honest to say, I have never yet seen a 

 bottle of pure honey from either Chicago 

 or New York. Sugar is cheaper at 10c a 

 lb. than glucose at 3c. 



The Secretary asked Mr. Muth if he 

 had ever received or seen any impure or 

 adulterated honey from Kentucky. He 

 answered no, he had not. The Secre- 

 tary said, nor need you ever fear of 

 buying impure honey from Kentucky, 

 even without the stringent laws on the 

 subject. It is not in the country ; it is 

 rarely the bee-keeper who adulterates 

 his honey ; it is the large dealers, who 

 could find it more profitable to use 1,000 

 lbs. of pure honey, at 15c per lb., and 

 3,000 or 4,000 lbs.' of glucose, at 3c per 

 lb., than to pay 15c per lb. for the whole. 



Mr. Muth then read the following : 



Our Bee-Hives. 



Many arguments have been made in 

 our country, as well as in the old world, 

 about a uniformity of bee-hives. Much 

 has been said in favor of deep frames, 

 and as much in favor of shallow ones, 

 and the most sanguine of our friends 

 are convinced by this time of the im- 

 possibility of bringing about the uni- 

 versal use of a "Standard Bee-Hive. " 

 If a standard hive could be adopted and 

 standard surplus boxes, much vexation 

 and disappointment would be avoided. 

 However, as we look at these things in 

 so many different ways, and, as every 

 one of us has a right to his own opin- 

 ion, allow me, please, to express t my 

 views in regard to bee-hives. 



The nests of bees built in hollow trees 

 cannot well be taken as models, as the 

 bees were guided in their construction 

 by the shape of the hollow they hap- 

 pened to discover and made their home. 

 More bees perish each winter in hollow 

 trees than under the care of practical 

 bee-keepers. 



But when we observe the manner in 

 which a strong colony hived in a com- 

 mon box hive, and during a good yield 

 of honey, builds its combs, we find that 

 the hive is filled almost exclusively with 

 worker combs, which are apart from 

 center to center just about 1% inches, 

 or a little less, with an open space of 

 about % inch between every 2 combs. 

 But little drone comb is built, and we 

 find it generally to be the last comb on 

 the sides of the* hive and the lower ends 

 of the worker combs. Such will be the 

 case if the colony and queen are in a 

 normal condition. A colony of this kind 

 will be prosperous in the future, and 

 the owner will say of it, that he has good 

 luck with his bees. The reverse will 

 be the case, however, if the queen is old, 

 or shows signs of weakness, as the drone 

 comb will then be predominant in the 



hive, and its owner does not know why 

 that colony will give him no honey. He 

 may say that the bee-moth got among 

 his bees. 



As stated above, a prosperous colony 

 has worker combs built \% to 1% inches 

 apart from the center of one to the cen- 

 ter of another comb, with a space be- 

 tween every 2 combs of about % of an 

 inch. If we give them room enough, 

 we find further that, when their combs 

 are built 12 or 14 inches long, that the 

 brood is in the lower third or lower half 

 and honey in the upper part. If the bees 

 want more room for brood, they build to 

 the lower part of their combs, while for 

 honey they add to the upper part. In 

 this manner bees proceed when they 

 have their own way, if they can follow 

 their own inclination. Everyone who 

 has done his share of transferring bees 

 from box hives had a chance of judging 

 of the correctness of this statement. 



If we deprive a colony of the room 

 above their brood to deposit their stores, 

 they will put honey alongside, behind 

 and in front of their brood, and even 

 below it. During a good yield of honey 

 I have seen comb built on the outside 

 of a hive and filled with honey, extend- 

 ing about 4 inches from the hive and 

 about 6 inches or more in length. 



We can expect the best results when 

 we assist nature to the best of our abil- 

 ity, and bees are no exception to this 

 rule. A good bee-keeper can do almost 

 anything with his bees, because he is 

 acquainted with their habits, and does 

 nothing again their instincts. When 

 honey is to be had, he gets his share ; 

 he has no secrets. 



I noticed some years ago at one of our 

 fairs an old quack displaying his control 

 over the bees. He was feeding from a 

 vessel above them, and the bees were 

 storing honey in a tumbler. A notice 

 was pasted on one of the tumblers that 

 bees must not enter it. The bees obeyed 

 orders because he had greased the in- 

 side of the tumbler. Such tricks have 

 ceased to be laughed at among intelli- 

 gent bee-keepers. Wonders are claimed 

 by some men for their hives, as if hives 

 were doing it all. We can have good 

 results in almost any bee hive, if it is 

 only composed of movable combs and is 

 easy of access to us. We may remove, 

 one fine morning, the very obstacles to 

 prosperity, which would take the bees, 

 perhaps, all one season to accomplish. 



It is therefore very essential to use 

 hives which afford the greatest of com- 

 fort to our bees and to us. Bees must 

 be looked over occasionally, as there 

 may be something to clean up or cut 

 out, the combs in brood chambers may 

 have to be rearranged to promote breed- 



