American Hee Journal 



be on the delinquent tax-list, but, on 

 the contrary, about all will be found to 

 be punctual in paying their full share in 

 support of every school and college of 

 the country, and are as much entitled 

 to a due scientific consideration as any 

 other legitimate pursuit engaged in by 

 our people. Yet it is neglected, to the 

 discredit of all who are in charge of 

 our educational institutions, as well as 

 the masses of our people. I hold that 

 it is the duty of every sane-minded per- 

 son to demand that all industries be 

 taught in our schools of whatsoever 

 kind, and that, too, without being called 

 " monkeying with bees " any more 

 than they call the dairy business mon- 

 keying with cows. 



In addition to this, all parents have 

 not only a just right to know what 

 their children are eating, but should 

 make it a point to know what their 

 children are using as food. As matters 

 now stand, they have no available 

 means of ascertaining the ingredients 

 of the candies on the market. 



In making the foregoing statements, 

 I know what I say to be true, as I have 

 repeatedly asked retail dealers in can- 

 dies to show me the formula after 

 which their candies are made, but not 

 one of them has been able to do so, for 

 the reason, they tell me, that it is not 

 given out by the wholesale dealers nor 

 by the manufacturers. These are not 

 withheld from public gaze except for 

 the purpose of keeping the people from 

 knowing what they are eating, as the 

 manufacturers know quite well that 

 their abominable compounds would not 

 sell as they now do. 



A short time before the National pure 

 food law went into effect, an unlimited 

 amount of glucose (corn syrup) was 

 doctored with a small quantity of 

 honey and labeled " Honey." This the 

 law prohibits, but these vendors were 

 left free to label such a compound a 

 "blend;" but this showed that the 

 package was not pure honey, and as a 

 result the public would not purchase it. 



Now to remedy this lamentable state 

 of affairs, let every honey-producer talk 

 to his member of Congress, as well as 

 every member of the legislature in each 

 State, and in time a remedy will be put 

 in force, and the product of the apiary 

 will take its stand side by side with the 

 products of every other legitimate in- 

 dustry, and honey will sell in much 

 larger quantities than heretofore. But 

 with the absence of information con- 

 cerning bee-keeping, now so prevalent, 

 it will continue to occupy the back- 

 ground as it does now. The lack of 

 general information concerning bees 

 and their care, as well as the worth of 

 honey, must remind one quite a bit of 

 that little girl's knowledge of physiol- 

 ogy, who, upon being requested by her 

 teacher to define digestion, answered 

 that "digestion begins with the teeth 

 and ends with the big and little testa- 

 ments." In a day or two her mother 

 sent her teacher a note instructing her 

 " not to teach Jane any more about her 

 insides," assigning as a reason that it 

 "made Jane too proud." 



The above illustration is a fair repre- 

 sentation of the real knowledge the 

 masses possess concerning the science 

 of apiculture, and the real worth of 

 honey as food or medicine. 

 Lyons, Kans. 



Convention ^ Proceedings 



Report of the Indiana Convention 



The Indiana State Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation met at Indianapolis, on Feb. 2, 

 1911. Three sessions were held — 

 morning, afternoon and evening — each 

 of which was well attended, and much 

 interest was manifested. 



Among the special features of the 

 program were the illustrated talks given 

 by E. R. Root, editor of Gleanings in 

 Bee Culture, and Benjamin W. Doug- 

 lass, State Entomologist of Indiana. 

 Mr. Douglass gave an illustrated talk 

 on the "Anatomy of the Honey-Bee," 

 in which he worked out briefly insect 

 anatomy in general, and then spoke of 

 the special modifications found in the 

 honey-bee, and the adaptation of these 

 modifications to bee-life. A set of re- 

 markably accurate lantern slides were 

 used, and the talk was entertaining and 

 instructive throughout. 



In Mr. Root's afternoon talk on the 

 " Present Status of American Apicul- 

 ture," he spoke of the magnitude and 

 importance of our industry. Some 

 figures were given relative to the enor- 

 mous annual output of honey in the 

 United States during the past. The 

 tendencies of the times were noted and 

 explained, and some prophecies were 

 made as to the future of bee-keeping. 

 Pictures were shown of apiaries located 

 in various parts of the world The for- 

 eign pictures were interesting in as 

 much as they illustrated the vast differ- 

 ence between American and European 

 practice. The one picture that rightly 

 remained upon the screen the greatest 

 length of time was one taken by Mr. 

 Root, of the late Rev. L. L. Langstroth. 

 While the picture was upon the screen 

 Mr. Root paid a tribute to the memory 

 of the Father of American Apiculture 

 that was most eloquent and fitting. 



In his evening talk Mr. Root pre- 

 sented in a most excellent manner the 

 "Relations of Bee-Keeping to Horticul- 

 ture." Many pictures were thrown upon 

 the screen, showing the various devices 

 of the flowers to prevent inbreeding, 

 and to insure cross-pollenation. A 

 brief history of the various charges 

 made against the honey-bee by the 

 fruit-growers was given, and the 

 speaker showed how the bees were vin- 

 dicated in every case, and how the 

 fruit-growers are slowly but surely rec- 

 ognizing the enormous importance of 

 the honey-bee as an agent of cross- 

 pollenation. 



George Demuth, in charge of apiary 

 inspection in Indiana, gave a brief out- 

 line of the work done by the depart- 

 ment of Entomology. By means of 

 maps he showed the distribution of the 

 brood-diseases in Indiana, and gave 

 some interesting data on the spread of 

 the different diseases. A summary of 

 the inspection work done during the 

 past 2 years shows that approximately 

 fiOOO colonies were examined during 

 each year. The percentage of colonies 

 that were examined that were diseased 

 was, in 1909, 23 7 10 percent, and in 



1910, 13 1-10 percent, showing the great 

 improvement as a result of one season% 

 work. 



The work of 1910 was largely an ex- 

 tension of that of the previous year, 

 and the territory it covered sometimes 

 reached the border of the infested 

 areas. It was estimated that in the 

 territory covered in 1909, and partially 

 re-inspected during 1910, the number 

 of diseased colonies had been reduced 

 to less than one-tenth the number 

 found the previous year. 



Dr. H. E. Barnard, State Food Com- 

 missioner, gave a talk on 



The Bee-Keeper and the Pure Food Law 



When I began pure food work lo years ago, 

 honey was one of the food products most 

 heavily adulterated. Indeed, in New Hamp- 

 shire at that time practically every extracted 

 honey was wholly or in part made from glu- 

 cose. Five years ago conditions were not 

 as bad in Indiana, yet the year before the 

 passage of the Pure Food Law. 6 out of the 

 19 samples of honey analyzed were adul- 

 terated. The Pure Food Law was passed in 

 igo5. and since that time, although we have 

 made a large number of analyses of honey, 

 we have never found a sample which con- 

 tained other sugars than those placed in the 

 comb by the bee. The adulteration of ex- 

 tracted honey, so far as the retail trade is 

 concerned, is practically a thing of the past. 

 There is some evidence that invert sugars 

 are being sold to concerns who manufacture 

 baker's goods, but the evidence upon this 

 point is not conclusive. 



The adulteration of beeswax, one of the 

 products of the bee-keeper which adds ma- 

 terially lo his profits, has been very great, 

 and to a certain extent still continues. Prac- 

 tically every sample of white wax examined 

 in the laboratories proved to be paraffine. 

 and 85 percent of the beeswax was the same 

 material. With beeswax selling at 40 cents 

 and paraffine at 10 cents, the cost to the con- 

 sumer, of this fraud, small as it is. has. in the 

 aggregate, been very great. But the damage 

 to the beekeeper has been far greater, for 

 it has deprived him of a profitable market, 

 and has discouraged him in his work. 



The question is constantly asked. Is honey 

 a better food than sugar ? Now honey is for 

 the most part a product of sugar— of differ- 

 ent kinds of sugars; the chief ingredient 

 however, is invert sugar. Cane sugar, or 

 sucrose, is necessarily inverted in the pro- 

 cesses of indigestion. The feeding, then, of 

 the sugar as already inverted relieves the 

 body of that much work, and is. to that ex- 

 tent, a saving upon the demands of the 

 glands which supply the enzymes to do the 

 inversion. To this extent there is no ques- 

 tion but that honey is a more desirable food 

 than sugar. The fact that it contains small 

 amounts of acids, and that it possesses a 

 fragrance met with in no other substance, 

 gives it additional value as a food, for it has 

 been established that if the things we eat as 

 food are appetizing and palatable, they are 

 more readily and fully assimilated than 

 foods of the same composition which lack 

 these essentials. H. E. Barnard. 



Mr. Mason Niblack, of Vincennes, 

 who as a member of the Legislative 

 Committee was largely responsible for 

 the passage of Indiana's present foul 

 brood law, gave a report of the work 

 of his committee, and made many good 

 suggestions as to the future policy of 

 the Association. Mr. Niblack is a power 

 among the law-makers, and the Asso- 

 ciation is certainly fortunate in having 

 such a man within its ranks. 



Lively discussions were brought out 

 by each of the topics on the program, 

 and were led by such men as F. B. 



