NOVEMBFR 1. U>15 



mind; and no gveiit nnmbor of combs 

 slionld ever be burned. Tlie bees may be 

 killed an<l (be combs melted up, but il is a 

 willful waste to d'.'stroy any quantity of 

 xvax in diseased combs. 



T bave not mentioned tlie sad accident 

 tbat befell IVfr. J. E. Plesants, bee inspector 

 for Orange County. Tbis venerable ot^'itle- 

 ma!i was attacked by a vicious bull, and 

 nearly killed. I understand bis wife came 

 to his rescue with a pitchfork, and v\'as 

 obliged to inflect terrible punishment upon 

 the animal before she wa.s able to rescue her 

 husband. At present, I am informed, he is 

 able to be about. A mad bull is a frightful 

 enemy, and daugei'ous. Some fifteen years 

 ago, while out hunting with, a brother-in- 

 law T was followed for nearly a mile by 

 one of these animals, but refused to run. 

 T had the privilege of walking backward 

 T^ith a "Winchester rifle within ten feet of 

 bis head while my brother-in-law held a 

 shotgun in his face. We escaped, but had 

 that fellow made a mean motion he would 

 have been killed ou the spot. 



• « * 



Mr. Raleigh ThoJnpson, page 801, Oct. 1, 

 says he " wants to give Mr. Chadwick some- 

 thing to dream about," and then tells some- 

 thing of his family of six. But really, Mr. 

 Tliompson, a family of six is " no dream '' 

 with me, but has been a serious reality for 

 a number of years. But, laying jokes aside, 

 his main object was to pro\e that honey is 

 not a luxury. Well, customs m.ake laws, 

 and it is a very common custom to treat 

 honey as a luxui-y. It is not considered a 

 staple article of food, and is far too seldom 

 included in the daily order for groceries. 

 I remember, when a boy, of an uncle having 

 eive!i my mother some honey, and there was 

 straightway a childish rejoicing in her 

 household because of that honey. Luxury 

 was the only thought we children could con- 

 sider on the occasion, and it was surely a 

 luxury to us. Just start out peddling hon- 

 ey, and see if it is not considered a luxury 

 by most people. As long as it is treated as 

 a luxurs' it will of necessity be a luxury. 



« • « 



I agree witli Dr. JNliller when he says, " Tt 

 is a common thing to find pollen on the 

 inside of a comb and young brood on the 

 outside." But when T find such a condition 

 I feel that I should like to have found it a 

 little sooner so I might have placed an 

 empty comb next to the pollen side and had 

 it full of brood on both sides. The bees 

 .vill remove the pollen as Dr. Miller says, 



883 



but Oioy are matciially aided by being re- 

 lie\ed of the necessity of having to remove 

 it. Mr. Doolittle says, page 750, Sept. 15, 

 '' Any comb that is to be put between combs 

 of l)rood should be full of honey, and that 

 honey preferably sealed." In this 1 do not 

 agree at all, and I would thank no one for 

 retarding the work of my queens in any 

 such manner. Spreading should never be 

 done unless conditions are such as to induce 

 the queen to fill an inserted comb in twenty- 

 four to forty-eight hours. 



The net-weight law seems to be coming to 

 the front as a desirable requirement, and 

 is now being comniended fully as much as 

 condemned. Now, if we could get a law to 

 compel the use of excluders we would be 

 assuring the public that they were getting 

 clean honey and not larvae soup. Wouldrr't 

 there be a " howl " then? Eventually, how- 

 ever, the cry would die awaj', and we would 

 be more sure of the cleanliness of the honey 

 we are using, and the public would get a 

 better ai'ticle. Like all laws it would not be 

 objected to by those who believe excluders 

 to be a necessity and a convenience, but 

 might work an imaginary hardship on those 

 who are conscientiously trying to produce a 

 clean article v/ithout the use of excluders. 

 Some of the latter, I am glad to say, do 

 produce as good an article without as with 

 excluders; but they are losing more honey 

 than the price of excluders would come to 

 each j-ear. A careless beekeeper using no 

 excluders brings about a sorry condition at 

 the honev-house. 



Mr. Editor, you say, page 746, Sept. 15, 

 •' Practically all honey Avill gi-anulate if 

 gi^en time enough and subjected to alter- 

 nate heat and cold." Personally I do not 

 believe that alternate heal and cold has any 

 influence on the granulation of honey. The 

 cold has, and it is the all-important factor. 

 If honey (most honey) is kept at an even 

 warm temperatui'e it will never granulate. 

 If kept at an even cold temperature it will 

 granulate just as quickly as if kept warm 

 and then cold. But some kinds of honey 

 will never granulate, regardless of the tem- 

 perature or its changes — at least it is not 

 very likely to remain on hand a sulficient 

 length of time to granulate. I have a sam- 

 ple of honey from my 1912 crop that has 

 not shown the least sign of granulation, and 

 I shall keep it as a test to see how long it 

 will remain in the liquid state. Bluecurl 

 honey has about the highest chemical freez- 

 ing point of any to my knowledge, and it 

 will granulate, apparently, hot or cold. 



