Jan. 10, 1907 



27 



American ^ee Journal 



)'^=^^?^A 



books are good, but there Is only one " Lang- 

 slroth on the Honey-Bee." The latest re- 

 vised edition will be sold at the same price as 

 the one precedint;, which is Jl.'JO, postpaid. 

 We still have a few copies of the old edition 

 on hand, which we will mail at 1)0 cents each, 

 if preferred, so long as they last. We club 

 the new edition of this book with the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal for one year— both for f 2.00. 

 8o long as we have any copies left of the old 

 edition, we will send it with the American Bee 

 Journal one year— both for $1.80. 



Mr. C. P. Dadant, who alone has revised the 

 new edition, is now starting on the revision 

 of the French edition. We believe this book 

 has been published in the Russian language, 

 also, and i>erhaps in several others that we 

 do not now recall. 



9Ir. Prank Benton, Apicultural Inves- 

 tigator for the Department of Agriculture, at 

 Washington, D. C, made us a very pleasant 

 call last week, when on his way back from a 

 year-and-ahalf trip through Europe and Asia 

 in search of new honey-plants and improved 

 races of liees. When Mr. Benton arrived 

 again in Washington he had made a complete 

 circle ol the globe, making it the most ex- 

 tended tour of investigation in the interest of 

 bee-keeping ever undertaken and carried to 

 completion. Mr. Benton was looking and 

 feeling well after his long journey. Doubtless 

 the Department of Agriculture will publish 

 the results of his trip in bulletin or other 

 form, so that they may be of service to bee- 

 keepers. 



The San Antonio Convention Pic- 

 ture is a good one. It shows over 100 of 

 those in attendance. We are mailing them, 

 unmounted, for only 60 cents. They can be 

 mounted by a local photographer for only 10 

 or 15 cents more. We will mail one of these 

 pictures with the American Bee Journal one 

 year— both for only 81.40. Send all orders to 

 the Bee Journal office. 



Archie Newman, of St. Johns, Mich, 

 sends us the following poem : 



Gathering Only the Sweet. 



Wandering one day in the clover, 

 With eyes downcast to the ground, 



Under a large head o'er hanging, 

 A little dead bee 1 found. 



Long had she worked in the clover, 



Busily all the long day ; 

 On her return in the evening 



Death she had met in the way. 



Dusted was she with the pollen, 

 Full were her bags with the gold ; 



But she now lay under the clover 

 Stiffened with death and with cold. 



Little Bee, thou hast done bravely, 

 Altho' death on the way thou did'st mefit ; 



Yet all the day thou'st been busy 

 And gathered only the sweet. 



May we every day act as wisely. 



And every day duty so greet. 

 That should death before night overtake us. 



We be gathering only the sweet, 



McDonald H. Brown. 



t^° I don't see how any one who keeps 

 bees can get along without the American Bee 

 Journal. It is so instructive. I have had 

 many pleasant hours reading it. — Mks. Kate 

 S. Dean, of Wisconsin. 



bniribufed^' 

 flrficlcsJI 



Death of Dzierzon 

 Subjects 



Other 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



Few men of this past generation, or 

 any other, have done for bee-keeping 

 what this great man, who has gone to 

 his last resting-place, has done for us. 

 It has been said that von Siebold, and 

 Leuckart, did more than Dzierzon in 

 establishing the doctrine of partheno- 

 genesis. I do not think that this is 

 true. It is easy for the microscopist 

 to turn his instrument at any point to 

 confirm or refute any theory, like this. 

 It requires a master mind to discover 

 the principle, or fact, as Dzierzon was 

 the first to do. I regard this as the 

 most — or one of the most — wonderful 

 discoveries in biology. It cut across 

 all experience and observation as to the 

 origin of the individual in reproduction. 

 Dzierzon was a very close and accu- 

 rate observer, or he would never have 

 made the discoveries that led to the 

 generalization. After the observations, 

 it was no mean accomplishment to form- 

 ulate the theory. After the theory was 

 announced, it was no great feat to look 

 at the eggs and see if actual observa- 

 tion sustained the truth as stated in the 

 theory. 



Parthenogenesis. 



What is this doctrine, that is so ex- 

 ceptional, that the great man discov- 

 ered? Usually an egg will not de- 

 velop until a sperm or male cell enters 

 it and becomes incorporated with it. In 

 case of bees, as Dzierzon discovered, 

 the egg, if it is to develop into a drone 

 or male bee, never receives a sperm 

 cell ; that is, it develops without fe- 

 cundation. There are three cases in 

 which such development will always oc- 

 cur. In case eggs are laid by a virgin, 

 either queen or worker, they will de- 

 velop, but only males will result. In 

 case a queen becomes old, and all the 

 sperm cells are used up, then she be- 

 comes a drone-layer, as no eggs after 

 that will, or can, be fecundated, and 

 yet they develop. Any queen, as she 

 lays the eggs, may withhold the sperm, 

 at will, and so only drone-eggs will 

 be laid. 



This, wB see, is not only one of the 

 most wonderful discoveries, but we see 

 it has a very important bearing on the 

 work and practice of bee-culture. No 

 bee-keeper can claim to be abreast of 

 the times, who does not understand this 

 law of development among bees, and 

 does not act upon it. This law is also 

 called "Agamic Reproduction." It is 

 not peculiar to bees, as wasps and ants 

 follow the same law. With these, as 



with bees, the males are the result of 

 Agamic Reproduction. In a small water 

 animal — the Rotifer — there are two kinds 

 of eggs laid by the females, one of which 

 is not impregnated, and those develop, 

 and so here we have parthenogenesis. 

 We also know that Aphids reproduce 

 all summer long with no males at all, 

 and so they also reproduce by Agamic 

 Reproduction, or without males. 



Pastor Schonfeld. 



Silesia, Germany, has also given the 

 world another great bee-keeper, who 

 has enriched our knowledge in this 

 realm, as few others have. His work 

 was principally confined to food and di- 

 gestion, and here he did royal service. 

 The function and anatomy of the chyle 

 stomach was explained by him, and his 

 views have been found to bear the test 

 of fullest examination. We now know 

 that the glands of the head furnish a 

 ferment that digests the food-proteid 

 food, and not the larval pabulum. This 

 great man died at the ripe age of 85, 

 while Dzierzon had reached the age of 

 95. I think both worked well towards 

 the last. This is as we would have it 



Digestion in Bees. 



We now know that bees secrete the 

 ferment that acts on the nectar in the 

 honey-stomach, from large head-glands, 

 upper head-glands, and the still larger 

 thoracic glands. The pollen is mostly 

 proteid food, and is digested in the true 

 stomach. The ferment that does this 

 comes from the lower head-glands. Thiis 

 the food that is fed to the larvae is di- 

 gested in the true or chyle stomach. 

 I do not think that any scientist has 

 done more, if as much, to enlighten us 

 on the matter of digestion in bees, as 

 this great man who has just gone to his 

 long home. 



Rains in California. 



As is well known, two things are 

 requisite to secure a full honey crop in 

 California. We must have enough rain, 

 and we must have warm, genial weather. 

 One year ago, we had ample rains, so 

 that the fruit crop was fine, but the 

 spring was very cold and damp, so that 

 the honey crop was very meager in- 

 deed. This winter the rains are fine, 

 coming in good abundance, and in fash- 

 ion so that all is retained in the soil, 

 and almost none runs off. We have 

 now had nearly 3 inches. It looks now 

 as if we shall have a good winter. We 

 almost never have winds or cold in th« 

 spring so as to preclude honey-gather- 

 ing, an-d we hope for a good season this 

 year. 



The Tree Problem. 



It is an interesting fact, tlat the 



