496 



GLEANINGS IN BfiE CULTURE 



AuausT, l92l 



^ FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



Mohammed believed in the infallibility of 

 honey, and therefore wrote two verses out 

 of the 128 which form the chapter on bees. 

 These two alone mention bees in the follow- 

 ing: 



' ' Your Lord inspired the bee to build its 

 dwelling by gathering the material from the 

 mountains or trees and creeping plants. He 

 inspired her to suck from all kinds of fruit, 

 and fly about in quest preparing in its body 

 a many-colored fluid in which salutary prin- 

 ciples are contained to assist humanity" — a 

 plain hint for any reflective community. 



Bees were thus consecrated, and every 

 good believer will handle his bees kindly. 

 The only time the Moslem meddles with the 

 bees is in the swarming season to lodge them 

 comfortably, and in the honey harvest, when 

 he carefully takes out a portion of the honey 

 without touching the brood-nest. This does 

 not mean that no Mohammedan will be 

 rude to his bees; but they have a kind of 

 guarantee. In consequence, all over Islam, 

 or countries where Mohammedans have 

 ruled for a considerable length of time, as 

 in Spain and the Grecian Archipelago, the 

 primitive hive is laid down horizontally, 

 thus rendering the suffocation of bees by 

 brimstone not imjiossible but at least verv 

 difficult. 



The second Medina is a large town sit- 

 uated in a fertile district in northern Spain, 

 in the province of Castile, and is entitled 

 Medina del Campo. When the conquering 

 Arabs on their way to France in the sev- 

 enth century saw the beautiful district they 

 founded this city in remembrance of the 

 desert Medina, the far-away home whence 

 thej' started. To distinguish it from the 

 Medina in Arabia they called it the flourish- 

 ing or agricultural Medina. From this cen- 

 ter, bees, beekeeping, and the value of honey 

 were spread over all the Iberian Peninsula. 



The system of horizontal hives spread every- 

 where, even to the foot of the Pyrenees on 

 the Spanish declivity. 



The Mohammedan hives are still in use. 

 Altho the Arabs left the north of Spain as 

 early as the twelfth century, and were 

 finally expelled from Granada in the south 

 in the fifteenth century, these teachings 

 were still so convincing that the respect for 

 the honeybee and the belief in honey are 

 now as strong as in the days of the Caliph- 

 ate of Cordova and the kingdom of Gran- 

 ada. A Spaniard told me that there was no 

 use in getting several pesetas (the monetary 

 unit in Spain) for his honey when the bees 

 have gathered all the salutary sweet for a 

 remedy in all diseases. Pointing to his chil- 

 dren running about the hives, ' ' What 

 would they do during epidemics and during 

 cold days if we had not this remedy on 

 hand?'' Tho a Christian he seemed still im- 

 pressed by the verses from the Koran which 

 had been repeated to his Arabian ancestors 

 for generations. He thought it sinful, like- 

 wise, to part with his bees, as they are con- 

 sidered to be a part of the family. The hives, 

 he told me, were made ages ago by his 

 grandfather. 



As for the third Medina, the Eoot Com- 

 pany knows more about it, at least how it 

 originated and took its name from the other 

 Medinas. But has it not been another bee 

 sanctuary whence hives, bees, and every- 

 thing pertaining to bee culture have spread 

 over a part of the dominion, as the Arabian 

 and Spanish Medinas have influenced the 

 Moslem world? Indeed, Medina, Ohio, has 

 influenced the bee world— that is, all around 

 the globe. The Medina in bee culture, or 

 Gleanings, or Eoot, is all identical with bees 

 and honey — Airline honey of the veteran 

 beekeeper. P. J. Baldensperger. 



Oran, Africa. 



UMVERSIDF COUrsi « ^■ 



Exhibit of the Riverside Beekeepers' Chib at the Southern California Fair at Riverside, Calif., 1920. In 

 addition to the display of honey, there were nearly two tons of wax, ten colonies of bees in glass hives, 

 and several special features such as a model in miniature of an apiary and honey-house nestled in the midst 

 of orange groves. At the back is a display of 105 varieties of honey-producing plants of California pressed 



and mounted. 



