816 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



Nov. 1. 



successful beetuen to o;ive bripfly their present 

 method of wintering, unci then in the same arti- 

 cle what they have learned in the last three or 

 four years that has bem Ip-lpful along this line. 

 My idea is, to leara liow nearly the successful 

 ones follow the same or essentially the same 

 methods. If these methods are generally the 

 same it will be proof that they are nearly the 

 correct ones; and then I am sure that the last 

 few years have thrown light on problems that a 

 few years ago were totally unsolved. The ques- 

 tion will then be open for others to discuss for 

 one or two numbers. 



lu our issue for Dec. 1st, or perhaps the one 

 for the 1,5th, I am planning a symposium on 

 Langstroth ; his early can-er ; his inventions, 

 and their relative value ; in short, his place in 

 the history of bee-keeping which he. more than 

 any other man in the world, raised lo its pres- 

 ent standard. A. I. R. and I both feel that the 

 father of American bee-keeping has never been 

 fully appreciated, even by the beemen of this 

 country. Now that he has but so recently 

 passed from our midst, it is but fitting that a 

 worthy tribute should be extended to his mem- 

 ory. I have already called upon some of the 

 foremost bee-keepers of our land for articles 

 calling attention to some of the features in Mr. 

 L.'s career above pointed out; and, in addition, 

 there will be other papers giving some interest- 

 ing reminisceijces showing the many-sidedness 

 of that man whom, I know, we are all delight- 

 ed to honor. These, of course, will be supple- 

 mentary to the article by A. I. R., in last issue. 



We shall be printing an extra-large number 

 of copies of the journal for both these issues- 

 even larger than what we are now putting out 

 from the press — 12,000 copies. Advertisers 

 should not fail to make a note of this. 



Later announcements will be given regarding 

 the symposium above mentioned ; and, as the 

 year grows on, other special features that will 

 be prominent for the year to come. Now, dear 

 reader, even if times are hard, and even if the 

 bees didn't pay extremely well, can you afford 

 not to remain with us? 



HOW TO MAKE SUGAR SYRUP WITHOUT HKAT 

 OR PERCOLATION. 



Last fall i had much to say about percolat- 

 ing syrup by the cold process of feeding sugar 

 and water, half and half, in percolator feeders. 

 It will be remembered that I was very enthu- 

 siastic over the plan; for, indeed, it was a 

 great saving in time and bother over the old 

 way of mixing and stirring over the hot stove, 

 to say nothing of the liability to scorch the 

 whole batch and the mussing of wash-boilers, 

 stoves, and utensils in general. 



This year, when we began our feeding oper- 

 ations we practiced the percolating plan; but 

 very shortly we discovered an improvement, 

 and 1 reported the same on page 745, Oct. 1st 



issue. At that time I expressed a hope that we 

 might be able to gei along without the perco- 

 lation, and I then referred lo the plan practiced 

 by F. A. yalisbury— ihat of mixing sugar and 

 water, in njual proportions, in an ordinary 

 honey -exti'actor, and revolving the reel until 

 all the sugar is taken up. From some prelimi- 

 nary tests that 1 had made I did not think 

 favorably of the plan, and so reported last fall. 

 But more of this anon. 



As we did not have enough percolator feeders 

 to go around, our Mr. Spaff'ord, of the apiary, 

 tried mixing, in an ordinary can or barrel, sugar 

 and cold water, giving it an occasional stirring 

 with a stick during the day. If he mixed the 

 sugar and water, and stirred it well, say the 

 first thing in the morning, and stirred it again 

 at noon, and again at night, before leaving, he 

 found the next morning, to his satisfaction, 

 clear and limpid syrup of a consistency of 32 by 

 the ordinary maple-syrup hygrometers. He 

 made several barrels of sugar into syrup by 

 this plan, and in every case the syrup was of 

 first quality, as good as that made by artificial 

 heat, away over to the factory. This I regard- 

 ed as not only a good hit but a great saving in 

 time, because the food could be prepared in the 

 honey-house, right in the apiary; and then, 

 too, this " made syrup " could be fed in the 

 JMiller feeders. These, for late feeding, are 

 ahead of any thing else we know of. 



I forgot to say that, later on, instead of mak- 

 ing the proportions equal pans, he used three 

 measures of sugar and two of water, and suc- 

 ceeded in getting clear syrup without granules, 

 as when he used equal parts. 



THE SALISBURY COLD PROCESS; HOW TO MAKE 



SUGAR SYRUP, A WHOLE BARRELFUL 



IN TEN MINUTES. 



When Mr. Salisbury, of Syracuse, made us a 

 visit a short time ago I told him of our plan of 

 making syrup, that we were using with success. 

 "But my plan,"' said he, "' is shorter and better 

 yet. It takes only ten minutes to make a big 

 batch." 



" But why couldn't I do it then? I tried it, 

 and it didn't work very satisfactorily." 



" Well, then you didn't try it right," he in- 

 sisted. "You let me take one of your extract- 

 ors to morrow morning, and I think I can show 

 you how to make the syrup — a whole canful — 

 in ten minutes." 



"All right," said I, thinking that I could 

 show him that he couldn't. 



Next morning he and Mr. Spafllord made one 

 batch, taking sugar and water half and half, 

 in ten minutes; and shortly after, another 

 batch, one-third water and two- thirds sugar, 

 in fifteen minutes; but, as he afterward told 

 me, he turned the reel " good and hard." I was 

 to witness the operation, but something called 

 me away, and the boys didn't wait. 



After dinner I went out lo the apiary with 



