The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1904-08-07
4 SCHEME TO MAl<E
THE BUSY BEE BUSTER
John ID. Rockefeller Proposes to Feea
All the Bees ON Glucose and
Thus Save Their Time

John ID. Rockefeller Proposes TO reeo
All the Bees ON Glucose and
Thus Save Their Time
and Wings.
John d. Rockefeller, probably the
busiest man in the world, is striving
TO make the busy bee buster. BY q
careful computation on the part OF ex-
rerts 1t has been shown that tne
worker honey bee. in travelling TOT the
nectar from which he produces MS
honey. loses in transportation, at cur
rent railway rates, $S5,674,624 worth OF
time annually. II this time couid Dc
saved, IL would not only increase the
annual honey output of the United
States. but 1t would bring many mil
lions of dollars into the pockets of the
Zee men.
There is but one way, II is argued
TO bring about this reform In the an
cient methods of the bee. who has not
a6aynced with modern thought or i'm
proved labor-saving machinery, but
goes on stubbornly in the same old
way of making honey that his ances-
tors pursued in the days of the sweet
toothed, but somewhat antedated Ram
eses. The way of reform is this.
Feed the bee with glucose at his own
home.
Leading up to this are many great
questions These questions have taken
years of thought and millions of CAP
ital to Answer. The result is that a
few days ago Joseph II. NJ. Cook, ore
of the best known bee meen in the
country, began the experiment of sci
entifically feeding bees at his apiaries
in Essex Fails. N. j.. on glucose fur
nished by Mr.. Rockefeller's New York
Glucose Company's factory at Edgewa-
ter. n. ].
careful means will be taken to ascer-
taiE to a nicely just what effects the
feeding process will have upon the
bees and their product. Efforts will
be made to learn what the saving in
production will be, and what advant-
| ages. If any. will accrue.
There has been n great deal said
and written about bee feeding" said
Mr.. Cook. and I determined to find
out for myself just what there is in
it. 1 am going to test all the advant-
ages. and disadvantages from all view
points. Cattle men feed cattle to ad-
vantage; mich cows are fed and do
not see why bees cannot be fed. There
are many times in the year-during the
rainy season, for instance, when bees
cannot get nectar from flowers.
know that they can be fed to advant-
age at such times. Now 1 am going
to try to ascertain if they cannot be
fed 70 advantage at other times.
we have seen considerable of late
about artificial honey. There was new
or a pound of artificial honey made.
1t cannot be done, but there can be
many aids to the bee that will help it
along in its work. For some time an
artificial foundation for the honeycomb
has been made and is used very sue
cessfullX, for 1T saves the time of the
bee in constructing 1t. In addition to
this, the size of the cell may be deter
mined so as to prevent the breeding
of drones, and insure the more rapid
production of honey. Now. If we can
successfully feed the bees on glucose
there will be another great saving of
time. I am going to give this matter
a thorough test, and find out all there
is in it,"
There is no question In my mind as
to the outcome of the experiment" said
E, Beverly Walden, the manager of
the New York Glucose Company. Bees
fed on glucose will produce the best
quality of honey and at a greatly in
creased profit to the owner. There is
no reason why this should not be done.
Glucose, to begin with, is a cereal su-
gar, and the most wholesome product
of the cornfield. 1t is a nutritious ar
ticle of food in the form of a predi-
gested starch in the exact condition
| that We, find it prepared by the digest
I've organs for assimilation. 1t is.
therefore, pre-eminently a fat-forming,
eat-producing food. DR.. Cyrus Edison,
while Commissioner of Health of New
York, said it was not only not injuri-
Gus, but 1t was an essential article of
food, without which, in some form.
man could not enjoy life. Now, honey
&c. hr1t %
is natural. therefore, that bee men
should feed honey to their bees. 1
want to say, though, in this connection,
that there is no such thing as artificial
honey produced from glucose. But
glucose Will be an excellent aid to the
bee in producing honey"
For centuries the entomologist has
been studying the bee. Whole libra
ries have been written on his anatom-
zeal makeup. his health and his meth
DDS of working. Volume after volume
gives to the apiarist minute directions
regarding bee culture and hundreds of
bee journals keep him posted on cur
rent gossip and data in bee social and
business circles. Children have been
taught in the textbooks to emulate the
bee. 1t has been held up to civilized
man as the epitome OF Industrial ac-
tfvity. But IL remained for Mr. Rookie
Teller actually to hustle the bee-to
urge it on to greater production and
teach 1t lessons of time economy in
the great industrial world scnool.
The bee scientists have fGured out
TO the smallest possible details the
habits of the bee, and they have made
calculations on just wha; the bee can
do and what 1t can produce. Thus. Pro
fessor B. +. Rooms of the Agricultur-
al College at ftorrs, Conn. made some
interesting experiments to determine
the weight of bees and the amount Of
honey they can carry. He ascertained
by weighing several outgoing and in
coming bees that the smallest number
necessary to carry one pound of honey
was lO,154, or, in other words that one
boz could carry one ten-thousand one
hundred and fifty-fourth part of a
pound of honey; that the largest num-
Der. as shown by the results of the ex-
periments. required to carry a pound
was 45.642 and that the average was
2O.l67. 1t was ascertained from this
that the average load of a bee was one
| twenty thousandth of pound. 1t was
learned. therefore, that a bee can carry
half its weight in nectar, but, general
ly speaking, one-fourtb of its weight Is
the amount One colony of bees has
been known to bring in from Eastwood
twenty DOnD6g nf honey in ono do,,