898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



out the men that mix glucose and hunny, and 

 put 'em to the full extent of the law." 



"That would only make matters worse," says 

 the stranger. " Why, if it hadn't been for the 

 everlasting clack of bee-keepers themselves 

 they wouldn't be half as much said about adul- 

 teration. What good does it do to make such a 

 fuss about it? — only makes folks suspitious. 

 Come right down to it, what harm is there in 

 glucose? It's a good holesome article. And 

 you can't tell it from pure hunny, so where's 

 the difference? In fact, these men you come 

 down so hard on are doing a good thing for 

 bee-keepers. When it's a short crop they help 

 to fill in and keep up the supply soze people 

 don't get out of the way of wantin it." 



"Stranger," says Jim, "may be you're right; 

 but that's a kind of new way of lookin at it. 

 May be it would be better to keep things hush- 

 ed up. If a lot of counterfitters gits up a lot of 

 bogus dollars that common folks can't tell from 

 the genuine, you think it ain't best to say any 

 thing about it; but increase the circlelation as 

 much as possible. It would help to keep up 

 the supply when munny is skerce. If you can't 

 tell the bad munny from the good, where's the 

 difference? Now, look here, stranger; I hain't 

 much on readin character by lookin into a 

 man's face, but you don't look like sitch a dog- 

 goned fool as to believe the sort of stuff you're 



round the counter at the cans of hunny which 

 the stranger was a standin with his back to 

 them, and had been sampliu it with a little 

 pine paddle; and just as Jim stopped talkin. 

 Zed handed him the paddle with a sample on 

 it, and, says Zed, "That's about as much like 

 the sample in the bottle as tar is like molasses. 

 I never tasted glucose; but that tastes mighty 

 like the bee-papers tells about it. Say. Jim. 

 how much of that would a fellow have to eat 

 to make him want to steal from his grand- 

 mother?'' 



You just ought to have seen that stranger 

 grab to get the cover on that can. He looked 

 like he would like to eat up Zed, but he didn't 

 dast to say any thing. 



" I guess I don't want to buy any hunny to- 

 day," says Nat. 



It wasn't long before the stranger was a 

 makin tracks for the next town. 



Jake Smith. 



imii mill nil I,, HI 



BY G.M.DOOLITTLE.BOROOINO.N.Y 



niiiiiiiiininiuiiiinnnMniMiimiiimininnl 



WHEN YOU SEE HUNNY NOWADAYS YOU DON'T KNOW 

 WHETHKK it's HUNNY OB NOT." 



a talkin. If it's a good thing for the bee-keep- 

 er when there's a short crop to have the supply 

 kep a goin with glucose, do you suppose the 

 chaps that do the mixin will be so everlastin 

 accommodatin as to haul off from the market 

 when the bees turn in a full supply? " 

 While this talk was a going on, Zed had got 



SUPERSEDING QUEENS. 



(Question.— Is it advisable to let a queen be- 

 come more than two years old before supersed- 

 ing her with a young queen? 



Answer.— Some believe it advis- 

 able to supersede all queens over 

 two years old, unless perhaps they 

 except those most valued for breed- 

 ing-purposes, such claiming that 

 older queens, as a rule, are not as 

 prolific as young queens; hence it 

 often happens that older queens 

 fail at a time when the work of 

 storing surplus is interfered with. 

 All this sounds very nice; and if 

 time hangs heavily on any bee- 

 keeper's hands, here is a chance for 

 such a one to pass away his time 

 with the idea that he is doing that 

 which tends toward a greater finan- 

 cial gain; but with the average 

 bee-keeper it is usually more work 

 than he can do during the summer 

 months, let alone any work of a 

 doubtful nature. 



There is no question but that we 

 want, for comb-honey production, 

 either very prolific queens or a 

 brood-chamber not of a size which will re- 

 quire the most prolific queen to strain every 

 nerve to keep it filled with brood. I be- 

 lieve it more profitable to adjust our hive 

 system to the average queen than to practice 

 superseding queens, as some do. A queen 

 should be allowed to remain as mother of a col- 



