I8w0 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



636 



I am glad to say my dish was nearly right side 

 up. Our cotton honoy is excellent in quality. 

 I will mail you a sample soon. 



The I)ove"tailed hive is being introduced here, 

 and will, I think, become pojmlar. Friends 

 Cauthen. Simpson, and myself, have been using 

 this hive for several years — the same except the 

 dovetailed corners. A. L. Bk.vch. 



Pineville. N. C. Aug. 14. 



POPLAR. 



CAN AVE FIND A SUHSTITUTK FOK KASSWOOI) 

 FOK SECTIONS? 



I have noticed considerable stir among our 

 Northern bee-writers in regard to the consump- 

 tion of basswood timber for sections and other 

 purposes: and some are taking measures to 

 withhold this rapid destruction of the timber, 

 and suggesting substitutes for it. This is cer- 

 tainly tlie proper thing: but we should nu)ve 

 slowly, he sure we are right, and tltcti we can 

 go ahead with the minimum of friction. 



I greatly fear that those who have discontin- 

 ued the use of basswood sections, and adopted 

 poplar (or tulip) as its substitute, have not bet- 

 tered the nuitter very materially, so far as the 

 general welfare of the bees is concerned. Our 

 Northein fiiends do not seem to realize fully 

 the real value of the poplar as a honey source, 

 perhajjs on account of its scarcity there. While 

 basswood is very scarce here in Southern Ohio, 

 poplar tills its place, and Jills it well. I do not 

 kno\\' \'ery much aiiout basswood as a honey- 

 producer 'except as I read what is reported 

 through the journals; but I should not hesi- 

 tate to say that poplar will at least '* hold its 

 own" \\ith basswood. evei'y time. White ck)ver 

 is jieuliaps at the head of the entire list of 

 honey-producing i)huits. as A. I. Root says in 

 his A I{ C. Yet bees in this locality gather as 

 much honey from iK)))lar in fourteen days (the 

 average length of time of poplar bloom) as they 

 do from clover in fifty days (the average length 

 of time of white-clover bloom). I feel certain 

 that the fully developed lilossoms will average 

 half of a teaspoonful of nectar: and when the 

 trees are in full bloom, the bees get themselves 

 all daulied. just as they would if they were tak- 

 ing hoiu'y from a dish. So those to whom the 

 poi)lar is a stranger can form some idea of its 

 iioney-yielding projjerties. liut the honey is 

 not such a fancy article as that from white clo- 

 ver or basswood. In color, it is a little dark, or 

 golden. After all. this is no serious thing: for 

 coming, as it does, between fruit and clover 

 bloom, the bees make use of most (jf it in tilling 

 up the brood-chambei', so we do not gi't a great 

 ■deal in the sections. 



But here is the point: There is a period of 

 about three weeks between fruit and clover 

 bloom, during which the bees could not get 

 enough to run them, and would have to be fed 

 ■during the whole tinu' to make them prosper 

 properlv. Hut as it is, we ai'e not compelled to 

 feed. \\'.' have just the thing we want. In- 

 stead of feeding to keep up brood-rearing, the 

 bees are rolling in the dark poplar honey until 

 they have the bi-ood-chamber crammed full, 

 and nuiny are already up in the sections I'cady 

 for the whole crop of clover honey, which fol- 

 lows close, for surplus. 



It is hardly worth the space to say that o>n' 

 poplar is. and has been for scmie time, meeting 

 tlu^ sanu' fate as the northei'ii basswood: in- 

 deed, a ivorse fate. for. as every one knows. 

 po])lar timber is being used for purposes almost 

 innunu'rable. J. C. Atkinson. 



Nelsonville, Ohio. Aug. 18. 



Friend A., youi- points are well taken. Tlie 



destruction of the forests is certainly going to 

 have a marked effect on bee-keeping as an in- 

 dustry; and unless forests are planted, or fruit, 

 or some other honey-bearing trees, in sufficient 

 quantities, there is trouble ahead. 



^ I ^ 



DO BEES CHANGE NECTAR1 



riNE-TKEE HONEY. 



In yoiu' reply to D. A. Rothrock, July 1, you 

 say that bees do not change the nectar in car- 

 rying it from the flow(>i's to tlie hive. Last 

 winter I sent you some samples of pine-tree 

 honey-d(>w. and I now s(>nd a sample of honey 

 made fnmi it. I know it is genuine, as I placed 

 an empty comb in the hiv(\ and extracted the 

 lioney from it; and as it was in the winter, 

 there was no i)ossibility of their getting honey 

 from any other source. Yo\i will observe that 

 it has a "honey'" taste, while the honey-dew 

 tasted more like sugar syrup. It is darker (it 

 was not as dark, however, when first extracted), 

 having stood in a bottle since March. The 

 honey-dew I had collected in vials soured: this 

 does not. ^Vhen the honey-dew had colli'cted 

 on the balk and evaporated, it left a lumi) of 

 what looked and tasted lila^ white sugai'. I 

 don't think this will. If you feed bees honey, 

 what can they store but honey? and if it is 

 scorched, or bad in any way. of course it re- 

 mains so: but I can not tliiiik they store any 

 thing but honey, no nuitter what they collect, 

 and said honey is of different quality and taste, 

 according to the substance from which it is 

 made. You are very positive and earnest in 

 denying charges of the 



ADULTERATION OF HONEY 



by feeding bees. Are you sni-e that some of the 

 large (luantities of sugar that we read of some 

 apiaiists feeding to their bei's is not taken out 

 and sold as honey, and that there is not enough 

 margin foi' a fair profit between the prices, 

 when sugar is bought by the wholesale? We 

 hav(^ had no surplus honey as yet. as there was 

 but little of any kind of bloom in the spring, 

 and the honey was mostly consumed in bre<'d- 

 ing. which was very early and profuse. The 

 honey-dew appeared again, however, about Ju- 

 Iv 1.5. and they are now booming. 



Amherst. Va.. July 31. J. Osbohn. 



Friend O.. we are all very well aware that 

 bees evaporate, or ripen, honey in the combs: 

 and we also know that well-ripened honey is 

 very different from the raw nectai". as gathered 

 from the flowers. This ripening process can be 

 done artificially, nearly if not quite as well as 

 the bees can do it. The raw nectar from the 

 spider plant has a green, sickish taste, or some- 

 thing that way, when you gather a spoonful or 

 two; but hold it in a spoon over a lamp until it 

 evaporates, .so as to be as thick as thick honey, 

 and it has a vcny delicate, pleasant flavor. 



In regard to feeding be(»s to get honey, all 

 that is needed to show the folly of such a 

 course is to try it. See what is said in tlii* 

 A B (' book in regard to feeding honey back ttf 

 get sections tilled up. I don't think there has 

 ever been a time wlien any bee-keeper could 

 make it pay to feed his bees sugar so as to sell 

 it for honey after they had .sealed it up in the 

 combs. Th<' mattcM- has been discussed in our 

 journals for :iO yeais back. We may feed cheap 



