t)30 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



them that all honey bearing "the I nion 

 label is strictly pure. We must combine and 

 find some plan to prevent this wholesale adnl- 



terating. 



When I lived in New York, a young man 

 lived with me who was employed in one of the 

 large wholesale grocery houses. He made no 

 secret of the fact that ihey mixed their honey 



with glucose. 



My brother, Prof. Charles E. Dwight, at one 

 time State Chemist of West Virginia, invented 

 and patented a process for making glucose. A 

 company was formed, and for four years they 

 were doing a big business at Wheeling, W. Va. 

 One firm in New York contracted for all the 

 - water white " glucose they made. They used 

 this to adulterate syrup and honey; and in a 

 letter to my brother they said: '• We consider 

 your white goods superior to Damlin's, as ii is 

 almost destitute of any flavor, <r/((J we can in- 

 corporate a larger percentaije In our goods:' 



Extracted honey, or, rather, what is called 

 extracted honey, can be laid down at our depot 

 here from New York 31, to 3 cts. cheaper than 

 I can produce it. If the plan I propose is not 

 practical, let some one propose another. 



It works in other lines of business, and we 

 can make it succeed if we all put our shoulder 

 to the wheel. Harky L. Dwight. 



Friendship, N. Y., July 14. 



[Some eight or ten years ago drone founda- 

 tion was made and sold quite largely; but llie 

 bee-keepers of the country at that time decided 

 emphatically for the worker-not only tor the 

 brood-nest, but for the surplus-principally be- 

 cause the queens showed a greater disposition 

 to go above and lay in the drone-cells, particu- 

 larly when there was an entire absence of such 

 K-ells in the brood-nest. The reason for this 

 was plain. On tlie other hand, when nothing 

 but worker-cells was above, and the queen 

 had plenty of the same sort to lay in below she 

 would let the surplus alone. We furnish drone 

 fouiidaLion when it is called for. 



It is a recogni/.ed fact that bees will usually 

 build store comb for surplus, no doubt because 

 they can build it quicker. But rf it is a lact 

 that bees will enter, build out and lill sections 

 with drone foundation very much earlier than 

 in sections of u'o;-/fcr, it may be well for us to 

 pause and consider. Let us have inore liglu 

 on this question from a number ot our •• old 

 timer" couib-honey producers. 



Your plan of preventing adulteration was 

 proposed some two or three years ago. and dis- 

 cussed pretty thoroughly in the journals; but 

 for sonif. reason or other it seemed 10 b<^ "u- 

 practlcable at the time, and so was regarded by 

 the Manager of the Bee-keepers" I nioii, it we 

 remember correctly.— EdJ. 



Br G.AA.DOOLITTLE.BOROOINO.N.Y 



— llllliri.iiiDiiiiiiiiininniiiininniiimiiumi 



HOW TO KEEP HK.ES OUT OF WATERING- 

 THOUGHS. 



Apply with a paint-brush any old grease or 

 butter, with a little coal oil added to it. to the 

 edge and inside of the trough. This is a very 

 efl^^ective remedy, and but for this I should 

 almost have been obliged to give up bee-keep- 

 ing as my horses could not drink out of the 

 trough atnoon. Ei)w. Smith. 



Carpenter, III.. June:!".). 



FEEDING BACK. 



QuestkDi. —Hdving some extracted honey on 

 hand, and as our honey season is about over, I 

 wish to know if it pays to feed back extracted 

 honey toqueenless colonies for the purpose of 

 having them store it in the sections. 



Answer.— I do not understand why you say 

 "queenless colonies,"' for I never knew that 

 such were used under any circumstances, where 

 feeding back was done. I should not suppose 

 that queenless colonies would do any work at 

 all to amount 10 any thing in this way, for 

 queenless bees are always very loath to build 

 comb. I may be wrong in this, however, when 

 it comes to feeding back, as I never used such 

 colonies. Is there any reader of Gleanings 

 who has used queenless colonies in this way? 

 and if so, what kind of work did they do? The 

 usual plan is to contract the brood-chamber till 

 only combs nearly tilled with brood are left, not 

 more than four or five being used, so that the 

 work with the feed will all be concentrated on 

 the combs in the sections. As I should take it, 

 the question means, though not so worded, 

 Does it pay to feed back extracted honey for 

 the purpose of having it stored in sections ? To 

 this I would reply that I believe it pays to do 

 so only in having partly finished sections com- 

 pleted. Many trials have been made at pro- 

 ducing section honey from the start out of a 

 feeder; but, unless I have been misinformed, 

 nearly every one who has tried it reports the 

 same as not being a paying business. In fact, 

 with the low price now prevailing for section 

 honey, I doubt whether it pays to feed back 

 to finish partly filled sections, as there is much 

 labor about the matter; the honey is not so 

 good after being completed, and the colony of 

 bees thus treated is not left in as good shape 

 for winter as it would have been if left undis- 

 turbed, while the partly filled sections are 

 worth nearly if not quite as much to the bee- 

 keeper as " bait sections " for the next sea.son 

 as they are when filled with honey of the kind 

 gotten by feeding back. Such honey is quite 

 apt to candy or granulate in the comb before 

 all is disposed of; and unless great pains are 

 taken in uncapping the parts of the combs the 

 bees have sealed during the wane of the honey 

 harvest, the combs in the sections are uneven 

 on the surface, making them not desirable as 

 to appearance. 



SHADING BEES, AND SWAK.MING. 



(,>»/estJo>(,.— Will bees thst are sheltered from 

 the sun's rays swarm as early in the season as 

 those not so shaded ? 



Answer. — Probably not, as a rule; yet much 

 depends upon the kind of shade used. Ifthe 



