1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



233 



they have been meanwhile confined. The bees 

 then fly back if tlie repinn i« well known to 

 liieni. to Uicir old home, wlicrc, in the mean 

 time, a little framework of wire netting has 

 been put np. Through this framework the un- 

 incumbered bees can easily pass. Biit those 

 bearing a dispatch can not get through the in- 

 ter'^ticcsof the netting, as the paper adhering 

 to tliijiback is a little wider than the mesh of 

 tlic \\\vi\ Oneciin then look for tlip bees from 

 time to time, and pick out the newly arrived 

 dispatch carriers. As a bee can not be so easily 

 caught as, for example, a carrier-pigeon, and 

 as they can be found in most localities, and re- 

 quire no special training, as do doves and fal- 

 cons, for this work, and as it is of the utmost 

 importance in war to convey secret mi S'^ages 

 with the gi'eatest speed, it can not be doubted 

 that this idea will receive serious attention if 

 the bees do not prove to be too feeble for the 

 work. Kakl R. Mathky. 



Medina, O.. Feb. Ki. 



FROM OLD ITALY. 



Bil F. M. Malan. 



Just as we Old -Continent bee-keepers feel 

 much interested in reading apicultural matter 

 from over the Atlantic, so. I am sure, do the 

 readers of Gleanings when they get such news 

 from the queens' -land— o](\. classical, and ever- 

 splendid Italy. Well. I suppose some of my co- 

 admirers of this very neat, well-informed, and 

 trustworthy periodical have seen mentioned 

 somewhere, during their apicultural career, a 

 northwest corner of Northern Italy, an exten- 

 sive and often narrow valley, adorned here and 

 there with thick pine woods. A fine, wide Na- 

 poleonic road runs through its full length, so 

 that we may SRv that Fenestrelles (celebrated 

 for trees) and Briauyon, on the French side of 

 the Alps, form the two opposite poles of this 

 famous valley, once altogether Protestant, but, 

 at the close of the 17th century, violently Ro- 

 manized by the missionaries of Louis XIV. 

 But, of course, bees do not care fur that. 



Now, when a tourist wants to taste a lirst- 

 rate honey, he asks at breakfast for pragelnto 

 honey (frozen meadoir), nearly, I think, as if I 

 asked for Narbonneor Gatinaislioney in France. 

 Its name is undoubtedly derived from the fact 

 that the flat part of the valley consists mainly 

 of fine meadows and rye-tields irrigated by a 

 silvery Alpine torrent. I don't know what 

 part of the United States would correspond to 

 that celebrated and really excellent region. 

 The altitude of this singular Italian valley, 

 where people still speak good French, is rather 

 considerable, being above the chestnut-tree re- 

 gion; and winter, consequently, is, as a rule, 

 very sharp and long. It is nearly impossible to 

 winter hives safely there. At some distance 

 from the stern Fenestrelles, that fortress where 



Saintine has placed the hero of Ids romance, 

 I'icciola, we have an outpost apiary of about ">() 

 hives, at 40 kilometers (2.5 miles) from home, so 

 that it is no small ,jol) to get them so high, the 

 line road we spoke of being insensibly but un- 

 ceasingly up-hill. 



lyuserna San (iiovanni, Circondario-IMnerlo, 

 Italy, Jan. 30. 



[We owe our friend a vote of thanks for his 

 interesting letter, and hope he will come atrain 

 and stay longer. A letter from that land of 

 music, painting, sculpture, and letters, can not 

 fail to be read with interest.— En.] 



POLLENIZATION BY BEES. 



Bil Prof. A. J. Conk. 



Mr. Edit(n':—\t is better to use the word 

 " f)ollenization " or •' fructification." The word 

 fertile will apply to either sex, without regard 

 to the other, and so the word has a certain am- 

 biguity. I am glad of this discussion. It will 

 make us repeat our experiments, use all possi- 

 ble caution, and so determine the real truth, if 

 we do not know it now. 



I wish to make a few statements, without 

 extended comments, as I realize that you have 

 been very generous of space in this matter 

 already. 



1. Many experiments have been made by 

 such men as Darwin, Midler, Beal, etc. — men 

 who have spent their lives in such work, and 

 are very close observers, and all the results 

 have looked in one direction; so if we find our 

 experiments looking the other way, or our ob- 

 servations seeming to indicate the opposite con- 

 clusions, we should be slow to announce results 

 till we have examined our methods and con- 

 sidered our observations most carefully, lest we 

 have committed sonie error. 



2. That the pollen from a bee is not potent 

 seems impossible. If Mr. Fultz can establish 

 that point, he will earn a place among the 

 great discoverers. It would be almost revolu- 

 tionary in our scientific theories regarding this 

 whole question. 



3. In many experiments tried at the Michigan 

 Agricultural College, both plants were covered 

 and bees introduced under the cover of one; 

 and the results were many seeds wliere the 

 bees were introduced, and almost none, or far 

 less, in the other, or covered plants. 



4. I do not wish to say that causes other than 

 the absence of bees may not effect fruitage. I 

 feel sure that bees are an important factor— so 

 important that I mean to try experiments this 

 season, that shall settle the question, if it is 

 possible to do so. 



.">. That theie was fruit before bees were im- 

 ported into America is not satisfactory. There 

 are wild bees: and before the forests were 

 cleared, the climate was doubtless more mild, 



