isy; 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



179 



frames, however, must hang plumb and true, else the best 

 effects will not be obtained. 



The facts are as above stated ; by so spacing, the queen 

 used the cells for brood, close up to the top-bar ; very few 

 braces were built, and the surplus chambers were immediately 

 used. 



In order to get correct spacing, I shaved each comb so 

 that it was just Ji Inch thiclf. My theory is this: It has 

 been proved to my own satisfaction, that no matter how deep 

 the brood-cells are left, brood is never sealed up over 7/16 

 inch in depth, while surplus is stored to full depth of cells, 

 even if the cells are J^-inch deep or deeper. Now by spacing 

 the frames in the brood-chamber, so that the cells can only bo 

 made 7 '16-inch deep, such cells will all be used for brood ; 

 provided, of course, the surplus chamber is put in position 

 while the flowers are secreting nectar. 



I find the bees prefer the deeper cells to store honey in, 

 and will use them in preference to the shallower cells for that 

 purpose, and as they evidently aim to place their brood close 

 up to their stores, they use the whole brood-chamber for that 

 purpose, under the conditions above described. 



I have been called a "crank" for expressing the above 

 opinion, but the facts remain as above stated, and I am satis- 

 fied with this theory, till a better one is offered. Let the 

 querist try it, and give the results he finds by so doing. I 

 have had considerable correspondence on the subject, and 

 have yet to learn of different results, where the idea I have 

 exprest is fully carried out ; but to give those results, the plan 

 I have indicated should be strictly adhered to. 



Bristol Co., Mass. 



How the New Deep-Cell Foundation is Made. 



BY E. B. WEED. 



Editor American Bee Journal : — In your issue of March 

 11, under the head of "The Proposed Deep-Cell Foundation," 

 Mr. Hutchinson contributes an article so full of inaccuracies 

 that I beg space to make some corrections, altho he leaves a 

 loop-hole for escape by saying, " At least, that is the way it 

 looks to me;" "I presume, but, of course, don't know posi- 

 tively," etc. He omits to say further that his statements are 

 the merest guess-work, in which " the wish Is father to the 

 thought." 



First, he tries to convey the impression that he has some 

 idea of the way the new foundation is made, and gives an 

 altogether erroneous impression. It is made much as the 

 Given foundation is — both sidewalls and base being formed at 

 one operation. 



On page 148, details regarding the size are given that 

 contradict another of Mr. Hutchinson's surmises. But he 

 makes another statement that he does not qualify, viz.: He 

 asserts that the comb from these deep cells remains unchanged 

 by the bees. How they do it, I cannot say ; but I know, and 

 so do many others, that the deep-cell walls are so reworkt 

 that they cannot be distinguisht from natural cells. 



The truth of the whole matter is, we hope to have a new 

 machine for making foundation. With it we aim to produce 

 foundation with any thickness of base and any depth and 

 weight of cell. After considerable experiment. The A. I. 

 Root Co. lookt upon a foundation having cells about one-fourth 

 inch deep as probably the most valuable for the production of 

 comb honey, and decided to introduce it this season, rather to 

 test the matter than with a view to encouraging opposition. 



Medina Co., Ohio, March 15. 



Another Chapter on Honey as Food. 



BY PROF. A. .J. COOK. 



Every bee-keeper — indeed every person who has the care 

 of any kind of live stock — is interested in food. In fact, no 

 such limitation as the above need be given, for we all have to 

 feed our own bodies, and the principles of nourishment are 

 very much the same throughout the animal kingdom, from the 

 lowest protozoan up to man himself. 



All foods consist, when perfect, of four classes of ele- 

 ments, viz : the inorganic elements — which are already capa- 

 ble of being absorbed and need no digestion ; the carbo-hy- 

 drates — sugars and starches; the fats — which are often clast 

 with the last as the hydro-carbons — and the albuminoids. Ev- 

 ery perfect food must have all of these elements. Thus wo 

 find these in milk and in eggs as these foods at times furnish 

 all of the food of animals, if we except oxygen, which Is really 

 the most important of all, though we are not in the habit of 



speaking of it as a food. In this article we are only interested 

 in the carbo-hydrates. 



The carbo-hydrates are so called because they consist of 

 oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon ; and the oxygen and hydrogen 

 are always in proportion to form water. Thus the symbol of 

 water is Ha O, and of sugar — the sugar of honey — Cio HioO.',. 

 In both these cases we see that there is just twice as many 

 atoms of oxygen as there are of hydrogen. As stated above, 

 this class of foods is made up of starch and the sugars. Honey 

 consists mainly of sugar, and so belongs to this group. 



As we all know, there are two groups of sugars — the cane- 

 sugars and the glucose or grape sugars. Cane-sugar has a 

 slightly different chemical formula from glucose sugar, and 

 is sweeter, and not so easily assimilated by the tissues, and so 

 must be digested before It is ready to be used by the body. It 

 is well known that we use a great deal more of cane-sugar 

 than we do of any other at the present time. In the olden 

 days people ate honey, which consists of the glucose series of 

 sugars, and needs no digestion. Thus many think, and with 

 much show of reason, that honey is a much safer food than 

 cane-sugar, and as it is more ready for the body and does not 

 require energy in its preparation. The cane-sugars are often 

 referred to as beet-sugar and cane-sugar, depending upon their 

 origin. If secured from the beet, we speak of it as beet-sugar; 

 if from the sugar-cane, as cane-sugar. This, however, is mis- 

 leading, for both sugars, if prepared with equal care, are ex- 

 actly identical. 



If there is an odor or other peculiarity of beet-sugar not 

 known to cane-sugar, (of course this latter term is wrongly 

 used, as both are cane-sugars), it is simply because clarifica- 

 tion has not been complete. It is a common opinion in Cali- 

 fornia that fruit put up with beet-sugar is less likely to keep 

 well than when put up with the sugar from the sugar-cane. I 

 doubt if there is anything in this. I have used the beet-sugar 

 the last two years freely in putting up fruit, and have lost 

 none at all. We do find, however, in preparing the fruits that 

 there is quite an unpleasant odor ; as already stated, this must 

 be owing to some lack in preparation. It is well to state here 

 that when fruit spoils, it is owing to the presence of vegetable 

 germs — microbes — which should never be present in fruit. If 

 the fruit is thoroughly heated — it should be boiled for some 

 minutes — and then sealed hermetically, so that the microbes 

 cannot get into the cans, the fruit will never mold, ferment or 

 decompose. 



Glucose or grape sugar is used to refer to several kinds 

 of sugars, which have usually been regarded by the chemist as 

 identical. These are corn-glucose or the glucoseof commerce, 

 glucose of digestion (which is transformed cane-sugar or starch, 

 acted upon by the animal juices of the intestines); honey, 

 which is probably the same as the last mentioned, as the bees 

 gather the cane-sugar from the flowers and transmute it by a 

 digestive process into the wholesome and delicious honey ; and 

 liver sugar, which is a product of the liver. This last may be 

 almost identical with honey-sugar. At least, like honey-sugar 

 it is very easily assimilated, and so is just what the body 

 needs for its nourishment. 



As stated above, the chemist speaks of all these sugars as 

 glucose or grape sugar, because they all act similarly in re- 

 ducing the copper salts, which is the common test for this 

 group of sugars. Cane-sugar does not respond to this test, 

 and so is easily distiuguisht by the chemist from any of the 

 glucose sugars. It is safe to say, however, that these sugars 

 are not all identical. Every well-informed bee-keeper knows 

 that while honey is a safe food fer his bees, commercial glu- 

 cose is far from safe. Indeed, the bees refuse to take commer- 

 cial glucose if they can get anything else. They seem to know 

 that it is an unwholesome food, and thus only take it as a mat- 

 ter of necessity. They seem to say, "Better this then starva- 

 tion." It is probable that if bees can fly regularly, commer- 

 cial glucose might be a safe food ; but it is certainly far from 

 this when fed for winter supplies ; in which case the bees have 

 nothing else to feed upon for long weeks, possibly months of 

 confinement. 



Thus we have another reason for crying aloud and sparing 

 not regarding the adulteration of honey and other food pro- 

 ducts by use of commercial glucose. Such action is uot only a 

 base fraud, but is also pernicious, in that it is giving to the 

 people an unsafe food. If glucose will kill bees, it stands to 

 reason that it is very probably deleterious to all animals, and 

 should be relegated to the limbo of "innocuous dessuetude." 

 It seems to me that it is not only the privilege but the duty of 

 every person to work with a will— to fight by every possible 

 means— the nefarious practice of adulterating food products 

 with commercial glucose. I believe the Bee-Keepers' Union 

 should at once commence this work, for it means a hard fight, 

 and the Union alone can undertake such a battle with any 

 considerable hope of success. I feel very certain that the Un- 



