302 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apk. 15. 



The eight-frame hive is taking fairly well, 

 also the Root-Hoffman frame. Our larg^' hon- 

 ey-producers predict that they will not last 

 long; but from experi(Mice I had this season 

 with about 40 hives, single, double, and triple 

 story, I find I can handle th(>m faster and easier 

 than any other frame I have tried; viz.. Sim- 

 plicity loose frames, and Heddon's closed-end 

 irames and hives. 



Our father sails for Europe by the Massilia, 

 March 18, and will return via 'Frisco, visiting, 

 en route, New York, Chicago, and other princi- 

 pal cities of the United States, and will make a 

 special point of calling at Medina to see Root's 

 big bee-hive manufactory. He will, of course, 

 keep his eyes open to learn any thing he can in 

 the way of short cuts, etc., to be applied here 

 in the manufactory of R. L. PendcM'. He will 

 be able to give you a general idea of our conti- 

 nent and its honey resources much better than 

 by my writing. Father is the proprietor of 

 Drumtin apiary. This apiary won the national 

 prize last year for the best-managed apiary in 

 the colony, of under 100 hives and not less than 

 30. The Drumfin Poultry-farm won the nation- 

 al prize the previous year for the best-managed 

 poultry-farm in the colony. In connection with 

 the apiary and poultry, an orchard is cultivat- 

 ed, and pure -bred Ayrshire cattle are bred. 

 These have won numerous prizes at our agri- 

 cultural shows, beating those bred by our lead- 

 ing cattle-breeders. 



HOT DAYS IN AUSTRALIA. 



I often see reference in Gleanings to the 

 heat of the sun troubling some of our Califor- 

 nia bee-keepers. In our Hunter River district 

 I find a good hot summer day is the best to 

 handle bees — a day when the thermometer runs 

 between 120° to 130° F. in the sun. This is 

 about our fairly hot days, and it is during such 

 weather that honey comes in. Solar wax-ex- 

 tractors are being more used; but one like the 

 Doolittle does not suit very well. We require 

 one that is flat, as our sun is nearly vertical. I 

 find a tinned wire sieve placed over a tin tray, 

 and placed in a box with a glass lid, very good. 

 The wax melts on the wire, and runs through 

 and is much out of the direct rays of the sun, 

 which has a tendency to bleach the wax too 

 white. About 50 uer cut of thi^ wax that finds 

 its way to our market is nearly white. We find 

 white wax rather hard and brittle for founda- 

 tion, so we have to melt it up with some very 

 dark yellow wax to toughen it. The price of 

 wax is about 18 cts. per lb. for the best, and 14 

 cts. for inferior. Honev runs from (3 to 8 cts. 

 per lb. Most of it is sold to dealers. 



W. S. Pender. 



West Maitland, N. S. W., Feb. 16. 



[We shall b^^ very glad to see your father at 

 the Home of the Honey-bees, and will endeav- 

 or to give him the attention he deserves.! 



GLUCOSE MIXTURES ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 



"rag syrup," etc. 



As the people of the Pacific coast are victim- 

 ized with glucose at almost every turn and in 

 almost every form. I am highly pleased to see 

 Gleanings making such a decided protest 

 against forcing glucose upon the people— mix- 

 tures that pass under a multitude of high- 

 sounding names. As sweets have always been 

 high as to price on this coast (with the single 

 exception of extracted honey in large quantities), 

 the "gluco.se fiend " has had a large field, and 

 altogether too much favor, for he puts the vile 



stuff in packages under all kinds of pretty 

 labels, and sends it forth as "Drips" and 

 " Syrups," changing its front name as often as 

 the people discover that they do not like it. or 

 mixing it with some article of food, very soon 

 spoiling the sale of whatever it is mixed with. 



In the mines I have seen cans that contained 

 the simon-pure glucose. 1 don't think it was 

 even colored. This the miners had paid one 

 dollar a gallon for. and had not used half a 

 pint out of the can. but had set it aside as 

 " no good " — it made them sick, just as E. R. R. 

 says it did him when he tasted it. 



During my sixteen years on this coast, I have 

 "rastled " with glucose (as the boys say) under 

 many disguises, but have never been able to 

 get it down. It is nauseating every time; and 

 even if chemists in high authority do say that 

 it is not harmful as a food. I take the homeo- 

 pathic ground that any thing that is nauseat- 

 ing is not desirable, either as food or medicine. 



I remember one rainy day, years ago, in a 

 mining camp, hearing an old miner telling how 

 the " drips " were made. He said in large cities 

 these drip-factoi'ies send out men and boys to 

 pick up all the old clothes, old boots, shoes, and 

 rubbers, they could find; then they were all 

 ground up and put into a large hopper, the 

 same as the old settlers used to make lye in; 

 then a chemical solution was poured over the 

 pulp, and the result was the drips, "same as 

 you've got in that can, pardner." 



" But," said a listener, " what gives that tang 

 to the stuff?" 



"Oh!"' says the narrator, " there is now and 

 then an old cigar-stub or clay pipe left in the 

 pockets of the old clothes, and that does for 

 flavoring:" after that, " rag syrup " came to be 

 a common name for glucose in the mines, and 

 many believed that it was made in some such 

 way. 



We have just found the persistent visitor 

 again at our house, in the New Orleans molas- 

 ses. This is too bad, for it has shattered our 

 last idol; for how can a New England Yankee 

 cook or even live happy without his New 

 Orlean'< molasses? The glucose spoils it for 

 every purpose. 



We have tried the glucose mixtures in the 

 culinary department (unwillingly) many times 

 during oui' sixteen years' sojourn in California, 

 but it has been a failure every time. Now, if 

 glucose is good for anything at all. can it be 

 spoiled by mixing it with other sweets that are 

 good ? 1 think not. 



Now, I will make this proposition: If glu- 

 cose is desirable as a food, let us have it straight. 

 Put it on the market for just what it is; and 

 instead of selling it as New Orleans molasses 

 or pure " strained honey," at from one dollar 

 to a dollar and a quarter a gallon, let the peo- 

 ple have it at its real value, which, I under- 

 stand, is about ten or twelve cents a gallon. 

 Then if prople can find a place for it in the 

 economy of the household, let them buy it; but 

 don't spoil the market for something that is 

 wanted, by adulterating it with the nauseating 

 stuff. A. B. Mellen. 



Acton, Cal., Mar. 33. 



[If glucose has any legitimate and honest use, 

 we should like to know it. We hope the day 

 will come when its manufacture will be pro- 

 hibited. 



We presume that, of course, no intelligent 

 thinking person, including our correspondent, 

 will credit the rag-pulp story. Human nature 

 at times is bad enough: indeed, it would not be 

 above making and selling rag syrup for pure 

 goods; but there are other ingredients that are 

 cheaper than rags, and, of course, would be 

 u.sed instead.] 



