August, 1907. 



American ^ee Journal 



Where do the Field-Bees Deposit 

 Their Loads? 



On another page of this number will 

 be found a communication from our 

 good friend of "the land o' cakes," D. M. 

 Macdonald. If he is right in his sup- 

 position that no one should have misun- 

 derstood any of his condensed state- 

 ments, then all is well, and nothing more 

 is to be said upon that subject. 



He will pardon, however, a brief re- 

 joinder with regard to the matter of 

 honey, or nectar, being deposited in the 

 brood-nest or brood-chamber and after- 

 ward carried up into the super. 



No, Mr. Macdonald, your "impossible" 

 was not misunderstood, but was under- 

 stood just as you intended it to mean— 

 the cells being already filled it was "im- 

 possible" to use them for storing the 

 nectar brought in from the field. If your 

 premise was correct, your "impossible" 

 was a legitimate deduction. The point at 

 issue now is whether 'the nectar that 

 mav be shaken out of a brood-frame at 

 a time wheji bees are gathering is mere- 

 ly "a small percentage with unsealed 

 honey * * * for the nurse-bees," or 

 whether all the honey brought in by 

 the fielders is first deposited in the 

 brood-chamber. 



As one shakes a brood-comb and notes 

 the amount of thin honey thrown out. 

 it hardly seems possible that it could 

 all be needed for the immediate wants 

 of the nurse-bees. On the other hand, 

 it must be frankly admitted that when 

 one takes comb after comb out of the 

 brood - chamber, and notes how well 

 filled they are, one hesitates to believe 

 that there is room in them to deposit 

 the gathering of a day when that gath- 

 ering amounts to S, lo, or more pounds. 

 But we have it on the word of so care- 

 ful an observer as G. M. Doolittle that 

 such is the case, and if Mr. Macdonald 

 is willing to accept him as proof on one 

 point, why not on another? 



Plainly, however, there is a contra- 

 diction between the day's gathering be- 

 ing deposited in the brood-chamber, and 

 the combs being "literally filled with 

 brood." But was not that last meant by 

 Mr. Doolittle to be understood as a very 

 emphatic statement rather than to be 

 understood that every single cell in ev- 

 ery comb was filled with brood? It is 

 a common thing to speak of frames filled 

 with brood, but did any one ever see 

 a frame in which every single cell was 

 filled with brood? Mr. Doolittle is not 

 ignorant that many cells are occupied 

 with pollen, and certainly such cells 

 could not be filled with brood. Would 

 Mr. Doolittle mean to have a thing un- 

 derstood that he knew to be "impossi- 

 ble"? 



But we will not discuss the matter fur- 

 ther at present; merely rest upon the 

 statement of Mr. Doolittle that the field- 

 bees deposit their loads in the brood- 

 chamber ; and leave it to each of the 

 two gentlemen to convince the other that 

 he is mistaken; and may the truth win. 



bought by bee-keepers it is quite the 

 common thing to find in that. Journal 

 advertisements of pure cane sugar. On 

 this side, the matter has hardly seemed 

 worth considering". Granulated sugar 

 is largely from beets; it is not easy to 

 get sugar that one can be sure is cane — 

 indeed, practically impossible for the 

 average bee-keeper — and, moreover, an- 

 alysis shows that chemically the two 

 sugars are precisely the same, so where's 

 the use to bother? It may be no harm, 

 however, to note what the British Bee 

 Journal has to say in support of its 

 views. On page 208 is found the fol- 

 lowing: 



It is quite true that "beet-sugar" is 

 chemically identical with cane-sugar, 

 and in a laboratory can be produced 

 pure; but it is most difficult to purify 

 beet-sugar in such a manner as to get 

 rid of all the potash salts. It is the 

 presence of these that makes beet-su- 

 gar so liable to fermentation, and causes 

 the general complaint among house- 

 keepers that preserves do not keep so 

 well as they used to before the intro- 

 duction of sugar made from beet-root. 

 Cane-sugar is free from these salts, 

 hence its freedom from fermentation. 

 Much of the beet-sugar is also artificially 

 colored with aniline dyes. Referring to 

 the complaint that cane-sugar is high- 

 er in price than beet, the difference is 

 more than compensated for by its great- 

 er sweetening power. Chemists find 

 that cane-sugar gives a clearer and 

 sweeter syrup than that made from beet- 



root, the clearness being due to its 

 greater purity. Beet-sugar also varies 

 very much, and if it were chemically 

 pure sugar it might be admissible ; but 

 in commerce it is not so, and we do 

 not consider it fit for bee-food. There 

 are many things chemically identical that 

 we should not consider fit substitutes. 

 For instance, sawdust, is chemically the 

 same, both qualitatively and quantita- 

 tively, as corn-flour, but one would 

 hardly care to have bread, however 

 cheap, made from sawdust. Nor would 

 we like our butcher to send us a piece 

 of leather instead of a beef-steak, al- 

 though the composition is chemically al- 

 most identical. Cane-sugar comes next 

 to honey as a bee-food, and even were 

 it considerably dearer than it now is. 

 we should consider it more economical 

 in every way for bee-keepers to use it 

 in preference to beet sugar. We have had 

 practical experience that bad wintering 

 was frequently due to feeding bees with 

 beet-sugar, and therefore can not recom- 

 mend it. 



After reading the foregoing, we may 

 well ask the question whether we might 

 not be the gainers to adopt the views 

 of our British brethren. If there is only 

 a little difference in the wholesomeness 

 of the two sugars, it would be well 

 worth while to be to no small amount 

 of trouble, if we must feed sugar, to 

 make sure of the better. Certainly, if 

 there is a sufficient demand guaranteed 

 cane-sugar can be had. The only ques- 

 tion is whether bee-keepers demand it. 



0)l5cellaneou^ 

 flews If cms 



A Remarkably Late Season 



After an unusually warm spell in 

 March, the weather seemed to be in no 

 hurry to warm up, and some report the 

 white-honey harvest nearly a month 

 later in opening than usual, in north- 

 ern Illinois white clover not beginning 

 to yield till the last of June. 



Beet Versus Cane-Sugar 



For years the British Bee Journal has 

 insisted that cane-sugar is greatly su- 

 perior to beet-sugar as bee-food, and in 

 the season when sugar is likely to be 



Death of a New York Bee-Keeper 



Mr. David J. West, of Middleburgh, 

 N. Y., son of Mr. N. D. West, so well 

 known to bee-keepers of that State, died 

 July 15, as a result of a runaway horse 

 that was frightened at an automobile. 

 Mr. West was only 25 years of age, and 

 leaves a wife and baby daughter. He 

 was an exemplary young man, honored 

 and beloved by all who knew him. The 

 .American Bee Journal, to which Mr. 

 West was an occasional contributor, ex- 

 tends sincerest sympathy to the bereaved 

 families. 



From a Weekly to a Monthly 



As we have received some letters re- 

 ferring to the change in the American 



Bee Journal from a weekly to a month- 

 ly, we thought it might be well to give 

 a sample of each kind that have come. 

 Here is one favoring the change : 



Dear Friend York : — I have wanted 

 to write to you and extend my congratu- 

 lations and best wishes ever since I 

 heard of the change in the Journal. The 

 only fault I ever found with it was that 

 it was a "weekly," for a busy man does 

 "not want a weekly bee-paper. I think 

 you have made a good choice in chang- 

 ing it to a monthly magazine form. The 

 first copy shows up fine. But from my 

 point of view you have made one mis- 

 take — you should have made the price 

 50 cents instead of 25 cents. It is well 

 worth it, and I believe you would get 

 just as many subscribers at that rate. 

 I can't see why not, as 25c. is too 

 "cheap" ; but perhaps you have reasons 

 that I have not considered. Any way, 

 you have our support in the new regime. 

 Harry Lathrop. 



Bridgeport, Wis., July 20th. 



Here is one from a good friend in 

 Kansas who does not favor the change: 



