294 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



may have a small share of attention." 

 In that issue of the American Bee 

 Journal, Dr. Miller for the hrst time 

 disclaims the priority idea, saying : 

 " And now it is Mr. L. N. Tongue, on 

 page 24, who sets up the priority 

 question in order to knock it down. 

 Has Mr. Tongue not yet found out 

 that nobody ever asked for, or hinted 

 at wanting legislation on the priority 

 question y" I read that with amaze- 

 ment, but not being in the contro- 

 versy, I did not care to bring the 

 Doctor up with a sharp turn by quot- 

 ing his previous utterances, and 

 pointing out the drift of the discus- 

 sion as I have now done. 



On page 69, present volume, there 

 is a long article of the Doctor's prob- 

 ably written before the brief refer- 

 ence to Mr. Tongue in the previous 

 number. It is mainly in reply to Mr. 

 Heddon, and mentions "priority of 

 location " several times without any 

 disclaimer of it as part of his scheme. 

 He even says, " In the generality of 

 cases I believe in the priority right." 

 Further, in replying to Mr. Heddon 's 

 remark, that " priority of location 

 gives one a natural right, provided he 

 is fit to hold that tocaiion," the Doctor 

 proceeds to argue again against the 

 natural " survival of the fittest," and 

 pleads for legislation for the sake of 

 those who try to crowd in but cannot, 

 and are involved in loss by their 

 futile attempt, which, he says, might 

 have been prevented if the first comer 

 could have said : " This territory I 

 hold in fee simple as my own, and 

 you must go elsewhere if you want to 

 keep bees." Still arguing along the 

 priority line at considerable length, 

 the Doctor winds up by asking, " On 

 all accounts, then, should not every 

 man have a legal right to his own 

 ground ?" 



On page 154, Mr. G. M. Alves thus 

 defines the question at issue: ''Mr. 

 Heddon thinks that the claims of 

 ' priority of location ' are right in 

 morals, but doubts whether legisla- 

 tive bodies could be induced to enact 

 a law for the enforcement of the same. 

 Dr Miller not only accepts the prin- 

 ciple as right, but goes further, and 

 gives it as his opinion that it would 

 be practicable to make it statutory." 



On page 199,Dr.Miller is "aroused." 

 He is replying to Mr. J. E. Pond, and 

 asks that gentleman to name " a sin- 

 gle person who has ever advised, re- 

 quested, or desired any legislation on 

 ' priority ?' Getting still more 

 "aroused," he says, " Why it is that 

 everybody tacks on ' priority,' I can- 

 not imagine." Again, as if fearful 

 he has not been emphatic enough, he 

 says, " Allow me to impress the fact 

 that so far as I know, no one has ever 

 advocated obtaining legislation in 

 favor of ' priority of location.' " 



I am forcibly reminded of an inci- 

 dent of my juvenile days. Our school 

 was in a second story, and the stair- 

 way leading to it had a pair of banis- 

 ters. One day some of the boys 

 played a dirty trick on the master. 

 They smeared the banisters with 

 some filth, and seated serenely in the 

 school-room, awaited his arrival. 

 Just as they expected, he had run his 

 hands alon^ the banisters as he came 



up-stairs, and got them sadly be- 

 daubed. He hastened to his desk, 

 and offered a reward of half-a-crown 

 to any boy who would tell him " who 

 had hands in this." A boy volun- 

 teered the desired information, and 

 gave it by saying, " Please, sir, you 

 had hands in it." 



I am at a loss to know why Dr. 

 Miller should wax so warm in his 

 tardy disclaimers of the priority idea. 

 As Mr. Pond very justly says, on page 

 233, " I cannot see how the question 

 of legislation, as desired by Dr. Miller, 

 can be divided from that of priority." 



Guelph, Ont. 



For tne American Bee Joiimai. 



Waliasli Coity, M., ConTeition. 



The Wabash County, Ind., Bee- 

 Keepers' Association met at the G. A. 

 R. Hall, at North Manchester, Ind., 

 on April 20, 1887. The meeting was 

 called to order by the Secretary. The 

 President and Vice-President being 

 absent, J. C. Zimmerman, of Wabash, 

 was chosen President pro tern. 



The reading of the minutes of the 

 previous meeting was heard and ap- 

 proved, after which a discussion fol- 

 lowed on " When should sections be 

 placed on the hives V" Messrs. Mar- 

 tin, Whitlow, Miller, Comstock and 

 Zimmerman all agreed that they 

 should be put on as soon as honey 

 begins to come in ; Mr. Singer would 

 not put them on too soon, on account 

 of too great loss of heat from a colony. 



" Can the pure fertilization of 

 queens take place by drones from a 

 miss-mated Italian queen V" It was 

 decided that they could. 



The following questions were taken 

 up in order and discussed : " Which 

 is the most profitable, comb or ex- 

 tracted honey ?" " Can a man who 

 runs his apiary for honey, combine it 

 profitably with queen-rearing or vice 

 versa f " " Is spring feeding to stimu- 

 late rapid breeding profitable r"' (No.) 

 " How can we keep our bees from 

 bothering our neighbors ?" (It was 

 decided that there is no trouble when 

 only a few colonies are kept). " Is it 

 necessary to have bee-space between 

 the cases '?" " How do you prevent 

 robbing ?" 



The following essays were read : 

 Aaron Singer : " Do gentle bees 

 gather as much honey as ill-tempered 

 ones!" "What sized packages sell 

 the best?" "When should we trans- 

 fer?" J.J.Martin: "How do you 

 get your bees to work in the sections 

 where you want them to ?" The fol- 

 lowing resolution was then passed : 



Besolved, That this convention con- 

 sider the Italian bees superior for all 

 purposes, and each member endeavor 

 to Italianize his apiary as rapidly as 

 possible. 



The following officers were elected 

 for the ensuing year : J. .1. Martin, 

 President ; Alex. Hess, Vice-Presi- 

 dent; F. S. Comstock, Secretary ; and 

 H. C. AVhitlow, Treasurer. 



The next meeting is to be held in 

 Wabash next fall, the time to be 

 decided by the executive committee. 

 F. S. Comstock, Sec. 



Read at the Wisconsin State Convention. 



Honey kUM to tlie Human System. 



DR. J. W. VANCE. 



The subject of honey ought to be of 

 interest to the agriculturist, knowing 

 as he does, that every flower which 

 blooms on his farm and along the 

 highway yields its delicious nectar to 

 the busy bee that, with tireless wing, 

 flits from flower to flower in quest of 

 its food. From every meadow, or- 

 chard and forest the summer-wind 

 bears away countless tons of this 

 precious product that ought to be 

 gathered for the good of mankind. 



It is not of the importance of bee- 

 keeping as a pursuit, or the progress 

 of bee-culture, that I vrishto descant, 

 but rather to say a few words about 

 honey— to speak of its constituents, 

 and its perfect adaptation to the 

 wants of the human system, and of 

 its superiority as a saccharine product 

 to all other sweets in common use. 



Although honey has a very ancient 

 history, both sacred and profane, 

 having been in use from time imme- 

 morial, its praises sung by inspired 

 and uninspired poets, yet in modern 

 times it has fallen into comparative 

 disuse, perhaps on account of the 

 competition of cane and grape 

 sugars, and syrups made from them. 

 The use of honey has almost become 

 a lost art. It seems to be regarded 

 by most people as a luxury only, and 

 seldom appears on the table except 

 on great occasions. Away back in 

 the annals of time, our ancestors used 

 it as a common article of food, and in 

 cooking. 



Honey is a physiological sweet ; in 

 other words its constituents are such 

 that it is absorbed into the blood 

 without undergoing chemical change. 

 Such is not the fact with regard to 

 sugar. Sugar is indigestible, or rather 

 not as susceptible of absorption and 

 assimilation as honey, but it requires 

 the action of the gastric juice to split 

 or invert its elements, the muriatic 

 acid element of the gastric juice 

 being the chief agent in this chemical 

 transportation. This change pro- 

 duces what is termed in chemistry 

 dextrose and lievulose. I presume 

 this explanation does not convey a 

 very clear or definite idea of the na- 

 ture of these products, for the names 

 applied only indicate how they affect 

 polarized light. After this change 

 occurs, absorption takes place. If in 

 any way it is hindered, or, on account 

 of an exceps of sugar above the 

 capacity of the gastric juice to trans- 

 form, there remains a residue, the ■ 

 result is decomposition into elements 

 that irritate and inflame the mucus 

 membrane of the intestinal canal, 

 producing a list of ailments too num- 

 erous to mention here. Think of the , 

 legions of little ones who have been 

 the victims of their universal fond- 

 ness for sweets, and who so frequently 

 suffer from gastric troubles which- 

 are, in a large degree, the result 1 1 

 sugar indigestion. How many, many 

 children have perished from eating 

 candy 1 



