February, 1916. 



American ^ee Journal 



cross-fertilization gives better results 

 than self-fertilization even with perfect 

 varieties. For this reason it would 

 seem wise even when planting a per- 

 fect strawberry to use more than one 

 variety. 



" What proportion of the pollenizing 

 variety should be used? Opinions dif- 

 fer as to the propei answer to this 

 question. Doubtless much depends 

 upon conditions. Jf the season is 

 favorable for pollination, or if bees are 

 kept in the immediate vicinity, a smaller 

 proportion of the pollenizer would be 

 necessary than if climatic conditions 

 at flowering time were unfavorable or 

 pollen carriers scarce." 



Quebec Beekeepers The Beekeep- 

 ers' Association of the Province of 

 Quebec met Nov. 11-13, 1915, in Mon- 

 treal. About 150 members were pres- 

 ent as well as a number of ladies and 

 Sisters of Charity. The meeting was 

 presided by Hon. Dr. Lalonde. 



Addresses were made by Dr. Pilon, a 

 Provincial delegate; Hon. J. E Caron, 

 Minister of Agriculture of the Province ; 

 J. C. Magnan, official agronomist of the 

 Province; J. E. Prud'homme; Dr. O. 

 A. Comire, former secretary; Jacques 

 Verret, president of the local Quebec 

 Beekeepers' Association; J. I. Beau- 

 lieu, Entomologist at the Experiment 

 Farm of Ottawa, and A. E. Barbeau, of 

 Montreal. 



The Minister of Agriculture an- 

 nounced an increase of $100, in the al- 

 lowance given by the Provincial Gov- 

 ernment to the association, and prom- 

 ised to authorize the giving of lectures 

 by the several bee inspectors of the 

 Province during the winter. 



The President of the Bank of Hoch- 

 elaga, E. A. Vaillancourt, offered a 

 prize of $10, to the association. 



A large exhibit was made and 25 

 premiums amounting to $49.50 were 

 distributed to the exhibitors. 



The officers of the previous year 

 were reelected as follows: Emory 

 Lalonde, President; A. L. Beaudin, 

 vice-president; Oscar Comire, secre- 

 tary-treasurer. 



The lectures and addresses read at 

 the meeting will be published in pamph- 

 let form, in the French language, and 

 may be secured by addressing the sec- 

 retary, Oscar Coraire,Abenakis Springs, 

 Quebec. 



The Noise of Bells.— In the Bohe- 

 mian Bee Journal we find very inter- 

 esting observations, to help the oft dis- 

 cussed question of the effect of noise 

 upon bees. Jung-Klaus owns an api- 

 ary near a cemetery and a church. If 

 about noon there is a flight of young 

 bees, the noonday ringing of the 

 church bell diminishes or completely 

 stops this joyful manifestation. If a 

 swarm is beginning to rush out, the 

 effect is the same, the bees return and 



remain until the next day. The first 

 flight, in early spring, is subject to the 

 same result, when the bell tolls for a 

 funeral or rings for noon. In another 

 magazine, the same notice was given 

 of the effect of bell ringing; when a 

 comb of bees is examined they sud- 

 denly become still as if an electric 

 current had struck them. 



These observations explain in a cer- 

 tain measure the custom followed, in 

 the days of yore, to make noises when 

 a swarm issued. They also say that it 

 was to announce the fact to the neigh- 

 borhood to prevent any one from at- 

 tempting to take possession or claim 

 the swarm, but the latter explanation 

 seems less plausible than the former, 

 which is based upon the effect pro- 

 duced upon the bees by the sonorous 

 vibrations which shake the air. 



We wonder whether any remarks 

 have been made, on our frontiers, upon 

 the efl'ect produced by the explosions 

 of artillery? — Schumacher in the Bul- 

 letin D'Apiculture. 



Stings Curing Inebriety (?) — It has 



long been known that bee-stings are of 

 great value in the treatment of rheu- 

 matism. The poison which a bee in- 

 jects into your body when it stings 

 you not only relieves the rheumatic 

 pains and swellings, but makes a per- 

 son more or less immune to further 

 trouble from the disease. 



This result is due, it is believed, to 

 the formic acid which is found in large 

 quantities in the bee's venom. Formic 

 acid, as has been shown by experiments 

 with hundreds of cases, is the best of 



antidotes for the poisons in the system 

 which stiffen the joints and muscles 

 with rheumatism. 



Now it has been discovered that bee- 

 stings are as effective a cure for in- 

 ebriety as for rheumatism. This impor- 

 tant discovery was made quite by acci- 

 dent in a London hospital. 



Five men were being treated for 

 chronic rheumatism. Four of them 

 had been hard drinkers for years, and 

 one of them was a confirmed drunkard. 



Bee-stings were applied to them, and 

 the rheumatic condition promptly sub- 

 sided. When they were finally dis- 

 charged they found that the treatment 

 had done more than cure rheumatism — 

 it had destroyed their taste for alcohol. 

 Even the sight of a drink nauseated 

 them, and since leaving the hospital 

 several months ago, not one has 

 touched liquor. 



The hospital physicians, who were as 

 greatly astonished at this unexpected 

 result as their patients, have set on 

 foot a widespread investigation into the 

 effects of bee-stings on drunkards, to 

 see whether they are an infallible cure 

 for inebriety. 



Facts already brought to light show 

 that an intoxicated person is quickly 

 sobered by a bee's sting, and that 

 drinking men who take up work among 

 bees, where they are frequently stung, 

 soon lose their old craving for alcohol. 

 — " Freeman's Journal." 



— Australasian Beekeeper. 



How does the bee dispose of her 

 honey ? She cells it. — British Bee Jour- 

 nal. 



Bee-Keeping <^ For Women 



Conducted by Miss Emma M. Wilson, Marengo. III. 



Honey as Food 



A good deal has been said and writ- 

 ten about the value of honey as food, 

 but the probability is that very few rate 

 it at its true value either among bee- 

 keepers or physicians. Dr. Ehrhardt, 

 a physician in Germany, has written a 

 pamphlet on the subject, from which 

 quotations are given in the German 

 bee journal, "Die Bienenpflege." Al- 

 though nothing original may be given, 

 the importance of the subject warrants 

 an extract here. 



Dr. Ehrhardt says: "Honey, as is 

 well known, contains 79 percent of su- 

 gar, 42 percent being grape sugar, 35 

 percent fruit sugar, and only 2 percent 

 cane suaar. That is very little cane 

 sugar. For it is only the grape and 

 fruit sugar that, without any change, 

 can be received directly into the blood 

 from the stomach and intestines. So 

 they spare to our bodies the work, while 

 cane sugar, the kind of sugar in com- 

 mon use, before it can be taken into 

 the blood, must first be inverted, 

 changed. All our food-stuffs must un- 

 dergo various and numerous chemical 

 changes in the digestive organs ; grape 



and fruit sugar alone undergo no such 

 changes. 



"When this sugar is taken into the 

 blood, it either goes into immediate 

 use or it is laid up for future use, as 

 glycogen, in the muscles and liver. 

 Glycogen is in reality sugar, from 

 which the water has been separated. 

 The sugar now serves in our bodies as 

 the source of power; the muscles are 

 fed upon it; they consume it when 

 they perform labor. So we work in 

 reality with sugar. If we become tired, 

 sugar immediately gives us fresh 

 strength. This has been proven hun- 

 dreds of times through trials with 

 soldiers and sportsmen. Soldiers again 

 became immediately fit for service or 

 thejmarch after partaking of sugar. 



"If honey deserves the preference 

 over ordinary sugar on account of its 

 high content of grape and fruit sugar, 

 still more does it deserve the prefer- 

 ence on another account. Honey con- 

 tains not only sugar, but in addition 

 important salts of lime, compounds of 

 iron, various other ash constituents, 

 and formic acid. Precisely for the 

 growing organism, for the child, are 

 the salts of lime and the compounds of 



