THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



297 



I have no reason to doubt the truthful- 

 ness of either Mr. Sladen or of editor 

 Root; nor of their ability to judfje impar- 

 tially in this matter, ami, if they are rij^ht, 

 what can be the possible advantage in 

 importini^r Dorsata, even if it can be 

 domesticated, which has yet to be dem- 

 onstrated ? 



lulitor Root makes another statement 

 that is of interest. He says: — 



Cheshire says something about the 

 wonderful harmony in Nature; that the 

 tongues of bees are adapted to the length 

 of the flower-cells as we find them in the 

 vegetal)le kingdom. Isn't it possible 

 that the tongues of the different species 

 of honey-bees are of very nearly the same 

 length for that reason ? One of the chief 

 things that have been claimed for Dorsata 

 is that it would have a longer tongue, and 

 this inference seems to be drawn from 

 the fact that the liees are larger, and 

 therefore the tongues would bear a direct 

 proportion in length. If Sladen's meas- 

 urements are correct, there would seem 

 to be but little in this." 



I don't remember to have .seen this 

 statement of Cheshire's, but it is in full 

 accord with what we see all about us in 

 Nature every day. We find that all things 

 that have anything to do with any other 

 thing or element in Nature have been so 

 adapted to those things with which they 

 have to do that all of .Nature's laws are 

 in perfect accord. And why should not 

 this be equally true regarding the length 

 of bees' tongues? I'nless the flowers 

 that Dorsata gathers nectar from are 

 deejxfr than tho.se Mellifica gathers it 

 from, it would hardly seem probable that 

 Dorsata's tongue would be any longer 

 than Mellifica's; and if this is the case it 

 would seem advisable to practically test 

 the matter before importing what might 

 prove a curse instead of a blessing. 



THI-; COVl-.RNMKNT \Vori,I) .VII) IN IM- 

 I'ORTING .\PIS I)OKS.\T.\ IF BKK- 

 KKEPHRS ni:SIRKD IT. 

 .\ few years .since there was an impres- 

 sion that a scheme was on foot to induce 

 the department of .\griculture at Wa.sh- 

 ington to attempt the domestication and 



importation, or the importation and do- 

 mestication, of Dorsata, so as to give a 

 party, who shall be nameless, a good fat 

 job at Uncle Sam's expense; and for fear 

 that the impression might be true, corres- 

 pondence was had with the department 

 in regard to the matter, and a few days 

 ago when in Wasnington I called upon 

 the official that I knew had been corres- 

 ponded with, and, being personally ac- 

 quainted with him, we had a very pleasant 

 talk over the matter; and he told me 

 that whenever our association ( the U. S. 

 Bee-Keepers' .\ssociation) should be sat- 

 isfied that it was desirable to import Dor- 

 sata, and would so inform the depart- 

 ment, all the aid they could furni.sh 

 would be gladly given; and if necessary 

 the department would, if possible, aid us, 

 in securing the desired information, so 

 we need have no fear but that desirable 

 aid would be furnished the bee-keepers 

 of the United vStates whenever they see 

 fit to ask for it. 



THE HONEY CROP OF UNITED ST.A.TES. 



Mr. Segelken, of the firm of Hildreth and 

 Segelken, honey dealers of New York, is 

 reported in Gleanings to have said: — 



That the New York city market now 

 has no trouble in disposing of about 60, 

 o(»,ooo, pounds of honey yearly, about 

 five-sixth of which is extracted honey, 

 and there is a demand for honey the year 

 round. But little if any is now used by 

 brewers and tobacco manufacturers, who 

 prefer glucose and sugar syrup respective- 

 ly, but there is a growing demand from 

 druggists and confectioners, and for mak- 

 ing honey-cakes, of which the Jews con- 

 sume large quantities; and a large 

 amount of e.xtracted buckwheat honey 

 is exported to be used in making ginger- 

 bread. The editor, says, on the author- 

 ity of a Cincinnati dealer, that bakers 

 prefer honey for cakes because it is more 

 economical than syrup, which requires 

 the addition of glycerine to keep the 

 cake from getting dry. 



At the recent convention of the U. S. 

 Bee Keepers' Association, in an instruc- 

 tive address on "Apicultural Statistics," 

 Mr. E. R. Root said: 



The average number of sections made 

 each year for the last three years is some 



