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WEEKLY OREGON STATESMAN, FRTBXY, ; fTOttTJARY 16, 1900.
READY FOR WORK
The Repablicani Committees Fix
Times and Places.
DECIDE ON LARGE CONVENTIONS
McXIbbvUI Carrie Off th Prize Prim
aris March tlt County Cob
ventlona on the t9th.
. .-" PORTLAND, Feb. 15. McMinn
ville gets the republican congresional
- convention for the First Oregon dis
trict. The date is jTue'sday, April loth,
and the hour 10 a. m.
- Portland gets the siate convention
of the dominant party, and the date is
Thursday, 4 April- 12th. ; The Second
district convention will be held in
Portland the next 'day, (Good) Friday,
the -13th. i;" : , v
. The rate 0 representation in all
three conventions! is one at large for
each county, and one for each 150
votes cast for Governor Geer, and qpe
tor 75 votes or ove. ;
This will give j a state convention
with 338 delegates, and there will be.
163 represented at McMinnville. ,
The First district committee, which
met at 10, -took 200 as the number to
figure delegates from. This gave; 127
delegates at McMinnville., But an
other meeting was held at 3:30, after
the aljournjnent of the state committee
(which met at 2), and at that time a
change was made, to conform to the
rcpresf-ntation fixed for the state con-
, vention and the Second district conven-
t " tion. . t, ! ,-.J
.The democrats hold their state con
vention in Portland the same day the
republicans hold theirs.
In the vote for place, in the First
; district convention, Salem recaired two
I votes, out of the total of thirteen cast.
Roseburg and Oregon City were also
contestants. J. P. Irvine, the Yamhill
committeeman, hadi gathered r several
- proxies, and so the Yamhillshire town
carried theday. I j
It will be noticed that Marion county
gets 22 delegates tin both the Congres
sional and state conventions. ; 1
The First district convention! will be
the largest in point of numbers ever
held.
The following is
of delegates for the
the state:
Baker Q, Benton
the apportionment
various counties of
8. Clackamas 15.
Clatsop 12, Columbia 6, Coos 7, Crook
5. Curry 3, Douglas 12, Gilliam 4.
Grant 7, Harney: 3,j Jackson! 10, Jose
phine 7, Klamath 4 Lake 4, "Lane 14,
Lincoln 4. Linn 14. (Malheur 4, Marion
22, Morrow 5. Multnomah 70, Polk 0,
Sherman 4. Tillamook, 5, Umatilla 13,
Union 12, Wallowa 5, Wasco 10, Wash
ington 13, Yamhill 12, Wheeler 4; to
tal 33 i '. ! j ;
It was reccomoiended that primaries
be held March atst and the county
conventions 'March '29th,
A FARMERS' INSTITUTE.
HELD BY 'THE WASHINGTON
COUNTY PEOPLE.
Interesting Discussions of Important
Questions -Fruit Pests and
! ' Soil Moisture. i
FOREST GROVE (Or.) Feb. 15
(Special). Although cold and stormy,
the residents of Washington county
turned out in goodly numbers to attend
the first day's meeting of the Farmers'
Institute held hefej today. The meet
ing was called to order by Dr. J.
W'ithvcombc, of the Oregon agricul
tural colIege, of Corvallis, and, pro
ceeded to the election of a chairman.
Austin1 Buxton was the unanimous
choice of the meeting, and during the
progress of the; : institute he demon-
strated the wisdom of the choice.
Cot. J. B. Ed3y,j in a short address,
welcomed the members of the institute
to Forest Grove and at the same time
coimpliniented the farmers and fruit,
raisers' on theirs desire to gain more
infotniation along the lines of their oc
cupations. Colonel Eddy reasoned
that as "knowledge was power," the
getting of more practical knowledge
along these lines would give themi
more power to accomplish this work
in better 'ways 'and at less expense. ,
Dr. James 'Withycombe responded
to the address of i welcome His Re
marks were upon the line of "more mind
and less muscle" in ; the methods of
farming, with better results. He set
forth several leaks) upon the farm that
cause great waste,! and that could be
javoided. Among other things he men
tioned the leaving of machinery in the
fields to rust and rot, instead of prop
erly housing it j during the winter.
The "Fruit Pests" were then spoken
upon by Prof. A. j B. Cordley, of the
O. A. C, in which he discussed the
codling moth, apple scab and disease of
the bark known as apple tree anthrac
mose. He discussed the remedies Jpr
these diseases as related to spraying.
The discussion, by the meeting, of this
address, brought but many valuable
points in regard to diseases of fruits!
A reading .was then given by Miss
S. T. Crow, .showing the need of ed
ucation and refinement even in the cook
in the kitchen, ;as this would tend to
elevate" this vocation, as it had
done nursing. whffh, ' in the past, was
considered one of the menial labors.
After the noon intermission, Dr.
Withycombe addressed the audience on
"Conservation , of Soil Moisture.
Along this line-1 he said the present
method of summer fallowing, ' as car
ried on by the Oregon farmers, is
rapidlr deteriorating the soil. That
the best and only way to maintain a
.v proper amount of I moisture in the soil
: -;s by a rotation of crops. The raising
of clover, peas,; or vetches, as a rota
tion, was advised.; - He said to raise
large- crops and j to deteriorate . the
soil was not successful farming'
but that raising a large crop and still
maintaining the fertility of the soil, was
the work of the successful farmer.
After the full discussion of this sub-
ject, W. K. Jewell introduced the sub
r 1 manures, discussing it at
length, when adjournment was had.
RUSSIA NEEDS MONEY,
Will Float Bonds in New York
Build Railroads.
to
t Iew.York. Feb. 15- The Press says:
It has been recently recoiled that $10.-
000 000 4 per cent bonds of a Russian
railway, the Wiadikawkas & Sooih
ea&tern. soon -will Jo, placed upon the
ew York market. The bonds will
have the guarantee of the Russian gov
ernment, and, being intended solely for
tnis country, the amount will be stated
in dollars. ;
- The negotiations for placing the
bonds, it is said, will ,be conducted by
a syndicate which has been formed by
a New York life insurance stomtianv.
which dees business in Russia, and it
is understood that the issue practically
has been underwritten by this syudi
qate. thereby insuring its success. Pre
sumably, if the bonds are not disposed
of by the syndicate, they will be taken
by the life insurance company or by the
his been underwritten by this syndi
cate be successful in distributing the
above noted loan in this country, prob
ably Russia will be encouraged to nego
tiate for other loans for more import
ant amounts, for her requirements for
railway purposes alone, during the cur
rent year, are understood to be heavy.
The business motive which, induced
the life insurance company to become
interested in this first loan; may be
expected to appeal to other corpora
tions in this country which have deal
ings with Russia. The Russian govern
ment has been liberal in its purchases
of all kinds of railway material in this
country, paying therefor full prices,
and thereby it has established very fav
orable business relations with other
manufacturers. ''
MONTGOMERY HANDICAP.
Memphis,
Tenn., Feb. 15. The
weights for the Montgomery handicap,
the first of the big spring events, are
announced by Secretary MacFarland.
The Montgomery will be run on the
opening day of the Memphis spring
meeting. Declarations are due on or
before March 1st
AGAINST BOXING.
Albany, N. Y., Feb. 15 A bill re
pealing the so-called Horton law,
which permits boxing matches in the
state, was passed in the assembly to
day, the vote standing 92 yeas to 36
nays. The bill has now goneto-the
senate.
A CUBAN POET ON GEN. WOOD
An Amusing Account of the New
Governor of the Island.
In a letter written from Havana to
El Mundo by the Cuban poet and chess
player, Manuel Marquez Sterling, oc
curs the following passage in regard
to General Wood, the new governor
of tfre island:
"The chief topic of conversation is:
'Who is Wood?' 'He is the physician
of the wife of the president of the Unit
ed States. . 'What is Wood going to
do?' He is going to decentralize us.
'Where does Wood cOme from?' From
the East. 'Whither is he going. That
is only known to the president of the
United States.
"For my part I have Wood on th?
brain. At 10 o'clock in the morning I
plant myself in his office and say:
" 'Is Don Leonardo in?
" 'Yes, sir.'
'"Tell him that'
"'The general does not receive until
4 o'clock in the afternoon."
"And at 4 o'clock I have another
similar interview.
" 'Say, how many times has General
Wood put his overcoat on?'
"These and similar facts are careful
ly jotted down in my note book.
"Wrood is simpatico; well mannered,
respectable, careful in dress, nay, ele
gant, and just a trifle bald. He lias,
they say, artistic tastes, yet he yawned
last night while listening to la Chalia
sing in the Tacon theater. He has had
discussions with the foremost generals
of the golden isle, and after experienc?
ing. dejection under the enormous
weight, of the accusation of General
Miro, he has recovered himself and has
faced the notables with the following
words: 'On my word as a physician
and a soldier we are going straight in
the direction of independence.
"And as winter politics have brought
with them great cold and as the waters
which October left in the Prado have
frozen, this! afternoon he was skating
with some gentlemen wearing blue
scarfs in the direction of la Punta.
"The multitude respectfully taking
off their hatj, shouted, 'Viva Wood.
Long live the secretaries!'
"I was on the point of bursting out
laughing." -Mexican Herald.
RECENT INVENTIONS.
For adjusting ' Weisbach and other
gas lights a handy bracket is formed1
of a pair of lanzy tongs mounted on a
wall bracket, with the burner fitted on
a pole at the outer end. the gas being
Heads of a cuff buttori are securely
held together iby a new link., formed
of a single piece of spring wire, one
end of which is slotted to receive the
opposite end, making .a smooth in
ternal surface, which prevents' the but
ton loop pulling itself out. r
An improved horse . collar has means
(n Anninr init -l nci n-cr it at the ton
instead of pulling it over the animal's
head, a U-shaped plate being provided
at either end. with a yoke shaped to
fit the ends of the collar, -with locking
devices to hold the ends in place.
An Englishman has patented' a ci
garette which decreases ? the danger
from poisons which pass off in smoke,
a thimble being set- in the end of the
wrapper, with holes at the inner end.
covered by a layer of fabric, inside of
which is a wad of absorbent material.
Chicago News. ' ' i
To prevent animals from tangling
their feet in their tether ropes a Vir
ginian has designed a hanger for the
end of the rope, comprising a .T-head
set on top of a vertical post, with pul
leys arranged in the head to carry the
rope, -which has a weight at, the end
to take up the slack. s
HIES J TRAVELERS'
NO EASY TASK TO GET (THEM
FROM GERMANY TO N. Y.
First the Buyer Must Foil the Guile
of the Peasant Breeders Then the
Birds Must Have the Closest Atten
tion on Shipboard--Perils of Disease
and Rats at Sea. - -,
"The Sun published recently a story
about canary breeding 4n Germany,"
said the head of a large bird import
ing firm in this city. "I ; wondered
when I saw it whether the average
reader wouffd have the slightest idea
ot the amount of work implied in the
transfer of the birds' from the German
breeders to the American owners ot
pet canaries. It's a long story and as
full of problems as a modern novel. Of
course, a good many of the German
birds go to the English market, and it
is comparatively a simple matter to
ship them so short a distance. A large
proportion of the foest singers, the
Campanini birds, stay in Germany; for
the Germans are such music lovers that
they will pay sixty or seventy, dollars
tor a canary, more quickly even than
the Americans who are supposed to be
so lavish with money. Still, th Unit
ed States afford the best bird market
in the world, and. the number of ordin
ary grade canaries shipped here" each
season is enormous. New Yotfk is the
distributing point, and jthe New York
importing firms have a large staff of
employees working fot them abroad.
We have about thirty : traveling men
who go back and forth between Europe
and New York. Then, too, we have a
few travellers in South America and
Africa, but our chief trade is in canaries
and is carried on with the great Ger
man exporting houses, whose ship
ments we distribute.
"These German firms employ scores
of pickers, who go from viMage to vil
lage though the bird breedng districts
selecting the singers. The picker's
io"o isn't any snap. I can tell you. ' He
has to be as shrewd as a weasel; for
the breeders are up to all sort of tricks,
and will try in every possible way to
get aroqud him, and palm off old, sick,
or silent-birds on him. The hardest
proposition he finds is in distinguish
ing the sexes of the birds. The colors
in the head feathers are the indication,
and some of the breeders are' adepts at
dyeing- feathers; so it's a clever picker
that doesn't bring in at least a few fe
male canaries, for which he has. paid
songster prices. It takes years of ex
perience to teach a man even moderate
proficiency in this feature of the buy
ing. Through the summer and fall the
picker's work isn't so very bad. His
route lies far off the lines of railway,
and he does a tremendous amount of
tramping; but he is well known. along
the way, and hospitably entertained,
and the weather is usually good. After
the first of November it's another sto
ry. The winds and storms, especially
among the Hartz mountains, where
the best canaries are bred, are simply
terrific; and the snow lies on the paths,
four to five feet deep. The cold is in
tense, and many pickers have been bad
Iv frostbitten, a few even dying from
the exposure. Still, the holiday season
must be provided for, and the birds,,
after the summer sales, are scarce; so
the picker must search every nook and
corner of the breeding district to sup
ply the demandof his hou?.; He starts
out, early ia the morning, taking a
helper with him, to carry hi3 cage
crates. This helper, after , the cheerful
custom of the fatherlord, 'is' usually a'
woman, and more often than not, an
old woman. The two travellers buffet
their way through the snow and storm,
the greatest care is exercised in pro
tecting the birds carried with them
from cold. The little wicker cages, are
first packed in straw, then covered
with thkrk linen, and finally wrapped
in heavy woolen blankets. Frequently,
in extreme weather pickers have been
badly frostbitten, because they have
taken off their great coats to wrap
about cages holding birds of special
valve. 1
'These cages, by the way, provide aj
distinct industry for German peasants,
in the bird districts. They are made by
tne poorest classes, who whittle them
by hand, in the 4ong "winter evenings.;
and a clever head can make fifleen in
an evening. They sell for about three!
cents, and arc always in demand. Manyj
of the breeders contract to sell all thetri
birds toa certain firm. In that case
the pickery work is slightly lightened f
tor he doesn t have to arm against
competition, ind need only wrestle 4o
foil the wiles of the breederi After ha
h; canvassed" his district, he takes hi
birds to the nearest railway stations
and ships them to his employer. Thq
crates go as baggage, and the picke
a'ways accompanies them and helps to
handle them. At the exDortine housei
the birds, are unpacked and; kept untifj
t ftey are ail in tirst-class condition tot
shipping. From 25.000 to 30,000 canal
r es are taken care of dai.y; and during
the busy season about 4.000 bird are
received and sent out each week. Ther
are a great many rooms in the build
ing. no two kept at the same temperat
ture. and the different birds" are al
loted to rooms, agreeing in' dearree of
cold with the climate to which ..they
have been accustomed. A small army
of workmen is employed; the apprent
ices cleaning, feeding and watering
while the old hands sort out the grades
of birds, doctor the sick and prepar
the stock for shipment. f.
"The strongest birds are selected (of
America, for the long ocean voyage
plays havoc with any save the healths
est. r or the London marktt, color is
the chief consideration. Two men are
always sent with a London consign
ment, one to manage the business, ani
a younger fellow to learn the ropes;.
More female canaries are" sent to Eng
land than elsewhere; fo the -street faj
kjrs, in London, buy only the cheap
female birds, take them home and
t paint them, skillfully, and then peddlie ear axle. A simple and effective de
j them about the town. The man who . vice of ; this character would nndoubc
f is sent to America with a consignment I edly met with success, as railroad
of birds has a hard job before him and companies are put to considerable ex
it takes1 a wonderfully honest, sober 1 pens m replacing wheels flattened by
end. faithful man to carry it through the pressure of the brake shoes there
He has five large crates, which contain on- .
. '' . .;"
about 1,500 4ird&, and th; probabilities
are that he; will be obliged to work for
twenty hours out of the twentf-four. He
and his charges are stowed away in the
coal bunkers or the steerage where he
makes th crate fast to the walls and
floor. He begins his work by 4 a. ni.
and spends frcm one to two hours
cleaning seed, ;preparing food and
drawing 'water for the birds. Then his
charges are fed and watered, and each
is carefully examined for indications of
sickness. The cages are scrupulously
cleaned, and the quarters ventilated, as
wll as possible. The slightest neglect
in aH this care, might bring .about dis
ease, andj a long death list; and that
would mean business ruin for the man
iq chargej. Sometimes the dreaded
bird pest, called schnappel," breaks out
andthen the tender is wild with de
spair. Cases have been known where,
out of 1,500 birds, not more than twen
ty were alive when the consignment
reached New York. The ship rats are
another dreaded enemy; end, in spite
or all vigHance, invariably make way
with a few : birds during the voyage.
Nothing in the world is more voracious
-than a ship rat; and although' ths bird
tender usually stays up most of the
rfrght to? protect his charges, the ratJ
actually attack the eager and devour.
One of thxt
,
birds before his very ey-o,
hardest problems that can V-ntront a a
bird tender is a long dHay in the voy
age, through some accident Vp the ship.
In tlic old days such sitoatkm were fre
quent, and the masterly way in which
bird rations were shortened and made
to last was a marvel. ' s '
"During good weather, ihe man in
charge bt the birds, mayssib!y ac
complish his day's work in ten hours:
but, if the sea is at all rough, he will
be twice that long in getting through
tfce necessaiy programme; and, whei
hie reaches New York and hands the
bards over to the proper persons, he
is a sadly demoralized and sleepy Ger
mjm. Recently many of the exporters
have been sending two men with each
shipment;; and, in that way, both the
work and; the risk are lessened materi
ally, but the job isn't a c:nch, any way
you fix it." .
:- - i
liiirrimnun urn mm
Z ' IFJ HklJ I IIIFJ . L'JIIHItll
i
An annealing apparatus of simple
and compact form for operating on
umall devices, and gAnted for domes
tic use. i '
Means for drawing the temper of
metals without disturbing their mole
cular constitution or detracting from
their utility.
Means for cementing and cae-hard-tning.'naetals
of a simple and effective
nature. ; t
A method of making flexible glass
without destroying transpanency.
A process fbr galvanizing which will
prevent scaling or burning out of the
galvanized surface.
A convenient ami simple form of
one-fluid battery which may embody
several Constituents.
" A commercially valuable secondary'
battery having practical means of ab
sorption and retention, and a large ca
pacity -within a small compass. .
(Means for shrinking the jackets on
large cannon without employing the
complex i methods now used.
- A simple form of flask for casting a
series of chain, links at one operation,
connected by webs which can be easily
broken without fracturing the links.
A molders' flask having lateral and
longitudinal adjusting devices which
can be quickly operated and of a yield
ing nature to take up expansion.
A machine for rapidly and effective
ly reducing and separating gold from
gold-bearing ores.
A mechanical puddler having ! auto
matic adjusting devices and self-operating
attachments. .
A blast furnace embodying means
for controlling the force of the blast
without extraneous manipulation.
Railway mechanism provided with
means for automatically adjusting the
brake levers. . In brake mechanisms
r)ow employed the levers frequently
get out of order, with disastrous re
sults, causing the brake shoes to bear
cither too lightly or. too heavily on the
wheels. Any simple and effective
mechanism for carrying this idea into
practice would undoubtedly be em
ployed by railroad companies and car
builders.
An air brake provided with simple
and effective means for recharging the
auxiliary reservoirs with air. and main
taining the pressure therein, so as to
prevent said reservoir from-becoming
depleted when the train is de'scend-mg
leng grades.
An air brake provided with electrically-operated
mechanism for admitting
the air into the brake cylinders of all
the cars simultaneously. .
An automatic air-brake- mechanism
provided with a triple valve accom
plishing a fourth function, namely, ad
mitting i train-pipe air directly to the
brake cylinder for emergency applica
tion of the brakes. At present a fourth
or auxiliary valve, additional to the
triple valve is employed for this pur
pose. ; I
A simple and effective air brake for
street cars. . ;:
An air brake for electric cars pro
vided with means for Controlling the
application of the air. said means form
ing part of the current controlling
mechanism. 1
'A car .'coupler provided with means
for operating it from j the side or top
of the' ear to obviate the necessity of
the brakeman going between cars.
A car coupler adapted to be thrown
into action by the air-brake mechan
ism, and provided with .mean whereby
the brakes will be automatically applied
upon the ; disconnection "of coupler of
adjoining cars. .
v link and pin coupler provided with
simple and effective means -lor auto
matically dropping the inn upon en
gagement; of the link therewith, s
; A car brake adapted to act upoir the
mi U uuno
iinniLu
WAYS OF THE1 HOHEY BEE
ECONOMY OF IIIVE DESCRIB
ED BY MR. ASPINWALU
The Sting of the Be and Its. Long
Distance Eyes Unexplained Won
der of the Birth (of Queen. Bees
Bees That Learn tjo Be Thieves and
Are Never Reformed.
To the average man, the honey bee
is an insignificant litjle insect with no
particular function ih, life outside cf
the stinging oi .mortals and the man
ufacture of honey or folks -to eat.
That the view the average person takes
of this tireless little worker, but .those
who have studied tile honey bee, say.
that it is more than: this, , and that in
many ways it) provides an example
that mortals would do well to follow.
President Aspinwall jof the New York
a Lw-evnial iSocietiv has been for
many years a close student of the honey
bees and has made friends with so
many ot them that Jje knows about Sf
much ot themi and their ways as any
man living. lie says in the first place
that the honey( bee is tKe most domes
ticated of all insects not even barring
the ant. and that it lean be trained by
man toservejhis purposes in a most
profitable wayl lfl properly handled,
he says, it will get tq know people and
can be approached artd work done' near
it without its getting angry or resort
ing to the ua oi its! sting.
"There re three kinds of bees in
every hive." say Mr. Aspinwall in a
paper rcd recently, I "the worker, the
drone a thej iueert. - There are sev
eral thousands of thje workers, .an al
most equal number the drones, but
only one quceai. The workers are the
bees that- go out and collect the honey
bringing it back and placing it in the
cells' of the comb. .The queen is the
mother of tlie hive and her particular
function is toi lay eggs at certain in
tervals, which jeggs produce new work
ers and drones, and; when the -other
hees think it Inecessak-y, a new queen.
The drones of the hive are just what
the name implies. 'Jhey do not do
any work but; live oii the honey that
the workers I bring ihqme from th?
fields. They just lie around 4-he hive
all day and grow fa: on the proceeds of
the i labor cf the others. Despite thi
they are tolerated , by the workers,
who. -while they show j pluck enough in
other directions, seem to regard the
'aziness of the drone las perfectly nat,:
tiral, and put up with it with remarks
able patience. j 1
"Although the bees j ail look alike to
the 'ordinary observer ihere are marked
physical differences that denote which
of the three kinds they are to the ex
pert. The worker is ! shorter in body
than the queen but has longer wings
and a very much longer tongue. The
drone is more like a large bluebottle
fly and has tremendous compound
eyes. The worker, like the queen, is
a female. All the bees have the same
kind of sting, and these stings arc in
two parts. While one goes in the
other comes out, and the, poison is in
jected into the object of the bee's
wrath through fine channels which. run
through .the two hair-like stings A
man's first inclination when a bee
stings him is to reach up and grab the
bee by. the body. He then proceeds
to squeeze the life out of the insect.
This is a great mistake, for it only
iorces a great deal more poison into
the system than the bee ever had any
idea of wasting on one person and
makes the sting a much more seriou;
one than it would havebeen if the
bee had been allowed to operate in hi.
own way. It is a great mistake to
think that the bee regards his sting
as a protection, against man. He
would rather never use it for that pur
poses but a it is the only weapon that
he has. there are occasions when he has
to. The -real purpose of his sting is, to
oroyide -Inm with sometliing to protect
'limself -from the ravages of his own
Ivin.d, for there are profligate bees as
well as there -re shiftless and worthless
human beings, and the resp ctable bee
has to have something to defend him
self with when this sort come around.
As a matter of fact, few bees Hve after
stinging human beings, and the little
-Creatures . are intelligent enough 1 to
know that it is dangerous for them to
do it. The reason for this is that in
brushing off a bee that is stinging him
the average man. wiU be inconsiderate
enough not to give;tne Jee time to get
his sting out, and the result is that.it is
almost always broken off short, mak
ing an injury that is fatal to the bee
nine times out of ten. The queen bee
is the only member of a colony who
will not use her stingl Once in a
great while she will use it, but the oc
casions are ; rare, and the provocation
has to be great .
"There is a great deal of conflicting
opinion about the bee's 'range of vision,
many maintaining that the bee. like
other insects, can only see for a short
distance.) My own observations have
made nie believe otherwise. If you
study the bee. vou will learn that when
it has finished its day's work, it will
make a few terns in the air and then
fly straight back to its hive. My' opin
ion is that ; the bee can see for great
distances, as far as six miles Jor in
stance. Many have credited the s abil
ity of the bee to fly straight back to
the hivr without diverging to instinct,
but w-jth the knowledge we have that
the bee has as many as 12.000 yes, there
is no reason why it should not be cred
ited to its remarkable eyesight . . -
"The study of the life of he bee in
the hive is very interesting. The combs
are hung perpendicularly in the hives.
In the smaller cells chat you see the
workers live and deposit their honey.
The larger cells belong to those crea
tures of ease, the dronjes. , When the
time comes around forjegg laying, the
queen will start out and make a tour
of all the cells, accompanied by an es
cort of workers, who make up her
court. As $he approaches a cell she
will stand on the edgetand peer in for
a second. If everything, seems to be
all right, she will crawl in and investi
gate. If this closer investigation is
satisfactory,; she will, deposit an egg
and then proceed to the next cell. On
each one of the queen's tegg-laying
tours, however, she will, find a certain
number of cells that are not satisfac
tory. Just what the trouble is I n
sure I don't-know, but when she comes
to a cell of this kind she will peer
in for a second andthen pass along to
the next cell. If a-c don't know what
the trouble is, the pther bees do. and
whenever the qneen passes a cell in
this way, a certain number of the work
ers who are accompanying her pn fier,
tour, will promptly I retire from the es
cort and ' crawl into the cell that was
passed and proceed j to put it in proper
shape. : I have seeni them working like
good fellows over a! cell that the. queen
has passed. Just -hat they are doing'
to. it. I don't know; but when they are
all done they return to the queen's
escort and take up.j their places again.
I have seen bees. -orking at a dozen
cells at once feecaUse -the queen has
passed them;. 1 1
. "Well,'' when The queen has finished
her rounds, sht will; go back to the first
cell that she p-ssed!on her earlier trip,
and after peering injto it, go in and lay
an egg. She will fake up the ethers
that she passpd infregular order, and
will not -quit work in til she has depos
ited an egg in every cell in the comb.
It; rarely happens that after the workers
have cleaned up 3 kcll because of the
queen's fastidiousness, she will declin-
to go into it. iheiworkers know what
is wrong when the
iqucen passes a cell.
and they attend to, the matter thor
oughly.
"About the fifth Way after the queen
has put her' eggs! around, the other
bees cover up all the cells and the bees
are born about the. twenty-first day.
It doesn't take as ong as this and in
some cases I havtij known it to take
longer. The birth of a queen bee is
the most interesting cf all. The other
bees arrange for th s whenever a queen
is needed. First, they enlarge the cell
in hich the queen has laid the egg
until it is almost ass large as a peanut
and very much the same in shape.
Then at regular intervals ' they place
a peculiar kind cf. jelly in the cell.
When the bee thatf has been prepared
in this way for its life work is born, jt
is a queen bee. There , is no explana
tion of the things that contribute to 1
bring about the ffsult that the bees
desire, '-but it is perfectly apparent to
all who have studied the honev bee that
it is the food th.-.t makes the jueen ;
bee.;- , j .
"So that there ifan be no possible (
slipf up the-bces ge nerally plan for four
or five, queens in ojf crop. The result .
of this is very a mining. There can be
but one queen to ajcolony and as soon
as the first queen j born she will go
around to the other iueen cells, rip
them open and kill the about-to-be-born
oueens just as fast as he can.
It is thus that she disposes of all pos
sible rivals. , Her! course meets with
the entire approvalj oi the other bees;
in fact, if ! two queens happen- to le
born at the same time, the beesx bring
them together at once and make them
t'ght until one or f the other is dead.
Two queens would be;wrsc than none
at all. If the queens are disposed to
tolerate one another and will not figh
when brought together, the other beeft
will force them to it, and they are
obliged to combat J for supremacy.
' 'In my own experiments with bees
I have made a number of queens. Af
ter the queen has 'made her round I
have placed some ; of the queen. jelly,
procured from- other hives, in tlrif cells
with the eggs, and the effect has been
miraculous. When the bees have 'come
around and discovered the jelly in the
cells, they have immediately-Ftt to
work to rip out the adjoining cells in
order to. make a place suitable Jor such
an important bee a a queen, to- be
born in. From the time of the discov
ery of the jelly until the birth, of the
queens, the bees have .continued to
feed the unborn; queens with the
jelly . necessary for their very ex
istence. This is:the one thing that you
can fool the bees on. They go right
on miking queens but oi eggs laid for
workers if you only start the work by
placing the jelly" in; the cells with the
eggs. In this; way' I have been able
to keep building new colonies ofj bee
and keep fchem supplied with queens.
It is a, delicate thingjntroducing 2
ouccn made in onehiveto the inhab
itants of another colony, but it i.v ac
complished in different ways, and the
ourcn and her subjects become good
friends almost always. j
"There are many other , tilings (about
the bee iust as remarkable as what I
have told you, but I will only have time
to dwell on one other. I want to tell
you something -about the criminals-in
the hives, for there; are degenerates
among the bees as well ai among
hu-
man beings, the bee that is a
thief
little .
is one : ot the mot; -interesting
rascals in' insect liie.f You can at
ways
tell the thief by the fact that all of-
the hair is worn off his body from the
attacks made on' him by his , fellows
whom he has tried to rob. The thief,
instead of going out in the fields to
gath,er his honey, will sneak off to
rome other hive 2nd lie around waiting
for a chance to ncak in and steal sonic
honey.; Every hivie has bees on guard,
but the thief will hang around trusting
to catching, the guards shirking iheir
duty. Once he gets inside he makes
for the comb and fills himself up with.
honey,( Then he waits a favorable op
portunity to get awav without being
caught... Sometimes he succeeds,) but
more'often. unless he is an old I crim
inal, he is cauVht. and then begins! a
merry time. The guards of the hive
will attack him fiercely, trying their
t-er to sing him to death. But he
will, curl himself up and the sting of
his victim cannot reach him. This is
lecausejthe bone of the bee are on
the outside and his flesh inside. (Hi
skeleton is made up of a succession
of band of bonv material and bv bring
ing them together he prevents the fing
of his ' assailants from reaching! any
vital spot. If by chance the bees man
age to get a sting in Iwtwcen thefe
bands, the chances are that heyl witl
bring ahottt the almost instant death
of the thief. (
"The old and .experienced thieve
are a cute lot. I have knwn hem af
ter eluding the riiards of a hive and
stealing their fll of honey, to buy
their way put when caught bv eivng
the gard a part of the verv honey
that thev have just stolen. Tlie bees
on ct'ird. neyer, fuspecting that they
are being bribed with their own honev.
take what is offered" them greedily 'and
ailowthe thief to denart wkh the prop-'
erty of their comrades.
Legal Blanks; Statesman Job office.
i"