'^^misny. 



'0S.'B'RIQ£^ 



43d Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL,, OCT. 1, 1903, 



No. 40. 





Editorial Comments 





Too Abundant Rains is the cry of the agricultural papers in 

 some parts. The bee-keeper, aloug with the farmer, will suffer from 

 this, and producers of comb honey in one way that novices may not 

 suspect. With continuous rains the atmosphere becomes saturated 

 with moisture, and honey, having a strong affinity for moisture, be- 

 haves in this moisture-laden air much as it would in a damp cellar. 

 The honey becomes thin in the cell, and increases so much in bulK 

 that the air-space ne.'ct the capping is filled with the liquid, giving the 

 comb a water-soaUed appearance. While nothing may be done to 

 effect a cure, something maybe done in the way of prevention, and 

 even in warm weather it may pay to use fire to heat up the honey- 

 room to the drying point., 



Standard "Weight of E.vtracted Honey. — At present there 

 is no such standard. Is it desirable j Is it feasible? Goodhoneycon 

 lains somewhere in the neighborhood of one-sixth of its weight of 

 water; io a moisture-laden atmosphere it may attract to itself so much 

 moisture as to be nearly half water. Taking these two extremes, 

 there ought to be a material dilTerence in price; is there? A grocer 

 who has bought some of the thin honey at a certain price, when 

 approached by one who has a fine article of extracted honey, will, in 

 many cases, expect to buy it at the same price. In too many cases 

 honey is honey, without regard to color, flavor, or body. 



Suppose we take a case not extreme: A grocer buys honey that 

 is a third water at 8 cents a pound, and afterwards buys some only a 

 sixth water; if S cents is a fair price for the former, what is an equit- 

 able price for the latter; If we throw out the water asof no value, 

 the 8 cents was paid for two-thirds of a pound of solid honey, if we 

 may use that expression. That would make a pound of solid honey 

 worth 12 cents. In the honey with one-sixth water there is five-sixths 

 of a pound of solid honey; at VZ cents a pound it is worth 10 cents. 

 So, "if the one huney is worth 8 cents a pound, the other is worth 10 

 cents. .That is on the supposition that one honey is just as good as 

 the other except as to the matter of density. As a matter of tact it is 

 not. 



It is very clear that there is no fairness in having these two 

 honeys sell at the same price; so it would seem desirable that there 

 should be some standard by which the price could be established. Is 

 it feasible to adopt and to use such a standard? That is another 

 question. 



As to the Queen and Her Treatment.— On page 532, 

 some questions were asked of Arthur C. Miller with regard to some of 

 the relations of queen and workers. Answers were promptly received, 

 and, with apologies to Mr. Miller fur delay, they are here given : 



1. Caressing. — I interpret It as curiosity, and searching for food. 

 I also surmise the odor of a pregnant female, or, in the case of a 

 queen-bee, whose structure is peculiar, we may have an odor compar- 

 able to that of animals " in heat.'' may be accountable for some of the 

 attention the queen receives. Certainly, virgin queens, " exhausted " 

 queens, and r;ueens not laying, attract far less attention than does a 

 queen in the full tide of laying. 



"Grooming "is the only thing approaching "respect," and I 

 should be pleased for an explanation of its purpose. 



2. Tongue Poked from Cells.— I don't know what for. It may 

 be for food, but I've never seen a queen get any then. And — 



3. How Does a. Qieen Ask for Food;— With her antenn:?. 

 That is to say. they are always active when she is seeking food, and 

 often a deal of " talk " takes place between the queen aud the bee 

 from which she is soon to obtain food. 



If you will watch a queen-cell you will seldom see che antenn;B 

 put through the cut except for an instant now and then. Cut them 

 from a bee of any kind aud note the result. Immediately the poor 

 creature seems to become deaf, dumb and blind. Lubbock made ex- 

 tensive experiments in that line. 



- The management of queens in nurseries, in introducing, theories 

 of stimulating, etc., are all based on the assumption that bees offer 

 ood, " holdingout their tongues to the (jueen, offering her food." I 

 believe the individual bees to be utterly selfish. 1 think we must (for 

 many purposes) regard the colony merely as an aggregation of indi- 

 viduals, each possessing many of the characteristics of "solitary'' 

 bees, which, I believe, is considered the original type from which the 

 honey-bee sprung. ARTHtJR C. Miller. 



If observation shows that bees never offer food with the tongue, 

 and that food is never thus given, the food being given by the mouth 

 and received by the tongue, it is well to be exact in our knowledge on 

 that point, even at the expense of giving up cherished traditions. 

 Whether all will be ready to accept the view that workers are without 

 special affection for their reigning sovereign — the term "reigning 

 sovereign " being used in a highly figurative sense as a sort of tradi- 

 tional habit— remains to be seen. So long as Mr. Miller is himself un- 

 certain as to the purpose of " grooming," while admitting its approach 

 to " respect,'' he may expect that some will believe it is respect; and 

 the " admiring circle" so frequently seen formed about a queen, and 

 the wail of the bees at her loss, will be offered as proofs not only of 

 respect but affection. 



In pulling up weeds in a flower-bed one is in danger of pulling up 

 flowers at the same time. If, while the weeds are being pulled up, we 

 find the roots of some of our flowers disttirbed, let us thank the 

 weeder for pulling up the weeds. 



ftlay Supplant Sugar-Beet.— Under this heading appears the 

 following dispatch from Washington to the Chicago Daily News: 



The Agricultural Department is ini|uiring into the statement of 

 Consul General R'lchard Guenther, that a new plant has been discov- 

 ered in South America, which promises to supplant the sugar-cane and 

 the sugar-beet. Scientifically the plant is known as the Enpalorlnm 

 rebamlium, and it contains a large amount of saccharine matter prop- 

 erties, which are easy to extract. 



According to Mr. Guenther, a lump the size of a liver-pill will do 

 the business in a cup of coffee, as the product made from the plant is 

 fronp 20 to 30 times sweeter than cane or beet sugar. It is said to be 

 easily cultivated in countries having climatic conditions similar to 

 those of the southern portion ot the United States. 



Bee-keepers are not specially anxious as to how sugar-beet men 

 may view this matter, but any new development in " sweets" can 

 hardly fail to suggest the question, " What effect will it have on the 

 honey market?" 



The probability is that nothing will come of it, for at present it 

 is only in the rumor stage, but suppose that what Mr. Guenther is re- 

 ported to have said should turn out to be true, there is a possibility 

 that the price of sugar may be materially reduced, in which case what 

 about the price of honey ? 



It is not at all certain that cutting the price of sugar in two would 

 have any material effect on the price of honey— certainly the price of 

 honey would not be cut in two as a consequence. With the price of 

 sugar and honey close together there is direct competition, for, to a 

 large extent, one can take the place ot the other as a mere sweetener. 



