84 



xh:© smemicsk mmm joi^rksiu. 



Prof. A. J. Cook has just returned 

 from New York, where he has been deliver- 

 ing addresses to large audiences in various 

 parts of the State, on " The relation of bees 

 to agriculture." The Professor is an inter- 

 esting spealjer, and his addresses will do 

 much good, by enlightening the agricultural 

 portion of the coniniunity upon the true re- 

 lation of bees to their chosen vocation. 



At Albany, N. T., he delivered a lecture, 

 the outline of which, in the Counti-y Oen- 

 tleman, is as follows : 



There is a close relationship between the 

 forces and phenomena of nature. The winds 

 affect the m.iisture, and the moisture modifles 

 the winds. We cut the forests and let loose 

 the wind and the rain. We crop continuously, 

 starve our soil, and go to the poor-house. 

 Science, which explains this relation, is man's 

 best servant. 



This connection of bee-keeping- with agri- 

 culture well illustrates this relationship, and 

 shows that the farmer needs to know the 

 "wh>s and wherefores" of all hissuriound- 

 Ings Charles Darwin discovered years ago 

 that crose-fertilization is necebsary to full 

 fruitage of many of nur plants. Some yield 

 nothing without it. Only insects can do this 

 work fur many plants. Early In the season 

 the honey-liee is the only insect common 

 enough to do this work to any large extent. 

 The honey-bee was not a native to America. 

 Thus we know why our early wild fiowers are 

 scattering, while the late ones cover the fields 

 and marshes as with a garment. In Califor- 

 nia, where no winter kills the insect hosts, the 

 early flowers cover the plains. 



The honey-bees can reach the nectar of 

 Alsike clove'r : so the first bloom gives seed. 

 The red clover must wait for bumble-bees, 

 and so the second crop alone is productive. 

 Experimi nts here and the history of New 

 Zealand prove this. There no seed was pro- 

 duced until the bumole-bee was introduced. 

 Now they raise their own feed. By caging 

 bumble-bees on red clover we can secure seed 

 from Iho first bloom. Hereafter as we raise 

 our large crops of clover seed, let us think 

 gratefully of the beautiful bumtile-bees, rich 

 in their yellow and gold, whose joyous melody 

 in the clover Held means for us a bounteous 

 crop and a full pocket-book. 



We should especially remember that owing 

 to the cold our insects largely die off, and so 

 for a full fruitage of our plants that bloom 

 early, we must have the honey-bee. This has 

 been proved over and over. Any cultivated 

 pant with sweet or showy Hower seeds, must 

 have insects or they cannot bear a full har- 

 vest. Our introduced plants mostly bloom in 

 the spring. How important then the bees 1 



In some cases the wind may be suOiclent. 

 Doubtless ill all cases insects are great help- 

 ers. How often our frut fails of a lull crop, 

 because the cold and rain shut up the bees 

 during the time of bloom. Thus it goes with- 

 out saying, that the farmer and fruit-grower 

 must either keep bees ihemcelves, or induce 

 their neighbors to do so, or they will fail of 

 the best success. There must be no antag- 

 onism between the farmer and orchardist and 

 the bee-keeper. Nature wills that they be 

 friends. . , 



Bees never injure the blossoms of plants ; 

 their visits are always and only a bem-tlt Nor 

 do bees ever destroy sound truit. The struc- 

 ture and habits of liecs, no less than observa- 

 tion, show that this is true. Bees will never 

 attack fruit until a puncture or break in the 

 akin kts free the juice. Thenthe bee isqulck 

 to save the watting sweets. 



By drawinns it was shown that the wasp's 

 jaw was made to tear, hut the bee's was not, 

 being gouge-shaped. Bees do, howrver, visit 

 prapesiii swarms, when, lorany reason either 

 the puncture of the bird or wasp, or by na- 

 ture, the juice cozes out. They also cro>vd 

 about the eider and poinace at the cider-inill, 

 and swarm atjout raisins exposed to dry out- 

 of-doors. Here the parties interest* d must 

 unite by screens and other care to mitigate 



the evil, and then bear and forbear, for all 

 are interested that ihe bees do not suffer 

 harm. The raisin industry followed the bees, 

 and so bees lave the "right of pofsession." 

 Is it not right then that raisins be dried in en- 

 closures ? I aiu persuaded that when the 

 farmer, gardener and orchardist rightly un- 

 derstand the importance of bees in the nat- 

 ural economy ot thfir own operations, ail dis- 

 putes and unneighborly differences will dis- 

 appear, and each will rtjoice in the others* 

 prosjierity, if for no higher motive than mere 

 selfishness. 



HoTV l>o Itees Ureal lie?— In an 



essay by Mr. John Aspinwall, read at the 

 New York State Convention, we find the 

 following very interesting paragraphs : 



Bees require a breathing apparatus quite as 

 well as ourselves, and 1 think it will aston- 

 ish you when I tell you how complicated it 

 is. In the first place, liees have no lungs 

 like a horse or bird. They do not depend 

 upon one oraan to supply the oxygen neces- 

 sary to enable the several parts to perform 

 their functions. 



Before going further, let me explain that 

 the air we breathe is composed of three 

 giises, one of which, oxygen, is the element 

 that sustains life, as well as the fire which 

 burns in the grate. Life may be called a 

 burning process. 



In ourselves, our blood comes in contact 

 with oxygen witiiin the lungs, and then 

 travels by the most delicate channels to 

 every part of our body. In the bee theie "s 

 ahlootipuMip like our heait. It is called 

 the " dorsal vessel," and resembles some- 



fore going in, and you will see it pant like a 



tired horse 



Take a Bood sized pill-box and fill it half 

 full of wax. Catch a worker, and kill it 

 with ether, chlorotorm or alcohol, and per- 

 mit the killing fluid to evaporate. With a 

 hair pin, heat'-d over a lamp, make a little 

 hath of ineittd wax in a convenient spot in 

 the pill-box, and having clipped off the 

 wings and legs of the bee, drop it <in its 

 bacK in the little batn aforesaid. The bee 

 should not be more than half imm>'rsed in 

 the wax, which is then allowed to cool. 

 When cold, which will be in about a min- 

 ute, pour water over the bee uniil it is cov- 

 ered. In a good light — say sun iiht — with a 

 needle knife (made by heating the point of 

 a coarse sewii g-needle until red hot, ham- 

 mering it with a tack hammer, on the face 

 of a fiat-iron, and after tempering by heat- 

 ing cherry red and plunging in water, 

 sharpened on a hone, and inserted in a 

 match, for a handle) and a fine needle in- 

 serted In another match, go to work and cut 

 away the under part ot the rings of the 

 abdomen, and carefully lift them off. 



If you have good eyesight, or if not, by 

 aid of a cheap lense (magnifying glass) of 

 good construction, you will be astonished at 

 the sight before >ou. There lie the honey- 

 sac, digesting stomach, bile tubes and in- 

 testine. Kuiining in all directions, but 

 starting from the sides, you will note fine 

 white tubes branching out into smaller, and 

 these oraans into still smaller, until lost to 

 siaht. These are the air-tubes I have been 

 talkinsi about, and you will note that they 

 not only encircle the digesting stomach, but 

 are wound anmiid the other par's iu sight. 

 If your lense be strong enough, and you 

 have not ruptured it in your dissection, you 

 may find the nerve system, wiich lies just 

 under, or when the bee is right side up, just 

 over the wax-producing portion of the ab- 

 domen, and wlucli runs the whole length of . 

 the bee from tail to brain. You will find it 

 composed of two "cords" almost trans- 

 parent, wiih occasional bulgings in which 

 the two "cords" are joined. In and about 

 tills very nerve system jou will Hud the fine 

 breathing tubes before spoken of. Up into 

 the compound eye, with its thousands ot 

 lenses, run other breathing tubes, every 

 lense being supplied with oxygen in this 

 manner, so that its functions may be pei^ 

 formed. 



-.c^ijftjrt' 



The Handy Dissecting Microscope, made by 

 Buusch & Lomb, Rochester, iV. T. 



what an injector, such as is found on every 

 locomotive, but depends upon the opening 

 and >hutting of valves, tor its successful 

 operation. It leads the blood, received 

 through the several openings in it, to the 

 liend, whence it oozes back through the 

 whole body. 



Insteal ot lungs, bees have what is called 

 a "tracheal .sy.,tem " — a trachea is lUf-relv 

 an air-tube— and these air tubes travel in 

 every conceivable direction within the body. 

 They receive the outside air through open- 

 iU'js in the boiy, called spinch-s. Adult 

 b es have fourteen of these openings. The 

 spirai-les open into larne sics, from whii-li 

 hrancli out Ihe tubes before spoken of. As 

 I b fore said, the blood does not rec ive the 

 oxvgen from lungs, and hence tiiese air- 

 tuhes must perforin this life-giving function. 

 Every pait, every member, however small, 

 however delicate, must be reached by these 

 breatliuig tulles. Bees breathe with a regu- 

 lar motio'i. but Instead of an expaudiiig 

 and contracting of the chest, it is a lenath 

 enitig and shortening of the abdomen. 

 Watch a tired bee stop at the entrance be- 



XI»e Ontario Bee-Keepers' Conven- 

 tion was held last month at Owen Sound, 

 the residence of R. McKnlght, Esq., Regis- 

 trar of the County of Grey, who gave the 

 visiting apiarists a right royal welcome. 

 Concerning the next meeting of the Inter- 

 national Bee- Association at Brantford, the 

 Times remarks thus : 



A discussion ensued as to the best course 

 to be adopted in view of this important 

 gathering being had for the second lime on 

 Canadian soil. Some wete in favor ot 

 meriiiiis; the annual meeting of the Ontario 

 Association with that ot the larger body, 

 but it was objected thattliis could hardly be 

 done In view of the legal status held by the 

 Ontario body. It was lelt to he desirable 

 that the American visitors should be re- 

 ceived with all cordiality, and tosecuie this, 

 a special general iiiei ting of the Association 

 was resolved on, and the Pr. sideut and 

 Board of Direciofs were appointed a dele- 

 gation to the luternational body. 



The Rev. W. F. Clarke is the President, 

 and Mr. U. F. Holtf rmann an officer, and 

 we may rest assured that the "cordial re- 

 ception" will b=) all that those words imply. 

 We hope for a i.'eeting second to none in 

 the history of the International Society. 



