306 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



hive carefully, using^ a little smoke if 

 there is any sign of obstreperousness. 

 As a rule I pass the ordeal without a 

 sting, while the owner looks on with 

 amazement. The whole secret lies in 

 subduing the bees before opening the 

 hive. Smoke the bees first, and then 

 3^ou can usuall}^ handle them in peace 

 and comfort. 



*«M««^if».^«<'« 



COSTLY INVESTIGATION TO PROVE 



TRUTHFULNESS OF POLARISCOPIC 



EXAMINATIONS. 



Most of us know that the chemist 

 depends chiefly on the polariscope to 

 determine the purity of honey, yet the 

 suspicion was thrown out in a bulletin 

 issued by the government in 1892 that 

 honey gathered from the excresence of 

 the pine tree might show alow, right- 

 hand reading, while all genuine hon- 

 ey heretofore gathered in this country 

 had showed a left-hand reading. In 

 that same year a larg-e packing- firm in 

 California shipped several carloads of 

 bottled honey to the East, and, upon 

 examination, it gave a rig-ht-hand 

 reading, but this suspicion that honey 

 from the p'ne might give the same kind 

 of a reading, prevented the chemist 

 from giving a decided answer. To 

 settle this matter, Wm. A. Selser, of 

 Philadelphia, took a three-months trip 

 that cost him $1,500, visiting the large 

 apiaries of the South and West, going 

 as far as Vera Cruz, Mexico. The 

 most important sample was secured 

 from an apiary situated right in the 

 midst of the pine forests in the moun- 

 tains to the extreme east of Redlands, 

 Cal. This sample, taken from differ- 

 ent hives, still showed the left-hand 

 readings. 



Mr. Selser then went still farther 

 and employed detectives to visit the 

 packing house that had sent out the 

 suspected honey, and they learned 

 that glucose and cane sugar were both 

 used to adulterate the goods. 



It is fortunate that we have in our 

 ranks so able a chemist as Mr. Selser, 



and, still further, that he has the pluck' 

 and perseverance to carry his investi- 

 gations to the point mentioned in the 

 foregoing, which I gather from the 

 June issue of the American Journal of 

 Pharmacj'. 



*^U»«1W^*»*« 



WIDE, DEEP TOP-BARS, AND THE NEED 

 OF HONEY-BOARDS. 



Before an inspector of apiaries come 

 opportunities for observation such as 

 come to few bee-keepers. He sees all 

 sorts of hives and fixtures, and meets 

 all kinds of bee-keepers. One thing 

 that I have been able to notice this 

 season is the extent that wide, deep 

 top-bars prevent the building of burr- 

 combs. I should think that they pre- 

 vent at least three-fourths of the combs 

 that would otherwise be built. When 

 crowded for room, I find that, even 

 with the wide, deep top-bars, the bees 

 will crowd in enough burr combs to 

 make a bad mess when the super is 

 removed. I would not think of pro- 

 ducing comb hone}' with a slatted hon- 

 ey-board; and, as there are many 

 cases in which a queen-excluder is 

 needed, it seems to me that a wood- 

 zinc hone3'-board is a most important 

 implement in the production of comb 

 honey. 



^^TM^^^^^ B^-M^ 



FEEDING BEES SUGAR IN SPRING AND 



FALL — IS IT LIKELY TO GET INTO 



THE SURPLUS? 



Last April, Mr. E. W. Alexander 

 of Delanson, New York, contributed a 

 a most excellent article to the Review 

 on the subject of feeding sugar syrup 

 to the bees in the spring and fall. The 

 syrup was fed in very small quantities 

 in the spring, about a quarter of a 

 pound per day, to each colony, and 

 solely for its stimulating effect, that 

 the bees thereby might be encouraged 

 to keep up brood rearing and bring all 

 colonies up to the harvest with combs 

 filled with brood. He also advised, if 

 necessarj', the feeding of larger quan- 

 tities in the fall, for winter stores. 



