1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



411 



part in the woods on a 40-acre timber 

 tract some distance from Clayton. 



When it came time last fall to put 

 away the bees for the winter, Mr. 

 and Mrs. Adams were face to face 

 with the problem 'of lack of cellar 

 room. Only a little more than half 

 of the hives could be kept in the cel- 

 lar. It was then they decided to 

 make "babes in the woods" of the 

 rest of the bees. Cases large enough 

 to hold six hives, with a space of 6 

 inches at the back and 4 inches in 

 front were built and placed facing 

 the east to aiford protection from 

 the northwest winds of winter. All 

 around and among the cases were 

 the trees to break the wind and af- 

 ford some shelter, even though their 

 branches were bare. The hives were 

 put in the cases and the spaces at the 

 back and front filled with leaves. On 

 top a layer of leaves 18 inches thick 

 was piled. Mrs. Adams, alone and 

 unaided^ gathered and carried 165 

 tubs full of leaves. 



Having prepared the bees in this 

 way to weather the snows and cold 

 ■of an Iowa winter, Mr. and Mrs. Ad- 

 ams abandoned them entirely, and 

 did not go near until about the mid- 

 dle of January. The photograph 

 shows what greeted their vision as 

 they plowed their way through the 

 deep snows to their winter apia-ry in 

 the woods. 



So undisturbed were the bees in 

 winter's snows that not even a dog 

 track was to be seen. The snow was 

 a foot or more deep on top of the 

 cases and drifted up against the 

 outer walls in a way that made it 

 seem certain, so Mr. Adams said, the 

 bees were as snug and warm as they 

 would have been in the cellar, if not 

 much more so. • 



Iowa. 



SEEDS OF HONEY PLANTS FOR 

 TRIAL 



Through the kindness of a corre- 

 spondent in China, we have received 

 a few pounds of seed of two of the 

 best honey plants of that far country. 

 They are Chinese rape and Chinese 

 broad bean. Both are said to be 

 very good for the bees. The rape 

 grows very much larger than the field 

 rape grown in this country, some- 

 times as much as si.x feet high. We 

 are putting up this seed in small 

 packages and propose to send it to 

 our readers without any charge. Our 

 only stipulation is that it be given a 

 fair chance to show what it will do 

 and that the beekeepers receiving it 

 report to us the result of their trial 

 next fall. Since we only have a 

 small quantity of this seed we can- 

 not hope to supply all who would 

 like to try it, but will supply all re- 

 quests as long as the supply holds 

 out. Only a few secd:^ can be sent 

 to each person, but they should be 

 sufficient to get a start in case the 

 plants prove valuable. 



We have also secured some of the 

 early-blooming sweet clover seed 

 which we propose to send out in sim- 

 ilar manner. This is a biennial sweet 



clover which blooms about two 

 weeks ahead of the usual white va- 

 riety. We will send small packets 

 of this seed also without charge to 

 those who wish to give it a trial. A 

 small quantity properly cared for will 

 soon give the beekeeper a chance to 

 introduce this early blooming variety 

 into his neighborhood. If we can 

 add two weeks to the length of the 

 flow from sweet clover we will' add 

 greatly to the returns from the api- 

 ary in the sweet clover districts. 

 Please remember that we have not 

 tried any of these seed> as yet, but 

 are oflfering them to our readers free 

 because they are reported to be prom- 

 ising. 



ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF API- 

 CULTURE 



By E. R. Reppert, Entomologist, Ex- 

 tension Service, A. & M. 

 College. 



It is safe to say that for the last 

 two years, and possibly for the last 

 four years, no subject dealing with 

 economic questions has been dis- 

 cussed in our country without ref- 

 erence to the European war. While 

 the great conflict was being waged, 

 our whole economic organization was 

 disarranged, values were_out of nor- 

 mal proportion, and prices were high. 

 Now, although almost two years have 

 passed since a wave of joy swept 

 around the globe with the cessation 

 of hostilities, the people of our coun- 

 try and of the whole earth still feel 

 the galling burden of high prices, left 

 them as a potent remmder of the 

 period through which they have 

 passed. Hence it is that, deplorable 

 as it may seem when viewed senti- 

 mentally, we have come from neces- 

 sity to look upon things from the 

 standpoint of utility, and our field 

 of vision is marked across with the 

 dollar sign. Mere sentiment will not 

 feed a hungry world, and things that 

 were once done largely as a pleasure, 

 or not at all, are now done as neces- 

 sary to the world's sustenance, while 

 new values have been attributed, to 

 products to which formerly little 

 thought was given by the masses. 

 Such a product is honey. 



Honey is considered as a substitute 

 for sugar. Yet with as much logic, 

 and perhaps more, can sugar be 

 called a substitute for honey. Both 

 are consumed primarily for their 

 pleasant sweet taste, both are valu- 

 able nutrients. But, except as we 

 consider the sugar in various fruits 

 and vegetables, honey was utilized 

 first. (Of course, we are speaking of 

 sugar here, as the manufactured ar- 

 ticle. Strictly speaking, honey it- 

 self is 75 per cent sugar, the remain- 

 der being mainly water.) 



Some Ancient History 



The writer was somewhat sur- 

 prised to learn, by referring to an au- 

 thority, that sugar was unknown in 

 Europe 500 years ago, being intro- 

 duced at that time from India as an 

 incidental result of the Crusades, and 

 that in the sixteenth century it cost 

 $2.45 per pound, a consoling thought 

 to keep in mind when the last 

 month's grocery bill is presented. 

 What then satisfied, during the cen- 

 turies preceding, the sweet tooth oj 

 the civilized world exclusive of India 

 and China, granting that the civilized 

 world at that time had cut its sweet 

 tooth? It could have been none 

 other than honey or the juices of 

 fruits. An instance is seriously stat- 

 ed of a sealed jar of honey recently 

 taken from one of the pyramids of 

 Egypt of as delectable flavor as when 

 placed there five thousand years ago 

 — it is supposed the party making the 

 comparison assumed the quality of 

 the first samples. 



Jacob included honey in his offer- 

 ings to his unknown son, Joseph, 

 when he sent into Egypt for food for 

 his starving people, three thousand 

 years before the first sugar refinery 

 was built. Cicero, effusing concern- 

 ing the joys of farm life, along with 

 the chickens and pigeons, the cows 

 and pigs, the butter and eggs, men- 

 tions also the hard-working bee and 

 the toothsome product of her indus- 

 try. John the Baptist sustained him- 

 self on locusts and wild honey; ob- 

 tained, the locust from the verdure 

 of the plains, the honey from the 

 caves of the bordering cliffs where 

 innumerable swarms of wild bees 



Buried deep beneath the snow 



