74 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



the foundation to make cells ? If so, under 

 what conditions ? We hear much about the 

 different grades of foundation, such as light 

 brood, heavy brood, etc. Now. is it any dif- 

 ference to the bees which they have ? If so, 

 what is it ? 



We have had a little experience in the mat- 

 ter, and it does not coincide with the gen- 

 erally accepted theories. Has any one ever 

 weighed a sheet of foundation before giving 

 it to the bees, and then after it had been 

 drawn out into a perfect comb ? We venture 

 the assertion that, nine times out of ten, it 

 will be found that the bees have furnished 

 every particle of wax to make the cells of 

 the comb, regardless of the amount of wax 

 in the foundation. Sometimes bees make 

 the base of natural comb much heavier than 

 much of the artificial foundation. Why is 

 it, if not because of an overabundance of 

 wax secreted ? 



During the past season we found swarms 

 of bees whose abdomens were literally cov- 

 ered with wax scales. Now, when put on 

 full sheets of foundation what did they do 

 with that wax^throw it away, or use it to 

 build cells on top of the foundation ? We 

 don't believe it was thrown away by the bees ; 

 in fact, we can prove it was not. 



We have often heard how much it cost to 

 let the bees build t' eir own comb. With due 

 respect for experimentalists, we ask how you 

 know that, under normal conditions, wax is 

 not a spontaneous production, and costs the 

 bees nothing to produce ? It seems that an 

 all-wise Providence would make no blunder 

 in the matter." 



The editorial reply in Gleanings reads as 

 follows , — 



" [Years ago, as some of our older readers 

 will remember, we weighed pieces of surplus 

 foundation before and after it was drawn 

 out by the bees. We can not just now place 

 our fingers on the page and volume where 

 these experiments are recorded ; but if 

 memory serves us correctly, the scales 

 showed that the drawn out comb weighed 

 but a small trifle more than the foundation 

 from which it was originally drawn, proving, 

 in this case, that very little wax was added 

 to the foundation. Combs two-thirds drawn 

 out weighed just as much as the foundation. 

 Other experiments showed that bees put 

 more extra wax on sometimes than others. 

 Particularly was this true when we used 

 bleached foundation, as was done years ago. 

 This is easily explained on the ground that, 

 the bleached wax was much harder than the 

 yellow, and the bees rather than draw it out, 

 added to it. With ordinary soft yellow wax, 

 such as now sold, the results were as we first 

 stated. 



These experiments can be easily repeated. 

 Weigh a strip of foundation before putting 

 it into the section ; weigh it after it has been 

 drawn out into comb. Likewise weigh a sheet 

 of brood foundation before and after it has 

 been drawn out. In fact, we wish many of 

 our readers would try this experiment, and 

 report. Dififerent localities, and the charac- 

 ter of the honey flow, whether light or heavy, 

 will have an important bearing on the ques- 

 tion."] 



A Condensed View of Current 

 Bee Writings. 



E. E. HASTY, 



jEARFULLY dull all the journals have 

 been this long time. Cause, La-grippe. 

 Not that the aforesaid tyrant has got 

 hold of all the writers and made them write 

 dullness, but that he has had hold of me 

 until I could see nothing but dullness. Say ! 

 I've got an idea. Bee fever has been sup- 

 posed to be an incurable disease that must 

 be allowed to run its course. Mistake ; just 

 vaccinate the patient with la-grippe and it 

 will cure him I'll warrant. 



And now while I'm nicely spiteful and 

 cross I'm going to throw mud and adjectives 

 and things at comrade Reepen who runs the 

 German department of A. B. J. See page 

 205. He villainously said that Doolittle pub- 

 lished guess work about the larval food of 

 bees and queens. Guess work is it, me bye ? 

 An how much bether than guess work, sure, 

 is yer own scientific nonsense in thim figgers 

 about fat and sugar and albumen ? Arrah ! 

 let's be sinsible now for a minute. 



There are many kinds of sugars, and these 

 figures do not specify which and how much 

 of each, in queen food and drone food re- 

 spectively. There are several kinds of fats, 

 and the same remark applies to them. There 

 are various sorts of albuminous matters 

 also, I believe. Two different foods are im- 

 aginable, each with 40 per cent, of albumin- 

 ous matter and 1.5 of fats and 20 of sugars, 

 which shall nevertheless be very different in 

 quality and characteristics. Those crude 

 analysis percentages, if we swallow them 

 whole, and trust to them only, seem to teach 

 that the larval foods of queen, drone and 

 worker are pretty much the same thing — and 

 that is presumably a falsehood. Better kick 

 the science overboard, and trust only to taste, 

 smell, sight, and observed effects, than to go 

 it blind on a rudimentary analysis, and scout 

 everything else as guess work. We want to 

 know what it is in the larval queen food that 

 makes the little larva take on such a totally 

 different development from what it would 

 take if fed on larval worker food. Honestly 

 now, friend Reepen, do these moderately 

 varying percentages offer a clear solution of 

 that mystery ? Is it not more probable that 

 some sly ingredient, present in very small 

 percentage, and not yet caught by the 

 analyst, is the real transformer ? Let us 



