96 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



Mr. Abbott would not desire to go to the 

 voters again for another beating. 



I think I am within the facts in saying 

 that Mr. N. E. France, the General Man- 

 ager-elect, has no enemies and will make a 

 good officer, satisfactory to all. Let him 

 serve his term, and let our Association 

 move on to victory. 



Chicago, 111. 



[As I said in our last issue, I can not be- 

 lieve that Mr. Secor intended to be unfair 

 in his ballot. There was only one nomina- 

 tion that came through the official channel, 

 and I do not think he thought that the sen- 

 tence under Mr. France's name would be 

 construed as an electioneering matter; for 

 if he did, he would have left it out, as he 

 would well know that a big protest would 

 be raised. His record during the years he 

 has served us has been too good to merit 

 severe censure for his last oificial act, 

 which, at most, was an error of judgment. 



Regarding the implied statement that Mr. 

 Abbott had not turned over the funds in his 

 hands, I read the report at first just as you 

 did, and as others have; but if you look the 

 report over again you will see that Mr. 

 Secor says in his third paragraph, im- 

 mediately following, " The untimely death 

 of the Secretary, Dr. Mason, probably ac- 

 counts for his not remitting money in his 

 hands for dues collected at Denver and at 

 other times.'''' Italics mine. The second 

 paragraph was unfortunate; and, while we 

 deplore it, we are hardly justified in be- 

 lieving that Mr. Secor meant io " get back " 

 at Mr. Abbott. 



Mr. Moore very sensibly urges that we 

 stick to the constitution, and proceed along 

 parlimentary lines, even if mistakes have 

 been made. This is all we can do now. 

 Mr. France certainly is not to blame for 

 any of this muddle or trouble. — Ed.] 



GOVERNMENT AID FOR BEE=KEEPERS. 



Experimenting with Apis Dorsala and other Spe- 

 cies of Foreign Bees. 



BY W. K. MORRISON. 



Either my communication relative to gov- 

 ernment aid to bee-keepers was not clear 

 or Dr. Miller must have misunderstood me 

 when he remarked that the United States 

 has men quite able to undertake research 

 work for the benefit of bee-keepers. There 

 can be no sort of doubt about that — at least 

 there is none in my mind; but is the good 

 doctor sure the able men he has in his 

 mind's eye would be the men selected? 

 This is the point I am rather dubious 

 about. There is also another point on 

 which there rests some doubt in my mind. 

 It is this: Would these able men not be lia- 

 ble to service in all sorts of wildcat enter- 

 prises by the orders of some person or per- 

 sons who would be lord over them? Things 

 like this have been done. There is any 

 amount of work to be done in behalf of the 

 art and science of bee-keeping, and I think 



apiculture does not begin to get the atten- 

 tion from the United States government 

 which it really deserves, and some indus- 

 tries of far less importance get valuable 

 recognition from Congress. 



But before bee-keepers apply for more 

 recognition let them make up their minds 

 what they really want before presenting 

 an appeal for aid. It would be a very 

 grave mistake to apply without a well-de- 

 fined program ready, one that would clear- 

 ly appeal to the practical man. Congress- 

 men are very practical men. 



The only serious problem that bee-keep- 

 ers have discussed with a view to asking 

 government aid is the importation of Apis 

 dorsata. I believe dorsata would be a val- 

 uable acquisition; but as it has never been 

 domesticated, and we are practically with- 

 out information as to its habits, it seems 

 rather doubtful whether we should ask for 

 government aid for such a scheme. It 

 seems to me it would require the attention 

 of experimenters for several years before 

 any thing tangible would result. Apis 

 dorsata and its allies should be carefully 

 studied on their own native heath before at- 

 tempting their introduction into North 

 America. If they were already under do- 

 mestication it would be differenf; but we 

 here have to deal with a purely wild ani- 

 mal about whose habits we are mostly ig- 

 norant. I believe, however, with Prof. Ben- 

 ton, that it can be tamed and harnessed to 

 the use of man. The reports of the govern- 

 ment of India on the bees of that country I 

 take no stock in, as such investigations are 

 usually left to public officials whose know- 

 ledge of bee-keeping is rather small, in 

 some cases probabl}- non-existent. 



But why not broaden the subject? Why 

 stick to one bee? Apis Indica we know can 

 be domesticated, and is not likely to be a 

 nuisance to civilization. There are very 

 many others. Africa has bees in abun- 

 dance over its whole length and breadth. 

 Are none of these valuable? We do know 

 that bee-keeping is the sole occupation of 

 large tribes of people in that continent. 

 South Africa is a land of flowers, mostly 

 melliferous. Can't we glean something 

 from a study of them? The East Indies, 

 Siam, South China, South Ameriea, Asia- 

 tic Turkey, and other countries all have 

 their little honey-gatherers. It is very like- 

 ly indeed that some of them are of great 

 merit, and worthy of early introduction. 

 This is hardly a field for enterprise, and 

 is just where a kindly government might 

 step in to assist, particularly so since the 

 quest for bees may be united with a quest 

 for plants that yield nectar bountiful!}'. 

 To do this would require a staff of keen ob- 

 servers, past masters in bee-keeping, for it 

 would take one man a lifetime to cover the 

 ground I have mentioned, even superficial- 

 ly, which would hardly do in this particu- 

 lar instance. 



There is another problem which is equal- 

 ly fascinating, but not so romantic; it is, 

 getting honey-plants which it would pay 



