—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 4,1978
50
Africanized honey bee
(Continued from Page 48)
USDA’s Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service
(APHIS). APHIS inspectors,
posted at ports of entry all
around the country, have
orders to destroy all bees
they intercept in arriving
airplanes and ships and in
commercial cargo and
passenger baggage.
Awards
presented
(Continued from Page 49)
change taking place. Op
timism is the outlook for the
future, he believes.
“Food can be used as a
weapon to do good”, Wenger
explained. “Farmers have a
tremendous potential to
become involved generation
after generation.”
But, he went on, the
returns from farming today
are not what they should be.
The problems concerning
farming prices need to be
solved.
One step in the right
direction, Wenger believes,
would be for farmers to try
to understand urban
problems as well as urban
people to try to do the same
with farmers. “What we
need,” he urged, “are
bridges of communication.”
Wenger went on to tell the
farmers to become involved
in politics. “Public officials
are a reflection of those who
elect them,” he stated. “It is
*EL MUTE HAULMG IN BAD WEATHER*
SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE
HYDRAULIC MANURE PUMP
Shear bar action handles manure with long straw. Notice the straight line push. No
\ JBjkVW 4 elbows on pump to increase resistance Straight push to PVC pipe increases pump
r efficiency Depending on the type of manure, the length of stroke is easily adjustable
A watch is out as well for
hybridized bees moving
north on their own. Ex
perience has shown they
come in small colonies that
would be fairly easy to kill or
control. USDA’s
Agricultural Research
Service has teams of bee
scientists 'that study the
exact causes of swarming
important to put good
politicians in office.”
“Remember” Wenger
concluded, “farmers are
important. You should never
underestimate the power
you can have. But you must
have people who understand
farming in places to make
decisions.”
have a
nice weekend...
be polite to somebody
Reliable Power Pack with high qual
ity components. Compactness allows unit
to be installed away from the manure pump pit.
and the rate of travel. The
new information will help
‘ make the lookout effective.
With regard to the concern
about how harmful
hybridized bees would be in
the United States, there also
is encouraging news.
Beekeepers found that in the
temperate climates of South
America, Africanized bees
act less aggressively. They
spread more slowly and
keepers eliminate the more
objectionable strains. Since
the climate of the United
States also is basically
temperate, the hybridized
strains that would develop
here also are likely to be
more tractable.
Researchers are working
on further ways to breed
undesirable traits out of
Africanized bees. USDA
scientists, working with
officials along the northern
spread of the Africanized
bee, study the bee’s brood
cycle, mating, stinging
behavior, and response to
various management
techniques. The most
famous of these studies uses
80 colonies of highly
Africanized wild bees now
located in French Guyana.
The study site can be moved
to Venezuela or even further
along the front of the
migratory advance.
Research workers at
USDA laboratories in the
United States and several
state universities also have
been studymg domestic bees
to see how they live and
operate. The scientists are
collecting facts about the
bee’s chemical alarm
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Up to "m I ,
ot manure
systems, stinging behavior,
clustering habits, tendency
to fly 'at various tem
peratures, and mating
habits - information that
can be applied to Africanized
strains.
Researchers also are
refining artificial in
semination techniques to
counter the aggressive
mating behavior of
Africanized strains. Drones
from Africanized colonies
tend to chase domestic
queens on their mating
flights and often outcompete
domestic drones. Queens
mate only during a once-in
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a-lifetime mating period. So
crossed matings result hi a
queen’s producing
hybridized offspring for her
entire reproductive life.
Practical artificial breeding
of American bee colonies -
the objective of the studies -
would go a long way toward
limiting the spread and
impact of Africanized bee
strains arriving in the
United States.
Whether you are a
beekeeper or a garden
tending homeowner, you
don’t have to be afraid of
Africanized bees - not now
and not later. You should.
however, face all encounters
with bees calmly .and
carefully. If you are' at
tacked, don’t run, scream, or
slap at bees. That only)’
stimulates their defensive
instinct.
Instead, stay calm and
freeze. Bees tend to ignore
motionless objects. Then
look around for the reason
behind the attack. If you spot
their hive, slowly and gently
move away, putting a
building, bushes, or trees
between yourself and the
hive. Once bees no longer
feel threatened, they will
' cease their attack.