56 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



bees. I got several hundred pounds of 

 what I supposed was honey-dew. It 

 was not fit to eat, and therefore was not 

 fit to sell, so I fed it back to the bees, 

 and it is all they have for winter stores. 

 They wintered nicely last winter on it, 

 and I think they will do the same this 

 winter, unless we have a much harder 

 winter than last winter was. I have 

 them well packed on the summer stands, 

 so they can have a good cleansing flight 

 any pleasant day that occurs, which I 

 think is necessary with such stuff as 

 they have to live on. 



All the honey we have in our market 

 here is imported from other parts of the 

 country, and I think none of it is pure 

 honey, but is syrup made from sugar 

 and mixed with glucose, and fed to the 

 bees, that fix it up very nicely — so 

 nicely do they do their part of the fraud 

 that it takes more than an ordinary ex- 

 pert to detect it by its looks. 



Middlemen may adulterate extracted 

 honey, but it is not they who do the 

 mischief with comb honey, but the bee- 

 men themselves ; and how are we going 

 to help it ? I think it will be about as 

 hard to stop it as it will be to stop men 

 from sinning. But I console myself that 

 as long as I am able to attend to my 

 bees, I can have pure honey for myself 

 and family. Wm. B. McCokmick. 



Uniontown, Pa., Dec. 22, 1892. 



A Criticism Corrected. 



Mr. H. Fitz Hart, on page 733 of the 

 Bee Journal for 1892, erroneously 

 asserts that "Mr. C. J. Robinson makes 

 the assertion that there is no foul brood 

 virus in comb-cells." What I asserted 

 on the page he refers to — 506 — reads 

 thus: "Pure honey, while in comb- 

 cells, never is — never was — charged with 

 foul brood virus." 



He further says : "As this was pro- 

 mulgated eight years ago by Mr. Prank 

 Cheshire in an essay on foul brood read 

 before the British Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, Mr. R.'s discovery is too late for 

 him to claim any credit." Mr. Cheshire's 

 essay read: "I have searched most 

 carefully (with the microscope) in honey 

 in contiguity with cells holding dead 

 larvae; have examined samples from 



colonies dying out with rottenness 



yet in no instance have I found a living 

 bacillus;" thus confirming my allegation 

 that foul brood virus does not exist in 

 honey — the point I made, and gave the 

 cause why the virus does not exist 

 therein. I have not laid — directly or 

 otherwise — any "claim" of priority of 



discovery concerning foul brood virus in 

 honey, but I here make the assertion 

 that I am the first who recorded that all 

 honey is charged with formic acid, which 

 destroys the vitality of foul brood bacil- 

 lus and spores that become immersed 

 therein. This was the theme of my 

 article which Mr. Fitz Hart criticised. 



I may be allowed, in connection with 

 Mr. Fitz Hart's allusion to Mr. Cheshire's 

 writings, that years ago, prior to his 

 having " promulgated " anything con- 

 cerning foul brood, I wrote an "essay 

 on foul brood," which was read before 

 the Bee-Keepers' Association, and pub- 

 lished in two or more bee-periodicals, 

 wherein I set forth that foul brood is a 

 germ disease, and which claim was dis- 

 puted by the solons. Later, Mr. C. 

 claimed to have discovered bacillus in 

 foul brood, and he assumed to coin a 

 name for them, and later still he claims 

 to have discovered a different nation of 

 foul brood germs — smaller and not as 

 wicked, cannibal-like as his first found 

 bacillus. The facts are, germs pervaded 

 all rotting brood, but only such as feed 

 upon animate larvas are foul brood virus. 

 A glass cannot aid the eye to distinguish 

 foul brood virus from other germs. 



Richford, N. Y. C. J. Robinson. 



My Experience with Bees. 



My success with bees is as follows : 

 Three years ago a swarm alighted on a 

 tree within three rods of my house, 

 which I secured on Aug. 1st. They 

 stored honey enough to winter on, and 

 the summer of 18901 increased them to 

 2 colonies, and obtained 91 pounds of 

 honey. In 1891 I increased to 7 colo- 

 nies, and got 65 pounds of honey; the 

 past season, or 1892, I increased to 13, 

 and secured 442 pounds of honey, 

 mostly in one-pound sections. Bees are 

 in good condition at this date, in the 

 cellar. I have wintered them in perfect 

 condition each winter. I will give my 

 method of wintering in detail, if desired. 

 Austin Reynolds. 



Cataract, Wis., Dec. 26, 1892. 



[If not too long a description, we 

 should be pleased to publish your method 

 of wintering bees. — Ed.] 



Bee-Stings and Rheumatism, Etc. 



About three weeks ago I had rheuma- 

 tism in one knee so that I could scarcely 

 walk. I caught a bee and made it sting 

 me on the knee. I felt better in a few 

 hours. The pain all left me long ago. I 



