February, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



131 



The question is asked, many times a year, 

 whether queens reared in the southern stales 

 are as hardy, and their progeny as active 

 and energetic, as from queens reared in the 

 colder North. Many years ago we discuss- 

 ed tliis question carefully with that master 

 of queen-rearing, Mr. J. P. Moore, of Mor- 

 gan, Ky. His opinion was most decidedly 

 in the atfirmative, I recall. We are pleased 

 to note a similar conclusion from no less 

 an authority in bee matters than Dr. C. C. 

 Miller. In a i^ecent issue of the American 

 Bee Journal Dr. Miller says, " The usual 

 reply that queens reared in the South are 

 just as hardy as those reared in the North 

 may be counted correct for all practical 

 purposes." The editor of that journal adds, 

 very aptly we think, the following : " Ital- 

 ian bees, which are hardy, are from a coun- 

 try with a warm climate. It freezes but 

 little in any part of Italy, and the climate is 

 certainly less severe than that of Texas." 

 These conclusions, we believe, are most 

 sound. It has taken ages, indubitably, to 

 produce and fix the present characteristics 

 in bees. Even the lifetime of an individual 

 man is too short more than to modify in a 

 very slight degree, if any, the innate traits 

 and dispositions of the Apes mellificae. 

 Hundreds of years of breeding in the South 

 would, we feel sure, work no appreciable 

 change in the honey-gathering powers and 

 propensities of the honey-bee. And, grant- 

 ed even that a slight change might in ages 

 be noted, or even in a few generations, it 

 would take but one requeening to put all 

 back on the original basis of honey-gather- 

 ing qualities. Dr. Eigenmann, of the State 

 University of Indiana, in his work " Blind 

 rishes of Green River, Mammoth Cave, 

 Ky.," and of other undergi'ound waters of 

 both continents, has shown conclusively that 

 environment does have a mighty effect in 

 course of ages. He proves, by specimens 

 and wise conclusions, that fishes, for in- 

 stance, that are altogether without light or 

 access to it pass thru a very gradual loss of 

 sight. At first the eye remains intact, but 

 no vision, or at least impaired vision ; then 

 the eye itself becomes immovable, and final- 

 ly only a dark spot, no eye at all, shows 

 where the eye had been ; and, at last, no eye 

 or spot shows. But note, first, that this is 

 only where no light is admitted, not where 

 partial light is attainable ; and, second, that 

 it requires ages longer than man can reckon 

 to work any change of this sort — any partial 

 atrophying of organs. The same, he shows, 

 is true of traits and characteristics. Now 

 for the application to bees. Were bees 

 brought down from the North to the South, 

 not permitted to gather honey at all in their 

 new field, then, in course of ages (and note 



the time element, almost unmeasurable), 

 such bees might, in their descendants, show 

 loss of honey-gathering or other normal bee 

 propensities; but so long as they exercise 

 their function of gathering nectar, not only 

 every month but almost every day of the 

 year they will certainly lose none of their 

 fondness for nectar nor ability to cull it 

 from the flowers. What is true of one qual- 

 ity must be consequently true of others — 

 hardiness, for instance, which was the theme 

 discussed in the article referred to above. 



One statement made by Dr. Phillips, 

 Beekeepers' Review for December, seems 

 contradictory, or at least not in accordance 

 with the facts. He says, p. 457, in his 

 classification of different honeys, " Levulose 

 type, e. g., mangrove, tupelo, sage," and 

 on p. 456 he adds, " If the levulose is con- 

 siderably greater than the dextrose (levu- 

 lose type) granulation is retarded" 



(italics ours). While what he says about 

 the ratios of dextrose and levulose is un- 

 doubtedly true, how is it that he classes both 

 mangrove and tupelo under the common 

 heading of levulose type — that is, slow 

 . gTanulation? The pure mangrove honey, 

 so far as we have been able to judge of 

 it in a ten-years' exj^erience, gi'anulates 

 about as speedily as any honey known, and 

 is usually hard enough to form blocks with- 

 in a month or less after extracting. Pure 

 white tupelo honey will never gxanulate. 

 It seems to us that mangrove has got into 

 the wrong class here. 



* * * 



Honey needs to be well mixed and lique- 

 fied before bottling. Unless tliis is done, 

 as Dr. Phillips has shown. Beekeepers' Re- 

 view for December, some of the bottles will 

 contain honey with a high per cent of 

 dextrose, and some with an undue propor- 

 tion of levulose. In neither case could the 

 article be called pure honey. Beemen should 

 be very careful in this respect, or they may 

 unconsciously be guilty of violating the 

 pure-food law. Mix and liquefy the honey 

 well in the larger receptacle, before putting 

 into the smaller container. 



A REMEDY FOR ANTS. 



Mr. C. E. Fowler, in the January number 

 of the American Bee Journal, suggests a 

 novel method for trapping ants. He sinks 

 a metal tub, any size, into the ground near 

 the apiary, and puts about an inch of water 

 in the bottom. He says that the ants, in 

 their efforts, apparently, to drink, fall in 

 and can not crawl out. Try it, ye beemen 

 troubled with these pesta, and report. 



