918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



that. It has been altogether removed from the 

 realm of doubt and mystery as much as it has 

 been in regard to rearing horses and cattle; 

 and yet Mr. Huish says, "The queen is not 

 fecundated by any act of coition with the 

 drone." That is one of the most astounding 

 errors I have ever l<nown so erudite a man as 

 Huish to commit. 



Huber says, " A swarm is not accompanied 

 by any drones." 



Huish says, "A swarm has never less than 

 two or three hundred drones." 



I think we shall have to side with Huish here, 

 for positive evidence is on his side. It seems 

 presumably true that some drones would go 

 with a new swarm, as their presence might be 

 necessary. 



Huber claims that the maximum of young 

 queens hatched in a hive in one season is 27; 

 Huish says 7. Some writers claim more than 7, 

 buT, probably Huber's estimate is none too large. 



Huber claims that bees travel half a mile for 

 food, while Huish says they go five or six miles. 

 We know that bees have been known to go six 

 miles, but it is very seldom, and certainly un- 

 profitable to go so far. The fact is, they will 

 go till they "get there." 



Huber says that extra queens are killed by 

 each other in single combat, while Huish claims 

 that the workers do that exclusively. Both 

 may be right, but it is well known that a queen 

 shows more hostility to a rival than a common 

 bee would toward the same queen. 



Huber says some colonies throw off seven or 

 eight swarms and yet winter well. Huish says. 

 " No hive was ever yet known to throw off 

 seven swarms." 



Huber says, "Food of various kinds is ad- 

 ministered to the larvae according to their 

 ages." Huish says, " No kind of food is ad- 

 ministered to the larviB in the cells." Certainly 

 Huish was wrong. 



Huber claims that wax is made from honey 

 or sugar, imbibed by the workers, from whose 

 bodies it exudes in scales between the rings of 

 the abdomen. Huish says, " Wax is made from 

 an elaboration of the pollen of flowers in the 

 second stomach of the bee." Huber is doubtless 

 right. 



Huber claims that queens use their sting to 

 kill young queens in their cells, while Huish 

 maintains that queens never sting on any occa- 

 sion whatever. It seems strange that God 

 should make so important an organ for nothing. 

 But we know they do sting a rival. 



I deem it useless to make any further com- 

 parison of the opinions of these two writers, as 

 all the points they discussed are now settled to 

 our complete satisfaction, sometimes favorable 

 to Huber. sometimes to Huish, and sometimes 

 to neither. 



Huish gives a very interesting chapter on the 

 treatment of honey. The extractor was not 

 then known, and honey was strained through a 

 sieve. Elesays: 



The Frencii impart a peculiar flavor to their honey 

 by placing oniii^e-flowers and other aromatic herbs 

 ill the bieve throiig-h wliich ilie honey passes. This 

 jii'tiflcial flavor is supposed by many to proceed 

 fi'om the pecufiiir kind of flowers from which tlie 

 bees extract their lioney; and in the great honey 

 districts of Narbonne and Languedoc, tlie honey 

 has always an art'hcial flavor imparted to it, which 

 enhances its value in the market. 



That seems like a "harmless improvement," 

 but it is doubtful whether it is now much in 

 vogue. 



Probably no person in the world is so much 

 afraid of being swindled as John Bull. On ac- 

 count of some crooked operations in honey, 

 tinder the management of one Hoge, some 15 

 years ago, the English placed a practical boy- 



cott on American honey, and have deprived 

 themselves largely, in consequence, of the best 

 the world affords in that line. In the London 

 market the most unwarrantable prejudice pre- 

 vails against American honey. It certainly is 

 to be regretted that so many standard articles 

 of food can be and are mixed w'th stuff of dif- 

 ferent kinds to cheapen them: but the English, 

 in spite of their pains, eat a good deal of 

 "truck" they never intend to. Huish speaks 

 of the condition of honey in London in his day 

 as follows: 



Tliere are few articles in trade which are more 

 adulterated than honey; and the article which is 

 sold in the London shops, under the name of prime 

 honey, bears liitle or no aflBnity with the real nature 

 of that article. As It is g-enerally ,S(jld by weight, 

 the cottagers take care in the tirst instance that tlie 

 honey shall not pass into the liaiids of the wholesale 

 dealers without receiving its due proportion of 

 flour or other heavy farinaceous substances, which 

 in a short time places the honey into a stiite of fer- 

 mentation, and divests it of a great portion of its 

 natural sweetness. A second adulteration takes 

 place when it comes into the hands of the retail 

 dealer, and thus tlie native virtues of the article 

 are completely destroyed. The detection of the 

 admixture of flour with honey is very easy. Dilute 

 a little honey with cold water; and if it be adulter- 

 ated with flour, the water will become of a milky 

 hue. Another method is to clarify the honey, by 

 placing a small quantity in a jar, which must be 

 half immersed in a saucepan of water When the 

 water is brought to a boiling heat, the honey be- 

 comes perfectly liquid and clarified; but if adulter- 

 ated, a thick scum rises to the top. which, oji being 

 taken off and suffered to grow cold, crumbles into a 

 farinaceous dust. 



The "cottager" alluded to above corresponds 

 to "the honest old farmer" of this country. 

 Some country editor, not noted for his temper- 

 ance p.-oclivities, once made an editorial note, 

 saying. "For the effects of" intemperance, see 

 onr inside this week." Doubtless the average 

 Londoner would like to examine himself the 

 same way after eating some "shop" honey 

 made by the good yeomanry of the North coun- 

 try. Quite likely, however, that fraud has 

 been stopped before now. 



In spite of what we now regard as wild asser- 

 tion on the part of Huish in some respects, his 

 t)Ook is very readable on account of the writer's 

 spicy English and its remarkably nice print. 



Medina, Dec. 8. W. P. Root. 



BEES ON A RAMPAGE. 



THEY STUNG EVERY THING ON THE FAKM ; WAS 

 IT A CASE OF ROBBING? 



FriendRoot: — I am inclined to think there are 

 times in the life of every bee-keeper when he 

 wishes he had never seen nor heard of a bee, no 

 matter how enthusiastic he or she is or ever 

 was. Such were my thoughts and experience 

 late one evening during the latter part of last 

 August. The fuss began near sundown. Had 

 it been earlier in the day, I really do not know 

 what would have become of us all. It seemed 

 as though all of my .50 colonies went on a ram- 

 page all of a sudden, which vexed me so I felt 

 that, if it were in my power, I should like to 

 kick the whole outfit clear across the continent 

 into the middle of the Pacific Ocean, so furious 

 were my little pets. The strife and havoc were 

 terrific while the trouble lasted. The first inti- 

 mation I had of the fuss. I was quietly cutting 

 some weeds from under a clump of rosebushes 

 that grew on the lawn, when, all at once, about 

 half a dozen bees stung me in the face and on 

 the back of the neck. It struck me at once that 

 I had cut into a swarm that had settled there. 

 The bees kept popping it to me as I broke to the 

 house for a veil. Then I heard my little boy, 12 

 years old, cry out, "The bees are stinging!" 



