22 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Jan. 11, 1900. 



The food value of sufjar has been underestimated in the 

 past. Children are even to-daj' discourag'ed from eating 

 candy, which their system craves, and are usually obliged 

 to content themselves with penny goods and other cheap 

 and inferior sweets. And this in the face of the fact that 

 Nature has given her most emphatic approval of sugar as 

 food by placing it in almost all animal secretions for the 

 young. It occurs in predominant quantity in the milk of 

 all mammalia ; in human kind, constituting over one-half 

 of the entire solids, and double the amount of any other 

 constituent. 



The sugars are the most available of the heat and 

 energy producers. Recent investigations in Germany, 

 France and Italy have shown that sugar acts as an imme- 

 diate invigorator when fed to persons in extreme fatigue. 

 People at extremely hard work immediately feel the re- 

 cuperating effect of a sugar diet. The governments of 

 Germany and the United States have added sugar to the 

 rations of their soldiers. In this country the sugar is sup- 

 plied in the shape of candy. Candies usually consist of 

 mixtures of sucrose, dextrose and dextrin. There can lie 

 little doubt that if honey were substituted in part for candy 

 in the soldier's dietary, even more favorable results would 

 be obtained, because, first, honey is in a sense a predi- 

 gested sugar, and the demand on the digestive forces is 

 lessened ; second, honey consists of almost pure invert- 

 sugar, while candies contain dextrin of unknown food 

 value, but certainly not as immediately available as sugar ; 

 third, honey is produced by bees unskilled in the art of 

 sophistication, and above the practice of artificially flavor- 

 ing and coloring, while candy is a product of human in- 

 genuity, and may contain unwholesome constituents ; candy 

 usually contains glucose, a product not above suspicion ; 

 honey is made in Nature's laboratory; and, fourth, honey 

 can more easily be used as Nature intended, and as experi- 

 ence has proven best — that is, in connection with other 

 foods, as upon bread or hardtack. Candies, when eaten in 

 excess, are unwholesome and cloy upon the palate. 



In favor of candy it may be said that adulteration is 

 becoming less and less prevalent, and in the higher-priced 

 candies deleterious adulteration is almost unknown. This 

 is largely due to the wisely directed efforts of the National 

 Confectioners' Association. 



Again, candy has an obvious advantage over honey in 

 ease of transportation and distribution. Candj' is possibly 

 a trifle cheaper than honey in this country, but certainly 

 not a luxury in the Philippines. 



It is an interesting fact that the consumption of no 

 other commodity, unless it be soap, so accurately measures 

 the civilization of peoples as sugar, judged, of course, by 

 our own standards. Great Britain consumes more sugar 

 per capita than any other nation; next comes the United 

 States, then in order follow Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden 

 and Norway, Holland, France, Germany, Austria, Russia, 

 Turkey and Italj'. Some allowance must be made for 

 Sweden and Norway, whose cold climate predisposes them 

 to the use of the more concentrated fuels — the oils and fats. 



I wish to say one word, in closing, for the dignity of 

 the bee as a manufacturer rather than a collector or com- 

 mon carrier. It is indeed true that the bee may invade the 

 sanctity of more than a million flowers to produce one 

 pound of honey, but she has not gathered honey, only the 

 raw material, which, by working over, she manufactures 

 into honey. She then puts it up in her unique and inimit- 

 able original package, and marks each cell with her seal. 



E. N. Eaton. 



The Association tendered Prof. Eaton a vote of thanks 

 for his excellent and instructive paper. 



After supper the convention continued their labors. 

 Some hilarity was also intersperst. 



The following resolution was read and unanimously 

 adopted, recommending Prof. E. N. Eaton for the position 

 of State analyst : 



" Resolved, That we congratulate the consumers of the 

 State of Illinois upon the enactment of pure-food laws, and 

 the appointment of a pure-food commissioner. We urge 

 upon Commissioner Jones the necessity of securing honest, 

 energetic and capable assistants to aid in carrying on the 

 work. 



"We would endorse Prof. E. N.Eaton for State Analyst, 

 knowing his ability to properly carry out that branch 

 of the work." 



The question-box was then taken up. One question, 

 " How to Increase the Attendance," was considered at 

 length. As our first evening session was such a big suc- 



cess, it was considered best to hold the next meeting in the 

 afternoon and evening, beginning at 1:30 p.m. and con- 

 tinuing until the members are tired. It was suggested that 

 a lunch be served at S p.m., so as to " let no guilty man 

 escape." 



The convention adjourned to meet at 1:30 p.m., April 

 S, 1900. Herman- F. Moore, Sec. 



CONDUCTED BY 



HR. O. O. MILLER, Mareago, 111. 



[The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail.— Editor. 1 



Looking for a Text-Book on Bees. 



I saw in a recent answer to a question you refer to a 

 text-book. Kindly tell me what book it is, and where I can 



get it. Canada. 



Answer. — You are on the right track when you inquire 

 after a text-book. No bee-keeper should be without one. It 

 is even more important than to have a bee-paper, and that's 

 putting it very strong. There are several excellent text- 

 books, any or all of which are good. By sending to the of- 

 fice of the American Bee Jotirnal you can obtain, postpaid, 

 any of the books mentioned on page 15, at the prices named. 



Bee-Keeping as a Rural Pursuit. 



Here are two sentences taken from Farmers' Bulletin 

 No. 59, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, which I 

 want explained thru the columns of the American Bee 

 Journal. The sentences read as follows : 



1. " On the whole, there should be expected from the 

 raising of bees for any purpose whatever, only fair pay for 

 one's time, good interest on the money invested, and a suffi- 

 cient margin to cover contingencies." 



2. " With no greater expectations than this from it, and 

 where intelligence directs the work, apiculture will be found, 

 in the long run, to rank among the best and safest of rural 

 industries." 



Does the second sentence mean that bee-keeping is bet- 

 ter, or safer, than all other rural industries ? Or, does it 

 mean that it is placed on an equality with other good rural 

 industries, viz : Stock-raising, dairying, poultry-rais- 

 ing, etc? 



In explaining the foregoing, I want only the sentences 

 explained as they read, and not as to your opinion whether 

 bee-keeping is better or equal to the others named. 



Kansas. 



Answer. — Taking the sentetices as they read, they 



seem to mean that when the whole line of rural industries 



is considered, bee-keeping will be found one of the safest 



from risks, and among those yielding the largest pay for 



capital and labor. 



^~»~^ 



Granulated Honey— Feeding Bees Fertilization in 

 Confinement Foul Brood. 



Altho not a beginner in bee-keeping, there is much in 

 this trying year where I am at a loss to know what to do. 

 Southern California was unfortunately visited by two suc- 

 cessive dry years (1898-99), with insufficient winter rains 

 and dry, hot winds, and in consequence the farmers and 

 bee-keepers have a hard time of it. This season was, so to 

 speak, a total failure. T_J2 



My apiary is situated in a sheltered nook at the base of 

 San Jacinto Mountain. I bought 80 colonies last spring, of 

 which I workt 70 for extracted honey. 



1. The early part of this season mj' bees did fairly well 

 on alfillaree clover and fruit-tree bloom, from the adjoining 

 fruit colony, but the first honey, altho it was by no means 



