acid, lime or sucrate of lime, or several of 

 these compounds. See American Bee 

 Journal, April, 1878, page 128. 



Mr. Chas. Loudon Bloxam, in his "Chem- 

 istry Inorganic and Organic," second edi- 

 tion, Philadelphia, page 524, says : " Sul- 

 phate of lime will generally be detected in 

 sugar or honey adulterated with glucose." 

 Mr. Chas. Loudon Bloxam is professor of 

 chemistry in King's College, London, in the 

 Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and in 

 the department of artillery studies, Wool- 

 wich. 



A. Pa yen, member of the French Acade- 

 my of Sciences, professor to the conserva- 

 tory of arts and manufactures, and at the 

 central school of arts and manufactures of 

 Paris, in his " Industrial Chemistry," fourth 

 edition, Paris, vol. 2, p. 101, says ; " Some- 

 times glucose is mixed with sugar syrups ; 

 in this case it is preferable to use syrup man- 

 ufactured with diastase, which, containing 

 no sulphate of lime, does not possess either 

 the insolubility nor the disagreeable taste 

 of the syrups manufactured with sulphuric 

 acid." 



I have said that glucose is not manufac- 

 tured with another acid, but with sulphuric 

 acid, and I maintain what I have said, be- 

 cause sulphuric acid is the cheapest. 



Dr. Foreman says that glucose can be 

 manufactured without acid, by using dias- 

 tase or ferment. This kind of syrup is not 

 called glucose, but sugared dextrine or im- 

 ponderable syrup, on account of its viscosity, 

 which prevents the use of an aerometer to 

 ascertain its density. This syrup cannot be 

 converted in a solid mass like glucose, and 

 is out of the question, since it has not been, 

 so far, used to adulterate honey or sugar, nor 

 to feed bees, for they cannot get rid of it on 

 account of its viscosity. 



Payen, in the same book, p. 91, says of this 

 sugared dextrine : " These syrups are more 

 appreciated than the syrups manufactured 

 with sulphuric acid, for they have a more 

 agreeable savor, they contain no sulphate of 

 lime ;" and further : " You can give to the 

 syrups manufactured with the sulphuric 

 acid the consistency of the imponderable 

 syrup, by boiling them down, but the unfa- 

 vorable properties of these syrups persist." 



Is it not wonderful, that all my references 

 agree to show that glucose is unhealthy, 

 while all the authors cited by Dr. Foreman 

 profess a contrary opinion ? 



Dr. Foreman narrates that in the winter 

 of 1877-'78 he fed 2 colonies of bees with 

 solid glucose, and succeeded in wintering 

 them all right. I have answered him in the 

 same number of the. Journal, page 118. 

 The winter of 1877-'78 here was unusually 

 mild, about like the winters in France ; the 

 bees could fly nearly every week. Then the 

 success of Dr. Foreman cannot be relied 

 upon in a very cold winter like the one we 

 have just experienced. 



Besides, I have read in the French reports 

 on the use of glucose for bees, that some 

 bee-keepers praise it, while some others 

 complain of having killed their bees with it. 

 The same results begin to be obtained in this 

 country. I read in Gleanings for March, 



§ages 86 and 100, that Mr. Win, Debout, of 

 avannah, O., and Mr. N. Case, of Orange- 

 ville, O., have killed their bees by trying to 



winter them on glucose ; while Mr. E. A. 

 Gastman succeeded in wintering them on 

 this stuff. 



It seems, also, that Mr. Root was not very 

 successful in his wintering on glucose, for, 

 in his paper for February, he narrates that 

 his loss, Jan. 30, amounted to 10 colonies, out 

 of 163. Of course, Mr. Root knows as well 

 as either of us how to winter bees, and a 

 loss of 6 per cent., and probably more, seems 

 to be very great, if we consider the skill of 

 their owner. Mr. Root did notexplain what 

 killed his 10 colonies (or more, for some may 

 have perished since) ; we hope for him that 

 they had not been fed with glucose. What- 

 ever the cause, the reports that I have cited 

 above are sufficient to caution every bee- 

 keeper against the use of so poor a substi- 

 tute for good sugar or honey, especially 

 when we take into account that the profits 

 derived from its use are very questionable. 



Some bee-keepers will probably think that, 

 although glucose is not reliable for winter- 

 ing bees, it can be used as food in spring to 

 promote breeding. I will ask these gentle- 

 men whether they would nurse their chil- 

 dren with a food which is disliked by full- 

 grown people to such an extent that some 

 had preferred to die rather than touch it, and 

 which has sometimes killed those who used 

 it ? Such a question is answered as soon as 

 uttered. The best food is the most conven- 

 ient, if we want to rear strong, healthy chil- 

 dren or animals. Bees are not an exception 

 to this rule. 



Hamilton, 111., March, 1879. 



For tne American Bee Journal. 



Comb Foundation in Surplus Boxes. 



C. R. ISHAM. 



As supplementary to my article on comb 

 foundation, in the March number, I would 

 say that I do not, by any means, wish it un- 

 derstood that I would advocate the using of 

 thick or unsuitable foundation for surplus 

 honey, or any tiling that would in the least 

 be objectionable to the consumer. It should 

 be the aim of every honey-producer to main- 

 tain a high standard of excellence for Ameri- 

 can honey. We intend the coming season 

 (nothing unseen preventing) to use the new 

 style of foundation, with flat-bottomed cells, 

 of very thin base, and measuring 9 or 10 

 square feet to the pound. Such foundation, 

 I think, can hardly be detected in comb- 

 honey, especially when it is properly drawn 

 out by the bees, and is far superior to old- 

 comb starters. The past season I noticed 

 that when the foundation used was very 

 thin, and of proper quality, that the fact of 

 its having been in the surplus honey would 

 hardly have been noticed, except by a very 

 close observer, and then, as before stated, 

 would not be anywhere near as objectionable 

 as though one-year-old comb had been taken 

 for starters. We do not want, nor do we in- 

 tend to have any wax-board in the centre of 

 the comb-flake. In my style of boxes, I can 

 ship honey with perfect safety (except care- 

 less handling), although the comb may be 

 newly built.and very tender. 



Peoria, Wyoming Co., N. Y. 



