1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



609 



double-wall hive. The closed-end frame ac- 

 complishes part of this object. Besides, it is 

 more pleasant to handle the closed-end frames. 

 One can handle them by twos, threes, and 

 fours, thus rendering the manipulation very 

 rapid. 



Tophet, W. Va. 



[Closed-end frames are not nearly so bad to 

 handle as one would imagine who has never 

 tried them. As to reversing injuring brood, I 

 don't take much stock in the idea. We have 

 reversed hundreds of frames, and never could 

 see that it did any harm. — Ed.] 



SHALL WE WORK FOR LONG-TONGUED BEES 

 OR SHORT-TUBED RED CLOVER? 



What has been Done in Changing the Varieties of 

 the Rose-Plant. 



BY DR. C. C. MIi:.I,ER. 



There is no good reason why work should 

 not be pushed with vigor in both directions. 

 Suppose it should take ten years to secure the 

 necessary increase in the length of tongue to 

 work on ordinary red clover. It is probable 

 that half that increase of length could be se- 

 cured in much less than half the time neces- 

 sary to secure the full length, for it is the ex- 

 treme that costs effort. Probably in the first 

 year could be gained as much as in the suc- 

 ceediag nine years, or, in other words, if the 

 desired length could be obtained in ten years, 

 half that length could be obtained in one year. 

 Suppose, falso, that ten years should be neces- 

 sary to secure red-clover tubes sufficiently 

 shortened for ordinary bees to work on, we 

 might expect to secure half that shortening 

 in one year. Now, instead of spending ten 

 years upon one to the neglect of the other, 

 put in the one year on both, and bring togeth- 

 er your bees with tongues half lengthened, 

 and your clover with tubes half shortened, and 

 — ther-eyou are. 



Of course, nothing is certain in any of these 

 estimates. It might take twice ten years, or 

 it might take only half of ten years to reach 

 the desired result by working in only one di- 

 rection. It might take more than one-tenth 

 the time to reach the half-Wciy point in either 

 direction, or it might take less. The only 

 point I am urging is that, of we modify both 

 tongues and tubes, we must reach the point of 

 getting red-clover honey in half the time we 

 could get it by working elone at either tongues 

 or tubes ; and I suspect that one-tenth of the 

 time comes nearer the truth than one-half. 

 So, Mr Editor, don't let up in your enthusi- 

 asm tor long tongues, and get switched off on 

 the track of short tubes, but run the two par- 

 allel. 



Another point I want to urge with equal 

 emphasis — yes, with even greater emphasis. 

 It is that this is to be the work of all rather 

 than of a few. I do not undervalue the work 

 of our scientists and our experiment stations. 

 Blessings on them for what they have done 

 and are doing. But this is a work in which 

 the multitude can join. You have struck the 



right chord, Mr. Editor, in saying, " In the 

 meantime I hope our bee-keepers will be on 

 the watch for red-clover heads with short 

 tubes." As to both tongues and tubes, it is a 

 matter rather more of finding than of making. 

 The father of a lost child may die of old age 

 before finding it if the search is left to him 

 alone ; but if all the world joins in the search 

 he will soon have the child in his arms. In 

 the matter of establishing a strain of short- 

 tubed clover, the very first move is to find a 

 plant with tubes at least a little shorter than 

 those of its neighbors. Manifestly, two men 

 on the watch will be more likely to succeed in 

 finding this than one alone. A thousand giv- 

 ing a little attention to the matter will be bet- 

 ter than one man spending his whole time in 

 the search. Remember that variations in 

 plants are things of freak. Florists secure 

 new varieties of flowers by looking out for 

 these freaks. A rose-plant, for example, will 

 throwout a branch having roses different from 

 the rest of the bush in some way, and this is 

 called a sport. Or, the flowers may be the 

 same, with a difference in growth of stock. - 

 Catherine Mermet is a popular pink tea-rose. 

 One day a branch on a bush of that kind was 

 noticed to bear roses that were pure white. 

 Slips were taken from it and propagated, and 

 now we find in all the catalogs " The Bride," 

 the beautiful sport from Catherine Mermet. 

 Agrippina is a Bengal rose bearing crimson 

 roses in great abundance, the plant growing 

 of usual height. In 1858 Rev. James Sprunt 

 found a branch of Agrippina shooting away 

 above its fellows. Slips from this branch 

 were taken, and now we have the climbing 

 rose, James Sprunt. 



So it is just among the possibilities — nay, 

 even among the probabilities — that somewhere 

 is growing to-day a sport among red- clover 

 plants that is just what we want, and some 

 one may find it where least expected. The 

 point is that this thing must not be left to the 

 scientists, but all of us common bee-keepers 

 must have our eyes open, and no telling who 

 will be the lucky finder. Probably, however, 

 it will be by cultivation and selection that the 

 goal will be reached ; yet the first step must 

 be the finding of something at least a little 

 out of the common. You and I can find it 

 just as well as the experiment station — yes, 

 more readily — for there are more eyes belong- 

 ing to us, and we can plant and pick out the 

 best. I do not mean that our experiment-sta- 

 tion men are not better adapted to the work 

 than are we common bee-keepers. Perhaps 

 one of them may do more than any hundred 

 of us. They are trained for the work. But 

 there are thousands of us ; and as this is large- 

 ly a matter of finding, numbers count. 



What applies to clover applies also to bees. 

 Differences in length of tongue exist now, and 

 it will be easier to find the longest tongue if 

 many engage in the search. If I understand 

 the matter correctly, glossometers are con- 

 structed that are not expensive, and it requires 

 no special skill to operate them. One can be 

 inclosed over a colony so that no other bees 

 can reach it, and the depth to which the liquid 

 in the glossometer be noted. In this way all 



