THE AMERiCAJS BEE JOURNAL. 



295 



The importance of sugar as an ele- 

 ment of food may be inferred from 

 tlie large proportion of the elements 

 of our food which is transformed by 

 the action of the digestive organs, 

 into the constituents of sugar. Con- 

 sider the proportions of bread, pota- 

 toes and vegtables that we consume 

 daily, all of which must undergo this 

 saccharine change before they are 

 suitable to be appropriated by tlie 

 human system ; it may give an ap- 

 proximate idea of the amount of these 

 elements that are required to nourish 

 our bodies. 



If, therefore, the saccharine com- 

 prises so large a part of the elements 

 of our food, does it not become an 

 important question as to what form 

 of sweet is the most appropriate and 

 healthful for the nutrition of the 

 human body ? For the reasons I 

 shall hereafter enumerate, it seems 

 to me that you will agree with me 

 that honey is the most important and 

 the most healthful, because it is ab- 

 sorbed into the system without 

 change, and, because, unlike sugars, 

 it does not easily undergo fermenta- 

 tion. The formic acid which is an 

 ingredient of honey, prevents chemi- 

 cal change and the morbid processes 

 arising from decomposition of sugar. 

 Let me repeat the points of differ- 

 ence in ordinary sugars and syrups, 

 and their comparative inferiority to 

 honey as a saccharine food : Honey 

 is an inverted sugar consisting of 

 Isevulose (fruit-sugar) and dextrose 

 (starch-sugar) and readily absorbed 

 into the system without being acted 

 upon by the gastric juice. Sugar and 

 syrup require the action of the gas- 

 tric juice, converting, or as it is ex- 

 pressed in chemical language, invert- 

 ing it into dextrose and laevulose, be- 

 fore it is susceptible of absorption 

 and assimilation in the blood. When 

 thus acted upon by the digestive or- 

 gans, it is assimilable, but in case of 

 weakness of digestion, this action 

 does not occur, and decomposition is 

 sure to follow. Honey is not only a 

 delicious form of sweet, but is a very 

 healthful and nutritious form of food. 

 It aids the natural functions of the 

 alimentary canal. It is recommended, 

 by those who have thus used it, as a 

 refreshing drink, diluted with water 

 in the proportion of from 2 to 5 per 

 cent. 



As a remedy for croup and sore 

 throat, it is quite efficient. It is 

 highly useful as a vehicle in the ad- 

 ministration of medicine in the treat- 

 ment of diseases of the mouth and 

 pharynx, in the form of a gargle. 



It would require too much time and 

 space to enumerate the many valua- 

 ble uses to which honey is adapted in 

 medicine and surgery, as well as a 

 most nutritious and healthful food. If 

 these hints may tend in even a small 

 degree toward bringing back into 

 general use that sweet which com- 

 prises so large a part of the food of 

 our remote ancestors, I shall be glad. 

 Let us hope the people of our coun- 

 try will recognize the pre.sence of 

 such a perfect natural product, as 

 will induce them to make a larger use 

 of it as a food as well as a luxury. 

 Madison, 9 Wis. 



For tbe Amencaa Bee Journal. 



Alfalfa as a Honey-Plant. 



W. L. PORTER. 



not an 

 ' pleas- 



On page 2-lS, Mr. A. J. Foss refers 

 to the proceedings of the Colorado 

 bee-beepers' convention of last March. 

 The report referred to was one taken 

 from the Denver daily papers. I did 

 not have the pleasure to be present at 

 the meeting, but it was evident that 

 the reporter aimed to make something 

 very pleasant to read— something like 

 " Wiley's pleasantry." While we 

 have many ladies in Colorado who are 

 engaged in bee-keeping (and they 

 deserve to be complimented highly), 

 still they are not in the majority, and 

 not the most extensive apiarists iu 

 the State. 



I am in one of the greatest alfalfa 

 sections in the State, and I have 

 made bee-keeping a business here for 

 the past six years, yet I must say that 

 I am not able to declare alfalfa a 

 honey-plant of any note. I have ob- 

 served with my best observing 

 powers, since I have been here, to 

 ascertain the value of alfalfa as a bee- 

 forage, and as yet I am not able to 

 sing its praises ; and if a person would 

 exhibit a pound of honey and call it 

 pure alfalfa honey, it would be ex- 

 clusive evidence that he was 

 "observer," or did it for ' 

 antry." 



There is no time in the season 

 when alfalfa is in bloom, that other 

 flowers do not figure largely as honey- 

 plants. The latter part of June, 

 when the lirst cutting of alfalfa 

 blooms, there is an abundance of 

 Colorado-mint on which the bloom 

 lasts about four weeks, and it pro- 

 duces an abundance of beautiful 

 white honey ; raspberry is also in 

 bloom at this time. At the time the 

 second and third crops bloom, there is 

 an abundance of cleome, and it is 

 certainly from this tliat we get our 

 greatest yield. 



When we have the mint in abund- 

 ance, it is rare to find a bee on alfalfa; 

 the same is true when we have cleome 

 and other valuable plants in bloom. 

 The bees seem to take alfalfa as a 

 makeshift— work on it when they 

 can find nothing better. There are 

 times when the bees fairly swarm on 

 the alfalfa, but it has been my experi- 

 ence that when they are working the 

 strongest on it, they are at a stand- 

 still in the sections. 



One great draw-back with the 

 alfalfa— if it is a honey-plant— is that 

 when raised for hay, it is cut as soon 

 as the first bloom opens. When 

 farmers leave it to get a crop of seed, 

 it gives the best chance for honey, and 

 it might be that the latter part of the 

 bloom is richer in nectar ; but on this 

 I have not had a fair chance to ob- 

 serve. Since I came to the State I 

 have produced over 2-5,000 pounds of 

 honey, and I never have had an ounce 

 that I could call alfalfa honey. I can 

 recognize the mint, cleome, raspberry, 

 and certainly the rosin-weed ; but 

 what alfalfa is like, I have not yet 

 learned. 



Two years ago I read an article in 

 the 13ee Journal, from one of Col- 

 orado's most flowery writers, setting 

 forth the great honey- resources of the 

 State. He said that the cactus was 

 one of the best of honey-plants, from 

 which the most of our honey was 

 gathered. There are many hundred 

 acres of the cactus within a mile of 

 my apiary, and it is a beautiful sight 

 tp see it in bloom ; but I never have 

 seen a bee either gathering honey or 

 pollen from it. It is evident that the 

 writer pictured vividly in his imagi- 

 nation. He perhaps thought from its 

 abundance, beauty, fragrance and 

 uselessness, that it ought to be a 

 honey-plant ! Perhaps this is the 

 way the conclusions about alfalfa 

 have been obtained. I am not preju- 

 diced against it, for it certainly will 

 produce more hay to the acre than 

 any other plant, and I should be glad 

 to be convinced that it is the greatest 

 honey-plant. But the foregoing is 

 my sincere observations. 



Greeley, (^ Colo. 



For tbe American Bee Jooma) 



Mm Swams— BuiliinsDronc-Cofflli 



G. M. ALVES. 



Mr. Hutchinson's book, entitled 

 " The Production of Comb Honey," I 

 have read with very much interest. 

 The clearness with which the author 

 states his ideas, together with his en- 

 thusiasm, raises his performance at 

 times to some considerable degree of 

 brilliancy. A work of this kind, 

 coming from a man practical in de- 

 tails, as Mr. Hutchinson undoubtedly 

 is, never fails to strongly interest. 



Upon the last page, the reader is 

 freely invited to candid criticism. I 

 wish here to take advantage of this 

 frank invitation. 



The central idea of the little book 

 is " hiving swarms on empty frames." 

 Mr. Hutctiinson's arguments in this 

 direction, are given with such vigor 

 and clearness, and the facts upon 

 which they are based are so abundant 

 and so strongly vouched for by him, 

 that I feel compelled to accept his 

 conclusions, provided along with them 

 it is insisted that the swarms should 

 be in a normal condition, i. e., that 

 they should be natural ones, or if 

 "made up," they should satisfy the 

 general conditions of natural ones. 

 Sly observations are, that a " made- 

 up " swarm indiscriminately treated 

 in this manner, will as a rule give un- 

 satisfactory results. I take it that 

 Mr. Hutchinson intends this treat- 

 ment only for natural swarms, but he 

 does not plainly make this distinc- 

 tion, and hence the novice might con- 

 clude that if it was well for a nat- 

 ural swarm, it would be equally well 

 for one " made up." The gist of my 

 objection to treating "made up" 

 swarms indiscriminately in this man- 

 ner, will appear in a discussion of his 

 ol)servations to be found upon page 

 33 of his book. He raises the ques- 

 tion ichy bees build drone-comb, and 

 then answers : " I believe they al- 

 ways are actuated by one of two rea- 



