1901 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



83 



honey was cured by bees. I grant that 

 many think they can do this until they 

 try it, but repeated trials Avill embarrass 

 the best of them. I cannot learn that 

 there is anything in this curing process, 

 after the honey is once stored, to result 

 in smoothness or fine flavor except the 

 simple elimination of surplus water 

 before it starts fermentation. Let fer- 

 mented honey partly granulate, drain 

 out the thin liquid part, then melt the 

 rest, and the smoothness and flavor of 

 new honey is to a great extent restored. 



I have yet to learn that chemical 

 analysis shows a difference in honies 

 equally cured by the two methods, and 

 this it should do if the bees add to or 

 take from it any property or substance 

 other than water. 



Just what increase to expect from art- 

 ificial curing is hard to state, but, in line 

 of evidence, my crops for the past twenty- 

 tive years as compared with those of 

 other skillful bee-keepers of this neigh- 

 borhood, working under like conditions, 

 may give some hint, though other mat- 

 ters necessarily enter into the calcula- 

 tion. Honey may be artificially cured 

 in several ways. When the sun"s heat is 

 not sufficient, hot water under the 

 evaporator is a fine substitute, or several 

 sheets of tin arranged to slant alter- 

 nately each way, one above another, 

 and so arranged that the honey flows 

 over them in a thin film and falls from 

 each to the one beneath, the whole ap- 

 paratus being located in a good current 

 of dry air, may, perhaps, be made fully 

 effective. 



I am of the impression that a tank ten 

 or twelve feet deep — the deeper the 

 better — would serve a good purpose in 

 securing well-cured, clean honey where 

 it is left longer in the hive. There is 

 almost always some light honey at ex- 

 tracting time, this would come to the top 

 and, under a cover of glass and wire 

 net, would rapidly cure, after being 

 skimmed, if the tank was built where 

 the sun could reach it. As soon as your 

 honey is cured, cover it, air tight. 



Hawks Park, Fla., Apr. 1, 1901. 



INTRODUCING QUEENS. 



Some Interesting Experiments and 

 Theories Relating to the Fasting Method. 



BY ARTHUR C. MILLER 



SOMEBODY— never mind who, for I 

 have forgotten — who has a faculty 

 for saying clever things, once 

 wrote: "What's the use of knowing 

 things when so much we know isn't so ?" 

 And if there is any remark that fits the 

 general knowledge about bees better 

 than that, I have yet to hear of it. They 

 do most always go contrariwise. Make 

 beautiful experiments, obtain wonderful 

 results, write glowing descriptions, then 

 try to do them over again and you will 

 wish you never knew how to write. 



This very uncertainty is what gives 

 apiculture such a charm — yes, even to 

 those who are in it only for dollars and 

 cents, for it keeps them wide awake. 

 As there is never an effect without a 

 cause, so is there always a reason for 

 the seeming contrariness of the bees. 

 The conditions, though apparently alike, 

 are not the .'•ame; and of no part of api- 

 culture is this more true than of queen 

 introducing. To-day we actually know 

 almost nothing of the true cause of suc- 

 cess or failure in this branch of the pur- 

 suit. A lot of queens are put in and all 

 are accepted. Why ? Another lot are 

 put in in the same way, and most all 

 are lost. Why ? We don't know. Few 

 of us have the patience or time to search 

 for the cause, and so we go blindly on 

 from season to season, wasting hun- 

 dreds of dollars just for want of 

 knowledge of the "why." Theories 

 are of value only as they make a basis 

 for experiments until their truth or 

 falsity is established. 



Here is a theory on queen-introducing 

 which I have partly tested, but have not 

 yet proved beyond doubt : The queen's 

 attitude governs her i-eception. If she 

 goes to tl?em as a suppliant, humble and 

 hungry, she is accepted without ques- 

 tion ; if she goes forth with regal mein, 

 or hurried and fearful, there is a 



