Aug. 25, 1904. 



TH£ AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



581 



( 



Contributed Articles 





Snow-white Comb Honey— Bait-Sections.Etc. 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



IT is a pleasure to meet so kindly a foe as Mr. S. T. Pettit, 

 so I have read with no little interest his article on page 

 518. I am there charged with " making a fad of snowy 

 whiteness," and helping to create a demand for it. 



Bless your heart, Mr. Pettit, I did not create the demand 

 — the demand was already there, and all I have done has 

 been to supply it and take my pay for that supply. You 

 think I ought to educate the public that an article of well- 

 ripened comb honey, even if darkened a little, is worth more 

 than the same honey just as it is first sealed. I've done 

 that ; I've said it in print, and I've said it a good deal 

 oftener verbally. But after I've said all I can on the sub- 

 ject, the public replies to me, " All you say may be very 

 true ; but we buy honey partly for looks ; a snow-white sec- 

 tion looks the best on the table, and we're willing to pay 

 two cents a pound for the looks ; if you don't care to sell us 

 what we want, you're not obliged to." 



For after all you have said, the fact remains, as I said 

 on page 439, " To get the top of the market, sections must 

 be snow-white." Now, if people want to buy looks, I don't 

 see anything immoral in selling looks, do you ? Isn't the 

 whole comb-honey business largely a matter of looks? 

 Don't you believe that extracted honey can be produced 

 that will be just as good as the comb honey you and I are 

 producing, and that such extracted honey can be sold for 

 two cents a pound less than the comb ? Shall you and I 

 say, " Dear public, you must learn what is for your own 

 good ; extracted honey properly produced is just as good 

 for you, and you must buy it ; we will not be any longer a 

 party to your extravagance, and we'll no longer furnish 

 comb honey." I confess I don't feel any special call to say 

 just that ; do you ? 



POSITION OF BAIT-SECTIONS IN THE SUPER. 



Instead of putting bait-sections in the center, you put 

 them " next the super walls." So should I if I had enough 

 of them. But I have only a limited number, and one bait 

 in the center, I feel confident, will do more to start work in 

 the super than eight next the super walls. If no bait is in 

 the super the bees will begin work first in the center, and a 

 center bait will be occupied sooner than a bait elsewhere. 



I've r)0 quarrel with you about your arrangement to 

 give room at sides of supers ; if mine were so arranged 

 I wouldn't be at special pains to change ; but I don't think 

 I estimate as much congestion in my supers as you do. If 

 a bee from the fields should go straight to the uppermost 

 super to unload, the case would be difi'erent. 



You speak of my practice of " putting new sections on 

 top of sections instead of under them." Pardon me ; that's 

 not my practice ; it's Hershiser's. He says add always on 

 top ; you say always under. I say always under ; only when 

 I don't know whether another is needed, but think it possi- 

 bly may be, then I put an empty super on top as a sort of 

 safety-valve — oftentimes a pretty good plan toward the 

 close of the season, when one doesn't know what day the 

 flow will cease. Such a super will not be touched by 

 the bees unless they are actually 'crowded into it, and it can 

 then be moved down to the lowest place. The little dark- 

 ening done to the lower sections by the bees going ,up 

 through will on the whole do less harm than the gluing and 



soiling of sections put below when such sections are not 

 needed. 



I wonder if decreasing the room in the hive during the 

 honey-flow by removing sections does increase tendency to 

 swarm. I suppose it must ; but I'm after that extra 2 cents 

 a pound, and will have to stand the extra tendency to swarm. 



I just wish I could have a chance to fight a whole day 

 with you in person— yes, and you might have that son of 

 yours to help you — I met him in Chicago and rather fell in 

 love with him.' I think we'd find that after all we should 

 agree on a good many things. McHenry Co., 111. 



Some Facts About Honey and Bees. 



BY J. E. JOHNSON. 



DID you ever give much thought to the subject of why 

 the people of to-day are neither as strong nor as 



healthy as they were in former times ? also why so 

 many of the wealthiest men and women are invalids ? and 

 why our hospitals and sanitariums are forever crowded with 

 patients, many of whom must undergo dangerous and pain- 

 ful operations, being brought under the influence of power- 

 ful anesthetics, such as chloroform, ether, etc., and are 

 too frail to withstand the shock, and die ? 



It has been said that the world is growing weaker and 

 wiser, but such should not be the case. If we grow wiser 

 we should use our wisdom to retain health, as that is next 

 in value to the salvation of our immortal soul. 



There may be many causes for ill-health. Rich food, 

 and the excessive use of sugar, candy, etc., are the princi- 

 pal agents that undermine our health. When papa goes to 

 town he is reminded by the children not to forget to buy 

 some candy ; while at home they think there is nothing so 

 good as cookies, cake, pie, and other nicknacks. And soon 

 they become candidates for the doctor's attention. 



A certain amount of sweet is necessary to promote 

 health, but the excessive use of sugar is very injurious, 

 especially to children, because it overtaxes their delicate 

 digestive organs. 



The best form of sweet for either old or young is honey, 

 because honey is practically predigested, and is restful to 

 the digestive organs. God created bees to store honey, and for 

 several thousand years honey was the principal diet in the 

 line of sweets, long before a sugar refinery was even thought 

 of. Let us look into the history of honey. 



In Genesis, 43d chapter, we find that the sons of Israel 

 took honey with them when they went down into Egypt for 



corn. 



In the 16th chapter of Exodus we find that the manna 

 sent from Heaven to the children of Israel tasted like 

 wafers made with honey. A food prepared by an All-wise 

 Creator for his beloved children was certainly of the very 

 best, and most wholesome. 



In olden times bees lived largely in cliffs. Moses sang 

 of honey ; see Deuteronomy, 32d chapter, 13th verse. 



Honey is also mentioned in the Psalms of David ; see 

 the 81st Psalm, 16th verse. 



In the 13th verse of the 24th chapter of Proverbs we 

 find these words from Solomon ; " My son, eat thou honey 

 because it is good." 



In Isaiah, 7th chapter, 15th verse, we find these words : 

 " Butter and honey shall he eat that he may know to refuse 

 the evil and choose the good." In the 29th verse of the 

 14th chapter of I. Samuel we find that when Jonathan tasted 

 of honey his eyes were enlightened so that Saul and his 

 army were able to overcome the Philistines. And in many 

 other places in the Bible is honey mentioned with favor, 

 and as an emblem of purity and sweetness. In the last 



