January, 1920 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



19 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



vert to the truth, and what I want to do 

 is to prove that he has only a part of the 

 truth. I hope to prove that to let the drones 

 take care of themselves is a fallacy. Sup- 

 pose numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 represent 

 liives that give 100, 50, 0, 150, and 200 

 pounds respectively, and that we raise a 

 queen from each, numbering the new hives 



101, 10:2, 103, 104, 105 and that they give 

 200, 150, 100, 50, and pounds respectively. 

 Now we have live families of mothers and 

 five of grandmothers. To make matters 

 more simple we dispose of hives 1, 2, 3, 4, 

 and 5, but we will speak of breeding from 

 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 when using drones from 101, 



102, and 103, etc., because the former hives 

 contain the grandmothers of the drones we 

 use. The best hive we have is hive 101, 

 with 200 pounds surplus; so we breed from 

 it and take the doctor's advice and don't do 

 anything about drones. Accordingly, if 

 honey-gathering qualities are transmitted as 

 readily by the drones as by the queen we 

 would get, the following season, these re- 

 sults: grandsons from hives 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, 

 five mothers from hive 101 — result 150, 125, 

 100, 175, 200 pounds respectively or an aver- 

 age of 150 pounds of honey. 



Now let us breed my way. We will use 

 queens from hive 101 and prevent all drones 

 flying excepting from hive 105, which gave 

 no honey, but whose mother (the future 

 grandmother) was at the head of a colony 

 that gave 200 pounds. Then we have all 

 queens whose colonies give 200 pounds, a 

 gain of 250 pounds of honey in our five new 

 colonies or a gain of 33 per cent over the 

 do-nothing way. I hope the Doctor sees the 

 truth of the above figures and will confess 

 again. 



I presume that the next time the Doctor 

 will upset us all by dragging the drone's 

 grandfather into the argument. I was glad 

 he did not do it this time or I would have 

 given up in despair. 



In the above calculation (in order to 

 simplify matters) I have left out the idea 

 that some queens, as well as drones, will 

 be better and some worse in spite of pa- 

 rentage. 



When the Doctor says, "and please keep 

 in mind that with the way I advise the 

 poorest queen in the apiary will have just 

 as good drones as the best," he gives parent- 

 age all the credit and entirely overlooks en- 

 vironments and everything else that may 

 improve or deteriorate the progeny; such as 

 cell-starters, cell-finishing colonies, and a 

 dozen other circumstances, either premedi- 

 tated by the queen-breeder or purely acci- 

 dental, that would make not only the queens 

 vary in quality but also the drones, while 

 it would be just as impossible to have the 

 drones all of the same quality as it is to 

 raise queens of all the same quality. 



Ilammonton, N. J. C. E. Fowler. 



THE HONEY CAK ES OF ITALY 



How Daintily They Are Made and How Quickly 

 They Are Sold 



In no country is honey more used by the 

 people than in Italy, where its wonderful 

 qualities, medicinal and nutritive, are fully 

 recognized. In Italy there are several very 

 fine honeys; but the coarser kinds are in 

 great abundance. There is one kind in par- 

 ticular, gathered in the Apennines, of which 

 much use is made by the Italian populace. 

 With it they make their most delicious and 

 fragrant honey cakes, which may be bought 

 from the street vendors hot from the griddle- 

 like frying pan. There is nothing more 

 dainty, altho this honey, produced by the 

 bees from the fir, pine, birch, and other 

 trees, is disagreeably dark, rank, and strong. 



In particular does one find these honey- 

 cake vendors in Naples and other cities of 

 southern Italy. Humorous, good-natured, 

 either singing while at work or uttering 

 jibes and jests to the invariable crowd of 

 lazzaroni by whom he is surrounded, waiting 

 for the delicate "regale," the honey-cake 

 maker is a great favorite. Before him 

 stands a table which he keeps scrupulously 

 clean. At one side of the table is an up- 

 right, from which (and at right angles with 

 it) projects a piece of iron in the form of 

 that instrument called by laundresses an 

 Italian-iron. At the opposite side of the 

 table is a small earthernware furnace or pot 

 filled with lighted charcoal. From a nail at 

 the side of the table hangs a frying pan 

 with a short handle — that kind known to us 

 as a "saute-pan." 



Having placed on the table a small quan- 

 tity of polenta, which is the very fine meal 

 of the maize or Indian corn, he pours in a 

 quantity of the black honey and works the 

 whole into a paste with a pair of wooden in- . 

 struments, and does not touch the mass at 

 all with his hands. 



When the dough is stiff enough he further 

 works it with a rolling-pin, rolling it this 

 way and that until at last he has it in the 

 shape of a gigantic German sausage. Tak- 

 ing this in both of his hands he beats it 

 against his Italian-iron till it is perfectly 

 white. Now he rolls it out till it is no 

 thicker than a dollar; then with a tin mold 

 of fantastic form he divides it into small 

 symmetrical pieces. Meantime he has plac- 

 ed upon the furnace his saute-pan, charged 

 with sufficient virgin olive oil to fill it half 

 full. The moment the oil begins to boil he 

 throws in his little bits of paste, and fries 

 them until they are a light brown. 



Thej' are now ready, and very soon dis- 

 posed of, to be eaten hot. No sooner is his 

 paste exhausted than he begins another 

 i)atch, for the honey-cake maker, especially 

 in the large towns, has always customers 

 waiting. 



The average tourist who has the curiosity 



