356 



?HE AMERICAN BEE JOURNALo 



June 9, 



youDg or old colony ; he also said it was no use to use separa- 

 tors, as the honey was just as good, and what was bulged he 

 could eat. One man safd "honey is honey." " Yes, if It is 

 ripe," said I. 



"Ripe, ripe," he replied; "I kept bees 20 years and 

 never heard of ripe !" 



Now, how can a man talk to such a person ? 



Buena Vista Co., Iowa. 



What is Bee-Poison? — Opinions Quoted. 



BY D. 8 HEFFRON. 



Editor American Bee .Journal : — In the number of your 

 highly instructive journal, issued April 29, 1897, a rather 

 facetious correspondent, who signed his habitat " South 

 Africa," describes a personal "attack of toothache in the 

 legs," and the remedy that he applied to produce an imme- 

 diate cure. The writer of the article attributes the cure to 

 formic acid, in which he possibly mistakes. Dr. Robert 

 Kane, in his Chemistry, edited by Dr. Draper, page 645, says: 



"The formic acid derives its name from existing in a very 

 concentrated form in the common ant (formica rufa), and pro- 

 duces the pain of its sting on being injected into the punc- 

 ture which the animal makes. It was formerly prepared by 

 distilling the ants with a little water." 



Dr. Kane says it is not necessary to distill ants, but if 

 sugar, or starch, or barley, be simply heated with dilute sul- 

 phuric acid until it becomes brown, a certain quantity of 

 formic acid is produced. Pure hydrated formic acid is a lim- 

 pid, colorless liquid, which fumes slightly in the air; its odor 

 is intensely pungent. In this most concentrated form it is an 

 absolute caustic if applied to the skin, producing a sore very 

 difficult to heal. And the formic acid burns and corrodes the 

 skin after the manner of fluoric acid : it does not produce 

 swelling as is generally the case with the poison of the bee's 

 sting, which, tho containing formic acid, must contain an 

 additional poison. 



Under the heading, "The Poison of Bees," the Popular 

 Science News (in its March, 1898, issue) remarks as follows : 



" It is generally assumed that the poison of the bee is 

 formic acid. Prof. Langler, however, lands that this is only 

 partly true ; the bee-poison which he examined was a bitter- 

 tasting liquid with an agreeable odor, which, allho it con- 

 tained formic acid, when diluted to a one per cent, solution, 

 so that it no longer gave an acid reaction to litmus, still pos- 

 sest appreciable physiological action. Moreover, when kept 

 at a temperature of lOU- for over six weeks, so that all the 

 formic acid was entirely volatilized, the liquid still produced 

 hyperaemia of the conjunctiva when introduced into the sac." 



Prof. Langler, a chemist, has isolated the active principle, 

 which he finds gives alkaloidal reactions, is unaffected by heat 

 or cold, or by acids. Injected into the veius of animals, it 

 produces effects similar to the venom of serpents. 



I suppose Dr. Miller would tell us that hyperasmia is a 

 collection or effusion of blood In any portion of the body caus- 

 ing swelling, while the place, conjunctiva, is the outer cover- 

 ing of the eye and inner of the lid. 



It is not a little remarkable that the poison of the bee 

 contains mixt two dissimilar principles — one is formic acid, 

 secreted by the ant, the other a distinct poison that seems 

 commonly to cause swelling, and, so far as I know, it is not 

 yet named. Cook Co., III. 



Thinks He Has Discovered the Control of Sex. 



BY C. THEILMANN. 



Prof. Schenk, of Vienna, Austria, is reported as having 

 discovered a way to regulate the process at will in the birth of 

 a male or female. He says that he has left his secret under 

 seal with the Scientific Academy, which can prove it, and then 

 deliver it to the public. But he can give the results of his 

 discovery and the scientific facts they rest on. The Professor 

 says, further on, that his aim is the birth of males, and that 

 he caused the production of males in 14 instances where his 

 discovery was carried out according to his directions. The 

 male has not the least influence, all lies on the female, but 

 the treatment must be in advance of conception, and not after 

 it. He has done this by proper nourishment of the female, etc. 



Some readers will ask what this has to do with bee-keep- 

 ing. For answer, I will say just this : If Prof. Schenk can reg- 

 ulate the sexes at will in the higher animals by proper food 

 and nourishment, what should hinder the bees producing 

 their different sexes at will by proper food and nourishment 

 also ? 



My experiments convinced me years ago that bees can and 

 will, if necessary, rear either of their sexes by way of food 

 and nourishment, if newly-laid eggs are given them. 



Some years ago, in swarming-time, I hived a big swarm of 

 Cyprians which had a very prolific one-year-old queen. The 

 colony went to work busily, but when I lookt into the hive the 

 next morning it lookt as If half of the swarm went back to the 

 old hive, and as I did not want any weak colonies for produc- 

 ing comb honey, I put another swarm in front of the Cyprians, 

 after dosing them with diluted peppermint, as I knew their 

 sensitive and fighting nature ; but they would fight and kill 

 the new swarm by the hundreds in spite of peppermint. I 

 then dosed them again, and shook them off the frames In 

 front of the hive with the new swarm, and dosed them the 

 third time, so that they were all wet. By this time a number 

 of other swarms came out, so I shut up the hive and attended 

 to them, and swarming kept me busy all day until dusk. 



The next morning I examined the Cyprians, and there 

 was not a live bee there — Cyprians and swarm were gone. 

 Two of the frames had two new combs built as big as a hand, 

 all worker-cells, one of which was regularly occupied with an 

 egg in each cell on both sides of the comb, and as far as the 

 cells were built big enough ; no egg was missing in any cell. 



Immediately after examination a swarm issued, which 

 was hived on these combs. The bees accepted their new 

 home and workt vigorously. 



About a week after I examined the hive and found it built 

 full of drone-comb, except the two pieces that were built when 

 they were hived. There were no eggs or brood, except sealed 

 brood, in the piece where the eggs were, and here were three 

 capt queen-cells, and about 25 drones in worker-cells scat- 

 tered among the worker-brood. I am positive there were no 

 drone-cells built in that piece of comb, and I am thoroughly 

 convinced that those eggs were all intended for workers wheti 

 laid by that regular, prolific Cyprian queen, that filled whole 

 combs of workers without a miss in her old hive. 



The swarm that was hived on this comb had undoubtedip 

 lost their queen in swarming, and their instinct directed them 

 to produce queens, drones and workers from the worker-eggs 

 they had on hand, to save their existence. Some of our learned 

 men will not accept this, but Prof. Schenk's discovery will 

 bear me out on what I have said here, and years ago in the 

 "Old Reliable." 



By the way, did any bee-keeper ever see drone-comb built 

 the first day of swarming with a young, prolific queen ? or 

 drone-brood reared the first two or three days after the 

 swarms were hived ? If there are any it would interest many 

 of the readers to hear from them in the American Bee Journal.. 



Wabasha Co., Minn. 



Bees in Relation to Flowers and Fruits. 



Br THOS. WM. COWAN. 



{Delivered at the Utdveruty Farmers'' IiifilUute at Pacific Orove^ Calif. )i 

 [Continued from page 340.] 



Nectar. — We must now notice the part played by the 

 nectaries in the process of fertilization. Altho we usually 

 speak of bees gathering honey it is not strictly accurate, for 

 the fluid secreted by the flower is unlike honey in many par- 

 ticulars, and is called nectar, while the part by which it is 

 yielded is called a nectary. Chemical analysis has shown that 

 the sugar nectar contains is identical with thatof cane or beet 

 root, while the sugar of honey is similar to that of the grape. 

 To those who have studied the physiology of the honey-bee it 

 will be known that bees, by means of a glandular secretion, 

 convert the cane sugar into grape sugar, just like the saliva, 

 does in our own case. 



Nectar from different flowers differs in aroma, which is 

 imparted to the honey, and it is by this means that we are en- 

 abled to distinguish honey obtained from various sources. In 

 flowers, nectar is usually furnisht abundantly in the mornings 

 diminisht till the afternoon, and again Increast towards even- 

 ing. The position of the nectaries in flowers differs with the 

 kind of insects to which they are suited, and while some He 

 almost on the surface, as in the blossoms of carrots, most are 

 found in deeper recesses, because this position insures the in- 

 sects coming well into contact with the male and female 

 parts, and protects the nectar from Injury by dilution with 

 rain or dew. For the latter purpose we also find wonderful 

 modifications, as, for instance, the drooping habits of the 

 fuchsia, or the up-standing water-resisting hairs of the com- 

 mon nasturtium. 



I have already mentioned that the sexes do not always ex- 

 ist in the same flower, nor always in the same plant, and even 

 when they do the flowers are so modified as to prevent self- 

 fertilization and secure cross-fertilization by insects. L Many 



