THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



37 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Honey as Food.— The London (Eng- 

 land) lliirlkultural Journal, gives the 

 following extract from an address on 

 the above subject, by Mr. T. W. Cow- 

 an, F. G.S., of Horsham, at the 

 Brighton Health Congress : 



Mr. Cowan said tliat bees in olden 

 time were extensively cultivated for 

 their lionev and wax, and it was re- 

 markable how frequently allusion was 

 made to these products by ancient 

 writers. We read tliat the land where 

 Abraliam dwelt was one •• (lowing 

 with milk and honey," and that in the 

 Mosaic law there were many statutes 

 regulating tlie ownershi]) of bees. 

 Solomon recommended the use of 

 honey in the words, " My son, eat 

 honey for it is good." About GOO 

 years I'.. C, bees seem to liave been 

 regularly cidtivated. for Solon made 

 a law requiring liee liives to be placed 

 300 feet apart in cultivated fields. 

 The Persians, Grecians and Uomans 

 made use of honey extensively, and 

 it was used for sweetening tlieir bev- 

 erages. It was mixed with wine, 

 and to this day it is used by theS|)an- 

 iards in sweetening "Malaga wine." 

 It was used up to the seventeenth 

 century when sugar was introduced, 

 and as "the use of^this Increased, tlie 

 use of honev decreased. On the con- 

 tinent of Europe, bee-keeping had 

 been carried on more extensively in 

 former times than in England, and 

 for a long time we had been depend- 

 ing on foreign supplies. 



In the olden times, when bees were 

 destroyed Ity brimstone.different ways 

 were adopted for separating the dif- 

 ferent qualities of honey. The ligtit- 

 colored combs were pressed and 

 strained to get the best quality, and 

 the inferior honey was used to make 

 " pain d'epices," a sort of ginger 

 bread sold in every town in France. 

 Large quantities were imported into 

 this country from Cuba, Chili, and, 

 lately, extracted honey from Cali- 

 fornia. It was not until the forma- 

 tion of the British Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation, in 1874, that really much 

 (irogress was made in developing the 

 honey resources of tliis country. Bees 

 are no longer destroyed to obtain 

 their honey, but are induced to build 

 straight combs in frames, and these 

 are taken out, and, having the cells 

 unca))ped, are placed in an extractor. 

 by wiiich mean.s the honey is obtained 

 in a pure state, and very different 

 to the heterogeneous mass of honey, 

 pollen and crushed brood which was 

 formerly known by tlie name of honey. 

 He stated tliat there was great econ- 

 omy in being able to return the combs 

 to be re-filed, inasmuch as it took 20 

 lbs. of honey to make 1 lb. of comb. 

 He wished "it to be understood that 

 bees did not make honey, but that 

 they collected it from the nectaries of 



flowers, and that each flower yielded 

 honey of its own peculiar flavor. 



The climate of England was partic- 

 ularly suited for the purpose of bee- 

 ieeping, and there was no country 

 wliere it could be produced better in 

 flavor than in tliis. He said pure 

 honey should be used by every family. 

 It was no longer a luxury only to be 

 enjoyed by few, but was sutliciently 

 cliea")) to be within the reach of all. 

 It had properties which made it a val- 

 uable food. It dilTered from alcoholic 

 stimulants, which dull tlie intellect, 

 as it produces a bright intellect. 

 (Children were very fond of honey, and 

 one pound of it went further tlian a 

 pound of butter. It had the peculiar- 

 ity of keeping good, whilst butter 

 would become rancid, and thus is 

 injurious to health. 



other dirty and poisonouB substances 

 actually are Incorporated into much 

 that we eat and drink, and the adul- 

 terators are growing rich at the ex- 

 pense of the iMil)lic health, and we 

 hope that just sucli books as tliis one 

 may be widely circulated, until a pub- 

 lic sentiment" will be created against 

 those enemies of the human race that 

 will finally crush them out. 



Importance of the Pursuit.— The 



Springfleld, Mass., Republican gives 

 its views on this sulqect as follows : 



Bee-keeping is an interest of con- 

 siderable importance. It has an ex- 

 tensive literature of its own and men 

 enter into it with the true enthnsiasm 

 of science. At a recent convention 

 of bee-keepers in Chicago, one of 

 these enthusiasts in apiculture gave 

 an interesting sketch of his pursuit 

 in foreign countries of new races of 

 bees. He set up an apiary on the 

 Island of Cyprus to test the merits of 

 the Cyprian bees; he visited Palestine 

 and olitained colonies of Syrian bees, 

 and after a deal of trouble succeeded 

 in transplanting both varieties to this 

 country. It is only within a few vears 

 tliat Italian bees have been introduced 

 here and proved superior to the com- 

 mon black bees. These new races 

 are claimed to be superior to the 

 Italians. The Syrian liees, especially, 

 are remarkable for their superior pro- 

 liticness, swift flight and the long dis- 

 tances they are able to cover in quest 

 of honey. The study of bees has a 

 fascination for some people and it is 

 often rendered a source of consider- 

 able profit. There is quite a library 

 of books attainable on the subject, 

 besides magazines, while at Chicago 

 there is published by Thomas G. New- 

 man a weekly devoted to apiculture 

 called the Amekican Bee Journal. 

 This is an exceedingly neat little 

 paper of 16 pages and is a complete 

 cyclopedia of everything relating to 

 bees. 



Food Adulteration.— In noticing this 

 book, the Bee-Keepers'' Mayazine re- 

 marks as follows : 



It shows that much of what we eat 

 and drink is so badly mixed up with 

 foreign matter, that one who is com- 

 pelled to do much of his eating away 

 from home naturally wishes he had 

 never read this book, for he need not 

 be surprised to find himself imagin- 

 ing dried horse liver in his coffee, iron 

 and indigo in his tea, minute tape 

 worms in his butter (oleomargarine), 

 trichina in his pork, terra-alba, alum, 

 etc., iiK'orporated in the bread, fla- 

 vored glucose for honey, syrup, etc., 

 etc. The above and hundreds of 



Are Eggs Laid in Queen Cells 2— Dr. 



A. B. Mason, in the Bee-Keepers' In- 

 structor, remarks as follows : 



A writer in the December number 

 of the Bee Journal, under the head- 

 ing of" Do Queens Lay Eggs in Queen 

 Cells V" in relating some of his expe- 

 rience, says : " I do not dare, at 

 present, directly to advocate vv'hat 

 would, from the above, seem to be 

 true, against the theories of experi- 

 enced apiculturists. But here is my 

 experience for what it is worth, and I 

 confess to some few pinches of <loubt 

 about a number of things pertaining 

 to bees, which are pretty generally 

 taken for granted after reailiiig them 

 in a book or i)aper." The same cor- 

 respondent refers to an offer of $.50 

 liaving been made "to anyone who 

 could prove that the bees' ever re- 

 moved an egg from a worker to a 

 queen cell." It seems to me. from my 

 own and this correspoiideiil's experi- 

 ence, that it would be i)elter to offer 

 the §.50 to any person who would prove 

 that the queen ever laid an egg in the 

 queen cell. Tlie experience that this 

 correspondent gives is worth more 

 than all the " theories of learned and 

 experienced apiculturists." There are 

 good reasons for believir.g that a 

 queen does not deposit eggs in queen 

 cells ; and if I have the inclination in 

 the future, I will ask some of our ex- 

 perienced bee-keepers in " convention 

 assembled," some questions, the an- 

 swers to which will either overturn 

 some generally accepted theories, or 

 be directly contrary to all experience. 



Bee GoTernnient in the Hive.- The 



St. Albans Messen(/er, says, that at the 

 meeting of the Vermont State Board 

 of Agriculture, Mr. O. C. Wait, of 

 Georgia, gave an interesting lecture 

 in which he said: 



Though the bee isnotmadein God's 

 image, yet many of tlieir habits- 

 neatness, industry, economy and 

 government— may profitably be imi- 

 tated by some men. It has been sup- 

 posed that their government is an ab- 

 solute monarchy, but on the contrary, 

 it is a more perfect monarchy than 

 the world has ever seen among men, 

 and the females have their equal 

 share. Mr. Wait here drew an amus- 

 ing comparison between their govern- 

 ment and our own, not only in a iiolit- 

 ical but in a social sense. Every 

 fruit-grower and farmer should keep 

 a few colonies of bees for the more 

 perfect growth of his crops. They 

 carry the jiolleii from flower to flower, 

 and thus, while gathering honey they 

 spread the seeds of growth and mul- 

 tiply the fruit. 



