October, 1907. 



American ^ee Journal 



logues for many years, it may often 

 cause disaster. A certain one has this: 



"If you arc careless enough to let 

 your feeding go till late, use 4 parts su- 

 gar and 3 of water, and J<i pint of vine- 

 gar, or 10 pounds of good Iioncy, to the 

 100 pounds of syrup, to prevent granu- 

 lation," etc. 



I beg to make the following remarks 

 concerning this recipe: 



Most vinegar of bee-keepers is prob- 

 ably made at home by natural fermenta- 

 tion, and this same product is handled 

 by many storekeepers. Such vinegars, 

 if not pasteurized, contain generally 

 small quantities of fungi which will 

 cause later sour fermentation of the 

 thin honey. Great quantities of com- 

 mercial vinegar are made from wood 

 by distillation, and these are healthy and 

 safe, they contain no ferment. If the 

 vinegar naturally fermented is heated 

 up to 55 degrees Celsius, or about 131 

 degrees Fahrenheit, all fungi will be 

 destroyed, and as long as no new fungi 

 are formed the vinegar is healthy and 

 safe. 



The addition of vinegar is recom- 

 mended to cause the cane-sugar to go 

 over into an article similar to honey — ■ 

 in other words, to change the saccharose 

 (Ci2H220ii) into dextrose (+ C6H12- 

 06) and levulose (— C6H12O6). 



But we can accomplish this same re- 

 sult without the dangerous vinegar, and 

 with absolute safety, if we take tartaric 

 acid or citric acid in place of vinegar. 



A proper and safe recipe is: 100 

 pounds best cane-sugar, 100 pounds 

 water, and l-io pound tartaric acid or 

 citric acid. This should be boiled slow- 

 ly from 2 to 3 hours. 



Late in the season the quantity of 

 water may be reduced, leaving the other 

 parts in the same proportion. 



Visalia, Calif. 



Wonderful Organs of the Bee 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



We often refer to man as at the head 

 of all God's creation, and I doubt not 

 but this is true, only, however, as the 

 greatest development of man — the brain 

 — stands in our estimation as the high- 

 est part of the animal organism. Man 

 is pre-eminent only in brain and hand. 

 I am free to say that in variety of func- 

 tion the honej-bee stands first — ahead 

 even of man himself. As function must 

 have organs, and special development, 

 so we are not surprised at the wonder- 

 ful developments that we find in our 

 study of the honey-bee. 



The bee gathers honey and must have 

 special organs, and does have marvel- 

 ous development to do this work. We 

 know how the bee can get honey from 

 the deep flower-tubes, from a surface 

 on which the nectar is thinly spread, 

 and as easilj', and more quickly, from 

 a huge nectar-drop, such as is seen in 

 the linden-bloom and in the figwort, and 

 of course there must be, as we know 

 that there is, a marvelous development 

 of tongue and mouth organs to accom- 

 plis'h all of this. Man has learned, 

 through the supremacy of his brain, to 

 discount the bee in what he does — its 

 range and reach. Yet man has not to 



depend upon his modified organs to do 

 his marvels — he fashions the means. He 

 makes his knife and chisel, while in the 

 case of the bee the knife and chisel are 

 a part of the bee herself. 



The bee gathers propolis or bee-glue, 

 and bas her own cart as a part of her 

 bodily equipment, and has not to make 

 it of wood and iron. The same equip- 

 ment is used also to carry the pollen, 

 and other protcid food. In case of the 

 pollen there are additions, like pockets — 

 brushes, curiously modified hairs, all 

 useful to collect and carry the pollen, 

 which is the special and peculiar food- 

 clement of all bees. Indeed, we might 

 almost describe the great family of bees 

 as that family of insects that live wholly 

 or largely on pollen. 



But there is another feature of bees 

 that is in some respects more interest- . 

 ing than all, as it concerns the form- 

 ation of a very peculiar secretion — wax 

 — and its manipulation to form comb. 

 We should expect that this would call 

 for extra modification of organs and 

 parts. We know that comb is one of 

 the most exquisite and delicate struc- 

 tures known to man, and so anything 

 that concerns its origin and formation 

 is, and nuist be, a subject of great in- 

 terest. 



Wa.\-Glands. 



Glands are the organs of secretion. 

 Our spittle comes from the salivary 

 glands. The function of a gland is to 

 take from the blood elements and form 

 the secretion. The secretion is not in 

 the blood, but its elements are, and the 

 gland has the wonderful power to se- 

 lect, from the great nourishing fluid, 

 just the substances that are needed to 

 form the special secretion. 



The special agents of the gland that 

 do this work are the cells. There are 

 in every considerable gland, thousands, 

 often millions, of these little cells — the 

 real workers — that do this important 

 service. Cells are the most important 

 part of plant or animal, as all the work 

 of every kind performed in the body is 

 done by the cells. We have in an egg — 

 reall)' the yolk, the reaL egg — an exam- 

 ple of a cell. The blood discs or cor- 

 puscles are other illustrations, and the 

 individuals of the entire branch of ani- 

 mals known as Protozoa, consist of a 

 single cell. While almost all of these 

 Protozoans are microscopic, and so very 

 minute, there are some that can be seen 

 without the magnifier. The very minute 

 Sporozoan, that causes malaria, is one 

 of these Protozoans, and so is just a 

 cell, and so very small that we can 

 only see it as it is magnified many thou- 

 sand times. 



The wax from which the incompara- 

 ble comb is formed, comes from glands 

 that are situated on the under side of 

 the worker-bee. just back of the thorax. 

 These are racemose glands, and are 

 much hke a bunch of grapes in appear- 

 ance. Of course, the grapes, in this 

 case, are very minute, and represent- 

 or are little sacks, the walls of which 

 are formed by the cells already de- 

 scribed. The stems of the grapes, and 

 the larger stems, are represented in 

 the glands by ducts, or tubes which carry 

 the secretion oflF. There are four of 

 these glands on each side, and so there 



are formed eight wax-scales at a time. 



I suppose that all glands have times 

 of rest. In many cases we know that 

 they are inactive at times. We know 

 that our salivary glands are only active 

 when we are eating, and the saliva or 

 spittle is needed. Milk-glands arc only 

 active at times of lactation, and then it 

 is proablc that only a part of the cells 

 are active, at any one time. It is curi- 

 ous about the wax-glands of bees. They 

 would seem to be wholly under the con- 

 trol of the bee. When wax is ncedea, 

 as when there is a lack of comb, and 

 more is to be made, then most, if not 

 all, of the bees are secreting the wax- 

 scales. .As in all cases that we know 

 of, the action of glands is wholly in- 

 voluntary, we may be pretty sure that 

 wax-secretion is involuntary on the part 

 of bees. 



I have often wondered how it is that 

 the bee has, or seems to have, control 

 of this matter of wax-secretion. We all 

 know that when the bees need much 

 wax, they cluster in absolute quiet in 

 the top of the hive. In case they have 

 just swarmed — and this is usually the 

 case when they stand in greatest need 

 of comb, and so of wax — they have just 

 filled their stomach — honey-stomach — 

 to repletion with honey. I am inclined 

 to the opinion that the full stomach, 

 or surfeit of food, and the stay in all 

 exercise, give the wax-secretion. 



We all have just about so much en- 

 ergy. If we spend this energy in one 



way, we can not spend it in any other. 

 If we fret and worry we can do less 

 work; if our cattle are chased by dogs, 

 the cows will lose materially in milk. 

 I once milked a great shortcorn cow on 

 my Owosso, Mich., farm, and secured 

 14 quarts of milk. She was a very 

 large, heavy cow, in full flesh. The 

 next two days I led her to the Michigan 

 Agricultural College. I took two whole 

 days for this, and went very slow, as I 

 wished to do her no harm. I thought 

 that she could go safely 14 miles a day. 

 The night of the second day she gave 

 less than three quarts of milk. She did 

 not get over the strain all the year 

 through. I believe that the bees have 

 about so much enegy-, gauged by the 

 amount of food that they eat and digest. 

 If they cease from exercise, then this 

 energy goes to wax-secretion, and we 

 get the wax-scales and material for the 

 comb. If this is correct, then the bees 

 simply regulate wax-secretion by regu- 

 lation of habits. Much food and great 

 quiet means wa,x. 

 Claremont, Calif. 



Have Bees Reasoning Powers? 



BY \V. H. LAWS. 



A few years ago in company with a 

 neighbor bee-keeper, we drove to his 

 apiary on the Nueces River. Casting 

 our eyes about the apiary we spied a 

 large swarm of bees hanging on a limb 

 about 6 or 7 feet from the ground. 

 Taking a hive, we at once prepared to 

 hive it. On examination we found the 

 bees had built several large sheets of 

 comb, as I remember, the center one 

 was nearly as large as a dinner-dish. 

 And there was an abundance of sealed 



