994 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



treatment ! We should certainly have " a 

 product as clear as crystal," but as insipid, 

 as unsavory as the simple syrup of our 

 drugstores. 



The workers in the Federal Carbohydrate 

 Laboratory " looking now for a cheap wood 

 charcoal which will take out the color" must 

 look afterward for a cheap decolorizing 

 charcoal which will not take out the sweet 



flavor of that substance collected by the 

 bees from the flowers. But those who know 

 the matter do not believe with the experi- 

 menters that they will soon find it. So, Mr. 

 Editor, such honeys as the inferior tropical 

 grades will never compete with the best 

 white clover, sage, and alfalfa now in the 

 market. 



Toa Alta, Porto Rico. 



AUSTRALIAN NOTES 



BY F. R. BEUHNE 



DENATURED SUGAR. 



When I read Gleanings for April 15 I 

 was forcibly reminded of the saying that 

 you must go abroad to get news from home. 

 I have been a beekeeper for thirty years, 

 read all Australian bee-journals that were 

 ever printed, have been connected with bee- 

 keepers' associations all along, yet I have 

 never seen denatured sugar or heard or 

 read anything about it or about a request to 

 the general government. 



As a matter of fact, there is very little 

 sugar imported, the production of cane 

 sugar being nearly sufficient for Australian 

 consumption. Further, very little sugar in- 

 deed is used for bees, and as a rule only at 

 the end of very abnormal seasons for the 

 purpose of supplementing winter stores. 

 In my own experience this has occurred 

 only twice in thirty years. 



That in some instances sugar might with 

 advantage be employed for stimulative 

 spring feeding is proved by experiments 

 made during the nast three seasons. Our 

 sugar is from cane grown in the northern 

 state of Queensland. There is but one beet- 

 sugar factory (and that in Victoria), and 

 its output is small — about 1000 tons per 

 season. The enterprise is by no means a 

 commercial success. 



THE HONEY SEASON IN AUSTRALIA. 



Owing to the almost unprecedented 

 drouth experienced over the larger part of 

 this continent during the season of 1914-'15, 

 the total yield of honey is probably less 

 than one-third of a normal crop, while the 

 number of colonies has already declined 

 considerably. The loss of stocks may 

 amount to two-thirds by spring unless the 

 winter, which is now on, proves exception- 

 ally favorable. 



The loss of stock is duc less to a shortage 

 of nectar than to an entire absence of pol- 

 len during the summer months. Breeding 

 entirely ceased during long periods; and as 

 a result colonies dwindled away, even where 

 nectar was available in the blossoms or 



combs of honey in the hives. Many bee- 

 keepers were unaware of the total stoppage 

 of brood-rearing till it was too late to apply 

 the remedy of a jDollen substitute ; and some 

 colonies gave out, even after some of the 

 pollen-bearing eucalypts flowered in au- 

 tumn, the old bees wearing out before 

 enough young ones hatched from newly 

 raised brood. Happily the drouth is now 

 at an end, splendid rains having fallen 

 lately. 



In consequence of the small yield and 

 the gi-eat demand for Australian honey for 

 army contracts, prices have reached record 

 heights, with 15 cents for extracted in bulk, 

 and 40 cents for beeswax. 



BEES AND THE SPRAYING OF FRUIT TREES. 



Observations as to the effect on bees of 

 the spraying of fruit-trees with poisonous 

 compounds have now been made during 

 four seasons at the experiment apiary con- 

 nected with the Government School of Hor- 

 ticulture at Burnley, Viccoria, and no harm 

 whatever resulted to the bees or the brood. 

 It is, therefore, very interesting to read, p. 

 306, April 15, that at least one other insti- 

 tution has arrived at the conclusion that 

 spraying does not necessarily injure bees, 

 even while done when the blossoms are open. 



From the report on the Burnley obser- 

 vations, which was published in the Journal 

 of the Victorian Department of Agriculture, 

 May, 1914, I extract the following: 



At the Burnley apiary the hives are right under 

 the fruit-trees, and at the time of spraying with 

 Bordeaux mixture the ground had not yet been 

 plowed so that the spray fell not only on any fruit- 

 blossoms which were open, but also on the capeweed 

 (a profuse pollen and nectar yielder), then abun- 

 dantly in bloom. Neither the spraying with Bor- 

 deaux mixture nor the subsequent one with arsenate 

 of lead had any effect whatever upon the bees. The 

 colonies developed normally and without any check. 

 There was not at any time dead brood in the hives. 



Further, in response to repeatedly pub- 

 lished requests, only two cases of alleged 

 poisoning by spraying were reported in 

 four years. One of these the writer investi- 

 gated on the spot, and found that the bees 



