712 



GLEAMNGS IN BEE CULTURE 



man asked me in rej;ard to changing' from 

 box to frames, or patent hives as he called 

 them. ' Don't, don't,' I said, ' unless you 

 are going- to use frames,' for of what earth- 

 ly use are frames in a hive unless they are 

 used by a beekeei^er? They cost more, and 

 are not so good." I have reason to believe 

 that the box hives referred to are not paint- 

 ed, and if I am correct the better state of 

 the bees in the spring- is owing- to the por- 

 ousness of unpainted wood — that is to say, 

 the hive is free from dampness. And the 

 state of the colonies in movable-frame hives 

 is not as good as in box hives, because there 

 is less chance for the dampness from the 

 painted walls of the hives to escape, paint 

 having rendered the wood impermeable. 



In Bulgaria I have seen hives made in 

 the shape of a bell, the same as straw skcps, 

 but much wider and taller. These are prac- 

 tically like baskets turned upside down and 

 covered with a kind of plaster made of 

 earth. Such hives are extremely porous. 

 Bulgaria is about 43 latitude. Cold is se- 

 vere in wintertime, and yet bees are ven^ 

 comfortable in this kind of hive, and they 

 are wintered outdooi's. 



Nicosia, Cyprus. 



SOME OLD HONEY 



Samples from Ten to Thirty Years of Age 



BY R. C. AIKIK 



On March 27, 1884, I reported to the 

 American Bee Journal that bees wintered 

 well on summer stands, and in fine condi- 

 tion at that date. See p. 218, for April 2d 

 issue. In the Sept. 24th issue of the same 

 year on p. 621 appears tlie following- letter: 



Worst season for ten years. We have no new 

 honey this year, and all of the. old honey is gone. I 

 have 80 colonies of bees, and not five pounds of 

 honey. One man had a little early honey at the fair, 

 and he will have to feed that back for winter. We 

 have less honey this year than for ten years past. 

 Can not some one send us enough for a taste when 

 company comes ? 



Shambaugh, Iowa, Sept. 15. R. C. AlKix. 



Some time after this letter appeared, a 

 preacher, a friend of mine, handed me a 

 quart bottle of honey which had been handed 

 him by some friend where he had been 

 l^reacliing, or at some meeting, in another 

 part of the State. The bottle was filled 

 with extracted white-clover honey, and a 

 label on it which read as follows : " The 

 Promise is Fulfilled. This is the land that 

 flows with milk and honey, and here's the 

 honey from H. M. Noble's apiary. — Swedes- 

 burgh, Iowa, 1871." Later 1 changed the 

 label date to 1884. I su])pose he put on 

 tlie old one just to give his address, etc. 



That is all I know of Mr. Noble. I think 

 1 wrote him one time about the honey, but 

 never had any communication from him. 

 The bottle was set up in my honey-house, 

 and stood around for several years. At one 

 time it lost its cork and stood open for some 

 time, and a few wax-moth-larvae droppings 

 got into the honey, and then I recorked it. 

 No record was ever kept, but within pi'ob- 

 ably a year or so the honey candied. Still 

 later it partially liquefied, then a thin layer 

 recandied over the surface on top. That 

 layer got displaced in handling the bottle, 

 and sank to about the middle, resting one 

 edge on the candied honey in the bottom, 

 and the other edge against the bottle side, 

 standing- at an angle of about 45 degrees, 

 where it has remained ever since. 



I carried the bottle with me to Colorado 

 when I moved there; then to Chicago, and 

 had it on exhibition at the 1893 National 

 convention ; back to Colorado again ; showed 

 it some times at our Colorado State conven- 

 tions; then brought it hei-e with me two 

 years ago last December. I have not sam- 

 pled it for several years, but we used to 

 taste it occasionally until about one-third of 

 it disappeared. Of what is left, it has for 

 some years been about half candied from 

 the bottom. Very little change has been 

 observed for the past ten or t"\velve years. 

 When I received it, it was ven' clear; now 

 it is a reddish dark shade about like sorghum 

 molasses. It must be 29 years old this fall. 

 I had this in Colorado for about 20 years, 

 and in that climate the tendency of syrups 

 is to become more stiff or thick. Now, after 

 214 yeai's, here it is still quite thick, even 

 in this Aug-ust weather. 



BOTTLE NUMBER 2. 



In 1889, at Fort Collins, Colo., I took a 

 Hood's Sarsaparilla bottle and filled it with 

 \-ery clear alfalfa honey and set it up in 

 the gable of the honey-house, close to the 

 roof, above a window. That winter it can- 

 died solid, but the heat of the next summer 

 partially liquefied it. Finally it candied 

 from the bottom upward just about half 

 way. There it stands to-day, and is before 

 me on the desk now as I write. The can- 

 died lower half is about the appearance of 

 lard fried from meat with just a tinge of 

 dark. The upper half is clear enough that 

 objects can be seen through it, bottle and 

 all, and is of a reddish amber hue. The 

 bottle is sealed, and has been opened very 

 few times since filled, and not at all for 

 several years. It seems a trifle thinned on 

 top, but shows no sign of ferment. This is 

 24 j-ears old. 



SAMPLE 3, .JUST OF AGE, 21 YEARS OLD. 



This is jirobably alfalfa and sweet clover 

 mixed, or at least from one of these sources. 



