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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 13. 



this present year. The maps are all new, and 

 beautifully colored. We believe that every sub- 

 ject treated is considered in a perfectly impar- 

 tial light; and while not trying to make the 

 inventions of other nations look pale by causing 

 them to appear in any stronger light which the 

 editors assume by right belongs to us. we Amer- 

 icans have reason to be well satisfied with John- 

 son. We say this in view of the feeling of dis- 

 appointment one sometimes feels when con- 

 sulting some foreign cyclopedias for informa- 

 tion concerning matters of particular interest 

 to us as Americans. The entire work, in the 

 new form, will contain eight volumes. We can 

 commend it most cordially to our readers. 



This is not a paid advertisement, but a free 

 and unsolicited expression of our opinion. The 

 work is truthful on the subject of bees, and that 

 is why we like to say a good word for it. 



1893 A PHENOMENAL HOTVEY YEAK SO FAR. 



Never, since we have had charge of the 

 editorial management of Gleanings so far as 

 it relates to bees, have we read so many reports 

 showing phenomenal honey-fiows. Why, if 

 you could look over our shoulder as the letters 

 come in day by day, you would think that a 

 veritable and prolonged honey-shower had 

 struck the country; and the end is not yet. 

 The season with us commenced about three 

 weeks ago. and the bees are still working on 

 clover, and basswood is just beginning to open 

 up. This state of affairs seems to be existing 

 in nearly all of the Northern and Middle States, 

 from ocean to ocean. Yes, the California crop 

 is going to be good too. More than all this, the 

 crop, besides being unusually large, is remark- 

 ably choice. All samples that have been com- 

 ing in were of about one grade— extra nice; 

 and the producers, almost with one accord, 

 write that they have tons and tons of that kind 

 of honey. 



In our department of Reports Encouraging, 

 in this issue, we have given just a few of the 

 fair average reports, not selecting the best nor 

 the poorest. The few that we have publish- 

 ed represent hundreds of others that we can 

 not insert in our columns on account of a lack 

 of space. 



Now, it may be that there are some localities 

 where the bees have not done well; but if so, 

 they are very few and far between. We have 

 had so far, in the past three or four weeks, only 

 one isolated report, and that told the old story 

 of the last four or five years— no honey, and the 

 bee-keeper discouraged. 



being in haste to think evil of our 

 neighbors; sugar honey, again. 



I FELT sure that, before another honey sea- 

 sou was over, we should feel the effects of what 

 was said a few months ago about feeding bees 

 sugar to make honey. A good friend of mine 

 just brought in some honey for us to buy. I 

 objected to paying a good price for it, as it was 

 stored in stained and propolized sections, saved 

 over from last year. Then he commenced: 



" Mr. Root, this is genuine honey. The honey 

 you are buying and paying a big price for is 

 made by feeding sugar; and three-fourths of 

 the honey brought into market in Medina Co. 

 is sugar honey; but you know mine is just what 

 I claim it to be— genuine honey." 



As soon as I could stop him I put in some- 

 thing like this: 



" Why, friend C. you are beside yourself. 

 How can anybody afford to buy sugar and feed 

 it to his bees when honey is coming in right 

 straight along, as it has been for a month back ? 

 How can these men who, you say, buy sugar 

 and feed it, compete at all with those who sim- 



ply fix their hives and sections, and take care 

 of the honey that comes of itself, as free as the 

 air we breathe?" 



If there had not been a good flow of honey, I 

 should not have been so much surprised: but to 

 hear an intelligent man claim that the nice 

 honey that is now pouring in upon our markets 

 was made from sugar was astounding. But he 

 was not done yet. Said he: 



" You can not get around it. A greater part 

 of the honey upon the markets is made of 

 sugar. I saw it so staled in the Ohio Farmer a 

 short time ago. One of your best writers said 

 that the small bee-keepers could in nowise 

 compete with the specialist who makes it his 

 business to raise honey and do nothing else. 

 That means ihat the specialist feeds sugar to 

 get his bonny." 



This is the consequence, you see, of having 

 this thing get into the papers. Then he start- 

 ed on a new track: 



"Look here. This honey of mine is ever so 

 much better than your nice-looking white stuff. 

 One of our grocers uptown tasted of one and 

 then of the other, and he said they were noth- 

 ing near alike. He said mine was ever so much 

 better because it is pure honey, and the other is 

 just sugar syrup put into combs. Why, Mr. 

 Root, you just taste one and then the other 

 yourself, and see the difference." 



I admitted to him that there was no doubt 

 a great difference. One lot probably came from 

 basswood and the other from clover; and on 

 tasting one and then the other, no one could 

 fail to notice the remarkable difference in flavor. 

 But some will prefer the basswood and some 

 will prefer the clover. The difference in flavor 

 does by no means establish the fact that one is 

 sugar and the other is honey. Now, then, let 

 us go back to the strong point of our defense. 

 How can any bee-keeper buy sugar, and fuss 

 with feeders, and produce a crop anywhere 

 near as cheap as he Who takes the honey as it 

 comes, costing him nothing except to provide 

 places for the bees to store it? Some, perhaps, 

 will afZmit that the thing is impracticable and 

 impossible during a honey-flow; but how about 

 the fall of the year, when no honey is being 

 gathered ? Well, I do not believe that any bee- 

 keeper will make it pay sufficiently, to follow 

 up the business, even in the fall of the year, 

 notwithstanding the wide difference between 

 the price of sugar and that of dark honey; and 

 I should be very much surprised indeed if a 

 single pound of sugar honey could be found in 

 our whole county. A. I. R. 



The following, just at hand, will explain it- 

 self: 



Friend Boot:—! am so anxious to hear something 

 about how the Lang-don non-swarming device 

 worked with other people. From my experience, I 

 liave to consider it a complete failure, to my great 

 sorrow and disappointment. T. H. Kloer. 



Terre Haute, Ind. 



Yes, so should we: let's have the reports of 

 those who have tried them for '93, including one 

 from H. P. Langdon himself. Just now we are 

 all anxious to know about something that 

 promised so much early in the season. We are 

 hopeful. 



The Crane has the best blast of any smoker I have 

 seen. T. K. Massie. 



Tophet, W. Va., June 26. 



I am happy to say that we have found Gtl.eanings 

 a "good investment," and it is with the greatest 

 pleasure that I now Inclose a dollar to renew my 

 subscription for another year. Long live Glean- 

 ings and all its managers ! 



Troy, N. Y., June 26. Levi De Freest. 



