1885 



GLEANIKGS LN liEE CULTUKK. 



than on white ; but I hardly think I would 

 risk it, for the reason you mention, that 

 they will be greatly liable to leave some of 

 it remaining in the comb, to be consumed 

 during the winter. 



ANOTHER FALSE STATEMENT IN RE- 

 GARD TO THE HONEY BUSINESS. 



A MOKE DKSPICABI.f; PIECE OF FAf.SEHOOD TITAN 

 WE HAVE HAD YET. 



§ BEING in Gleanings your column ol"P"alse 

 Statements," we inclose you a"sort-o'-rough" 

 one, clipped from the Cincinnati Enquirer. 

 Reporters are a little " gassy," it seems, this 

 year; but it looks as if they mig-ht open the 

 " safety-valve " in another direction that will not 

 hurt the business of our country so much. 



G. W. &S. H. FOLMER. 



Independence, Ky., Aug. 24, 1885. 



Friend F., we are very much obliged to 

 you for forwarding the slip of paper direct- 

 ly to us ; and we agree with you, that it 

 would be desirable to get reporters to turn 

 their wonderful talents for falsifying, in 

 some other direction. We can keep bee-men 

 posted, even if we can do nothing more. 

 Jielow we give the sensational item which 

 our friend refers to : 

 honey; the present season a bad one for 



BEES— a bio local CONCERN THAT FEEDS 

 THEIRS ON GLUCOSE. 



Meeting a well-l<nown enthusiast on honey-bees, 

 who has a very extensive apiary, Wednesday, an 

 Enquirer representative asked how the business of 

 all busybodies were doing this jcar. 



"This has," hv replied, " lieeii llic worst season 1 

 ever knew lor tlicni. I don't know exactly why, ex- 

 cept that the tiiossonis and tlie llowers which they 

 depend on XN'ere much shorter lived than usual. 

 The locust-blossoms, from which they extract a 

 great deal of honey, remained on the trees but a 

 short time; and the white clover, from which they 

 gather the most of their stores, has been ver 

 scarce. The recent drought hurt them a great dea 

 and in examining my hives Sunday 1 lound that 

 the inmates would not lay by enough even to keep 

 themselves the coming winter." 



"Then that means a scarcity in the honey mar- 

 ketV" 



"Of the true, iiatunil article! yes." 



"Why, is there any t hint;- elseV" 



You will notice tliat the above has a shad- 

 ow of truth about it in the fore part of the 

 communication, and I piesiime it strikes al- 

 most every one of our readers, before lie gets 

 through, tliat the repoiter had in mind our 

 good friend V. F. JNlutli. Jt seems to me 

 most astonishing, too, when we remember 

 that Mr. Muthisperhai)s more lierce against 

 glucose, grape sugar, and the like, than any 

 other bee - keeper in our midst. Perhaps 

 half of the people in Cincinnati know that 



he has an apiary on top of his house, and he 

 has a brother in the baking business ; but 

 the two are well known to be such good 

 straight staunch men, that it seems strange 

 the reporter should not have known better, 

 ere he published any thing of the sort. Mr. 

 Muth handles more honey than perhaps any 

 other one man in the United States, 'unless 

 it be some of the friends in CaUfornia ; but 

 the statement that the honey he sells is 

 tasteless, almost every man, woman, and 

 child anywhere about Cincinnati knows to 

 be a falsehood. If it were possible to get this 

 reporter, and take him to friend Muth's es- 

 tablishment, and make him aware of the 

 awful falsehood he has started, it would be 

 the right thing to do. From what I know of 

 friend Muth, I presume he will not do any 

 thing about it ; but I wish that somebody 

 who knows something about honey would 

 write to the Enquirer, and ask the editor to 

 correct such a slander on one of Cincinnati's 

 best business men. I niiglit mention, also, 

 that this newspaper canard mentions the 

 very street on which friend Muth lives. 

 Mr. M. never feeds his bees any thing— much 

 less, glucose ; but during favorable seasons 

 he produces some of the tinest crops of honey 

 made by any one in the State, even if his 

 bees are on a house-top. virtually, while the 

 rest of us have them on the ground. 



A KIND WORD FOR FRANK BENTON, 

 FROM FRIEND VIALLON. 



ALSO SO.METIIl.NCi FROM YOUR HU.MBLE SERVANT 

 IN THE SAME LINE. 



KIKNl) ItOOT:— There were a few remarks 

 mack' in legai-d to the supposed neglect of 

 Frank iJenton in not mailing queens prom|)t- 

 \y, etc. 1 am positive that the delay was una-' 

 voidable; as I must say, in justice to him, 

 that I rarely dealt with any one more prompt; as, 

 for instance, T wrote to him on the 9th or Itlth of 

 June last, and on the i:ith of August I received an 

 Italian iiueen, though I had not sent him the mon- 

 ey, and had only expressed the wish, etc. I think 

 great credit is due to him for mailing queens with 

 such good success across the oceaiL The queen he 

 sent me was 16 days in reaching us: and though she 

 came sealed up in a registered-package envelope, 

 she was alive and in good condition, and not one 

 of her escort was dead. What kind of candy he 

 uses is hard lor me to say, as there was so little 

 left; but nevertheless he succeeds as well as we do, 

 though our queens are only three to tlve days in 

 the mails. I think friend Benton should be as gen- 

 erous as friend Good, an<l give the formula of his 

 candy, and thus receive the thanks of all. 

 Uayou Goula, La., Aug. IT, 1885. P. L. Viallon. 



1 agree with you. friend Y.,and I beg par- 

 don for what I said in regard to the delay on 

 our Carniolans. There is one other thing I 

 want to say, for the benetit of friend lienton. 

 In his anxiety to show us that he has suc- 

 ceeded so well in mailing queens across the 

 ocean, he has, to my knowledge, sent a great 

 many (jueeiis to other parties as he did you, 

 friend \'., before he received the pay. JSow, 

 most of the friends who received them, like 

 yourself, felt it a privilege to show him how 



