THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



211 



Rural New Yorker. 



The Influence of Food. 



PROF. A. J. COOK. 



We often hear farmers remark that 

 food has more to do with fine stock 

 than does pedigree. While we do not 

 think this is true, yet we must con- 

 fess that good feeding is no mean 

 factor in successful stock breeding. 

 Long and careful ■ breeding, indexed 

 by a valuable pedigree, insures sus- 

 ceptibility, which makes great re- 

 sults possible, but only with proper 

 care. A 50-horse power engine pos- 

 sesses great potency, but on one- 

 fourth rations of fuel it would accom- 

 plish less than a 10-horse power. Yet 

 It would be foolish to argue that fuel 

 was more important than the style of 

 the engine. 



Among higher animals we have no 

 evidence that food produces rapid 

 structural changes. Food, selection 

 and time will change the form, car- 

 cass, and even the habits, but only 

 after long years of modification. 

 Among lower animals we have some 

 startling facts that show most graphi- 

 cally that food is sometimes a most 

 powerful agent, able to effect a radi- 

 cal structural change in a very brief 

 time. We all know that, in the main, 

 the animal functions are very simi- 

 lar, even though studied in animals 

 which are structually wide apart. The 

 now generally accepted philosophy 

 that all animals have a common an- 

 cestry should lead us to give wise 

 consideration to the peculiarities of 

 lower animals, even in our treatment 

 of the higher forms. If, then, we can 

 show that food is potent to substan- 

 tially modify the entire organism and 

 life habits of bees, it should serve to 

 exalt our estimate of its value and 

 influence as affecting the higher ani- 

 mals. The same egg may, yea will, 

 produce either a worker bee or a 

 queen, the character of the progeny 

 depending solely upon the character 

 and quantity of the food consumed. 

 If the food is rich and abundant the 

 result is a queen bee. If it is less 

 nourishing and stinted in qiiantity, a 

 worker bee is the result. Even after 

 the egg hatches, the young larva may 

 be fed for three days in the meager 

 way, then fed the richer food in 

 ample supply, and a queen will re- 

 sult, though not so valuable a one as 

 though fed the rich royal pablulum in 

 generous quantities from the first. 



Now, let us see what the changes 

 are that are wrought by these im- 

 proved good rations. The queen is 

 longer and slimmer than the worker 

 bees, and her ovaries are feebly de- 

 veloped, capable of growing daily 

 from 2,000 to 3,000 eggs. On the other 

 hand, there is a more feeble develop- 

 ment of sucli organs as are used in 

 procuring food and performing the 

 various operations of the hive. Thus 

 the queen has no pollen baskets, her 



jaws, as compared with those of the 

 workers, are weak, her tongue short, 

 and her glandular system and stomach 

 are more fully developed. Thus a 

 simple modification of the food regi- 

 men produces sterility in the workers, 

 which are only sterile females, while 

 the organs that are more intimately 

 connected with nutrition are more 

 strongly developed. It would seem 

 that the food is too slight to stimulate 

 the growth of the ovaries, which 

 is appropriated in a more decided de- 

 velopment of the special organs which 

 minister to nutrition. If food can do 

 all this with bees, it certainly may be 

 regarded as a very important element 

 in tlie development and care of our 

 higher animals. 

 Lansing, Mich. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Racks for Surplus Honey. 



J. W. POKTEIl. 



I notice some attempts are still being 

 made to get over the difficulty I suc- 

 cessfully accomplished years ago, and 

 my plaii was illustrated on page 1^40 of 

 the Bee Jouknal for 1878. Mr. 

 Whitford's plan on page 56, I see is 

 referred to by Mr. Heddon on page 95. 



The purpose was to have a case that 

 would be bee tight ; one that could be 

 readily tiered up (a point of great 

 value here), and one that would hold 

 the sections lengthwise of the hive {no 

 other would do for me), and come 

 right down on to the brood combs, 

 with only bee space between sections 

 and brood ; one, too, that would ad- 

 mit of long separators of wood. All 



Hack for Surplus Honey. 



of these points are attained, and the 

 continued use of this rack, for years, 

 have been so satisfactory, that I 

 think a real service will be done to 

 republish the cut of it. It was freely 

 contributed to the fraternity. I had 

 experimented much, and have seen 

 nearly all, including Mr. Ileddon's 

 latest; which, while it has some val- 

 uable points, is open to serious ob- 

 jections. Mr. Whitford's mistake is 

 in making hisTsupportssolid. Made 

 of X or XX tin, and so bent as to 

 have them thus n, standings^ inch 

 high, all the strength needed is ob- 

 tained, and the space permits them 

 to rest on a nail inserted at the apex. 

 Mr. Heddon asks about bee space. 

 The tin angles are flush with the bot- 

 tom of the case, and the case rests on 

 strips % wide, by % thick, placed one 

 at each end, transversely across the 

 brood frames, tight to the ends of the 

 hive. Now, with this arrangement it 

 matters not if the bees build wax 

 bridges in bee space, prying between 

 the case and transverse stick, separ- 



ates all without displacing or lifting 

 a comb below. They can be made to 

 fit any hive. Atone time I considered 

 it a good advantage to use the deep, 

 wide frame, with hanging separators, 

 and with some bees. Much more can 

 be done with them than with any case. 

 Because of their use in Langstroth 

 frames, I adopted the size of 4J:|x5%x2 

 sections ; six Just fill the frame. 



My cases are made to take 18 of 

 them. The separators are notched to 

 let down in the middle tins to bee 

 depth. Five separators only to 18 

 sections, and each one movable, and 

 of wood or tin may be used. I much 

 prefer wood. 



The T should be stamped not ham- 

 mered. That is done by slitting an 

 oak or hard wood block, strips of tin, 

 IJs inches wide, are cut and bent 

 slightly into the slot. Then reversed 

 and forced by a lever into the next 

 slot, and they are finished in the 

 shape of this U- An iron or steel 

 square blade of equal thickness is 

 used under the lever. Tinsmiths can 

 form them, but false bends damage 

 the strength greatly. 



Charlottesville, Va., Feb., 17, 1883. 



Translated from Bienenvater by A. R. Kohnke, 



Wax— Tests for Proving its Purity. 



PROF. P. F. RESCH, S. J. 



What is wax y To the uninitiated 

 this may seem a very superfluous 

 question ; but the fact that there are a 

 number of natural products going 

 by that name, demands accurate de- 

 termination of the kind. For in- 

 stance, in some churches the ritual 

 directions are to use wax candles at 

 certain ceremonies ; the ordinance 

 also specifies of what kind of wax such 

 candles must be made. viz. : " bees- 

 wax ;" but that is as far as the ordi- 

 nance specifies. Hence, it is cus- 

 tomary to use the product of the na- 

 tive bee, in the different countries 

 where such candles are used; in Eu- 

 rope, it is the common or German 

 bee, or the Italian ; in Syria, the 

 Syrian ; in Cyprus, the Cyprian ; in the 

 East Indies, ^4p«,s dorsata. jloreajndica ; 

 in South America, the species Gothuir, 

 Melipona, which furnish the wax. It 

 appears that the wax from all the 

 different species of bees possesses the 

 same chemical and physical prop- 

 erties. 



For the sake of convenience it has 

 been found necessary to classify wax 

 under the following heads : Bees- 

 wax, vegetable wax, and animal wax. 

 On comparing the elementary con- 

 stituents of the different kinds, we 

 find them to be composed of carbon 

 (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) in 

 the following average proportions : 

 Beeswax. . . .C, 81.70, H, 13.26, O, 5.04 

 Veg. wax... C, 71.61,11, 12.38, O, 16.01 

 Min. wax. . .C, 85,70, H, 14.30, O, 00.00 



As beeswax, to a great extent, is 

 adulterated, the discription of a few 

 handy tests may not come amiss. 



Pure beeswax has the following 

 properties : At 30° C, it may be 

 kneaded ; between 69° and 70-' C, it 

 melts. Its specific gravity is between 

 0.960, 0.969. A higher or lower spe- 



