THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



of honey are stored from cotton, and that 

 the honey glands of cotton are mostly out- 

 side the corolls instead of inside. Yet our 

 southern friends would buzz about Mr. Dag- 

 gitt's ears had he power to prevent their pro- 

 duct from being sold as honey. The cow pea 

 of the south goes farther, and has its honey 

 glands on nodes scattered all along the stem. 

 What shall we do for our brethren who have 

 cow pea honey to sell ? Again, vegetable 

 tissues not originally intended to secrete 

 sugar often take that action by reason of 

 wounds. Occasionally the stubble from 

 which grain is cut, instead of dying, goes to 

 work and secretes immense quantities of 

 sweet. When soil and air are moist, and all 

 circumstances favorable, wounds caused by 

 insects, and especially those curious growths 

 resembling fruits which insect wounds give 

 rise to, put out nectar. It may transpire yet 

 that half the honey credited to insects is only 

 provoked by them, not secreted. Freezing 

 and thawing also wounds leaf tissue enough 

 to make it take this altered action some- 

 times, and the forest goes into the syrup 

 business by the square mile, if I am not mis- 

 informed. Bees pay no heed to our quillets 

 of definition.. In time? of scarcity they 

 gather what they can. In times of abund- 

 ance they discriminate by quality, them- 

 selves being judges. And in many if not 

 most cases we cannot assort their produc- 

 tion except by quality. 



As for the minor points friend Daggitt 

 makes, oleomargarine disgusts us because 

 we cannot get rid of the idea that it had an 

 unclean origin. This would not be the case 

 with sugar-honey. The Wiley yarn took and 

 ran in the newspapers like wildfire because 

 people like to hear that somebody, especially 

 a rogue, has accomplished something sup- 

 posed to be impossible. Sugar-honey will 

 lack that appetizing character. We shall 

 soon find out what the newspapers will do ; 

 but I will risk the prediction that they will 

 pay very little attention to the matter. I 

 think I never called the elaboration of honey 

 by the bee a digestion. Go for some other 

 fellow. Sugar-honey can hardly be more 

 destitute of aroma and distinctive flavor 

 than some floral honey is. So I say. Breth- 

 ren, let honey be honey. Let good be good. 

 Let bad be bad. Let us all lub each other, 

 and hab no trouble any more. 



EiOHAEDS, Ohio, 



March 10, 1892. 



In Wintering Bees, Pure, Dry, Warm Air 



is Needed.— Securing it by Moving the 



Bees to a Warm Chamber. 



0. W. DA1TON. 



tF I WERE NOT 

 I afraid that my 

 location would be 

 overstocked I 

 might say, to fol- 

 low my example, 

 b y coming to 

 Southern Califor- 

 nia, where cellars 

 are not needed. 

 For Iowa or Wis- 

 consin (my for- 

 mer location) I 

 think I could make 

 nearly any cellar answer, with a little labor, 

 for wintering by the plan which I give. A 

 cellar where a temperature of 42 to 48 de- 

 grees could be maintained would suit, and 

 I do not care what the walls and floor are 

 composed of. There is a difference in the 

 natural temperature or in the location of 

 cellars that makes it necessary to use fire in 

 one and not in another, and yet what should 

 cause such a differeuce is difficult to under- 

 stand. 



As the bees are set in, spread over each 

 hive, on the brood frames, two thicknesses 

 of common gunny sacking and, as the hives 

 are piled up solidly, lay laths on the lower 

 hives to set the second tier upon. Leave the 

 common bottom boards nailed on the hives 

 but open the entrances full width. 



Set the bees in the cellar about November 

 20th. I pay little attention to the weather 

 except that the hives are dry on the outside 

 and it is not cold enough to collect frost or 

 moisture on the inside of the brood chamber 

 or on the combs of honey. 



After this arrangement, take care that the 

 temperature does not get out of control. If 

 it should go down to 38° or 40'' for < few 

 hours, it will do no harm, but it must not 

 stay there long, as moisture condenses very 

 rapidly. The temperature will naturally 

 take care of itself except through an extend- 

 ed cold snap. 



I leave the bees in the cellar until the 1st 

 or 10th of February. Then there begins to 

 be quite a few dead bees scattered about that 

 befoul the air. The honey inside the hives, 

 which is not in close proximity to the clus- 

 ters is more watery than when the bees were 



