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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



omission of it in the enumeration of the 

 different modes of adulteration, would 

 make the law nearly inert — inert at the 

 most vulnerable place. Comb honey was 

 until now deemed honest, and a pure 

 product of the bees. Destroy the confi- 

 dence in it, and the consumption of 

 honey will be diminished more and more. 

 That will be the effect of feeding sugar. 

 To bury in silence the fact, does not help. 

 The manufacturers will take the care to 

 promulgate it. It is in their interest. 

 They will boast now that bee-keepers 

 also are dishonest ; their comb honey 

 also adulterated. Why pay more for 

 flower-honey than for sugar-honey, if 

 ifcey are identical ? 



In all the courts of the old continent — 

 England excepted — the omission would 

 do no harm. They would say, the gist of 

 the law is suppression of adulteration, 

 and the enumerating of its different 

 modes is merely enumerated, not re- 

 stricted, and salus populi summa lex esto. 

 But in the United States the construc- 

 tion of the law would be different. I 

 will say nothing for or against either, 

 but the fact is undeniable, and must not 

 be overlooked. 



Steps for securing a State law for 

 Illinois should be taken immediately, as 

 the time is short to get it through the 

 legislature, and the session being closed 

 it would be another two years before the 

 Bill could be brought again. 



About the conviction of the adultera- 

 tors, I will speak in a subsequent 

 article. 



Sigel, Ills. 



[The above was written before the 

 Anti-Adulteration Bill was published, on 

 page 263, which was to have been pre- 

 sented to the Illinois State Legislature. 

 We have not heard anything further 

 from Mr. Stone regarding it, whether it 

 was presented or not. — Ed.] 



Darkneiss, Dryness, Dormancy — 

 Three Wintering Essentials. 



Written for the Am.eriean Bee Journal 



BY J. A, PEAKCE. 



Darkness, Dryness and Dormancy — 

 these three are the essentials for in- 

 side wintering of bees. We sometimes 

 think we have a repository dar'k, when 

 it really is not; somewhere light is 

 creeping in, that we do not notice, but if 

 we remain in it for 15 minutes, we can 



see that it is not perfectly dark. It 

 should be made " as dark as a stack of 

 black cats." 



Dryness. When we speak of this, we 

 mean the inside of the hives. This, I 

 think, can be secured in almost any re- 

 pository by just covering the hives with 

 quilts or straw-board sufiScient to keep 

 the bees warm, and yet let the moisture 

 that so'gradually accumulates as steadily 

 pass off, with the entrance below fairly 

 open. This is the fault frequently with 

 hives becoming damp, simply because 

 there is not ventilation enough below. 

 This, I think, is the fault with a great 

 many chaff or packed hives that would 

 be perfect only for that. Old box hives 

 used to winter well frequently out on 

 the summer stands, with an inch block 

 under each corner. You cannot cool off 

 the top of a box that is all tight above 

 very fast, especially where there is a 

 good cluster of bees to generate heat ; 

 but if they are so close that moisture 

 accumulates, they soon become diseased 

 and die. 



In a state of nature the bees have the 

 thick shell of the tree with considerable 

 rotten wood around them, that makes a 

 good absorbsent, and they usually have 

 a good-sized opening, and in this way 

 they winter well. A good cluster of 

 bees, with plenty of good stores, can re- 

 sist a great amount of cold, if they are 

 only kept dry. 



Dormancy, quietude. This is the in- 

 dicator that will be thrown out if every- 

 thing is all right. If I go into the cellar 

 and I cannot detect any sound, or just a 

 gentle murmur, as you hear sometimes 

 from a far-away, gentle, running stream 

 in the woods, I know that my bees are 

 doing well ; but if they are roaring loud 

 enough so you can hear them in the next 

 room, you had better look out, for some- 

 thing is the matter. This is true of bees 

 or people. If any number get to holding 

 mass-meetings, or parading the streets 

 for bread or for other causes, that gov- 

 ernment over them had better investi- 

 gate, for there is something wrong. 



To secure this dormancy, then, we 

 want the darkness and dryness, with 

 plenty of good stores, and a temperature 

 from 42° to 45°, as nearly as we can 

 make it stay there. With these condi- 

 tions observed, we ought to get our bees 

 through all right, so that we could have 

 a supply of honey before the public all 

 the time, like tobacco men do with their 

 product, and try to imitate them at least 

 in the tasty and showy manner in which 

 they display their product. 



Grand Rapids, Mich. 



