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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



all food, it is not unreasonable to con- 

 clude that all organic food may under 

 the best conditions be converted into 

 fat. We positively know that animals 

 may eat all muscle— as beef's heart— 

 and yet the liver will form glycogen, 

 wliich in turn becomes liver sugar, 

 and, as we have seen in the marvelous 

 economy of the body, sugar promotes 

 the formation of fat, it may be that 

 all food under the best conditions con- 

 duces to the storing up of fat, and 

 that sugar powerfully aids to bring 

 about just this most favorable con- 

 dition. These carbo-hydrates are 

 often styled the heat-producing foods. 

 I think this term false and mislead- 

 ing. It is probable that all food, of 

 which these sugars are an important 

 part, are to nourish or to build up tis- 

 sues and carry on the organic proces- 

 ses. This vital work generates heat. 

 Heat is incidental. Nutrition is to 

 build up and keep the body in work- 

 ing condition ; in doing this the body 

 is Kept warm. 



We have seen that stored fat in ani- 

 mals that hibernate, and in case of 

 disease, will alone serve to keep up 

 the nutrition. We have also seen that 

 these carbohydrates conduce more 

 than other food to the formation of 

 this fat. Is it not scientitic then to 

 rirge that tlie pure carbohydrates are 

 the best food on which to winter our 

 beesV And this is enforced, I believe, 

 by experience and by nature as well, 

 for I doubt not but that in most cases 

 in nature, almost the entire food of 

 bees while they are quiescent in win- 

 ter, is honey. 



Let me state further that cane sugar 

 which composes from one to eight per 

 cent, of honey, when eaten by any ani- 

 mal, man included, is changed in the 

 stomach to a sugar much like, if not 

 identical, with honey. The bees do 

 the same with nearly all the cane 

 sugar or nectar, or with most of the 

 cane sugar when they feed upon it. 

 Hence it is more than likely that 

 honey is one of the most healthy and 

 nutritious of all our sugars ; that the 

 bees have done for us what we would 

 have to do for ourselves had we eaten 

 the cane sugar. Who has not found 

 that honey seems to go further, and 

 satisfy more quickly, even than cane 

 sugar when eaten on our tables V One 

 more point, common glucose, or grape 

 sugar,— I now mean the artificial pro- 

 duct produced by the action of sul- 

 phuric acid on corn starch— lioney, and 

 liver sugar are usually all called glu- 

 cose or grape sugar by chemists. They 

 are chemically identical, and give the 

 same reactions with the copper salts 

 which they all reduce, which fact fur- 

 nishes one of the best tests for these 

 sugars. Yet I do not .believe they are 

 the same. Physiologically they seem 

 quite different. Why, when we eat 

 glucose, is it changed to glycogen in 

 the liver and then to liver sugar, un- 

 less tlie latter is more easily assimi- 

 lated V Why do bees thrive on honey, 

 and die when fed the artificial glucose? 

 Why do ijees refuse to eat artificial 

 grape sugar when honey or nectar is 

 fo be had V All these facts seem to 

 indicate wliat I believe to be true, 

 that physiologically honey, starch, glu- 

 cose and liver glucose are really dif- 



ferent. Taste and vital action are nicer 

 chemists than our scientists, and detect 

 differences which the latter as yet fail 

 to recognize. It is possible that honey 

 and liver glucose are identical. The 

 fact that both arise in the animal body 

 under the influence of the digestive 

 ferments would make this view plausi- 

 ble. 



The third group of food elements 

 consists of the fats. The higher ani- 

 mals obtain these largely in all vege- 

 table and animal food. While the 

 fats, also called by some the hydro- 

 cai'bons, consist of the same chemical 

 elements as do the carbo-hydrates, the 

 oxygen is far less in amoimt. Actual 

 experiment has shown that higher 

 animals thrive poorly without some 

 of this kind of food. Its value is far- 

 ther attested by the appetite which 

 craves fat, especially if the weather is 

 cold. Bees get some of this kind of 

 food in their pollen. It seems quite 

 likely that the stored fat of the body 

 may come in part from the fat eaten, 

 though this is not certain. It is cer- 

 tainly true that all does not, as ani- 

 mals are often known to store much 

 more fat than is taken with their food. 

 It is quite likely that most fat eaten 

 goes to serve the current needs, while 

 some of the carbo-hydrates and the 

 nitrogenous food, and quite likely 

 some fat is, through the wonderous 

 economy of the vital organism, 

 changed into and stored up as fat. 

 That nitrogenous tissues may be 

 robbed of their nitrogen and further 

 changed into fat, is proved by disease 

 where fatty degeneration is noticed. 

 This may occur in all organs. In some 

 cases, as in fatty degeneration of the 

 heart, almost pure muscle is trans- 

 formed into fat. IJees get but little 

 fat in their food, and so this group of 

 food elements interests us less than 

 do the others. 



The albuminoids or nitrogenous 

 food elements make up our last group. 

 These have, in addition to theoxygen, 

 hydrogen and carbon — nitrogen. All 

 protoplrtsm or active vital tissue, 

 whether animal or vegetable, consists 

 largely of this nitrogenous material. 

 But as all organs get their substance 

 from the food, it becomes evident that 

 the albuminoids are absolutely essen- 

 tial in food. Higher animals get this 

 albuminous food in all vegetables, in 

 muscle, eggs, cheese, etc. Bees also 

 get it from vegetables, usually from 

 honey which contains from .2 to .6 per 

 cent, albuminoids and from pollen, 

 often from fungoid spores, and occa- 

 sionally from various kinds of flour 

 or meal. This kind of food must fur- 

 nish the elements for building up 

 all the protoplasms of the body whicli 

 form a large proportion of all the 

 vital organs and tissues. We have 

 already seen that some of this nitro- 

 genous food may be transformed into 

 fat. 



As no animal can possibly be de- 

 veloped from the egg to adult life 

 without this albuminous food, and, as 

 in all vital action, some of this mate- 

 rial in the body is used up and must 

 be restored, it follows that brood-rear- 

 ing in tlie hive and activity of the bees 

 necessitates the presence of these al- 

 buminoids in the food. 



As honey contain no albuminous 

 food, except the pollen in it, it follows 

 that bees must have bee-bread to rear 

 brood, and also to preserve their or- 

 ganisms intact during the busy part 

 of their existence. To say that bees 

 may breed with no bee-bread, or that 

 the active workers need none, is to- 

 say that you can have an ocean with- 

 out water, a desert without sand, or 

 bricks without clay. 



We know that hibernating animals, 

 and animals long sick, often fast for 

 months. Yet here the vital forces- 

 must be kept up and must have nour- 

 ishment. We have seen that in such 

 cases the fat is used up, and without 

 doubt tlie protoplasm in muscle and 

 other inactive tissues yield up of their 

 substance to furnish the small amount 

 of albuminous nutriment needed. If 

 we could keep our minds and bodies 

 wholly inactive, we should need but 

 little nitrogenous food. 



We may conclude then, reasoning 

 from real hibernation, where animals 

 are wholly inactive, from cases of long 

 sickness, and from higher animals in 

 a state of quiescence, that our bees 

 during their winter quiet in cellar or 

 clamp, when the vital activities are 

 at a minimum, have enough of the 

 albuminoid elements in blood and tis- 

 sues and may thrive on a pure car- 

 bonaceous diet. Analogies, as pointed 

 out, make the hypothesis tenable. 



Again, bees are naturally very neat 

 and do not void their excreta in the 

 hive except under the severest stress 

 of circumstances. I have more than 

 once gathered all the refuse under a 

 full colony of bees at the close of the 

 of a long winter's sojourn in the cellar, 

 and found almost no nitrogenous mat- 

 ter. If, then, bees are to be forced to 

 long confinement, we should spare no 

 pains to secure the greatest possible 

 quietude. Just the proper tempera- 

 ture, I think, will, under favorable 

 circumstances of food and air, secure 

 this quiescence. But in case the 

 temperature or ought else should 

 irritate, then it were better that no 

 pollen should be eaten, for without 

 it breeding, which demands great 

 activity, would be impossible, and in 

 its absence the active digestion nec- 

 essary to liquify albuminous food 

 would be avoided. It is a generally 

 recognized fact that an inactive life 

 needs little, and is better with little 

 albuminous food. Indeed, albuminous 

 food, as we have seen, subserves the 

 vital activities ; of course, then as we 

 reduce these, we reduce the required 

 amount of nitrogenous aliment. 



Again, the indigestible portion of 

 the carbonaceous food, especially the 

 carbo-hydrates, is very slight. Not so 

 with pollen. We can readily see then 

 that where the feces are to be re- 

 tained in the intestines as long the 

 pollenaceous food would be or might 

 be irritating, and were better with- 

 held. 



We thus see that from experience, 

 from analogy, and from what we 

 know of food's and the vital activities, 

 we may well believe that our bees 

 were better off in many cases were 

 pollen absent from their winter 

 aliment. 

 Agricultural College, 9 Mich. 



