T'Ms mimmm.icM.-H mMM j&ummmL,. 



183 



when the beo takes the crude lioiiej' 

 and pollen into the stoniaeli, is eiinally 

 true ; that the substances thus entering 

 the stomach undergoes the process of 

 digestion, and is converted into a 

 white, opake substance, called 

 "chyme," is certainly true ; and when 

 brood-rearing is going on, an abun- 

 dance of this chyme is regurgitated bj- 

 the nurse-bees into each cell where 

 there is a larva?, as food to develop 

 their growth. 



Now, right here let me ask, is there 

 au apiarist in all this broad land, that 

 ever saw crude honey, or honey and 

 pollen taken from the cells where it 

 had been stored, and fed to the larva3, 

 in the crude state ? Yet we are told 

 that " honey is ' digested nectar,' readj- 

 for assimilation !" 



Let me now quote from page 831 of 

 the American Bee Jorrnal for 1889 : 

 "As is well known, this nectar is 

 neutral, >and contains cane-sugar." 

 "Honey is acid, and contains reduci- 

 ble sugar." From this it follows that 

 bees do make honey from cane-sugar ! 

 In fact. Prof. Cook has so stated else- 

 where. 



In relation to this matter, let me 

 state in brief the following experi- 

 ments, viz : 



Bees fed on cane-sugar syrup some 

 distance from the hive, were allowed 

 to fill themselves, and when preparing 

 to return to the hive, they were cap- 

 tured under a glass vessel, and re- 

 tained for ten minutes (a much longer 

 time than it would take them to fl}- a 

 mile), and then killed ; by carefully 

 dissecting out and opening the hone)'- 

 bag, dropping its contents on litmus 

 paper, we obtained a negative result 

 as to the presence of an acid. The 

 same test was applied to the contents 

 of the honey-bag of other bees imme- 

 diately after filling themselves with 

 syrup, with like negative results. 



After syrup had been stored in the 

 hive for several days, and then re- 

 moved and dropped on litmus paper, 

 the presence of an acid was plainly 

 manifest. The same test was then ap- 

 plied to sjrup left standing in an open 

 vessel for the same length of time that 

 the syrup had been stored in the hive, 

 with the same resulting evidence of 

 the "presence of an acid. 



From'this we conclude that the neg- 

 ative results of the presence of an acid 

 obtained in the first two experiments, 

 was in consequence of the syrup not 

 having been exposed a sufficient length 

 of time to the action of the great acidi- 

 fying element — oxygen. 



The acidifying of the syrup deposited 

 in the combs was no more due to a 

 secretion of the bee-glands, than was 

 the presence of the acid in the syrup 

 left standing in the open vessel. In 



l)otli instances it was due to tlic action 

 of the oxygen in the atmosphere. 



It is a recognized fact Ijy chemists, 

 that all substaiircs contaminr/ saccharine 

 mailer in a fluid form, contain an acid 

 in an isomeric form, and needs but the 

 action of the oxygen of a warm at- 

 mosphere for a fmv daj's at most, to 

 make it manifest. This is th(^ plain, 

 rational explanation of how the acid 

 is developed in honey. Thus we see 

 that it is not necessary to look into the 

 bee, or the bee-glands, to account for 

 the presence of the acid found in 

 honey. 



Furthermore, if this acid is a secre- 

 tion of the bees, and to the sweets 

 gathered, and by the bees added dur- 

 ing a supposed digesting and refining 

 process, we would expect all such 

 sweets to be more uniform in taste, 

 color, consistence, and ettect as an 

 aliment, tlian is found to exist. In- 

 stead of uniformity in these respects, 

 we find that if the bees gather sweets 

 from an impure source, that impurity 

 still exists so long as these sweets re- 

 main in the combs. We are obliged 

 to look to the source from whence the 

 sweet is obtained, if we expect good 

 honey. The bees cannot make it! 



Some look upon this whole thing as 

 unimportant, and as a matter of in- 

 difl'erence to be soon forgotten. I do 

 not think that an error, or ignorance 

 in anything pertaining to the produc- 

 tion of honey, should be treated as a 

 matter of indifl'erence. Be assured, the 

 more fine nectar-bearing bloom that is 

 grown, the more and better will be 

 the production of honey ; and we 

 should fully recognize the fact that the 

 source of the best honey is from the 

 nectaries of the best nectar-bearing 

 bloom ; that honey will vary in quality 

 by reason of the source from wlience 

 it is gathered, and that it is wholly a 

 vegetable production, and no part an 

 animal secretion. 



Camai-s;o, Ills. 



INCREASE . 



Hoiv to manage and Control 

 Increase. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY H. SAWYER. 



I feel sure that by boring a 2-inch 

 hole in a hive that is full of bees, and 

 put a piece of (|ueen-excluding metal 

 on the inside of the hive, and then put 

 an empty hive close beside it, with a 

 corresponding hole also covered with 

 queen-excluding metal, the bees will 

 go through, and be in the empty hive, 

 and when they ilo, put in a comb of 

 brood and one or more empty combs, 

 or frames filled with foundation, next 



to it ; and in a day or two utter, pui in 

 a cpieen-cell, well started or capped, 

 or nearly ready to hatch. In a few 

 days there will be another swarm of 

 biH^s, and where a person is anxious 

 for increase, by using small hives, say 

 of about 3 frames, there can be a great 

 number of colonies made from one in 

 a short time. 



It probably would be well to transfer 

 them into full-sized hives, in Septem- 

 ber, to grow up into full-sized colonies 

 for the next season's regular work ; 

 and by putting small supers on top of 

 these small hives, perhaps they would 

 store a considerable surplus of lioney 

 besides. 



In hives with telescope caps, bore 

 the holes just the same, and put a 

 block with a corresponding hole in ; to 

 fill the space between the two hives 

 with queen-excluding metal on both 

 sides of the block, would be just the 

 thing. Bore the holes all of one size, 

 and have barrel bungs turned to stop 

 the holes.when the hives are separated. 



It appears to me that here is a plan 

 to solve a great deal of trouble, in 

 watching bees at the swarming season; 

 and, it appears to me, that very likely 

 there may be secured by this means 

 some of those great yields of honey 

 that we sometimes hear of, where bees 

 are put into a room in a house. 



The question is, how to use this plan 

 where a person has all the bees they 

 want, and cannot sell the increase that 

 will naturally arise. From the fore- 

 going course of procedure, I see no 

 way but bj' uniting (probablj' the best 

 time would be in the spring), to reduce 

 the number, and then each colony 

 would start in storing, to do rapid 

 work both in surplus honey and filling 

 up the empty hives. 



Will some practical bee-keeper give 

 his views on this departure from the 

 usual methods of managing increase ? 



Burlington, Iowa. 



BEE-ITEMS. 



The "Weather, Honey Almanacs, 

 Bee-E§capes, Basswood, etc. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY O. S. C05IPTON. 



To-day we are having the worst 

 snow-storm of the season, but my bees, 

 packed in 3 to 6 inches of chaff on the 

 summer stands, are coming through 

 the winter in splendid condition. They 

 have had weekly flights all winter, and 

 brood-rearing is in progress in nearly 

 every hive. 



The past season (as well as the two 

 previous ones) was a very poor one 

 for honey or increase of bees, in this 

 locality, and the average per colony. 



