40 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



motto is true. Hasty didn"'t agitate the mat- 

 ter of confining swarms in miniature cellars 

 before he commenced digging holes in the 

 ground. In most of our important improve- 

 ments — the movable frame, the extractor, 

 foundation, etc., did not experimentation 

 precede agitation ? 



Now, if Hasty thought he had a good idea, 

 he might better have fir^t experimented 

 thereon, and after he had got a pound of 

 good honey — just one pound — then it would 

 have been time enough to have agitated the 

 matter just so far as to confer privately with 

 one ot more of the fraternity as to the ad- 

 visability of letting his secret die with him. 



Hasty is a delightful writer. I read with 

 interest everything that comes from his pen, 

 but in this instance he acted without careful 

 forethought, in my opinion, and— begging 

 your pardon — the editor was guilty of crim- 

 inal lack of scrutiny in admitting the article 

 even from so good a man as Hasty. Do my 

 words sound harsh ? Please believe me, 

 they are said more in sorrow than in anger, 

 and with a warm feeling in my heart for the 

 two men I condemn. 



Makengo, 111., Jan. 4, 185(2. 



Mr. H. R. Boardman, of East Townsend, 

 Ohio, writes as follows : — 



"Oh, why did you publish that nonsense 

 of Hasty's about making comb honey from 

 granulated sugar ? 



Have you so soon forgotten that • Wiley 

 pleasantry,' that cost the bee keepers so 

 many years of hard fighting to ' down ? ' 



It cannot fail to be misleading and dama- 

 ging to the bee keeping industry, and I pro- 

 test, as I hope every wide awake bee keeper 

 will, against giving such sfi(# to the public." 



•T. P. Smith, Sunapee, N. H., sends in the 

 following :— 



"I enclose !?!. 00 for another year, begin- 

 ning with the present month. This I do 

 under protest, said protest being caused by 

 the publication of the article of E. E. Hasty 

 in the Dec. Review, and having the approval 

 of your silence. When such an extensive 

 honey producer as Mr. Hasty, under the 

 silent approval of yourself, a professional 

 reviewer of erratical bee-lore, sends broad- 

 cast among your subscribers such views, it 

 it is time for somebody to move sloivly. 



I don't know any way that we can take a 

 candid look at anything so 'shockingly 

 heretical ' as the advocacy of feeding sugar 

 to obtain comb honey to ornament the tea 

 table. 



If that article is an outgrowth of ' Ad- 

 vanced Bee Culture' then give me the 'be- 

 nighted Africa of book-beedom.' 



Now. friend H., I deem it your duty as a 

 professional reviewer to review that article 

 and set it right. Thousands of bee keepers 

 are ready to catch on to the ideas advanced 

 there. W^ith sugar at about four cents, who 

 cannot foresee the demoralization of the 

 honey business that this foreshadows V 



We look to the bee journals as watchmen 

 on the walls, to guard our interests and 

 sound the warning note against the first 

 attempt to adulterate our highly prized pro- 

 duct. Without exception we have found 

 them true to the trust, and active and out- 

 spoken in hunting down anything akin to 

 the 'Wiley lie.' Never before have I seen a 

 bee paper disgraced— (pardon me) — by ad- 

 vocating adulteration. 



Now, frankly, if this has any more en- 

 couragement, nay, if it is not rebuked, you 

 need take no pains, at the close of this year, 

 to ascertain why my Review is stopped." 



[That honey produced by the feeding of 

 sugar would be just as wholesome, just as 

 handsome, and just as well relished as that 

 made by the feeding of honey, there is not a 

 particle of doubt. When feeding sugar for 

 winter, I have sometimes fed it early, and 

 somewhat slowly, as" friend Hasty suggests, 

 and the combs have been so white and tempt- 

 ing that I have frequently cut out a small 

 piec3 with my knife and eaten it. In doing 

 so I have been surprised at the honey taste it 

 possessed. There was the oily, rich, mucil- 

 agenous, twangy, honey taste, caused by the 

 chemical (partially digesting) action of the 

 bee's secretions. It also had a sugar flavor. 

 In short, I would call it sugar honey in the 

 same sensa that we speak of basswood or 

 buckwheat honey. I should certainly prefer 

 it to the latter. Now, these are facts. Why 

 attempt to conceal them ? Thhse who were 

 ready to hold up their hands in holy horror 

 at the mention of " less talk about adultera- 

 tion," are the first to advise silence in regard 

 to the fact that comb honey might be pro- 

 duced at a profit by the feeding of sugar. 



^Vllilo I liave not a particle of doubt that a 

 beekeeper experienced in " feeding back " 

 could, with sugar and honey at the present ' 

 prices, raise comb honey at a profit by the 

 feeding of sugar, I am not yet ready to ad- 

 vise such a course, even if customers were 

 informed in regard to the matter, as men- 

 tioned by Mr. Hasty. 



