622 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



the poisons affliutcd, as all honey seems to be poi- 

 son to some people. " What is one person's meat is 

 another person's poison." 



Onlj'afew years asro I rcceiveil honey from New- 

 York State whieh poisoned several persons, yet we 

 have not heard of any similar poisoning- since. It 

 is more than likely that what was true in one case 

 was also true in the other. 



To answer the (piestion as to wa.v. Bees take 

 honey as food. This is dig-ested and absorbed, when 

 it becomes blood, which is the nutritive fluid of the 

 bee, but is not honey, and quite likely contains no 

 honey for the most if not all the time. From this 

 blootl the wa.x -glands secvete the wa.\ scales. Thus 

 the wa.v of the bee has the same relation to the 

 honey eaten by the bee, that the cow's milk has to 

 the hay which she eats. As stated in all the last 

 editions of luy " nee-Kccpcr's Guide," from the 

 eighth thousand to the tbirteenth thousand inclu- 

 sive, nect?.r and honey are not the same. We feed 

 cane sugar to bees, and we get honey sugar, which 

 is quite different in the comb-cells. So nectar is 

 largely cane sugar, and is neutral, while the honey 

 is a diffei-ent sugar, and is acid. Thus wo maj' say 

 that honey is digested nectar, which is fitted in 

 such digestion to be absorbed and assimilated. Ke- 

 cent experiments have shown that, when we eat 

 cane sugar, it is digested in our stomachs, and in 

 this act converted into a sugar like, if not identical, 

 with honey sugar, whereby it is litted for absorb- 

 tion and assimilation. Thus wo have reason to be- 

 lieve that honey is the best form of sugar, as here 

 the bees have done what otherwise our own digest- 

 ive energies must have performed. 



it is quite likely that honey sugar is most like 

 liver sugar, and that both are widely remo\ed from 

 corn glucose, though all give the same chemical re- 

 action with the copper salts. This view of the su- 

 perior excellence of honey as a food, gives new 

 force to the commendation, "A land flowing with 

 milk and honey." 



Again, bees feed a creamy substance to the larval 

 bees. This substance contains not only oxygen, 

 carbon, and hydrogen, the only elements of pure 

 honey or sugar, but also nitrogen. This last the 

 bees get from the pollen, which must surely be 

 present to rear brood. True honey may contain a 

 little pollen: but to lear any considerable amount 

 of brood, pollen must be present in greater quanti- 

 ties—Stored in the cells. This honey and pollen is 

 very perfectly digested by the bees, and so is fitted 

 for absorption, else it would be useless, as the larval 

 bee is not fitted to digest. It is not known whether 

 the digestive juices that produce this change are all 

 formed in the stomach or not. Quite likely the 

 large glands in the head and thorax may aid. This 

 is a question difficult of solution, but will doubtless 

 one day be solved. A.J. Cdoic. 



Agricultural College, Lansing, Mich. 



I have .always supposed that the wax se- 

 ci-etion in the body of the bee was formed 

 ill a simihu' way to the formation of tallow 

 and lard and fatty matter, in the bodies of 

 our domestic animals. They eat grass, hay. 

 and grain. The nutritive proi)erties of these 

 different kinds of food go into the blood. 

 When all the different functions of the ani- 

 mal are prop(M-ly performed, there is a resi- 

 due of averyricli conceiitrated sul)stance. 

 This substance accumulates as fat. In the 

 body of the bee the process is the same, only 



that these flakes exude so as to come out be- 

 tween the scales composing the bee's body. 

 They are not identical in composition with 

 lard and tallow, but they are in many res- 

 . peets similar. With the bee it seems to be a 

 provision of luiture — a substance just ex- 

 I actly right to build the cells of the honey- 

 ' comb. Sometimes these wax scales stick 

 ' out in such protuberances that they curl up. 

 A few days ago a friend sent us a bee by 

 niMil, asking what sort of a fungoid growtii 

 it was that was sticking out of and adhering 

 to the bodies of many of his bees. There 

 ! was no trouble at all, of coinse. Ilis bees 

 were simply secreting unusual quantities of 

 wax. When we feed sugar heavily in the 

 fall, to get the bees ready for wintering, they 

 often secrete such qumtities of pearly-white 

 wax scales that tliey fall to the bottom of 

 tlie liive in the form ()f a dust, and under the 

 microscope they look much like tish-scalcs. 

 Of course, there must be a waste when this 

 happens; for it doubtless retpiires a good 

 many pounds of sugar to make one pound of 

 this white wax, just as it retpiires a g<iod 

 many pounds of corn to make one pound of 

 beautiful white leaves of lard in the body of 

 a hog. 



.. l a^M^^^B— 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE OHIO STATE 

 BEE KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 



liEroKTEl) UV C. F. WILLIAMS. 



1'N giving this report it may be well to an- 

 r nounce that, as the regular secretary did 

 I not make his appearance nor send any 

 ■ of the papers from the last meeting, we 

 I were unable 4o produce any minutes of 

 said meeting, or even get a copy of the con- 

 stitution and by - laws, friend Williams 

 was requested to act as secretary until the 

 regular secretary should appear :" but as said 

 otticer did not appear at all. the following 

 I report is entirely from Mr. Williams: 



The bee-keepers of Ohio met, as previously an- 

 nounced, at the State Fair-grounds, and assembled 

 at '.1::jO TliursduN' morning, in room oxer Aoiariaii 



; Hall. A. 1. Root. Pres., called the meeting to order. 



1 Dr. Bcsse introduced the subject of 



BEES TUESPASSING, 



and cited the case of a Wisconsin fai-nier who had 

 brought suit against a bee keeper whose bees, he 

 claimed, trespassed on his clover fields. The doc- 

 tor said, " 1 don't thinte bees ever trespass. I think 

 it preposterous for a man to sue for bees trespass- 

 1 ing. Bees are an advantage to all farmers, by assist- 

 ' ing natuic in the fertilization of flowers." 

 ; ('. l'^. Junes.— 1 never had any complaint, and think 

 : them a tilessing. 



A. I. Rui)t.—ln my opinion, nothing can l)e made 

 out of the case. 



Secretnri/.— ln our town a neighbor complains 

 of bees trespassing in the kitchens, and of eating 

 their grapes. 



A. He nedict. ~Fcop\c thin\i bees puncture grapes; 

 but this is a mistake. They work on grapes after 

 wasps, and other insects having strong mandibles, 

 puncture theuL Tliey never injure sound fruit. 



Pirsiilciit.—We have several hundred grajjcvincs 

 right over our liives, and our grapes are never in- 

 jured \>y tlie bees. 

 ! ]h: /Jr.ssf .— Mees will never injure the tender Del- 

 i aware j'raiic, unless the skin is first ruptured. Bees 

 j ai-e a benelil to corn-growers. 



! A. Bcufiii'l. -After grapes are burstod they soon 



rot any way, and might the bees not as well get the 



sweet from it as to let it waste? Bees are a benefit 



to all frnit-grov.ers. 



/>r. /J.s,«p,— Fruit growers ought to be thankful 



