1904 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



one of his stones. In Mme. Taussand's 

 celebrated wax fi-ure show, of Lou- 

 don, and the equally good show in the 

 Eden Musee, New York City may be 

 seen in wax, all the celebrated person- 

 ages of history, in realistic attitudes 

 and besides all these may be mention- 

 ed the innumerable show figures used 

 by tradesmen for the display of their 

 goods. 



It is also used by electricians as an 

 insulator; by dentists to obtain an im- 

 pression of the patient's jaws; by 

 chemists for dipping glass stoppers to 

 bottles containing strong acids and 

 alkalies; medicinally as an ingredient 

 in many preparations. It is used in 

 a photographic process for the produc- 

 tion of carbon prints; for polishing 

 hard-wood floors, and by decorative 

 painters as a glaze. 



As the cold weather is hfere and the 

 bees are temporarily out of business, 

 why not start a discussion as to the 

 uses of the products of our little 

 friends the bees? 



Yonkers, N. Y., Xov. 17. 1903 



THE BEE IN THE GREEN HOUSE. 



By M. F. Reeve. 



THE CUCUMBER grower has no 

 more useful ally than the honey 

 bee, and the same industrious, 

 unpaid laborer, will do good service 

 among tomato and eggplant blossoms. 

 Every New England gardener has one 

 or more swarms of bees and a hive is 

 carried into the forcing house soon 

 after the cucumbers are planted so 

 that the bees may be ready to visit 

 the -first blossom. The cucumber, like 

 other i^lants of its tribe, bears two 

 kinds of blossoms on the same vine; 

 one sort has stamens, the other pistils! 

 It is necessary for the pollen of the 

 former to be carried to the latter. This 

 work was formerly done by hand, with 

 a camel's hair brush, until it was 

 found that the same result could be 

 attained more easily and cheaply 

 through the agency of bees. The little 

 insects are also more certain to find 

 and fertilize all the cucumber blossoms 

 than even an expert human operator. 



Many tomato growers who carry on 

 operations in winter under glass have 

 found that a hive of bees in the forc- 

 ing house adds to the certainty of 

 pollenizing the blossoms. The New 



England growers nearly all employ 

 bees for the purpose of fertilizing their 

 under-glass crops. Fifty cents per 

 pound has been a common New York 

 quotation for winter tomatoes 



A green house man near by my place 

 complained to me. "your bees have 

 ])layed the mischief with my carna- 

 tions. I had a lot of plants which I 

 had cross-fertilized with pollen for 

 getting bigger blooms. The bees got 

 in among them and mixed up the varie- 

 ties everyhow and I got all kinds of 

 variegated plants." 



I .suggested that thereafter he en- 

 close the pollenized flowers with 

 y-auze until they w^-nt to seed, seeing 

 that the end he wanted was to get the 

 seeds to determine the result of his 

 experiment. He did so and informed 

 me that things had turned out .just as 

 he desired and that he had a'cania- 

 tion that would make the famous 

 Lawson .no.CK30 one look like thirty 

 cents for size and color. 



The land grower who was experi- 

 menting with growing winter tomatoes 

 III one of the green houses and had 

 had indifferent success, borrowed a 

 hive of bees and was enthusiastic over 

 the results. He said the tomatoes 

 were in greater profusion and ripened 

 much l)etter, and at a time Avheii they 

 brought more money. Incidentally 

 the bees having the run of the green 

 house were of service in other fertiliz- 

 ing work. 

 Rutledge, Pa. 



BEE HUMBUG. 



"It is passing strange what a lot 

 of freak idea,s exist about the bee 

 and how, like a snowball, the rolling 

 nonsense has gathered unto itself in 

 its progress the vaporings of every 

 idle dreamer, of eveiy 'emotional fic- 

 tionist."— Arthur C. Miller, in Amer- 

 ican Bee-Keeper. Mr. Miller follo'ws 

 on Avith the startling assertion that 

 "the bee is a thoroughly selfish ani- 

 mal." He says that the manifold la- 

 bors of the worker are only the ex- 

 pression of the "parental instinct." 

 But when did "parental instinct" come 

 to spell selfishness? With such views 

 A. C. Miller is likely to feel lomely.— 

 Irish Bee Journal. 



Can you send us just one new sub- 

 scriber? 



