170 



GLEANINGS NI llEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



syrups— how refiners started the cry, which echoed 

 ill all the papers of the land; a tumult, compared 

 with which all that has been said regardiufj: adul- 

 tei-ated honey might truly be called a faint whisper; 

 and yet you will find, if you take the pains to as- 

 certain, that ever since that time the consumption 

 of commercial syrups has steadily increased. 

 When I began using- the extractor, years ago, li- 

 quid honey was so novel a thing that its lower 

 price at once gave the impression that " it muxt be 

 adulterated." That was the cry; and the echo of 

 that noise has not d ied out yet, though 1 verily be- 

 lieve that it has had no effect in lowering the price 

 nor demand for my honey. 



Let us consider the final outcome of "sugar-feed- 

 ing for winter." Whatever may be true collective- 

 ly, will not each individual decide the matter for 

 himself.'' and will that decision not be governed by 

 what he believes to be the best ? After making sev- 

 eral quite extensive expci-iments, and talking with 

 others who have done likewise, 1 am compelled to be- 

 lieve that pure cane-sugar syrup is better than any 

 honey for bees during their period of confinement. 

 If I find that, after all, I am mistaken in this, 1 shall 

 be eager to announce my discovery, and rejoice 

 that our excellent product is excellent evo-ywhere. 

 But let me assure you that it will require something 

 more than desii-e, or glutted honey markets, to 

 change the opinion that has been compelled by 

 what seems to me to be positive proof. Bee-diar- 

 rhea is the condition to be dreaded. It may be 

 called the one cause of our winter troubles. It re- 

 sults from an excessive accumulation of fecal mat- 

 ter. I never saw, and never saw a man who had 

 seen bees that had been confined three months or 

 more upon any kind of natural stores that did not 

 disch.'.rge fecal accumulations on their first flight. 

 I confined over 70 colonies for 151 days (five months), 

 at the end of which they flew, with bodies apparent- 

 ■ ly as slim as in autumn, discharg ingnothing, not 

 even water, as far as careful scrutiny could detect. 

 These colonies passed the winter in a cold cellar, 

 whei-e three-fourths of those with natural stores 

 died with bee-diarrhea. Their stores consisted of 

 pure cane-sugar syrup, there not being one drop of 

 honey, or bit of bee-bread, in the combs. I do not 

 think this can be done with natural stores; but if 

 we can bring our bees through their longest periods 

 of confinement upon natural stores, without their 

 accumulating sufficient fecal matter to produce dis- 

 t'ase, provided we make all other conditions favor- 

 able, then I believe that natural ^stores will finally 

 be our choice. That this can be done, and is done 

 year after year, we have ample evidence; but I 

 doubt that it can be done in all localities, especially 

 ray own. 



I am giving the matter a critical test this winter; 

 and though I should rejoice to know that the natu- 

 ral stores of my location are safe, one year with 

 another, with all other conditions favorable, yet if 

 I find they are not, 1 shall also rejoice in the fact 

 that we can give them syrup at the rate of 1000 lbs. 

 per hour (all of which will be taken down within 

 about 34 hours), and that, too, without having to e.v- 

 tract any natural stores. J.\mek Hkupon. 



Dowagiac, Mich. 



Friend H., I think it is true that there are 

 some localitje:-, somewhat overstocked ; but 

 at the same time, there are thousands upon 

 thousands of localities that are not stocked 

 at all. 90 to spetiH ; tljerefor^ let \\s §c>ttter 



ourselves, and take up the waste places.— In 

 regard to sugar syrup in place of natural 

 stores, there is one point 1 forgot to men- 

 tion, and I tell you it is a grave one. Jf you 

 go to buying cheap honey to use in lieii of 

 sugar stores, you not only stand a good 

 chance of getting honey that will give the 

 bees dysentery, but you" may also give them 

 foul brood ; whei"eas if you go to your grocer 

 and get a barrel of granulated sugar, there 

 is no possibility of any surli event. In fact, 

 the sugar feed'would go a great way toward 

 Ijanishing the foul brood, after having let 

 the bees consume all the honey. 1 told you. 

 a month oi- two ago. thnt lioiiey was being 

 put upon the market for sale tliat was ex- 

 tracted from apiaries terribly infested witli 

 foul brood. . Suppose a bee-keeper gets hold 

 of some of this, and feeds it instead of sugai- 

 for winter. Read the following, ye who go 

 on so about sugar feeding : 



You published a piece showing that I'oul brood 

 WHS not contagious, and at the bottom consented 

 to it yourself. Well, my neighbor bought foul- 

 lirood honey in Cincinnati, and he lost about 40 col- 

 onies, and spread it in two of my apiaries. My loss 

 was 12 colonies. The amountof loss in other apiaries 

 is considerable. That much for the diabolical pub- 

 lications. I know several cases of its being conta- 

 gious. W. F. 



Feb. 20, 1«8H. 



I can give the name and address of the 

 writer of the above, if need be, but I think 

 perhaps he wouldn't care to have it publish- 

 ed, for he will doubtless set to work and get 

 the foul brood out at once. I need not tell 

 you, that I wrote to him, asking where any- 

 body ever said that foul brood is not conta- 

 gious, but I have not yet received his reply. 



'fefEf^ 'P.JiB QnERIEg. 



CONTRACTING BROOD-.NEST. 



flllEND Doolittle and others advocate contract- 

 ing the brood-nest to get section honey. Do 

 they contract the honey-board to the size ot 

 the brood-nest, or cover the size of the hive 

 with sections? Wm. G. Norton. 



Honeoye Falls, N. Y. 



[We believe friend Doolittle practices reducing 

 the room above the cluster by division-boards, 

 whenever the size of the colony makes it necessary, 

 the same way that he contracts the size of the 

 brood-nest.] 



THE HONEY I'ROSPECT IN C.\LIKOKNI.\. 



The prospects for a honey crop the coming season 

 were never better. Vegetation is unbounded. 



K. Wilkin. 

 San Buenaventura, Cal., Feb. 18, 188(i. 



A DEPTH OF 12.5 FEET SHOWS 50°. 



There being a desire to know the temperature of 

 the earth at difiierent depths from the earth's sur- 

 face, I made a test of my well, which is 120 feet in 

 depth, made by boring, and inserting a two-inch 

 pipe. The water is di'awn by wind power. I let it 

 pump until I was sure the water came from the 

 bottom, then I put a thermometer in a pail and let 

 it pump on It; the mercury stood at fifty degrees 

 above zero. T. ?*• nct,i„ 



VfiiiJip-iiisu, Ind., .bin. 28, 18«6, 



