434 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mav 15 



and very little spotting of the hives — not 

 nearly as much as those I wintered out of 

 doors. I built a small cage 4x4x4 ft., and 

 covered it with three or four thicknesses of 

 burlap. All the air the twelve colonies got 

 was what would percolate through this. 

 While the temperature in the main cellar 

 (22 X 50 ft. ) would vary through the winter 

 from 39 to 48°, the temperature in the bee 

 part never went below 41; usually it stood 

 at 43 to 45, and ran very even. I never 

 heard any roaring all winter. They were 

 very quiet except when I opened the door; 

 then one could hear a low murmur, which 

 told me that they were doing well. The 

 bottoms of the hives were removed, and they 

 were raised up on two-inch blocks. 



I have for a number of years wintered 

 packed on the summer stands, with fair 

 success; but I shall in the future winter in 

 cellar as above, with more colonies. 



The windows were opened occasionally 

 all winter, but the fresh air from outdoors 

 did not come in contact with the bees direct. 

 I am verj' much pleased with this method 

 of wintering so far. Geo. Shiber. 



Franklinville, N. Y. 



GLUCOSE, AND WHAT IT IS. 



I read much about glucose, but I don't 

 really know what it is. Of what is it 

 made, and what is it made for? It certain- 

 \y must be made for some other purpose 

 than for dishonest people to adulterate hon- 

 e}' and perhaps other articles of food. 



Tilleda, Wis. S. A. R. 



[Glucose is a mucilaginous kind of syr- 

 up of low sweetening power, made from 

 corn. The ordinary commercial article 

 contains so much sulphuric acid that is 

 used in the process of its manufacture that 

 it is not fit for any purpose as food. If 

 glucose is used for any honorable purpose 

 in the way of a legitimate food product in 

 its real name, I do not know what it is. 

 The industry for the manufacture of this 

 corn syrup is very large. A great part of 

 the product goes into the business of mak- 

 ing beer (and I have about as much use for 

 beer as I have for poison), and the rest of 

 the product is used for adulterating syrups 

 and honeys. Consumers will never buy it 

 if they know what they are getting; and 

 the commercial product is so vile when used 

 in honey that it will disgust each consumer 

 with all honey, if he thinks that honey is 

 pure. A highly refined glucose is proba- 

 bly not unwholesome; but this article is too 

 expensive to use for the purpose of adulter- 

 ation. — Ed.] 



WINTERING HIVES WITH DEAD BEES IN. 



I have secured nine hives of bees in what 

 I think are known as the Hilton chaff hives, 

 containing 8 sections each of the Hoffman 

 frames. The bees have been neglected, and 

 on examining the hives I find the combs to 

 be almost black. The upper half contains 

 honey that seems granulated, and the lower 

 half is empty, hard, and black. In each 



case there are many dead bees in the bot- 

 tom of the hive. Will the bees carry these 

 dead ones out, or ought I to take them out ? 

 If so, how? What shall I do with the comb? 

 I see from one of your books that you do 

 not recommend the use of gloves. A sting 

 on my hand causes unusually large swell- 

 ing, and remains several days. What will 

 be best for me to do aside from the advice 

 not to get stung? A. N. Henne. 



Thompsonville, Mich. 



[It is advisable to take a long slender 

 wire with a hook on it, and rake all the 

 dead bees out if there are some bees alive 

 in the hive. If thej'^ are all dead, remove 

 all the combs, brush them clean of the bees, 

 turn the hives upside down, dumping the 

 bees out; scrape the bottom-board and give 

 it a general cleaning. Gloves are all right 

 under certain circumstances, and in your 

 case they would be indispensable. The 

 bees will remove the honey that has granu- 

 lated in the combs if you starve them to it. 

 Better uncap and soak them in a tub of 

 warm water, after which give them to the 

 bees to clean up. — Ed.] 



THE COMMISSION MEN AND LABELING 

 COMB HONEY. 



What you say in regard to D. I. Wagar, 

 p. 293, labeling comb honey, certainly ought 

 to have great weight. Why should we 

 bee-keepers allow ourselves to be put on 

 the back seats when we should have a front 

 one? The berry-producer, the fruit-pro- 

 ducer, the chicken-raiser, the flour-mills, 

 and, in fact, every producer, has his brand 

 on his produce, and even some of the com- 

 mission merchants stamp their goods over 

 with their own name and stamps. This I 

 know to be a fact. Now, why not the 

 honey-producer? I fully indorse all Mr. 

 Wagar says in reference to this matter. 

 Referring to j'our comment to Mr. Wagar, 

 the consumer does not buy nor eat the name, 

 nor is it one out of twenty who looks at the 

 name unless the grades differ. Set two 

 fancy articles side by side, having them 

 just the same every way as a fancy grade 

 of honey should be, the customer would as 

 soon pay 20 cts. per lb. for Mr. B's as for 

 Mr. A's. Why? Because they both come 

 up to his liking. The commission men have 

 an excuse that the name and address of the 

 producer hurts the sale of their crop. Not 

 a tenth as much as these comb-honey lies. 

 They have an effect in two ways; first, they 

 reduce the consumption of honey; second, 

 they reduce the price (but not the value). 

 What would be a better guarantee of pure 

 honey than the name and address of the 

 producer on the cases, with the standing 

 offer of A. I. Root and others? These could 

 be printed at a small figure, and should be 

 put on every case, and a couple in the cases 

 to get scattered around. 



Let us try this thing, and stamp our prod- 

 uce as the syrup-producer does, and oth- 

 ers. White-clover honey (if pure and true 

 to name) is white-clover honey, whether Mr. 



