1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



281 



to try the plan of producing comb honey 

 recommended by the editor of the Rocky 

 JMotintain Bee Journal. I am sure of one 

 thing — -that it absolutely removes the last 

 trace of foul brood ; and, even if the prac- 

 tice is not as profitable for the production 

 of comb honey as the old way of keeping 

 the old combs, one will accomplish at least 

 this much: He will free his apiary from 

 foul brood, or at least keep it in reasonable 

 health, even if the disease lurks in every 

 apiary around his own. 



GENERAL MANAGER ABBOTT. 



At the last general election of the Na- 

 tional Bee-keepers' Association, General 

 Manager Secor stated he was not a candi- 

 date, and desired to be relieved on account 

 of other interests that would be taking up 

 his time; but in spite of this statement he 

 was re-elected. Still feeling that he could 

 not fill the office he sent in his resignation 

 to the Executive Board. According to the 

 recent amendments of the constitution in 

 the matter of selecting a new General Man- 

 ager, this duty devolved on the new Board 

 of Directors. The matter was formally 

 presented to them, and the result is that one 

 of the Directors, Mr. E. T. Abbott, chair- 

 man of the Board, was selected as General 

 Manager to fill out the unexpired term of 

 Hon. Eugene Secor. Mr. Abbott promptly 

 handed in his resignation as chairman of 

 Board, and the Directors are now consider- 

 ing his successor. 



One of Mr. Abbott's marked character- 

 istics is his strenuous aggressiveness. Per- 

 haps the fur may fly. If it does, it will be 

 in the defense of the rights of bee-keepers. 



CENSUS REPORT ON BEE CULTURE. 



This report has finally been issued, and 

 one press report is as follows: 



Washington, Mar. 21. — -The censu.s bureau issued a 

 complete report to-day showing that for the country 

 as a whole on June 1, 1900, there were 707.261 farms 

 keeping bees, rh^se farms reported 4, 109,()2(j colonies, 

 valued at $10. 1S6,513. During the year 1899 there were 

 produced (il,196, lUO pounds of honey and 1,765,315 

 pounds of wax of an aggregate value of $6,604,904. Of 

 the States reporting honey, Texas is first, California 

 second, and New York third, reporting 3,422,497 

 pounds. Tne counties showing the heaviest produc- 

 tion are Fresno, San Diego, and Tulare, in California; 

 and Tompkins, Cayuga, and Seneca, in New York. 



This is much more accurate than some 

 statistics the government prepared some 

 years ago. The number of farms keeping 

 bees is probably nearer correct. The 

 number of colonies is too low. The amount 

 of honey produced is just about half what 

 it should be. The trouble is, statistics are 

 not gathered systematically in some States. 

 Among the States that produced the largest 

 amount of honey, California should by all 

 odds rank first. Texas might come in as a 

 second. The report from New York is 

 probably correct; so also the report of the 

 counties. 



More rains have fallen in California, 

 and the faces of the bee-keepers there are 

 wearing broader smiles than ever. 



SUGAR FOR BEES. 



Cane and Beet Sugar ; Sugar for Canning Purposes; 

 Refined and Unrefined Sugars. 



BY \V. K. MORRISON. 



Some of yotir readers are apparently not 

 yet ready to admit that cane sugar is the 

 best for bees that have to be fed, and M. R. 

 Gilmore undertakes to defend beet sugar 

 without offering the slightest evidence in 

 rebuttal, or without even noticing the pur- 

 port of my article. 



I am well aware that scientific men class 

 beet, cane, and milk sugar together, the 

 last mentioned being closely related to the 

 others, chemically speaking, though differ- 

 ing very much in taste. He is afraid that 

 I do not know what saccharine is. Oh! I 

 do; but I have seen it suggested very much 

 as a food for humans, and at least one bee- 

 journal suggested using it for bees, and no 

 doubt it is pure — that is, it is a pure chem- 

 ical. Cane sugar, according to the chem- 

 ists, is embraced in the chemical formula 

 t^i2 Hgo Oil. But this does not embrace 

 our commercial sugars, as will be readily 

 seen by reading my last article on this sub- 

 ject. 



The grocer who was fined so very heavi- 

 ly by a high English court for selling dyed 

 beet sugar made the very same plea that 

 Mr. Gilmore makes, which is that sugar is 

 sugar; but the learned judge very properly 

 declined to entertain this sort of argument, 

 and decided, in a common-sense way, that 

 beet sugar is not cane sugar. 



As a matter of fact, there are many sorts 

 of cane sugar imported into the United 

 States, it would be hard to state how many. 

 The sugar trust, of course, tries its best to 

 make them all alike; but Mr. Gilmore ought 

 to read the Dingley tariff bill, and see how 

 that genial old gentleman. Uncle Sam, man- 

 ages to arrange a different rate of duty for 

 each sort. Why? In the West Indies and 

 South America some cane sugar will show 

 20 per cent grape sugar, which is a very 

 good food for bees. I will send by this 

 mail samples of different kinds of sugar 

 for the editor to examine, and compare with 

 beet sugar. No doubt he will pass an un- 

 biased opinion, and say whether I am right 

 or not. But it would be rather queer if he 

 decided against me. 



If Mr. Gilmore is a man of science he 

 should know that sugar with a large per- 

 centage of ash is good for producing bone, 

 chitine, and horn; and he should also know 

 that grape sugar, or levulose, is good for 

 bees — at least he ought to know the theory 

 of it, and the bulk of scientific opinion is 

 with me on this point. Further, European 



