1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKK 



7;-«t 



COMB HONEY MADE BY MACHINERY. 



THE EMU OF PUOF. WII.EV'S " SCIK.NTl H (' I'l-EAS 

 ANTKY." 



fRIEND Newman, of the ^1. B. J., brings 

 out a good point in the following re- 

 marks, which he gets off in one of his 

 happiest veins of humor; and one who 

 has iieard him talk at our conventions 

 will almost see him face to face while they 

 read : 



The " soientitlc pleasant )y," which has made the 

 name ol' Wiley so infamous tliroug-hout the world, 

 and wliich was so greedilj " caught up " and en- 

 larged upon by sensational newspapers, with sun- 

 dry variations to " spiee up the story," has at last 

 come to grief I 



It ran like lightningl Kactorj after factory was 

 built (in imagination), fitted up by special machin- 

 ery to make the comb. But.alasl when cornered 

 by a demand to point them out, the "loud-mouthed" 

 prevaricators found it impussililr to flnil even one'. 



When taunted with the otter of a thousand dollars 

 to lead a commitee of investigators to the spot 

 where such a factory existed— lo, it had vnninhtd nut 

 ofaioht: 



I'udauuted falsifiers said that such institutions 

 wereruntiiugday and night, tilling fraudulent combs 

 with glucose— but when pressed to name the num- 

 l)er, street, and city— they failed to find any such 

 place— even hundreds of dollars were tendered for 

 a sight of such a place 1 



Then the runners who visit country merchants, 

 gloated over the sensation and averred most posi- 

 tively that such honey-combs made of parattine, 

 tilled with glucose, and sealed over by machinery, 

 could be found on sale by the ton in Chicago. But 

 when offered .¥500 to conduct us to the place and 

 witness the process, they were forced to acknowl- 

 edge that they, too, had been duped by the Wiley 

 lie, and that they had added variations to make a 

 spicy sensation 1 



Lawyers, doctors, and even ministers were caught 

 Id the act of villifying an honest pursuit; having 

 swallowed Wiley's " scientific pleasantry," without 

 suspecting that it might be an luiscieutitie and «?i- 

 pleasant falsehood I 



Nevertheless, the story ran like wild-fire— news- 

 papers and correspondents added to it, to suit their 

 fancy, and varied it to make it spicy, until the pur- 

 suit of bee-keeping was, like a bleeding lamb, sacri- 

 ficed to their Moloch; and bee-keepers were derided 

 and mocked when they attempted to deny the story 

 aud prove its falsity ! " But now that scientific pleas- 

 antry has been struck by lightning, exposing all 

 its baseness, deformity, and falsehood— for 



The sun, whose burning rays dried up vegetation 

 and destroyed the honey - producing plants, and 

 thus prevented the bees from gathering nectar 

 from the flowers, has also scorched and dried up 

 Wiley's lie, so that it will never more show its loath- 

 some head 1 



The markets of the world are bereft of honey! 

 The merchants' demands for nice honey in the 

 comb are incessant. Thes' advertise for it; write to 

 apiarists for it, and offer " golden shekels " for it! 

 Still there is not nearly enough to half supply the 

 demand, even though the prices go up higher and 

 higher every week ! 



Since writing the above paragraph, a honey mer- 

 chant of Kansas City called at this ofliee. He is 

 scouring the country— east and west— to find nice 

 honey in the comb, offering cash for it at the apia- 

 rists' doors. 



Now, here for weeks and months has the "golden op- 

 portunity " been presented, as Mr. Dibberu puts it 

 on page .'584, " for these mythical factories to run 

 night and day to supply the demand " for glucose 

 in paraffine combs! Let them bring on the fraudu- 

 lent article, " the combs of which are made by ma- 

 chineiy. from parafflne, filled with glucose and seal- 

 ed by hot irons!" Show up the beautiful stuff, 

 which is such " a good imitation that only an e.vpert 

 can tell it from the genuine article gathered by the 

 bees from nature's finest flowers!" Yes, exhibit 

 the tons of it produced by " running the machinery 

 night and day!" Now is the time for the frauds to 

 show up ! Forward ! March to the front ! 



Dare any one say, that, if such machinery exist- 

 ed-if such manufaclured " comb honey "were to 

 be bad— that it would not be forced upon the mar- 

 ket in such (luitntilics as to fill the present urgent 

 deinaiur/ A rich harvest is here presented— but 

 NOT A POUND of the bogus Stuff is presented for 

 sale at any price!— ii confession that the so-called 

 "scientific pleasantry "is a pernicious falsehood! 

 a villainous, debasing, and diabolical lie which was 

 struck by lightning and literally burned up by the 

 fierce rays of old Sol at the same time that they de- 

 stroyed the nectar ol the flowers, and starved myr- 

 iads of bees to death ! 



Ta ta " scientiBc pleasantry!" 



Be gone, vile monster! 



Thy sulphurous breath shall no more befoul that 

 God - given, heaven - distilled sweetness — delicious 

 honey ! 



AN ABC SCHOLAR'S SUCCESS. 



A GOOD KEPORT E01{ 1^87. 



.MKiHT State at the outset, that I have been 

 helped over the hard places by a careful 

 It perusal of your ABC, and the regular visits 

 of (J LEANINGS. I think it would not be dis- 

 creet for me to go into all the details, as I 

 am only an A B C scholar, but I will try to re- 

 member the advice of the editor of our church 

 paper, which is, in substance, to study brevity 

 in all communications. 



In the spring of 188ti 1 sent a postal card to a bee- 

 keeper a few miles from home, inquiring if he had 

 any swarms to dispose of. and in a short time I 

 received word that I could be accommodated. 1 

 drove over the first fine da.v, and, after inspecting 

 the stock, bought two swarms (pure Italians). The 

 bees knew fully as much about me as I knew about 

 them ; but I commenced to read, and soon became 

 greatly interested in the little workers. Hearing 

 so many reports of a discouraging nature from old- 

 time bee-keepers, I concluded to run them for 

 comb honey, and save buying an extractor. How- 

 ever, 1 managed to secure the encouraging surplus 

 of about five pounds; but as they increased to six 

 average swarms, amply provisioned for winter, I 

 did not grumble. The next thing to consider then 

 was the wintering problem. Kroni what I hatl 

 read and gleaned from different sources I was rath- 

 er in favor of chatt' hives, and on wet days and odd 

 spells I made two. They are constructed on the 

 single-story principle, with movable sides, etc., an 

 ordinarj' Simplicity body being used for surplus. 

 Cushions for the chaff hives were made out of the 

 large sacks our binding-twine comes in. When 

 filled with suitable chafl' the.v answer very nicely. 

 The two chatt' hives were wintered on summer 

 stands, with no protection from fences or shrub- 

 bery, having perhaps thirty pounds of honej' each 

 in Sepjiember, 188H. I examined them April 1, 188T, 

 and found them in good condition, and with nearly 

 half their store." left. The other four! jilaeed in 

 the cellar Dec. 1, expecting the temperature to be 

 over forty. As the polar waves crei)t around with 

 icy breath, the thermometer went down almost to 

 the freezing-point. I made up my mind the cellar 

 was too cool, and that it was all uj) with the bees. 

 I made a practice of going down cellar near!) every 

 night, with a lamji, ol' course, as the cellar was as 

 dark as midnight, poking my nose and ears up to 

 the entrances, expecting they would succumb: but 

 they weathered the blast and came out fair in the 

 spring, with no signs of spring dwindling. 

 Now for the harvest of 1887. From my six 



