1918 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



407 



use of the "Promised Land" which 

 had given birth to Christ. Albert of 

 Aix, one of the ancient historians of 

 the Crusades, reported that the sugar 

 cane was of great use and relief to 

 the Christians during the famines 

 which they had to withstand, while 

 they hopelessly tried to redeem the 

 Holy Land from the Saracens, whose 

 descendants have held it to the pres- 

 ent time. 



The evidence of the origin of sugar 

 as an "Indian Salt" is to be found 

 in its name. To reach its origin, we 

 must trace it back to the Tibetan 

 "sa-kar," a white dust. The making 

 of sugar evidently began there. 



The first cultivation of the sugar- 

 cane in Europe was in Spain and in 

 Sicily. In this island it was intro- 

 duced under the orders of Frederick 

 II, Emperor of the Roman Empire, in 

 1230. The Spaniards, after the dis- 

 covery of America, brought the 

 sugar cane to Brazil and to the West 

 Indies. 



However, in the Middle Ages, su- 

 gar was not of constant use any- 

 where, and, until the 18th Century, 

 was kept for sale only by apothe- 

 caries as a medicament. In that cen- 

 tury its production grew rapidly, and 

 the export to Europe, from the An- 

 tilles, in 1745, was estimated at 137,- 

 000 tons. 



The use of beets, for making sugar, 

 was demonstrated first in 1605, by a 

 French chemist, Oliver De Serres ; 

 then experimented upon in 1747, by 

 Margraf, a German chemist; but the 

 practical application of the discovery 

 was not made until 1796. It was not 

 until 1812, however, that beet sugar 

 was produced of as good quality as 

 cane sugar. 



In the past 50 years, cheap sweets 

 of commercial glucose have been pro- 

 duced in unlimited quantities, from 

 starch boiled with sulphuric acid, and 

 many cheap candies and syrups are 

 made from this source, with the 

 name of "sugars." It is a degredation 

 of the higher sweets, the sugars from 

 cane, beets or maple, to place corn 

 glucose in the same class. 



Honey, the nectar of sweet-scented 

 blossoms, distilled by nature and 

 carefully gathered by the fleet- 

 winged bees, without artificial heat 

 or reduction, without chemical mix- 

 tures, is as much above sugars as 

 the latter are above corn syrups. The 

 world is appreciating this fact and 

 we see the proof of it in the present 

 soaring prices of honey. Let us han- 



dle it with neatness and care, let us 

 neglect nothing to keep its reputa- 

 tion where the experience of cen- 

 turies has placed it. 



Large Hives 



The lengthy article which we pub- 

 lished in our previous number upon 

 the above subject is bringing remarks 

 and criticisms. Many people think 

 that they have tried the large hives 

 when they have used the 10-frame 

 Langstroth hive. Indeed they have 

 not. As we have shown, the 10-frame 

 Langstroth hive is smaller in brood 

 surface than the 8-frame Quinby. 

 When we used the 8-frame and 10- 

 frame Quinby side by side, as we did 

 for a number of years, the result was 

 the filling of as many supers of the 

 wider size on the large hives as of 

 the smaller size on the narrower 

 ones, which made a difference of 25 

 per cent in the crop, in favor of the 

 larger hives. This was almost in- 

 variable, though occasionally a col- 

 ony in large hive with an inferior 

 queen failed to keep up with the oth- 

 ers. 



Of course, both 8 and 10-frame 

 hives are large enough if you pile the 

 stories so as to allow the queen to 

 lay to her full capacity previous to 

 the crop. But with a hive of the size 

 of the Jumbo it is not necessary to 

 add to the breeding room by a sec- 

 ond story. 



Some beekeepers assert that they 

 have had queens fill 16 frames with 

 brood. But if they make close exam- 

 ination they will find that the 16 



frames are very plentifully supplied 

 with honey and that 12 frames, Lang- 

 stroth size, would cover the laying 

 capacity of the best queens. 



The advantages of the large hive 

 system lie in less swarming and 

 easier manipulations, in addition to 

 the increase in crop results, pro- 

 vided your bees are reared at the 

 proper time. The younger generation 

 of Dadants are quite positive that an 

 active beekeeper, with a Ford, can 

 take proper care of a thousand colo- 

 nies, scattered over several miles of 

 territory. 



A matter of some importance to 

 the practical beekeeper who wishes 

 to rear his own queens is to ascer- 

 tain which queens are the most pro- 

 lific and the best for honey produc- 

 tion. This he is unable to do as thor- 

 oughly if he does not provide the 

 bees with sufficient breeding space to 

 develop the power of the best queens 

 to its full extent. The large hives 

 help in this. 



If tests are made of small hives and 

 large hives, side by side, they must 

 be on a scale sufficient to avoid pass- 

 ing judgment on possible exceptions. 

 Otherwise you are in the position of 

 the apiarist mentioned in the previ- 

 ous article, who considered 8-frame 

 hives as too large and stated his 

 preference for 4 to 7 frames. 



In all things one must also use 

 judgment and discretion in manage- 

 ment. Some one asked a celebrated 

 painter what he mixed with his col- 

 ors to give such beautiful effects. His 

 reply was, "Brains." 



Apiary in Koukinsk, Caucasus. The hives are split timbers hollowed out and fitted to- 

 gether. The bees' entrance is in the middle. Each hive is set on four stones and 

 covered with a bark roof. These primitive apiaries will shortly be replaced by mod- 

 ern hives. 



