1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



443 



in this location had not gathered enough stores ot 

 winter on; but afterward they got a little run, 

 which gave most colonies enough to winter on. 

 It is too early to predict as to basswood and mint. 

 I will report later. S. I. Freeborn. 



Ithaca, Wis., May 15, 1889. 



Judging from the above, friend F., bass- 

 wood doe? not always yield, even in your fa- 

 vored locality. In our locality, the weather 

 during fruit-bloom was more favorable than 

 I remember to have ever seen it before. 1 

 am looking forward with considerable inter- 

 est to my visit when your basswoods are do- 

 ing their best. 



FALSE STATEMENTS IN REGARD TO THE HON- 

 EY BUSINESS OF OUR COUNTRY. 



As a protection to ourbee-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. 



THE SAME OLD STORY. 



PRIEND ROOT:— Inclosed I send you an article 

 which adorned (or darkened) the columns of 

 the St. Louis Christian Advocate of May 15. 

 O my brother! how long is this great wrong 

 to continue unrestrained? Not only is it 

 damaging to us as bee-keepers, but it is ruinous to 

 our influence as Christian people. Is there no way 

 by which this iniquitous tide of envy, malice, and 

 hatred may be checked, and we as a God-loving and 

 God-fearing people be allowed to quietly engage in 

 a pursuit which is in every way calculated to lift 

 up, elevate, and ennoble those who engage in it? 

 Sarah E. Duncan. 

 Lineville, la., May 17, 1889. 



I think exactly as you do about it, my 

 good friend. The way such falsehoods are 

 passed around looks bad for the community 

 in general. There is a great deal too much 

 ' flunking evil." I will explain to our 

 readers, that the paragraph sent us, alluded 

 to in the above, is exactly the same thing as 

 is found on page si of our issue for Feb. 1. 

 It does seem sad indeed, that two such pa- 

 llets as the Lutheran Observer and the St. 

 Louis Christian Advocate should be guilty of 

 such wrong and injustice. If it were a 

 blunder, why can they not for Christianity's 

 sake, if for nothing else, set their readers 

 right with a suitable apology V 



THE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, AND ITS MANU- 

 FACTURED COMB HONEY. 



I have just received my third volume of "1mm'- 

 cam Supplement" to the Cyclopedia Brita/nnica. By 

 accident I first opened the book at the word "glu- 

 cose," page 537. Beginning in the left-hand col- 

 umn, 21st line from the top, I read as follows: " Glu- 

 cose is used chiefly in the manufacture of table 

 syrups and confectionery, in the brewing of ale 

 and beer, and to some extent as food for bees and 

 in the making of artificial honey. No reliable sta- 

 tistics can be had as to the quantity used in brew- 

 ing, since brewers seek to conceal the fact of its 

 employment. When it is fed to bees, the honey 

 yielded by the bees is almost pure glucose. In arti- 

 ficial honey-making, the comb is made of paraffine 

 and filled with pure glucose by machinery. For 

 whiteness and beauty it rivals the best white clo- 

 ver honey, and can be sold at less than half the 



price. Its one defect is, that it is not honey." 

 Chas. Morris, of the Philadelphia Academy of Sci- 

 ences, is the accredited author of the above state- 

 ments. After reading the article, my opinion of 

 the Britannica's accuracy was lowered about 100 

 per cent, and I certainly would never have pur- 

 chased it had I read the above sooner; for, if con- 

 taining such strikingly erroneous statements on 

 this subject it could not be thought reliable on any 

 other, unless further examination proved to the 

 contrary. C. Nysewander, M. D. 



Des Moines, la., May 12, 1889. 



Why, friend N, it is absolutely awful to 

 hear that this false slander that you men- 

 tion on our industry has got into a cyclope- 

 dia. The address of the publishers is J. M. 

 Stoddart Co., Limited, Philadelphia, Pa. 

 We shall write to them at once, sending 

 them this statement, together with other 

 facts in the matter, and our card offering 

 $1000 reward, etc.; and I heartily wish that 

 we could persuade every bee-keeper in the 

 land to write them a protest. Have it scat- 

 tered far and wide ; and, if it is a possible 

 thing, make them paste some slips of paper, 

 setting forth the truth, over this paragraph, 

 in every volume published. Besides doing 

 this, the publisher should s?,nd a circular to 

 every one who has purchased a volume. I 

 do not believe in " boycotting, " as the term 

 is generally understood ; but I do believe in 

 putting a stop to this matter of publishing 

 hearsay as science. If somebody should 

 step on your corns you could forgive him, 

 because he did not mean to do it ; but if he 

 continued to blunder in this awkward way, 

 day by day, he should be fined, and, if need 

 be, imprisoned until he learned to be care- 

 ful. Now, then, let us wake up and make 

 ourselves heard. Had we not for years 

 been at work in the matter, there would be 

 a more reasonable excuse for the Britannica 

 folks to say they did not know any better. 

 If the man who writes about bees, for an 

 encyclopedia, has not enterprise enough to 

 hunt up some genuine bee-men among his 

 acquaintances, iu bis vicinity, he deserves to 

 suffer. 



SOME GOOD SUGGESTIONS FROM 

 PRIEND POFPLETON. 



TIMOTHY CHAFF VEKSUS MANY OTHER KINDS, ETC. 



fRIEND ROOT:— The contents of May 1st 

 Gleanings suggests a few ideas, most or all 

 of which are old ones, but seem to be new to 

 some of your readers. On page 340, friend 

 Manum advises against spreading the brood 

 as early as May 10, but thinks it well to do so during 

 the honey season. My idea is exactly the reverse 

 of this. We want all the bees raised that is possible 

 before the honey-flow, and as few as possible dur- 

 ing the flow. I have followed this practice nearly 

 ever since commencing bee-keeping, and have 

 found it good. I am in thorough accord with what 

 friend Doolittle says on this subject, on page 352. 



On page 364, Ernest tells of starved bees on ac- 

 count of a cold snap. 1 > I « 1 this occur in your chart 

 hives? If so, you have had an experience that T 

 never had in my dozen years' use of such hives. 1 

 have frequently contended that chaff hives are 

 worth all their extra cost, for this feature alone. 



