376 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



fruits, must have been impressed with the 

 great variability of members of the same spe- 

 cies. The same is true in the animal kingdom, 

 as may be seen in any herd of so-called native 

 cattle, or in a flock of barnyard fowls, where no 

 care has been given to breeding to any partic- 

 ular type. Yet the variation is always within 

 specific limits. It is not within the experience 

 of men that these variations ever carry the 

 variety across the boundary that separates dif- 

 ferent species, except in the case of monstrosi- 

 ties. In the vegetable kingdom, nurserymen 

 and florists preserve and propagate useful vari- 

 ations by grafting, budding, cuttings, etc. In 

 the animal kingdom this can be done only by 

 selection and weeding out the undesirable in- 

 dividuals. 



While there is a tendency in species to pro- 

 duce varieties, there is also a tendency in vari- 

 eties to reproduce their varietal characteristics. 

 When this tendency is established, and becomes 

 hereditary, a race is formed. As every variety 

 may become thus established and hereditary, 

 there may be as many races or breeds in a 

 species as there are varieties. One has to give 

 but little attention to the breeding of our do- 

 mestic animals to be impressed with the vast 

 number of races belonging to each species. The 

 horse, the ox. the sheep fhe pig, the dog, the 

 hen, etc., have each split up into numerous 

 races. 



At a bench show in England, some years ago, 

 at which very rigid rules were enforced for 

 excluding all but pure representatives of differ- 

 ent breeds, seventy distinct races were exhibited. 

 Mr. Darwin mentions 1.50 races of pigeons with 

 which he was acquainted, and yet he was not 

 acquainted with all the races then in existence. 

 So great was the difference in these races, that, 

 had each breed been considered a species, it 

 would have required at least four genera to 

 have contained them. And yet Mr. Darwin, 

 who was so desirous of proving the transmuta- 

 tion of si)ecies, did not dare claim that, in all 

 these distinct races, there was a single new 

 species. The fact that impresses our minds at 

 this time is, that all our domesticated animals 

 have varied greatly under domestication, form- 

 ing many very distinct races without, in any 

 case, overstepping the limits of the species. 

 Now, the honey-bee has been under domestica- 

 tion probably as long as some of the species 

 named above — certainly from great antiquity. 

 It has been bred in a great diversity of climates 

 and conditions, and in a gi'eat variety of ways; 

 and though it has not, until recently, been bred 

 with the care that our common domestic ani- 

 mals have, still it seems reasonable to suppose 

 that, under such a diversity of conditions and 

 treatment, there would be considerable varia- 

 tion in racial characteristics. 



As a matter of fact, we find quite a number 

 of very distinct groups of the honey-bee. Are 

 they distinct species, or are they simply 



races? For the further consideration of this 

 question I must wait till a future time. 

 Canon City, Col. 



SUGGESTIONS TO EXPERIMENTEKS 



ON THE SUB.JKCT OF FRUIT FERTILIZATION. 



Bii Thaddeux Smith. 



The time for sunshine and flowers is fast 

 approaching, and some of the friends will soon 

 be thinking of making experiments in regard 

 to the connection of bees with the fertilization 

 of the bloom of fruit-bearing trees and plants, 

 and I wish to make some suggestions. 



Mr. Gilliland's article on the '• Elements of 

 Uncertainty" in making such experiments 

 should show us the necessity of being very care- 

 ful; and yet Mr. G. winds up his article by sug- 

 gesting "covering a whole tree with cheese- 

 cloth." The use of cheese-cloth or mosquito- 

 netting will never "eliminate the elements of 

 uncertainty." Such a covering places the 

 plants in an abnormal condition, and prevents 

 the pollen from, other plants reaching them in 

 the natural way by catching it in the lint and 

 fuzz upon the threads forming the meshes of 

 the cloth, straining and excluding most of the 

 floating pollen in the air from the plants. 



In order to keep the bees from the flowers, 

 and at the same time permit the pollen floating 

 in the air to have access to them. I suggest the 

 use of wire-cloth netting for covering. The 

 meshes of the wire cloth should be quite open 

 —say not less than an eighth of an inch — just 

 small enough to exclude the bees, and no more. 

 Experiments carefully conducted under such 

 covering ought to have some weight in decid- 

 ing this question. Plants, under the abnormal 

 condition of being iti a greenhouse, or covered 

 with cheese-cloth, would naturally be expected 

 to fail in perfect fertilization in the natural 

 way, and require the assistance of bees or man; 

 but it is no evidence that such assistance is 

 needed when in their natural condition. 



In reading Mr. Doolittle's theory — that plants 

 furnishing nectar require bees to fertilize them, 

 while flowers that do not contain sweets do not 

 require the assistance of the bees — I thought of 

 some seeming exceptions; as, the honey placed 

 so deep in the red clover, in the columbine, and 

 other flowers that the hive-bee can not get at, 

 and consequently do not visit them; and how 

 often, when a boy, I have plucked these flowers 

 and sucked the drop of honey contained low 

 down in the end of the petals ! And the corn- 

 plant— how different in its manner of fructifica- 

 tion from other plants? The " tassel" is the 

 male flower containing the stamens with their 

 pollen, which the bees often visit for both pol- 

 len and honey; and the "silk "is the female 

 flower— the pistils— which the bees never visit. 

 I here call attention to this, not for the pur- 

 pose of continuing the discussion, but to note 



