THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



25 



the matter as one worthy of serious 

 consideration. Very few people com- 

 parativelj', find it necessary to use sug-ar 

 for eitlier fall or spring- feeding; and I 

 g^reatly doubt if the practice will ever 

 become sufficiently great, even if uni- 

 versall}' approved, to make any diflrer- 

 ence in the price of honey. 



There is no doubt that in many 

 localities honey answers equally as 

 well as sugar for winter stores, and 

 in some places it may be purchased as 

 cheaply as sug^ar, but the danger 

 from foul brood is too great to counte- 

 nance the practice of buying honey and 

 feeding it to the bees. Only an in- 

 spector of apiaries knows of the num- 

 erous instances in which foul brood has 

 resulted from the bees gaining access to 

 honey that has been purchased. Of 

 course, no one should ever think of 

 buying honey and feeding it to the bees 

 without first boiling the honey. In 

 this case the honey must be diluted by 

 adding an equal quantity of water; 

 and I fear that the energy required to 

 evaporate this water may fully be as 

 great as that required to "invert" 

 cane sugar. Then, how do we know 

 but this "inversion" does not come 

 about automatically, so to speak, with- 

 out effort or energy ? If honey is 

 thoroughly and properly boiled there 

 is no question but what it will then 

 contain no living germs of foul brood, 

 but we must take into consideration 

 the lack ot thoroughness, and the care- 

 lessness, with which many people are 

 afflicted. Perhaps there is a little 

 honey slopped up against the inside of 

 the vessel, above the upper surface of 

 the honey as it stands in the vessel, 

 and this honey is never boiled, and 

 later, this honey becomes mixed with 

 the other; we all know what the results 

 would be. For the fear of getting foul 

 brood into my apiary, I would never 

 under any circumstances, buy honey 

 and feed to my bees. 



The objection most frequently urged 

 against the use of sugar in the apiary 



is that its use may add to the belief in 

 adulteration. It must be remembered, 

 however, that the general public knows 

 very little of what is going on in a 

 modern apiary. The general public 

 does not get its ideas of adulteration, 

 of artificial comb honey, and all this, 

 from visiting apiaries, but from the 

 sensational stories going the rounds of 

 the public press. I have always used 

 sugar in my apiary whenever I found 

 it profitable to do so, and I never could 

 see that the reputation, or sale of my 

 honey, suffered by so-doing. If neigh- 

 bors or visitors called, and asked 

 questions, they were answered truth- 

 fully, and full explanations given as to 

 when, and why, and how the sugar 

 was used. If the feeding of sugar for 

 winter stores, or for stimulating in the 

 spring, would bring with it a chance 

 for detriment to the surplus, it would 

 be an entirely difl'erent affair, but it 

 does not. "When it is better from a 

 dollar and cent standpoint, and from 

 safety to the bees in winter, to use 

 sugar instead of honey, and, still fur- 

 ther, we eliminate the danger of getting 

 foul brood, I think it very foolish to re- 

 fuse to use it because its use might 

 give a chance for some one to say we 

 adulterated our hone3^ 



Bro. Miller speaks about the sugar- 

 men sending broadcast circulars con- 

 taining recommendations from bee- 

 keepers. In all of my bee-keeping life 

 I have never received such a circular. 

 I wish he could have given us the name 

 of the man who wrote that testimonial. 

 It contains one very weak point. 

 V/here is the bee-keeper so lacking in 

 sense as to feed his bees with sugar 

 the "entire season, " thus keeping them 

 at home, at an expense, when they 

 might otherwise go out and gather 

 nectar that costs nothing ? 



I have never before had an oppor- 

 tunity for an argument with my good 

 friend Miller, and I hope he will ex- 

 cuse me for having thus made the most 

 of it. 



