THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



39 



mal on pure honey or sugar. "We 

 may, however, waive that view of 

 the subject, as we shall shortly see 

 that it is only a question of such 

 homoeopathically small doses as 

 would not be likely to interfere 

 with the digestion of the most deli- 

 cate grazing animal, any more than 

 they would considerably increase 

 his weight. Admitting, therefore, 

 that every pound of hone}' of which 

 the grazing stock are deprived by 

 bees, is a loss to the farmer, and 

 therefore to be looked upon as a 

 set-off, to that extent, against the 

 benefits conferred by the bees in 

 other ways, it will be necessary to 

 consider to what extent it is possi- 

 ble that such loss may be occa- 

 sioned. In the first place it must 

 be recollected that a large propor- 

 tion — in some cases the great 

 bulk — of the honey gathered by 

 bees is obtained from trees, as, for 

 instance, the linden in Europe, the 

 basswood and maple in America, 

 and in this country the forest trees, 

 nearly all of which supply rich for- 

 age for the bee, and everywhere 

 from fruit trees in orchards ; a large 

 quantity is gathered from flowers 

 and flowering shrubs reared in gar- 

 dens — from clover and other plants 

 grown for ha}' and not for pasture 

 — and even in the field there are 

 man}' shrubs and flowering plants 

 which yield honey, but which are 

 never eaten by cattle. Pastures 

 therefore form but a small part of 

 the sources from which honey is 

 obtained, and in dealing with this 

 grazing question we have to confine 

 our enquiries to clovers and other 

 flowering plants grown in open pas- 

 tures, and such as constitute the 

 ordinary food of grazing stock. In 

 order to meet the question in the 

 most direct manner, however, let 

 us assume the extreme case of a 

 large apiary being placed in a dis- 

 trict where there is nothing else but 

 such open pastures, and growing 

 only such flowering plants as are 



generally eaten by stock. Now, 

 the ordinary working range of the 

 bee may be taken at a mile and a 

 half from the apiary on all sides, 

 which gives an area of about 4,500 

 acres for the supply of the apiary, 

 and if the latter consists of 100 

 hives, producing an average of 100 

 lbs. of honey, there would be a lit- 

 tle more than 2 lbs. of honey col- 

 lected off" each acre in the year. 

 Or, if we suppose so many as 200 

 hives to be kept at one place, and 

 to produce so much as ten tons of 

 honey in the season, the quantity 

 collected from each acre would be 

 4 to 5 lbs. — The JSfeiv Zealand and 

 Australkm Bee Journal. 

 (To be continued.) 



NOTES AND QUERIES, 



— The Cure of Diphtheria by use 

 of Honey : a translation by Arthur 

 Todd. 



It is now some time since the 

 malady in a certain region in 

 France carried off" many poor chil- 

 dren, who had neither doctor nor 

 medicine. 



Now, as soon as the first symp- 

 toms appear, recourse is had to 

 honey. A good layer of honey is 

 spread upon a piece of thick wrap- 

 ping paper, and this plaster applied 

 to the throat. 



This remedy has had the great- 

 est success ; so much so that, in the 

 villages where it is difficult to call 

 in a doctor, it may be said no more 

 children die of this dread disease. 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



— At the last meeting of the 

 Northwestern beekeepers' associa- 

 tion, a special committee was ap- 

 pointed for the purpose of securing 

 by legislation, laws for the sup- 

 pression of foul brood, and for 

 securing statistical reports of ap- 

 iarian products. We would urge 



