Birds and all Nature, Vol. V, No. 1, January 1899

But when the bare and wintry woods we see,
What then so cheerful as the Holly tree?

    – Robert Southey.

THE LEMON

DR. ALBERT SCHNEIDER,

Northwestern University School of Pharmacy, Chicago

THE lemon is the fruit of a small tree from ten to fifteen feet high. It is not particularly beautiful, being rather shrubby in its appearance. It is an evergreen, bearing leaves, flowers, and fruit all the year round. The flowers occur singly in the axils of the leaves. The calyx is persistent, that is, it does not drop off like the corolla, and may be found attached to the base of the fruit. The corolla consists of five spreading petals of a purplish-pink color.

The lemons of the market are from cultivated plants of which there is a large number of varieties. These cultivated varieties or forms took their origin from the wild lemon trees native in northern India, in the mountain forests of the southern Himalayas, in Kumoan, and Sikkim.

Lemons have been known for a long time. They were brought to the notice of the Greeks during the invasion of Alexander the Great into Media where the golden-yellow fruit attracted the attention of the warriors who gave them the name of Median apples (Mala medica). Later, Greek warriors also found this fruit in Persia, and hence named it Persian apples (Mala persica). The eminent Greek philosopher and naturalist Theophrastus, 390 B. C., described the fruit as inedible, though endowed with a fragrant odor, and having the power to keep away insects. On account of this latter property the so-called Median apple was, by some, supposed to be identical with the fruit of the cedar (Kedros) and therefore received the name "Citrus" from which is derived "citrone," the German name, and "citronnier," the French name for the fruit. Our word lemon is said to have been derived from the Indian word limu and the Arabian word limun. It seems that at the time of the great Roman historian and naturalist, Pliny (23-79 A. D.), the lemon was not yet extensively cultivated. Dioscarides (50 A. D.) speaks highly of the medicinal virtues of the bitter and acrid wild-growing lemon. Cælius Aurelianus recommends lemon juice in gout and fevers. In 150 A. D., the lemon tree, evidently introduced, was found growing about Naples and in Sardinia, but the fruit was still inedible. About the third century cultivation had so far improved the fruit that it could be eaten.

The Arabians are credited with first having introduced the lemon tree into southern Europe. The noted Arabian geographer, Edrisi, twelfth century, describes the lemon as very sour and about the size of an apple and the plant as growing only in India. This latter statement is, however, erroneous as the lemon had already been extensively cultivated in southern and eastern Spain, where it was introduced by the agriculturally-inclined Moors. It has been cultivated for many centuries in nearly all of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea and is now also extensively cultivated in the tropical and sub-tropical countries and islands of the Western Hemisphere. One variety or species, (Citrus lemetta), is a native of the East Indies and is extensively cultivated in the West Indies. Lemon trees are found everywhere in the larger green houses and conservatories along with the closely related orange (Citrus vulgaris.)

As the result of cultivation there are now about fifty varieties of lemons in existence. Some of these are comparatively sweet or rather insipid and are therefore known as sweet lemons. The sour varieties are, however, more generally cultivated. Lest I forget I will here state that the lemon is not identical, though closely related, with the Citron, the fruit of the Citrus medica.

As above stated the lemon tree bears fruit all the year round so that a number of crops are gathered annually. There are, however, three principal crops collected as follows: The first from July to the middle of September; the second in November; and the third in January. Frequently there are also collections in April and in May. The tree is rather delicate, not as hardy as the orange, for example. In upper Italy it even becomes necessary to cover the trees during the winter months. Lemons intended for shipment are picked before they are fully ripe and packed in barrels or boxes holding from 400 to 700. When exposed the fruit shrinks and loses in weight very rapidly, due to the evaporation of moisture from the pulpy interior. In Italy each lemon is wrapped in tissue paper to protect it against injury and to reduce the evaporation of moisture. Sometimes they are coated with collodion or covered with lead foil to reduce the loss of moisture.

The lemon is put to various uses. The yellow rind contains many minute cavities which are filled with a fixed oil and an ethereal oil to which the fruit owes its fragrant odor. In Italy the oil is obtained in a very crude way. The peel is cut into three longitudinal slices. The workman takes one of these in his right hand, in the left he grasps a small sponge; by pressing the sponge against the outer surface of the rind so that it becomes concave, the oil-bearing sacs are ruptured and the oil absorbed by the sponge. This is repeated until the sponge becomes saturated, when the juice is squeezed into a cup or other vessel. I am very much afraid that the sponge and the hands of the workman are not always clean. I have been informed that an attempt to introduce machinery for extracting the oil was forcibly resisted. It is also stated that the oil obtained by the "sponge process" is more valuable than that obtained by machinery and distillation. The bitter taste so evident in the lemon is due to limonin and hesperidin, which occur most abundantly in the rind.

The sour taste of the lemon is due to citric acid, which is found in the large cells forming the pulpy interior. Of course the sap is largely water, about 97.5 per cent., with about 2 per cent. citric acid. The amount of acid varies, however, even rising to 9 or 10 per cent. The juice is easily expressed and is put to various uses. Lemonade is largely consumed on ships, as it is said to prevent ship scurvy. Washing face and hands with diluted lemon juice is said to remove tan and freckles. The beneficial properties of lemon juice, lemonade, in fevers is due to its cooling and refreshing effects, and also to the fact that it acts as a heart sedative, thus tending to lower the temperature. Lemon juice has been highly recommended in acute rheumatism and also to counteract the effects of certain poisons, especially opium.

The essential oil of lemon acts as a stimulant and has been used in diseases of the eye (ophthalmia). It also serves to give an agreeable odor to certain medicines, and is used in the manufacture of perfumery and as a flavoring agent for confectionery.

The lemon peel is used in medicine. Candied lemon peel is a confection prepared by boiling the peel in syrup and then allowing the sugar to crystallize.

The following is a description of the excellently colored plate: A is a flowering and fruit-bearing twig, nearly natural size; 1 is a single flower, somewhat magnified; 2, stamens and pistil; 3, ovary in longitudinal sections; 3a, ovary in cross section; 4, anthers; 4a, pollen-grains; 5, fruit, nearly natural size; 6, cross-section of fruit showing rind, large-celled pulp and seeds; 7, 8, and 9, seeds.

ABOUT BEES

FRED. A. WATT

THIS subject is an ancient and honorable one. The most ancient historical records make frequent reference to the honey-bee. A poem written 741 B. C., by Eremetus was devoted to bees. In Scripture we read of them and learn that Palestine was "a land flowing with milk and honey" and we know that wild bees are very numerous there even to the present time. In the year 50 B. C., Varro recommended that hives be made out of basket-work, wool, bark, hollow-trees, pottery, reeds, or transparent stone to enable persons to observe the bees at work. The name "Deborah" is from the Hebrew and means bee; "Melissa," from the Greek, has the same meaning.

Honey-bees were introduced into the United States from Europe, in the seventeenth century, and our wild honey-bees are offspring of escaped swarms. Like all enterprising Yankees they first settled in the eastern states and rapidly spread over the West, where they were regarded with wonder by the Indians and called the "white man's fly." They traveled, or spread, with such regularity that some observers claimed to mark the exact number of miles which they traveled westward during each year.

A great many species are almost, or entirely, worthless for domestic purposes, while those that are especially valuable are very few. The favorite at this time seems to be the Italian species, which was introduced into the United States in 1860.

At the opening of the season each colony of honey-bees contains one laying queen, several drones, and from 3,000 to 40,000 workers. The workers begin by cleaning up the hive, and the queen starts in to rear other bees at once; new comb is started, honey is brought in from the earlier varieties of flowers and the busy bee is launched into another season of sweetness and good works.

The United States Department of Agriculture, in one of its "Farmer's Bulletins," under the heading, "How to Avoid Stings," says, "First, by having gentle bees." At the time I first read this I thought they should have completed the advice by adding "and extract their stings;" but I find on investigation that the subject of gentle bees, is no light matter to the bee-keeper, and that my idea that "a bee is a bee and hence entitled to all the room he requires" does not hold good; that a bee-keeper when purchasing a colony of bees of any species not well known to him will ask if they are gentle in the same tone he would use if he were inquiring about a horse.

Bees seem to do well wherever there are flowers enough to furnish them with food, and are kept for pleasure and profit in all parts of our country. A small plot of ground is devoted to bees by the farmer, a village lot is often filled with hives, and even in our larger cities, especially in New York, Chicago, and Cincinnati, if not in the gardens or on the lawns, they may be found well established on the house-tops, as many as thirty or forty colonies being found on a single roof. They can usually find enough food in and around a city to keep themselves busy without making long excursions; in fact, it sometimes happens that they find more abundant pasturage in a city than they would in the open country, especially where there are large parks and gardens or where the linden (basswood) trees have been set out in any considerable quantities. Sweet clover also sometimes overruns a neglected garden or vacant lot and furnishes a rich field for the city-bred honey-bee.

In Egypt bees are transported on hive-boats from place to place along the Nile according to the succession of flowers. The custom also prevails in Persia, Asia Minor and Greece. In Scotland the same method is used while the heather is in bloom and in Poland bees are transferred back and forth between summer pastures and winter quarters.

A few years ago a floating bee house was constructed on the Mississippi river large enough to carry two thousand colonies. It was designed to be towed up the river from Louisiana to Minnesota, keeping pace with the blossoming of the flowers and then drop back down the river to the sunny South before cold weather should set in in the fall. Honey-bee ships have also been talked of which could carry bees to the West Indies to cruise for honey during the winter.

The bee is not fastidious, but will live in any kind of clean box or barrel that may be provided for its use, hence it sometimes lives in queer places. A swarm escaping will generally make its home in a hollow tree or in a fissure of some large rock. The ancient English hives were generally made of baskets of unpeeled willow. Cork hives are in use in some parts of Europe, and earthenware hives are in use in Greece and Turkey. Glass hives are mentioned as far back as the year 1665. In 1792 movable-comb hives were invented and in the century following more than eight hundred patents were granted on hives in the United States.

Bee products form an important item of income in the United States, more than two billion pounds of honey and wax being produced in a single season. When we consider that this appalling amount of sweetness is gathered a drop here and a drop there it leads us to figures too large to be comprehended.

In considering the value of bees we must by no means think of honey as their sole product, as beeswax is an important article. After the honey has been extracted from the comb the latter is mixed with water and boiled down and run into firm yellow cakes, from which the color disappears if exposed for a certain length of time to the air. Thin slices are exposed until thoroughly bleached, when it is again melted and run into cakes, and is then known as the white wax of commerce. Before oil lamps came into use large quantities of this white wax were used in the manufacture of candles, which made the best light then known, as they burned better than tallow candles and without the smoke or odor which made the tallow article objectionable. The advent of the oil-lamp, the gas jet, and the electric light have practically disposed of its usefulness in that direction, except in devotional exercises, although colored tapers made of white wax are now used for decorative purposes, especially during the holiday season, when numbers of them are used to light our Christmas trees. White wax is also used extensively for making ornamental objects such as models of fruits and flowers. Whole plants are sometimes reproduced and models of various vegetable and animal products are reproduced in colored wax and used for educational or museum purposes. The anatomist finds it of great value in reproducing the normal and diseased structures of the human form. No doubt the original wax works of Mrs. Jarley, made famous by Dickens in "The Old Curiosity Shop," were a collection of wax images made from the product of the honey-bee.

Metheglin is a drink made from honey, and is consumed largely in some parts of the world. It is the nectar which the ancient Scandinavian expected to sip in paradise, using skulls of his enemies as goblets.

The East Indies and the Philippine Islands seem to be under special obligations to astonish the world in everything, and in order to keep pace with their reputations have produced honey-bees of three sizes, one of which is the smallest honey-bee known, and another the largest. The smaller variety is so diminutive that one square inch of comb contains one hundred cells on each side; the entire comb, as it hangs from the twig of a small tree or bush, is only about the size of a man's hand. The workers are a little longer, but somewhat more slender than our common house-fly, and are blue-black in color, with the exception of the anterior third of the abdomen, which is bright orange.

The giant East Indian honey-bee, which is probably identical with the giant of the Philippines, is the largest known species of the genus. They are about one-third larger than our common bee and build huge combs of very pure wax which are attached to overhanging ledges of rock or to the limbs of large trees. These combs are often five or six feet in length, three or four feet in width and from one and one-half to six inches in thickness. The amount of honey that they gather in the course of a season is enormous and it has been suggested that if introduced into this country they might be of immense value as they would doubtless visit mainly the plants which our honey-bees could not well gather from, such as red-clover, and thus increase the amount of clover seed as well as the quantity of honey already produced. Up to date, however, it is not proven that they will live in hives or that they can live at all in this climate; the latter being regarded as extremely doubtful by some of our best informed bee-men.

Not the least interesting thing in an apiary is the honey extractor, consisting of a large can inside of which a light metal basket is made to revolve by means of a simple gearing. The frames containing the full comb are placed in this basket, the caps being shaved off. After several rapid revolutions the comb is found to be empty and is then returned to the hives to be refilled by the bees.

The queen bee is about one-third larger than the worker and is the mother and monarch of the hive. Queens are sometimes raised by bee-keepers for sale, especially by those who have an improved strain of a certain species, or a new and desirable species of bee. When the bee-keeper gets a mail order for a queen he procures a mailing-cage, which is a small box-like cage covered with wire screen and cloth, in one end of which he places a supply of food, the other end being occupied by a ventilator. The queen and from eight to twelve workers, as royal attendants, are then placed in the cage, the wire-screen and cloth covers carefully wrapped around them, the address written, a one cent stamp affixed and her royal highness is ready for her trip across a continent, or, with additional postage, around the world.

When, from any cause, the bee-pastures become unproductive bees from different hives often declare war on their neighbors, the strong colonies singling out as enemies those that are weak or disorganized by the loss of a queen. The war is always pursued without quarter and thousands on each side perish in the fray, the victors always carrying off every drop of honey in the hive of the vanquished, leaving the unfortunate survivors of the defeated hive to perish by starvation.

In many parts of England when a member of the family dies someone must tell the bees; this is done by taking the house door-key and rapping thrice on each hive, repeating at the same time the name of the deceased and his station in the family. If this ceremony is omitted the bees will surely die. In some places the hives are draped with a strip of black cloth when a death occurs in the family and with white cloth in case of a wedding. If these ceremonies are omitted the bees are insulted and will leave. Singing a psalm in front of a hive that is not doing well will also set all things right, in some parts of England. I will not attempt to explain how the American bee-keeper rears bees without these ceremonies, but refer the reader to the various hand-books on bee-keeping which will doubtless explain it.

The bees occupy a position in the economy of nature far higher than that of mere honey-gatherers. The service they render in pollenizing the flowers is worth far more to the world than endless stores of honey. There are a number of flowers that are so adjusted that their pollen cannot of itself reach the stigma but is so disposed that it is certain to be carried away by any bee or moth that chances to visit it, while the stigma is so placed that an incoming bee is certain to reach it on first alighting on the flower and dust it with the pollen which has accumulated on the hairs on the under portion of the bee, or has clung to his legs; this, of course, causes cross-fertilization, a peculiar and wonderful provision of nature, which seems to be necessary for the preservation of fruits and flowers and for the improvement of the different kinds. Whole volumes have been written on this subject, which even now is not entirely understood, but a single case will give a little insight into the matter. The common primrose will produce even from seeds selected from the same pod, two different kinds of flowers, in about equal proportions, which are sterile of themselves. But each kind may, by means of the good offices of the bee or other honey-loving insect, fertilize the other. If no bees or other insects visit either of these flowers no seed can be produced and the life of the plant ends in a single season. Cross-fertilization is necessary to some plants and beneficial to all. Nature has so devised it and has accordingly made the flowers conspicuous to insects by painting them, in most cases, a different and brighter hue than the foliage of the plant, making the blossom, in some cases, give forth a pleasant odor, and in nearly all cases causing the flower to secrete the nectar which the insects love. Flowers which do not attract the insects by their bright colors, odor, or nectar, are generally adapted to cross-fertilization by the wind or are partly or wholly fertile in themselves.

It is a pretty well established fact that the flowers which we particularly esteem, the bright-colored, perfumed, nectar-producing varieties, owe their existence to the bees. We also owe the fruits which we love to the selection of the bee to a large extent. Some of the best varieties of strawberries are entirely sterile and must be planted in close proximity to fertilizing varieties in order to bring forth any fruit at all. Some varieties of pears also require fertilization by the bees, and cannot bear fruit if bees are excluded. Even the apple is not perfect unless fertilized by the bees, five distinct pollenizations being required to perfect a single blossom, and in places where orchards do not bear it is often found that the introduction of four or five hives of bees for each one hundred trees will cause them to bring forth fruit in abundance.

So, whether we wear bright flowers, or eat fruit or honey, or stroll through meadows sweet with clover, the handiwork of the bee follows us and impresses us with the fact that our little friend lives only to give us sustenance, sweetness, and pleasure.

BIRDS AS SHEPHERDS

IN Venezuela there is a species of crane, called by the natives the Yak-a-Mik, which is easily tamed and trained to look after a flock of sheep or take care of the inmates of the poultry yard. When these are placed in charge of this bird it may be implicitly trusted to take them to their feeding places in the morning and bring them safely home at night, not forgetting to hunt for and collect any stragglers. The Yak-a-Mik displays all the traits of character usually associated with the faithful sheep-dog. It can be amusing, too, for, while its usual gait is slow and sedate, it can execute the most fantastic waltzes and strike all sorts of absurd attitudes. A German agriculturist, Herr von Seyffert, had one of these cranes which took charge of a herd of heifers, driving them to and from their pastures. It also kept order in the poultry yard, stopping all fighting and disorder.

THE MISTLETOE

WILLIAM K. HIGLEY

FROM very early times plants, animals, and even minerals have played an important part in the expression of religious ideas and in the execution of religious rites. Among the plants, sacred, and closely allied to the mystic life of a portion of the human race, there is none more interesting and rich in legend than the mistletoe. This was associated with religious observances before the time of Christ and was mentioned by our earliest historians.

There are over seventy species of this peculiar plant. Both the American variety (Phoradendron flavescens) and the European, or true mistletoe (Viscum album), belong to a family of parasites, so called because they derive their nourishment entirely or in part from some other plant instead of taking it directly from the soil. Owing to the presence of the green coloring matter (Chlorophyll), in the stems and leaves, the mistletoe is not entirely parasitic, but is to a certain extent self-supporting, drawing but a portion of its nourishment from the tree on which it grows.

It is found both on deciduous and on evergreen trees. In some locations in Europe it is especially abundant on the apple tree and, if in the right climate, there are few tree species which are exempt from serving as its host.

The mistletoe is an evergreen shrubby plant of slow growth, attaining a length of about four feet and its duration of life is practically that of the tree on which it grows. The leathery leaves and rugged stems are yellowish green in color and, in the axils of the leaves, are the small and insignificant flowers, which ripen about Christmas-tide into pearly white translucent berries. The seeds are probably distributed through the agency of fruit-eating birds which, after eating, wipe their beaks on the trunks and limbs of trees, leaving the seeds snugly planted in the crevices of the bark.

In Scandinavian mythology we find the mistletoe used to cause the death of one of the favorite gods of the Norsemen, Baldur, the god typifying the beautiful, the good, and the wise. In this myth other friendly gods, fearing Baldur's death, with his mother, exacted an oath from animals, plants and minerals that they would not injure him. Unfortunately, however, the mistletoe was forgotten and Loki, the god of evil, knowing this fact and jealous of Baldur's beauty, gathered a branch, and taking it to Hödur, the blind god of brute strength, directed him how to aim it. Baldur was pierced by the mistletoe and fell to the ground, dead.

But it was in "Merrie England" that the mistletoe was held most sacred, most revered. The Druids, the early priests of the Gauls and Britons, were accustomed to retreat to the oak groves for their mystic rites. The mistletoe was not often found upon the oak, but when discovered, was the occasion of special rejoicing and peculiar ceremonies, being cut with a golden hook, and white bulls were sacrificed under the favored tree. We are told by some authorities that as the oak was the symbol of God, the All-powerful, so the mistletoe became the symbol of man, receiving his life and sustenance from God. There are other interesting myths; and, in fact, the mistletoe is closely woven with many beliefs and rites of the Druids.

At Christmas-tide the mistletoe is largely used for decorative purposes, especially in England, where the custom is ancient, and also in our own land, where each holiday season finds more and more of this unique plant gracing chandelier and window, until we, too, may some day find our maids all kissed —