GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE, 



Jan. 15 



Mr. Spiegler-Kunnesdorf says in Deutsche 

 Illus. Bienefizeitung, that he succeeded, by 

 injecting bee-poison direct into the arteries 

 of men afflicted with tuberculosis, i-n effect- 

 ing a cure. Evei'y five days the injection 

 ^vas repeated six times, After the second 

 day of treatment the patients coughed but 

 little. At the end of four days the bacilli 

 developed no more. 



The Italian government provides the fol- 

 lowing stations for the experimental study 

 of apiculture: 



1. Bieno (Novara); Passerini; observer, 

 Cav. Carlo. 



2. Bra (Cuneo), Alardo; observer. Sac. 

 Filippo. 



3. Castiglione Torinese (Torino), Marucco; 

 observer, Teologo D. Giuseppe. 



4. Marsango di Campo S. Martino ( Pado- 

 va), Zovato; observer, Cav. Bartolomeo. 



5. Castel di Casio (Bologna); observer, 

 Bettuc(^hi Michele. 



6. Solomeo (Perugia); observer, Monini 

 Pietro. 



7. S. Pietro in Campiano (Ravenna); ob- 

 server, Gardini Silvio. 



8. Montescudo (Forli); observer, Pratelli 

 Giovanni. 



9. lesi (Ancona); observer, Chiappetti Be- 

 niamino. 



10. Treja (Macerata); observer, Perucci 

 Carlo. 



11. Torre S. Patrizo (Ascoli); observer, 

 Mariani Cav. Mariano. 



12. Rome; observer, Costantini Cav. An- 

 tonio. 



13. Teramo; observer, De Michetti Agr. 

 Vincenzo. 



14. Orsogna (Chieti); observer, Di Bene 

 Giovanni. 



15 Lupara (Campobasso); De Leonardis 

 Aw. Carlo. 



16. Caserta, Raimondi Giuseppe. 



17. Bisignano (Coseaza), Anselmotti Ciro. 



18. Lagonegio (Potenza), Aldinio Pas- 

 quale. 



19. Civitella Alfedena (Aquila), Armiento 

 Vincenzo. 



There is also a kind of school of bee-keep- 

 ing at Caltagionne, in Catania, which also 

 acts as an experiment station. 



In a recent issue reference was made 

 to the work being done by Mr. Isaac Hop- 

 kins, in New Zealand, in the way of spread- 

 ing the principles of modern bee-keeping in 

 that country and in dispelling some errors 



that seem to cling tenaciously to the minds 

 of some who take only a superficial view of 

 things. It seems a sad comment on human 

 nature that so much effort is necessary, the 

 world over, to shield man from the ruinous 

 effects of his own folly. How much has 

 been said and done, for instance, to induce 

 the growers of fruit to spray blossoms at a 

 time when it would destroy the larva? of 

 noxious insects instead of doing so at a time 

 when it would simply kill the blossoms! 

 Even stringent legislation has been found 

 necessary here. 



As all know, considerable friction has 

 been developed at times in this country be- 

 tween farmers and bee-keeper.'*, and Mr. 

 Hopkins has met the same trouble in his ex- 

 perience. To show how he has "met the 

 enemy" I make the following quotation, 

 which originally appeared in the "Austral- 

 asian Bee Manual," but was printed later in 

 Mr. Hopkins" bulletin on bees. In speaking 

 of apiculture in relation to agriculture he 

 says: 



BKNBFJCIAT- INFLUENCE OF BEES ON AGBICULTUKB. 



As to the intervention of bees in the cross-fertiliza- 

 tion of phmts. I can here only refer the reader for 

 further information to the works of Sir J. Lubbock 

 and of Darwin. The latter, in his work on " Cross 

 and Self Fertilization of Plants," g-ives the stronjrest 

 evidence as to the beneficial influence of bees upon 

 clover crops. In speaking of the natural order of le- 

 guminous plants, to which the clovers belong, he says, 

 " The cross-seedlings have an enormous advantage 

 over the self-fertilized ones when growji together in 

 close competition;" he also gives the following details 

 of some experiments which show the importance of 

 the part played by bees in the process of cross-fertili- 

 zation: 



Trifolhnn repens (white clover).— Several plants 

 were protected from insects, and the seeds from ten 

 flower-heads on these plants and from ten heads on 

 other plants growing outside the net (which I saw 

 visited by bees) were counted, and the seeds from the 

 latter plants were very nearly ten times as numerous 

 as those from the protected plants. The experiment 

 was repeated in the following year, and twenty pro- 

 tected heads now yielded only a single abortive seed, 

 while twenty heads on the plants outside the net 

 (which I saw visited by bees) yielded 2290 seeds, as 

 calculated bv weighing all the seeds and counting the 

 number in a weight of two grains. 



" Tri foil inn pralenste (purple clover). — One hundred 

 flower-heads on plants protected by a net did not pro- 

 duce a single seed, while one hundred on plants grow- 

 ing outside (which were visited by bees) yielded 68 

 grains weight of seed; and as eighty seeds weighed 2 

 grains, the hundred heads must have yielded 2720 

 seeds." 



Here we have satisfactory proof that the effect of 

 cross-fertilization brought about by bees upon the 

 clovers and other plants growing in meadows and pas- 

 ture lands is the certain production of a large number 

 of vigorous seeds, as compared with the chance only 

 of a few weak seeds if self-fertilization were to be de- 

 pended upon. In the case of meadow cultivation it 

 enables the farmer to raise seed for his own use or for 

 sale, instead of having to purchase it, while at the 

 same time the nutritious quality of the hay is improv- 

 ed during the process of ripening the seed. In the 

 case of pasture lands, such of those vigorous seeds as 

 are allowed to come to maturity and to fall in the 

 field, will send up plants of a stronger growth to take 

 the place of others that may have died out, or to fill 

 up hitherto unoccupied spaces, thus tending to cause 

 a constant renewal and strengthening of the pasture. 

 The agriculturist himself should be the best judge of 

 the value of such effects. 



The beneficial effect of the bees' visits to fruit-trees 

 has been well illustrated by Mr. Cheshire in the pages 

 of the British Bee Journal, and by Professor Cook In 

 his article upon " Honey-bees and Horticulture." In 

 fact, even thos • wno complain of bees can not deny 

 the services they render. What they contest is the 

 assertion that bees do no harm. 



