1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



695 



no one need be ignorant of how and when to do it. As yet, 

 however, it is little practiced except by intelligent fruit-grow- 

 ers ; and intelligent fruit-growers have too much regard for 

 their own interests to spray their trees with arsenites while in 

 blossom. The self-interest of fruit-groivers affords about all 

 the protection to bee-keepers they can hope to secure from 

 spraying out of season. 



The last effort at law-making, in the supposed interest of 

 bee-keepers, was undertaken about three years ago, and 

 pressed by a few persistent members of the Ontario Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, under the sanction of a majority of, and at 

 the cost of, the Association. The discussion on the "sugar 

 honey " question, that occupied such a prominent place in the 

 bee-journals at that time, was the inspiring cause of these 

 gentlemen's zeal, in promoting the passage of a law to pre- 

 vent its manufacture and sale. To carry their views into 

 effect, the following Bill was drawn up : 



No imitation of honey, or " sugar honey," so-called, or other 

 imitation for honey, manufactured or produced from cane-sugar, 

 or from any other substance than those which bees gather from 

 natural sources, shall be manufactured or produced, or offered for 

 sale in Canada, or sold therein ; and every person who contravenes 

 the provisions of this Act in any manner, shall, on summary con- 

 viction, incur a penalty not exceeding ft400, and not less than .?100 ; 

 and in default of payment, shall be liable to imprisonment for a 

 term not exceeding six months, and not less than three months. 



The importance attached to the passage of this Bill, on 

 the part of its promoters, may be learned from their efforts to 

 secure its enactment. Every year for the last three years 

 time and money have been spent with a view to this end. 

 Delegation after delegation have visited the capital, while 

 parliament was in session, and numerous letters have been 

 written Ministers of the Crown and others, that this appar- 

 ently much-desired prohibition might be made law, but up to 

 the present time the energetic men who have had it in hand 

 have been doomed to disappointment — a clear enough proof 

 that the law-makers of our land have not been convinced of 

 its necessity. lam opposed to the enactment of needless laws. 

 I look upon this sugar-honey Bill as needless. It is needless 

 because we have now, and for many years past, a good and 

 salutary law respecting the adulteration of food, that affords 

 bee-keepers, and the public generally, about all the protection 

 the sugar-honey Bill aims at securing. I have given you the 

 text of this Bill — let me now draw your attention to the points 

 in common between it and the " Adulteration of Foods Act." 

 The latter Act declares that " No person shall manufacture, 

 or offer for sale, or sell any food which is adulterated under 

 the meaning of this Act ;" and under this Act " Food is deemed 

 to be adulterated," 1st, "If any substance has been mixed 

 with it, so as to reduce or lower, or injuriously affect its 

 quality, or strength." 2nd, " If any inferior or cheaper sub- 

 stance has been substituted wholly or in part for the article." 

 3rd, "If it is an imitation of, or is sold under the name of, 

 another article." 



Substituting a cheaper article, making it to assume the 

 appearance of the genuine thing, and selling it under the 

 name of the genuine article, is the fraud the sugar-honey bill 

 aims at preventing. It is manifest from the provisions I have 

 quoted that the Adulteration of Foods Act fully covers this 

 ground. Why, then, seek after that which we already pos- 

 sess ? The Bill under review, would, I repeat, be but the re- 

 enactment of an existing law; and, as such, needless. The 

 one aims at amending the other by impairing a heavier fine 

 when adulteration is detected. Fifty dollars is the maximum 

 fine in the Adulteration Act, for manufacturing or selling 

 food mixed with " that which is not injurious to the public 

 health." Four hundred dollars is the fine here sought to be 

 imposed for precisely the same offense — for no one will aver 

 that the admixture of sugar with honey is injurious to the 

 public health. 



Understand, that the sugar-honey Bill is an amendment 

 to the Adulteration Act ; and, if passed, we would have the 

 anomaly of a law on our Statute Book, one section of which 

 imposes a fine eight times as heavy as another section of the 

 same Act imposes for the same offense. No wonder the Bill in 

 question has not passed into law ; but it is a wonder that 

 otherwise sensible men should " spend their strength for 

 nought," and "money for that which is not bread" for bee- 

 keepers." 



The Bill is objectionable, too, in that it legalizes the sale 

 of " honey-dew " and " bug-juice." " That which is gathered 

 by the bees from natural sources " is not always honey. Both 

 the above are gathered by the bees from " natural sources " — 

 one of them, at least, is undesirable food. 



R. McKniqht. 



J. K. Darling — I think the essay a fair one, but I fail to 



see how the referring of a disputed case of foul brood to a 

 third person is going to help matters any. It simply transfers 

 the power to another person. 



Mr. McEvoy got the impression that his character as in- 

 spector had been assailed, and attempted several times to de- 

 fend himself against such an imputation, but was called to 

 order by the President who held that there was nothing in the 

 essay that could be so construed. 



Mr. S. T. Pettit asserted that the law prohibiting the 

 manufacture and sale of filled cheese was similar to the one 

 asked for by the bee-keepers. Mr. McKnight disputed this 

 point, and the assertions and re-assertions became so spirited 

 that the discussion was cut off. 



Xext Place of ineeting: and Election of 

 Officers. 



Upon motion of Dr. Mason, it was voted that the time 

 and place for holding the next meeting be left with the Ex- 

 ecutive Committee. 



The following officers were elected for 1896 : President, 

 A. I. Root, Medina, Ohio; Vice-President, Wm. MoEvoy, 

 Woodburn, Out.; Secretary, A. B. Mason, Toledo, Ohio; 

 Treasurer, W. Z. Hutchinson, Flint, Mich. 



A vote of thanks was given for the use of the hall, to the 

 Toronto papers for the kindly notices given, and to Mr. H. J. 

 Hill, of the Toronto Exhibition, for the assistance and adver- 

 tising that he had given the meeting. 



Next came an essay by Dr. J. P. H. Brown, of Augusta, 

 Ga., entitled, 



^Vliat is Indicated by Color in Italian Bees? 



Before I can proceed to answer this question, I beg leave 

 to ask another, and to make a few observations thereon. Is 

 the Italian bee a fixed type or race, with a distinct individ- 

 uality, or only a variety of Apis mcUfivn ? That it is only a 

 variety, and not a fixed type, is a fact well established, both 

 by its physical characteristics in breeding, and by a study of 

 its geographical distribution in its "Sunny Italian clime." 



But to constitute a variety or breed of any species, there 

 must be some distinguishing characteristics. Thus, the dif- 

 ferent breeds of cattle, horses, swine, poultry, etc., can readily 

 be distinguished from each other by certain physical mark- 



er. J. P. H. Brown, Augusta, Oa. 



ings, and by peculiarities of temperament. This same law 

 applies to the Italian bee. 



We have been accustomed to find it in those Italian dis- 

 tricts, where it exists in its highest state of development, with 

 the three abdominal segments next the thorax of a color vary- 

 ing from a bright yellow to a dark leather. These three yel- 

 low bands are claimed to be a test of purity, but there are 

 physical conditions that prevail in this variety of bees that are 

 really more reliable as a test of purity than the yellow bands. 

 For instance, the pure-blooded bee will maintain its position 

 on the combs, and will not run and scamper when smoke is 

 applied, and the hive opened, like bees of other varieties. The 

 queens are less excitable and not so easily frightened. 



