1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



21^ 



literally, of course. But let me tell you, that 

 old bee-master Wygant, mentioned several 

 times before, has fed and fattened his bees, 

 not only on milk and egg, I:)arley and oat 

 soup, on wheat flour, but also on bread and 

 butter and cheese ; on potatoes, meat, etc. 

 What are our foods, anyway ? Chiefly a com- 

 position of the very few principal elements, 

 one differing from the other only slightly in 

 its make-up. For instance, while starch 

 may differ in looks and taste from sugar, the 

 elements they are composed of are about the 

 same. A kernel of wheat contains nearly the 

 same elements as the egg, while the kernel of 

 corn does not ; it has a great overplus of heat- 

 forming elements, and in order to make a bal- 

 anced ration out of it for horse, cattle, swine, 

 or poultry, bees or man, bone and muscle form- 

 ing elements will have to be added. 



Then, again, we take the kernel of wheat 

 and feed it to the hen ; the hen converts it in- 

 to the egg; we take the egg, subject it to incu- 

 bation, and, presto! the elements formerly con- 

 tained in the eggshell are changed into meat, 

 blood, and bone ; we have a chick ; we feed it 

 the kernel of wheat again, and we have the 

 broiler, the roaster, the matured capon. 



Then, again, we take the same indestructi- 

 ble, everlasting elements, as they appear to us, 

 in the form of nitrate of soda, or perhaps am- 

 monia, in the potash, in the phosphoric acid; 

 we feed them to the corn-plant ; in due time 

 nature changes them into the heat-producing 

 corn, the muscle-producing pollen, and so they 

 go the rounds. The meat that came from the 

 egg was nursed up by the wheat kernel. Let 

 us take it, dry it, pulverize it perfectly, make 

 it palatable for the bee by means of a sweet 

 liquid, and they will eat it and do well on it 

 (they will eat the duck). Or t^ke the meat 

 and convert it into Liebig's beef extract, sweet- 

 en it, and the bees will do well on that (they 

 will eat the sheep or the beef). 



Take the Switzer cheese, the most concen- 

 trated substitute of pollen, containing, I think, 

 62 per cent of albumen ; offer that to the bees 

 in a form that they ran use it, and they zvi//. 



At last the potato, the poorest of all the pol- 

 len substitutes, who says the bees could not 

 have a picnic over that? Just try it, although 

 the potato contains only 2 to 3 per cent of al- 

 bumen, but all the more of the starch, which 

 the bees will manufacture into sugar. Boil 

 the potato till it is mealy; mash it and mix it 

 into your feeding-honey or the sweetened milk. 

 They will eat their pudding and milk without 

 asking for even a spoon. 



It is a strange world, this world of ours, and 

 yet how simple ! In feeding bees we must 

 take into consideration the end to be accom- 

 plished. During the winter a colony of bees 

 does not need to build up any new frames, but 

 must keep from freezing; hence very little of 

 the bone and muscle producing food is required 

 by them, but all the more of the heat-produc- 

 ing. Honey will just fill the bill. Just as 

 soon as breeding commences, then they must 

 have the other — the pollen, the albumen from 

 the egg, the milk, the lean meat, or whatever 

 substitute is at hand. 



The apiarist of to-day, the farrner, the cook. 



all ought to have at least a rude knowledge of 

 chemistry or they may ofttimes be wandering 

 in the dark. Let us learn to apply science 

 more in our pursuit of bee-keeping. 



I started out with the intention of reporting 

 our bee-keepers' convention, but I drifted 

 ashore. If I succeed in getting the old shell 

 back into deep water I may try it again. 



Naples, N. Y. 



THE WISCONSIN BEE-KEEPERS' CONVENTION. 



The Good Work of the Foul-brood Inspector, but 



Hampered by a Lack of Funds ; Honey 



vs. Sugar ; Freight Hates, etc. 



BY H. I^ATHROP. 



The fourteenth annual convention of the 

 Wisconsin Bee-keepers' Association was held 

 in a room of the capitol, at Madison, Feb. 2 

 and 3. There were about twenty-five bee- 

 keepers present, including all the officers. 

 We had a good convention and a good time, 

 and believe some important work was done. 

 We are learning to devote more time in our 

 State association to general measures for the 

 good of our industry, and leave more of the 

 ABC work to local meetings and institutes. 



One of the first things that came before the 

 convention was a brief report from State Foul- 

 brood Inspector N. E. France. He stated 

 that he had traveled oSOO miles in the dis- 

 charge of his duties; he found foul brood ex- 

 isting in 27 apiaries situated in several coun- 

 ties In the majority of cases these apiaries 

 were cured after the first visit by carrying out 

 his directions on the part of the owners. In 

 cases of failure it was invariably caused by a 

 failure to do as directed. Many copies of Dr. 

 Howard's pamphlet, with Mr. France's ap- 

 pendix, giving full instructions for the cure 

 of the disease, were distributed. 



Mr. France found many cases of the disease 

 known as "pickled brood," which usually 

 disappeared toward the latter part of the sea- 

 son, without treatment; he does not think it 

 will develop into foul brood without infection. 

 Very fine salt sprinkled over the combs seem- 

 ed to aid in cleaning it out. 



He found a large number of bee-keepers 

 who took no paper on bee culture, and, as a 

 result, often lost money by not being posted 

 on markets and methods. The inspector was 

 hampered in his work by the fact that the 

 appropriation of !j?.50() by the State had to cover 

 all expenses, including transportation. The 

 executive officers were instructed by the con- 

 vention to apply for free transportation over 

 the railroads of the State, for our inspector, 

 the same as is allowed to other State officers. 



The question, " How can bee-keepers in- 

 crease the demand for honey ? " was discussed. 

 Mr. Lathrop advised that bee-keepers set a 

 good example by using more honey and less 

 sugar in their own homes. It has proved its 

 superiority as a healthful food, and can be 

 used largely to take the place of sugar. Mr. 

 Wilcox said bee-keepers would do well to 

 stamp their name and address on each section 

 of comb honey, so that consumers would 



