we will look in that direction in the future, 

 as we meet no encourajjement in the mar- 

 kets North or West. The cause of this we 

 believe is mainlyattributahleto the inability 

 of the leading honey dealers, or at least a 

 majority of them, to distinguish between 

 pure natural honey and the adulterated 

 article. As p;-oof of this, I have in the past 

 three years sent several samples of choice 

 machine extracted, pure white clover honey, 

 taken from the hive by myself, to reliable 

 parties in some of the Northern and West- 

 ern markets to know what prices could be 

 obtained, and the answer in nearly every 

 instance was, that honey dealers and ex- 

 perts pronounced it a manufactured or 

 adulterated article, entirely unfit for table 

 use, almost impossible to sell and only 

 wortl) the price of glucose for manufactur- 

 ing purposes. This has been the experience 

 of nearly all our bee-keepers and shippers 

 of honey, and we cannot possibly account 

 for it in any other way than that above 

 stated. It may be possible that our flowers 

 give us a very inferior honey compared to 

 that usually sold in those markets, we might 

 be reconciled to such an idea (possibly), but 

 we cannot have much f^ith in the judgment 

 of men who say it is adulterated. 



In order that you may judge the matter 

 for yourselves, 1 send, in the care of Mr. 

 Thomas G. Newman, a sample of the same 

 (juality of lioney referred to above, for the 

 inspection of the Convention. No doubt you 

 will tind a marked difference between this 

 and the white clover honey of the North and 

 West, and if 1 may be allowed, I would 

 suggest that for the benefit of bee-keepers 

 and honey dealers generally, theConvention 

 would call especial notice to this dissimi- 

 larity, which is attributable, as 1 suppose, to 

 a diiference in soil and climate. Honey 

 from white clover blossoms in the South is 

 not so light in color — more of a straw or light 

 amber, more transparent, heavier in body, 

 more delicate and smooth in flavor— than the 

 white clover lioney of the Northern and 

 Western States, and a still more singular 

 difference is, that while the latter will be- 

 come solid and opaque by crystallization in 

 a moderately cool temperature, the former 

 retains a perfectly liquid and transparent 

 state, even when subjected to cold several 

 degrees below the freezing point. 1 have 

 samples of this honey that I have kept ex- 

 posed to light and the changes of climate 

 several years, still it retains its original form. 

 Mr. Chas. F. Muth, of Cincinnati, the lead- 

 ing honey dealer in the West, furnishes me 

 with an instance where several barrels of 

 this honey was left in the open air, on the 

 sidewalk by his store, for many days and 

 nigiits when the weather was extremely 

 cold, the mercury reaching several degrees 

 below zero, but on examination the honey 

 was found to be still liquid. 



Prof. Cook, in his late excellent work 

 ("Maiuial of the Apiary") says; "Some 

 honey, as that from the South, and some 

 from California, seems to remain liquid 

 indefinitely." As far as my experience ex- 

 tends, this is only true of honey taken from 

 white clover blossoms, all other kinds 

 crystallizing perfectly solid on the approacli 

 of freezing weather. Prof. Cook also says : 

 *'Some kinds of our own honey crystallize 



much more readily than others. But that 

 granulation is a test that honey is pure is 

 untrue." 



In conclusion, gentlemen, permit me to 

 express the hope that the Society may expe- 

 rience a pleasant and profitable meeting, 

 and that you will endorse and actively assist 

 the efforts now being made by some of our 

 most intelligent bee-keepers, to get Congress 

 to pass a law prohibiting the adulteration of 

 honey and other sweets. 



Very respectfully yonrs, 



William H. Wake. 

 Bayou Gonla P. 0., Iberville Parish, Jja., 

 . October 1st, 1878. 



Note.— The accompanying honey was 

 perfectly capped to bottom of frame before 

 being extracted, which makes it several 

 shades darker than if taken before capped, 

 as is usually done for exhibition puri)oses. 

 It is not a selected sample, but was drawn 

 from a tank of 160 galhms, so that it may 

 faithfully represent an average of what we 

 usually put up for market. W. H. W. 



The samples of honey did not arrive, and 

 it was subsequently learned that they were 

 sent by mail and broken en route. 



Pc>!sident Newman regretted this lack 

 of regard for the rules of the post office. 

 Carelessness in mailing queens hadbi'ought 

 upon us the present stringent rules which 

 were against the interests of bee-keepers. 



Fertilization in Conflnenient. 



If I could have my choice, I would post- 

 pone the discussion of this subject for 

 another year at least, for the fact is, that 

 owing, as I prefer to think, largely to the 

 past unfavorable season in this locality, and 

 to the unavoidable delays in experiments of 

 this kind, i have not yet been able to put to 

 the test some plans I have for so modifying 

 my methods as to make them generally use- 

 ful. My efforts have been directed mainly 

 towards devising means for re-queeniiig an 

 apiary cheaply, and with stock wliose 

 character we could control. And what I 

 have accomplished is adapted only, and 

 perhaps not well, to this purpose. 1 have 

 received so many inquiries on the subject, 

 which I have put off with a promise to un- 

 bosom myself fully at this time, that I am 

 constrained to tell what I have found out 

 thus far, although I realize that the matter 

 is still incompleteandmight, perhaps, rather 

 not be told. 



In the first place, I have found out the 

 main fact, that queens can be fertilized in 

 confinement, and have satisfied myself that 

 those who have stated for a number of years 

 past that this was possible, did not probably 

 observe incorrectly, and were stating the 

 simple truth, although they have received a 

 good deal of ridicule, and have even quite 

 frequently been called hard names. It is a 

 strange fact, that bee-men generally consider 

 the thing so preposterous that they will not 

 try to see whether it can be done or not. or if 

 they try. do so in such a careless, indifferent 

 way, that nothing comes of the experiment 

 but the conclusion that they were fools for 

 trying it. Men seem to think that there are 

 some a priori reasons why the thing cannot 

 be done, and finally, the distinguished 

 author of the " New Manual of the Apiary" 



