1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



81 



half, and put them west of the west half, a distance 

 of eight or ten rods. This apiary was 5 miles from 

 home. To go out there and move those hives a 

 foot or two a day, mixing them up among the oth- 

 er hives as we worked them along, would have 

 made a big job, and no doubt would have resulted 

 in nearly all of the young bees being left behind 

 in the hives that we passed in moving. Well, we 

 made all of the new stands at the west end of the 

 apiary ready to 6et the hives on, and got every 

 thing ready to move, and then went home. The 

 next morning, May 18, it was very cloudy, and rain- 

 ing a little, and it promised to be a wet day. We 

 put the wheelbarrow into the wagon, and started. 

 As bees were not flying when we got there, we just 

 set one of those big hives on to the wheelbarrow, 

 and wheeled it to the stand where we wanted it, 

 and there located it. We then went back and got 

 another, and kept on until we had moved all we 

 wanted to, about 35 colonies. Shortly after all were 

 moved, the weather cleared up and the bees went 

 to work; and before noon the moved bees were 

 bringing in pollen. There were a few bees flying 

 about the old stands, looking for home, for about 

 two hours; after that, every thing was running as 

 usual. As far as I could see, the moved bees did 

 just as well as those not moved. Then what is the 

 use of all this fussing, hitching along a little to- 

 day and a little to-morrow? E. France. 

 Platteville, Grant Co., Wis. 



Friend F., your remarks in regard to set- 

 ting trees, in connection with what is said 

 on page 87, will doubtless enable any one to 

 work rapidly and accurately. I think I 

 should prefer to stretch a line, however, 

 rather than to have so much sighting. — I 

 am a little surprised at what you say about 

 moving bees short distances. I am very 

 well aware that some colonies stick to their 

 old home, without any trouble ; and at oth- 

 er times the loss of bees in spring time will 

 so reduce the colony as to prove fatal to it. 

 At one time I attempted to move a strong 

 colony of Italians during the working sea- 

 son, from one part of our town to the other. 

 Enough bees went back to their old stand 

 to make a small-sized swarm. These were 

 brought home on a comb, placed in a box, 

 and shaken in front of the hive. They ran 

 in like a natural swarm ; but the next morn- 

 ing, nearly if not quite all of them returned 

 to their old stand, laden with pollen and 

 honey. This they kept doing until I got 

 tired of carrying them home every night. 

 Now, it is possible, but not very probaole, 

 that, had I left no comb or box for them to 

 cluster in, they might have returned to 

 their new location. At another time I pur- 

 chased a box hive of a neighbor, moving it 

 perhaps an eighth of a mile. This moving 

 was done in the winter time. Within ten 

 days or two weeks, however, we had a very 

 warm day, and the bees flew profusely. 

 Well, so many bees went back to their old 

 stand that the owner told me there was a 

 pretty fair swarm circling around where 

 their hive used to stand. That night they 

 scattered about on the trees and bushes, 

 and were chilled to death. The next day, 

 more of them went back; and the result 

 was, the colony that cost me $5.00 died for 

 lack of bees to keep the brood warm. I 



have seen this same thing happen so often, 

 that I think novices should be very careful 

 indeed about moving bees short distances. 

 When they are moved so far that they do 

 not meet familiar objects on their first 

 flight, of course they will all go back to the 

 hive. An old veteran like yourself, who 

 keeps an eye on the movements of the bees, 

 would probably not lose very many. 



FALSE STATEMENTS IN REGARD TO THE HON- 

 EY BUSINESS OF OUR COUNTRY. 



As aprotection to our bee-keeping population, we propose in 

 this department to publish the names of newspapers that per- 

 sist in publishing false statements in regard to the purity of 

 honey which we as bee-keepers put on the market. 



fRIEND ROOT:— The inclosed clipping was tak- 

 en from the Lutheran Observer of a recent 

 date. If you find room in Gleanings, please 

 insert it and give a reply to such damaging 

 nonsense as that. H. W. Walker. 



Somerset, Pa., Jan. 15, 1889. 



Below is the clipping referred to : 



SCIENTIFIC LEGERDEMAIN. 



In these days of adulteration, 



When all things are not what they seem, 

 And every thing is something else, 



it is no more miraculous that olive oil should be 

 squeezed out of a peanut than that Java coffee 

 should be ground out of the chicory root, or 

 that black pepper be only another name for 

 pulverized cocoanut shells. Science is now making 

 such rapid strides toward helping us in our gas- 

 tronomic needs, that Nature herself must get out 

 of the way or she will be run over. Even the poor 

 honey-bee was accused, not of laziness, for that 

 would have been too palpable an injustice, but of 

 being tco slow, and spending too much time over 

 the clover-heads. 



"I will remedy that," said Sciencei 



And she did. Shutting up the bees, she knocked 

 the head out of a barrel of glucose and told them to 

 go to work and help themselves, which they did 

 faithfully. Their long journeys to and from the 

 flowering fields being done away with, they had 

 nothing to interfere with their getting down to act- 

 ual business. The scheme was a success, for the 

 honey was piled into the combs in treble abundance 

 and in one-third the usual time. 



And yet Science wasn't satisfied. 



Greedily she put her wits to work. 



" What's the use of going to the expense of buy- 

 ing bees? I can make the comb quicker and as well 

 as they; and as for the honey— well, glucose is hon- 

 ey!" 



And so the occupation of the honey-bee being 

 gone, so far as it has any hand in what is known as 

 the " honey of commerce," it now confines itself in 

 a small way to home manufacture, samples of 

 which, if the reader particularly wants, he must 

 particularly search for. 



The above has just commenced going the 

 rounds of the press, and it really seems as 

 if the religious press were worse than any 

 other in taking up and scattering broadcast 

 these false and slanderous statements. 

 Friend W., as you will notice, says he took 

 the clipping from the Lutheran Observer, 

 and we notice that they give credit to Table 

 Tall-. Now, friends of the Observer and Ta- 

 ble Talk, will you not correct the misstate- 

 ments which I presume you have unwitting- 

 ly made? For three years past we have 

 been fighting down tliis falsehood. Many 

 papers have recalled the statement, but it 

 seems to be cropping out again. Surely you 

 would not knowingly injure an' honest class 

 of people, if you knew it. More than two 

 years ago I published a standing offer of 



