bees Avill not bother 

 him ; and in i^laee of fighting the beekeep- 

 er he would welcome him to his locality. 



The experiment has been often tried, of 

 keeping hungry bees in a cage with some 

 perfect fruit. They will not touch it. Tins 

 is not because of any angelic disposition on 

 the part of the bees, nor because they are 

 possessed of more than human sense of 

 property rights, but simply because the 

 Creator did not intend that bees should eat 

 hard things; and the skin of fruits is hard. 

 The bee's mouth is a soft structure, built 

 for sucking the nectar of flowers. It would 

 be quite impossible for such a mouth to 

 "bite." Imagine boring a hole in an apple 

 with a soft-rubber tube. That is what a 

 bee would have to do if it did not depend 

 on other insects to break the skin on it first. 

 Some fruit growers argue that bees "sting" 

 the fruit and then suck the juice. While 

 such a performance is anatomically possi- 

 ble, there is no record that bees ever use 

 their sting for this purjDOse. 



Of course. Bill oiSered objections from 

 time to time, and in the end I do not think 

 that he was altogether convinced that the 

 peaches had not been "eaten" by my bees. 

 Just to keep peace in the family I gave him 

 a couple of sections of new honey, and he 



