124 8 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15 



colony is protected to the extent of making each 

 hive into a little cellar by itself as nearly as 

 possible. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



GLEANINGS FROM OUR 

 EXCHANGES 



By W. K. Morrison 



TROUBLE OVER A BEE-TREE. 

 The honey crop of Indiana must be very short 

 this year or there must be a tremendous demand 

 for the sweet of the gods. Any way, Orlando 

 Norris, of Sullivan, Indiana, got shot almost to 

 death in defending a bee-tree on his father's farm. 

 Andy Price and two other men are in jail in con- 

 sequence. They went in the night time to col- 

 lect the honey, and succeeded in cutting down 

 the tree. This awoke the farmer and his sons. 

 In the altercation which ensued, one of the sons, 

 whose name is given above, got shot in the side. 

 Men will do almost any thing to get honey — in 

 Indiana. A similar case occurred in Ohio this 

 fall. One man got killed. 

 « 



THE RIGHT SORT OF MAN. 



In a recent issue of the American Grocer the ed- 

 itor had the following to say of Dr. Wiley: 



That sturdy chemist who has been at the head of the Chemical 

 Division of the Department of Agriculture for over twenty-live 

 years is a bachelor with the right sort of stuff in him. He has 

 been fought in every way. Men have tried to neutralize his 

 work, and bands of men and great corporate interests have tried 

 to defeat his plans to give the people a national pure-food law 

 that would be effective and preserve the integrity of the food sup- 

 ply. He has been abused, lied about, ridiculed, but he never 

 loses his temper, keeps good-natured, and quietly keeps at work 

 as the whisky-blenders have recently learned. The President 

 may question his policy; the Secretary of Agriculture negative his 

 rulings; commissions of experts may be appointed to test decisions; 

 the press may praise or howl for removal; but defeat is a word 

 Wiley hasn't learned to spell. The first International Congress 

 for the Repression of Adulteration of Alimentary and Pharmaceu- 

 tical Products at Geneva, this year, made him its honorary presi- 

 dent, as he was detained from attendance. If Wiley had become 

 discouraged, resigned, and given up the fight, pure-food legislation 

 would have been held back for many years. 

 « 

 CAUCASIANS AT NEBRASKA FAIR. 



The reporter for Wallace's Farmer at the Ne- 

 braska State Fair is a wide-awake man. He states: 



The bee and honey exhibit is mostly made by dealers. Premi- 

 ums are not large enough to attract many producers. A feature of 

 this department was a lecture twice daily given, by Mr. F. G. 

 O'Dell, on bees and bee-keeping. These lectures were deliver- 

 ed from a big hive in which was a swarm of bees, said to be 

 " stingless." The stingless quality, however, was seriously 

 questioned when the lecturer got somewhat stung up one day. 



Nothing could be further from the truth than 

 the statement that Caucasian bees are stingless, 

 for they are well furnished in that respect — as well 

 as any — and know how to use their stings when 

 circumstances permit. Any one purchasing Cau- 

 casians for their stingless qualities is getting a 

 gold brick. I remember when Cyprians were 

 reputed to be quite mild in temper, and some of 

 us took the bait — to our sorrow. 



THE LOCUST BORER VS. BEE-KEEPERS. 



Some one can render a priceless service to the 

 bee-keepers of the United States by finding an 

 enemy to the insect which bores holes in the com- 



mon black locust. According to all literature of 

 the forestry experts employed by Uncle Sam this 

 is the only drawback to planting the black locust 

 on a grand scale. Many farmers would plant it 

 quite extensively if it were not for the borer. 

 This is particularly true of Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 

 nois, Missouri, and Iowa; but a locust-grove is 

 growing well near Denver, and there are many in 

 Kansas. It is a splendid honey-bearer. It can 

 not be termed a water-white honey, but the aroma 

 or bouquet is fine. Though a rapid grower the 

 wood is hard and very durable, and useful for 

 many purposes. There ought to be a remedy for 

 this trouble. We could, as a nation, easily afford 

 $25,000 to the man who can find a remedy. The 

 honey-locust seems to be immune or nearly so. 



WATER IN HONEY; A FEW STRONG TALKING POINTS 

 ON HONEY AS A FOOD. 



Honey is one of the dryest of human foods, as 

 it usually has less than 20 per cent of water. 

 Beefsteak, of the most expensive kind, contains 65 

 per cent, and even then there is some bone to be 

 reckoned with. Some of our most expensive 

 fruits and vegetables are nearly all water, 95 per 

 cent and some even more! This is a point that 

 bee-keepers can harp on a good deal. Anybody 

 can easily see that, between a pound of steak at 

 18 cents and a pound of honey at 18 cents, the ad- 

 vantage lies with the honey. Moreover, honey 

 will keep indefinitely, whereas beefsteak deteri- 

 orates in a few hours. Actually, honey improves 

 with age. Add on to this the fact that honey is 

 one of the very few predigested foods. In the 

 United States to-day milk is the only food which 

 compares favorably with honey, both as to qual- 

 ity and price. In some ways milk is far inferior 

 to honey. 



# 



THE FRENCH TARIFF ON HONEY. 



The French Tariff Commission has decided 

 that'5.$6.00 per 220 lbs. will be the maximum tariff 

 on honey, and $4.00 per 220 lbs. the minimum. 

 This is far short of what the French bee-keepers 

 desired; but I imagine that the Chamber of Dep- 

 uties will ratify the views of the Commission. 



In this connection it has been noted that the 

 strict suppression of all honey frauds will do the 

 bee-keepers more good than a high tariff. The 

 government chemists will aid the bee-keepers in 

 suppressing spurious honey. There are now 

 laboratories belonging to the pure-food depart- 

 ment at Paris, Amiens, Arras, Auxerre, Char- 

 tres, Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Dijon, Lille, 

 Lyon, Montpellier, Nancy, Port-Vendres, Tou- 

 lon, Havre, Poitiers, Reims, Rennes, and Tours. 

 The prices of honey are no higher in France 

 than in England, where there is no tariff, so that 

 it is very likely that the pure-food officials can 

 do the bee-keepers more good than the tariff 

 commission. 



FOUL BROOD IN INDIANA. 



The Indiana State Association of Bee-keepers 

 is making a vigorous effort to have their State faU 

 in line with the progressive bee-keeping Mates, 

 and for this purpose have prepared a foul-brood 

 bill which they will ask tlie legislature to frame 

 into law. This law is much required in Indiana, 



