THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



fidence iu me as authority in such matters. 

 So we must figure on having to battle with a 

 prejudice already existing, and sure to be 

 fed by anything that lies in the line of pre- 

 viously conceived ideas of adulteration. 



Then, suppose it is all clear sailing so far, 

 and that there is no trouble in having every 

 body believe that sugar-fed honey is all right, 

 may not another danger confront us ? Grant, 

 if you please, that sugar, fed with a sufficient 

 degree of slowness, and under proper condi- 

 tions is all right, will it always be fed in just 

 the right way ? And where will you draw 

 the line between that which is fed just right 

 and that which varies just a little from the 

 right thing, gradually on down to that which 

 is stored so rapidly that it is simply sugar 

 syrup ? And when you find that there are 

 all grades of it, and you can hardly tell 

 t'other from which, what is to hinder the 

 adulterator from coming in and preparing a 

 syrup that shall beat some of that which the 

 bees have handled ? Then if you get up laws 

 sufficiently strict to stop adulteration, will 

 he not still have a good field in which to op- 

 erate, by taking bee journals to prove that 

 sugar syrup fed to bees is sold as honey, 

 then with philanthropic honesty oifering a 

 well flavored syrup that he is candid enough 

 to sell for what it is, assuring his customers 

 that it is really better than anything that 

 has passed through the dirty stomachs of the 

 bees ? 



Now, although none of my fears may be 

 realized, and although I must confess that 

 I don't know such a great deal about the 

 whole business, still, any move in the direc- 

 tion indicated looks to me very much like a 

 leap in the dark, and I'd rather not jump. 



Maeengo, 111. Nov. 5, 1892. 



[I wish to add a few words to what the 

 Doctor says of the ignorance of the public in 

 general as to the source of honey. Only 

 those who have exhibited bees at fairs have 

 even a faint idea of the proportion of people 

 who believe that, in some mysterious way, 

 bees "make honey." That is, that it is 

 some sort of a secretion. The stereotyped 

 remark that the exhibitor of bees hears hun- 

 dreds of times in a day is, " Oh, see the bees 

 making honey !" When I first began exhi- 

 biting bees at fairs, I attempted to explain 

 when I heard such remarks. When told that 

 bees must have access to flowers in order to 

 make honey, many will stare in an incredu- 

 lous manner, as much as to say, " That will 

 do to tell." Others will say, "Is that so? 

 Why I didn't know that." — Ed. Review.] 



Sugar-Honey is a Superior Article but the 



Results of its Production and Sale 



are Problematical. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



^HOSE having 

 AS Gleanings for 

 the year 1885, 

 will see, by turn- 

 ing to page 123, an 

 account of some 

 exp eriments I 

 made to see if I 

 could not find 

 something that 

 would certainly 

 prevent syrup, 

 made for feeding 

 bees, from crystallizing. In these experi- 

 ments it proved beyond a doubt that honey 

 was the best, if not the only thing, which 

 would effectually prevent feed made of sugar 

 syrup from crystallizing ; and, judging by 

 the many letters which I get, some of the 

 readers of the Review may not know just 

 the proportions which should be used for 

 this purpose, hence I will venture to give the 

 formula here. 



Put 15 pounds of water into any vessel 

 which will hold fifty pounds, and set the 

 same over the fire. As soon as the water 

 boils, slowly stir into it 30 pounds of granu- 

 lated sugar, and allow the whole to come to 

 a boil again. Now set from the fire and stir 

 in five pounds of honey. After trying all 

 kinds of honey which we have here, I cannot 

 see that it makes any difference what kind 

 of honey it is, or whether that honey is well 

 ripened or not, as all seems to answer the 

 same purpose. The above makes .W pounds 

 of as good feed for winter as anything which 

 can be given to the bees. . 



When I gave this formula to the world, 

 some one cautioned the bee-keepers of the 

 land not to feed more of this than the bees 

 would use up before spring, for if more were 

 used it would surely be carried up into the 

 sections the next season, and thus the bee- 

 keeper would be selling " adulterated hon- 

 ey." I thought this was so far-fetched that 

 I experimented further the next year, and 

 fed one colony during the month of August 

 on food thus prepared, feeding about five 

 pounds a day, till this colony had a set of 

 sections filled ; and to another colony, which 

 had empty combs given them, I fed syrup at 

 the same rate as above, and when the combs 



