

4 2d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, FEBRUARY 20, 1902, 



No. 8.: 



* Editorial. ^ \ 



"The Truth About Honey" was re- 

 fused by the C'hicafio Tribune, as we reported 

 recently in these columns. But in its issue of 

 Feb. 4 we find thefollowiug, beinj^ a contribu- 

 tion from a California correspondent; 



Honey-Comb Is Not Imitated. 



WAX FOUNDATION FOR TDE CELLS IS THE ONLY 

 ASSISTANCE MAN GIVES THE BEES. 



California's honey crop for I'.IOl was 2,20S,000 

 pounds. This was gathered by about one- 

 half the usual number of bees and from small, 

 favored localities. With the number of bees 

 now in the State, should the conditions be 

 favorable, the output this year will be in ex- 

 cess of .5,000,000 pounds. In consequence, we 

 are interested in all that advances or injures 

 the industry. The Tribune printed an inter- 

 view in which it was said tliat artilicial comb 

 honey was now both made and sold. This 

 statement is running like a prairie lire, and, 

 unless its correction is as emphatic and public 

 as the assertion, will work great injury to the 

 honey-producer. 



Bee-keepers use what is known as "comb 

 foundation." This is a thin sheet of pure 

 wax, with the impressions of the base of the 

 cells impressed on the same. This is used to 

 direct the course of the bees in comb-building. 

 Beyond this "base " man has not been able to 

 go. There is not to-day, and never has been, 

 a pound of complete comb honey made by 

 man or machinery. I will give )?1,000 for a 

 pound so manufactured. 



E, H. SCHAEFFLE. 



This is good as far as it goes, but how 

 much better it would have been had the editor 

 of The Tribune written his own correction, 

 and promptly admitted that he puljlished an 

 interview that was a great damage to an hon- 

 orable industry, and that he regretted it ex- 

 ceedingly, hastened to make the correction as 

 prominent as was the misrepresentation, etc. 

 But even editors are human, as we know from 

 experience, and perhaps too much should not 

 be expected of them— especially of the editors 

 of some partisan daily newspapers who are so 

 accustomed to painting things in wrongcolors 

 that they are practically color-blind when it 

 comes to the question, of right and wrong. 

 And to admit that they had been unjust to 

 any one or any thing— why, that would be un- 

 thinkaljle to them ! 



But let us be thankful that there are many 

 editors of daily papers that are all right. 



Do Robber- Bees Sting ? — It is well 

 known that sometimes robbing goes on 

 quietly with little appearance of anything but 

 friendly feeling between the robbing and 

 robbed, and it is equally true that sometimes a 



very lively struggle is seen. In that struggle, 

 when there is a clinch between one of the rob- 

 bers and one of the defenders, it is plain to be 

 seen that the defender is not joking, the num" 

 ber of dead and dying bees often Ijearing evi- 

 dence of the desperate earnestness of the 

 struggle; but it is nut so easy to say whether 

 in a warfare of that kind the two bees are each 

 trying to sting. So good an authority as 

 Rauschenfels says they are. Perhaps he is 

 right. Yet it is certainly true that when a 

 robber-bee is grabbed by the leg or wing, 

 there is never any appearance of resistance, 

 only an effort to escape. Is it not possible 

 that when two bees have a closer grip, that 

 still the only effort of the robber is to get 

 away J The movements are so lively, the bees 

 tumbling and rolling in all directions to such 

 a degree that it is not easy to see what is go- 

 ing on. 



It one had a case of robbing in which the 

 robbers were blacks at work upon an Italian 

 colony, or vice versa, then something might 

 be decided in the matter. For if in the heap 

 of slain none but bees showing the color of 

 the robbers were to be found, then it might 

 be concluded that robbers do not sting; 

 whereas, if both kinds were among the slain 

 it would be proof that the efforts of the appre- 

 hended robbers were something more than to 

 get away. Prehaps some one can report a 

 decisive case. 



Honey-Recipes. — The following, taken 

 from the British Bee Journal, are translated 

 from Le Rucher Beige: 



Digestive Lozenges can be made by melt- 

 ing in a bain-marie 3 oz. of pure gelatine in 3 

 oz. of water; then add carefully, while stir- 

 ring thoroughly, ^. lb. of honey previously 

 warmed. When well incorporated add a little 

 cochineal and five or six drops to every 3 oz. 

 of English essence of peppermint. This is 

 then run into lozenge moulds or thinly on a 

 plate, dried in the cool, cut into shapes, and 

 finished drying for eight hours in a dry place. 



A Healing Balsam, really valuable in case 

 of wounds or injuries to the skin, is prepared 

 in the same way in a bain-marie ;— Take of 

 wax from the cell cappings 1 oz. ; of fresh 

 propolis, 2 oz. ; of the finest honey, 7 oz. 

 After all is well mixed pass through a close 

 cloth, and press out well; replace in the bain- 

 marie ; add a little cochineal and a few drops 

 of essence of lavender: then beat the mixture 

 "well with a fork, and fill into small pots, 

 which fasten down closely. 



Stimulative Feeding is spoken of more 

 frequently in European journals than in this 

 country, and is perhaps practiced more in 

 Europe than here, yet it is spoken of there as 

 a two-edged sword, and one with which it is 

 not wise for beginners to meddle. TheRockj' 

 Mountain Bee Journal having designated as a 

 " fossil " a man who should say that " spring 



feeding for stimulation of brood-rearing was 

 not only unprofitable, but detrimental to the 

 bees," the editor of The American Bee-Keeper, 

 while agreeing that, " if discreetly done, 

 stimulative feeding in the spring repays the 

 cost and trouble handsomely," expresses him- 

 self somewhat emphatically in the following 

 words: 



We Ijelieve ourself that in other then expert 

 bands it is a most dangerous procedure, and 

 should not be recommended to the inexpe- 

 rienced manipulator. There is no part of 

 apiary work in which the skill of a master 

 hand becomes more imperative than in tho 

 practice of stimulative feeding in the spring. 



It may as well be clearly understood that 

 whatever good or bad results there may be in 

 the hands of those of long experience, stimu- 

 lative feeding is a very safe thing for begin- 

 ners to let entirely alone. 



Stingless Bees of Mexico. — We lately 



received the following alx)ut the little sting- 

 less bees that are found in Old Mexico: 



Editor American Bee JorRNAL: — 



By this mail we send three pieces of honey- 

 comb, and a few very small bees. These are 

 the smallest bees we have ever seen ; they are 

 very plentiful here. There are other kinds of 

 stingless bees here, one kind nearly as large 

 as the Italian, and very nicely marked, but 

 the bands are of a very dark yellow, and the 

 body of a greyish color. They are very queer, 

 and they usually build in a log, with an open- 

 ing just large enough for one bee *o go in or 

 out at a time; the door-keeper pops back out 

 of the way when another bee wishes to go in 

 or out. 



We have just imported some Italian bees 

 from Texas, and have been expecting to see 

 them " go for " the stingless bees we have, 

 but so far they have not bothered them, for 

 the reason, I suspect, that our honey-flow has 

 been on every since they came. 



We have no German or Italian bees within 

 300 miles, so far as we know, so this ought to 

 be a pretty good place to rear queens. Mr. 

 Doolittle, no doubt, would be in his glory here 

 rearing queens. 



We received our bees about two months 

 ago, and they are building up tinely; this 

 morning I saw a few drones, and plenty of 

 drone-brood. The tops of the combs are get- 

 ting white, which, according to some of the 

 bee-papers I have been reading, is a sign that 

 honey is coming in. We got the bees to pol- 

 lenize our coffee-trees, as well as cocoa, van- 

 nilla, and other fruit-trees. 



Our chief work down here is the planting- 

 of rubber and coffee, with side crops of corn 

 and beans. We have produced between S.OOO 

 and 10,000 bushels of corn as a side crop, and 

 hope to save several hundred bags of beans 

 within the next 60 days. The food of the 

 Indians is beans and corn, so we feed them 

 with home-grown food. 



However, I started to tell you about the lit- 

 tle bees, or rather to ask you to name the 

 little things, as you will see they are smaller 

 than the smallest house-flies, and just as harm- 

 less. What are they called? To what class, 

 of bee do they belong * 



We have an ant here, too, that gathers 

 honey, and if you care to have a sample I will 



