Do Bees Make Honey? 



Prof. Riley, who asserts that bees do not 

 simply gather, but actually make honey, is 

 met with the following from a correspon- 

 dent of the Scientific American : 



Is it not astonishing to find that profess- 

 ors of this day state that bees make honey? 

 A good common stand of bees, having but a 

 short distance to travel, will increase their 

 stock of honey from 1 to 2 lbs. in 12 hours' 

 fair work. Whatchance is there here for a 

 digestive process ? Place 3 lbs. loaf sugar 

 syrup within reach of such a stand at 8 p. 

 m., and it will all be taken up and stored 

 away before sunrise next morning. I once 

 thus expermented : After feeding to about 

 40 colonies 9 barrels of Cuba honey, upon 

 examination I found no difference between 

 that in the comb cells and that in the bar- 

 rels, only the former was cleaner from dirt. 

 The honey becoming exhausted, I then fed 

 the bees during the rest of the fall with loaf 

 sugar syrup. Upon examination next 

 spring, I found the comb cells filled solidly 

 with well-grained loaf sugar, precisely like 

 that I had dissolved to feed the bees with. 

 Other cells were partly filled with Cuba 

 honey and partly with ground loaf sugar. 



li^A California paper says that a 

 Los Angeles, Cal., firm has contracted 

 for 300,000 lbs. of honey. Upon receiv- 

 ing the honey in an extracted form, 

 they pour it into a large settling tank 

 of 3,000-lbs. capacity, and this, securely 

 covered, is left exposed to the rays of 

 the sun for a day or so. By this process 

 all impurities are eliminated, rising in 

 a sort of froth to the surface, and the 

 pure honey is drawn off through a cock 

 at the bottom of the tank. It is then 

 put up in neat tin cans containing 2 

 lbs. each, and securely closed with sol- 

 der. The firm ships to Liverpool, Eng- 

 land. _ 



How Many Eggs a Day.— Mr. Jaf- 

 fery contributes the following to the 

 American Oulttvator : According to 

 promise in my last notes that I would 

 set combs to find out how many eggs a 

 queen would lay, I placed empty, clean 

 combs in several hives ; others also 

 tried similar experiments. The flow of 

 honey was very light, hence the queens 

 did not do their best. The combs were 

 left 48 hours. From 7 Italian colonies 

 under experiment, I found 3 of them 

 averaged 4,500 eggs, with last year's 

 queens, and 4,100 in the other 4 colonies, 

 with queens 4 months old. In 2 black 

 colonies that were set in the same yard 

 the old queen laid 3,950 in 48 hours, 

 while a younger one that was but 7 

 weeks old laid 2,700 in 48 hours. I also 

 tried 2 Italians that were about 3 *weeks 

 old, finding that they laid 1,950 and 



2,100 respectively. One was light col- 

 ored and the other dark. The dark 

 ones have always done the best for me, 

 although the light ones have been the 

 most docile and pleasant to handle. 



@° The Boston Cultivator says : "The 

 most complete bee-hive should be so 

 constructed as to give the apiarist per- 

 fect control of all the combs, that they 

 may be easily taken out without dis- 

 turbing the bees. It should also afford 

 suitable protection against extremes of 

 heat and cold, sudden changes of tem- 

 perature and the injurious effect of 

 dampness, or in other words, it should 

 be so constructed as to be dry in winter 

 and free in summer from any suffocat- 

 ing heat— what is known as well venti- 

 lated. Possessing these qualities, the 

 more simple in construction the better." 



Little Johnny on Bees. 



Once Billy, wich had been a readin' that 

 poetry about the bee and the ant, and sech 

 things, kep a sayin' it over til everybody got 

 sick hearin' it, so one mornin' wen he come 

 in the parler and burst out with ; " How 

 doth the little bizzy bee ? " my father said : 

 " William, that inseck has passed a tolibly 

 cumftable nite, and is doin' as well as cude 

 be expected. It is very good of yure mas- 

 ter to send you to inquire so often, but it is 

 a newsance all the same, so I'll jest giv you 

 a auser plain enuff to last a week." Wen 

 my father said that, he picked up the fire 

 poker and made like he was goin' to fling it, 

 but Billy improved the shinin' hour by dash- 

 in' thru the door. 



There was a feller once wich was a news- 

 paper writer, and he was visitin' a friend 

 wich had a hive of bees, and his friend tole 

 him the bees had a queen wich was a big fat 

 bee and didn't have to work for a livin'. So 

 the feller he waited till he got a good chance, 

 nobody around, and he give the hive a 

 spitefle kick and run. And the last that 

 his friend see of that statesman, he was 

 dancin' on top of a distant hil, and looked 

 like he had a hundred arms and legs, and 

 there was a bright glory all around him, 

 wich was the sunshine on them bees ! 



One time there was a man brot his bee- 

 hive in the house, cos it was a cole nite and 

 set it fore the fire in the room where he slep. 

 Wen he woke up in tue mornin' the bees 

 was all over the flore, and the wols, and the 

 chairs, and the bed, and everywere spred 

 out like butter on bred. And they was into 

 his close, and his boots was on the other 

 side of the room, and bimeby some wich 

 was inside the bed theh begin to explore his 

 two legs. So he jest shet up his eyes, and 

 folded his fingers across his stomick. and 

 said : " It's too late for action, and my feel 

 is too deep for utter." But pretty soon the 

 other folks in the house was woke by sech 

 dreffle noises, that one yelled "Fier ! " and 

 a other said, " Wich way did he run ? " and 

 a other said, " If this house is a quartz mil 



