1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



lished determination he sent in a paper pro- 

 testing, and asking the association to rescind 

 the articles. On the principle that, "if meat 

 maketh my brother to offend."' etc., we moved 

 (a motion that was carried) that the matter be 

 laid on the table, with a recommendation that 

 it be favorably considered at the meeting at 

 Chicago. As we were the only member present 

 of the original committee who proposed the 

 feature of incorporation, and as the attendance 

 at Washington was small, it did not seem to us 

 that it would be fair to the other members of 

 the committee, as well as to the greater number 

 of those who usually attend, and who were not 

 present, to go ahead and rescind. Hut it may 

 be asked. " Why should we consider the matter 

 at all?'" Simply this: As a few of the Cana- 

 dians seem determined not to understand prop- 

 erly our motives, it is possible that we may set 

 aside incorporation without detriment to the 

 association; and particularly so as the Bee- 

 keepers' Union now promises to do just exactly 

 what the North American was expected to do 

 under incorporation. If another year will 

 prove this, then we could drop the articles of 

 incorporation, and thus establish friendly feel- 

 ings all around. We should not be surprised if 

 the Chicago convention would vote to retain 

 incorporation, because, as it is. it does no harm, 

 and may do good. 



THE COLD PROCESS OF MAKING SYKUP. PKOF. 



cook's EXPERIENCE WITH SUGAR 



HONEY THEN AND NOW. 



Just after our general department of con- 

 tributed articles had been closed up, the follow- 

 ing article came in. As we propose to have 

 no further discussion on the sugar-honey mat- 

 ter after this issue, we give place to the article 

 here. It will be found to contain some excellent 

 suggestions. 



To what Mr. Cli. S. Haas lias said on page 24 about 

 the cold process of making- sugar syrup. I would add 

 that, according to Ure. one pound of cold water 

 will dissolve two pounds ol sugar, making a syrup 

 the specifle gravity of which is 1.326. Tliis is a little 

 over 13^4 lbs. to the imperial gallon, or a little over 

 11 lbs. to the wine gallon, used in the United States. 

 If this syrup is fed to bees cold, they will take it 

 slowly; but slow feeding has an advantage in the 

 fact that the bees have time to secrete and add to 

 the syrup the ferment which prevents It from 

 crystallizing in the comlis, and whicli. Prof. Cook 

 says, changes it into honey; but to secrete this fer- 

 ment in sutBcient quantity the bees must have 

 access to pollen. A few years ago, when the pollen 

 theory was uji for discussion, Mr. Heddon fed his 

 bees hot syrup in his rapid feeders, at a season 

 wlien there was little or no pollen to be gathered. 

 The sjTup was stored in the combs as free as possi- 

 ble from pollen; but in the winter the bees died, 

 from the effects of cold, as was said by Mr. Heddon, 

 and no doubt he was correct, because it is known 

 to physiologists that, in order to assimilate the car- 

 bohydrates and get their full heat-producing' effects, 

 nitrogenous food is necessary to start and keep the 

 a.sslmllative changes in motion. Mr. Heddon sent 

 some of those dead bees to Prof. Cook, who, assisted 

 by Prof. Kedzie, examined the contents of their 

 stomachs and viscera. They found no pollen, but 

 the bees were loaded with syrup. The furnace 

 charged with fuel, so to speak, was ready, but it 

 lacked the nitrogenous element to start the Are and 

 keep it burning. On tasting the contents of the 

 honey-stomach. Prof. Kedzie said, " Why, that's 

 sugar." This was a case in wliich the same sugar 

 syrup fed to bees in the fall, and sealed over, and 

 taken by the bees again as food in winter, remained 

 sugar syrup still. I place this case in evidence in 

 opposition to the verdict of Prof. Cook's forty stu- 

 dents. The account of the matter was given in 

 Gleanings, by Prof. Cook himself. 



To liquefy sugar by the cold process, on a large 

 scale, I would suggest the use of the extractor-can, 

 or a large honey-tank, in which several barrels 

 could be treated at a time. Simply put the sponge 

 in the honey-gate, and, after flUing up with sugar. 



pour in not more than half ;i,s many pounds of 

 water as there are pounds of sugar; let it stand till 

 the watei- becomes saturated, then open the tap and 

 let it diip. At my out-apiary I intend to try this 

 plan next fall. S. Corneil. 



Lindsay, Canada, Jan. S, 1893. 



It is strange we did not think of inserting 

 the sponge into the gate of the honev-extractor. 

 We believe it will work just as weil as the ar- 

 rangement we described in the last Gleanings, 

 and be far less trouble to put into application. 



THE GLUCOSING OF DARK HONEYS; THE PO- 

 SITION TAKEN BY' MR. JAMES HEDDON. 



By the report of the proceedings of the Mich- 

 igan State Bee-keepers' Association, Mr. Hed- 

 don ofl'ers quite a lengthy argument in defense 

 of adulterating, saying that it helps the sale of 

 the poor dark honeys, because they will stand a 

 large quantity of glucose. He says truthfully, 

 that, " there is no trouble about enforcing the 

 law against murder, because people dislike to 

 be murdered;" but when he says that enforcing 

 laws against adulteration is impracticable be- 

 cause the public care very little about the 

 matter, he is surely mistaken. The public does 

 care. Again, he says broadly, " I think the 

 adulteration of honey has never injured bee- 

 keeping: that it has. rather, been a benefit." 

 And, again, quoting, " If we are going to fight 

 adulteration, let us decide w/)i/ we tight it. If 

 it does not injure us, then why tight if.'" And, 

 once more, " All this talk about adulteration is 

 the height of folly." We regret exceedingly 

 that any one in our ranks should take such 

 grounds as these; and we are sorry that even 

 Prof. Cook should go so far as to say that, if the 

 addition of glucose "to some grades of honey 

 really improves them, and aids in their sale, I 

 have said my last word against adulteration." 

 Replying to Mr. Heddon, we will say that we 

 know positively that the adulteration of honey 

 by glucose has injured the bee-keeping interests, 

 else why is it, in this year of great scarcity of 

 honey, the extracted article fails to go up in 

 price"? In fact, it rules just about the same as 

 it does in years of plenty. There was a time, 

 and not more than three or four years ago, 

 when very little honey was adulterated; but 

 now things have changed; and if the continual 

 harping on the subject is bad, that silence 

 which lets the evil go on unrestrained and un- 

 checked is tenfold worse. If circumstances 

 were only such that we dared reveal some 

 things that we know — well, we won't make any 

 threats. Referring to the quotation from Prof. 

 Cook, does he not see what a fearful flood of 

 fraud and adulteration the admission of his 

 argument would bring upon the country? Does 

 he suppose for a moment that adulterators are 

 going to stop at dark grades of honey and glu- 

 cose in order to give the dear people something 

 better than real floral honey? A little stream 

 of water over the edge of Conemaugh dam 

 "improved." perhaps, the water below; but it 

 did tuore than that; it let loose death and de- 

 struction in its wake. Now, it is possible that 

 neither of the gentlemen above named have 

 been correctly reported; but as Mr. Hutchinson 

 acted as reporter, and is unusually careful and 

 accurate, we presume the quotations are not 

 far from correct. To have such " heresies " ad- 

 vanced by the president of the Union, now on the 

 very eve of starting a well-organized effort to 

 suppress adulteration of honey, is too bad. If 

 bee-keepers should not be unanimous in this 

 fight, if some of them should propose sugar 

 comb honey, and others countenance adding 

 glucose to dark honeys, where would we be 

 coming to? Verily, the foundations of the bee- 

 keeping industry would be threatened. Such a 



