THE AMERICA!^ APICULTURIST. 



41 



think it is sare to sa}' that if 

 throe- til'lhs of the price of coinl) 

 honey can be ol)tainc(l for ex- 

 tracteti lionoy, the produciion of 

 the latter is the more profitable 

 in all circnnistances ; and tlicre 

 are many home markets in which 

 nearly or quite as much is ol)taine(l 

 for tlie latter as for the former. 

 Those who are l)lessed with such a 

 market should cultivate it assidu- 

 ously and keep it supi)lied con- 

 stantly with extracted honey of 

 the finest quality that can be pro- 

 duced. 



It is to be noted, also, tliat gen- 

 erally tlie man makes the market. 

 Some have a remarkable faculty in 

 this wa3^ They never have any 

 difficulty in making a market for 

 anything that they have to sell. 

 Such should make the most of this 

 talent, and thus not only greatly 

 benefit themselves, but also to a 

 considerable extent relieve the 

 markets of the larger cities. 



Prairie Farmer. 



THE BEE'S LEGS AND FEE T. 



Mus. L. Harrison. 



At the late bee-convention in 

 Chicago, Professor Cook, of Michi- 

 gan, gave a ver}^ interesting and 

 instructive lecture on the legs of 

 the bee, with illustrations many 

 thousand times magnified. The 

 microscopic study of the bee has 

 latel}' received a new impetus by 

 the visit of Mr. Cowan, editor 

 of the British Bee Journal, who 

 brought to this country a micro- 

 scope acknowledged by experts to 

 be one of the finest they had ever 

 seen. 



In looking at these illustrations, 

 it is easy to see how the bees gather 

 up the pollen and store it in their 

 baskets. It would seera to appear 

 by the lawof "the survival of the tit- 



test," as age upon age has rolled 

 away, that these baskets have in- 

 crc^ased in size. Asan illustration, 

 take the island of Cyprus, which, 

 acUled to a sterile sod, has dry 

 scorching winds, parching every 

 thing in the form of vegetation. The 

 iidiabitants of this island never 

 feed the l)ees, tiierefore only those 

 survive such an ordeal which pos- 

 sess the greatest endurance and the 

 largest amount of stores. Where 

 there are colonies equal in num- 

 bers, and some of them store sur- 

 plus while others are stai'ving, it 

 shows conclusively that some of 

 them possess attributes which are 

 lacking in others. The}^ may have 

 stronger wings, and can fly farther 

 and faster, or have larger tongues, 

 which enables them to reach nec- 

 tar which the others cannot, or 

 have lai-ger receptacles for carry- 

 ing pollen, thereby enabling them 

 to rear more workers. 



This fall I was showing a visiting 

 beekeeper a feeder which was 

 merely a solid block of wood with 

 holes cut into it b}' a wobbling saw, 

 into which the feed could be poured.- 

 He remarked that if 1 put that on 

 a hive, full of s^'rup, in a short time 

 it would be full of drowning bees. 

 It had been given to me for trial, 

 and I had never used it. As I was 

 then feeding a colony short of win- 

 ter stores, I tilled it and put it on 

 a hive. When I went to look after 

 it, I found the feed all gone, the 

 feeder dry and clean, and no dead 

 bees in it. 



I then tilled some wooden butter 

 dishes, and found that without any 

 floats, it was all carried down, with- 

 out any being drowned. I was 

 puzzled at this, for if a vessel of 

 earthenware, tin or glass, had been 

 used in this way, it would have been 

 full of drowning, writhing bees. 

 It was made plain at the convention 

 why this is so. When a bee walks 

 on wood, his tarsi or feet take hold 

 with a sort of grip, but he cannot 



