MANUAL OF THE APIARY. 107 



in their stomachs, then fed pure sugar, which was better than 

 honey, as Prof. R. F. Kedzie has shown by analysis that not 

 only filtered honey, but even the nectar which he collected 

 right from the flowers themselves, contains nitrogen. The 

 bees commenced at once to build comb, and continued for several 

 days, so long as I kept them confined. This is, as we should 

 suppose ; sugar contains hydrogen and oxygen in proportion to 

 form water, while the third element, carbon, is in the same or 

 about the same proportion as the oxygen. Now, the fats 

 usually contain little oxygen, and a good 'deal of carbon and 

 hydrogen. Thus, the sugar by losing some of its oxygen 

 would contain the requisite elements for fat. It was found 

 true in the days of slavery in the- South, that the negroes of 

 Louisiana, during the gathering of the cane, would become 

 very-fat. They ate much sugar ; they gained much fat. Now, 

 wax is a fat-like substance, not that it is the animal fat of 

 bees, as often asserted — in fact it contains much less hydrogen, 

 as will be seen by the following formula from Hess : 



Oxygen 7.80 



Carbon 79.30 



Hydrogen 13.20 



— ^but it is a special secretion for a special purpose, and from 

 its composition, we should conclude that it might be secreted 

 from a purely saccharine diet, and experiment confirms the 

 conclusion. It has been found that bees require about twenty 

 pounds of honey to secrete one of wax. 



That iiitrogenous food is necessary, as claimed by Langs- 

 troth and Neighbour, is not true. Yet, in the active season, 

 when muscular exertion is great, nitrogenous food must be 

 imperatively necessary to supply the waste, and give tone to 

 the body. Some may be desirable even in the quiet of win- 

 ter. Now, as secretion of wax demands a healthy condition 

 of the bee, it indirectly requires some nitrogenous food. 



It is asserted, that to secrete wax, bees need to hang in 

 compact clusters or festoons, in absolute repose. Such quiet 

 would certainly seem conducive to most active secretion. The 

 same food could not go to form wax, and at the same time 

 supply the waste of tissue which ever follows upon muscular 

 activity. The cow, put to hard toil, could not give so much 

 milk. But I find, upon- examination, that the bees, even the 

 most aged, while gathering in the honey season, yield up the 



