1909 



gle;anings in bee culturf 



193 



GLEANINGS FROM OUR 

 EXCHANGES. 



By W. K. Morrison, Medina, O. 



In connection with the international exposition 

 for the east of France, which will be held at 

 Nancy, from May to October, there will be an 

 apicultural congress from August 21 to 24. 



-*- 



The reason why Mr. Scholl's honey did not 

 keep is simple. It was kept in too cold a place. 

 The fact that thelevulose separated from the dex- 

 trose shows it. A temperature of 90° is none too 

 high for honey. 



At the census of 1873, Alsace and Lorraine 

 had 80,694 hives, of which 17,165 were modern 

 movable-frame devices. By the census of 1907 

 the number was 86,579, of which 60,000 were sup- 

 plied with movable-comb frames. The bee- 

 keepers' association has a membership of 6000. 



Mr. Alin Caillas, author of a memoir on the 

 adulteration of honey and wax, has been "deco- 

 rated " or " crowned " by the Agricultural Socie- 

 ty of France as a recognition of the work he has 

 done for bee-keepers. He recently discovered 

 that honey shows radio-activity, at least some 

 kinds of it. 



PLURAL QUEENS IN I UROPE. 



A writer in Praktischer Wegiveiser, who hails 

 from Brunswick, says that in the winter of 1903 

 he successfully wintered three queens in one col- 

 ony. In 1904 he tried six, and one of these died 

 early in 1905. In the winter of 1905 he again 

 tried six in one colony, but this time three died; 

 but the three left were all right. This present 

 winter he has five queens in an extra-strong 

 colony. 



A FRENCH HONEY-PRODUCERs' LEAGUE. 



Some ten years ago an effort was made to 

 found a honey-producers' league by certain bee- 

 keepers in France, but without much success. 

 They now propose to organize themselves thor- 

 oughly, and for this purpose they publish in the 

 February number of L'Apiculteur the proposed 

 constitution and by-laws Mr. H. Josepff is the 

 provisional secretary and manager. Their head- 

 quarters are the rooms of the Central Society of 

 Apiculture, 28 rue Serpente, Paris. 



There is a story going the rounds of the news- 

 paper press regarding the number of bees in Eu- 

 rope. It is misleading, though taken from a 

 German trade paper, Hnudels Miisrum. For in- 

 stance, it credits " brave little Holland " with 

 240,000, and Russia the same. I suspect that 

 one single Russian province contains that many, 

 for Russia is a great honey-producing country, 

 and always was. It has six or seven good bee- 

 journals, and is forging ahead fast. Russian 

 Poland is a great bee country, and has been for 

 many yea s. 



As to iriigation projects engineered by Uncle 

 Sam, it should be clearly understood that on 

 nearly all of them alfalfa will be king for some 

 years to come. Of course, there are exceptions, 

 but very few. They are mentioned in Glean- 

 ings because the homesteads on them are given 

 away gratis. On a number of them there is still 

 room for more settlers. Even on new private 

 projects near Denver, alfalfa will be king, and I 

 know of land not twenty miles from Denver 

 which gave good crops of honey 25 years ago, 

 and it is still productive. 



Referring to Mr. J. A. Green's observations en 

 beet sugar, I quite agree with what he says ex- 

 cept as regards the distance beet sugar is sent. A 

 year ago the Gem State Rural, of Idaho, in speak- 

 ing of the same subject, said that the house-keep- 

 ers in that State preferred cane sugar, and actual- 

 ly paid 25 cts. per 100 lbs. more for it, though 

 the beet sugar was produced right at home, and 

 the cane came from the Atlantic or Pacific sea- 

 board. The beet-sugar men were evidently in- 

 censed at this. As to the bluing in beet sugar, 

 it is claimed that the sugar-men maintain an ex- 

 pensive lobby at Washington to fight Dr. Wiley. 

 The latter wants to suppress bluing in beet sugar 

 and sulphur in cane. He will ultimately succeed. 



If you wish to plant a climber that is particu- 

 larly grateful to bees, try Antignon leptopus, 

 sometimes spoken of as Coralita. It covers a ve- 

 randa or porch with great rapidity, and 1*^8 rose- 

 pink blossoms are beautiful. The bees work on 

 these unceasingly. As it is a native of Mexico, 

 it can not stand a freeze; but if carefully treated 

 it will spring from the root the following spring. 

 Various seedsmen supply the seed. 



Among bulbs nothing will surpass the Ber- 

 muda buttercup oxalis for bees. It bears a pro- 

 fusion of yellow blossoms which remain for quite 

 awhile. The bulbs are cheap, and easily pro- 

 cured. It is a fine pot-plant. It might be nat- 

 uralized in California with good results. 



Even so conservative a paper as the Pacific Rural 

 Press is throwing mud on Dr. Wiley from all di- 

 rections. This is because he takes the ground 

 that sulphuring dried fruits is contrary to the pro- 

 visions of the national pure-food law. The Cali- 

 fornians interested have raised funds to " protect " 

 their " interests," but the consumers in the effete 

 East do nothing. It was always thus. 



If these " interests " would do as bee-keepers 

 are doing, turn out a faultless product, they would 

 not do this. Formerly it was thought sulphur 

 was excellent for the human constitution; but 

 medical men now think differently. Even salt is 

 not recommended except in very limited quanti- 

 ties. Not long ago it was considered a promoter 

 of long life and happiness. 



Honey-men should make a long handle of the 

 fact that their precious sweet does not require 

 salt, sulphur, benzoate of soda, nor any other 

 mineral preservative. The whole thing is digest- 

 ible, even by a baby, and it is all digested — no 

 waste. The American consumer is being rapid- 

 ly educated on the subject of the healthfulness of 

 certain foods which were formerly considered ex- 

 cellent for human consumption. 



