Page:Bee-Culture Hopkins 2nd ed revised Dec 1907.pdf/53

 There is, however, a plea put in by the agriculturist 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 homoeopathically 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.

In the first place, it must be recollected 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 maple 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 orchards. 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 ordinary