March 2, 1905. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



165 



can know where the bee secures the nectar, which is changed by the 

 bees to honey. 



G. M. DooLiTTLE (N. Y.)— Honey is the product of the bee from 

 the saccharine matter as gathered from natural sources. 



Dh. J. P. H. Brown (Ga.)— I would define honey : A saccharine 

 matter secreted by flowers, gathered and manipulated by bees. 



L. Stachelhausen (Tex.) — Honey is a saccharine matter of nat- 

 ural source, gathered, modified, and stored in the comb by honey-bees. 



Rev. M. Mahin (Ind.)— A sweet,, thick fluid manufactured 

 mainly from the nectar of flowers by the bees and deposited in waxen 

 comb-cells usually in hives. 



E. Whitcomb (Nebr.) — Nectar gathered by bees, stored and evap- 

 orated by the general process until it will keep after being sealed over 

 by them. Otherwise it is not truly " honey ". 



C. Davenport (SJinn.) — Certainly nectar gathered by bees from 

 flowers and plants. Perhaps it should be broader than this, and in- 

 clude any sweet liquid gathered by bees from flowers, plants, and trees. 



Aethub C. Millbb (R. I.)— The nectar of flowers, converted, 

 thickened and stored by the bees. Possibly it might be well to add 

 '• sealed ", as often unsealed " honey " is little more than raw nectar. 



Eugene Secor (Iowa) — A sweet, watery fluid gathered by bees 

 from various natural sources, chiefly from the nectaries of flowers, 

 deposited by them in honey-comb cells, and ripened to the proper 

 consistency. 



P. H. Elwood (N. y.) — Honey is that saccharine part of vegeta- 

 tion stored by the honey-bee— principally the nectar of flowers, with 

 the larger portion of the cane-sugar changed to grape sugar in the 

 process of storage. 



R. L. Taylor (Mich.) — Honey is a saccharine, viscid substance 

 made by bees, by evaporation and other manipulations, from sweetish 

 liquids already gathered from different sources, but chiefly from the 

 nectaries of flowers. 



G. W. Demabee (Ky.) — Honey is the nectar of flowers (vegetable 

 bloom) gathered, stored and evaporated to proper consistency by 

 honey-bees. All " scientific " talk about " rf'fffsto/ nectar " is hhiII- 

 geMed delusion, as I have proven to my own satisfaction by practical 

 experiment. 



Morgan Bros. (S. Dak.) — 1. Nectar from flowers gathered by 

 honey-bees, manipulated by them, and stored in their combs and 

 sealed. 2. A sweet liquid substance gathered from the blooms of 

 plants by bees, manipulated by them only, and stored in combs and 

 sealed as its final treatment. 



Dr. C. C. Miller (111.)— That's a tough one. It should include 

 all sweets gathered from flowers and other parts of plants, and 

 possibly should be more inclusive than that ; and it should exclude 

 anything fed directly by the hand of man except honey itself. To put 

 that in a concise definition is beyond me. 



C. P. Dadant (111.)— I hold that the only true way to look at this 

 matter is from the standpoint of the honey-producer who harvests 

 what the bees gather. Nothing fed artificially to bees can be properly 

 called honey, unless it was lioney when fed. But of the crops harvested 

 naturally by the bee, we should be very careful in rejecting anything, 

 even if it is of low quality. See page 166. 



E. D. Townsend (Mich.) — Nectar from whatever source, prin- 

 cipally of flowers, and such other sweets as bees collect from imtaral 

 sources; digested through the process of evaporation, in the condition 

 as to body and flavor that it is usually sealed by the bees. Anything 

 extracted prior to this stage should be sold under another name. This 

 answer is not scientific, but from a practical bee-keeper's standpoint. 



Mrs. J. M. Ncll (Mo.) — Did not Dr. Miller, on page 89, offer to 

 receive " sealed proposals for a satisfactory definition"? Why not 

 unburden the problem upon his shoulders? More especially as he is 

 considered authority, and since he has offered about all there is to 

 offer, what right have we to show up our frailties? I must confess 

 those words " correct, concise and comprehensive " just about corner 

 me. How would " concentrated sweetness " do? 



Jas. a. Green (Colo.) — Honey is the liquid gathered by bees 

 from natural sources and stored in their combs. This may not be nar- 

 row enough to suit the chemist, but the bee-keeper can not afford to 

 have the line drawn any closer. If honey containing honey-dew, 

 fruit-juices and the extra-floral secretions of plants is declared impure, 

 there is not a bee-keeper in the land who might not at some time be 

 brought before a court of justice on the charge of selling adulterated 

 honey. 



E. E. Hastt (Ohio)— a delicious, edible sweet, from flowers and 

 other natural sources, gathered and elaborated by bees. This wora- 

 ing cuts off all unedible, poisonous and ill-tasting stuffs, even thouffh 

 bees were guilty of collecting them. It also cuts off the sweets re- 

 sulting from feeding, except when the substance fed is honey to begin 

 with. It "splits the difference "on honey-dew, letting in the good 

 and shutting out the bad. It would be better to let in everything 

 that can claim to be honey than to try to rule out any pleasant lasting 

 sweets that bees gather without feeding. A wrong definition of this 

 kind would make us all evil-doers and law-breakers in spite of our- 

 selves. 



E. S. LovESY (Utah)— Honey is a nectar gathered by the bees 

 from the flowers, and the only thing that will produce nectar in the 

 flowers is atmospheric conditions. Through the action of the dews 

 this nectar becomes a watery substance, though sweet, and the honey- 



bee is so created that the liquid passes through what is known as the 

 tongue into the stomach of the bee, where it is digested. Then it 

 passes into the honey-sac and is carried to the hive and deposited in 

 the cell, where it goes through the process of evaporation and is thor- 

 oughly ripened, after which it is hermetically sealed by the bees. In 

 this slate it will keep for an indefinite period. 



4^ (£ontribiitcb -^ 

 Special Clrticles 



^ 



J 



Bee-Keeping in the Southwest. 



BV LOUIS H. SCHOLL. 

 [Continned from page 118.] 



IN my previous article nothing- was said about the various 

 methods of management practiced by some bee-keepers 

 to hasten the building up of the colonies in early spring, 

 such as stimulative feeding and spreading brood. Of these, 

 the latter has been tried thoroughly, while stimulative feed- 

 ing has never been practiced in my yards, as a slow honey- 

 flow that we have early in the spring in my locality can 

 not be improved upon by feeding. 



SPREADING BROOD NOT ADVISABLE. 



The method of spreading brood in the spring was tried 

 thoroughly in my own apiaries a number of years ago, but 

 was discontinued. It may work to advantage in other 

 localities, and especially in the North, where the colonies 

 need crowding on account of the shortness of the season, 

 but in our Southern apiaries, at least, I do not think it 

 advisable or advantageous. 



In my manipulations with the bees it has never seemed 

 necessary to interfere with the progress of the colonies ex- 

 cept in a few instances, and with a few colonies when a 

 change of the combs was of advantage. In colonies that 

 had in the brood-nest combs filled with honey or pollen 

 which the bees were slow in removing, and having empty 

 combs on the outside, perhaps it paid to shift them. This 

 must be done with care, however, placing the combs on the 

 outside of the brood-nest in the early spring, as it is of the 

 utmost importance to keep the brood-nest in as compact 

 shape as possible. Later in the season an empty comb rnay 

 be inserted by spreading the brood-nest, and always placing 

 it between two combs of sealed and hatching brood, so that 

 the order of the brood-nest will be disturbed as little as pos- 

 sible. This the bee-keeper, and the beginner especially, 

 should bear in mind if spreading brood is practiced at all. 



PRACTICED ON A LARGE SCALE. 



When managing over a thousand colonies of bees in 

 nine different apiaries for one of our Texas bee-companies 

 several years ago, I was compelled to practice the method 

 on a large scale, and as this was after I had given up the 

 idea in my own apiaries it afforded an excellent opportunity 

 for noticing more closely the results of such practice. 



The manner of procedure was as follows : Beginning 

 with warm weather in February the colonies were examined 

 for their condition, amount of brood and stores, and a rec- 

 ord of this was made. Queenless colonies were either sup- 

 plied with a queen or united with another colony. Weak 

 colonies were united, and those short of stores were helped 

 from stronger ones. Three weeks later another visit was 

 made to all of the yards. The number of combs containing 

 brood averaged about five, some of the strongest having 

 seven. From these one or two combs were drawn and 

 given to weaker colonies. Then the whole apiary was gone 

 over and an empty comb was placed on each side of the 

 brood-nest between the last comb containing brood and the 

 adjoining comb of honey. In three weeks more this was re- 

 peated, but an empty comb was also placed in the center of 

 the brood-nest between two combs of hatching brood. As 

 soon as the lower combs were occupied with brood, the 

 queen extended her egg-laying up into the shallow extract- 

 ing super left on the year around. 



Just before the honey-llow in April, all the combs with 

 unsealed brood in the brood-chamber were placed on the 

 outside of the brood-nest, and the hatching brood was 

 shifted to the center. This provided the queen with laying 

 room and prevented the storing of honey in the outside 

 combs. Such manipulations put the colonies in an ideal 



