September 29, 1892] 



NATURE 



51 



than half a million of offspring. During twenty-one days 

 as ^gg, larva, pupa, the infant bee resides in the comb, 

 fed by its older sisters on a paste of brood-food or chyle, 

 to which in the case of workers honey is added after the 

 first three days. For a week after emergence the young 

 bee remains at home in order to secrete wax, which is 

 detached from the wax pockets by others ; it is then pro- 

 moted to the office of nurse ; for a fortnight or three 

 weeks afterwards it gathers honey, spends its maturity in 

 the difficult work of comb-building, dies at the end of 

 six or seven weeks, unless winter hibernation arrests its 

 labour and prolongs its life. The moral of its unique 

 biography has been pointed by many writers ; the social 

 lesson of its communistic orderliness, the industrial ideal 

 flowing from its co-operative toil and profit, the political 

 example impressed by the curious completeness with 

 which, at once a red republican and an ardent cavalier, it 

 combines extremest democratic sturdiness with devoted 

 personal loyalty. 



The common hive bee, as distinguished from the 

 Bumble, Carpenter, Mason, and other bees, belongs to 

 the genus Apis, of which one species only, A. inellifica, 

 is indigenous to Britain. During the last few years the 

 Ligurian, Carniolian, and Syrian bees have been largely 

 introduced, from amongst which the cross known as 

 Syrio-Carniolian bears the palm for fecundity, docility, 

 honey-gathering, and hardiness through the winter. With 

 a swarm of these and a ten-frame hive the tyro may begin 

 bee-keeping. In manipulating he must not wear gloves ; 

 they make the fingers clumsy,and the sting, painful at first, 

 causes diminishing inconvenience on each successive inflic- 

 tion, till the system is inoculated by the acid, and the sting 

 is harmless. In creating their new home the bees require 

 assistance ; one or two frames of brood-comb from the 

 parent hive, with a limited number of drone cells, must 

 be inserted. As the frames fill, the master, utilizing the 

 fact that honey is always stored above the brood, places 

 " supers " over the frames, removing them as fast as they 

 are filled, while the full-charged combs from below are 

 placed in an extractor and the liquid honey is withdrawn. 

 As much as loo pounds of honey have sometimes been 

 thus obtained in one season from a single hive. The 

 honey harvest begins with the blooming fruit trees in early 

 spring, and slackens after the lime trees fade, but in 

 heather districts a rich autumn store is raised, and Scottish 

 bee-keepers, having reaped the early crop from bean and 

 clover, send their hives by rail or boat to a considerable 

 distance, to be placed upon the heath-clad moors in early 

 August. When an unfavourable winter has depopulated 

 the hives, it is possible to build up one strong colony out 

 of two or more weak stocks, retaining only the youngest 

 and most prolific queen. The bees will resent the coali- 

 tion, and a general fight will impend ; but if sprinkled 

 with thin syrup and with flour their power of discerning 

 Trojan from Tyrian is cancelled by the identity of 

 appearance and o scent. 



" Just so the prudent husbandman, that sees 

 The idle tumult of his factious bees, 

 Powders them o'er, till none discern his foes, 

 And all themselves in meal and friendship lose. 

 The insect kingdom straight begins to thrive, 

 And all work honey for the common hive." 

 Mr. Samson does well to press the economic value of 

 ■bees not only as honey-makers, but as fruit-setters. In 

 NO. I 196, VOL. 46] 



cold sunless springs their agency is essential to the fer- 

 tilization of the bloom ; in districts adjoining a large 

 apiary the fruit trees are invariably laden with heavy 

 crops, deteriorating as we remove further from its neigh- 

 bourhood ; and instances are well authenticated from the 

 cider counties in which a general destruction of bees by 

 a long and variable winter has been followed by the loss 

 of the apple crop. Both fruit and honey are at present 

 for the-most part imported from abroad ; if fruit is to be 

 largely cultivated in the small holdings of the future, it 

 must be sustained and enriched by bee-keeping. 



In this, as in other industries, there are occasional 

 difficulties baffling to all but experts. Queens will refuse 

 to be reared, supers will remain unfilled, stocks will need 

 stimulation in the spring and building up in early winter, 

 foul brood, deadliest of bee maladies, will infect the hive. 

 In all such complications and for many more Mr. 

 Samson offers full and clear instruction. Portable in 

 form and cheap of cost, his book should form part, along 

 with " smoker," bee veil, queen cage, " driving irons,'"' 

 and " doubling box," of every bee-keeper's equipment. 



W. TUCKWELL. 



A NEW COURSE OF CHEMICAL 

 INSTRUCTION. 



A New Course of Experimental Chemistry, with Key. 



By John Castell-Evans, F.I.C. (London : Thomas 



Murby.) 

 TT HE basis of the course of instruction here put forward 

 consists in making the student perform an experi- 

 ment with a definite object in view. The result of the ex- 

 periment is carefully withheld, and must be discovered by 

 the student himself. In this way he is led to acquire know- 

 ledge by his own exertions, and theoretically at least such 

 a method has more to recommend it than any other. In 

 practice, however, the time required to rigorously carry 

 out this system is no doubt an obstacle to its general 

 adoption. 



If with the author we lay down the law that " the stu- 

 dent must not be allowed to use any chemical name or 

 term until he has discovered for himself the thing ox pro- 

 cess represented by it," to acquire but a moderate know- 

 ledge of the chemistry of to-day appears well-nigh an 

 impossibility. It was thus a matter of interest to see how 

 a work based on this system could be comprised within 

 reasonable limits of space. The author, however, does 

 not seem to intend the above restriction to be literally en- 

 forced. To go no further than the first lesson, we find the 

 student employing the ordinary chemicals, phosphorus, 

 ammonium nitrite, potassium chlorate, &c., things which 

 he makes no attempt to discover ; only in the case of the 

 more important processes and substances usually met 

 with in a chemical course is any such attempt made. 



The book consists of two parts. The first part con- 

 tains a series of experiments and problems ; the latter 

 being set upon a course of lectures which are in- 

 tended to be given concurrently with the labora- 

 tory instruction, and which deal more especially 

 with the physical aspect of the subject. Outlines 

 of these lectures, results of the experiments, and full 

 solutions of the problems are to be found in the Key, 

 which may be obtained separately or bound up with the 



