132 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



It has also been said that if there were 

 rules for grading that there must be an in- 

 spector in each market ; and that the in- 

 spector and the middle man would combine 

 to '' beat " the producer. I think no inspect- 

 or would be needed. These rules would be a 

 sort of agreement among ourselves, indicat- 

 ing what we mean by certain grades. When 

 a dealer quoted honey of a certain grade, at 

 a certain price, every producer and purchas- 

 er would know exactly what was meant. 



Where the producer takes a sample of his 

 honey to dealers and sell direct to them, 

 there is not so much need of a set of rules, 

 bat they would be a convenience, even then, 

 while I think it is true that the great bulk of 

 honey is sold without the producer ever see- 

 ing the purchaser. 



I still believe that a set of rules can be for- 

 mulated that will be sufficiently concise, yet 

 broad enough to cover the needs of the en- 

 tire country, and that such rules would be a 

 great convenience. 



THE SUGAE-HONEY DISCUSSION. 



My request for the views of my readers in 

 regard to continuing the sugar-honey dis- 

 cussion has brought replies by the score. 

 It seems as though I had enough advice 

 on hand to enable me to run the Review a 

 year. But I have no fault to find. It is ex- 

 actly what I hoped for, and I thank the 

 friends for their kindness. I find myself, 

 however, in the position of a presiding of- 

 ficer when a tie-vote has been cast. As is 

 often the case, beekeepers are divided upon 

 the question. Some are anxious that the 

 discussion be continued ; wishing to have 

 brought up the details of management. To 

 such I will say that the management is ex- 

 actly the same as feeding back honey. This 

 subject has been made the topic of a special 

 discussion in the Review, and the gist of the 

 whole matter has been gathered into a 

 chapter in " Advanced Bee Culture," hence 

 there is no need for its continuance on that 

 ground. 



Some of the articles, on both sides, are ex- 

 ceedingly well written, and the temptation 

 to give them is very great ; but the busy sea- 

 son is upon us, and we better turn our at- 

 tention to something else than the continu- 

 ance of a discussion that will degenerate 

 into a mere theoretical wrangle over the 

 wisdom or folly of having published an 

 article that cannot be recalled. Time will 



decide that question, At least, I think it 

 will be better to allow enough time to elapse 

 for some of those who are so excited over 

 the matter to "cool down." I feel particu- 

 larly grateful to those who, while holding 

 views different than mine, had the kindness 

 to say cheering words because I had the 

 courage to stand by my convictions, even 

 though I expected to stand almost alone. 



Having Colonies Strong at the Right Time. 



Often, in the spring, have I noticed some 

 colonies that were unusually populous, and, 

 "as I viewed them with gratification, I have 

 thought : " Oh, if all the colonies were like 

 these ! " Time passed ; the harvest came on 

 apace. ( )ther colonies swung into line with 

 their ranks fully as populous, and piled up 

 the honey far ahead of those that had been 

 so strong early in the season, and I have 

 looked on and wondered. Upon this point, 

 F. Greiner has the following to say in 

 Gleaninys. 



" If a colony of bees arrives at its maximum 

 strength any length of time before the 

 honey-flow commences, it will not do nearly 

 as well as some other colony just getting 

 there as the season begins. This is particu- 

 larly the case with such as have older 



Empty Combs and Old Foundation Versus 

 Fresh Foundation. 



There has been a great difference of 

 honest opinion among the bee-keepers in re- 

 gard to the value of drawn combs in the sec- 

 tions at the beginning of the honey harvest. 

 J. A. Green thinks that he has discovered 

 one reason for this difference of opinion, 

 and, from a most excellent article that he 

 sent to Gleanings, I extract the following : 



" But the principal reason why many do 

 not see this question in its proper light is, 

 that they do not compare the sections of 

 drawn comb with those filled with fresh 

 foundation. I have known for years that 

 freshly made foundation is better than that 

 which has been exposed to the air for some 

 time, but I never saw the difference so strik- 

 ingly shown as in an experiment last sum- 

 mer. On account of lack of help, many su- 

 pers were just as they had been left the pre- 

 ceding summer, the sections containing full 

 sheets of foundation untouched by the bees. 

 Wishing to try a new make of sections, two 

 or three rows of the old sections were remov- 

 ed from each of a number of supers, and re- 

 placed with the new ones containing fresh 



