1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



891 



ers, I suspect. Mr. Hj'de's experience, as 

 related by him. is quite unusual; but I did 

 find this in California, that tlie short top- 

 bar was objected to because there was not 

 handle enough to handle the extracting- 

 frames b_y. This is because bee-keepers 

 making that objection have not become ac- 

 customed to handling brood-frames at the 

 corners, or, rather, at the intersection of the 

 end of the top-bar and the top of the end- 

 bar. — Ed.] 



Half the timk to election has expired 

 since the Buffalo convention, and there has 

 been some talk in the bee journals, but not 

 a candidate named. Wake up, Mr. Glean- 

 ings; name the Directors whose term expires 

 in Deceinber, and then name candidates for 

 their successors. Editor York says, "Sup- 

 pose a hundred members nominate as many 

 dififerent candidates." Well, that will be 

 better than no nominations. [At the sug- 

 gestion of Mr. O. O. Poppleton, of Florida, 

 I would nominate a capable and honest gen- 

 tleman, and one who is greatlj^ interested 

 in the success of the Association, Editor H. 

 E. Hill, of the American Bee-Keeper, Fort 

 Pierce, Fla. He would represent a good 

 portion of the South. Then I would re- 

 spectfully make mention of another, Mr. 

 Wm. Rohrig, of Tempe, Ariz. Arizona is 

 one of the great territories for the produc- 

 tion of honey, and should not be ignored in 

 the representation of our Board of Directors. 

 Mr. Rohrig came all the way from Tempe 

 to Buffalo, a distance of 2500 miles, to at- 

 tend the meeting- of our Association; but 

 owing to a railroad wreck he just barely 

 missed it. A man who has such an interest 

 in our organization, and who went pa3'ing 

 his own way, ought to be honored with an of- 

 fice in the Association. There are two of 

 the old Directors, A. I. Root and m.vself, 

 who, when our terms of office expire, desire 

 to drop out and let the two gentlemen nam- 

 ed be nominated in their stead. — Ed. J 



I AGREE with you, Mr. Editor, page 862, 

 that 10 lbs. sugar and 10 or 11 lbs. water 

 would make 14 lbs. sealed stores, and just 

 because of that I wouldn't have very late 

 feed so thin as two of sugar to one of water, 

 but five of sugar to two of water, which 

 would make 14 of syrup from 10 of sugar. 

 I've fed barrels of it that way. [I should 

 rather hesitate about feeding bees sugar so 

 thick as a proportion of 5 to 2, because that 

 surely would not give them an opportunity 

 to invert the syrup. The chances are limit- 

 ed enough with 2 to 3. One year when we 

 fed syrup as thick as honey we had a loss 

 the following spring that was the heaviest 

 we have ever known. Soine of the syrup 

 turned back to sugar, and that sugar was 

 shoved out of the entrance of those colonies 

 that survived. Whether the food was re- 

 sponsible for it or not I am not able to say; 

 but of this fact I am sure: That a thin syr- 

 up, about like raw nectar, which the bees 

 can invert, is far to be preferred to thick, 

 which they can not change in their most 

 wonderful of all laboratories to a food that 



has been digested, or jiartially so, cit least. 

 Prof. Cook, at one time, was almost perse- 

 cuted for advancing the "heresy," as it was 

 then called, of "digested nectar." While 

 the term, perhaps, may have been unfortu- 

 nate, yet he struck at a grand truth; and 

 the foundation of that truth is that honey, 

 having been predigested by the bees, is far 

 more easily assimilated than the ordinary 

 cane sugars of commerce. Bee-keepers, I 

 believe, can not make too much of a handle 

 of this point. Slowly and surely the great 

 physicians are waking up to this fact, and 

 are urging the consumption of honey rather 

 than the sugars of commerce. Pardon me 

 for making so much of a side point not di- 

 rectly suggested by your Straw; but I pro- 

 pose to "harp" on it, and keep on harping, 

 until our friends, the great consuming pub- 

 lic, will begin to recog'nize the fact, and 

 thus shall we be able to open up a new 

 avenue of trade never before known. — Ed.] 

 From the biological standpoint the bees 

 are doing their natural work in visiting 

 blossoms; and, in spite of what harm they 

 do, the}^ are necessary to the best results in 

 our orchards. — Editorial in Fanners Re- 

 viciv. [This is only one out of a thousand 

 favorable comments that have been coming 

 right straight along from sources that are 

 in no way biased, i)ecause they have no con- 

 nection with bee-keeping. It is a pleasant 

 and interesting fact that the great outside 

 world of intelligent farmers and fruit-grow- 

 ers now recognize the almost indispensable 

 office of the bee in bringing about the per- 

 fection and full develo]iment of certain plants 

 and fruits. —Ed. 1 



'--^gjSi^^afeiijiftt'Stfyaiiai^fSPgflfeafe'^^ 



0>lCKlJWGS 



'^/ffOMOUM NEIGHBORS rlELD^ii^ 



Nature slowly sinks to rest ; 



Fields and trees are bare ; 

 Bees rejoice within the hive 



As their common wealth they share. 



tl/ 



A writer in the Bee-keepers'' A'eeord, in 

 speaking of an easy and quick method of 

 destroying bees when it is necessary, as in 

 the case of foul bi'ood, says: 



Close the doors, separate two frames, and push be- 

 tween them a little tow, cotton, wool, or shaving. On 

 this, pour a tablespoonful of bisulphide of carbon : 

 drop a lighted match on the tow, and immediately 

 cover up with the quilt. The unfortunate bees will 

 be dead in less than a minute. When the light is ap- 

 plied there is a slight explosion, but nothing alarm- 

 ing, only care must be taken to hold one's head away 

 from the top of the hive. 



A year ago a friend from New York tast- 

 ed some alsike-clover honey here. Last 

 summer he wrote he had been tasting that 

 honey, in imagination, ever since, and or- 

 dered a gallon, then four gallons for an- 

 other party, who says, "Never tasted any 

 thing Hike it — can't get such honey here. 



