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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



OdoUr 27, 



time of the honey crop, aad a super is put on when the hive Is 

 inverted, the result is that all the honey thus moved is put 

 Into the super. This is sufiScIent to make a very nice argu- 

 ment in favor of this method, and at the time of which I speak 

 the bee-papers were full of the invertinpt theory of the great 

 advantages of that method which some thought new, altho it 

 had been In use in Europe as early as the beglDniog of this 

 century. 



Dozens of different hives and a number of Inverting 

 frames were devised, some were patented, and it even lookt 

 as if there might have been two or three infringement suits 

 begun to make the matter still more interesting. Where are 

 the inverting folks now? Where are their methods followed ? 

 They had evidently lookt at only one side of the picture, and 

 had failed to see the disadvantages of their method until a 

 more thorough and lasting experience had taken away their 

 enthusiasm. 



Progress is still coming, and we do not have the last use- 

 ful discovery in bee-culture, in my opinion, any more than the 

 last improvement in farming, or the last word of electricity. 

 But what if a man should invest his money In all the supposed 

 valuable discoveries of electrical appliances? How would the 

 farmer succeed who invested in every new corn-planter, who 

 bought every latest binder, because it had one point of supe- 

 riority over some previous and already practical Invention? 



If you have a good, practical, movable-frame hive do not 

 leave it for another just because that other seems to have a 

 few points of advantage, for these may be more fancied than 

 real. Do not drop your section-case because another one has 

 lately been devised. Remember that there is nothing so dis- 

 commoding to the apiarist as two different styles of hives, or 

 of frames. In one apiary. If some new method strikes you as 

 decidedly preferable, which requires a different outfit, give it 

 a slow trial, and do not make the change until you are abso- 

 lutely sure, by some practical experience, that it will prove 

 actually preferable, either in convenience or in results. We 

 can often build very bright theories, based upon Isolated facts, 

 which prove fallacious when put to the test, because some- 

 thing was overlookt at the start which had an unexpected 

 bearing upon the result, or because the reasoning was based 

 upon an error. 



Yet, it Is out of the question to reject everything and re- 

 main stationary, for the world keeps revolving, and those who 

 stop on the way will soon be left far behind. 



Hancock Co., 111. 



Bees and Fruit — Insect Jaws. 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



I am led to take this subject from a statement made by 

 Mr. Thos. W. Cawan, in his admirable address made before 

 the last California Bee-Keepers' Association in Los Angeles, 

 on the relation of bees to fruit. While I agree with him in all 

 his conclusions — that bees do not even pierce or injure sound 

 fruit, and that the bees are of far more value to the pomolo- 

 gist than are the flowers of the orchard to the apiarist — yet I 

 have never thought that bees could not bite into the skin of 

 ripe peaches or other fruit. Every bee-keeper knows that 

 bees can even tear splinters from the hive and cut the cloth 

 and foundation which he may place above or within the 

 frames. That they can do this has always argued to me, con- 

 vincingly, that they could tear into any fruit, and especially 

 through the soft rind of the ripe peach, apricot or pear. Yet, 

 while I believe it is possible for the bee to make such abra- 

 sion, I am very positive that they never do. From a study of 

 anatomy of the jaw and observation of what bees do do, I be- 

 lieve bees can wound fruit; from a long, close study of the 

 bees in the field I am sure they never cut through the skin. 

 The first is opinion, to which I have no better right than has 

 Mr. Cowan, until I witness the act, which I never have ; the 

 second is knowledge, gained from wide observation. 



(a) The grapes in a vineyard are wholly free from bee 

 visitors — not a bee Is seen upon or among them — when lo ! on 

 some hot, sultry morning, all at once the bees swarm on the 

 grapes in force. Yet for days the bees have been idlers, be- 

 cause the harvests were not. Does It stand to reason that the 

 bees have all at once, with one accord, rusht to the vineyard 

 and commenced to cut into the fruit and suck the oozing 

 juice ? No I Reason and observation alike show that the 

 juice is oozing, and the bees rush to gather the wasting juice. 

 Had the juice remained sealed by the unbroken peel no bee 

 would have toucht It. But let the bird, wasp, or Nature 

 through fermentation induced by wet or heat, cause but a 

 tiny droplet of the juice to ooze from the grapes, and at once 



the odor attracts the bees, and they at once fix their suction- 

 pumps, and commence the rapid work of juice-abstraction. 



(h) I have repeatedly tried this experiment : I have placed 

 sound grapes at the entrance, and even within hives at times 

 when bees were in enforced Idleness, and they remained 

 sound, and were untoucht. All observers know how ravenous 

 bees are at such times, and know that were their habits and 

 Nature In accord with attack, no grape would remain for an 

 hour. 



I then pierced certain grapes with pin or needle, that the 

 juice might exude, when, presto ! the bees rusht to the bleed- 

 ing fruit, and quickly suckt It juiceless. Yet no unpierced 

 grape was disturbed. 



Thus I have become convinced that bees do not delve for 

 sealed sweets, but must be attracted by escaping odors. The 

 wasp or bird may mine for the coveted nectar drop — the bee, 

 never. The flowers that most woo the bees ever hang out 

 open-moutht nectaries advertised by aid of bright, gorgeous 

 petals, whose life service is to attract the bees. They also 

 fling forth the penetrating odors, that the bees may be lured 

 to the useful service of pollinating the flowers. Thus, the 

 whole life experience of the bees Is to go to exposed recepta- 

 cles, not to those sealed and, so, odorless. Thus we understand 

 why the bees are developt as they are, to seek not for hidden 

 treasures, but for those only that are exposed for the very 

 purpose of enticing the bees to valuable service. 



It Is suggestive that in Europe, and In the older sections 

 of our own country, the idea that bees are enemies and not 

 friends of the fruit-grower Is never broacht. The fruit-men 

 know that the bees are necessary agents and factors to full 

 fruitage, and so the insects are ever welcome in the orchard 

 and vineyard. iSuch sentiment is fast growing in Southern 

 California. Soon the cry will not be against the bees, but the 

 question will be. How can we manage so as to keep our fruit 

 sound, that bees may not be attracted ? and how can we 

 fence against their injury and annoyance in the driers and 

 canneries ? Already improvements in these lines are being 

 made. Soon they will, we believe, become perfected, so that 

 the valuable services of the bees will be secured, with no 

 count against these Invaluable aids to fruit-growing. 



THE JAWS OF INSECTS. 



Apropos to the above, a word regarding the jaws or man- 

 dibles of Insects may be of Interest. These organs are often 

 called the first jaws, as insects possess two pairs of jaws — 

 these mandibles and a second less strong pair — the maxillae. 

 Often these second jaws, which are always just below the 

 mandibles, a're so jaw-like in form that they may be very 

 effective in biting and crushing. In bees they are modified, 

 and are elongated and grooved, and may be, on occasion, con- 

 verted Into a colossal sucking-tube. Both pairs of jaws are 

 appended to the lower end of the side pieces, genie or cheeks, 

 and instead of moving up and down as they crunch, they 

 move sidewise. In some cases they are very large, as seen in 

 the stag beetles, and in the elephant beetle they have 

 branches, and look not unlike the antlers of the deer or elk. 



While the mandibles are always of one piece, and thus 

 simple, they are variously roughened or toucht, as their func- 

 tional needs require. In the locust they are roughened rasp- 

 ers, and can strip off the bark from the hardest twig. In the 

 tiger beetle and wasp they are armed with sharp teeth, so that 

 they can pierce and destroy the insect foe, or, in case of the 

 wasp, can easily break into the pulp of grape or peach. These 

 jaws are found strong and efiective iu wasps, bees, ants, 

 slugs (larvae of saw-flies), caterpillars, beetles, and the larvae 

 or grubs of the same, locusts and lace-wings and their larvae. 



Organs much used, and for a variety of purposes, are cer- 

 tain to be much modified. Thus, in the evolution of life, such 

 organs have changed most, and so are most used in classifica- 

 tion. Thus as teeth are of first importance in systematic 

 zoology, so the jaws are much used In classifying insects. 



Los Angeles Co., Calif. 



^ 



Transferring Bees in Florida — Eating Honey. 



Br MRS. L. HARRISON. 



On page 647 the question is askt from Florida, whether 

 to transfer bees now or wait until spring. The time specified 

 for transferring at the North is just before fruit-bloom, as at 

 that time there are fewer bees, less brood and honey, and a 

 flow is expected that will stimulate brood-rearing and furnish 

 the bees with the means of repairing and building combs. Are 

 these conditions the same in all colonies, all over this great 

 land of ours, at the advent of fruit-bloom ? 



I have spent seven winters in West Florida, and during 

 that time I have not owned any bees there, but I have watcht 



