The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-01-13
DUE TO HONEY BEES.
They Are Responsible for the Flavor
of the Rocky Ford Melons

Nebraska, honey bees and alfalfa had
/ an inning at the morning session of the
state board of agriculture meeting In
| the library rooms at the state house
E. Whitcomb, of Friend, Neb., gave
an illustrated lecture on Practical Les
| sons in Agriculture" He has been an
and believes in bees as a southern
planter does in the signs of the moon
for planting a crop.
Mr.. Whitcomb illustrated his talk on
bees with charts showing the bees,
honey comb, flowers, cOcoons and even
| the nervous system, all represented in
colors.
The speaker said that bees were nee
| essary to the. productive growing of
fruits that bore blossoms. The bees in
drawing the honey from the flowers,
fertilize them and the bearing of fruit
is increased. He said that before the
bees were introduced at Rocky Ford,
Colo, the melons were poor, but that
since the bees had been introduced the
melons had become renowned for their
quantity and quality.
Secretary F. D. Coburn interrupted
the speaker and said: You may not
know that the melons that have won
such a name for Rocky Ford do not all
come from there. The greatest number
are raised in Kansas and labeled Rocky
Ford This created quite laugh and
Mr.. WhitcOmb passed over the discus
sion of melons. This may also account
for some of the melons labeled Rocky
Ford being vile.
the failure in the apple crop that the
weather was so cold in the spring that
the bees did not have chance to take
the honey from the blossoms and there
by fertiliZe them.
All the honey in the market, according
to the speaker, is not made by the busy
bee, but by manufacturers who manu-
facture 1t from glucose and perhaps
little of the honey comb. Mr.. Whitcomb
claimed honey as the healthiest- food to
be had and was sorry that sugar had
SO taken the place Of it.
THE bees make wax by gorging
themselves with honey" said Mr. Whit
comb, until they reach such a state
that they have attained about 100 de-
greeS of temperature and then the SUBJ
stance melts and becomes wax. Bee
keepers should strive to raise bees with
long tongues so that they can get into
such flowers as red clover and extract
the honey. The idea that bees destroy
grapes has been exploded. The waspS
and other insects are responsible for the
injury to grape crops. The import
ance of keeping bees on the prairies is
apparent from the fact that there are
no wild Bees
Mr.. Whitcomb cited the fact that a
cherry orchard with bees had been
known to bear a many times larger crop
than an orchard beside it where there
were no bees.
Following the paper on bees, Mr.. H.
d. Watson of Kearney, NeD., spoke on
What 1 Know About Alfalfa" AT
the AFTERNOON meeting J. h. Mem OF
Kansas City spoke on Kansas as a
Stock Growing State and was followed
by w. S. Hanna of Kansas City, who
gave his views LAS Seen by the Com
mission Men,
At last nights session President Click
presided and a good sized audience was
in attendance.
Senator George w. Hanna read
paper on kansas Cow and Creamery
and predicted that Kansas was the
coming dairy state of the union.
Mrs. Frances NJ. Sherman of Kansas
City read a paper on Life Among the
Germans" and described the advant-
ages and disadvantages of life among
them in their native homes.
9. E. Morrow, president of the Okla
homa Agricultural college, furnished a
paper on Modifying the characteristics
of the Farm Animals" which was read
by Mr.. E. w Longshore, on account Of
Mr.. MorroM's Inability to be present.