1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAI^ 



807 



glucose will kill bees, but it does not follow that it Is "delete- 

 rious to all animals," if it will. Too much salt will kill chick- 

 ens, hilt it is beneficial, if not absolutely necessary, to some 

 animals. 



I, for one, do not think the honey industry will gain any- 

 thing by beginning a fight against glucose as such. I do not 

 think it is necessarily an unmitigated evil, and I am not alone in 

 this opinion. One of the leading chemists of the United Stales 

 uses the following language with regard to it: 



"In regard to wholesomeness, also, it is not possible to 

 condemn glucose. When properly made it is apparently as 

 wholesome an article of diet as cane-sugar. In fact, the 

 starches which are consumed in our foods are all converted in- 

 to glucose during the process of digestion. A glucose food, 



therefore, is a starch food already partially digested At 



the present time the use of glucose iu the manufacture of mo- 

 lasses and syrups cannot be said to be a fraud, from a finan- 

 cial point of view, inasmuch as the glucose costs quite as much 

 as the other materials of which the molasses and syrups are 

 made " 



Another chemist in the employ of the Government says : 



" I consider that it is difficult to find in the market a sam- 

 ple of pure molasses such as could have been obtained some 

 years since. If it is not adulterated with glucose syrup, it has 

 been treated with chemicals in order to lighten its color. This 

 latter method is quite as much an adulteration as the former, 

 and it is, in my opinion, to be protested againsi much more 

 than the use of glucose syrup. There is nothing deleterious 

 in glucose, and its object is simply to make a syrup not only 

 pleasing to the eye, but more pleasant, in the opinion of many, 

 to the taste." 



With such statements to contend with, I think that it we 

 undertake to banish glucose from the land, we will find, to use 

 a slang saying, that we have " bit off more than we can chew." 

 As between the cane-sugar of the stores and a fine quality of 

 commercial glucose, I should take the glucose, if I had noth- 

 ing in mind but the wholesomeness of the two articles. 



It does not follow, however, that any man has a right to 

 mix glucose with cane syrup and sell the product for a fine 

 quality of " Orleans molasses," or mix it with honey and call 

 the entire mass "clover honey." This is afrntid. and should 

 put every man behind the bars who does it. Let us insist that 

 all food products be sold for wluU Vxey arc ; and beyond this, it 

 seems to me, we have no right to go. Buchanan Co., Mo. 



Hive-Entrauces \n Winter — Sweet Clover, Etc. 



BY E. B. TYRRELL. 



Being a reader of the American Bee Journal, and believ- 

 ing it to reach the hands of many beginners who, like myself, 

 are stumbling through the hardest and darkest part of bee- 

 culture — the beginning— I desire to give them a few kinks 

 which I have learned through five years of blunders and study. 



In the copy of the American Bee Journal lying before me, 

 I notice a question from N. English, Iowa, in which is askt 

 if it would not be policy to shut bees in the hive in winter dur- 

 ing sunshiny days, when it is too cool for bees to fly ; to which 

 Dr. Miller answers "No." 



Now while it perhaps is not policy to close the hive-en- 

 trance with sticks or such like, yet I have found that it is cer- 

 tainly a benefit to shade the hive, entrance and all, by piling 

 straw around it. To explain more fully, let me give my 

 method of wintering: 



In the fall I see that my bees are well supplied with 

 honey, after which I place a super on the hive and fill it with 

 chafi, placing a piece of cloth between the chaff and the brood- 

 nest. Now they are left thus until snow flies and zero weather 

 comes, after which I pile a little straw around the hives and 

 cover them completely with snow. This is left until the cold 

 snap passes — "it usually lasts about a week"— when the 

 straw and snow is taken from the entrance only. Now after 

 this straw is shaken out so as to clear it from snow, and the 

 entrance is cleared, the straw is placed back, and left all the 

 while until such time as I know it is warjn enough for the bees 

 to fly. By this method I lose no bees except from starvation, 

 and they are in healthy condition in the spring. 



A LITTLE SWEET CLOVER EXPERIENCE. 



Ever since I can remember sweet clover has grown on the 

 four corners of the road where I live. During this time I 

 have had ample time to study it, but it has not been until the 

 last two or three years that I have paid special attention to it. 

 At the present writing there is quite a little of it around, as 

 a result of some seed-sowing done by me last spring, one year 



ago. As yet the only fault I can find with It being on our road- 

 sides is its rank growth ; still I believe it is better than the 

 ragweed which it crowds out. 



In sowing it along the roads, I find that it grows best 

 when sown very early In the spring, before it commences to 

 freeze and thaw, and sowing it just where the grass leaves off 

 and the ragweed commences to grow next to the tracks ; then 

 when it breaks up, the seed will be buried by the teams driv- 

 ing along on the side of the road. 



Last year I commenced feeding some to my hogs as an 

 experiment. At first they would hardly touch it, but I kept 

 throwing it into the pen every day, and next I would find the 

 stalks with the leaves stript ofl", and finally I could find noth- 

 ing left In a short time after feeding it. They were well fed 

 with other feed at the same time. 



As to its spreading, I have only to say that a neighbor 

 was working a farm joining us, and one little piece (a garden 

 spot) got thickly seeded to sweet clover from the road. The 

 first year the garden was not weeded very well, and the clover 

 got a good start. The next spring it was on hand, bright and 

 early, but the man plowed this piece for corn. At this time 

 the clover was at least one foot high. He gave this corn ordi- 

 nary cultivation, and every stalk of sweet clover was killed 

 out. 



SOME HINTS FOR BEGINNEB8. 



A few things I believe a beginner should remember — 



1st. To handle frames and hives of bees as though they 

 were eggs. 



2nd. Not every bee that flies in your face will sting you. 



3rd. Never think of <7c/£(it. When starting in bee-keeping, 

 remember the most trying time is at first ; and when handling 

 frames of bees, never back out or flinch if they do act a little 

 cross. Always accomplish what you commence. 



4th. Never get mad when working with bees, even if they 

 do sting you. 



5th. Never bundle up your hands. I have received more 

 stings by bundling up ray hands so they were clumsy, than I 

 ever could have received barehanded. 



6tb. When you are handling bees, never let a bee-sting 

 unnerve you ; but work just as carefully as though nothing 

 had happened. 



7th. Don't believe all you read or hear until first prov- 

 ing it. 



8th. Do some reasoning of your own ; and don't follow 

 others simply because Ihey do it. What suits some one else 

 may not suit you. Ogemaw Co., Mich. 



Adulteration of Honey in California, Etc. 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



California bee-keepers are very pleased over their new an- 

 ti-adulteration law. We owe this law — which perhaps is as 

 excellent as such a law can be made — to the wisdom and ener- 

 gy of Mr. Clayton, who spent a good deal of time in perfecting 

 this measure. He is an able man, and made it as good as he 

 could himself. He then secured the services of a number of 

 others to help him in perfecting the measure. Those who 

 know Mr. Clayton, need not be told that he was in time, so that 

 he had his Bill ready at the opening of the Legislature. Thus 

 it was, that his Bill was one of the first — I think the very first 

 measure— that past. Indeed it was so well managed and its 

 passage so prompt that those who are interested in the nefa- 

 rious work of adulterating honey, knew nothing about it, and 

 thus could not bring any influence to bear to defeat it. 



California is now in way of fighting adulteration success- 

 fully. We have a good law, and I see no reason why the old 

 Union should not make use of this law, and make California 

 the scene of the first big fight. I believe we can make no bet- 

 ter use of the funds we have on hand. As a member of the 

 Union, and also one of the Vice-Presidents, I stoutly urge that 

 we at once proceed to fight adulteration under our State law 

 right here in California. I shall at once write to the General 

 Manager to this effect. I hope all the Vice-Presidents will do the 

 same. I hope, too, that members of the Union, not on the Ad- 

 visory Board, will write to the American Bee Journal to the 

 same effect. A strong case made in such a city as San Fran- 

 cisco, and carried to successful completion, would have mag- 

 nificent influence throughout the whole country. The Union 

 has got to do this, or something akin to it, or else It will be dis- 

 solved and possibly merged into the other organization. I 

 hope there will be free discussion of this matter. 



The California Fruit Grower, in a recent number, makes a 



very curious assertion, as follows, in referring to adulteration: 



"They cannot put up an extracted honey which in any 



