184 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mak. 1 



The g-lucose interests have always been 

 a damage to the bee-keeper. They reduce 

 the price on what is called bottled honeys, 

 by putting- out a "doctored " product that 

 is so vile that it disgusts the general public 

 with all honey, good, poor, and bad. 



We wish our friends the enemy success in 

 advancing prices, providing that advance 

 has a tendency to increase the value of hon- 

 ey. But our bee-keeping friends will do 

 well to watch their efforts to "bring the 

 cost of honey near the price set by the 

 bee." If they are at this late day doing 

 works of philanthropy they must have re- 

 formed. But they haven't, and they can't 

 pull the wool over our eyes either. Glucose 

 may advance several notches, and still be 

 used profitably to adulterate honey. 



Strange, strange it is, that, when the 

 majority of the people, the big majority of 

 them, are against the glucose business, 

 laws can not be enacted at Washington and 

 at the State capitals that will stop this ne- 

 farious business of glucose-mixing of a pal- 

 try few, and palming it off under honest 

 names as pure goods. The trouble is, I 

 suspect, that the glucose lobyists are 

 much more alert to their interests than the 

 dear public are to the interests of their 

 stomachs. The result is, no legislation in 

 many States has been enacted; and even in 

 one or two cases where good laws have been 

 passed, somehow the verj' intent of the law 

 is misconstrued \iy the very people who 

 should see that it is carried into effect. 



publishers of Gleanings we regret ex- 

 ceedingly that his card ever found its way 

 into our columns. 



WM. STAHL ON SPRAYING FRUIT-TREES 

 WHILE IN BLOOM. 



In spite of all the evidence furnished by 

 the experiment stations all over the United 

 States, and of private experimenters, show- 

 ing conclusively that the spraying of fruit- 

 trees while in bloom not only kills the bees, 

 but is damaging to the best growth of the 

 young fruit itself, Wm. Stahl, an extensive 

 advertiser of spraying-outfits at Ouincy, 

 111., who is cognizant of these facts, is still 

 sending out circulars urging every one 

 to spray his trees while in bloom. By some 

 misunderstanding in our office his adver- 

 tising card was inserted in our columns ; 

 but as soon as I saw it I had it dropped 

 out, and informed the advertising agency 

 that we would not take his advertisement 

 again under anj' circumstances or at any 

 price. 



Mr. Stahl has had any amount of evi- 

 dence put before him, yet he persists in 

 putting out, through thousands of circulars 

 sent broadcast, advice that is hurtful to 

 bee-keepers and fruit-men alike. None are 

 are so blind as those who will not see. 

 Stahl is offensive to bee-keepers in another 

 way. He put out a statement to the effect 

 that comb honey is manufactured. The 

 animus of such a statement seems to be 

 that he "has it in" for bee-keepers. 



If I know the feelings of our readers, 

 when they want spraying-outfits, they will 

 buy of some one who does not openly and 

 flagrantly run against their interests. As 



THOSE BEES UNDER THE MACHINE - SHOP. 



Here it is, very close to the first of 

 March, and the bees under the machine-shop 

 are still doing well. The number of dead 

 from the 250 colonies so far during the 

 whole winter, if swept up, would not fill a 

 four-quart measure. Yesterdaj', Feb. 23, it 

 was quite warm outside, and I went into 

 the cellar to see how the bees were behav- 

 ing. The door was wide open at one end, 

 letting a flood of light in. The thermome- 

 ter showed a temperature of 50; but so 

 quiet were the bees that they did not even 

 venture out. The cellar bottom, as I have 

 before explained, is bone-dry; and the air 

 in the room where the bees are is sweet 

 enough for a human being. The winter 

 has been so severe outside that we put in 50 

 more colonies from outdoors. Yesterday 

 we noticed a few slight traces of dysentery 

 from the bees in the 3'ard, but in the cellar 

 there is nothing of the kind that can be 

 seen. 



In our next issue I hope to present you a 

 photo of the hives and the general arrange- 

 ment of the cellar where they are located. 



WANTED — A fool-killer; THE EFFECT OF 

 THE COMB-HONEY LIES. 



The following, from one of our subscrib- 

 ers, emphasizes what I have been trying to 

 saj' right along — that, in spite of all the 

 write ups and the retractions we have se- 

 cured in some of the standard papers, per- 

 haps three-fourths of the general consumers 

 throughout the United States still believe 

 that honey-comb is manufactured, filled 

 with glucose, and capped over by machin- 

 ery. So persistentlj^ has this lie been put 

 before the public that it is going to take a 

 long campaign of education to get the truth 

 back into the minds of the people. Mr. 

 Jones states a condition of affairs that I 

 am afraid is only too true all over the Unit- 

 ed States in many localities. He writes: 



ATt-. Root. — Will you please send me a few of ycur 

 cards on which you offer a reward for artificial comb 

 honey? You would hardly credit it, yet it is a fact, 

 the mania has struck this sction. W'ith your offer of 

 reward, .some missionary work may be done: still, it 

 is hard to make them believe even then. I don't know 

 but a wi.ser and more effectual remedy for the evil 

 would be this : You send us a strong, hearty young 

 fellow who would accept the position of " fool-killer " 

 for this neighborhood and turn him loose to perl onn 

 his office, as to salary, if he will do piece-work, and 

 is industrious, surely it will amount to something 

 munificent. 



For mercy's .sake, just look at this : Bartlett Springs 

 is a fashionable health-re.sort. The very elite of San 

 Francisco make it their summer home. Last summer 

 a bee-keeper took there for sale a lot of honey. It was 

 in sections, and would grade " fancy " and " No. L" 

 Did he sell it? No, sir— not one pound "We don't 

 want that kind of honey — you can't fool us," etc., ad 

 nausfam. Did the bee-keeper urge it on them, and 

 endeavor to explain? No, indeed, he did not, for he 

 was a man "wise in his day and generation." What 

 he did do was to go off and hunt up a lot of old rusty 

 empty coal-oil cans, cut his honey from the sections, 

 mix in a few leaves, rotten wood, etc , womox it all up 

 in a mess, make some change in his own appearance, 

 and go back with a lot of " wild honey " for sale. 



