1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1309 



GLEANINGS FROM OUR 

 EXCHANGES 



By W. K. Morrison 



BLUEING IN BEET SUGARS. 

 Bee-keepers will read with peculiar interest the 

 following excerpt from the October issue of a 

 recognized authority on the subject of beetsugar: 



Most manufacturers who resort to blueing of sugars use ultra- 

 marine blue for the purpose. Of late it has been proposed that 

 indathrene be used instead. It is claimed that it has all the ad- 

 vantages and none of the disadvantages of the ultramarine blue, 

 which frequently decomposes with the production of sulphureted 

 hydrogen. When the sugar is heated and contains traces of acid, 

 it may be said that this chemical action is a great disadvantage, 

 as certain jam manufacturers refuse to use blued sugar in the 

 preparation of their products. The indathrene blue contains no 

 sulphur and undergoes no change, even when boiled with acid 

 syrups. Alkalies are without action on this product. It is claim- 

 ed that blued indrathrene sugars have excellent keeping powers 

 and resist all action of light and moisture. It has been apparent- 

 ly demonstrated that no physical harm can possibly be derived 

 from eating sugars blued with indathrene. — The Sugar Beet. 



* 



FRUIT-TREES FOR HONEY. 



Most of the northern fruit-trees are good for 

 bees; but this is not so true of the tropics, where 

 some of the leading fruits are unnoticed by bees. 

 This is true of bread-fruit, sour-sop, cherimoyer, 

 sugar-apple, pineapple, mangosteen, durian, and 

 some others of less value. On the other hand, 

 some equally important are honey-yielders. For 

 example, the mango, which is the apple of the 

 tropics, yields some honey, as also the banana 

 family. That exquisite fruit, the avocado, is a 

 fair yielder, and so are star-apple, sapodilla, gold- 

 en apple, Malacca apple, guava, rose-apple, and 

 a number of others not so well known. The co- 

 coanut yields well, and nutmegs supply nectar 

 every day in the year. The date is a heavy 

 yielder. A well-known wild fruit, the hog-plum 

 {Spondias lutea), yields heavily for five or six 

 weeks. Coffee and tea are both honey-plants, 

 but cacao, or chocolate, is indifferent. 



BEES PUNCTURING FRUIT. 



Mr. Peirce, the bee-man of Zanesville, O., has 

 had an experience the past summer which tries 

 men's souls. One of the local papers made the 

 statement that grape-growers in a certain section 

 of the city were having their grapes destroyed by 

 the attacks of bees. It was not difficult to tell 

 whose bees were meant. Mr. Peirce replied to 

 this in a rival newspaper belonging to a different 

 political party. He showed that bees notice only 

 injured fruit, and that, so far as bees being a menace 

 was concerned, the opposite was the case, since 

 they are the chief agents in fertilizing the blos- 

 soms. He followed up this argument by stating 

 that the courts have repeatedly upheld the bee- 

 keeper when his right to do business was attack- 

 ed. The latter was delivered as a sort of clinch- 

 ing argument. In any event, he has heard noth- 

 ing since. 



But we must be careful, for this is an age when 

 everything is " regulated " It is a good thing to 

 keep the soft side of the local editor. 

 * 



l'aBEILLE ET la RUCHE. 



Mr. Dadant has gotten out a new edition of 

 the above work. Of course, most of my readers 



will understand that it is the revised version of 

 Langstroth's great book, " The Hive and the 

 Honev-bee," written in the language of France. 

 It looks very much like the English edition in 

 every respect, except that it seems a little better 

 executed as regards paper, printing, and binding. 

 The publisher is Burkhardt, of Geneva, Switzer- 

 land. So far as as I can see by a rapid examina- 

 tion, the translation is as accurate as it can pos- 

 sibly be. The book is so well known to bee- 

 keepers all over the world that to praise it would 

 be a work of supererogation. In French Cana- 

 da, Louisiana, the West Indies, and elsewhere on 

 this side of the Atlantic, " L' Abeille et la Ruche" 

 should have a large sale among bee-keepers. It 

 is a complete guide to bee-keeping, written by 

 two great masters in bee culture — accurate, sci- 

 entific, and up to date. It is sold at a very rea- 

 sonable price, so that French-speaking bee-keep- 

 ers have no excuse for not owning a copy. 

 * 



FOOD VALUE OF SUGAR AND HONEY. 



There is a widespread idea that sugar is only a 

 condiment and not a food. It is very difficult to 

 combat such fallacies, as they are ingrained and 

 form part of the personal character. The latest 

 authority to try to stem the torrent of public 

 opinion is Prof. Landouzy, dean of the medical 

 faculty of the University of Paris, whose opinions 

 on the subject are being given wide publicity by 

 the newspaper press, both here and on the conti- 

 nent of Europe. He says sugar is not a condi- 

 ment, and recommends it forthe army as a strength- 

 producer, as it has the advantage of being used 

 up by the system almost instantly. Laboring 

 men are advised to use it as a food, not merely as 

 a condiment in tea and coffee. Of course, what 

 he says applies with double force with regard to 

 honey, as it stands ahead of sugar in the rapidity 

 and ease with which it is used up by the human 

 system. Formerly we were taught that the car- 

 bohydrates are useful only as heat-producers. 

 The new school has thrown away that idea. In 

 the next war the soldiers will make forced marches 

 on a diet of chocolate creams made of honey, 

 chocolate, and sugar. 



* 



PARCELS POST MISREPRESENTED. 



An editorial in The Shoe and Leather Gazette, 

 opposing parcels post, is being widely published 

 by the papers favoring the present system. It is 

 a gross misrepresentation. It says: "The uni- 

 form rate would not work equitably. It would 

 enable a big manufacturing concern in one part 

 of the country to swamp or crush out local com- 

 petitors all over the country. It would help 

 build up the great retail mail-order houses. It 

 would enable them to reach all parts of the coun- 

 try and undersell the local merchants because it 

 would cost them no more to deliver their goods 

 1000 miles away than it would cost the local 

 trader within his own village." This is a gross 

 misrepresentation, for the facts are entirely to the 

 contrary. The Postmaster-General proposes to 

 allow local dealers to mail 11 pounds for 25 cents 

 to persons on rural routes in the same locality. 

 For long-distance packages the rate would be 

 $1.32, which is quite a difference. The Shoe and 

 Leather Gazette can rest assured the farmers of 

 this country are not stupid men. They can see 

 clearly the tremendous opposition to parcels post 



