tt Jottnial, 



DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF THE PRODUCERS OF HONEY. 



VOL. XX. 



CHICAGO, ILL.. JUNE 25, 1884. 



No. 26. 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS C. NEWMAN, 



Editof and Proprietor, 



Honey and Digestion. 



••All foods." says an exchange, " if 

 not already sohible (meltable) in water, 

 have to be so altered within us that 

 they become dissolved, and we call 

 this solution, digestion. Starch, for 

 example, which forms five-sixths of 

 our daily bread, is utterly ineffectual 

 to use while it remains as starch, be- 

 cause of its insolubility ; but in the 

 act of chewing, the saliva which we 

 add to our bread begins to convert 

 the starch into a sugar (very much 

 like to the sugar of honey), and so 

 renders it soluble in order that it may 

 in due course be carried into our 

 blood, and there do the work of giv- 

 ing us power or lieat. Cane sugar, in 

 like manner, although soluble, re- 

 quires alteration, and this alteration 

 is also brought about by contact with 

 the saliva, and the result is a sugar, 

 as in a previmis case, nearly identical 

 with the sugar of honey. Honey, on 

 the contijary, or the sugar that we find 

 in grapes, is already in the condition 

 for absorption or assimilation, and 

 really no kind of work has to be per- 

 formed upon it before it is actually 

 rendering us service as a force, or 

 heat-producer.'' Honey is, therefore, 

 given to mankind, in the most agree- 

 able form, both for food and medicine. 

 It produces healthy digestion, and 

 holds defiantly that monster of tor- 

 ture, indigestion, at bay. Pure honey 

 should be used freely in every family. 

 Honey eaten upon wheat bread is 

 very beneficial to health. 



Children would rather eat bread 

 and honey than bread and butter ; 

 one pound of honey will reach as far 

 as two pounds of butter, and has, be- 

 sides, the advantage that it is far 



more healthy and pleasantto thetaste. 

 and always remains good, while but- 

 ter soon becomes rancid and often 

 produces cramp in the stomach, eruc- 

 tations, sourness, vomiting and diar- 

 rhwa. 



Digestion (all-potent in its effects 

 on the mind as well as the body) de- 

 pends largely on the food. Poor food 

 received into a poor stomach is tiie 

 cause of many unhappy homes — while 

 good, healthy food, received into a 

 healthy stomach, becomes " an Angel 

 of Peace " to many a household. 



Docility of Cyprian and Syrian Bees. 



A correspondent in the London 

 Journal of Horticulture, when writing 

 about controlling Cyprian and Syrian 

 bees with smoke, remarks that they 

 cannot even smell it or be jarred with- 

 out making them irritable. If they 

 are kept from smoke and handled 

 gently, and the hives are 0))ened only 

 when the sun shines, he claims that 

 they are perfectly docile and gentle ; 

 and that those who have found occa- 

 sion to condemn them on account of 

 their irritability, have been dosing 

 them witli smoke or handling them 

 without care. As proof that his 

 theory is correct, lie says that " Mr. 

 Benton in Cyprus had .500 colonies 

 placed round his house, on the ver- 

 anda, or anywhere where they could 

 stand. One hive in particular was so 

 placed that it had to be passed within 

 2 feet from the entrance scores of 

 times each day by every visitor or in- 

 mate; and though Mr. Benton was 

 working amongst them from early 

 morning to late at night with no pro- 

 tection whatever, save a hat, shirt, 

 pants, and slippers, no one was ever 

 stung, and he very rarely. AVe have 

 Mr. Blow's authority for saying that 

 he saw Mr. ]5enton open hive after 

 hive without veil or gloves, and none 

 ventured to sting." Possibly this 

 may account for the many conflicting 

 opinions given by our American cor- 

 respondents relative to the Cyprian 

 and .Syrian bees, and their irracibility. 



Let some who have these bees in their 

 pui-ity, try it and report the result. 



This writer approves of the cross- 

 ing of Cyprian queens by Syrian 

 drones, and then says that ^'it is only 

 by crossing these foreign bees that we 

 may hope to produce superior varie- 

 ties. It has been done in everv other 

 branch of the animal and vegetable 

 kingdoms, and why not with bees? 

 for with all their virtues— which 

 should make us more anxious to im- 

 prove them— they are only wild bees 

 we are cultivating at present. Cyprus 

 gave us the cauliflower, and who 

 would recognize the original in the 

 immense varieties of broccoli and 

 cauliflower, or would banish it from 

 our gardens ? And may not one or all 

 of these bees produce a breed of bees 

 as distinct and valuable to the present 

 as the Magnum Bonum potato is to 

 its first parents? Let us go about 

 this matter in an intelligent manner, 

 each adding his mite; and for the 

 present those who want a good crop 

 of honey and plenty of bees in the 

 spring to fertilize their abundant 

 fruit blossom, I would advise such to 

 try the first cross of Syrians with pure 

 black drones." With this idea in 

 view, " crossing " is now being done 

 largely in America in the hope of pro- 

 ducing " the best bees in the world." 



The Honey Season in Cuba. 



:\Ir. A. ^V. Osburn, S. Miguel, Cuba, 

 W. I., writes thus on June 14, 1884 : 



We are in the midst of our wet sea- 

 son. The wet season here differs 

 from anything of the kind I have ever 

 seen in any country. It is a succes- 

 sion of showers, then blight sunshine 

 and then more showers and more sun- 

 shine. And, of course, as this is a 

 tropical climate, the rain is wann and 

 vegetation of all kinds grows wonder- 

 fully fast. The flowers thrive and 

 bloom ; thus furnishing plenty of feed 

 for the bees ; but the honey flow is not 

 extravagant, the honey is not light in 

 color, and its flavor is fair After 

 being here 9 months, I conclude that 

 the main honey harvest is in the win- 

 ter months, and then it is a harvest 

 indeed, by far excelling anythino- I 

 ever witnessed in any country. " 



