Hello All,

A cross-post from the Historical Honeybee Articles Archives list: 
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/HistoricalHoneybeeArticles/

I ran across an old obscure article published in the New York Times during 
the 19th century, while researching an 19c entomologists description of 
bee behavior, he described as 'bees crying'.  Now, I’m not attempting to 
get involved in another small cell / large cell dispute, BUT the article 
does show there were concerns about the dangers of enlarging our bees as 
early as 1885.  I can send the PDF of the original copy upon email 
request.  Enjoy! 

The New York Times
Monday, April 07, 1884 New York, New York

=====Article Start=====

Bees.

It appears that some ingenious person
has invented a method of producing bees
of almost any desired size. If two cells,
each one of which contains an embryo
bee, are knocked into one, the two bees
are consolidated, and the result is a now
bee double the usual size. Of course, if
this can be done there is practically no
limit to the size of possible bees. By
knocking four cells into one a bee four
times the usual size can be made, and if
an entire hive of embryo bees is subjected
to this consolidating process we should
have a bee about the size of a turkey—a
size hitherto attained only by one species
of bee, known as the Presidential bee, an
insect inhabiting the bonnets of eminent
statesmen, and never by any chance producing
honey.

Before recklessly undertaking to enlarge
our bees we ought to ascertain what
effect their increase of size will have upon
their power and disposition to make
honey. The bumble-bee is much larger
than the honey-bee, but he is certainly not
a success. An insect so dull that he
fancies that " bumble" is spelled with an
"h," and so lazy that he makes less
honey in a whole season than a honey-bee
makes before breakfast on a Spring
morning, is by no means a model.
It may be suggested that the bumblebee's
lack of success in manufacturing
honey is due not to laziness, but to the
inability of his wings to carry with case
the weight of his body; but no one who
has been chased by an angry bumblebee
will entertain this suggestion. It may
also be suggested that the trousers pockets
of the bumble-bee are so small that he can.
carry very little honey in them; but there
is no evidence that this is the case. We
simply know that the bumble-bee is bigger
than the honey-bee, and makes less honey.
So, too, the wasp and the hornet are
bigger than the honey-bee, and they make
only enough honey for their bare necessities.
Evidently the rule of nature has
hitherto been that the larger the insect
the less honey it makes.

Now, if the honey-bee, after being developed
into a two a two or three pound insect,
is going to imitate the laziness of the
bumble-bee, what shall we have gained?
No one will care to have a score of big,
lazy bees dawdling about his premises, upsetting
furniture and children by flying
against them and tripping people up by
concealing themselves in the grass. We
shall have to go armed with big clubs to
keep off the bees, and though some sport
may be obtained, by shooting bees on the
wing, there would be no sport whatever
should the bees undertake to hunt the
sportsman with stings capable of penetrating
anything less than an inch of
chilled steel armor.

Even if the mammoth bees should make
honey in quantities proportioned to their
size, we should have no use for such a vast
amount of honey. It is true that honey
is used to a small extent in the arts, and
that when one has a personal enemy addicted
to buckwheat cakes a horrible revenge 
can be obtained by sending him a bottle
of pure Berkshire County honey to eat
with them. Still, there is no such demand
for honey as would justify an effort to
largely increase its production.

Our bees are very well as they are. If
a hive is kept on a shelf over the front
door, and upset on a book agent, the bees
will perform as much work as is necessary.
To upset a hive of four-pound bees, in like
circumstances, would be simply murder,
and would in many cases involve the
trouble of a trial and acquittal in a court
of law. It might be well to keep large
bees in Cincinnati for the encouragement
of jurors, and of respectable citizens who
call meetings at which people are incited
to rioting; but in this region we are satisfied
with our local, bees, and will decline
to have them enlarged.

=====Article End=====  ;)

Best Wishes,
Joe

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