BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
In a hot summer, when the deficiency of moisture prevents the absorption of alkalies, we observe the leaves of the lime-tree, and of other trees, covered with a thick liquid containing a large quantity of sugar; the carbon of the sugar must, without doubt, be obtained from the carbonic acid of the air. The generation of the sugar takes place in the leaves, and all the constituents of the leaves, including the alkalies and alkaline earths, must participate in effecting its formation. Sugar does not exude from the leaves in moist seasons, and this leads us to conjecture that the carbon which appeared as sugar in the former case would have been applied in the formation of other constituents of the tree in the event of its having had a free and unimpeded circulation.
These quotations will probably be considered sufficient to justify the assertion that the gathering of the honey from plants can in no possible way tend to exhaust the soil or affect its fertility. There is no difference of opinion among scientific men as to the sources from which the saccharine matter of plants is derived. Since Liebig first put forward his views on that subject, as well as with regard to the sources from which the plants derive their nitrogen, the principles of agricultural chemistry have been studied by the most eminent chemists, some of whom combated the views of Liebig on this latter point (the source of nitrogen and its compounds), and Liebig himself seems to have modified his views on that point; but there has been no difference of opinion about the saccharine matter, as to which Liebig's doctrine will be found given unaltered in the latest colonial work on the subject, Maclov's'' Chemistry of Agriculture,'' published at Melbourne a few years ago.
## 10 Superfluous nectar evaporated if not taken by insects.
That the nutritive quality of the plants in any growing crop is not diminished by the abstraction of honey from their blossoms would appear to be evident from the fact already referred to, that those plants have actually thrown off the honey from the superfluity of their saccharine juices, as a matter which they could no longer assimilate. There would appear, on the other hand, to be good reason to believe that the plants themselves become daily more nutritive during the period of their giving off honey--that is, from the time of flowering to that of ripening their seeds. This is a point upon which, I believe, all agricultural chemists are not quite agreed, but the testimony of Sir H. Davy is very strong in favour of it. In the appendix to his work already quoted, he gives the results of experiments made conjointly by himself and Mr. Sinclair, the gardener to the Duke of Bedford, upon nearly a hundred different varieties of grasses and clovers. These were grown carefully in small plots of ground as nearly as possible equal in size and quality; equal weights of the dried produce of each, cut at different periods, especially at the time of flowering and at that of ripened seeds, were '' acted upon by hot water till all their soluble parts were dissolved; the solution was then evaporated to dryness by a gentle heat in a proper stove, and the matter obtained carefully weighed, and the dry extract, supposed to contain the nutritive matter of the plants, was sent for chemical analysis.'' Sir H. Davy adds his opinion that this '' mode of determining the nutritive power of grasses is sufficiently accurate for all the purposes of agricultural investigation.'' Further on he reports, '' In comparing the compositions of the soluble products afforded by different crops from the same grass, I found, in all the trials I made, the largest quantity of truly nutritive matter in the crop cut when the seed was ripe, and the least bitter extract and saline matter and the most saecha-rine matter, in proportion to the other ingredients, in the crop cut at the time of flowering.'' In the instance which he then gives, as an example, the crop cut when the seed had ripened showed 9 per cent. less of sugar, but 18 per cent. more of mucilage and what he terms '' truly nutritive matter '' than the crop cut at the time of flowering. From this it would follow that during the time a plant is in blossom and throwing off a superfluity of saccharine matter in the shape of honey the assimilation of true nutritive matter in the plant itself is progressing most favourably. In any case it is clear that the honey, being once exuded, may be taken away by bees or any other insects (as it is evidently intended to be taken) without any injury to the plant, by which it certainly cannot be again taken up, but must be evaporated if left exposed to the sun's heat.
**QUESTION AS TO grazing STOCK.**
There is, however, a plea put in by the agricultural on behalf of his grazing stock, and one which he generally seems to consider unanswerable. He says, ''Even if it be admitted that the removal of the honey from my farm is neither exhausting to the soil nor injurious to the plants of the standing crop, still it is so much fattening-matter which might be consumed by my stock if it had not been pilfered by the bees.''
Now, it may at once be admitted that honey consists to a great extent of fattening-matter, though it may be allowable to doubt whether in that particular form it is exactly suitable as food for grazing cattle. Although it is quite true that the saccharine matter assimilated in the body of a plant tends to the formation of fat in the animal which eats and digests that plant, still one may question the propriety of feeding the same animal on pure honey or sugar. We may, however, waive that view of the subject, as we shall shortly see that it is only a question of such homeopathically small doses as would not be likely to interfere with the digestion of the most delicate grazing animal, any more than they would considerably increase its weight. Admitting, therefore, that every pound of honey of which the grazing stock are deprived by bees is a loss to the farmer, and therefore to be looked upon as a set-off to that extent against the benefits conferred by the bees in other ways, it will be necessary to consider to what extent it is possible that such loss may be occasioned.
**QUANTITY OF Honey FURNISHED BY PASTURE-LAND.**
In the first place, it must be recolleeted that a large proportion--in some cases the great bulk--of the honey gathered by bees is obtained from trees, as, for instance, the linden in Europe, the bass-wood and nangle in America, and in this country the forest-trees, nearly all of which supply rich forage for the bee, and everywhere from fruit-trees in orehards. A large quantity 'is gathered from flowers and flowering shrubs reared in gardens; from clover and other plants grown for hay, and not for pasture; and even in the field there are many shrubs and flowering plants which yield honey, but which are never eaten by cattle. Pastures, therefore, form but a small part of the sources from which honey is obtained; and in dealing with this grazing question we have to confine our inquiries to clovers and other flowering-plants grown in open pastures, and such as constitute the ordinary food of grazing stock. In order to meet the question in the most direct manner, however, let us assume the extreme case of a large apiary being placed in a district where there is nothing else but such open pastures, and growing only such flowering-plants as are generally eaten by stock. Now, the ordinaryworking-range of the bee may be taken at a mile and a half from the apiary on all sides, which gives an area of about 4,500 acres for the supply of the apiary; and if the latter consists of a hundred hives, producing an average of 100 lb. of honey, there would be a little more than 2 lb. of honey collected off each acre in the year; or, if we suppose so many as two hundred hives to be kept at one place, and to produce so much as 10 tons of honey in the season, the quantity collected from each acre would be 4 lb. to 5 lb.
PROPORTION POSSIBLY CONSUMED BY STOCK.
Let us next consider what proportion of those few pounds of honey could have found its way into the stomachs of the grazing stock if it had not been for the bees. It is known that during the whole time the clover or other plants remain in blossom, if the weather be favourable, there is a daily secretion of fresh honey, which, if not taken at the proper time by bees or other insects, is evaporated during the midday heat of the sun. It has been calculated that a head of clover consists of fifty or sixty separate flowers, each of which contains a quantity not exceeding one five-hundredth part of a grain in weight, so that the whole head may be taken to contain one-tenth of a grain of honey at any one time. If this head of clover is allowed to stand until the seeds are ripened it may be visited on ten or even twenty different days by bees, and they may gather, on the whole, one, or even two, grains of honey from the same head, whereas it is plain that the grazing animal can only eat the head once, and consequently can only eat one-tenth of a grain of honey with it. Whether he gets that one-tenth grain or not depends simply on the fact whether or not the bees have exhausted that particular head on the same day just before it was eaten. Now, cattle and sheep graze during the night and early morning, long before the bees make their appearance some time after sunrise; all the flowering plants they happen to eat during that time will contain the honey secreted in the evening and night-time; during some hours of the afternoon the flowers will contain no honey, whether they have been visited by bees or not; and even during the forenoon, when the bees are not busy, it is by no means certain that they will forestall the stock in visiting any particular flower. If a field were so overstocked that every head of clover should be devoured as soon as it blosscmed, then, of course, there would be nothing left for the bees; but if, on the other hand, as is generally the case, there are always blossoms left standing in the pasture, some of them even till they wither and shed their seeds, then it must often happen that after bees shall have visited such blossoms ten or even twenty times, and thus collected one or even two grains of honey from one head, the grazing animal may, after all, eat that particular plant and enjoy his one-tenth of a grain of honey just as well as if there had never been any bees in the field.
If all these chances be taken into account it will be evident that out of the 4 lb. or 5 lb. of honey assumed to be collected by bees from one acre of pasturage probably not one-tenth, and possibly not even one-t twentieth, part could under any circumstances have been consumed by the grazing animals--so that it becomes a question of a few ounces of fattening-matter, more or less, for all the stock fed upon an acre during the whole season; a matter so ridiculously trivial in itself, and so out of all proportion to the services rendered to the pasture by the bees, that it may be safely left out of consideration altogether.
BEEKEEPING AS A BRANCH OF FARMING.
There is still one point which may possibly be raised by the agricultural or landowner : "If the working of bees is so beneficial to my crops, and if such a large quantity of valuable matter may be taken, in addition to the ordinary crops, without impoverishing my land, why should I not take it instead of another person who has by right no interest in my crop or my land!" The answer to this is obvious. It is, of course, quite open to the agriculturalist to keep any number of bees he may think fit; only, he must consider well in how far it will pay him to add the care of an apiary to his other duties. No doubt every one farming land may with advantage keep a few stands of hives to supply his own wants in honey--the care of them will not take up too much of his time, or interfere much with his other labours; but if he starts a large apiary with the expectation that it shall pay for itself, he must either give up the greater portion of his own time to it or employ skilled labour for that special purpose; and he must recollect that the profits of bekeeping are not generally so large as to afford more than a fair remuneration for the capital, skill, and time required to be devoted to the pursuit. In any case, he cannot confine the bees to work exclusively on his own property, unless the latter is very extensive. When such is the case, he may find it greatly to his advantage to establish one or more apiaries to be worked under proper management, as a separate branch of his undertaking; but in every case, whether he may incur or share the risks of profit and loss in working an apiary or not, the thing itself can only be a source of unmixed advantage to his agricultural operations, and consequently if he does not occupy the ground in that way himself he should be glad to see it done by any other person.
## 4 The Bee-Keepers' Magazine
The proposed international association. As promised on page 354 of the December number of the Magazine we propose to discuss a little more at length the new constitution for the North American Bee-Keepers' Association, as proposed by Mr. Newman at the late convention. In his remarks prior to reading the constitution which he proposd, he said: "To make this a representative body is not a difficult task. The constitution can be revised and amended, and when this meeting adjourns it can direct that at the next annual meeting, representatives from auxiliary societies and members of the parent society only will be allowed to vote, hold office, etc."
We do not believe that the proposed association can be formed in any such simple manner. "You can lead a horse to water but cannot make him drink."
You can say to the bee-keepers of America "We form ourselves into an International Society," but it does not follow that because the North American Bee-Keepers' Association says this, all the bee-keepers of America are going to flock to its banner, any more than they do at present.
The way to accomplished this, is to set to work and get just as many bee-keepers interested in the movement as possible. Have the matter discussed in all conventions throughout the United States. Let the committee write to the secretaries of all the conventions urging an earnest discussion of the matter, and when the time is rip, call a convention of delegates of all the conventions of the country and there, either form the association and let the North American Association disband, or let the latter merge itself into the new body.
No real results can be attained by sitting still till the next convention and then have a few remaks made on the subject by a body of fifty or seventy-five members, and the matter be again given to a committee. We have no idea the committee on Revision of Constitution will sit still, because it is formed of live, competent members. Their province is not really to agitate the question, but merely the revision above referred to. However, if this committee have really the desire to promote the welfare of the bee-keepers of America they will exert themselves to the utmost to make a success of the movement so asugli-ciously begun.
**What a smart woman can do.**
A lady in this issue tells how she overcame the low price for honey, by making the latter into vinegar. She had "A" Association " the "Convention." "
offered three cents per pound. Had she sold it as honey, she would have realized $1.20 for her crop. Instead of this she took the honey and with the addition of 86 i-2 gallons of rain water, which cost her nothing, made go gallons of, as she expresses it, " the best vinegar in the country." This vinegar sold at 16 cents per gallon netting her, allowing $1.25 each for the barrels, the neat sum of $11.90. There is a lesson for you, Bee-Keepers!
**Modern bee jouenalism.**
An observant reader of our bee journals gives his views in another column on the subject of Modern Bee Journalism. In most that he says he is entirely correct.
Our conventions and our bee journals have all been catering to the novice, because he is their best customer. This is correct policy to a great extent. What we mean is this, if you are going to run a paper with a supply business, the former is necessarily the feeder for the latter.
The bee-keepers themselves are greatly to blame too. When many a man gets so he can introduce a queen correctly and handle a swarm, and invent a hive, he has done with bee journals. They cannot teach _him_ anything. Only the other day we had a visit from just such a person. Yet he said he was sure that those persons who got large crops of honey _must_ _feed it to their bees_. We shall put our best efforts forward to meet the standard set by M. and beg our subscribers to cooperate with us in the good work.
**CONVENTorganization of bee-keepers. These associations, all of them, except, perhaps, the one in Philadelphia, are nearly all annual or semi-annual gatherings of bee-keepers. If these gatherings did not occur the so-called associations would be dead, absolutely _dead_. Shame on us that such a state of affairs exist!
No advertising in the international. What we have said about advertising at conventions leads us to take the liberty of suggesting to those who may be interested in the movement of forming a grand international association of Bee-Keepers in America, that it will be a flat failure if it is to be conducted in the manner of many of our conventions. It cannot be used as an advertising medium for supply dealers, except in the matter of exhibitions of supplies, the which it should encourage, and if the promoters of the formation of the proposed association do not make up their minds on this point, we think the quicker the matter is dropped the better.
The proposed association will have the unanimous support of the bee-keepers of America, only when it shall be plainly seen that it is conducted entirely for their interest, and that the supply man shall play second fiddle.
PUBLISHING full reports of conversations. It would seem from the letter of Mr. Smith of Sunapee, N H., an impression was abroad that we proposed to suppress convention reports, and it was our desire not to publish them in our paper. This idea is entirely erroneous. When speaking of it we said we thought the publishing of the reports in full was a harm to the conventions and so we do, as long as they are or
**The BEE-KEEPERS' MAGAZINE.**
**way of uniting is somewhat novel and we have no doubt would be well in almost every case except where the stock having the feeder was strong.**
**Our editorial columns are not for sale at any price, and whatever commendations we may give articles, it will be simply because we are convinced that by their worth they deserve it. The other day we bought a Barnes Foot Power Saw such as they advertise in our columns. The editor, before the fire which destroyed his house had an amateur shop in which were 3,000 'tools of very finest English make, but nothing could be compared in handiness, completeness of design and workmanship for the use for which it is intended, than this same foot power saw. Of course you cannot go tearing through an inch board as if you had a ten inch saw machine, but for the thousand and one uses to which the amateur puts such a tool, it is the very best of its kind we have ever seen.**
**In a letter from our friend Mr. F. E. Johnson, of Long Island, we note two points in particular -- first, the average yield of comb and extracted honey was only 30 pounds per colony, though they had a good season there, and secondly, he received 25 cents per pound for his extracted honey from grocer's who retailed it at 35 cents. The lack of honey gathered by the colonies was well made up for in the price obtained for it. We congrulate him upon having so excellent a market.**
**Do NOT forget that the two New York conventions meet this month. The New York State, at Utica, on Jan. 17th, 18th and 19th, and the Eastern New York, at Albany, in Agricultural**
**Wall, Jan. 24th, 25th and 26th. Interesting programs are promised for both occasions. You will certainly get your money's worth by attending either or both.**
**NOTICE TO CANADIAN SUSCEUBES.**
**The New York State, at Utica, on Jan. 17th, 18th and 19th, and the Eastern New York, at Albany, in Agricultural**
## 8 The Bee-Keepers' Magazine.
**THE HERMIT OF HOO8ACK.**
**An Apiarian Romance.**
**BY GEO. A. STOCKWELL.**
_(Continued.)_
**CHAPTER xv.**
All Hoosack had much to interest now-a-days. Young people in the flood of pide and joy can keep no secrets, and soon were known, from hill to valley, the particulars of the double betrothal at the Mayne farm, and for a time Hoosack gave itself up to the delightful discussion, and no business could be transacted until all the details were handed around, examined and commented upon.
The members of the Mayne family had business of importance on their hands. Evidently something was going to happen. There were consultations in little and big groups, mysterious words and acts, great cheerfulness, amounting often to hilarity and boisterous merriment. What a time! What a change! A year ago the Mayne family were practically in tears, in the land of dumps and blues, with forbdings many of evil fortune to come. Then down by the ruins of Babylon ; now on Pisgah's crown, swinging their hats!
The double cottage was in the hands of ''artizens," as Sam May called them, carpenters and painters, who understood the art of spending much time on little work. Furniture, began to arrive, '' all wrapped up,'' to the disappointment of inquisitive Hoosackers-- disappointed not because it arrived, but because it was wrapped up. They made sport of Stanhope because he dismissed school so promptly, and hurried to the cottage at running speed.
But in his hurry and pleasant worry the interests of the apiary were not neglected, Hives and frames were going together rapidly. Allan Mayne, the younger son, who has been sadly overlooked in this story, was an enthusiast, and all summer had been an efficient helper, as shown, perhaps, by this demonstrating remark: ''I wonder!in the large sitting room and went out to supper, they showed themselves to be keen-eyed, determined men between thirty and forty years of age. After supper they retired to the sitting-room and were soon in deep consultation with Sam, John and Stanhope. When one of the strangers laid upon the table a brace of pistols, 'Squire Mayne looked serious, and Mother Mayne and the young ladies were alterned and began to comprehend the peril of the undertaking.
Sam May were a long coat like the hermit's, and on a table near was a pair of goggles, and a false beard. He seemed to be the master of ceremonies and gave orders to all. There was a knock at the outer door, and the Hoosack Sheriff was admitted. He was not considered of any importance, but out of courtesy was made a party to the expedition. As he warmed his hands by the fire, John, who was standing near, saw the muzzle of a rusty pistol protruding from his great coat pocket, and pulled it forth.
" What's this?" asked John.
" That! Well, sir." said the Sheriff pompously, " that has done duty for nigh forty years. Its loaded! Look out!"
" Dangerous, eh! Why, there's no lock on it."
The Sheriff took it in his hand and examined it.
" Well, well." he exclaimed. " I have taken the wrong one. Have you an extra one to lend me!"
But they offered none.
" It will be safer for him and us,"
said one of the strangers, aside, "' if he carry the one he has. He might hurt someone."
Everything was arranged now and preparations were made for departure. There were several little side scenes and tableaux enacted before the men went forth. Admonitions and warnings were given, and the journey began, Sam and one of the strangers taking one route, Stanhope and the other stranger another, and John and the Sheriff another. It was very cold, but there was no snow on the ground, and passing through the fields, the stubble deadened the sound. It was starlight, but the moon was on duty elsewhere--a night suited to the purpose of the expedition.