138 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



the natural preference of the bees for 

 the J^ inch space. 



No, brood-combs are not IH inches 

 through. A new worker comb is %- 

 inch thick, and with increasing age it 

 slowly increases in thickness. The old- 

 est combs I ever measured were about 

 25 years old, and they were one inch 

 thick. I have reference now to comb 

 that is used for brood-rearing ; that 

 which is used for storing honey varies 

 greatly in thickness. The bees like a 

 space of % to J^ inch between the combs 

 where the brood is, but only 14 where 

 the honey is. 



I prefer a top-bar %-inch thick, and I 

 ijotice the Roots are changing to that 

 thickness. 



Honey Candied in the Comb. 



I send you by this mail a half section 

 of something that I bought for honey 

 at our grocery last night. The grocer 

 had perhaps a half dozen combs of it, 

 that had been taken out of the sections, 

 and they were all like the sample I send 

 you — entirely solid — candied through 

 and through. To me it tastes like 

 brown sugar. What do you think of it, or 

 Dr. Miller ? Such honey (?) as that put 

 upon any market, is certainly enough 

 to ruin it. 



I believe the grocer said it came from 

 California, or at least the sections were 

 so rubber-stamped. Please answer in 

 the Bee Journal. D. S. 



Blackwood, Ills. 



Answer. — Bro. York sent the honey 

 to me after he had made a meal of it, (I 

 don't think it took a very big lot to sat- 

 isfy his appetite,) and I must say I 

 think I have produced better honey my- 

 self. On the other hand, I must confess 

 I have produced a good deal worse, for 

 one year, a good many years ago, I pro- 

 duced some of the blackest, vilest stuff I 

 ever saw gathered by the bees. 



The present sample is not very dark, 

 with a reddish cast, most of it candied, 

 but one spot which was not candied was 

 clear and of fine consistency. Tasting a 

 very little of it, one would say it was 

 almost without flavor, but a larger 

 sample shows a flavor which, while it is 

 not very strong, is decidedly distinct — a 

 flavor that I don't think I ever met in 

 honey before. If you call it medicine, I 

 should say it was quite easy to take, but 

 if you call it honey, I am not at all 

 hungry for honey. 



I should hardly have thought of its 

 having a brown-sugar flavor, still, if you 



slowly roll it around in your mouth in a 

 meditative manner, and think brown 

 sugar real hard, you may recognize 

 something in that line. I doubt, how- 

 ever, if there is anything like brown 

 sugar in it. I don't know what it is, 

 but I think very likely there may be a 

 plant somewhere that produces just 

 that sort of honey. But I'm not anxious 

 for any of the seed. 



After all, there may be some who 

 like the flavor. You know the Austra- 

 lians take it in high dudgeon because 

 the Londoners say that eucalyptus honey 

 is not fit for the table, although it is val- 

 uable for its medicinal qualities ; while 

 the Australians thipk the flavor wonder- 

 fully fine. Tastes differ. 



Purifying Beeswax with Acid. 



I purified some very dark combs vyith 

 the sulphuric acid process given on page 

 8, of Vol. 32 of the Bee Journal. It 

 worked highly satisfactory, giving the 

 wax a nice straw color, as we were as- 

 sured it would be. 



As my market is direct with founda- 

 tion manufacturers, I am curious to 

 know whether bees will accept comb 

 foundation made from such wax, as 

 readily as that rendered without a for- 

 eign substance. 



This is a question which comes very 

 close to both the manufacturers and 

 user of foundation, and I would be 

 pleased to hear about it. N. S. H. 



Henderson, 111. , 



Answer. — If I am not mistaken, foun- 

 dation manufacturers have distinctly 

 said that such wax is as good as any, 

 and I don't remember to have seen any 

 report to the contrary. If any bee- 

 keeper has had an unfavorable experi- 

 ence, by all means let it be given ; and 

 it might be well to hear from those who 

 have had experience, no matter what 

 the result. 



It is somewhat reasonable to suppose 

 that the acid does not hurt the wax. 

 You may remember that our grand- 

 mothers used to make beeswax corks for 

 their oil of vitriol bottles, and oil of vit- 

 riol is only another name for sulphuric 

 acid. Lacking glass corks, beeswax 

 was about the only thing they could use 

 that the acid wouldn't eat up or burn. 

 The wax cork was not in any manner 

 affected by it, and when acid works on 

 the " slumgura," why should it do any 

 more than to burn out the foreign mat- 

 ter, leaving the wax untouched? 



