Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 238, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 October 1916 — Page 3

WHAT FARMERS OWE to the BEE

Colonies of honey makers necessary to fruit raising because they are the chief fertilizing agent: :,And there can be nothing more tempting than hot biscuit and honey for breakfast on a crisp winter morning

By ROBERT H . MOULTON.

SARMERS in this country are just coining to realize the debt which they owe to the honey bee. It has long been understood, of course, that this busy little insect fertilizes the blossoms of apple and other fruit trees and so helps to increase the crop, yet the bee has seldom been credited with doing so much good as is actually the case. Indeed, in times past some fruit growers have sought to get rid of the bees on the ground that they damage the ripe fruit. The crop so quickly decreased in size, however, that the fruit men were glad enough to have the bees back again. There is a well-es-tablished belief that bees puncture grapes in order to extract the sweet juice, but the fallacy of this belief has been proved beyond a doubt. Ripe fruit has bfeen placed inside a beehive, with thousands of the insects present, but it has not been molested. It is true that if hornets or birds make holes in grapes, pears or other ripe fruit, the bees will feed on the juice which is exuded. In point of fact, the jaws of the honey bee are so made that it would be unable to bite into or otherwise make holes in fruit, even if it had a will to do so. Orchards in which bees are present in large inumbers are almost always much more productive than those in which only a few bees are to be found and many apple growers are now establishing apiaries in or near their orchards. It is inot necessary to have the hives actually under the ■trees and it may be better to have them in an adjoining field if the orchard is to be cultivated, as otherwise the hives might be in the way and the horses stung. Bees seem to have an instinctive dislike for horses and will even attack the beekeeper sometimes if he starts to work in the bee yard when the odor of horses is upon his clothing. Beekeeping is not to be recommended to hostlers. To the orchafdlst the honey and wax which he igets from his bees are merely by-products. An extra yield in fruit is what he is after. And he igets it, as may be judged from an instance cited by one of the state experiment stations. It seems (that two orchards situated in the same part of the country were cultivated in exactly the same manner and had the same kinds of trees. Yet one was prolific and the other a failure. When the experiment station was appealed to, the trouble was diagnosed as a lack of bees to pollinate the flowers. “You are wrong,” the answer was flashed back, “for there are no .bees in either orchard.” The inspector was not convinced, however, and .after a search he found a very strong colony of bees in a fallen log in one corner of the bearing orchard. Bees were immediately installed in the other orchard by the owner, and as a resulthe netted nearly $4,000 the next season—pretty good Interest on an Investment of sls or S2O in bees. Most people do not know that an apple blossom requires to be fertilized several times In order to produce the best fruit, but this is a fact. Moreover, the blossoms of some trees must be pollinized ifrom another source if fruit is to be set. The iwork is done largely by honey bees, although wild ibees and other insects help out to some extent. Once, as a test case, 2,580 apple blossoms were covered in order to keep the bees away, and only ithree apples matured. Of bourse, the bee does not ipollinize the blossoms purposely. She is in search

Our Opportunity In Latin America

By JOHN BARRETT, In the Review of Reviews. These are the times when everybody should studying the twenty American republics lying south of the United States. These are the days of unprecedented and legitimate opportunity In Latin America for the commercial and financial Interests of this country. This present year should be the beginning of a new epoch in the material, social and political relations of North land South America. The next ten years are going to bd* ‘ all American” years. All America is to attract the attention of all Americans. This new development Is inevitable. The cause Is found in the natural wealth, resources and potentialities of Central and South America, their actual commerce and trade, their remarkable progress during recent years, together with the unceasing propaganda of the Pan-American union, which was at first even ridiculed and little appreciated, but is now (generally valued and recognized. The occasion of this new Interest at this moment Is the European war and the emphasis it has placed upon Tthe geographical segregation and commercial solldarity of the nations of the western hemisphere. Consider Latin America in any phase one prefers, and it is worthy of keen interest. Let us ferst look at it geographically artd physically. We see twenty countries ranging in area, from little Salvador, with less, than 8,000 square miles, or smaller than Vermont, up to mighty Brazil, with £,200,000 square miles, bF greater than the United {States proper with Great Britain thrown in! In

of nectar from which to make honey, but afl unconsciously she brushes the pollen from one flower and carries it along to another, thus carrying on her part of nature’s plan. The value derived from the fertilization of blossoms in this way is probably much greater than that of all the honey and wax made by the sum total of all the bees in the country. . It is practically Impossible to grow cucumbers in the greenhouse unless bees are depended upon to fertilize the blossoms, and so the market gardeners are obliged to yield tribute to this useful insect. Even in the dead of winter, with snow drifts six feet high outside, thousands of bees are to be found flying around in the great glass houses where cucumbers are produced for the exclusive winter trade. It is true that the bees get but little nectar from the blossoms and have to be fed on sugar sirup, but they accomplish the purpose of transferring pollen from one flower to another. Of course this work might be done artificially. That is, a man might go from one blossom to another with a small brush and transfer the pollen, but the process would be tedious and too expen-

all, they spread over nearly 9,000,000 square miles, or three times the connected area of the United States! They contain mountains higher, rivers longer and more navigable, valleys wider and more fertile, and climates more varied than those of thq United States. Noting the population, we find that Costa Rica starts the small end of the list with 400,000 Inhabltants. ahlT Brazil tops it wltlT 20,000,0007“ ATT Latin America supnorts today approximately a population of 75,000,000, which Is increasing by reproduction faster titan is the population of the United States. .When the new emigration from Europe starts, in after the war, and when the Panama canal tqlp/iull use by the shipping of a peaceful Europe, this total may soon overtake and pass that of the big sister nation of North America. ' ' ' -i We are almost astonished by the figures of Ljatin-Amerlcan commerce. They make us respect many of the southern republics and peoples, even If some other influences may not be so favorable. Last year the twenty southern neighbors of the United States, through sheer strength and capacity, pushed up the total of their foreign trade to the huge sum us nearly $3,000,000,000? This wasr divided almost equally between exports and imports, with the actual balance of trade In their favor. Argentina, for example, with an ambitious, vigorous and prosperous .people numberingabout nine millions of souls, conducted a foreign commerce valued at the surprising total of $900,000,000, which makes an average of about SIOO per head. Chile, a land of achievement and promise,

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

sive to be feasible. It has to be done in greenhouses where strawberries are grown, for when bees are used the fruit is always misshapen, but the winter strawberries sell for a dollar or two a ~ pint ! ' . / .'"T Perhaps it may be said without getting anybody into trouble that the free use of water by spraying makes possible some of the remarkable exhibitions which bees occasionally give. Water is not always used, by any means, but when it is the bees are rendered surprisingly tractable and docile. There are no bee tamers, however, who —are not. stung at times.- Indeed,- -they may-be-stung very often, but they are inured to the experience and do not even wince. And, of course, an experienced beekeeper learns how to handle bees without making them angry. Furthermore, some bees are much gentler than others. Many times it is a good plan to kill the queen in a cross colony find replace her with a young queen from a quiet colony. Yet the cross bees are likely to be among the best honey producers in the apiary. Many farmers fail to succeed with bees simply because they neglect to learn anything about their management. It is true that bees do not require a great amount of attention and do best when left alone most of the time. Yet there are certain things which have to be done just at the right time and in just the right way. These are the few things that the farmer should know about. In early spring, for example, the bees may easily starve to den th for luck of—stores, although theymay have come through the winter safely. In that event they must be fed on sugar sirup if no honey is available. Equal amounts of sugar and water may be used and it is best to have the water warmed, but the sugar should never be melted on the stove, as it IS likely to be burned. The sirup may be given in one of several different kinds of feeders, but few are better than a shallow pan from the ten-cent store with a little excelsior in it for the bees to walk on. If this pan filled with sirup is placed on top of the frames

taking honey out is no trouble at all, when a bee escape is used, for the bees do not even now what is going on. -—— The best way to begin beekeeping is to buy a colony dr two"from some up-to-date apiarist in the neighborhood, but a hive full of bees can be shipped by express or the insects may be bought by the pound if one already has an empty hive. Indeed, this is a practice w'hich is becoming very common, for even experienced beekeepers often investiir = one, two or tin ee-pound packages or bees in order to build up weak colonies. It is not an unusual thing for bees to be shipped all the way from Texas to Canada. Sometimes wild bees may be, captured in the woods and brought home. Although called wild bees, these honey makers w’hich are found in logs and hollow trees haje escaped from captivity at some time, for there were no honey bees in this country until they w’ere brought here by the Pilgrim Fathers. If the farmer owns more than half a dozen colonies of bees it will pay him to get an extractor. This is a simple device for separating the honey from the combs, the latter being placed in a frajpe which revolves at a high rate of speed, the liquid honey being thrown out of the wax cells by centrifugal force, just as cream is separated from milk. Then the combs may be put back in the hives for the bees to fill again. The farmer can usually get more honey this way and will have less swarming. " "

lying on the Pacific coast of South America (like the states of California, Oregon and Washington, on the Pacific slope of the United States), covering an area of nearly 300,000 square miles, or more than that of Texas, and directly tributary to the Panama canal, bought and sold in f oreign com merco products ¥eltted-at-neaTty~s2o2,ooo,ooo.

Advantages of the Telephone.

Evan B. Stotsenburg, attorney general, tells a story concerning the early days of the telephone in New Albany. A character of the town, who operated an office In rooms just above the livery stable, was Impressed with the benefits of the telephone qnd had one placed in his office. Meanwhile' the new-fangled instrument also went into the livery stable. Then, the town character sat down and waited for someone to take advantage of the new instrument. No one did. One day the telephone bell in the livery stable, however, rang with all its might. ‘Helio,” yelled the iivery srtihte proprietor. , “Hello, yourself,” answered the voice of tin town character, upstairs. “Just pass me the broom up through the front window’s, will you?” said the voice.—lndlanapollf ' News. ’ “

Seventy per cent of the world’s cork supply it said to be produced In Spain and Portugal.

of the hives the bees will quickly take the liquid down and be tided over the period of famine. It is a mistake for any farmer to try to keep bees In the old-fashioned box hives, for they cannot be managed so well and getting the honey out is likely to be a painful as well as exciting process. Likewise, thousands of bees are needlessly sacrificed, and the hives are almost sure to be neglected. Modern hives cost but little, yet may be taken entirely to pieces and the bees looked over without the loss of a single one. And

TRAINING TOOATS BOYS ANO GIRLS

Dangerous Effect of “Movie” Posters on Children. SUGGESTIONS OFTEN VICIOUS Need for a Concerted Movement to Control the Character of Thea* Pictures Is Recognized by Enlightened Mothers.

By SIDONIE M. GRUENBERG.

IT WAS a blood-curdling yell that came from the nursery and paralyzed everybody for a moment. And with the sobbing that followed immediately, the mother started for the children’s room, the restfel?owing«pr»rehensively. Howard had hold of one end of the clothesline, the other end being tangled up about the neck and arms of weeping and protesting' Louise. Between sobs the girl complained that brother had nearly choked her, and when there was a chance to get an additionul word in the Iwy explained that they had only been playing and that he had not meant to hurt sister. The children were soon disentangled and duly admonished not to play such dangerous games again. Howard was penitent and downcast and Louise cast about for sympathy. But mother had to ask the question that she had kept back with difficulty throughout the whole affair. Whatever made the child think of doing such an awful thing? “Why, mother,” said Howard, sensing a possible vindication in the historic sequence, “we were playing what we, saw at the motion pictures.” This was more disquieting than ever, since It aroused suspicion of secret attendance upon the forbidden amusement parlors. Mother and Jather had agreed that the children were not to see any motion pictures, except such as had be£n strictly censored, first by

the regular agencies and then by some member of the family. And so far as mother knew, the children had actually attended only three or four motion picture shows, of a perfectly harmless kind, and always in the company of some older member of the household. She therefore asked at once: “When did you see anything like that at the motion pictures?" “This afternoon, on the corner of the avenue,” came the reply. That looked bad, for mother knew that the children were supposed to be In the park with the tnaid during the afternoon. Who took them to the show? Where did they get the money? Who gave them permission to go? For a minute the exposure of a scandalous plot was Imminent But there was nothing to it The children had never gone to the motion picture show without the approval of the parents and the ones they had witnessed stood out distinctly and innocuously in their memories. What Howard had /seen was merely the array of posters in front of the picture parlor, and there

Between Sobs She Complained That Brother Nearly Choked Her.

was nothing in law or morals to prevent a boy drinking deep from this fountain of Inspiration. Now that she came to think of it, Mrs. iHeath had noticed those posters, and had often remarked how fortunate they had been in keeping the children away* from the undoubtedly demoralizing influences of the performances that those posters were attempting to suggest. But It had never occurred to her that tht posters suggested quite enough to the Imagination of the children, so that the actual performance was entirely censorship that is being maintained through the co-operation of private agencies with the manufacturers of the “movie” films the reels presented in most motion picture parlors, whereas the posters are in most cases more lurid and more suggestive than the pictures inside. Within a few weeks Howard and Louise, and thousands of other children whose careful parents kept them away from the demoralizing effects of crude melodrama, were*nble to gloat on highly colored pictures representing: 4 a man choking a woman, the latter holding a dagger, , T A woman choking a min, the latter holding a revolver. A lynching party leading a man with a rope about his neck- _ A veiled figure pushing s man from the edge of a precipice. Masked men sawing the timbers on a railroad bridge. A woman pouring th* contents of a

suspicious looking bottle into • gfaM of liquor. y , , f And many others equally suggestive of 'violence and fraud and deceit. “Where th ere hr a “chn nge of MH every day” you get a large assortment of suggestions In a given time, but In all cases you get enough to stir the imagination of active youngster.!. * Mrs. Heath, like so many other careful mothers, had tried hard to protect her children against the many degrading influences that every large city holds. She had tried the method of exclusion in relation to the home. By keeping improper books and pictures out of the house and by keeping the children away from improper picture shows she had hoped to solve the problem—for her own children. _—— Now she realized that the forces acting upon the development of children Cannot be controlled by house rules or kept out by doors and shutters. Oftensive comic supplements, so called, may be kept out of the house, but that does not Insure the children against -becoming acquainted -with them thenext day in the park or school. Objectionable theatrical performances or motion - plet-ures are- ferHwately coo-:: fined to restricted habitats, but the poster flaunts its crude oF insidious suggestions where none can escape them. There Is enough in the house for intelligent and conscientious mothers to do to keep a person busy. But those who hfljge q little time to are

Howard Had Seen Merely the Array of Posters.

looking for some worthy object upon which to expend their energies may do well to consider the need for a concerted movement to control the character of the posters used to interest the public in the motion picture shows. There has been great improvement in recent years in the character of the theater poster, but the “movie” poster which confines its ministrations to limited localities, remains a flagrant menace to childhood. There is an opportunity for enlightened motherhood to help through community service.

Used the Wrong Cask.

A certain jnilkman was in the habit of watering the milk before starting on his rounds in the morning. He is dead now, so we are not telling any trade secret One day, by some unlucky chance, the man omitted to do so, but to his joy he discovered at the first house he called at a huge cask, strongly banded with iron, and filled to the brim with water, the head having apparently just been taken off. Such a good chance of repairing his neglect was too good to be lost, and the milkman had just succeeded in watering the milk satisfactorily when the figure of the master of the house appeared _ln the doorway, and a voice asked sweetly: “Are you sure you’ve put in enough, my man?” Poor John was petrified. “If I were you.” eentinued tha volce. “I should have chosen some other cask. My doctor has ordered me a course of sea water baths, you know, and you have just mixed your milk with salt water. But perhaps your customers like it that way.”

Gasoline Danger.

A number of statements have been made at one time or another to the effect that the pouring of gasoline through a chamois skin in a funnel wiil generate enough electricity to Ignite the gases, unless the funnel is grounded on the tank. This is contradicted by Professor Foley of the Indiana university. He says, however, that when the atmosphere is very dry, as it usually is on a cold, clear day, a man may become charged by scuffling about on a clean, dry floor, or his clothing may become electrified by friction, as noticed sometimes when combing the hair. Under such circumstances, pouring gasoline through a funnel, whether or not there is any chamois In it, gives rise to induced charges that are quite too complicated to be explained in a few words. Such charges might fire the gas."'. ■ : r

Much-Quoted Sentence.

In Proverbs 13:24, is the expression, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that ioveth him chastiseth him betimes.” Later writers have given the expression other forms, either misquoting it or trying to improve it. Ralph Venning an English nonconformist preacher of the seventeenth century (1621-1674), and author of several religious works quoted It: “They spare the rod and spoil the child.” Samuel Butler about the same time (1612-1680), quoted it “spare the rod and spoil the child.” Butler was a famous coiner of phrases and probably was the first to give the Biblical expression that particular form.

its Class.

She—“l waive all claim te your pitiful, unworthy, utterly despicable affections.” He—“ Whew I but that wm some hot waive 1”