THE AMERICAJM BEE JOURNAL. 



711 



taking wing and returning to their 

 hive ; by so doing tliere is no brood 

 lost by tlie bees not being able to 

 protect it, as the young bees are taken 

 from colonies that are crowded and 

 have plenty of bees to spare ; the 

 stronger one will not be injured, but 

 benefited by being relieved of the 

 crowd of young bees (or a part of 

 them) that are not yet needed for the 

 honey harvest, and their place will be 

 filled in a day or two by bees that are 

 constantly liatchiug from the solid 

 sheets of brood. The queen in the 

 weaker colony is now given a chance 

 to lay to her full capacity (which she 

 could not do before, for lack of bees 

 to protect and care for the eggs and 

 brood), and this colony soon becomes 

 as strong as any. Young bees may 

 be taken from several colonies, and 

 the weak one made as populous at 

 once as any in the yard. If a comb or 

 two of hatching brood is put in at the 

 same time, all the better, as there are 

 now bees enough to protect it. 



Having the colonies all in good 

 strength, and the honey season being 

 an average one, I secured a fair crop 

 for this section. The yield from 

 clover was moderate, but from bass- 

 wood it was light. The bees have 

 gathered more fall honey this season 

 than in any season for three years. 

 As the result of the season's vi'ork I 

 have 4,150 pounds of nice honey, 1,250 

 pounds being splendid comb honey, 

 and 2.900 pounds being extracted. I 

 took that amount from 47 colonies in 

 the spring, and increased my apiary 

 to 62 colonies to begin the winter 

 with. All have enougli honey to win- 

 ter on. I am getting 10 cents for 

 clover and basswood extracted honey 

 in 5 and 10 pound lots. I sell the ex- 

 tracted honey to consumers. 



Having a line lot of honey, and 

 wishing to dispose of it to consumers 

 as much as possible, as is my custom, 

 I made exhibits at Fairs this fall as a 

 means of advertising, by bringing the 

 product directly before the masses of 

 people that usually attend the Fairs. 

 This I did pretty well, as I had the 

 largest exhibit at each of The three 

 Fairs that I attended. For the Tri- 

 State Fair at Toledo, Ohip, I put up 

 an exhibit that brought out many ex- 

 pressions on the nice appearance of 

 the honey, the exquisite whiteness of 

 the comb honey, and the clearness of 

 the extracted. What rendered it still 

 more attractive, was the neat appear- 

 ance of the packages, and the tasty 

 and attractive way in which they 

 were arranged all combined to make 

 it pleasing to the eye. Some would 

 go farther than to feast their eyes on 

 the attractiveness of the display, by 

 purchasing a package to tickle their 

 palate and treat the inner man with a 

 good, wholesome, and delicious sweet. 

 At this Fair my exhibit was awarded 

 the first premium for the most attrac- 

 tive display of comb honey ; for the 

 most attractive display of extracted ; 

 best 10 pounds of comb honey, in best 

 shape for shipping and retailing ; best 

 10 pounds of extracted honey, and 

 manner of putting it up for market 

 considered ; honey-extractor. 



Returning from the Fair at Toledo, 

 I prepared for and made an exhibit 



at our County Fair held at Adrian, 

 that entirely eclipsed that made at 

 Toledo, both in magnitude and splen- 

 dor, which again brought forth many 

 expressions in praise of the display, 

 many saying that it was the best and 

 most attractive display at the Fair, 

 mainly because it was something new 

 and different from what they are used 

 to seeing at Fairs. 



The total amount of the premiums 

 offered in the bee and honey depart- 

 ment was $42.50, tlie most of which 

 was taken up, there being but three 

 exhibitors ; there were not entries 

 enough made to take up the whole 

 list. Still we did well for a County 

 Fair. 



The next week found me at 

 Morenci, Mich., putting up an ex- 

 hibit there, which many said was 

 the best of any exhibit at the Fair. 

 Here the premiums offered were so 

 small that it wiis scarcely any induce- 

 ment to put up a display, but the dis- 

 play was made any way, and did me 

 good service by way of advertising. 

 Had I not exhibited honey at this 

 Fair last year and this, the bee-keep- 

 ing interest would not have been 

 represented, and the opportunity of 

 showing the products of the honey- 

 bee lost. 



Summing up the whole matter of 

 attending and making exhibits at 

 Fairs, I ieel richly repaid for the ef- 

 fort required, as the money received 

 by way of premiums paid all expenses; 

 also fair wages for the time spent. 

 Some honey was sold where it would 

 not otherwise have been sold. Then 

 there is the advantage gained by way 

 of advertising, which is no small 

 matter where a bee-keeper has a crop 

 of honey to dispose of, and relies upon 

 the people in his vicinity to consume 

 it, thus laying the foundation for a 

 permanent market at home. Add to 

 the above the opportunity of meeting 

 the many friends and acquaintances 

 that attend the Fairs, I can say that I 

 have had a good time, both for pleas- 

 ure and profit. 1 do not wish any to 

 tliink that mine was the only exhibit 

 worth looking at, for, although I had 

 ttie largest and seemingly best dis- 

 play, there were other exhibits that 

 needed looking at as well as mine. 

 Nor do I wish any to think that I 

 want to take too much praise on my- 

 self for putting up a display. AVhere 

 one has the material to make a dis- 

 play of, it comes to one natural 

 enough to arrange it properly. 



Adrian, o> Mich. 



For t?ie American Hee Journal. 



Nitrogen, ttie Elements of Fat etc. 



SAMXTEL CUSH5IAN. 



On page 651 Prof. A. .J. Cook says : 

 "Mr. Samuel Oushman, on page 671, 

 states that I say that nitrogen may 

 be transformed into fat. He quite 

 misunderstood me. There is no nitro- 

 gen in fat, nor is there any carbon, 

 hydrogen or oxygen (the elements of 

 fat) in nitrogen. Hence any such 

 statement would be perfectly absurd." 



As the above is an ansvper to my 

 question, I suppose there is no call 



for anything from me ; but lest any 

 one should think that I have done the 

 Professor injustice by such a state- 

 ment, 1 quote the following from his 

 essay on " The Pollen Theory,"' on 

 page 25 : " In some cases, as in fatty 

 degeneration of the heart, almost 

 pure muscle is transformed into fat." 

 Does Prof. Cook deny that muscle is 

 composed, the greater part of it, of 

 nitrogen V 



In another place he says : " Again, 

 when animals hibernate, or when they 

 are long sick and take no food, the 

 stored fat can, for a time, serve the 

 purpose of all food." Then (he rea- 

 sons) all organic food may under the 

 best conditions be converted into fat. 

 All organic food means so much al- 

 bumen or nitrogen, and mineral salts, 

 etc., as well as carbon — the fat and 

 heat producer. This, he claims, can 

 all be converted into fat. So much 

 for my statement. 



On page 26, he says : " We have 

 seen that stored fat, in animals that 

 hibernate, and in case of disease, will 

 alone serve to keep up nitrogen." I 

 question the truth of the statement 

 that " stored fat will alone " serve to 

 keep up the nitrogen, or for a time 

 serve the purpose of all food. 



Is it not well known that the nerves, 

 muscles, and blood are all used and 

 wasted in such a case as well as fat V 

 Of course when we are deprived of 

 food, fat wastes the most rapidly, and 

 it naturally would, as our daily food 

 requires the greater proportion of 

 those elements that may make fat, 

 but the other elements are as surely 

 wasted, although in a limited quantity. 



Pawtucket,5 R- 1- 



For tne American Bee JoumaU 



Are Bees Property 



C. L. SWEET. 



<) 



Mr. Camm's article on page 454 con- 

 tains some peculiar ideas about 

 political economy and bee taxation. 

 Mr. Camm says that if his bees were 

 taxed he would " howl," and that he 

 weiit into the bee-business to enjoy his 

 natural rights. I live in the same 

 State in which Mr. Camm does, and 

 have paid taxes on my apiary for 

 more than twenty years. It was as- 

 sessed for the first time by myself. 



The revenue law of Illinois enumer- 

 ates certain kinds of property that is 

 taxable, such as horses, cattle, mules, 

 etc., ;W questions, and then says, all 

 other property. In another section it 

 mentions by name particularly the 

 kinds of property that are exempt. 

 Now I reasoned in this way : If an 

 apiary is property it is not exempt 

 from taxation in Illinois. If any per- 

 son should attempt to carry mine 

 away without consulting me about so 

 doing, I should be very apt to claim 

 that bees were property. So they 

 were assessed. 



With my present understanding of 

 this question, if I was the assessor in 

 the township where Mr. Camm has 

 his apiary, I should assess it, and 

 then let him " howl " and fall back on 

 his natural rights, etc. Neither would 

 he be allowed to whine out on account 



