794 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



for winter stores ; in fact I have never 

 had to resort to feeding sugar for 

 winter stores, and 1 hope 1 never 

 shall. 



There are many more annuals and 

 shrubs that go to make up the honey- 

 flora of northern Michigan, and we 

 have some disadvantages that our 

 Southern bee-keepers do not have ; 

 but taking all in all, I think the north- 

 ern half of the State is much better 

 adapted to the pursuit of bee-keeping, 

 and that the honey is of better quality 

 than in the southern half. 



Dr. Ashley— 1 had 300 pounds of 

 honey that was bitter. It has been 

 pronounced boneset. I should be 

 pleased to know what it is. 



Dr. Mason— I have had honey from 

 boneset. and it is bitter. 



W. Z. Hutchinson- So have I. 



Prof. Cook— The secretion from the 

 bark-louse is gathered in some dry 

 seasons, and this is bitter. 



R. L. Taylor— I am surprised to 

 hear Mr. Hilton speak of basswood 

 honey as amber colored. 



Prof. Cook— I have had samples of 

 basswood honey that were amber 

 colored. 



T. r. Bingham— Oh, Professor, that 

 probably came from standing in those 

 discarded sap-pans in the granary. 

 (Laughter.) Basswood honey usually 

 has a greenish tinge. 



Dr. Mason— When bees are gather- 

 ing honey from one kind of plant they 

 may also be gathering a little from 

 something else, which will slightly 

 change the flavor or color. 



The convention then adjourned un- 

 til 8:30 a.m. of the next day. 



Concluded iiext week. 



controversy, but that we may consider! evidently in good condition. But in 

 " ' ' " ■' ■ ' ' nearly every section a few cells are- 



to be found, the cappings of which, 

 although apparently sound, are 

 bulged out, and show'by their trans- 

 parency that the cell is partly empty. 

 On closer examination these cappings 

 are found to be burst outward ; and 

 the honey that has not " sweated " 

 out of them, as well as that contained 

 in a few cells that have cracked by 

 variation of temperature, or by hand- 

 ling, is as thoroughly granulated as 

 that at the bottom of the case. Now 

 why is the honey in the sound, sealed 

 cells liquid, while all the other is 

 granulated y Is it not evident that 

 the one is sheltered from the action 

 of the air, while the other is not V 



Whether all honey-cappings ex- 

 clude the air is perhaps doubtful, but 

 that the bees '' aim at compact cov- 

 erings for their honey, while the seal- 

 ing of the brood is porous (Cheshire),"" 

 makes no doubt for me. Evidently 

 even this view is debatable, else Mr. 

 Hutchinson would not be so eager for 

 a discussion, and 1 shall be glad to 

 see it fully ventilated, by him and 

 others. 



For the American Bee Journai. 



ObMoiis on LcEislation for Bee-Keepers, 



W. 11. OSBORNE. 



On page 74'J, Dr. Miller asks for the 

 views of bee-keepers, and especially 

 for the opinions of those belonging to 

 the legal fraternity, on the subject of 

 "legislation for bee-keepers." The 

 Doctor seems to raise two questions— 

 " the desirability and the feasibility of 

 such legislation as will give a bee- 

 keeper an exclusive right to keep bees 

 in a certain territory." 



The question of " desirability " is 

 one that I think it would be difficult 

 for us to decide with unbiased judg- 

 ment. There are persons in this vil- 

 lage who have kept bees longer tlian 

 I have, and if by reason of priority I 

 must surrender the business to them, 

 such legislation might appear more 

 desirable to them than to me. In 

 other wiirds. our own opinions as to 

 the desirability of such legislation 

 would naturally depend upon whether 

 it would or would not inure to our 

 beneflt. 



The question of " feasibility " per- 

 haps we can discuss with less preju- 

 dice, and although my views may not 

 entirely coincide with those of the 

 Doctor, still 1 do not advance them 

 for the purpose of entering into a 



the subject in its various phases. 

 There is no doubt that much good 

 might result to the specialist from 

 such legislation as would give them 

 absolute control over certain terri- 

 tory ; but in what way could this be 

 accomplished V I can see no way ex- 

 cept it be by license, and I do not 

 think that in this State the Supreme 

 Court would hold a license law con- 

 stitutional that had for its object the 

 restriction of such a lawful industry 

 as bee-keeping. Liquor-selling is the 

 only business (?) which is restrained 

 in that manner, and that is only done 

 under the guise of a tax, which it is 

 claimed gives no right to sell, and 

 certainly we do not want to bring our 

 noble pursuit down to a level with 

 that nefarious traffic. 



But if such legislation could be ob- 

 tained, would not the effect be to 

 foster monopolies? The specialist 

 could keep his hundreds of colonies, 

 and supply the market, while the 

 poor man would be deprived of keep- 

 ing his 2 or 3 colonies to produce 

 enough honey for his own family use. 

 There is competition in all kinds of 

 business, and by reason of such com- 

 petition two will sometimes fail where 

 one would succeed ; but we never 

 think of asking legislatures to decide 

 which of the two shall yield the en- 

 tire business to the other. Another 

 difliculty I see is this : We do not 

 pasture our bees entirely on our own 

 land, and why should the legislature 

 say that Mr. Smith may pasture his 

 bees on the land of Mr. Jones, to the 

 exclusion of Mr. Brown, or even of 

 Mr. Jones himself ? While I say 

 nothing about the desirability of such 

 legislation, I must say that as I view 

 the matter, it does not seem feasible. 

 I am a tirm believer in the theory of 

 the " survival of the fittest," and I 

 believe that the bee-keeper who reads 

 the bee-papers and keeps up with the 

 progress of the times, can defy com- 

 petition from those who are trying to 

 carry on the business as their fathers 

 and their grandfathers did before 

 them. 

 Chardon,t$ O. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Tlie Camiinis o?er Honey, 



C. p. DADANT. 



On page 762 Mr. Hutchinson asks 

 me to give my proofs for saving that 

 honey-cappings are impervious ; and 

 I hasten to respond, as it is always a 

 pleasure for me to discuss a subject 

 with him. 



We have in our extracting room— a 

 cold room in winter and rather warm 

 in summer— a few cases of honey in 

 sections that have been there ever 

 since the fall of 1884. This comb 

 honey has been " sweating " like 

 honey often does, and the bottom of 

 the cases is covered with granulated 

 honey. 



Upon examination of the sections, 

 the greater part of the cells are found 

 to be capped, and the honey under 

 the cappings is liquid, but thick, and 



Now, as to the nature of cappings : 

 If the reader will take a parcel of 

 clean, white honey-cappings on the 

 end of a knife and place it near a 

 light— not too close — but near enough 

 to melt it, he will have a pretty good 

 idea of the nature of them. That 

 ordinary honey-cappings are not ab- 

 solutely free of foreign matter is 

 easily comprehended, since the travel- 

 ing of the bees over them, in the hive, 

 is sufficient to alter their color in a 

 few days. In addition, the yellow 

 coloring pigment so well known to- 

 bee-keepers (and so little explained), 

 and the impurities of the atmosphere, 

 undoubtedly more or less contaminate 

 the wax during the manipulation of 

 this soft and plastic material. 



Practically speaking, however, 

 honey-cappings are pure wax. and if 

 unmixed with propolis, cast skins or 

 cocoons, from the cell walls, in ex- 

 tracting, will give little or no residue, 

 except damaged beeswax. 



I know that it is a popular opinion 

 that the pale, clean, grainy looking 

 residue often obtained in rendering 

 wax over water is pollen. It looks 

 like pollen-grains.but is pure wax.and 

 any one who has tried the solar wax- 

 extractor side by side with the water 

 process, will testify to the fact that 

 this so-called pollen residue is entirely 

 absent in sun-rendered beeswax. On 

 this subject I cannot refrain from re- 

 calling the experience of Mrs. Chad- 

 dock, who, after melting her wax 4 or 

 5 times over, and finding this residue 

 more plentiful every time, came to the 

 conclusion that it was all a sham, and 

 that her beeswax was no beeswax 

 at all. 



Hamilton,*o Ills. 



F8y~ Sample Copies of the Bee JonBNAi. 

 will be sent free upon application. Any one- 

 intending to get up a club can have sample- 

 copies sent to the persons they desire to In- 

 terview, by Bending the names to this office, 

 or we will send them all to the ajrent. 



