September, 1913 



American Hee Jonrnal 



it on the old stand with the mother 

 close beside it. Then a week or so 

 later move the mother to a new stand." 



TH.\T INDIGESTIBLE BEESWA.X. 



In the interesting article by C. P. 

 Greening, page 274, the second para- 

 graph is liliely to excite unusual at- 

 tention. He gives three points in his 

 method. One is a bit puzzled to un- 

 derstand just what is meant in his 

 first point, where he says: "First, 

 teach your customers that they are 

 getting more sweet by eating extract- 

 ed." If it were not for his third point, 

 one would understand that to mean 

 that one gets more honey for one's 

 money when buying extracted honey 

 than when buying comb. But that 

 can hardly be the meaning, for that's 

 his third point, where he says, "Again, 

 the customer gets 2.5 per cent more 

 weight of clear honey for a dollar 

 than he would comb." His first and 

 third points would hardly be identical, 

 so the first must mean something 

 else. Does it mean that extracted 

 honey is sweeter than comb honey? 

 that he can eat more extracted honey 

 than comb? or what does it mean? 



The claim that more honey can be 

 had for the money by buying it in the 

 extracted form is a legitimate one, 

 and worth pushing, and it seems Mr. 

 Greening might make the claim a lit- 

 tle stronger than he does. It is true 

 that there are some who sell extract- 

 ed honey at the same price as comb, 

 but they are few. Much mors com- 

 monly it is the case that where a cus- 

 tomer pays 25 cents for a section of 

 honey he can buy a 5 pound can of 

 honey at 15 cents a pound. If the net 

 weight of the honey in the can is 5 

 pounds, then he buys at the rate of 

 6 2-3 pounds of honey for a dollar. 

 That section for which 25 cents was 

 paid does not weigh as much as a 

 pound — perhaps 14% ounces — and 

 when the weight of the wood and wax 

 is deducted the clear honey may weigh 

 13 ounces. So the 4 sections he gets 

 for a dollar net him 52 ounces of 

 honey, or 314 pounds. Comparing that 

 with the 6 2-3 pounds he gets in the 

 extracted form, it will he seen that 

 instead of getting 25 per cent more, as 

 claimed, he gets a trifle more than 

 100 per cent more. You can change 

 these figures to suit local conditions. 

 friend Greening, but please don't be 

 so modest as to claim only 25 per cent 

 more clear honey for a dollar. 



But the second point is the one 

 that is most striking. "Second, who 

 would ask his stomach to digest that 



The Birthplace of Charles Dadant. Mooernized. He Was Born May 22. 1817. 



which raw muriatic acid won't affect? 

 No wonder we are troubled with stom- 

 ach disorders when we demand it to 

 digest beeswax." One can imagine a 

 customer to whom that is said reply- 

 ing, "Is that so? I've always liked 

 comb honey best; but if the wax in 

 it is so utterly indigestible I'll never 

 eat any more comb honey." The fact 

 is that most people are very ignorant 

 about what goes on in the digestive 

 tract, and do not know as much about 

 the matter as the farmer does about 

 what his cattle need. He knows that 

 he must furnish his cattle a consider- 

 able amount of coarse feed containing 

 indigestible materials for the sake of 

 the bulk and to aid the peristaltic mo- 

 tion of the bowels. 



If friend Greening allows to enter 

 his stomach only that which can be 

 thoroughly digested and assimilated, 

 he is not very long for this world. 

 Many are beginning to learn that to be 

 healed of constipation, with all the ills 

 that follow in its train, they must 

 give up eating bread made of the finer 

 parts of the wheat, and go back to the 

 whole-wheat flour or bran bread con- 

 taining the indigestible parts of the 

 grain. Some think that the wax in 

 comb honey has a beneficent effect, 

 but this is perhaps the first time it 

 was ever claimed that we are troubled 

 with stomach disorders because of the 

 indigestibility of beeswax. The proba- 

 bility is that the wax does not have 

 any great effect on the stomach or 

 bowels. As it is not affected by the 

 acids of the stomach, whatever effect 

 it does have must be mechanical, and 

 so beneficial. 



Harp all you like upon the (Cheap- 

 ness of extracted honey as compared 



with comb, but please don't try to sell 

 extracted by preaching that comb 

 honey is unwholesome. 



The Editor Abroad 



During our few days of stay in Paris, 

 I visited the office of L'Apiculture, and 

 was very courteously welcomed by the 

 manager, Mr. D'Autemarche. The July 

 number of the above named magazine 

 contained another excellent commen- 

 dation of the sling- cure for rheuma- 

 tism. A Mr. Lefevre, age 32, who was 

 suffering of acute rheumatism, with 

 swelling of the joints of the arms, was 

 entirely cured after five days' treat- 

 ment. 



I have also met Mr. Alin Caillas, the 

 honey analyst, a graduate of the Na- 

 tional School of Agriculture of Grig- 

 nan, who is the author of a number of 

 articles on honey, and of a little publi- 

 cation entitled. " Les tresors d'une 

 goutte de miel " (The Treasures in a 

 Drop of Honey). He and his father, 

 who was Secretary of the International 

 Congress in lOOO, are located near the 

 Bois de Boulogne, in a delightful spot, 

 We were received in the laboratory. 



Mr. Caillas believes that the May dis- 

 ease is nothing but constipation, which 

 has become a contagion. Two of his 

 friends have had it among their bees, 

 and he promised to request them to 

 send samples, at the first opportunity, ■ 

 to Dr. White, of Washington, for ex- f 

 amination. A united effort, on both 

 sides of the ocean, ought to result 

 finally in a diagnosis, which will lead 

 to methods of prevention and cure. 

 Dr. White did not nnd the nosema 

 apis in the samples we sent him the 

 past spring, and we are inclined to be- 

 lieve that this parasite is a result, and 

 not a cause, of the May disease. 



In some of the avenues of Paris, I 

 saw the " tilleul argente," silver-leaf 

 linden, in full bloom. This, I am told, 

 yields a green-colored honey, which 

 must be somewhat similar in shade to 

 our sweet-clover honey. 



A VISIT to GRAXDPRE. 



Grandpre, the birthplace of my wife's 

 mother, is a splendid spot for bee-cul- 



