granulated cane sugar has nearly sixteen 

 ounces of sugar, of which six and three- 

 fourths ounces is carbon. Therefore if 

 gi-ape sugar is worth four cents per pound, 

 cane sugar is worth seven to eight cents per 

 pound. But cane sugar costs ten cents per 

 pound. Thus it appears there is from two 

 to three cents a pound in favor of glucose — 

 with sulphate of lime, free acid, a bitter, 

 nauseous taste, and the risk of killing one's 

 bees by feeding the stuffs— all thrown in for 

 nothing. I have not taken into account the 

 fact that cane sugar is two and one-half times 

 as sweet as grape, and very much more nu- 

 tritious. Truly it is short-sighted economy 

 to feed grape sugar to bees. 



In conclusion, it should be kept in mind 

 that honey is a luxury, not a necessity. 

 People do not buy it as meat and potatoes., 

 to satisfy the cravings of hunger, but to 

 gratify their love of sweets. As soon as 

 glucose is fed to bees generally, will not 

 people become suspicious, and father than 

 run the risk of being imposed upon by hav- 

 ing honey mixed with glucose sold to them 

 as "pure honey," purchase some other form 

 of sweet that they think is not adulterated? 

 Possibly I am mistaken, but in this matter 

 I judge other people by myself. 



Still further, when a prominent bee publi- 

 cation says : "A pure article of glucose is 

 excellent food, and we should like it just as 

 well as honey did it not lack the flavor of 

 flowers," what is to prevent some persons, 

 more ingenious than nonest, from reasoning 

 thus: "Glucose lacks flavor; well, I will 

 add some honey or flavors to it, and sell it 

 as honey. Who will be the wiser ? and 

 then — there's millions in it." 



The argument that because honey contains 

 grape sugar and is wholesome, therefore 

 grape sugar of commerce is wholesome, 

 amounts to nothing. The grape sugar elabo- 

 rated in the slow and secret processes of 

 nature, is not, necessarily, the same as that 

 formed by the action of one of the strongest 

 acids upon corn starch in a few hours. A 

 free and fair discussion of this question can 

 do no harm. If grape sugar is the excellent 

 and healthful article its manufacturers 

 would have us believe, its merits will be- 

 come known and appreciated. 



"Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again; 

 the eternal years of God are hers"— but 

 grape sugar that is to " rise" must be far bet- 

 ter than that for sale in the markets to-day. 



Read before the Michigan State Convention. 



Wintering Bees Successfully. 



BY T. F. BINGHAM. 



As the price of honey approaches the 

 level of cane sugar, and the margin repre- 

 senting a net profit steadily narrows, the 

 special bee-keeper is led to cast about him 

 with a view to the possible future. In do- 

 ing this, possible loss represents a probable 

 factor. Memory fresh from the winters of 

 1871,'72 and '73, warns him of a risk not taken 

 by the underwriters, and he contemplates 

 with solicitude the loss of his apiary, 

 representing his productive capital at a 

 time when the margin under the most favor- 

 able circumstances is so small and wonders 



if such risk in such unpropitious times can- 

 not be removed. 



So great has been this solicitude that no 

 specialist, living in regions which have 

 been deciminated periodically, has failed to 

 try some reasonable precaution. 



Immediately after the great losses which 

 seemed governed by no certain accident or 

 modified by any special and certain course, 

 I undertook the shipment of my apiary 

 South to winter. The success was such as 

 to justify a second shipment which was 

 made the following winter. In these two 

 shipments important data was obtained 

 which seemed to indicate that such ship- 

 ment might eventuate in practical success. 



But the rapid and steady decline in the 

 price of bees and honey, soon rendered such 

 expensive methods absolutely impracticable. 

 When this conclusion, data and experience 

 were systematized, and a method adopted 

 which I hoped might so reduce the expense 

 and risk of wintering, as to render the pro- 

 duction of honey remunerative, even should 

 the price continue to decline. The plan 

 was to double the size of the colony, and 

 double the amount of combs and honey, and 

 so arrange three colonies thus enlarged that 

 their combined warmth would he the 

 equivalent of one hive containing six colo- 

 nies of bees. 



The experiment was made on 120 colonies 

 and sets of frames of honey united in pairs 

 so as to represent 60 regularly organized 

 colonies of bees. The experiment was a 

 marked success. The number of bees 

 reared early was simply immense. I visited 

 various apiaries and enquired of every bee- 

 keeper I saw, as to the condition, and vol- 

 ume of his bees. I became fully convinced 

 that my 60 colonies outnumbered in indi- 

 vidual bees, any 100 colonies in my 

 immediate vicinity. 



It will be borne in mind that I do not pre- 

 sume that the method pursued would remove 

 the causes which decimated our apiaries in 

 previous years. The experiment is given 

 merely to show that methods sometimes 

 modify the activity of unknown causes. 



Believing that this plan of wintering is 

 superior to any and all others for wintering 

 bees in this climate, I will further describe 

 the course pursued. The first thing to be 

 done is to construct small houses, sufficiently 

 large to enclose three ordinary hives, side 

 by side, so as to allow a packing space of 

 seven or eight inches on all sides except the 

 top, which is to have a clear packing space 

 above the frames of at least twelve inches 

 in hight. To facilitate packing, handling 

 and storing, the top, sides, bottom and ends, 

 are made in separate parts. The bottom is 

 placed as desired and the,hives put on strips 

 raised six inches on the front slue and eight 

 on the back, so as to incline the hives for- 

 ward. The entrances are now provided 

 with a conductor, which is to enable the 

 bees to pass through the material used for 

 packing the space between the hives and 

 enclosure, the front and ends are set up 

 around the hives. The corners are now 

 secured with strips of hoop-iron, bent 

 around each corner, and nailed with two 

 small nails. The packing of fine hay or 

 rowen, is now closely packed beneath the 

 hives from the back, after which the back 



