iOl 



GLEANIXGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



a solar extractor. And isn't it also possible that this 

 lack of sunshine for the last few years plays an im- 

 portant part in the failure of the honey crop? Yet 

 I regard it as a valuable acquisition to the apiary, 

 in any locality; but in the South, in the land of per- 

 petual sunshine, I should place it beside the ex- 

 tractor and foundation-mill for usefulness in the 

 apiary— an indispensable labor-saving machine. 



Now I am done. If you are ingenious I think you 

 will be able to build the extractor, as described and 

 illustrated. H. R. Boardman. 



East Townsend, O., May 8. 



Eriend B., I congratulate you on your dis- 

 covery that the solar wax-extractor is the 

 best thing for liquefying granulated honey. 

 May be the idea has come up before ; but 

 if so, I had forgotten it. But, are you sure 

 that the heat of the sun will never injure 

 the honey? Jf so, it is a big item in its fa- 

 vor. In our greenhouse experiments we 

 have had ample opportunity to see how 

 many sunshiny days there are. But we 

 have had an unusual amount of cloudy 

 weather for three seasons past. Wait until 

 we have a drouth; Ihen you can render 

 wax, and liquefy the honey to good advan- 

 tage. The glass should most surely be put 

 in greenhouse fashion— that is, so as to let 

 the water run down unobstructedly, and 

 large pieces of glass are certainly an ad- 

 vantage over the small ones. Would not a 

 large screw, such as is used in the bottom 

 of a music-stool, be the best thing to get the 

 proper inclination? or, better still, have 

 two such screws, one on each back corner. 

 Now have the front raised on a pivot, and 

 you can have any angle you choose. I sup- 

 pose one reason why solar wax-extractors 

 are so much more common in California is 

 because of the perpetual sunshine there. In 

 fact, I am told that they have at least some 

 sunshine every day in the year, and a good 

 deal of the time whole months without an 

 obstructing cloud. For a honey-evaporator 

 you must have ventilation both at top and 

 bottom, to get the best advantage. We 

 tried drying green corn in our greenhouse, 

 but it would not dry a bit. It only turned 

 sour unless ventilation was given sufficient 

 to let a light stream of hot air pass over and 

 through the corn. 



EXHIBITIONS AT FAIRS. 



PROF. COOK SDGOESTS SOMETHING IiMPORTANT. 



Dear Mr. Root :~You will remember that, at the 

 Michigan State Bee-Keepers' meeting held last 

 winter at Lansing, the question of exhibits at fairs 

 was fully discussed. You will remember my sur- 

 prise when some persons present said it was not 

 necessary that the exhibitor should have produced 

 the honey which he exhibited; that he might get it 

 anywhere. At our Michigan Central Bee-Keepers' 

 meeting the other day, the question came up again. 

 It was the unanimous opinion of those present that 

 all honey should be produced by the exhibitor, and 

 all but one person thought it should be the prod- 

 uct of the year in which the exhibition was made. 

 I was appointed a committee to urge upon the au- 

 thorities that this opinion should be embodied in a 

 rule governing all future exhibitions at our State 

 Fair. I have consulted the authorities, and find 



that we are too late for this year. The premium 

 list is printed, and can not now be changed. I 

 should like your opinion on this subject, and also 

 the opinion of others. It seems to me that equity, 

 and the entire aim of such exhibitions, demand 

 that no person exhibit other than his own product. 

 Fairs are not to stimulate hunting about to find 

 beautiful honey, but to incite to its production. If 

 this rule is adopted, then the neat, skillful apiarist, 

 not the traveling collectors, will get the premiums. 

 Ought he not to have them? 



The other question, production during the year of 

 the exhibition, might be opposed, as, during very 

 poor years, it might be difficult to make a fine ex- 

 hibit, and if a man made a fine design of wax he 

 might desire to use it successive seasons. Yet 

 even here it is the only fair way. Then all are on 

 an equal footing, which would not be true if honey 

 produced in previous years could be exhibited. 

 Wax for ornament could be brought, no matter 

 when fashioned; while that for premiums should 

 have been produced the season of the exhibit. 



Thus it seems to me that such a rule should be 

 made to govern in all our fairs. The exhibit 

 should be the product of the exhibitor, and should 

 have been produced the year of the exhibition. Is 

 this not so? Let others speak. 



ADULTERATED HONEY. 



Mr. R. A. Hardy, of Lampasas, Texas, sends nie 

 some extracted (?) honey which he says is sold in 

 his vicinity by a bee-keeper in an adjoining town. 

 He thinks some artificial feed was given to the 

 bees, which they stored in the combs. He desires 

 me to state through Gleanings what I think it is, 

 and how prepared. 



I should say that this is genuine honey— at least I 

 gee no reason to think otherwise. I do not know 

 the kind. It seems rank, both in taste and odor, 

 like some of our autumn honey at the North. 

 There seems to be much wax in it, as though cap- 

 pings were left in. In a mouthful of the honey one 

 gets quite a mass of the wax. I should say that 

 this was a very questionable way to prepare ex- 

 tracted honey for market, and I should not sup- 

 pose it could compete with hone.v that is free from 

 wax, etc. Bee-keepers should be careful to ex- 

 clude all substances from extracted honey, else 

 buyers will suspect adulteration. 



FLORIDA BEETLES. 



Dr. J. H. Hunt, Tallahassee, Florida, sends me 

 several beetles in a strong box, with cotton, by 

 mail. They came in nice shape, and all alive. He 

 says he finds them (luite abundant about his hives. 

 He reports that they seem eager to get into the 

 hives, but for what purpose he can not tell. He can 

 discover that they do no benefit or injury. He can 

 almost always find them on the enamel cloth above 

 the bees, and very often sees them going into the 

 entrance of the hives. "Please give name and 

 your opinion of their object in visiting the hives. 

 I shall be glad to send you more if you wish them 

 for experiment for your cabinet, or for the college." 



This beetle is Euphoria sepulchralis, Fati. It is 

 half an inch long, and is dark brown, with dashes 

 of white on its back. I have It from Maryland, 

 District of Columbia, Georgia, Florida, and Texas. 

 Thus we see that it is widely distributed in the 

 South. We have two of the same genus north, E. 

 inda and E. melancholica. The latter looks very 

 much like this one, except that it is a little larger. 

 Ours as grubs live in the earth, and feed on roots of 



