1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



229 



I do not think the uniting or the two 

 queens had anything to do with the swarm- 

 ing out. The bees had probably decided on 

 so doing before you united them. I do not 

 think any artificial pollen equal to the natu- 

 ral, and I do not believe they will, as a gen- 

 eral thing, take the flour candy when they 

 are getting new pollen and honey. Uncap- 

 ping heavy combs, I think as good a way of 

 feeding as any, provided there is honey 

 enough. The frame of candy should always 

 be put near the centre of the brood nest. 

 When bees are gathering honey and pollen, 

 they are doing as well as they can do, and to 

 feed or attempt to feed at such times would 

 do harm, unless the accumulations of the 

 day are not as great as they should be, when 

 a little may be given at night. The pur- 

 pose of feeding is only to fill up the gaps 

 between natural sources, and to keep brood 

 rearing going on uninterruptedly the whole 

 warm season through. I expect the mats 

 will be covered with propolis in time, but 

 after they are so covered, they are as good 

 as the enameled cloth, and proof against 

 biting through. They also close the hive 

 bee tight, at all times, and cannot shrink 

 and pucker up, as do cloth covers. After 

 the twine is covered with propolis, I do not 

 expect the bees to bite through it. The 

 matter of two tiers of boxes or only one will 

 be most thoroughly tested with our new 

 story and a half hives, this season. I think 

 it will be shown, that the strength of the 

 colony pretty nearly decides the question. 

 Frames of sections at the sides of the brood 

 are excellent for getting the bees started in 

 the sections, and they may be finished out 

 there, or put into the upper story to be filled 

 and capped. 



RAISING BEES IN DRONE COMB TO MAKE THEM 

 LARGER. 



I would like to know what it would cost, to get a 

 machine to make comb as much larger than drone 

 comb, as the drone comb is larger than the worker 

 comb. I have full stocks of bees whose queens 

 lay altog-ether in drone comb. I can send a queen 

 in a nucleus hive, and warrant her to lay all her 

 worker brood in drone comb, for $50.0(1. 



I never have used any of the fdn., but have 

 seen it used, and know it will work. 1 know it is a 

 good thing if it is put to a good use. If I had a ma- 

 chine, I could breed up much faster. I know I 

 can enlarge the black worker bee to work on red clo- 

 ver. You can see by the paper I will send you, that T 

 have got the largest amount of honey from one stand 

 of bees, and I have srot the bees to do it. I have 

 found a new method of improving the bee, and its 

 size, but with a machine I can get along faster. I 

 claimll can get them to the size of a bumble bee. 

 You can see what I am after. J. Archer. 



Santa Barbara, Cal., May 4, 1879. 



I see what you are after, friend A., sure 

 enough, but I have little faith in your pro- 

 ject. Right before me lie a pair of dies that 

 the clerks use for paper weights. They are 

 for cells a size larger than drone fdn. The 

 bees evidently considered them sells, for 

 they got pretty badly disgusted, after trying 

 in vain to make something out of such fdn. 



I believe almost any queen will lay worker 

 eggs in drone comb, if her hive contains 

 nothing else, but I have always considered 

 it a great waste, for I could see no difference 

 in the size of the bees. 



amination, that I hadn't yet started. I am using 

 the Simplicity hive, and on the 28th of last April, I 

 gave a f reedman $1.00 for a large swarm of bees that 

 he found upon a bush in the woods, and after put- 

 ting them into a nice new hive, and giving them 

 frames from other hive3, with sealed brood, eggs, 

 and larva?, according to directions layed down in 

 your ABC book, I thought that every thing was 

 lovely. But alas! they came out as if confused, and 

 went into the other hives, some in one and some in 

 another. What do I lack now of being a bee-keep- 

 er? and what did I gain or lose by that operation? 

 Bennett, Texas, May 9, '79. Geo. B. Dean. 



If the bees went into the other hives with- 

 out being killed, you are all right, my friend, 

 for you have got one more swarm, even if it 

 is scattered about. Take combs from the 

 strongest, and build it up again. I do not 

 see that you lack anything of being a bee- 

 keeper, unless it may be a queen to put with 

 that new colony ; eh? 



THE NEW JERSEY L.\W IN REGARD 

 TO ADULTERATING HONEY. 



TRIALS OF AN A B C SCHOLAR. 



I thought that I was somewhat of a bee-keeper, 

 until 1 received your books, but found, upon an ex- 



AN ACT to protect the honey industry. 



Whereas, The production of honey is an honest 

 and honorable industry of respectable and 

 fast growing importance in this state, the entire 

 proceeds of which is clear gain to the state; and 

 whereas, adulterations with inferior sweets, not 

 gathered by bees, are manufactured and sold un- 

 der the name of honey, to the great injury of the 

 industry and to the deception of the consumer, if 

 not to the injury of his health, therefore: 



1. Be it enacted by the Senate and General Assem- 

 bly of the State of New Jersey, That every person or 

 persons who shall manufature, sell or cause to be 

 sold any article or substance having the semblance 

 of honey, and yet not the real product of the hive, 

 whether in shape of liquid or comb honey, shall to 

 each package or vessel of such manufactured article 

 or substance, affix on the outside of the package in a 

 conspicuous place, a distinct printed or written la- 

 bel or brand stating that it is a mixture, and naming 

 the constituent elements used, whether glucose, 

 grape sugar or other adulterant; and every sale of 

 such article or substance not so branded, marked 

 or labeled is declared to be unlawful, and no action 

 shall be maintained in any of the courts of this 

 state to recover upon any contract for the sale of 

 any such article or substance not so branded, 

 marked or labeled. 



2. And be it enacted, That every person who shall 

 knowingly sell or offer to sell, or have in his or her 

 possession with intent to sell, contrary to the pro- 

 vision of this act, any of the said article or sub- 

 stance required by the first section of this act to be 

 branded, marked or labeled, as therein stated, not 

 so branded, marked or labeled, shall for each such 

 offence forfeit and pay a fine of one hundred dol- 

 lars, to be recovered with costs in any of the courts 

 of this state having cognizance thereof, in an ac- 

 tion to be prosecuted by the district attorney in the 

 name of the people, and the one-half of such recov- 

 ery shall be paid to the informer and the residue 

 shall be applied to the support of the poor in the 

 county where such recovery is had. 



3. And be it enacted, That every person who shall 

 knowingly sell, or offer, or expose for sale, or who 

 shall cause or procure to be sold, or offered or ex- 

 posed for sale any article or substance required by 

 the first section of this act to be branded, marked 

 or labeled, not so branded, marked or labeled, shall 

 be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on trial for such 

 misdemeanor, proof of the sale, or offer or exposure 

 alleged, shall be presumptive evidence of knowl- 

 edge of the character of the article so sold or offer- 

 ed, and that the same was not branded, marked or 

 labeled as required by this act. 



4. And be it enacted, That this r.ct shall take ef- 

 fect immediately. 



If names are wanted for a petition for 

 such a law in the state of Ohio, or any other 

 state, Gleanings will do all in its power" to 

 furnish them. 



