Jan. 4, 1906 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



13 



material for its superstructure is evidently evolved in large 

 measure from the brain of the imaginative reporter. The 

 foundation facts probably are that Mr. While obtained 20 

 pounds of honey — possibly only 5— and that Mrs. White, 

 desiring to keep it for a time, possibly for company, put it 

 where the bees could reach it, and any beekeeper can guess 

 the result. 



But let us not deny the imaginative reporter his due 

 meed of praise. He who causes us to smile deserves our 

 thanks, and the sister who can read the article through and 

 not smile at some of the items evolved from the inner con- 

 sciousness of that reporter — well, her smiling machinery 

 must be in need of repairs. 



Pity that reporter did not tell just how Farmer White 

 could estimate so closely the amount of honey to be con- 

 tained in the tree just by looking at the outside of the tree. 

 And why did Mrs. White remiinon the ground while the 

 others went aloft with the tin boxes swung on a rope ? 



Let us not fail, in passing, to add toour catalog of facts 

 for future guidance, that honey must be put where it will 

 get air enough to prevent granulation until the rise in price 

 always sure to come in September ! 



tflr. pasty's 

 Ctftcrtfyougfyts 



j 



The " Old Reliable" as seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. Hasty, Sta. B. Rural, Toledo, Ohio. 



Medical Demand for Bee-Stings. 



That medical writer on page 806, hardly meant what 

 some will understand when he said the medical demand for 

 bee-stings was far in advance of the supply. The visible 

 supply is many thousands of millions— and the people of the 

 U. S. are less than a hundred millions. Each man, woman 

 and child can have more poison than they want to carry. 

 Of course, what he meant was that the few bee-men now in 

 that line of business were badly behind their orders. As to 

 the modus operandi, one way, I believe, is to catch each bee 

 in turn, pinch it a little until the sting protrudes, then seize 

 the sting with suitable forceps and pull it away, poison-sac 

 and all. Selser's new method I incline to register a mild 

 protest against — making a whole colony mad until they will 

 sting a rubber blanket at wholesale, and then picking the 

 stings out of the blanket. Wastes the poison injected into 

 the puncture for one thing ; be quite awhile before the last 

 one could be pulled. And it don't seem quite the proper 

 practice to infuriate bees, except for ends not to be secured 

 in any other way, lest survivors remember it, and punish 

 outsiders another day. Apparently it's not altogether 

 necessary to make a colony or apiary more dangerous to a 

 community than it already is in order to harvest poison for 

 the doctors. 



Prices of Honey and Butter. 



According to Doolittle, page 807, honey for a long series 

 of years trotted nicely with butter in even span. Sad to re- 

 late, it had to be taken out at last and trot alone. Has been 

 getting farther and farther behind on the course every year 

 since. Very likely the identity of the prices of butter and 

 honey did us good while it lasted ; and the approximation of 

 honey and sugar is beginning to do us harm now. With 

 butter at 22 and honey at 20, the seller could argue for 2 

 cents more ; but with honey at 7 and sugar at 6, the buyer 

 can argue like mischief that honey ought to come down a 

 cent. 



Those Wax-Honey Experiments. 



Delighted, as our President would say, to see my wax- 

 honey experiments return to me after so many days, as they 

 do on pages 808 and 809. 'Spects that is the best contribu- 

 tion to apiculture I ever made. 



And I rather think the time is ripe now for a little plain 

 talk. Who originated the wretched and egregious supersti- 

 tion that there is any mysterious loss in the transformation 

 of honey to wax ? Most superstitions came down from an- 

 cient times ; but this one grew up in modern times — and 

 sticks to apiculture like a lawyer-lamprey sticks to a big 

 and unfortunate old fish. Honey has a large proportion of 

 water, and wax none ; but otherwise there are the same in- 

 gredients in the two, but the ingredients in very different 



proportions. It takes about 3 pounds of honey to afford 

 materials for a pound of wax — and that's just what the ratio 

 between the two is, neither less nor more. Let us shake off 

 our last great superstition, and burn up our rotten old idol, 

 as the Sandwich Islanders burned up theirs. 



Thanks to Adrian Getaz for showing that Huber, and 

 Dumas, and Edwards, did not launch the 20 to 1 incubus, 

 but were engaged in downing that ancient superstition, that 

 wax was gathered from the flowers. Glad to see that others 

 besides myself have reached the correct answer experi- 

 mentally — and a different line from mine. 



About 82 parts carbon, 13 parts hydrogen, and 5 parts 

 oxygen, in 100 of wax. 



About 28 parts carbon, 8 parts hydrogen, and 64 parts 

 oxygen, in 100 of honey. Whether the honey is or is not 

 supposed as entirely deprived of its water, I am not quite 

 sure. 



The reason the chemists say about instead of using their 

 usual precision, is that wax is a variable mixture. Three 

 different waxes in varying proportions constitute beeswax. 

 Honey is also a mixture of several different sugars in vary- 

 ing proportions. The ratio between 28 and 82 is a little 

 less than 3, to-wit : 2.9286. If we should add 15 percent to 

 this for water, we would have a ratio of 3' 3 — very nearly. 



It is not necessary to suppose that Bruner's experiments 

 are anything else than correct. He fed on a large scale, 

 and the bees had to have part for their own support, and 

 also to rear brood right along. To get a pound of wax for 

 each 7 pounds of honey, fed in this wholesale way, is doing 

 tolerably well. At our prices for wax, it would be getting 

 about 4 cents a pound for dark extracted honey. But if Mr. 

 Getaz's " inspiration " can come true, and the product sup- 

 plant foundation in sections, instead of being melted up, it 

 would be getting 8,'i cents a pound for the honey. 



Nectar-Yielding Captiousness of Alfalfa. 



The captiousness of alfalfa yielding honey abundantly 

 when its severe conditions are all satisfied, and not a drop 

 otherwise— Prof. Cook thinks that fault can be bred out of 

 it easier than the honey-yielding habit can be bred into— 

 say corn, or the potato— easier than the too-long tubes can 

 be bred off the red clover. He may be right, but I have my 

 doubts. Captiousness is a pretty stubborn quality. The 

 man who sometimes will do a wonderful day's work to brag 

 on, but usually nothing at all, may be harder to reform than 

 the savage who never did a day's work in his life. Page 807. 



' _ \ 



Doctor miller's 

 Question = Box 



j> 



Send questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, 

 or to Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 

 Dr. Miller does not answer Questions by mail. 



Preventing Swarming When Running for Extracted 

 Honey 



How do you prevent swarming when you are extracting 

 the honey ? We had 80 colonies this year run for extracted 

 honey. Of these probablv every one prepared to swarm. 

 They all had good ventilation from the bottom of the hives, 

 and probably every one swarmed, or prepared to do so. Can 

 you give any reason for it ? VERMONT. 



Answer.— The truth is that I don't prevent swarming 

 when extracting, for the simple reason that it has been 

 many a year since I worked a colony for extracted honey. 

 If, however, I were running for extracted honey, I think I 

 should take advantage of some things that are barred out 

 from comb-honey producers. 



First, however, I must confess that I don't know why 

 your bees should want to swarm, and yet why shouldn't 

 they ? You don't say that your treatment of them was any 

 different from your treatment of comb-honey colonies. Of 

 course they would be at least a little less inclined to swarm 

 because of having combs ready-made in which to store, but 

 that alone is hardly a sufficient deterrent. 



You say they had good ventilation from the bottom f 

 the hives. Now that is one of the things to be tried differ- 

 ent for extracted honey ; not only good ventilation below, 



