1918 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



93 



Cereals 65.00 to 78.00 



Sugar (cane) 100.00 



Maple Sugar 92.00 to 93.00 



Honey 75.00 to 81.00 



The Mineral Salts 

 In order to obtain the mineral ele- 

 ments necessary for normal life pro- 

 cesses, the animal must receive a 

 varied diet, for many foods are 

 actually deficient in mineral matter. 

 The mineral content of some com- 

 mon foods is given in Table IV. 

 Table IV — Mineral Content of Foods 

 and Feeds 



Per cent 



Corn 1.50 



Starch 0.30 



Sugar None 



Wheat 1.80 



Wheat Flour 0.60 



Rice Hulls 18.00 



(96% is silica) 



Oil Meals 5.00 to 8.00 



Alfalfa Hay 7.40 



Honey 0.18 



Vitamines or Accessory Food Sub- 

 stances 



In the last few years it has been 

 found that certain food mixtures 

 which contain sufficient quantities 

 of protein, fat, carbohydrate and 

 mineral matter, will not permit an 

 animal to grow well unless certain 

 chemical compounds are present. 

 The nature of these substances is 

 still unknown, but it has been found 

 that such foods as butter fat. egg fat, 

 milk, vegetables, fruits and certain 

 grains contain these mysterious sub- 

 stances in relatively large amounts. 



The Food of the Honeybee 



In general, there are two types of 

 food utilized by the honeybee, 

 honey and pollen. Honey is manu- 

 factured by the bee from floral nec- 

 tar and honeydew, the former being 

 the more important from the com- 

 mercial standpoint. The amount of 

 nectar produced by the single flow- 

 ers is very small and has led to 

 much speculation regarding the num- 

 ber of flowers necessary to produce 

 one pound of honey. The evidence 

 would indicate that 50.000 to l.OOO.OOu 

 flowers are required for this purpose. 



Some of the older scientists 

 studied the amount of honey carried 

 by a single bee and concluded that a 

 bee would have to make 2.500,000 

 trips to produce a pound of honey. 

 Mr. Dadant has called my attention 

 to the fact that this figure is much 

 too high. He is of the opinion that a 

 bee does not require more than 25,000 

 trips to accomplish this result, and 

 this is in agreement with statements 

 in ABC and XYZ of Beekeeping. 

 According to the figures of Collin 

 submitted by Mr. Dadant. the num- 

 ber of trips should be about 26,700; 

 but this is assuming that the bee is 

 carrying the concentrated honey. 

 Analyses of floral nectars show the 

 per cent of water to vary from that 

 of honey (17 per cent) to more than 

 80 per cent. If the nectar contained 

 76 per cent of water, as indicated in 

 Table V, the number of trips neces- 

 sary to produce a pound of honev 

 would be_ 3.46 times 26,700, or 92,382 

 trips. It is therefore safe to say that 

 the bee will average (in round num- 



bers) about 60,000 trips to produce a 

 pound of honey. 



Analyses of nectars from two dif- 

 ferent sources are given in Table V. 

 Table V. 



Invert Cane Ash, 

 Nectar. Water. Sugar. Sugar. Etc. 



Hoya Carnosa 59.23 4.99 35.65 0.11 

 HoneySuckle 76.00 9.00 12.00 3.00 



Table VI shows the total sugar 

 content in Sainfoin nectar and the 

 resulting honey. 



fable VI. 



Cane Invert 

 Sugar. Sugar. 



Sainfoin Nectar 57.20 42.80 



Sainfoin Honey 8.20 91.80 



There are two important changes 

 which must take place before the 

 nectar may be termed honey. First, 

 the water content must be lowered 

 by evaporation, and, Second (as 

 shown in Table VI), the cane sugar 

 must be broken down to the two 

 simple sugars, glucose and fructose. 

 This mixture of simple sugars is 

 commonly known as invert sugar, or 

 reducing sugar. The changing of su- 

 crose or cane sugar to invert sugar 

 is brought about by enzymes or fer- 

 ments in the body of the bee. 

 (To be concluded in our next issue.) 



Moving Bees 



SEASONS like 1917. when but a 

 few miles difference in location 

 determined whether the crop 

 was good or a failure, demonstrate 

 very forcibly the importance of be- 

 ing prepared to move an apiary on 

 short notice. To the beekeeper who 

 is fully equipped, moving is not a 

 serious matter, provided he has a 

 suitable location to which he may go. 

 The replacing of the horse by the 

 automobile has removed the most 

 serious element of danger. Nine in 

 every ten cases of misfortune in 

 moving bees have been caused by 

 the bees stinging the horses. If the 

 hives get broken open on an auto, 



there is no trouble because of the 

 necessity of unhitching frightened 

 horses. 



While in cases of long moves, it 

 is necessary to use a freight car, 

 most of the apiaries nowadays are 

 moved by means of autos. A dis- 

 tance of fifty to a hundred miles can 

 be covered at a less cost by motor 

 truck than by freight, with a saving 

 of time and with less injury to the 

 bees. If the bees are to go into a 

 car, it is necessary to haul them to 

 the car, and again on unloading to 

 haul them to the apiary site, so that 

 they must be handled much oftener. 



It is rather a simple matter to move 

 an apiary by auto. However, two 

 things must be looked after care- 

 fully, ventilation to prevent possible 

 smothering of the bees, and protec- 

 tion from the effect of jarring, which 

 might break the combs or throw 

 them together in such a way as to 

 crush the bees. To make sure of 

 proper ventilation, every apiary 

 should be provided with a sufficient 

 number of moving screens for one 

 load of hives. The moving screen is 

 made of a shallow frame about an 

 inch and a half in depth, just the 

 size of the top of the hive, covered 

 with wire netting the same as used 

 for fly screens. In moving, the top 

 is removed from the hive and the 

 screen put on its place and fastened 

 with staples made for the purpose. 

 With the entire top open, and a clus- 

 tering space an inch or more in 

 depth, there is little danger of 

 smothering except in extremely hot 

 weather. At such times it may be 

 desirable to put a similar screen on 

 the bottom of the hive in place of 

 the regular bottom-board, and leave 

 a small space between the hive and 

 the bed of the auto. Strips should 

 be across the hives before a second 

 tier is piled on them, to provide for 

 a sufficient circulation of air. Piled 

 up in this way, the bees can be 

 moved on a hot dav with little dan- 



AN APIARY THAT WAS MOVED FIFTY MILES BY OUR STAFF CORRESPONDENT 

 WITHOUT LOSING A COLONY OR BREAKING A COMB. 



