1901 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



229 



agreed that the principal thing to be 

 looked after is, absence of moisture. An- 

 other point is made- Light is claimed 

 to injure honey. We cannot see that 

 light has any bad, effect upon honey; 

 excepting direct sunlight. 



Dr. Josef Langer, as reported in Bie- 

 nen Vater, has made a careful exam- 

 ination of the bee poison. The compo- 

 sition is different from what has been 

 supposed. The water-white, clear 

 fluid contained only slight traces of 

 formic acid: the poisonous part is a 

 substance by itself. Bacteria are ab- 

 sent in the fluid, and it is assured that 

 on this account it cannot produce in- 

 flammation and blood poisoning in the 

 strict sense of the word. Difficulties 

 often arise from the use of unclean an- 

 tidotes, scratching with the finger- 

 nails, etc. There appears to be a dif- 

 ference in the quantity of poison in dif- 

 ferent bees. The poison sack of a 

 young bee contains about 0-00015 gram; 

 of field-bees. 0.00025-35 gram. It has 

 been ascertained that the sting of a bee 

 affected with dysentery is much more 

 painful than that of a healthy bee- It 

 was also found that the secretion of the 

 poison was greater when bees worked 

 on buckwheat than at other times. 



Several cases are reported in Graven- 

 horst's, B.Z.,of blood poisoning having 

 been cured by incidental application of 

 bee stings. 



As soon as granulation begins ex- 

 tracted honey should be stirred at short 

 intervals during the process of crystali- 

 zation. This will cause the grain to be 

 fine and prevent the separation of the 

 thin portion from the crystals, so says 

 Mangier in Gravenhorst's, B. Z. He 

 also gives other good hints regarding 

 the taking and handling of the crop. 

 Much smoke injures the flavor. Ex- 

 tractors, uncapping cans, honey knives 

 and other implements and utensils 

 should not be left standing very long 

 with honey adheri.ig, but should be 

 cleaned with boiling water as soon as 



possible- Combs with much pollen 

 should not be put into the extractor; 

 or, at least, honey from such combs 

 should be kept by itself. Combs, con- 

 taining brood should be kept above 

 queen excluding metal long enough to 

 allow all bees to hatch out before ex- 

 tracting the honey therefrom. After 

 the honey has been standing a few days 

 the upper portion, containing particles 

 of wax, etc., should be removed and 

 used for feeding, it is therefore not 

 practical nor advisable to fill any re- 

 ceptacles calculated to go to the con- 

 sumer directly from the extractor. 

 Extracted honey, having a tendency to 

 absorb moisture from the surrounding 

 atmosphere, unpleasant odors, etc-, 

 should be tightly covered. Tin vessels 

 are to be preferred. Bee-keepers 

 should make it a point (which the writ- 

 er emphasizes) that their extracteil 

 honey goes to the consumer in original 

 unbroken packages. 



Very little, if anything, has appeared 

 in German bee periodicals Oi late about 

 t)reeding bees for quality. .5pitz-Stadel 

 l)rings up this matter in lllustrierte B. 

 Z., and tells of his success in treating 

 six selected colonies that had done 

 poorly for two seasons, in the following 

 manner: The old queens were removed 

 at the time when his other colonies 

 were swarming and ripe cells from the 

 latter were substituted. In due time 

 the six colonies went away ahead of 

 their past records, and that of the other 

 colonies. (It strikes us that superior 

 blood had nothing to do with the suc- 

 cess of these six colonies during that 

 season, as the honey season was over 

 by the time the bees from the young 

 queens came upon the stage of action. 

 However, we believe in breeding for 

 quality, but we also believe that pro- 

 gress will be very slow). 



Brazil. 



The Brazilianische Bienenphlege in 

 speaking of differently colored honeys, 

 reports a case of two bee-keepers be 



