1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



15 



of a fraud as glucose in extracted honey? and 

 if we ever have a law enacted, should not the 

 restriction include both g'lucose and sugar? 



The Rambler is not disposed to be a " calam- 

 ity howler,'' and will not predict dire results in 

 the future; but he believes that our energies 

 should be bent toward securing the law first, 

 then apply the screws, even if they squeeze 

 some of our best friends: and let oar motto be, 

 •' Pure honey from nature's laboratory, the vir- 

 gin flowers";"' and let adulterations, under 

 whatever specious form, suffer. 



In relation to the part our friend Hutchinson 

 has tal<en in the sugar question, T think things 

 were very quiet in Michigan; and, after sur- 

 veying the horizon, he proposes to Prof. Cook 

 that they go forth and sow that they may reap. 

 Prof. Cook seemed to agree with the proposi- 

 tion, and forth they proudly inarched, sowing 

 sugar, or, shall we say, wind? But there 

 speedily arose a whirlwind for their reaping. 

 I trust our friends will come out safe, but it 

 now looks very doubtful to the Rambler. 



[When those sugar- hurricane drawings came 

 to hand, we were a little uncertain what to do, 

 because they seemed to so utterly vanquish (in 

 imagination) our two good fi'iends, Prof. Cook 

 and W. Z. Hutchinson. But the more we re- 

 flected upon it, the more we thought there was 

 a little fun that might be indulged in; and as 

 we bee-keepers have a soi't of family feeling. 

 we can tolerate little joki^s at the others" ex- 

 pense. Rambler has cartooned nearly the 

 whole of us; and as nobody has as yet taken 

 very seriously to hmii't any of the caricatures, 

 we concluded to let the diawings go. Allow us 

 to say, in all seriousness, wiiat we have said, 

 and repeat again, that neither Prof. Cook nor 

 Mr. Hutchinson would for a luoment recom- 

 mend any course of procedure which they had 

 the remotest idea would bring disaster to the 

 bee-keeping industry. No disaster has so far 

 come, except in imagination, and we hope never 

 will. We believe the advocacy of the sugar- 

 honey matter in the first place was unwise, and 

 therefore opposed it with all our might; and 

 while we did so, we do not now wish to ridicule 

 the course of two of our personal friends, which 

 we still think is ill advised.] 



MANUM IN THE APIARY. 



POOR seasons; MANUM S NEW METHOD (iF PRE- 

 VENTING increase; a smoker fuel 



THAT WILL CONQUER. 



■' Good-niorning, Charles."' 



"Good-morning. Manum. I thought that, 

 inasmuch as the weather is somewhat threat- 

 ening this morning, I would not hurry about 

 going to my bees; so I have called to have a 

 chat with you. Why is it. do you think, that 

 basswood has failed to secrete honey this year? 

 It blossomed quite full, and the blossoms looked 

 fresh and nice; but my bees have not gathered 

 a pound of basswood iioney."' 



" Well, Charles, my experience is the same as 

 yours regarding basswood, and I can not ex- 

 plain why it did not secrete honey this year 

 unless Prof. Hick's theory of .Saturn's influence 

 on our earth is correct, and that its present 

 equinox is having its effect by so affecting our 

 atmosphere that 'the secretion of honey is 

 greatly retarded or wholly checked. If his theory 

 is correct, and Saturn does have the influcmce 

 over our globe that he claims it does, I think 

 we can safely attribute our failure to secure 

 good crops of lioney the past few years to that 

 encirch.'d phi net. IJut let us take courage. 



Charles, for the crisis of Saturn's equinox is 

 past; and the great rings by which he is encir- 

 cled are slowly and surely turning from us; 

 and the electric current that has been thrown 

 at us for a few years is now growing less forci- 

 ble, and our atmosphere is becoming less posi- 

 tive; and, as a passive condition is more con- 

 ducive to the secretion of honey, we may take 

 courage; and, moreover, as it will be 14 years 

 before old Saturn's rings will again look us 

 .squarely in the face, and baptize us anew by 

 showering us with his overabundance of elec- 

 tricity, we may, during that interval, be able to 

 secure some good crops of honey, as of old. Let 

 us watch and see." 



"Hal ha! hal Well, well. Manum I I am 

 afraid you are getting cranky. But do you 

 reallv believe that theory ?" 



" Well. Charles, I know so little that I have 

 to depend upon others to inform me of what 

 there is in nature. If the theory is correct as to 

 the influence; Saturn's equinox has upon the 

 earth, and knowing, as we do. that, during said 

 equinox, we have had vei y poor honey seasons, 

 I think the theory is worthy of some considera- 

 tion. VVho can prove the theory incorrect? 

 As regards basswood. it is a very uncertain 

 honey- plant. Some seasons it secretes abun- 

 dantly, while at other times it secretes but little, 

 or none at all. Usually it blooms every other 

 year; that is, we expect one- half or two -thirds 

 of the trees to bloom each alternate year, and 

 once in four years we expect all to bloom, and 

 those seaso:is ar(> when we usually get our 

 large crop< of honi'y. if the weather is favorable 

 for its secretion, and for the bees to gather it. 

 But it sometimes happens that either the 

 weather is unfavorable or the blossoms blast, 

 from some cause or other, and no honey comes 

 from that source. In 1885 basswood blossomed 

 profusely and secreted well; and the weather 

 being favorable during its time of blooming, we 

 secured a large crop of honey, as you doubtless 

 remember. My crop that season was 32 tons 

 from 460 colonies. But I have not had a good 

 crop since. In 1887. basswood blossomed again, 

 but only about half did so; and, again, in 1889 

 all bloomed; but the weather being so unfavor- 

 able at the time, we got no honey from it of any 

 account. In 1891 about two-thirds blossomed, 

 and a partial crop was gathered; and next sea- 

 son (1893) is the year that all the trees are to 

 blossom. But as one- half or more blossomed 

 this year (1892), though no honey came from it, 

 I am afraid the profuse blooming season may 

 be passed over to 1894. However, I have known 

 it to blossom three years in succession, and two 

 of these seasons gave good crops of honey from 

 that source; consequently I am in hopes bass- 

 wood will do its level best for us next year." 



" I believe. Manum. you told me a few days 

 ago, that, when I called again, you would tell 

 me something about your new method of pre- 

 venting increase. I should like to have you 

 explain it. if yo u can spare the time." 



" Certainly, Charles; I will try to do so. But, 

 really, I do not know whether the method is 

 new or old. But it is certainly new to me; and 

 right here I have 12 colonies that I have treated 

 by the new tnethod tliis season. These were 

 run on the non-swarming plan. I will first ex- 

 plain how I managed these, and then I will tell 

 you how the same method is applied where 

 bees are allowed to swarm, and where increase 

 is not desired. First, about the middle of May 

 I removed the queens from these 12 colonies, to 

 fill orders for breeding queens. These were 

 among my best colonies that had been fed for 

 some time, to induce brood-rearing. These col- 

 onies were allowed to rf^ar young queens. By 

 the time these young queens commenced laying, 

 tlieri; was indication of swarming in many of 



