30 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



now obliged to compete with cheap syrup 

 and glucose iu all the large cities. Exclu- 

 sive honey dealers adulterate our honey 

 with this stuff', thereby making one pound 

 of honey sell seven or eight pounds of glu- 

 cose. Had agitated this subject years ago, 

 and now the dishonest practices of these 

 dealers demand that we met the question 

 squarely and firmly, or else we shall soon 

 have no market for our honey — it will be 

 utterly overstocked. If we put only a good 

 article on the mai'ket, and continually 

 keep it supplied, we can create a deuumd 

 for our honey, by educating the people's 

 taste for a prime article. Make honey a 

 staple article. Honey dealers will buy 

 honey, and promise to pay, and sometimes 

 will do so, after selling it at double the 

 price, besides selling eight or ten times as 

 much glucose, worth seven or eight cents 

 per pound. We ought to adopt the grange 

 principle of combination, control our own 

 products, and sell direct to the consumer. 

 VVe must discriminate between the products 

 of an apiary and a honey-house. Teach the 

 people who" eat honey, that the former pro- 

 tluces honey— a pure article ; the latter a 

 conglomeration of honey, glucose and poor 

 syrup. 



C. 1. Balch— Many people like to be hum- 

 bugged, and will buy a spurious article in 

 preference. 



James Heddon— Honey dealers have cre- 

 ated a demand for jar honey with a little 

 comb in it, as nuich as to say, "Uquid 

 honey is not good, so we'll put in just a lit- 

 tle that is." This ought to be abandoned at 

 once, as extracted honey is even better, 

 because wax is not a wholesome article. I 

 know from experience that, despite preju- 

 dice, the people who eat it, learn to prefer 

 it. 



C. I. Balch— Can honey that is canilied in 

 the comb be liquified '.' 



James Heddon— Honey candies from cold. 

 Put it in a warm place "and it will li(iuify, 

 though it takes time. 



Pres. Balch— My bees will carry candied 

 honey out of the hive in spring. 



James Heddon— If you put a comb of 

 such uncapped in the middle of the lu'ood 

 nest they will utilize it. 



Prof. Cook— Honey is only a kind of 

 sugar. The various kinds are quite readily 

 told by the temperature it will grain. Near- 

 ly all syrups are adulterated. How then 

 can we stop adulteration ? 



James Heddon— If you find a dealer keep- 

 ing an adulterated "article, publish him. 

 Printer's ink works wonders, sometimes. 



J. H. Everard— Create a home demand by 

 keeping a good, pure article. 



Mr. Bryan — Detailed his experience in 

 mixing syrup and honey ; thought it didn't 

 pay. 



James Hedden —Bee-keepers can raise 

 the piu-e article cheeper than they can man- 

 ufacture it. 



T. F. Bingham— We njight undoubtedly 

 create a demand for honey, but it is easier 

 to cater to a demand that already exists. 

 Every man likes his own wife's coltee best. 

 People who have long eaten comb honey 

 prefer it. 



After some further discussion, the Con- 

 vention adjourned until evening. 



At the evening session, anu)ng the papers 

 read was the following by Prof. A. J. Cook, 

 of the State Agricultural College ; 



FEEDING AND THE EXTRAf'TOR IN RELA- 

 TION TO PROFITS IN APICULTURE. 



Success in bee-keeping as in every other 



pursuit that looks to nature or natural 



phenomena for those prospective profits 



which make the heart glad, demand that we 



understand and take full cognizance of the 



science underlying those phenomena. To 



I be sure ignorance ma/jy succeed, while full 



1 knowledge removes success from the realms 



j of doubt. 



[ Now, as a preface to this essay, let us re- 

 call some of those facts, which science has 

 developed, wliioli have a bearing on the 

 subject matter iu hand. 



Science determines that, in the economy 

 of the hi\'e, the older worker bees gather 

 the honey, the younger do the work of the 

 hives, as comb-building, feeding young 

 bees, etc. J while the instincts and structural 

 nature of the queen impel her to do the 

 work of egg-laymg alone. Moreover, science 

 taught very early in the world's history, 

 that the instinct of all these classes of the 

 hive incited them to an industry which 

 knows no aliatement, save as the stern hand 

 of necessity is laid upon them. Thus the 

 gatherers work with unparelleled asiduity, 

 so long as there is honey to gather and room 

 in which to store it. Tlie in-door laborers 

 build comb so long as room and the proper 

 internal arrangements of the hive permit. 

 While in the (jueen, a stronger instinct still 

 causes her to labor untiringly in her work 

 of egg-laying, yet leading her to pause, not 

 simply from necessity but often from proba- 

 bilities as well in that the (lueen ceases 

 from egg-laying when the gatiierers cease 

 from stciring. Can it be that parental solici- 

 tude for the welfare of her oifspriug, nuikes 

 her, even in the face of desire, to withold 

 from sending children to brave scarcity, 

 want, mayhap starvation. What lessons 

 has nature for those wise to read. 



Such breadth of instinct, seeming to 

 reason upon surrounding conditions, and 

 what is more wondrous still, seeming to 

 comport with structural pecularities, is not 

 alone peculiar to the queen bee. The male 

 pigeon for example feeds the young, and 

 with the hatching of the young fledglings, 

 comes a peculiar development of the crop, 

 which assists in the preparation of suitable 

 nourishment. Here too, then, structural 

 conformation, has relation to a peculiar in- 

 stinct, which takes note of outside circinn- 

 stances. Another example is found in the 

 common high-holder, Colaptes Auratus, 

 which usually lays six eggs. Yet if the 

 eggs are taken from the nest, the bird will 

 continue to lay often to the number of 

 thirty, which number was actually taken 

 from a nest at our college, by Prof. W. K. 

 Kedzie, now of the Kansas Agricultural 

 College. Here again then we notice that 

 instinct varies with circumstances, and is 

 attended by a structural change of tlio 

 ovaries. 



Hence we see, science teaches that to 

 have honey stored, we must have, not only 

 bees, but honey secreted by the flowers, and 

 room in the hive to store the same. And 

 again, to have bees to store, we must keep 

 the queen laying eggs, which demands, not 

 only room for the same in empty cells, but 

 just as imperatively that storing is con- 

 tinued. 



Now, let us see if these requisites are 

 always at hand, witiiout care and labor by 

 the apiarist. 



