The searchlight. [volume] (Culbertson, Mont.) 1902-current, 1909-01-29

niNe tue zee cnanCe. ana II Will
literally break the boughs Of your
trees with the weight Of fruit"
Frank G. Odell OF Lincoln, Neb., bee
master. who gave a series Of demon.
STATIONS with $4,000 bees at the Ma
tional Apple show in Spokane. made
the foregoing observation in the
course OF an interview, discussing bee
keeping and scientific agriculture and
FRUIT growing. He said:
The bee is the expert assistant Of
the horticultural and the farmer. So
indispensable are Its functions In the
pollination OF fruits. vegetables. cereals
and grasses that its activities may be
said to lie At the foundation Of all sue
cessful agriculture. Nature has or
dained one supreme law. that OF crea.
ton. the perpetuation Of the race type
This law. universal in its application
and absolutely identical II its form.
obtains in the plant world A. in the
animal world. The luscious pulp OF the
fruit is the envelope, the package. the
strong boz. devised by nature to pro.
tect theys within from injury. and
render It susceptible Of termination
SO that the type may be reproduced In
all its perfection.
The bee. like other insects, effects
incidental polination 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 gath.
-er pollen. literally by the carload. In
the hairy baskets on Its legs. hasten.
ing from bloom to bloom. rolling and
packing and literally rioting In the
golden dust, pregnant with the micro
scopic germs of plant life, until the
golden pellets are packed away In Its
hair baskets, to be carried to the
hive for storage as an indispensable
portion Of the food Of Its young dur.
ing the winter months to come.
1T requires no expert knowledge to
comprehend how perfectly the bee thus
performs the once of pollination. In.
deed. 1t IL natures chief agent In this
indispensable work. No seed, NO
fruit, Is the universal law. Here is the
only insect useful In all Its habits. hav.
Ing a fixed habitation accessible to
man. dependent upon the pollen Of
every variety OF flower AZ an In.
dispensable portion of the food Of its
young, and going to the bloom spe.
ciflcally to gather that pollen. thus
making possible the marvellous fruit
crops In Washington and the Pacific
northwest. That 10 why ! say, give
the bee q chance. and II will literally
break the boughs of your trees with
the weight Of fruit.
"Delve into the realm Of applied
p,echanics or structural engineering
and your search Is incomplete until a
lesson Is conned from the structure
OF the honeycomb with its marvellous
strength as compared with the fragile
nature of its fabric. No more marvel
Gus structure exists among the
myriad marvellous works OF nature
This waxen fabric. derived primarily
from liquid honey converted into wax
in that marvellous laboratory OF the
bee. formed by some mysterious In.
stinct or intelligence into the very
form Of all others designed for econ
orly OF materials. space and extremity
81 strength. passes beyond the meas.
IRE OF human skill In its perfection.
somewhere between l144 and l76S
was discovered that wax IL produced
between the plaies CT the lower side
of the worker bees abdomen. II was
John Hunter. the celebrated anatomiss.
who discovered just how the bees Sc
crete wax. and thereby settled a yexed
question. He communicated his dis.
covery in a paper read to the Royal
Society Of London. February %. 1898.
Wax is produced at the will Of the
bee. and when called for by the ncccs-
sity Of the hive. The wax-producing
bees obtain. q somewhat higher tenn.
perature. usually by close clustering,
though they sometimes hang In slen-
der festoons and chains.
War 10 not chemically q fat or
glyceride. and those who have called
Il the tat Of bess' have grossly erred: