792 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1 



of a visit from Mr. and Mrs. Acklin and 

 davxg"hter, of fet. Piiul, Minn., also from the 

 convention, and from Mr. \Vm. Rohrij,^, of 

 Tempe, Arizona, concerning- whom I shall 

 have more to say as I take up mj' line of 

 travels. Mr. Rohrig- had intended to at- 

 tend the Buffalo convention; but owing to a 

 railroad smashup he missed it by one day. 



THE INTERESTS OF BEE AND PEAR MEN BE- 

 ING HARMONIZED. 



Regarding the bee and pear-blig-ht ques- 

 tion in Central California, I am pleased to 

 announce that many of the fruit-g-rowers 

 are coming- to (or appear to be coming to) 

 the conviction that the reinoval of the bees 

 during the time the trees are in bloom will 

 not materially abate the destructive effects 

 of the pear-blight virus. It appeiirs that 

 the resolution passed by the bee-keepers in 

 their convention, to move the bees out of the 

 region of the pear-orchards during the time 

 they were in bloom, required some ratifying 

 action on the part of the fruit-men in filling 

 out certain blanks. These blanks were laid 

 before them some time ago, but nothing has 

 been done. It is probably true that the 

 pear-orchardists are not very sanguine as 

 to the beneficial effects of the proposed re- 

 moval, and inany of them are ftiir men, and 

 therefore disinclined to put the bee-keepers 

 to this expense unnecessarily. 



I taliped with Prof. Waite (who, it will be 

 remembered, originally declared the bees to 

 be guilty), while in Bufl'alo, regarding this 

 case. He was not sure the removal of the 

 bees would bring about relief, owing to the 

 presence of wild bees and numerous other 

 insects that would, undoubtedl}', spread 

 the disease. He was sure, from extended 

 experiments, that the bees were very neces- 

 sary for the fertilization and proper matur- 

 ing of the fruit, although he admitted that 

 possibly conditions in California might be 

 different. Prof. Waite is a careful, candid 

 man, and a friend of the bees, and so much 

 so that he deems it necessary to have a few 

 colonies of them in his own pear-orchard, 

 pear-blight or no pear-blight. 



Taking every thing into consideration, it 

 appears now there will be no conflicting of 

 interests between the bee-keepers and pear- 

 men; and it is hoped that the matter will 

 rectify itself when the pear-blight disease 

 loses its hold or "runs out," as we sincere- 

 1}- hope it maj'. 



BEET AND CANE SUGAR FOR BEES ; FURTHER 

 FACTS. 



Some little time ago, in referring- to the 

 use of beet and cane sugar for feeding bees 

 I stated that I had been told that some of 

 the Western canneries in Central California 

 would not use beet sugar in putting up 

 canned fruit — that they demanded cane. I 

 have made inquiries since that time, and 

 find that I misunderstood my informant. 

 What he did say was that the grocers had 

 learned that their customers who were can- 

 ning particularly specified cane sugar, say- 



ing they did not want the beet, because, 

 when they put up fruit with beet sugar, the 

 fruit spoiled; but that when it is put up 

 with cane, it kept all right. But it now ap- 

 pears that no grocer can tell whether gran- 

 ulated sugar, properly refined, comes from 

 beet or cane ; and that, furthermore, not 

 even a chemist can make the distinction. 

 But since printing the article on page 757, 

 from M. R. Gilmore, Superintendent of the 

 American Beet-Sugar Association, at the 

 Pan-American, I would state that I have 

 had a talk with that gentleman; and I also 

 had an interview with the representative of 

 the cane-sugar exhibits. Both assured me 

 that, when granulated sugar was properly 

 refined, no one, be he scientist or farmer, 

 could detect the difference — that they were 

 identical; that there were certain unrefined 

 beet sugars that had an odor. Is it not 

 possible and even probable that some of the 

 grocers referred to on the Pacific coast have 

 been buying- this cheap beet sugar, with the 

 result that their customers have complained, 

 and have since demanded and insisted on 

 having what they suppose is a better sugar 

 — the product of the cane? 



I also learn from the beet and cane sugar 

 representatives that during the last eight or 

 ten 3'ears there has been comparatively lit- 

 tle beet sug^ar on the market, when I sup- 

 posed that quite the reverse was true; but 

 they estimated that, during the past year, 

 perhaps half of the sugar came from beet ; 

 and that, in the future, probably a much 

 larg-er percentage will be from that source, 

 because that vegetable can be produced 

 over much larger areas of countrv' than the 

 cane. I shall have to confess, therefore, 

 that in the ten or twenty years that I sup- 

 posed we were using beet sugar we were 

 probably using cane in the majority of in- 

 stances. 



It has been stated that many British bee- 

 keepers prefer cane sugar to beet; but this 

 is probablj' due to the fact that some beet 

 sug'-ar that finds its way into the Britisli 

 markets has not been properly refined; but 

 now with the modern methods I think we 

 may safely say that it makes no difference 

 whether we use beet or cane sugar, provid- 

 ed it is properly refined. 



In this connection I mig'^ht state that there 

 are on the inarket some white sugars that 

 are adulterated with grape or corn sugar. 

 Such sugar, if given to bees, undoubtedly 

 would cause trouble. Therefore it behooves • 

 one to buy only the best g^ranulated sugar. 

 Don't waste an}^ time in trj-ing to learn its 

 source. If it is granulated, and the grains 

 are crystal and free, not lumping together, 

 it is fit for a king as well as a bee-keeper. 



AN UNMrriGATP:D shame; more MONSTROUS 

 TALES ABOUT THE PRICES ON HONEY. 



In our last issue I stated that there had 

 been gross exaggeration as to the honey 

 crop of the southern counties of California; 

 but at thiit time the inflation buyers claimed 

 a maximum output of only 500 cars; but now 



