1888 



GLEAKINGS IN BEE CULTUiaE. 



968 



tures are very u inform in appearance, and look 

 like this: ° "(around hole at each end, and a slit 

 between. 



It is a fa.,t, that very few wasps were noticed. 

 Did the drouth of last year kill off the wasps? For 

 several y ears.apples have been nearly worthless here 

 because so wormy. This year they were good. 

 Did the same cause act to kill off the codlin moth as 

 the maker of slots in grapes? 1 don't understand 

 it at all; but this year stands out in remarkable 

 contrast with other years, both with regard to 

 grapes and apples. C. C. MTT.iiEii. 



Marengo, Til. 



Your plan is very simple, and can be 

 quickly put into execution, and good execu- 

 tion it will do too, we feel sure. Tlie only 

 fault we find with it is, that it can not be 

 adapted to those hives that do not have a 

 cleated border at the top, such as, for in- 

 stance, the Simplicity ; but for those who 

 have hives on the style of the old Lang- 

 stroth, and who are not physically as strong 

 as friend Doolittle, it is just the thing. This 

 matter of how best to carry hives to and 

 from the cellar is an important one. Many 

 a backache may be saved by some such sim- 

 ple appliance as you and friend Doolittle 

 suggest. There are large numbers of our 

 readers, however, who are using Simplicity 

 hives exclusively ; and to accommodate these 

 we have asked our foreman, Mr. Warner, to 

 devise something cheap as well as some- 

 thing wliich can be readily adapted to the 

 Simplicity hives. If he succeeds, we'll tell 

 you about it in next issue. We should like 

 to have our readers suggest such plans as 

 they find to be usefiil. and, if necessary, 

 make a rude drawing. Don't be afraid to 

 make rough pen-sketches. Our artist will 

 catch your idea, and make for you a finished 

 picture. lie may incorporate in said picture 

 yourself, as he did our friend Miller in the 

 one above.— Now, then, as to the matter of 

 bees and fruit. Your observations quite 

 'accord with our own as well as with those 

 of Prof. Cook, who expresses himself on the 

 subject in the following article. We have 

 iu)t noticed particularly the kind of punc- 

 tures or perforations made in the grapes ; but 

 if you will turn to page 682, of our issue for 

 Sept. 1st, you will see that, upon careful ob- 

 servation, we came to the conclusion that 

 bees do not puncture the fruit, but seek the 

 perforations or soft spots already made 

 either by rot or otherwise. But before we 

 proceed further, let us hear from Prof. Cook. 



CAN BEES BITE INTO FRUIT ? 



PROF. COOK AROOES THAT THEY DO NOT. 



R. JAMES MCNEIL, Hudson, N. Y., asks the 

 question, " How is it that bees can cut old 

 comb and eat holes into enameled cloth, if, 

 as stated, they have no cutting jaws, and 

 can not puncture the skin of sound grapes? 

 I ask for information, as this question has come up 

 and I am unable to find in any of my bee-books a sat- 

 isfactory answer." 



I propose to give this question a candid answer, 

 based on twenty years' study and observation of 

 bees. I believe my answer will be the correct one. 



Bees have jaws, and can use them for cutting. 

 Not only do they cut comb and cloth, but even wood. 

 What bee-keeper has not seen soft pine wood, 

 placed at the entrance to close it, very perceptibly 

 worn away by the gnawing of the bees? Thus 1 be- 

 lieve bees are physically able to cut into sound 

 grapes, just as my horse is able to run away. Vet 

 my horse can't run away. He isn't made that way. 



If we examine the cutting organs of all animals- 

 animals titted and intended by nature to cut and 

 tear— from the lion and the wolf, even to the wasp 

 and locust, we shall find sharp cusps, or tubercles, 

 for this purpose. The tiger-beetle's jaws, with their 

 sharp teeth, illustrate this fact admirably. Many 

 wild bees, and especially the carpenter bees, have 

 just such sharp teeth. The rudimentary tooth on 

 the jaw of the queen and drone bee indicate that 

 the far-away ancestors of our honey-bees also had 

 such teeth. The jaws, however, of our workers are 

 not so (see Figs. 39 and 4^ in my Bee-Keepers' Guide). 

 They are more like the gouge used by the carpen- 

 ter. The edge is not toothed, but a smooth seg- 

 ment. All structural zoology, then, teaches that 

 these are not meant to cut and tear. That they 

 may cut and tear soft substances like wa.\, and are 

 intended to do so, is proved by their form, and by 

 our observation. That they can gnaw away even 

 structures as hard as soft splintery pine, we know; 

 but that such use is only accidental, and not their 

 real function, both their structure and our obser- 

 vation alike prove. 



Bees are guided to their food by smell and light. 

 The juice of a sound peach or grape is sealed, and 

 can not be seen, nor can its odorous particles es- 

 cape. Let them once escape, even in very minute 

 particles, and how quickly would the bees lap up 

 the delicious nectar! Our observation, and the 

 smooth cutting edge of the mandible of the worker 

 bee, alike show that the bee is not developed to tun- 

 nel for its viands. It learns of their whereabouts 

 by the sense of smell, primarily, which sense would 

 be comparatively useless were the nectar-reservoirs 

 first to be unsealed. 



Tliat bees are, to a degree, intelligent, and can 

 learn, I have no doubt. But bees have no written 

 language, and so no historians; and the experience 

 of each individual dies with such individual, there- 

 fore progress is slow— slower than with savage races 

 of men. And with our bees, even inherited experi- 

 ence is not possible. Thus, we need not expect that 

 our bees will soon reason out the mine of wealth in 

 grape and peach. Of course, the oozing juice, 

 which always attracts bees to fruit, might suggest 

 to some over-wise worker that digging might pay; 

 yet such oozing is rare— too rare to suggest perma- 

 nent change of habits in sterile individuals. 



But how do we know that bees do not tear open 

 the grapes? 



1. Observation tells us that it is foreign to their 

 methods. 



2. "When they attack a vineyard, they all go at 

 once. Of course, escaping odor attracts all at once. 

 To suppose that they all of one accord commenced 

 at a certain day to bite into the grapes, would be 

 like supposing that a thousand Goodyears, Whit- 

 neys, or Langstroths, commenced independently 

 and wrought out at the self-same time their won- 

 drous inventions. 



3. The closest observation always fails to detect 

 bees cutting into sound fruit. 



Thus I would say, bees can and can not cut into 



