May and June are always difficult months for
beekeepers in that everything seems to happen at once. Colonies need
attention; they may or may not need feeding; they need treatments
for varroa; they start growing at a phenomenal rate and they swarm.
There may even be an early honey crop to take off; and so it goes on
and perhaps that is why we missed an issue of Apis UK. Whatever the
reason, it was because all of us were just so busy. However, we
don’t intend it to become a habit and I’m sure that this month’s
Apis will excite and delight. We bring you news and research on some
astonishing subjects.
Will the Kiwi monopoly of Manuka honey with its clinically proven
antibiotic properties be a thing of the past? With the discovery of
the chemical in the honey that provides these properties by a German
team, this could be a possibility.
Colony Collapse Disorder, like ‘The Isle of Wight Disease’ is a
series of words that mean that we don’t know what’s happening, and
is at the fore of most beekeepers lips these days and we look at two
of the theories that may explain the phenomenon. Next month we will
take a look at another which offers compelling evidence that radio
interference may be at the heart of the problem and we will report
also on evidence to the contrary.
The new threat (amongst all the other threats) to bees in the form
of the Small Hive Beetle rightly alarms beekeepers but from the USA
comes news of how this pest can be beaten. We investigate the
queen’s role in the affairs of the colony; is she really in charge
or is she just an egg laying machine? And we look at how suicide
bombers are not solely man made excrescences but also exist in
nature and play a useful role in helping some beekeepers, and then
we see how some bees which have colour preferences do better than
others. All this is on top of the news of the fastest piece of
evolution in the insect world which we describe below.
Apis UK is searching out all of the latest facts in beekeeping that
usually don’t appear in the popular beekeeping magazines and
collates them for your monthly enjoyment, but we do also like to
hear about occurrences in your areas of beekeeping. Events and
shows/interesting talks/unusual sightings (not of UFOs), and in fact
anything that will interest beekeepers is something we want to
publish, so do send us your information. We are especially
interested in unusual recipes using bee products, and also
historical items from your area – and that can be from anywhere in
the world. Similarly, if you have any fictional stories that are
either humorous or ‘different’ we would like to take a look at them.
I did receive a joke and a short story and I thank the authors very
much for these. Unfortunately, although both were very amusing
indeed (send more), I couldn’t possibly publish them in Apis UK and
so I await eagerly for something like them that I can publish!
Dr Nizar Haddad Director of the Bee Research Unit - NCARTT- in
Jordan writes to us to tell us of a new bee site in Arabic and
English. With all of the troubles in the world tending to cloud our
view of things, it is easy to forget all of the other countries out
there forging ahead with their bee research concentrating no doubt
on their own priorities. By reading their sites we can all get a
much more worldly and rounded view of bee science and beekeeping in
other countries. As it is Arabic as well, this will give an added
dimension for
Arabic speakers in other countries who may at times struggle with
English. Take a look at it at
www.jordanbru.info or
www.ncartt.gov.jo
So Apimondia approaches in Australia and I’ve booked my tickets to
Melbourne so if anyone else is planning to go, I look forward to
meeting them there. I can only attend for three days and so they
won’t let me attend the opening ceremony (shame on them) but I will
enjoy the rest of it I’m sure. And as Phantom is playing there as
ell, I’ll doubly enjoy myself. I wonder what the beer is like?
In the meantime, enjoy this June/July Apis UK and keep in touch
BEEKEEPING NEWS Back to top
This press release was received from Bees for Development. More
about this very worthy charity can be found on their website
www.beesfordevelopment.org
RESEARCH NEWS Back to top
Colony Collapse Disorder
Scientists Identify Pathogens That May Be Causing Global
Honey-Bee Deaths
There have been many attempts now to find out the cause of what we
know as Colony Collapse Disorder. Now, a team of scientists from
Edgewood Chemical Biological Centre and University of California San
Francisco identified both a virus and a parasite that are likely
behind the recent sudden die-off of honey-bee colonies.
Using a new technology called the Integrated Virus Detection System
(IVDS), which was designed for military use to rapidly screen
samples for pathogens, ECBC scientists last week isolated the
presence of viral and parasitic pathogens that may be contributing
to the honeybee loss. Confirmation testing was conducted over the
weekend by scientists at the University of California San Francisco.
ECBC scientists presented the results of their studies yesterday to
a United States Department of Agriculture working group, hastily
convened to determine next steps. For the past year, experts have
observed a marked decline in the honey bee population, with entire
colonies collapsing without warning. Approximately 50 percent of
hives have disappeared and researchers around the country are
scrambling to find out why. Scientists have termed this phenomenon
“Colony Collapse Disorder” and fear that without honey bees to
pollinate crops like fruits, vegetables, and almonds the loss of
honey bees could have an enormous horticultural and economic impact
around the world. ECBC is one of many academic, commercial and
government concerns studying the honey bee population decline.
ECBC’s role will be to identify the extent of the problem and
conduct ongoing detection activities.
This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Edgewood
Chemical Biological Centre.
Colony Collapse Disorder
Scientists Identify Pathogens That May Be Causing Global Honey-Bee
Deaths. Could this be true?
In the United States, half a million to a million colonies out of a
total 2.4 million colonies have died this winter. Both tracheal
mites (Acarapis woodi) and varroa mites (Varroa destructor) have
threatened the bee industry since the 1980s, causing similar
catastrophic die-offs to bee populations in the winters of 1995-96
and 2000-01. The mites feed on honeybees and act as a vector for a
number of bee viruses. While many bees this year exhibit symptoms of
mite damage, about 25 percent of the deaths this year cannot be
attributed to mites or any other known honeybee pest. Finding the
cause of the problem is vital for U.S. agriculture. Many fruit,
vegetable and seed crops, worth between $8 billion and $12 billion
each year, rely on honeybees for pollination. There are a lot of
conflicting and inaccurate reports circulating in the media and some
are reported in this month’s Apis UK.
Genetically modified foods, mites, pathogens, pesticides and
electromagnetic radiation from cell phones have all been proposed as
possible causes of the bees’ demise. But the actual causes are
unknown at this time.
A number of studies suggest that a protozoan, a single-celled
parasite called Nosema ceranae , may be playing a role. The
protozoan infects the midgut of honeybees. Some beekeepers have
noted that treating bee boxes with gamma rays used for food
irradiation has allowed healthy hives to return to the boxes,
leading to speculation that a pathogen like Nosema could be involved
in the some bee deaths this yearAnother possible culprit is a class
of insecticides known as neonicotinoids, which has been widely
detected on pollen at low concentrations in other countries
experiencing die-offs. At certain levels these insecticides may
impair the bees’ abilities to learn, leading some scientists to
believe exposed bees may leave the hive and get lost.“The studies
don’t seem to indicate that the doses they [the bees] are
encountering are having any detectable effect on foraging behavior,
though more research is needed.
As yet, there is little evidence that insecticides or
electromagnetic radiation have led to bee deaths. But, even if the
cause of the new deaths were cured tomorrow, we would still be
operating in crisis mode due to mite damage. Miticides have been
used to combat mites, though over time the mites develop resistance,
requiring constant development of new chemicals. Also, miticides can
only be used at certain times of the year because if used during a
nectar flow, they can contaminate the honey crop. There is also
evidence that miticides can accumulate in the bees’ wax combs to
levels that could be harmful to the bees themselves. At present,
research experiment stations at land-grant universities like Cornell
are putting together funding plans for research to investigate the
cause of this year’s bee declines. Also, the federal government is
considering allotting tens of millions of dollars for long-term
competitive grants for programs that target honeybees’ overall
health. Some researchers will spend this summer traveling throughout
the Northeast to the ranges of migratory honeybees to collect
samples of pollen from honeybee colonies being used for pollination
of blueberries, cranberries and vine crops to screen for pollen
nutrient levels, mites, Nosema, neonicotinoids and other pesticides.
This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Cornell
University.
The Hive Beetle
The research described in this article shows just how attuned the
hive beetles are to a life existing off honey bees. We can also see
how the beetles are attracted to the hive and how we can start to
think about a way to beat them at their own game.
The honeybee’s alarm signal may not only bring help, but also
attract the small hive beetle. Now, an international team of
researchers has found that small hive beetles can detect some alarm
pheromones at levels below that detected by honeybees.
 |
| What attracted these beetles into the hive, and
why don’t the bees deal with them? |
|
The beetles associate the alarm chemicals with a good food source
and head for the hive. In Africa, where the small hive beetle is a
minor honeybee pest, bees quickly isolate an invading beetle, but
domesticated European honeybees are not as diligent in cleaning
their hives. The beetles also are aided in their invasion by a yeast
that naturally occurs on pollen and produces, as a fermentation
product, the very same alarm chemical that draws the beetles.
The researchers led by James H. Tumlinson, the Ralph O. Mumma
professor of entomology and director of the Penn State Center for
Chemical Ecology in the USA believe that it is possible that bees
are being habituated to a low level of alarm hormone. While small
hive beetles are common in Africa and pose little threat to African
honeybee hives, it appears that domesticated European honeybees have
a much harder time containing the beetles in their hives. European
honeybees were bred to be docile and easy to work with, while
African honeybees are noted for aggression and a propensity to
sting. The beetles were first seen infesting U.S. beehives in
Florida in the late 1990s. The researchers tested the response of
both the small hive beetles and honeybees to isopentyl acetate
(IPA), the major chemical in the bee’s alarm pheromones. The first
tests showed that when worker bees become alarmed, they produce from
1,500 to 10,000 times more IPA than found in an undisturbed hive.
Next the researchers used a gas-chromatagraph-electroantennogram to
analyze the chemical sensitively of the insects’ antennae. They
report in a recent online issue of the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences that the beetles could detect the equivalent of
2 nanograms of IPA at the entrance to an undisturbed honeybee
colony, but the antennae of guard and forager bees did not detect
this level of IPA.
This indicates strongly that the heightened sensitivity of the
beetles to volatiles released from the hive entrance allows them to
key in on the bee colonies without bees responding to their attack,”
the researchers report. Complicating the issue is the yeast that
grows in the hives. The researchers found that this yeast only
produced IPA when it grew on pollen. Even pollen substitute, a food
sometimes provided for bees, did not increase the amounts of IPA
produced.
“We are not really sure how the yeast gets into the colony,” said
Tumlinson. “Perhaps one beetle finds and carries the yeast in and it
reproduces, or, because the yeast grows on pollen in nature, perhaps
bees bring it into the hive.”
This combination of domestic honeybees, small hive beetles and yeast
produced IPA leads to combs so messy that the bees eventually decide
to abandon the hive, leaving the beetle larvae to consume all the
stored food, reproduce and multiply.
If beekeepers can reverse the trend and eliminate the beetles, the
hive can be saved, say the scientists. If they can stop the beetles
and remove eggs in the hive, the hive recovers.
“If we can find out how this system works, there is a good
possibility we will figure out ways to protect against the beetle,”
said Tumlinson.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Penn
State.
Bees Benefit From Having Favourite Colours
Bees have favourite colours and the bee’s favourite colour can help
it to find more food from the flowers in their environment,
according to new research from Queen Mary, University of London.
Dr Nigel Raine and Professor Lars Chittka from Queen Mary’s School
of Biological and Chemical Sciences studied nine bumblebee (Bombus
terrestris) colonies from southern Germany, and found that the
colonies which favoured purple blooms were more successful foragers.
Dr Raine explained that In the area they studied, violet flowers
produced the most nectar - far more than the next most rewarding
flower colour (blue). Inexperienced bees are known to have strong
colour preferences, so the researchers investigated whether the
bumblebee colonies with a stronger preference for violet flowers
foraged more successfully in their local flora. The team first
observed the colour preferences of naïve bees (those which had never
before seen flowers) using violet (bee UV-blue) and blue (bee blue)
artificial flowers in the laboratory. They then observed the rate at
which bees from the same colonies collected nectar from real flowers
in the wild.
The results showed that the colonies who preferred violet to blue
flowers in the laboratory, harvested more nectar from real flowers
under field conditions. In fact the colony with the strongest
preference for violet (over blue) brought in 41 per cent more nectar
than the colony with the least strong bias.
 |
|
<-- Which bee is getting most nectar?
--> |
|
 |
The team’s findings suggest that bumblebees have developed their
favourite colour over time, to coincide with the most profitable,
nectar-rich flowers available.
It has been long accepted that animals show innate preferences when
selecting a mate, but little research has been carried out on how
such sensory biases affect foraging habits. The researchers believe
their work could have implications for other species.
Reference: Raine NE, Chittka L (2007) The Adaptive Significance of
Sensory Bias in a Foraging Context: Floral Colour Preferences in the
Bumblebee Bombus terrestris. PLoS ONE 2(6): e556.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000556 (http://www.plosone.org/doi/pone.0000556)
The research was Funded by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
in the UK and the German Research Foundation (Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft).
Who tells the colony what to do? The Queen or the Workers?
New evidence gives us the answer.
The politics of a honey bee colony has often been discussed in old
beekeeping books by the old bee masters and most of them ascribe a
key role for the King or more recently, the Queen bee in directing
the colony activities. The well known bee writer Charles Butler 1559
– 1647 variously called the queen, Queen, Stately Prince, Sovereign
and Governour, and said that bees lived under one monarch whom they
obeyed in all things. But the queen needed assistants in the form of
a whole hierarchy of officials who wore different hair tufts or
tassels so to distinguish their ranks. Other bee masters noted
distinguishing marks that differentiated marshals, generals,
sergeants, colonels and captains. The Roman Pliny even saw
magistrates in the bee ranks to help the king keep order.
Butler’s Political Structure of the Beehive from his book ‘The
Feminine Monarchy.’
More recently, other theories have been put forward as we begin to
understand more and more about the dynamics of the beehive. Now, new
evidence gives us the clearest insight yet into the order of the
hive.
Using an ingeniously designed experiment, Andrew Pierce a senior
biology major at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and
his co-authors were able to document details of bee social behaviour
that fundamentally confirm the hypothesis that major colony
activities are initiated by the cumulative group actions of the
colony’s older workers, not by the queen’s individual decision.
Pierce’s discovery has to do with detecting a significant new detail
concerning the behaviour of the European honeybee—perhaps the most
studied and economically important insect on Earth. Beyond
agriculture, the finding may also have key implications for
understanding the dynamics of all social animals, including man.
Pierce’s recently reported his research in an article appearing in
the behavioral biology research journal Ethology, with co-authors
Lee Lewis and UNC Charlotte biology professor Stanley Schneider.
What Pierce and colleagues found was that older workers gave signals
to the queen and to the rest of the colony that it was time to swarm
and leave the hive. Later, they were able to observe inside the
swarm itself and see workers give the queen a signal, known as
“piping” that tells her to fly.
 |
| Who is telling who what to do here? |
|
Researchers have never reported worker piping being done on the
queen before and it was generally surprising to see the level of
interaction that the older bees have with the queen. This doesn’t
normally happen in the hive. It’s interesting because it shows that
though the queen has a tremendous impact on the colony, she’s not
the decision maker. The researchers found that the colony is not a
dominance hierarchy and, from a human perspective, this is unusual.
Our human society is very dominance hierarchy structured—we have
centralized systems of control. But bee colony systems of control
are very different—they appear to be totally de-centralized.
Schneider’s lab studies the honeybee and its behavioural ecology.
Like humans, honeybees are remarkable for living in large organized
groups where highly developed social behaviours coordinate the
efforts of thousands of individuals to accomplish complex
tasks—manufacturing, community defence, environmental control and
maintenance, food production, brood-rearing and education. Like
human civilizations, bee societies follow organizational principles,
such as following social rules (like human customs and laws) and
division of labour. But here the similarity ends. Bees do not have
large brains and are not capable of complex thought like humans.
Though the bee colony is centred around the queen and her
reproductive capabilities, findings by Schneider and others
indicates that she does not exactly “rule.” Instead, the colony
appears to be controlled by the anonymous consensus of the colony’s
workers.
Though it is of great interest to researchers studying social
behaviour, a great mystery still remains regarding how bee societies
effectively direct and coordinate complex operations without a
central controlling intelligence. Pierce’s finding is part of an
ongoing research effort in Schneider’s lab aimed at understanding
the mechanisms of leaderless societal management—in particular, the
importance of two communication-related behaviours known as the
“vibration signal” and “worker piping.”
Different from the famous “waggle dance” that foraging worker bees
perform to tell other bees where to find a food source, the
vibration signal appears to be a more general, multi-purpose form of
communication. Schneider has concluded that this signal, which
consists of one bee grabbing another bee (worker or queen) and then
vibrating its body, does not convey a specific message, but instead
is a form of “modulatory communication” that alters existing bee
behaviors (making bees perform their jobs more actively, perhaps) or
changes bees response to other signals.
Pierce and Schneider have documented in their current paper how
workers use the vibration signal to prepare the queen for swarming
by making intrusions into her “court” and vibrating her hundreds of
times an hour. She responds by changing her behaviour—reducing her
food intake, slowing egg laying and becoming more active. At this
point, the workers begin to send a second signal that researchers
call “worker piping” at a fevered pitch. Piping, which consists of
bees making contact and vibrating their wing muscles rapidly,
appears to be a general instruction to fly. The researchers document
that the workers stop using the vibration signal when the queen
flies and leaves the nest with the swarm. Piping, however, continues
in the swarm, as the bees need to make the queen fly again once a
new nest site has been selected.
The scientists constructed a special observation stand where they
could actually see how workers were interacting with queens inside a
swarm cluster, where they are hanging in a tree. What was especially
interesting they noted was how little attention the workers pay the
queen -- until it became time to go—to become airborne. Then they
started interacting with her at very high rates, and performing the
‘worker piping’ signal on her. “This interaction is a behaviour that
nobody had described before,” Schneider said.
Contrary to the popular conception of a colony controlled by
instructions from its breeding queen mother, the research shows a
picture of the queen as a passive egg layer whose own behaviour is
programmed, with changes dictated by signals delivered by older
workers. This does not mean, however, that the colony is controlled
by a key group of experienced bees either. The worker bees that
deliver the critical signals have short life-spans and tiny brains
incapable of managing the colony the way a human village might be
managed by a council of elders. Instead, critical strategic choices,
such as the assessment that it is time to divide the colony and
swarm, appear to be decided by the dynamics of the group itself.
Social interactions, environmental pressures or group dynamics in
some still-unknown way initiate a string of behaviours that
effectively manage complex group activities. “It is a real challenge
to understand how bee colonies work, but it is also fascinating
because they are so different. Evolutionarily, they got to the same
point as humans—living in these highly organized societies that
function with remarkable efficiency—but they are organized so
differently when you start digging into them,” Schneider said. “It’s
interesting that these major differences can result in the same
emergent social properties. It may tell us something about
ourselves.”
Note: This article is based on a news release issued by University
of North Carolina at Charlotte. USA
Want to sterilise a hot dog? Use Tea and Honey, an Ideal
mixture to Reduce Bacteria In Meats
Mix extracts from green tea or Jasmine tea, mix in some wildflower
dark honey and you have a scientific mixture that can be used to
reduce pathogenic bacteria in meats.
 |
Tea and Honey.
A powerful antimicrobial. |
|
Results from research carried out by scientists at the University of
Kansas sindicated that Jasmine tea with honey and green tea with
honey had the highest antimicrobial activity. The research was
supervised by the University Food Safety Consortium.
The tests were first conducted in a liquid medium and found that the
tea extract and honey treatments caused significant reductions of
Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7 bacteria. In liquid
medium, it’s easier for the compounds to interact with the organisms
in liquid.
Scientists working with KSU researchers Beth Ann Crozier-Dodson and
Laura Munson, moved on to food, which can be a more difficult medium
when seeking to cause the type of reaction among the compounds that
will inhibit pathogens.
The results were good. Treating turkey breast slice with
combinations of Jasmine tea extract and wildflower dark honey
reduced Listeria monocytogenes by 10 to 20 percent. Similar
reductions of the pathogen were recorded when applied to hot dogs.
The most successful reductions in hot dogs were in those that had
been commercially treated with sodium lactate, potassium lactate and
sodium diacetate. In that type of hot dogs, it has much more
suppressive effect than in some of the hot dogs without those
compounds. There is a synergistic effect of the tea and honey along
with those compounds with lactate already in the hot dog. One of the
beneficial side effects of the treatment is shelf life. Dr Fung, the
research leader noted that the experiments showed the hot dogs were
still showing reduced levels of pathogens 14 days after the
application. With such favourable results from the tests, Fung is
thinking ahead to future possible applications as a surface wash for
meat during processing as well as way to improve the safety of
ready-to eat meats and vegetables. “We’re thinking of using tea to
wash carcasses because of its natural compounds,” he said. “”If you
can use tea or honey to wash carcasses instead of lactic acid, you
can use a natural compound on the surface of meat.”
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by
University of Arkansas, Food Safety Consortium.
The Great Mystery Solved. Manuka Honey Uncovered!
The “Mystery” healing chemical in NZ manuka honey has been
discovered it seems. Most beekeepers and many members of the public
will know that manuka honey found only in New Zealand has unique
healing properties found in no other honey. For years the actual
substance that provided these medicinal properties has been unknown
and has been known only as ‘The UMF or Unique Manuka Factor. But
now,
German scientists have identified the mystery chemical in New
Zealand’s manuka honey which is responsible for killing bacteria
better than many antibiotics. Food chemistry researchers at the
Technical University of Dresden say the “unique manuka factor (UMF)”
is the compound methylglyoxal.
 |
| The small New Zealand manuka flower provides a
honey which contains a unique and powerful healing
ingredient. Has this now been discovered |
|
Now, in the New Zealand North Island town of Te Awamutu, the
company, ‘Manuka Health’ has formed a partnership with the
university to measure levels of the compound in NZ manuka honey and
to certify the products of rival honey processors.
 |
| For many years New Zealand has claimed ‘sole
source’ status for its manuka honey the value of
which has depended on its proven but mysterious
healing properties. Could these properties now be
artificially replicated in other honeys? |
|
At present, New Zealand honey companies simply make claims about
their content of the UMF identified by Waikato University (Hamilton
New Zealand) biochemist Professor Peter Molan.His discovery led to
some manuka honey strains being used to battle bacteria causing
stomach ulcers, and to promote wound healing. These strains have
proved increasingly valuable as they have also proven effective
against some antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. Some manuka
honeys have outperformed conventional antibiotics in treating
infected caesarean sections, stomach ulcers and burns.
Anti-bacterial properties of ordinary honey—due to hydrogen peroxide
and glucose oxidase—have been used by traditional healers for
centuries, but Prof Molan spent two decades researching the mystery
compound found at high levels in some manuka honeys.He referred to
it as a “phytochemical agent” but struggled to isolate it in a pure
enough form to work out its chemical structure. But he did find the
phytochemical could penetrate skin, fat and muscle overnight, work
despite heat and acidity, and could withstand being smothered by a
wound dressing.
Prof Molan’s work enabled manuka honey producers to register a
trademark, UMF, and rate their honeys according to an antibacterial
potency rating: with higher ratings most suited to combatting
ulcers, wounds and infections. Manuka Health chief executive Kerry
Paul said today that the UMF used to describe the honey’s
anti-bacterial effect had been trademarked by the Active Manuka
Honey Association.
But the Dresden University’s discovery that the methylglyoxal (MGO)
is the UMF will lead to tests to specify its presence in honey and a
new certification system.
“The next step is to put a standards process in place with the
industry which independently certifies MGO levels in honey-based
health products,” he said. The Dresden research, led by Professor
Thomas Henle, tested more than 80 honeys around the world and found
MGO levels as high as 700 mg/kg in some New Zealand manuka honey.
Ordinary honey was about 10 mg/kg, more than 70 times lower.
Mr Paul said Te Awamutu-based Manuka Health and Dresden University
would set new industry standards for manuka honey products to heal
wounds, overcome stomach and skin problems, and potentially in the
fight against cancer. MGO has been used in Indian clinical trials to
combat a range of forms of cancer.
Mr Paul claimed research on humans showed MGO resulted in complete
remission in about 40 percent of malignancies, with partial
remission in another 40 percent.
Bombers. Self Defence?
For many commercial beekeepers, aphids are important as a source of
profitable honeydew. The protection of aphids by humans and ants has
been well documented in the pages of Apis UK. But now we see that
these little creatures may well be able to take care of themselves
by suicide bombing their attackers.
New research by British and Norwegian scientists shows for the first
time how aphids use a chemical found in the plants they eat to emit
a deadly burst of mustard oil when they’re attacked by a predator,
for example a ladybird. This mustard oil kills, injures or repels
the ladybird, which then saves the colony of aphids from attack,
although the individual aphid involved usually dies in the process.
When the aphids feed on cabbages, they consume chemicals called
glucosinolates which are found in the nutrient transport vessels of
the plant. Once eaten, these chemicals are then stored in the
aphids’ blood. Mimicking the plants themselves, the aphids also
produce an enzyme called myrosinase, which is stored in the muscles
of their head and thorax. In the event of a predator attack this
enzyme in the muscles comes into contact with the glucosinolates in
the blood, catalysing a violent chemical reaction which releases
mustard oil.
 |
| Why is this ladybird walking into danger? |
|
The research team from the UK and Norway confirmed their findings by
controlling the diet of different groups of aphids. They found that
those insects eating a diet rich in glucosinolates had a high
success rate in fending off predators, whereas those without
glucosinolates in their diet did not. Scientists already knew that
aphids absorbed these chemicals from their food, but this study
published Proceedings of the Royal Society B is the first of its
kind to prove that they form the basis of a chemical defence system.
The scientists also found that the extent to which glucosinolates
are stored up by the aphids from birth into adulthood depends on
whether or not they develop wings. Those aphids that grow wings see
a rapid decline in the amount of glucosinolates they store from the
time wing buds start to develop.
Dr Glen Powell from Imperial College London’s Division of Biology,
one of the paper’s authors, explains: “Our study seems to show that
aphids that develop wings cease to store this chemical in their
blood as they mature, as they don’t need the ‘mustard oil bomb’ to
defend themselves from predators when they can just fly away. This
is a great example of the way in which a species provides an
ingenious method of protecting itself, whatever the circumstances.”
Dr Powell adds: “In the wild, aphids live in clonal colonies, with
often many hundreds of individuals crowded together on a plant, and
using this poisonous mustard oil defence provides wingless
individuals with a powerful means of dispelling a predator which
poses a risk to the entire colony. Unfortunately the nature of the
mechanism—with the chemical stored in the insect’s blood and the
catalyst stored in its muscles—means that in most cases the
individual aphid responsible for seeing-off the ladybird predator
dies in the process of protecting the colony.”
Authors and reference: ‘The cabbage aphid: a walking mustard oil
bomb,’ Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,
Wednesday 11 July 2007.
Scientists Explore Queen Bee Longevity
How do queen bees live so long compared to workers. Usually
longevity is a trade off with reproductive ability, but a queen bee
seems to be able to have her cake, and eat it! This study by Gene
Robinson the well know bee scientist in the USA tells us the
possible answer to this much asked question.
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| How does this queen manage to live so much
longer than the genetically identical workers? |
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The queen honey bee is genetically identical to the workers in her
hive, but she lives 10 times longer and – unlike her sterile sisters
– remains reproductively viable throughout life. A study from the
University of Illinois sheds new light on the molecular mechanisms
that account for this divergence.
The research centred on the interplay of three factors known to have
a role in reproduction, growth and/or longevity. The first,
vitellogenin (Vg), is a yolk protein important to reproduction but
which also has been found to contribute to longevity in worker bees.
The second, juvenile hormone, contributes to growth and maturation.
The third, an insulin-IGF-1 signaling pathway, regulates aging,
fertility and other important biological processes in invertebrates
and vertebrates. The study explores these factors in queen honey
bees. How could the queen achieve such a long life compared with her
sisters while also devoting so much energy to reproduction? “Many
times the way organisms achieve longevity is via a trade-off with
reproduction,” said entomology professor Gene Robinson, principal
investigator on the study. “In general, life forms that postpone
reproduction until later in life live longer. But the queen bee has
her cake and eats it too. She’s an egg-laying machine. She lays
2,000 eggs a day and yet lives 10 times longer than individuals that
stem from the same genome and yet do not reproduce.”
The researchers knew from studies of the fruit fly and nematode that
the insulin-signaling pathway had a role in longevity.
Down-regulation of insulin-IGF-1 signaling (IIS) in those species
was associated with increases in longevity – but at the expense of
fertility. They also knew that manipulating fat body cells in the
head of the fruit fly influenced longevity. Because Vg is
synthesized in fat body cells in honey bees, the team decided to
look at Vg expression in the head and thorax as well as the abdomen.
This led to an important discovery. Expression of Vg was high in the
abdomen in the young queen and declined over time, but increased
with age in the head and thorax. Old queens showed much higher Vg
expression than young queens.
Worker bees had much lower levels of Vg expression than queens, and
Vg in worker heads was also low compared with queens. Previous
studies in workers had shown that Vg reduced oxidative stress in
honey bees by scavenging free radicals that can lead to aging or
illness. Not surprisingly, queens were more resistant to oxidative
stress than workers. Whether this is the actual mechanism by which
queens achieve both fertility and long life remains to be seen.
However, this study suggests that vitellogenin plays a vital role in
queen bee longevity, he said, particularly since the honey bee lacks
many antioxidants commonly found in other species. There are
implications here (for other species) in the sense that here is an
organism that is reproductively active and long-lived. And we see
novel and conserved factors that are part of a large regulatory
network. The queen has her cake and eats it too. And humans may want
to know how that works.
This study appears in the online edition of the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences and this article has been adapted from
a news release issued by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Evolution in the Blink of an eye
Even though this research news is nothing to do with bees, it does
give us an idea of just how quickly threats can be seen off under
certain circumstances. I have often wondered what would happen to
honey bees if we simply didn’t treat them for varroa? I know this is
not a practical solution given the importance of the insect and I
suppose that had the Blue Moon butterfly described below been of
economic importance we would still be treating them against the
bacterial threat. Ed.
An international team of researchers has documented a remarkable
example of natural selection in a tropical butterfly species that
fought back - genetically speaking - against a highly invasive,
male-killing bacteria.
Within 10 generations that spanned less than a year, the proportion
of males of the Hypolimnas bolina butterfly on the South Pacific
island of Savaii jumped from a meager 1 percent of the population to
about 39 percent. The researchers considered this a stunning
comeback and credited it to the rise of a suppressor gene that holds
in check the Wolbachia bacteria, which is passed down from the
mother and selectively kills males before they have a chance to
hatch.
“To my knowledge, this is the fastest evolutionary change that has
ever been observed,” said Sylvain Charlat, lead author of the study
and a post-doctoral researcher with joint appointments at the
University of California, Berkeley, and University College London.
“This study shows that when a population experiences very intense
selective pressures, such as an extremely skewed sex ratio,
evolution can happen very fast.” Charlat pointed out that, unlike
mutations that govern such traits as wing colour or antennae length,
a genetic change that affects the sex ratio of a population has a
very wide impact on the biology of the species. It is not yet clear
whether the suppressor gene emerged from a chance mutation from
within the local population, or if it was introduced by migratory
Southeast Asian butterflies in which the mutation had already been
established.
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| The Blue Moon Butterfly has shown the fastest
evolutionary change ever documented |
|
“We usually think of natural selection as acting slowly, over
hundreds or thousands of years,” said Hurst. “But the example in
this study happened in a blink of the eye, in terms of evolutionary
time, and is a remarkable thing to get to observe.”
The researchers noted that bacteria that selectively kill male
offspring are found among a range of arthropods, so what was seen in
this study may not be unusual, despite the fact that it has never
before been described in the scientific literature. Previous
research has revealed some of the extraordinary ways in which
insects adapt to the pressures inherent when nearly all its members
are of one gender.
Notably, Charlat and Hurst reported in an earlier study that,
thanks to Wolbachia, when males of H. bolina, commonly known as the
Blue Moon or Great Eggfly butterfly, become a rare commodity, the
number of mating sessions for both males and females jumps, possibly
as an attempt to sustain the population despite the odds.
Charlat added that the relationship between Wolbachia and the Blue
Moon butterfly illustrates the so-called Red Queen Principle, an
evolutionary term named after a scene in Lewis Carroll’s famous
book, “Through the Looking-Glass,” in which the characters Alice and
the Red Queen run faster and faster at the top of a hill, only to
find that they remain in the same place.
“In essence, organisms must evolve or change to stay in the same
place, whether it’s a predator-prey relationship, or a parasite-host
interaction,” said Charlat. “In the case of H. bolina, we’re
witnessing an evolutionary arms race between the parasite and the
host. This strengthens the view that parasites can be major drivers
in evolution.” The researchers focused on the Samoan islands of
Upolu and Savaii, where in 2001, males of the Blue Moon butterfly
made up only 1 percent of the population. In 2006, the researchers
embarked on a new survey of the butterfly after an increase in
reports of male-sightings at Upolu. They found that males that year
made up about 41 percent of the Blue Moon butterfly population in
Upolu. They hatched eggs from 14 females in the lab and confirmed
that the male offspring from this group were surviving with sex
ratios near parity. For Savaii, the population was initially 99
percent female at the beginning of 2006. By the end of the year,
researchers found that males made up 39 percent of the 54
butterflies collected.
The researchers tested for the continued presence of Wolbachia
in the butterflies.By mating infected females with males from a
different island that did not have the suppressor gene, they also
confirmed that the bacteria were still effective at killing male
embryos. The male-killing ability of the bacteria emerged again
after three generations. Thus, they could rule out a change in the
bacteria as an explanation for the resurgence of the males in the
butterfly populations studied. The researchers’ findings are
described in the July 13 issue of the journal Science.
Other study co-authors are Emily Hornett of University College
London, James Fullard of the University of Toronto at Mississauga,
and Nina Wedell of the University of Exeter in Cornwall, England.
The U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.K. Natural Environment
Research Council and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council of Canada helped support this research.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by
University of California - Berkeley.
Egyptians, Not Greeks Were
True Fathers Of Medicine
Honey has been used as a medicine for literally thousands of years,
but who began all of this? Who started ‘medicine’?
Scientists examining documents dating back 3,500 years say they have
found proof that the origins of modern medicine lie in ancient Egypt
and not with Hippocrates and the Greeks.
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An Ancient Egyptian Physician and Scribe.
Classical scholars have always considered the
ancient Greeks, particularly Hippocrates, as being
the fathers of medicine but new research shows that
the ancient Egyptians were practising a credible
form of pharmacy and medicine much earlier |
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The research carried out by Dr Jackie Campbell of the University of
Manchester in the UK found that when they compared the ancient
remedies against modern pharmaceutical protocols and standards,
researchers found the prescriptions in the ancient documents not
only compared with pharmaceutical preparations of today but that
many of the remedies had therapeutic merit. The medical documents,
which were first discovered in the mid-19th century, showed that
ancient Egyptian physicians treated wounds with honey, resins and
metals known to be antimicrobial. The team also discovered
prescriptions for laxatives of castor oil and colocynth and bulk
laxatives of figs and bran. Other references show that colic was
treated with hyoscyamus, which is still used today, and that cumin
and coriander were used as intestinal carminatives. Further evidence
showed that musculo-skeletal disorders were treated with
rubefacients to stimulate blood flow and poultices to warm and
soothe. They used celery and saffron for rheumatism, which are
currently topics of pharmaceutical research, and pomegranate was
used to eradicate tapeworms, a remedy that remained in clinical use
until 50 years ago. Many of the ancient remedies we discovered
survived into the 20th century and, indeed, some remain in use
today, albeit that the active component is now produced
synthetically. Other ingredients endure and acacia is still used in
cough remedies while aloes forms a basis to soothe and heal skin
conditions.
Fellow researcher Dr Ryan Metcalfe is now developing genetic
techniques to investigate the medicinal plants of ancient Egypt. He
has designed his research to determine which modern species the
ancient botanical samples are most related to.
This may allow researchers to determine a likely point of origin for
the plant while providing additional evidence for the trade routes,
purposeful cultivation, trade centres or places of treatment. The
work is inextricably linked to state-of-the-art chemical analyses
used by colleague Judith Seath, who specialises in the essential
oils and resins used by the ancient Egyptians.
Professor Rosalie David, Director of the KNH Centre, said: “These
results are very significant and show that the ancient Egyptians
were practising a credible form of pharmacy long before the Greeks.
“Our research is continuing on a genetic, chemical and comparative
basis to compare the medicinal plants of ancient Egypt with modern
species and to investigate similarities between the traditional
remedies of North Africa with the remedies used by their ancestors
of 1,500 BC.”
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by
University of Manchester. UK.
Saved in Health Care Using Honey in the US
With funding provided by the Wisconsin Partnership Fund for Health
and the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation,
researchers in the USA are conducting the first randomized,
double-blind controlled trial of honey for diabetic ulcers. Experts
believe that treating wounds with honey has tremendous potential for
the approximately 200 million people in the world with diabetes, 15
percent of whom will develop an ulcer, usually because of impaired
sensation in their feet.
Currently, every 30 seconds someone somewhere in the world undergoes
amputation for a diabetic foot ulcer. In 2001, treating diabetic
ulcers and amputations in U.S. patients cost $10.9 billion.
Unsuccessful conventional care for ulcers can cost thousands of
dollars. Therapy with honey may only cost a few hundred. Diabetics
typically have poor circulation and decreased ability to fight
infection. Diabetic ulcers treated with long courses of systemic
antibiotics can become colonized with drug-resistant
organisms—so-called “superbugs” such as Methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Since honey fights bacteria in
numerous ways, it is essentially immune to resistance. Honey’s
acidic pH, low water content (which effectively dehydrates
bacteria), and the hydrogen peroxide secreted by its
naturally-occurring enzymes make it ideal for combating organisms
that have developed resistance to standard antibiotics. This is a
important issue for public health when you consider that Centres for
Disease Control and the World Health Organization have identified
bacterial resistance as one of the most important medical problems
of our day.
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| Scientists may have found a new way of using
honey. Can Honey cure diabetic foot ulcers more
efficiently and more cost effectively than current
treatments? |
|
Patients in a new clinical trial using honey for this problem will
receive ulcer care and treatment by an expert podiatrist. Half will
be randomly assigned to receive honey, while the other half will
receive a wound-care gel that has been compounded with inert
components to give it the flavour and colour of honey. The ulcers
will be measured to see how quickly they heal, to evaluate whether
honey or the standard wound gel is better for healing.
If honey proves the more effective method the researchers caution
patients against using it at home without a physician’s involvement.
“Unfortunately, diabetic ulcers are very complicated, and honey
would only be part of the solution. Successful care also requires
off-loading-avoiding walking and putting weight on the sore-and the
sterile removal of dead skin and bacteria from the wound.
The researchers believe that if they can prove that honey promotes
healing in diabetic ulcers, they can offer new hope for many
patients, not to mention the cost benefit, and the issue of
bacterial resistance. The possibilities are tremendous.
To be eligible for the study, patients must be older than 18, have
diabetes and a sore below their knee, and not be taking prednisone.
Interested patients can call (715) 855-5683 for further information
on the study or outreach opportunities.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
ARABIC BEEKEEPING SITE –
ENGLISH/ARABIC DICTIONARY AVAILABLE
Many bee scientists working in the Arab world would undoubtedly need
to refer to English terms during their work and also, those
scientists from other countries may need to refer to the correct
Arabic term. Well help is at hand in the form of an English/Arabic
dictionary which can be found in full at www.jordanbru.info
Dr Nizar Haddad the director of the Bee Research Unit in Jordan has
informed us of the new site we have a new site which is the first
site that allows Arabic readers free access to books and to the
Dictionary of Apiculture of which he is the General editor. The site
is also in English. For those Arabic readers who wish to learn more
about Dr Haddad’s work take a look at the site or contact him as
follows:
all the best
Dr. Nizar Haddad
Director of the Bee Research Unit - NCARTT- Jordan
www.jordanbru.info
www.ncartt.gov.jo
Here is a short example of the English/Arabic dictionary which will
no doubt be of great use to researchers. It is very comprehensive.
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ARTICLES Back to top
Australian Beekeeping. The State of the Nation
From a news release issued by New South Wales Department of Primary
Industries.
Four swarms of Asian bees found in Cairns, Australia have been
cleared of carrying the dreaded Varroa destructor mite but the
intruders themselves could pose the beginning of a serious threat to
Australian honey bee populations.
Asian bees are known to have found their way into Australian ports
at least half a dozen times in the last decade.
This time it’s a Javanese strain of the bee and because the latest
incursion had lain undiscovered for at least three months, it is
unknown how many more swarms might exist and how far afield they may
have flown. Within a one kilometre radius from the first colony,
disturbed in the mast of a yacht undergoing repairs after two years
docked at a wharf in Cairns, three more swarms were found and the
search widened. Already operating under marginal circumstances, many
of Australia’s beekeepers can only afford a momentary sigh of
relief. Asian bees (Apis cerana) are capable of carrying two types
of Varroa mite – destructor and jacobsoni; the latter would not
threaten the health of local bee populations but destructor has
wiped out commercial hives and feral populations the world over and
Australia is the last remaining major beekeeping country free of it.
Asian bees remain feral, cannot be hived commercially and will
attack Australian bees and rob their hives. Compared to the home
breed, Apis mellifera, the intruders are nowhere near the same
league in the volume of honey they produce.
In the recent experience of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon
Islands, they could become a serious pest, not just for beekeepers,
but of concern to agriculture generally.
Bees play a big role in the food supply chain. “In the big scheme of
things, honey’s a bit of a minor product, really,” NSW Department of
Primary Industries apiarist Dr Doug Somerville said. “Roughly
one-third of the food we eat relates back to bee pollinated crops,
so most of the benefits of honeybees actually come from
pollinations. “About 90 fruit and vegetable crops, including melons,
pumpkins, and even cotton are more productive with their help. “And
almond crops rely entirely on honeybees for pollination and
Australia’s young almond industry is booming right now in the
tri-State region.”
Since varroa mite and other bee diseases hit America and wiped out
huge numbers, US beekeepers have also relied on NSWgrown stock to
help pollinate their almond trees.
In 2006, Australian beekeepers cashed in, shipping export package
bees worth $3-4 million to America.
However, this is in contrast with the rest of the local industry,
beset by poor yields and low prices, brought on by the drought. “The
bee industry had a reasonable summer honey crop, but domestic
prospects for the next two years look very bleak,” Dr Somerville
said. “There will be very few eucalypt flowerings in the next 12
months, which will lead to a yield well below average in the
Australian honey crop over the next 12 months to two years.”
All sections of the local industry accept that the arrival of
destructor in Australia is a matter of when, not if, and its effects
would be far more dramatic than a wide incursion of Apis cerana.
Speculation but no defined cause surrounds a massive die-off of bee
hives in the US.
Between 25 and 80 per cent of colonies in apiaries have just
disappeared, says NSW DPI apiarist Dr Doug Somerville, describing a
phenomenon that North American beekeepers have called Colony
Collapse Disorder. “This is causing major concern in the US almond
industry, because well over one million bee hives are required to
pollinate this crop every February,” Dr Somerville (pictured) said.
He told ABC-TV’s 7.30 Report the collapse has caused US beekeepers
to escalate their prices for pollination fees for a range of crops,
including almonds and blueberries.
“At this stage, the same collapses have not been reported by
Australian beekeepers.”
Mobile phone waves are amongst factors reported as possible causes
of collapse in the US but Dr Somerville is dubious this is the
cause. “You would probably expect a lot more colony deaths in urban
areas than rural, and this has not been the case,” Dr Somerville
said. “Their problems are likely to be a combination of factors,” Dr
Somerville said.
Pesticides residues in the environment from a class of insecticides
called neonicotinoids, used variously as seed treatments, on cut
flowers, stone fruits, cotton aphids and locusts have not caused any
problems in Australia but are now under the spotlight in the US,
according to CSIRO entomologist Denis Anderson.
Varroa mites, poor nutrition and generally stressed bees
compromising the immune system of the others in hives are also
postulated as causes. Dr Somerville says 30 per cent of beekeepers
have exited the US and New Zealand industries since varroa mites
arrived because they found managing the pest too hard.
BOOK AND FILM REVIEWS Back to top
QUEEN BEE: Biology, Rearing and Breeding
by David R Woodward BSc MSc Ph.D of Telford Rural Polytechnic;
Balclutha, New Zealand.
The first impression given by David Woodward’s book is that it is
comprehensive. As its title suggests, it covers every conceivable
topic concerning the queen bee and how to produce them, and then it
goes further and describes how to breed them, giving a very simple
and easy to understand expose of that most complicated of subjects,
bee genetics.
The book is divided into three chapters: Queen Bee Biology; Queen
Bee Rearing; and Queen Bee Breeding and within those three chapters
covers everything you need to know about the subject.
One thing that often confuses beekeepers wanting to raise queens is
the importance of a well timed plan. What do I do on day one? What
do I need to do on day 4? And so on. Dr Woodward’s book covers this
aspect in detail for each of the methods described. If you want to
raise just a few queens on a simple scale, then methods to do this
are described. If you want to avoid the requirement to graft then he
shows you how to manage this and if you want to breed a disease
resistant, honey getting, non-stinging, super bee, he at least
points you in the right direction.
There are many excellent books that cover the various aspects of the
queen honey bee but non which cover them all. This book does so
comprehensively and all in one slim volume. It is a must for those
wanting one book to take them into the world of the honey bee queen
and is essential for those wanting to produce and breed queens
either as a hobbyist or as a commercial beekeeper.
(Softback. 137 pages. Full colour photos and line diagrams. ISBN:
0473119331
The book costs NZ$45 which even with the currently high NZ dollar
isn’t very much in £s and can be purchased as follows:
1) Buyers can order the book from our bookshop by contacting
sue.giles@telford.ac.nz.
2) For purchases from overseas the book is NZ$45 plus postage.
3) There is a discount for overseas bookshops that are purchasing
copies wholesale for retail sale or for purchases of 10 or more
copies. The wholesale price is NZ$40 plus postage.
Contact details:
Dr David Woodward. Head of Apiculture Department
Telford Rural Polytechnic
Private Box 6 , Balclutha
South Otago 9200
New Zealand
RECIPE OF THE MONTH Back to top
This fine recipe is a prime example of how to make something
good, something supreme. A tapa well worth trying.
Mediterranean Spiced Olives
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Olives
One of the foods of the Gods |
|
Ingredients:
400gm or 12 ounces green olives, rinsed
with cold water and drained well
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
Instructions:
Place the olives, orange zest, oil, honey, and garlic in a bowl and
mix well, using a rubber spatula. Add the thyme, allspice, salt, and
pepper; fold to combine. Fold in the parsley. Pack the olives into
an airtight container and refrigerate, covered, at least 6 hours and
up to 3 days for the flavours to come to the fore.
HISTORICAL NOTE Back to top
Who rules the hive?
Our historical note continues with the theme of ‘who rules the
hive?’ Tickner Edwardes, a well known bee author in 1908 wrote about
the true socialism of the bee state. Whereas most authors considered
queen bees to be the absolute monarchs of the hive, Edwardes
believed quite the opposite and it seems that he was right.
‘The truth is that the queen bee is the very reverse of a
monarch, both by nature and inclination. She possesses only the
rudiments of intelligence. She has a magnificent body, great
docility, certain almost unrestrainable impulses and passions, a
yielding womanish lover of the yoke; but she is incapable of action
other than that arising from her bodily promptings. Her brain is
proportionately smaller than that of the worker. In a dozen
different ways she is inferior to the common worker bees, who rule
her absolutely, mapping out her entire daily life and using her for
the good of the colony, just as a delicate, costly piece of
mechanism is used by human craftsmen to produce some necessary
article of trade.’
POEM OF THE MONTH Back to top
Continuing the theme of whether the queen rules the colony or
not, this month’s poem is taken from the French poet Jaques Vaniere
(1664 – 1739). Unusual for his time, Vaniere treats the queen as a
true sovereign and a good lover although of course he didn’t know
that the queen’s loves met her well away from the hive.
The Bees
She has her Am’rous train;
Proud of her charms, her attraction vain,
She boasts the male seraglio, unconfined
Her favours grants, and multiplies her kind
When the apt season her intrigues begin,
No law has made polygamy a sin
LETTERS Back to top
Hi,
I am in south west sheffield, and wonder what the best way is to
offer 'hive-space' on our farmland/woodland in return for some honey
at the end of the day. Ideally, to someone responsible, honest and
pleasant!
Any suggestions?
tim
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Back to top
s
QUOTE OF THE MONTH Back to top
Continuing our theme of governance of the hive, we have two
quotes here, both bearing on the subject and both by well known
historical figures. Who are they?
Where’s the state beneath the firmament
That doth excel the bees for government?
And the second quote:
I’ll tell of a tiny republic that makes a show ell worth your
admiration
Great hearted leaders, a whole nation whose work is planned
Their morals, groups, defences.
Editor: David Cramp
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