76 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



GLEANINGS FROM OUR 

 EXCHANGES 



By W. K. Morrison 



MORE PREJUDICE. 

 The Gaceta Apicola de Espana is quite angry, 

 and with good reason, for the chief of the rural 

 police at Castellon de la Plana has just promul- 

 gated a decree forbidding the keeping of apiaries 

 within the territory under his jurisdiction. Our 

 Spanish contemporary does not mince his words, 

 and characterizes the decree as stupid. He says 

 it excites his compassion on account of the supine 

 ignorance displayed by one who ought to know 

 better; but he is also indignant at the slur cast 

 on bee-keeping as an industry, more particularly 

 as bees are recognized elsewhere as very benefi- 

 cial in agriculture. 



# 



LEVULOSE IN HONEY. 



A correspondent in the republic of San Do- 

 mingo asks me the question, " How shall we get 

 the levulose out of honey? " The easiest way 

 known to me is to store the honey in a cool 

 chamber to granulate. Then slowly warm it in 

 a can having a perforated bottom. When it be- 

 gins to melt, the levulose runs first, leaving the 

 mass of honey sugar behind in the can. It ap- 

 peals to me very strongly, however, that tropical 

 bee-keepers can dispose of their honey to better 

 advantage. Honey-bread is very salable; and as 

 half of it by weight is honey, quite a lot can.be 

 disposed of in this way. I think most of it is 

 made by means of ammonia and not by yeast. 

 Honey-bread is very healthful, and good for per- 

 sons suffering from indigestion. It has the merit 

 of keeping sweet and palatable for months with- 

 out any special protection. It ought to sell any- 

 where. In New York it is sold at 25 cents a loaf, 

 and it is worth that. 



BENZOATE OF SODA TO BE BARRED; THE EFFECT 

 OF THIS DECISION ON SYRUPS AND GLUCOSE. 



On reliable advices it is stated the United States 

 ■Department or Agriculture will shortly issue a 

 ruling absolutely prohibiting the use of benzoate 

 of soda as a preservative of food. Of course, this 

 applies only to interstate commerce; but the prob- 

 abilities are that all the States having pure-food 

 laws will follow suit soon afterward. This will 

 have the effect of stopping the sale of a lot of in- 

 ferior preparations of catsup, fruit-butters, jellies, 

 jams, and syrups. It will injure the sale of glu- 

 cose, as the latter is much used in connection 

 with these manufactures. 



Such a decision will greatly encourage legiti- 

 mate manufacturers who produce a line of such 

 goods in which only first-class materials are 

 used — that is to say, good ripe fruit and granu- 

 lated sugar. To say the least, this decision will 

 ha\e far-reaching effects. It will probably be 

 signed by all the members of Roosevelt's board 

 of experts, who, from independent experiments 

 made by themselves, have decided to support Dr. 

 Wiley in every particular so far as relates to ben- 

 zoate of soda in food. 



MORE ALFALFA HONEY; MORE ALFALFA TERRI- 

 TORY. 



The Colorado people are determined on sup- 

 plying us with more alfalfa honey. By an over- 

 whelming vote of 74,052 to 30, the settlers living 

 under ditch on the proposed Uncompahgre pro- 

 ject, which contains the famous Gunnison tun- 

 nel, have decided to tax themselves an additional 

 $10.00 per acre so as to furnish money to com- 

 plete the tunnel (now two-thirds built). The 

 original estimate of the cost of the whole project 

 was set down by the government engineers at 

 $25.00 an acre; but this estimate has proved too 

 low. The increased cost of material and labor, 

 together with the extraordinary difficulties in- 

 volved in constructing a large tunnel six miles 

 long through a spur of the Rockies has caused 

 this change. The tunnel will be concreted on 

 all sides, yet it will cost only $3,500,000. It 

 takes clear grit and great common sense to vote 

 like that. On these great United States projects 

 there will be no landlordism. No renting of 

 farms will be permitted. These enterprises are 

 the glory of our age. 



LOWERING THE TARIFF ON UNREFINED SUGAR. 



At the present moment a desperate struggle is 

 going on between opposing factions in the su- 

 gar industry. The sugar trust is fighting for 

 a low tariff, more particularly on unrefined sugar. 

 The reason is not far to seek, for the trust men 

 own or control immense plantations in Cuba and 

 Porto Rico. The present tariff was framed to 

 suit their wants, and a 20-per-cent rebate was al- 

 lowed on Cuban sugar, practically all of which 

 was clear profit for the sugar combine. They 

 do this by controlling all the refineries; and as 

 the tariff is high on refined and loiv on unrefined, 

 they absolutely control the sale of all foreign su- 

 gar coming into this country. 



The United States consumes 3,000,000 tons of 

 sugar a year. Of this, 1,250,000 will come from 

 Cuba, 250,000 from Porto Rico, 400,000 from 

 Hawaii, and probably 300,000 from the Philip- 

 pines. The rest will come from the beet-sugar 

 districts in the West, and in Louisiana and Texas, 

 where cane is grown. With a little encourage- 

 ment ive can grotv all our otvn sugar ivith con- 

 suj?imate ease. Southwest Texas can produce, 

 without trouble, 1,000,000 tons of cane sugar per 

 annum, and Louisiana and Florida probably an 

 equal amount. The beet-sugar States can take 

 care of the rest. No increase in the price of su- 

 gar is necessary; but the tariff must be levied to 

 suit the sugar-planter, not the sugar trust. What- 

 ever influence bee-keepers possess will naturally 

 be placed with the men who gron.v the sugar, and 

 it may be very good policy for bee-keepers to line 

 up and help their fellows in Louisiana and the 

 West. The growing of beets in the West has 

 been a great factor in building up the coun- 

 try, but the industry is merely in its infancy. 

 It can be made a giant. Cuba can readily make 

 good the loss of the sugar trade by growing ba- 

 nanas, pineapples, avocados, mangoes, and simi- 

 lar crops, which give much larger returns than 

 sugar, and build up a superior civilization. 



When it comes to levying a duty on honey 

 and beeswax the bee-keepers will be glad to have 

 the assistance of the sugar-oroducers. 



