172 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



four or five different frames in general use, 

 and may be very successful tlierewitli. 

 Having only your interest in vievy, lie may 

 advise you to follow his example. 



1 earnestly counsel you, my sister, to do 

 no such thing. I will not say that his 

 frame is not absolutely the best; that is a 

 disputed point. But I do say that it is not 

 best tor yoxi. Choose tlie smallest frame in 

 successful use, and justify yourself to your- 

 self by comparing your ability to support 

 heavy"^combs at arm's lengtli with that of 

 your neiglibor. Justify yourself to your 

 neighbor by quoting the opinions of prac- 

 tical and successful apiarists who endorse 

 the smaller frame. 



Since I have ventured thus far, I -shall 

 permit myself to indulge in a few more 

 words of direct exhortation. It has been 

 said that women ruin any trade or business 

 into which they enter as competitors. Let 

 us see to it, my sisters, tiiat this be not said 

 of us as bee-keepers. Whatever the market 

 price of woman's labor may be, a pound of 

 honey is worth all it will bring. Give away 

 as much honey as you please, but don't un- 

 dersell your brother bee-keepers ! And by 

 all means put your honey in as attractive 

 shape as is possible. Do not let it be said 

 of us that we are content with a lower 

 standard of excel lence than are our brothers ! 



Be prepared from the outset for difficul- 

 ties and trials— you would meet them in 

 any pursuit— be prepared to meet and over- 

 come them, or, if not, to get around them in 

 some womanly fashion, and go on. I am 

 almost of the opinion that the whole secret 

 of successful bee-keeping is perseverence. 

 There is risk in the business. I would not 

 wish you to ignore this fact. But an ex- 

 perience of 5 years leads me to believe that 

 the risk is less than is generally supposed. 

 After the first year make it a rule that your 

 exponditures shall not exceed your receipts 

 from surplus honey. Then, though in a 

 single winter all your bees should perish, 

 you will have hives, combs, and experience 

 left, and need not consider yourself bank- 

 rupt. Take no risk you can avoid, put into 

 your work your whole self— head, heart and 

 hands— and demonstrate that women may 

 keep bees successfully ! 



Cyula Linswik. 



The Composition of Honey. 



READ BEFOBE THE MICH. CONVENTION. 



Honey is one of the oldest things under 

 the sun. At one time it was probably the 

 only form of sugar known, and to-day is 

 one of our most delicious articles of food. 

 Does it not seem strange, then, that in this 

 scientific age so little is known of its real 

 composition or the changes it undergoes ? 



Honey is composed of grape and cane 

 sugar, together with water, acid, and waxy 

 matters. If honey be burned completely, a 

 grayisli colored ash remains, which amounts 

 to about 15 per cent, of the original honey. 

 In this ash I succeeded in obtaining reac- 

 tions for silica, lime, and iron. There is 

 also a small quantity of potash and phos- 

 phoric acid in honey. To estimate the 

 quantity of these present, I took two por- 

 tions of "cap" honey, free from pollen and 

 wax, and burned them to a coal-like mass. 

 In one, I extracted the potash with muriatic 

 acid, and in the other, phosphoric acid with 

 nitric acid, and estimated them in the usual 



manner. The following are the amounts 

 obtained: Potash, .06 per cent.; phosphor- 

 ic acid, .08 per cent. These substances 

 would naturally be present in honey, as 

 they are found in soils, and circulate in the 

 juices of plants. 



There are many things connected with 

 honey, about which at the present time but 

 little is known. The following are a few: 



1. Has honey a definite composition ? Is 

 there any difference between the relative 

 amount of sugar in honey made from buck- 

 wheat, basswood, clover, golden-rod, brown 

 sugar, etc., or between the relative amounts 

 of cane and grape sugar ? Probably this 

 (luestion can only be answered by compar- 

 ing the analysis of different kinds of honey. 



2. Does the bee add anything to nectar in 

 changing it into honey ? On this point 

 there is wide difference of opinion. But I 

 know of no experiments having been tried 

 to settle the matter. Perfectly pure honey, 

 that has been dried completely, contains 

 about 1 per cent, of nitrogen. Does the bee 

 supply this nitrogenous matter? To decide 

 this, I gathered some nectar from flowers 

 in the Agricultural College greenhouse 

 (from the azalia, rhododendron, and fuschia, 

 but principally from the last), and carefully 

 tested it for nitrogen. Tlie result of my 

 experiments is that nectar does contain 

 traces of nitrogen. Therefore the fact that 

 honey contains nitrogen does not prove that 

 it was furnished by the bee. May not this 

 question be decided by feeding bees upon 

 pure white sugar, which contains no nitro- 

 gen, and afterwards examining the honey to 

 see if any nitrogenous matter lias been 

 added to it ? 



3. After honey has stood for a certain 

 length of time, a part of the grape sugar 

 crystalizes out, and granulation or candy- 

 ing is the result. The cause of this change 

 is not known. May not the conditions 

 under which granulation occurs be deter- 

 mined by a series of experiments, by keep- 

 ing honey at different temperatui-es, etc.?* 



Answers to these questions may not ad- 

 vance the market value of honey a particle, 

 but we shall enjoy the satisfaction of 

 knowing the truth of the whole matter. 



R. F. Kedzie. 



Ag'l College, Lansing, Mich. 



Shall Farmers keep Bees. 



READ BEFORE THE MICH. ASSOCIATION. 



It is much to be regretted that there is 

 any necessity for the discussion of this 

 question. It is unfortunate that tiiere still 

 remains any doubt upon a question of so 

 much practical value to the agriculturists of 

 this country. In its consideration I shall 

 briefly endeavor to answer some of the 

 reasons which are given by farmers why 

 they do not keep bees. 



The objections raised may be said to be 

 these: First, a lack of time; second, fear 

 of being stung; and, third, a lack of infor- 

 mation in management. 



First— As to a lack of time. A few perti- 

 nent questions to the average farmer de- 

 velopes the fact that the principal object 

 sought in tilling the soil is gain. That this 

 principle has a governing influence in de- 

 terming the kind of crops raised and t'^e 

 system of management; that wheat is sown 

 because the crop pays better than oats, that 

 hops pay better than buckwheat; that the 



