Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-25
DR.. Wiley MEMORABLE.

be revised.
Dr. Wiley MEMORABLE.
Revise nothing" said the doctor with his
severest air. What. change the standards
of the department for a lot Of dssolute,
half-breed Dago bees? Well, I guess not
Those bees are just natural degenerates, and
there ought to be warrant issued for every
one of them, and they ought to be brought
into court and made to show cause why
they should not be punished for contempt.
The the doctor relented somewhat and
continued in a mlder tone. Il don't know,
after all. but what the bees are the victims
Of misplaced confidence They make the
honey, and possibly they make it in good
faith One should not judge them too
harshly without a hearing. But the fact
Is that the plants they patroniZe are also
infested by the aphis. The aphis bites the
plant, usually before the bee gets there.
and there exudes a sweet, gummy substance
that has a high percentage of glucose in 1t.
The bees come along and gather this in Ill
advisedy. perhaps, but. we will hope, not
maliciously. and the result Is that their
honey is way below the standard of civil
lied and law-abiding communities. 1t Is
quite possible. If there is to be action taken,
1t should be taken against the aphis.'
Meantime there are all sorts of trouble
among the exporters Of Hawaii. The
"honey dew" so called because the bees
make from the aphis-infested plants. Is
a good deal cheaper than high-grade honey.
in making honey cakes, and they claim that
after it is made into cakes there is no way
of distinguishing 1t from real honey. But
the department has insisted that the honey
cakes made from this substance shall be
called 'honey-dew cakes" and the bakers
insist that If this is done foreign countries
that export honey cakes to the United
States will have all the advantage.
The matter has been put pto the Secre-
tary, and he has set his face sternly against
any lowering of the high standard of purity
insisted on under the food and drug act.
Entomologists in Council.
The bureau of entomology has been called
into council and has been considering the
question as to whether it will be more ex-
peditious to establish night schools for the
Hawaiian bees and try to wean them from
their evil ways by systematic education, or
to try to exterminate the aphis
The determination of the aphis is large
contract. The last special report that was
made on the subject showed that there
were an average of 57.6S2 and fraction
aphis to the single plant ..at the bees
patronize.
With similar scientific accuracy, worked
out to three places of decimals, there were
shown to be 2,643.827 plants to the acre
Thus If the bureau Of entomology starts to
pick off all the aphis in the islands, it
will have to largely increase it's field
force. which will be objected to by Chair
committee, and If the eight-hour law is
observed and the aphis pickers do not put
on a night shift, 1t will be somewhere in
the neighborhood Of the next glacial epoch
before all the aphis are picked.
From this showing it would appear that
the bees will have to be educated up to
leaving the adulterated and misbranded
aphis honey alone. But experiments that
have been made with some of the insular
bees indicate that they are becoming rapid
ly addicted to the glucose habit. and II
they are deprived OF their favorite stmu-
liant, they are likely either to run amuck
in the community or knock of work alto
gether Some specimens have been sent
to the Army Medical Museum, where they
are being treated with various drug cures,
but as no one has yet succeeded in iso-
lating the microbes of the glucose habit.
this process Of reformation is slow and the
scientists are mostly cropping in the dark
The Department of Agriculture has ex-
pressed it's sympathy. of course in pure
ly unofficial way. with the exporters of
Hawaii, who are afflicted with such de-
PRAYED and ill-conducted species of bee.
But no hope at all is held out to them In
an official way, because when the forces Of
nature and the Department Of Agriculture
disagree about anything, it is ''23'' for the
forces of nature, and that is all there is