1250 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15 



into the islands has nearly put a stop to its man- 

 ufacture. It is made in the same way maple su- 

 gar is, and of course retains the natural phos- 

 phates, salts, and phosphoric acid present in the 

 cane-plant. 1 he cane sugar, with large yellow 

 crystals, is next best. Fruit-canners also prefer 

 it because it has a sweet honey-like flavor. 



It is not so easy to get such sugars, because the 

 sugar trust people want to pocket about a cent a 

 pound made in refining them into white sugars. 

 Raw sugars pay a much lower duty than refined, 

 and it is in manipulating this difference that the 

 trust has made millions in profits with no equiva- 

 lent benefit to the consumers. Some of these 

 raw sugars would suit us better than the refined; 

 but the trust wants them, and controls the situa- 

 tion. The trust does not care to handle import- 

 ed refilled sugar — that is, sugar above No. 16 

 Dutch standard, and very little is imported. 



Our most highly refined sugars, even when 

 made from cane, are objectionable, because they 

 contain traces of very powerful poisonous chemi- 

 cals used in preparing them. These are not nec- 

 essary, but they are cheaper, and easier to use. 



BEE-KEEPING IN THE 

 SOUTHWEST 



By Louis Scholl 



Cotton honey, when gathered from that source 

 alone, and fiom rank growing, thrifty plants, is 

 nearly if not quite as white as white-clover hon- 

 ey. This year we have had an abundance of cot- 

 ton honey, and several other bee-keepers who 

 know will confirm the above. When first gather- 

 ed, cotton honey has a rather strong flavor of the 

 plant itself; but as it grows older this is lost. 



"Waxcraft" is a good book on wax. Now, 

 why not have one on honey? It is interesting to 

 note the many different uses made of wax, espe- 

 cially for technical purposes, both in practical 

 recipes and in medicines. It would, perhaps, be 

 more surprising to note the extent to which hon- 

 ey is used in these things. I know honey is 

 much used in medicine, etc. and it seems to me; 

 a book of this kind would be welcomed. 

 * 



A common long butcher-knife, well sharpened, 

 and kept free from the gumming of honey, by fre- 

 quently washing in cold water while uncapping, 

 is the knife I have preferred for several years, 

 after using several of all the different uncapping- 

 knives on the market. Since the cutting is al- 

 ways downward, the stroke is more direct, as 

 there is no bend in the handle. The knife reaches 

 clear across my shallow combs, and it is much 

 more easily wielded. 



We're doing the fairs with our exhibits. It's 

 a good advertising scheme, both for the exhibitor 

 and the fairs. We've been very welcome there; 

 and to encourage these exhibits, liberal premiums 

 are provided. For these reasons good exhibits 

 can be made, for otherwise it is expensive to get 

 pp creditable exhibits and go long distances to 



'fairs. We enjoy it, like Mr. Hutchinson; and if 

 one is clever enough to have every thing arrang- 

 ed properly it is not so difficult a matter to make 

 the moves. More should try it, and advertise 

 our industry. 



* 

 Not much has been said in print about "one 

 of the signs of queenlessness," p. 1048, and I am 

 in doubt whether there is very much in it. But, 

 of course, localities differ. I've often studied 

 over the matter right at one of these colonies, 

 with the combs in front of me. I remember 

 often remarking in the midst of such a quandary 

 that "I would gladly give a dollar to know for 

 certain whether or not there is a virgin queen in 

 that hive." There were all kinds of signs point- 

 ing to one or the other. Sometimes the bees will 

 keep the cells in the center of the brood-chamber 

 so nicely polished for weeks that one will expect 

 a laying queen to take possession at once; and, 

 again, I have seen those cells nlled with honey 

 throughout the brood-chamber with a virgin in 

 the hive several days, and, several times, even 

 after the queen had begun laying in a few empty 

 cells scattered right among those with honey. 



# 



NARROW VS. WIDE TOP-BARS 



The shallow frame that has given me the best 

 satisfaction, and which has been tried in my vards 

 for ten years, is just like the regular 5^8 Hoffman 

 self-spacing frame, with the exception of the top- 

 bar. My top-bar is only y& inch wide, but ^ 

 inch thick. It is stronger than the wide thinner 

 ones on the market, and thus gives more free com- 

 munication between frames from super to super. 

 These spaces are very narrow in the supers as now 

 made, and act too much like queen or " bee " ex- 

 cluders. This is detrimental, especially if the 

 frames are used in brood-chambers. No groove 

 for foundation is needed, as the foundation is 

 fastened with melted wax much more easily. 

 When the frame is new, the groove is in the way 

 or else the sheet must be carefully put into it; 

 but when the frame is refilled again and again 

 the groove is filled with wax any way. Why are 

 they not made plain regularly, Mr. Editor.? 

 * 



BULK COMB HONEY IS MORE PROFITABLE IN THE 

 SOUTH THAN SECTION HONEY. 



Of all the trouble I had this season it was the 

 fixing-up for the production, then the taking off, 

 the scraping, labeling, grading, casing, crating, 

 and shipping of a few hundred pounds of section 

 honey. It was the most expensive honey we pro- 

 duced, and it gave the least returns for the invest- 

 ment. The good old "chunk " honey, as many 

 call it, beats it all to pieces here in the South. It 

 is more easily produced, easier taken off, packed, 

 and shipped, and more readily marketed at good 

 remunerative prices. 



We not only save the great expense of buying 

 sections and shipping-cases every year, but the 

 bees make more honey in our frames than in sec- 

 tions; and we save high freight charges and the 

 danger from smash-ups here in this warm climate. 

 Bulk comb honey in cans goes at fourth-class 

 freight rates, the same as extracted honey, while 

 section honey goes at double first. Then it is 

 much easier to prepare and pack a crop of the 

 bulk comb honey than of sections; and as there 



