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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Nov., 



in tlie combs should not freeze hard enough to 

 break the sealing, as it lets in the air and cold, 

 and the honey granulates more readily — which 

 is not generally desired in comb honey, however 

 it may be wished for in the liquid honey. 



To detect sugar in honey, expose it to air and 

 cold, or give it time to granulate. The honey 

 or fruit sugar being similar, grains unevenly 

 round, and more or less soft, varying in differ- 

 ent samples in solidity and shape, from cane 

 sugar grains — these being more the form of a 

 prism, and hard. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Iowa State Pair— Bees and Bee Hives, 



Dear Journal : — I started from home on the 

 13th instant, for Cedar Rapids, the seat of the 

 Iowa State Fair this year. My main purpose in 

 going was to be present at the Beekeepers' Con- 

 vention. I can say I was well paid for going, 

 not only in seeing some of the finest stock in the 

 United States, but making the acquaintance of 

 persons engaged in my favorite occupation, 

 namely, bee-keeping. After looking around at 

 the ditfei'eijt departments, I went into one of the 

 halls, and on a table or counter I saw as fine a 

 lot of honey, both extracted and in the comb, as 

 was ever exhibited at any fair. This honey was 

 from the apiary of our friend, W. H. Furman, of 

 Cedar Rapids. His box liouey could not be sur- 

 passed anywhere, and his extracted honey was 

 very fine. Friend Furman had several observing 

 hives on exhibition, each containing a fine Italian 

 queen. I would say that my prejudice against 

 the yellow-banded chaps has somewhat subsided. 



Here we met Mr. Furman in person, and j\Ir. 

 Editor, if you ever get west of the Father of 

 Waters, you will be well repaid for your time in 

 visiting Mr. Furman ; you can depend upon that. 

 The next bee man we met was a Mr. King 

 (if we mistake not the name). He, like our- 

 selves, is Just making a start. We are confident 

 he will be successful. It cannot be otherwise. 

 A man that carries such an honest-looking face, 

 and is so courteous in his manners, will make 

 any hive of bees hum with joy whenhe is present. 

 Not only in the presence of bees will his presence 

 be felt, but wlierever he may go. The next bee- 

 keeper we met was Mr. C. H. AVhite. In him 

 we found a bee man in every sense of the word. 

 AVe have no fears that he will not be success- 

 ful in his favorite occupation, for he takes 

 the Journal. Our next movement was to 

 the bee hives. Here we met Mr. R. R. Mur- 

 phy, well known to the many readers of the 

 Journal. We were glad to make his acquaint- 

 ance, and hope it may continue for life. Friend 

 Murj^hy had two of his honey extractors on 

 exhibition, and also a Langstroth hive. The' 

 Avorkmansiiip was good on both hive and extrac- 

 tors. May success crown his labors abundantly. 

 The next acquaintance we formed was that of 

 your correspondent, Mr. J. E. Benjamin. We 

 could plainly see tliat his native element, in 

 which he likes to be, is the apiary. In the hands 

 of such men as friend B. a hive of bees will 



prosper anywhere. May he ever be successful in 

 his enterprise. We found Mr. Frank Krause a 

 go-ahead bee man— one who understands the 

 principles of bee-keeping. We hope oi\r acquaint- 

 ance with him may continue. Men like him are 

 always successful. Paul Lattner, Esq., and Mr. 

 W. S. Goodhue are bee men "all over." Bee- 

 keeping was the favorite topic, on which they 

 dwelt. There are many others wliom we would 

 like to introduce to you, IVIr. Editor, and to the 

 readers of the Journal, but lack of sj^ace forbids 

 us to lengthen out "our piece." 



All the bee men we met were men of intel- 

 ligence ; none of the old fogies of the box hive ; 

 but modern beekeepers in every sense of the 

 term — men, who, by their presence and their 

 support will make the "Central Iowa Bee- 

 keepers' Associat[On" a sitccefis. 



The bee hives on exhibition, according to what 

 each exhibitor had to say, was truly a grand col- 

 lection of hives. A person had choice of a hive 

 from the new fangled moth trap device — that will 

 catch every moth that comes in sight, to the 

 plain, simple, readily understoocT, and easily 

 managed Langstroth. AVe don't want any of 

 those hives that will catch and kill, or scare the 

 life out of every poor moth that comes along. 

 Yet not only do some of these, it is claimed, per- 

 form this important feat, but all you have to do 

 is to put a swarm into one of these splendid 

 palaces, shut up every entrance but the moth 

 trap, and set it in a white clover patch or a buck- 

 wheat field, and begin to take otf the surplus 

 honey as fast as the combs are capx)ed over — and 

 your triumph as a beekeeper is secured. It will 

 astonish the uninitiated to see the large amount 

 of surplus honey that may be garnered by simply 

 letting the "busy bee" look out through the 

 moth trap of some of these fanciful contrivances. 



Another thing we cannot refrain from noticing. 

 AVe find friend Langstroth has almost ruined 

 bee-keeping by inventing tliat hive of his. He 

 forgot to put in a few strips of tin here, and a 

 few carpet tacks there ; and missed it much in 

 not giving his frames the proper twist and size. 

 They are a little too short at one end, and a little 

 too long at another, and the bees will sometimes 

 stick them fast with propolis— why didn't he 

 think of it and stick on a piece of candy for them 

 to nibble at instead, to "sweeten their imagina- 

 tion," and teach them to quit using bee-glue? 

 Then, too, his frames are too close together, or 

 perhaps a little too far apart ; and you have to 

 take oft' the top and remove that plaguey honey 

 board to get a sight of them. AVhy didn't he in- 

 vent a hive that opens automatically, and manage 

 to have the well-tilled honey combs lifted out by 

 a spring, without disturbing the poor little tired 

 bees? Alas, having failed to do this, he has left 

 to others the necessity of setting their ingenuity 

 at work to concoct some all-embracing con- 

 trivance, with a moth-trap appended, constrain- 

 ing the poor bee after laboring hard in the field 

 and returning home toil-worn and travel-stained, 

 to crawl over, and under, and through the mys- 

 terious labyrinths of a " trap" before it can reach 

 the inside of the hive proper. 



Then again, Mr. Langstroth (like the antici- 

 pating ancients, who stole and used all our happy 



