T^HE mm^mmicMu be® j©^Mf«ai*. 



663 



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would make a miserable failure ; and 

 what little honey that might be se- 

 cured, or should be secured in that 

 way, all costs being computed, would 

 cost very likely not less than one dol- 

 lar per pound. 



" Well, now, it appears to me that 

 the most rational thing in the world 

 would be, for these land-owners to 

 simply sell their right for a term of 

 years to a professional who would, in 

 the most economical method possible, 

 secure that honey, and thus be in a 

 position to supply the people in nice 

 shape, at a minimum price, one of the 

 choicest gifts of a kind and benevolent 

 Father. 



" But how is all this to be accom- 

 plished, you ask ? It is not a ditlioult 

 matter, in my way of thinking. Simply 

 get a permissive, local-option Bill 

 through your Legislature, empowering 

 the voters of a given locality, the size 

 of which may be fixed by the bee- 

 keeper who may wish to establish, or 

 one who has already established an 

 apiarv in such a locality. Then after 

 the necessary legal preliminaries are 

 complied with (which need not be 

 enumerated here), let the matter be 

 decided in the same manner that many 

 other public matters are decided, 

 namely, by the ballot. 



" I think that the money could be 

 applied to educational matters or pur- 

 poses with perfect satisfaction and 

 equity to the people in that particular 

 locality voted to the use of the Viee- 

 keeper' in question. I believe this 

 scheme would be just to all parties 

 concerned. 



"Every land-owner would be re- 

 munerated for his own nectar. The 

 bee-keeper would feel that he was not 

 stealing his living from some who 

 think that they have a right to some 

 fair consideration for the nectar that 

 their own possessions produce. He 

 would also rejoice in a sweet feeling 

 of security, that some unwise person 

 cannot novsr come along and ruin his 

 prospects after he has gone to all the 

 expense of establishing an apiary. 



"There would be no dilliculty in 

 carrying such a by-law in almost any 

 rural district. Do you not see that 

 nine-tenths of the people never keep 

 bees, nor have they any exi)Cctation of 



public property— belongs to everybody 

 — I predict that in a short time you 

 will have a lot of fellows pulling your 

 hair in right lusty earnest." 



REPRODUCTION 



In the Honey-Bce— Interesting 

 Facts About Bees. 



Rfnd hrfnre the Pa. State Booed of Agriculture 

 BY PROF. GEO. G. GKOFF, M.D. 



doing so ? and they would be quite 

 willing to dispose of their share of the 

 nectar to any one who would in turn 

 pay a reasonable sum into the common 

 school fund. Almost any oft'er that 

 promises to reduce the taxes without 

 inflicting difficulties, will be accepted 

 by the people. Of course some diffi- 

 culties would have to be surmounted, 

 and details adjusted, but I see no real 

 serious objections to tire scheme. 



"But on the other hand, if jou 

 start out declaring that the nectar is 



To the naturalist the means by 

 which living beings reproduce their 

 kind is always a subject of interest. 

 Indeed, of all the functions of life, that 

 of reproduction is the most interesting, 

 the most wonderful, and to each 

 species, the most important. Some 

 forms of insects seem to exist in the 

 mature state only that they may per- 

 petuate their kind, and this being ac- 

 complished, they perish ; the males in 

 the act of fertilizing the females, the 

 female, at once, when the eggs are 

 safely deposited, neither parent ever 

 seeing their offspring. 



In all the higher animals reproduc- 

 tion is accomplished through the inter- 

 vention of the two sexes, the male and 

 the female, but among many of the 

 lower forms of life both male and 

 female are frequently dispensed with. 

 In some cases the offspring pass 

 through so many and so great trans, 

 formations that it has been exceedingly 

 difficult to trace the whole life liistory 

 of these strange beings. In some cases 

 the germs of life are so small that 

 their origin cannot easily be discovered, 

 except with the most patient research. 

 This is true of the honey-bee. 



A knowledge of the modes of repro- 

 duction, and of the laws governing the 

 same, is always of value to the agri- 

 culturist and to the naturalist, because 

 in the case of the higher forms he may 

 readily improve his cattle, grains, 

 tubers and fruits by a careful study of 

 and conformity to these laws, as is so 

 well illustrated in the great number of 

 valuable varieties introduced in late 

 years. And also in the case of the 

 lower forms of life, pests and all kinds 

 of animals and vegetable parasites, if 

 their habits, times and modes of repro- 

 duction be understood, we may often, 

 with great case, cut short the career of 

 forms wliich, undisturbed, would have 

 caused great losses. The different 

 modes of reproduction in the organic 

 world may be outlined as follows, viz : 



1. Asexual, divided into Division and 

 Budding, both of which are again 

 divided into Continuous and Discon- 

 tinuous. 



2. Hermaphrodite.divided into close- 

 fertilization and cross-fertilization. 



3. True Sexual, divided into Ovi- 

 parous, Ovaviviparous and Viviparous; 



the last being again divided into Apia- 

 cental and Placental. 



The minute animals called animal- 

 cules, which live in stagnant waters, 

 in damp places, and in the sea, in 

 many cases reproduce their kind in 

 some "asexual way," i. e., without the 

 intervention of the sexes. Of these 

 asexual methods there are two princi- 

 pal ones. In the first, the body of the 

 parent splits into two or more pieces, 

 which, by absorption of nutrition, 

 rapidly grow into perfect animals. 

 Sometimes the young remain attached 

 to the parent germ, and then we have 

 "continuous" division, and the result- 

 ant is a " colony," as is true of sponges, 

 sea-mats and numerous other marine 

 forms. In other cases the young are 

 all set free from the parent organisms. 

 Budding differs from division, in 

 that the young appear on the sides of 

 of the body of the parents as small 

 buds or enlargements. They remain 

 attached, growing lai'ger and larger, 

 until they become perfect animals in 

 all their parts. When development is 

 completed, they either remain attached 

 to the parent or else are set free to 

 live independent lives, in the first case 

 forming " colonies," as in continuous 

 division. Coral colonies are formed 

 in this way. In some of these lowly 

 asexual forms the young are entirely 

 unlike their parents, and at no period 

 of their lives resemble them. These 

 beings of the second generation bring 

 fortlf young, which return to the origi- 

 nal type, that is, resemble the grand- 

 parents. This is called "alternation 

 of generation." Jelly fish are such 

 intermediate forms. Nearly all the 

 lowest plants, as moulds, mildews, 

 blights, etc., are asexual. 



The next mode of reproduction is 

 the "hermaphrodite." In this the 

 sexes both exist in the same individual. 

 This is the common mode in the higher 

 plants, the male and the female ele- 

 ments being in the same flower. The 

 common earth-worm is a true herma- 

 phrodite, as is the tape-worm. In the 

 earth-worm we have cross-fertilization, 

 that is, two individuals reciprocally 

 fertilize each other, while in the tape- 

 worm, which fertilizes its own ova, it 

 is called "close." Nature generally 

 abhors close fertilization, or, at least, 

 usually contrives that it shall not con- 

 tinue the permanent order of things 

 with any group of beings. Thus, in 

 i)lants, the fertilizing pollen is carried 

 to distant plants of the same species, 

 by the winds, or by honej'-seeking in- 

 sects. 



The highest mode is the " true sex- 

 ual," in which the sexes exist perfect 

 in distinct individuals. To this group 

 belong fish, reptiles, birds, mammals, 

 and many insects. The lowest class 

 here is the " oviparous," in which eggs 



