294 



AMERICAN BEE lOURNAL 



Mays, 1902 



more, vou know how the legislature is. If they asked, the 

 request is not likely to be granted. Now you are asking what 

 isn't done in any other State. Then we are only weakening 

 our chances for getting something else we might ask them 

 for. I don't know, possibly it may be all right, but unless we 

 are pretty sure of having our request granted, we better not 

 make any. 



Mr. l)unn — I predicated the resolution on the statement 

 he gave us. He said they could be used, that they didn't have 

 force enough. The mere fact that other States are not doing 

 their duty is no reason why Illinois should not. We all have 

 our representatives. I don't see any objection to asking it, 

 even if we are refused, even if we can't get so much more ad- 

 ditional help. 



Mr. Sylvester — Not that we say anything to the legisla- 

 ture, but labor with our representatives to ask for it. There 

 could be no harm in that. 



Dr. Miller — Let us understand which way it is. 



Mr- Dunn — I want it both ways. 



Dr. Miller — That this body as an organization should ask 

 the legislature. 



Mr. Dunn — And also that we see our individual representa- 

 tives and get them to work for us. 



The motion was then voted upon and carried. 

 (Contiaued next week.) 



Contributed Articles. 



Length of the Bee's Tongue vs. Hustle. 



BY "OLD GRIMES." 



THIS discussion of late about improving- the length of 

 bees' tongues is not devoid of interest to " Old Grimes." 

 And the boys and I have had several warm discussions 

 over the matter. The boys, like all boys, are inclined to 

 start out after new things. I have held them in on quite a 

 number of things that have in time proved the Old Man's 

 wisdom. But in this long-tongue business there is some 

 danger that the whole crowd will stampede after it. 



When I was a boy I was taught to have respect for 

 David Crockett's maxim, " Be sure you are right, then go 

 ahead." Now there are no indications in sight that the 

 long-tongue fellows are right, and the indications are 

 mighty slim for coming in sight for many years. 



To me, the little bee seems to be a well-balanced insect, 

 and it is, we might say, a little air-ship. Now, to increase 

 one part without increasing the other parts, the bee loses 

 its balance and more is lost than gained. Let us look into 

 the matter a little. 



There have been several articles recently in various bee- 

 periodicals by Simpson, Getaz, and Miller of Rhode Island, 

 all of whom are more or less versed in the science of breed- 

 ing of animals, and none of these writers seem to be in 

 haste to demonstrate that the long tongue is a fixed or de- 

 sirable feature. 



These gentlemen cite instances where in-breeding has 

 produced variations, but every time it is at the expense of 

 some other feature, and, if carried too far, results in diseased 

 conditions. Witness the silk-worm and the dire financial 

 results following from a too scientific breeding. 



Our domestic animals and fowls show much variation 

 from a wild to a domestic state. The hen in the wild state 

 has more wings and less eggs, but by civilizing it gains in 

 eggs and loses in wings. 



The good, docile work-horse is a good-enough animal 

 for most of us, but bred for racing he loses his sturdy quali- 

 ties and becomes what we might call a "dude" in horse- 

 flesh. 



Examples might be multiplied, but these are enough to 

 show without much scientific reasoning, that to breed for 

 one good point many others are sacrificed. 



In the bee the breeding for long tonues may result in 

 the loss of wing-power, or some other greater weakness. 

 And I find myself inquiring- as to how far, and how many 

 of the recent diseases of the bees can be traced to our 

 modern methods of breeding. 



It is a fact that when I was a boy my grandpa kept bees 

 in the log-gum ; they had their own sweet will about breed- 

 ing, and there were no diseases in those days. 



The modern diseases have come trooping along, one after 



another, and the end is not yet, and all since the breeding of 

 queens commenced. Has not the breeding for certain qual- 

 ities, or the mixing of races, weakened the bee in certain 

 qualities, or torn down its defense to diseases ? 



Our enthusiastic advocates of long tongues cite the 

 gathering honey from red clover as an indication of their 

 value, but there is no positive demonstration that such is 

 the fact. I have seen black bees work quite freely upon red 

 clover. This red-clover work is always done in hot weather 

 and under conditions when honey is secreted rapidh-. The 

 nectar wells up in the flower-tube to an unusual height, and 

 the hustling bee, either long or short tongued, soon finds it 

 out. 



There are a few points in relation to bees that can be 

 demonstrated any day in the working season, and one of 

 them is that the hustling colony is the one that gets the 

 honey. And there are various ways to make them hustle 

 without tampering with the queen. The moving of several 

 colonies to a new location will give them this desirable 

 feature, provided, of course, that there is honey to gather. 

 All know that a natural swarm is a greater hustler than an 

 artificial one, but still an artificial swarm can be made to 

 hustle if it is given a large amount of brood. 



It is the great army of bees that load the hive -with 

 honey, and here is where the most prslific queen is of the 

 greatest service, for a queen that la\i6 an abundance of eggs 

 will surely preside over a hustling colony. 



It is only a step from a hustling colony to a hustling 

 apiar)'. Bees in an apiary of weak colonies do not go far 

 for honey. I doubt if even a few strong colonies send their 

 bees far afield. But a large and strong apiarj' — what an in- 

 spiring roar is borne to your ears upon the morning breeze ! 

 They will find honey if it is 4, S and even 7 miles away. 



" Old Grimes " would not disparage experiments ; they 

 are legitimate in any line of work. .But let us experiment 

 until we demonstrate, then give it to the world. 



Marconi came over quietly to Newfoundland and set up 

 his tickers ; when he recognized the ticks from across the 

 ocean he had something to demonstrate. 



The long tongues may just now have the innings on 

 paper, but the hustlers are still on deck for profitable crops 

 of honey. 



Perhaps I will tell you some time how to get a big hustle 

 into a small apiary. 



[If "Old Grimes " is going to tell how to get that " hus- 

 tle into a whole apiary," he'll have to "get a hustle on" 

 himself soon, else it will be of no value this season. We are 

 ready to furnish the paper on which to put it first I — Editor.] 



The Ise of Smoke in Controlling Bees. 



BY T. F. BINGHAM. 



I note this on page 123, " By all means avoid the use of 

 smoke as much as possible." 



The above remark was undoubtedly made from habit, 

 not from any evidence demonstrating its reasonableness. It 

 is of no consequence except as it conveys an answer to a 

 query, and gives no reason for the answer. The fact of bees 

 filling their sacks with honey and emptying them when 

 they please does not imply that Nature has made a mistake 

 in implanting in the hive-bee the instinct to fill said sacks 

 when frightened, or from flowers. This instinct is all — 

 yes, the only one on which modern or civilized bee-keeping 

 is rendered possible. 



Fright applies to all insects alike and in common. The 

 rude log-cabin of the pioneer has its kettle of smoking chips 

 to keep away the troublesome mosquitoes and other winged 

 insects from its door ; but to the hive-bees are given this 

 special instinct to cluster, to huddle, to protect their home, 

 and fill their honey-bags against a possible day of trouble. 



I do not write about this subject because it is new, but 

 because it is so oft-repeated without the shadow of evidence 

 of proof. It seems handed down as superstitions usually 

 are. 



It has cost the lives of people and horses, and made 

 the bee-keepers' union a necessity among superstitious bee- 

 keepers. 



The Creator made no mistake in fixing up the pale, 

 hatching worker with all the instincts for its own and its 

 colony's preservation without experience and choice of 

 methods. 



We say the reason why the bees do this and that — when 

 no fact is so patent as the one that bees know as much 

 when they gnaw open the cap that has protected in their 



