280 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Mar. 15. 



bees instead of the larvje, till all the pollen in 

 the hive is used up. At least, this is as I be- 

 lieve it to be after very careful watching along 

 these lines. At no other time have I ever 

 known of mature bees eating pollen. I have 

 starved several colonies in the fall when there 

 was little or no brood, by various experiments, 

 in trying to make old bees subsist on pollen, 

 and never could see that they touched a parti- 

 cle of it. 



POLLEN AND PKOPOLIS NOT THE SAME. 



Question. — A man of some experience with 

 bees told me that pollen and propolis were the 

 same. Is this so? 



Answer.^— "Nol Their offices are very differ- 

 ent; and the man who has any idea that the 

 two are at all alike has had no experience 

 along this line of bee-keeping, else he would 

 know better. Propolis is a resinous substance 

 gathered by the bees very largely from the 

 buds of the balm of Gilead and other trees 

 which secrete any substance of a salvy nature 

 which can be worked in warm weather, but 

 which is hard and brittle on the approach of 

 winter. It is used to stop all cracks in the hive 

 not large enough to admit a bee, and to smooth 

 over all uneven surfaces about that part of the 

 hive they come in contact with. It is as differ- 

 ent from the farinaceous substance of pollen as 

 glue is from flour, and could in no way be made 

 to take the place of pollen in preparing the food 

 for the larval bees; neither could pollen be 

 made to take the place of propolis in stopping 

 cracks or glazing the walls of the hive, for it 

 would crumble and fall off as fast as the bees 

 could put it on. 



HAS POLLEN OR PROPOLIS ANY DOMESTIC USE? 



Question. — Can either polleti or propolis be 

 put to any domestic use? 



Answer.— I think not, although there has 

 been some attempt made at using propolis for 

 one of the ingredients in making salve. From 

 last accounts the attempts resulted in partial 

 failure, so that this has no market value; and 

 no idea has ever been entertained, that I know 

 of, by any one, of making use of pollen in any 

 form or under any circumstances. In queen- 

 less colonies it often collects in the combs so as 

 to become almost a nuisance, and we have 

 heard of calls for some plan to remove it with- 

 out harming the combs. If either of these sub- 

 stances could be used in domestic life it would 

 prove a bonanza, of a partial nature at least, to 

 the apiarist; but I have no idea that any thing 

 of the kind will ever come to pass. 



I wonder how many Gleanings readers are 

 aware that one of the secrets in selling extract- 

 ed honey in tumblers is to have it properly 

 labeled. H. G. Quirin. 



Bellevue, O.. Dec. 14. 



[Yes, indeed; this is a very important point. 

 —Ed.] 



COAL oil- CAN FRAUDS. 



After reading the following letter received by 

 a Chicago honey-dealing firm, from one of their 

 customers, we think you will agree with us in 

 saying that it is a fraud to use second-hand 

 coal-oil cans for holding honey: 



Dear Sirs:— I am very sorry to inform you that I 

 have just returned all of your last shipment of ex- 

 tracted honey. I thought that the CHlifornia sage 

 was all right, but I found, on heating a couple of 

 cans (as we always do to melt the grain), that the 

 honey had been packed in coal-oil cans, and I did 

 not detect the fraud until the heat developed the oil. 

 You will find that the honey is worthless, and should 

 be returned to the producer at his expense. One 

 can seemed to be worse than any of the others, so 

 I emptied it into a clean can and cut the top out to 

 see just what condition it was really in. On the in- 

 side I found that the oil had not been washed out at 

 all — the sides of the can are covered with oil so 

 much that the honey doesn't stick to the tin. I sent 

 the empty can along so that you can see for your- 

 selves. 



Just examine that empty can— it shows premedi- 

 tated fraud— the cap has been changed from the 

 original top to the bottom for the purpose of cover- 

 ing up tlie stamp of the oil company. Now, I claim 

 that the commission merchants are largely to blame 

 for such vandalism. All you would have to do 

 would be to notify California producers that oil 

 packages would not under any circumstances be 

 accepted. Yours very truly, 



Honey-man. 



We can not understand how any bee-keepers 

 can have the "gall," or the poor business sense, 

 to use cans that have had coal oil in them, for 

 holding honey, when they ought to know that 

 the flavor of honey is very easily affected and 

 totally injured. What poor policy it is to try 

 to save a few cents on cans, and run the risk of 

 having the honey ruined and made wholly un- 

 fit for use! Surely, no readers of the American 

 Bee Journal would be guilty of such an act; 

 but if they know any bee-keeper using old coal- 

 oil cans for honey, they should try to stop it If 

 at all possible; for by the wrong-doing of one, 

 or a few, the whole fraternity must sometimes 

 suffer. — Ame7'ican Bee Journal. 



[I say amen, and hope our brother-publishers 

 will pass it (this item) around.— Ed.] 



BEE-PARALYSIS. 



On page 63. Jan. 15th Gleanings. Mr. Ford 

 gives two or three points about this disease. 

 Your senior editor may be right in his account 

 of what was said in Atlanta on this subject; 

 but my recollection differs a little from his. I 

 understood that what was said about queens 

 and bees not carrying the disease referred to 

 foul brood only. If I had understood that it 

 referred to bee- paralysis I should have kicked 

 vigorously; in fact, I did say there, that, so far 

 as I could judge, diseased bees was the princi- 

 pal way of transmitting the disease. My own 

 experience points in the direction of the fact 

 that sending queens from a distance has been a 

 serious cause of the disease in my apiary. 



