Deseret farmer. [volume], January 02, 1909, Page 9, Image 9

About Deseret farmer. [volume] (Provo, Utah) 1904-1912

Image provided by: University of Utah, Marriott Library

                
1
'-SATURDAY, JANUARY '2, 1909. T K E P M 31 fc M.t T A. E M R -y- .,-9 H
THE APIARY
BEES AID THE GROWERS.
& .. . .
"Give the bec a chance and it will
literally break the boughs of your
- trees with the weight of fruit."
' ' Frank G. Odcll of Lincoln, Neb.,
bee-master, who gave a scries of dem
onstrations 'ith 50,000 bees at the
National Apple" Show in Spokane,
December 7 to 12, made the foregoing
observation in the course of an inter
view, discussing bee-keeping, scien
tific agriculture' mid . fruit l growing.
He said:
- "The bec is thcxpcrt assistant of
the horticulturist and the farmer. So
J indispensable arc its functions' in the
pollination of fruits, vegetables, ocr-
eals and gra-sscs that its activities may
be said to lie at the foundation of all
X successful agriculture. Nature has
ordained one supreme law, that of
creation, the pcrpctua'tion of the race
y type. This law, universal in its ap-
' plication and absolutely identical in
its form, obtains in the plant world
as in the animal world. The luscious
pulp of the fruit is the envelope, the
package, the strong ibox, devised by
nn.turc to protect the seed within from
injury am! render it susceptible of
germination so that the type may be
reproduced in all its perfection.
"The bee, like other insects, effects
incidental pollination of flowers in its
search for nectar; but its great value
to the fruit grower lies in this, that it
goes to the flowers specifically to
, gather pollen, literally by the carload,
in the hairy baskets on its legs, hast
ening from bloom; to bloom, rolling
and packing and literally rioting in
the golden dust, pregnant with the
microscopic germs of plant life, until
the f )ldcn pellets arc packed away in
i,ts hairy baskets, to be carried to the
hive for storage as an indispensable
ration of the food of its young dur
ing the winter months to come.
"It requires no expert knowledge to
's comprehend how perfectly the bee
,' thus performs the office of pollina
' tion. Indeed, it is nature's chief
.agent in this indispensable work. No
seed, no fruit, is the universal law.
Here is the only insect useful in all
its habits, having a fixed habitation
accessible to man, dependent upon
the pollen of every variety of flower
as an indispensable portion of the
food of its young, and going to the
ibloom specifically to gather that pol
len, thus making possible the mar
vclousruit crops in Washington and
the Pacific Northwest. That is why
I say,givc the bee a chance and it
will literally break the boughs of your
trocsnvith the weight of fruit.
"Delve into the realm of applied
mechanics or structural engineering
and your rcascarch is incomplete un
til a lesson is conned from the struc
ture of the honeycomb with its mar
velous strength as compared with the
fragile nature of its fabric. No more
marvelous structure exists among the
myriad marvelous works of nature.
This waxen fabric, derived primarily
from liquid honey converted into wax
in that marvelous laboratory of the
bee, formed1 by some mysterious in
stinct or intelligence into the very
form of all others designed for econo
my of materials, space and extremity
of strength, passes beyond the meas
ure of human skill in its perfection.
"Somewhere between 1744 and 1768
it was discovered that wax is pro
duced between the plates on the low
er side of the worker bee's abdomen.
It was John Hunter, the celebrated
anatomist, who discovered just how
the bees secrete wax, and thereby
settled a vexed question. He com
municated his discovery in a paper
read to the Royal Society of London,
February 23, 1793.
"Wax is produced at the will of the
bee, and when called for by the neces
sity of the hive. The wax-producing
bees obtain a somewhat higher tem
perature, usually by close clustering,
though they sometimes hang in slend
er festoons and chains.
"Wax is not chemically a fat or
glyecride, and those who have called
it 'the fat of bees' have grossly erred;
yet it is nearly allied to the fats in
atomic constitution, and the physio
logical conditions favoring the forma
tion of one arc curiously similar to
those -aiding in the production of the
other. We put our poultry up to fat
in "confinement, with part light; to
secure bodily inactivity we keep warm
and feed highly. Our bees, under
nature's teaching, put themselves up
to yield wax under conditions so par
allel that the' suitability of the fat-
teninc oop is vindicated. A
v
"Chcsirc in his investigations says
that on the inner side of the eight
plates lining the lower side of the ab
domen arc about 140,000 glands, from
which the wax is secreted as a white
liquid, which hardens on exposure. to
the air.
"It is evident from the best authori
ties that the form and' method of wax
secretion were known as early as
iogfi, and possibly at even an earlier
date. The extraordinary -economy of
the use of waoc is shown by the fact
that the hive of 8 to 10 gallons capa
city will yield but about two pounds
of wax when melted. According to
Dr. Donhoff the thickness of the sides
of a cell in a new comb is only the
ii8oth part of an inch. Cheshire
states that he found some that meas
ured only 1 400th part of an inch.
"Notwithstanding the fragile nature
of the honeycomb it is still sufficient
ly strong to carry the relatively im
mense load of sweets stored" in its
oclls. The perfection of insect labor
is shown, by the fact that human in
genuity has never been able to make
artificial honey-comb. The talcs con
cerning manufactured comb honey arc
figments of the imagination. Consid
er that any machinery devised for
manfacturing honey -comb would
make oil parts alike in similar sec
tions. Examine carefully two or,
more one-pound boxes of honey at
your grocers and you will note dif
ferences in the finish of cappings and
building the comb fast to the wooden
casing, which will at once convince
you of the genuineness of the articlj
"Not only docs the bee cxccll as an
artisan, but also as a chemist. Its
honey stomach is the most delicate
diemical laboratory in the world.
Here the nectar of the flowers is
transformed from a highly diluted
sweet, susceptible of speedy fermen-.
tation, into the most perfect fool
product known. This chemical change,
inverting the sugar, according to the
clKmist's phrase, is undoubtedly ac
complished in the laboratory of the
bee hiring its short flight from the
field to the hive. This chemical re
action is so delicate that, no labora
tory aside from that of the bec can
successfully accomplish it.
"Consider the queen bee, the sole
and undisputed monarch of her em
pire. Endowed . with powers super
human, she governs without exercis-
toff&XfeSlite authority, rules WjtalL
coercion. Her subjects go about their
tasks with that c hue mil zcal which H
can only accompany toil fully rccom- ,H
pensed, and offer to men, torn into H
factions of contending opinion, an M
ideal social state, 'where every mem- M
bcr of the community is a toiler and H
all arc prosperous, peaceful and c6n- H
vtcyt.
fJTlic queen bec is sofc mother of H
the race. 'All life from the egg,' that H
great ibiological axiom, is exemplified H
in the hive. The queen mother pass- H
ing rapidly from comb to comb, places H
a single egg in each selected cell, lay- H
ing the inconceivable number of 3000 H
to 4000 in 24 hours. This labor rep- H
resents in a single day the exp-endi- M
turc of physical substance equal to M
two and one-half times the weight of M
her ibody. Consequently she does not ' M
even feed herself, being always ac- M
companicd by a devoted group of M
maids of honor, worker bees, whose M
office it is to bring in profusion the JJk
choicest predigested food to their fl
ruler. Not the least of the wonder- M
ful power of the queen is that of pre- M
determining the sex of the offspring H
which shall result from cggs precise- M
ly alike, . under the microscope, but fl
which, in turn, may eventuate in. a fl
worker, drone . or queen, as their H
mother may elect." H
o 1
The Farmers' Institute Galfiipaign H
for the year begins next week. If H
not already familiar with the time'the H
train will be in your vicinity inquire M
of any of your county papers. ""-M
f ' o 11
iO YOU WANT A FARM PAPER? jU
"One Year's Subscription to the Des- ))
eret Farmer Free." -,H
How You Can Get It
tu a Cream Producer who is not M
shipnfmr cream to The Jensen Cream- 'M
vrv n and who may be sellinp on H
the "I.onsr Time System." which '
i.irnns that the cream is sent in one H
month, and a month or more after- , jH
wards the farmer receives his che.sk. H
Explain to this Producer that The
Jensen Creamery .buys on the "Jensen
Cash Paying System." which means B
that within about seven days after
your cream is sent, your check reaches ,H
you. .H
It will be very easy to show -w uH
much better it is to sell for cash than
it is to sell on the "Long Time Sys-
tern." ;
Send us the name and postofftce H
address of your prospective customer,
and after we have received two ship- il
ments of cream from him, we will H
have the Descret Farmer sent to you .H
for one year without charge. H
In case you are already a subscriber ';
to the Deserqt Farmer, we will pay
six months on your subscription ac- iH
count. jH
By all means take a farm paper.
I