300 



GLEAKmdS 1:N bee CULTtjilE. 



Apr. 



"feeding business" does not injure my honey- 

 trade. 



I believe, as does brother Root, that if we must 

 feed sugar we Should educate the public to it, and 

 not conceal a single action in regard to it. Perhaps 

 Mrs. H. and Mr. W. meant thbir remarlis for their 

 immediate localities; if so, then they will pardon 

 my seemingly hasty criticisms. 



In concluding this article, allow me to say, 

 Bro. Root and others, that rf you are " riding the 

 sugar hobby," just sticlt to the saddle until you 

 are xure that you are wrong, then dismount. 



Pittsfleld, Mass., March, 1886. Chas. H. Smith. 



Below we give a communication from an- 

 other friend, on the opposite side of this 

 subject. 



FEEDING SUG.\R INSTE.^D OF HONEY, WHEN HONEY 

 CAN BE PURCHASED AT 40 CTS. PER GALLON. 



A. Wright speaks, on page 98 of Gle.^mngs, in re- 

 gard to feeding our bees sugar syrup, and thus 

 building up the sugar-manufactories at the e.\- 

 pense of the poor apiarists of America, by using 

 and advising the use of sugar in feeding our bees, 

 instead of giving them their ow;n natural pi'oduction, 

 honey, when they require to'toe fed. Is it pos.sible 

 that we can produce any article of food for bees 

 that is superior to their own riatunil ])roduet, honey, 

 to sustain life and bring them through winter in a 

 better and more healthy condition? I should say, it 

 is not possible. Is it a fact, that artificial food is 

 better than their natural production, honey? If so, 

 why? Certainly it is not so according to the law of 

 nature, in any other one thing that I know of. 



There are many points in friend Wright's letter 

 that we as bee-keepers should earnestly consider; 

 and it is necessary that we should do so in justice to 

 ourselves and to one another. We are forming a 

 "Protective Union " against such things of oppres- 

 sion as come through legal prosecution, and why 

 not in this matter of feeding bees, by using honey 

 instead of sugar, thereby opening an additional 

 market for the disposal of thonnands of pniinds of 

 honey where sugar is now fed, and thus very natu- 

 rally assist one another? for where some of us have 

 to feed, others of us have honeij for sale, and for 

 which we are trying to create a market for its dis- 

 posal, instead of utilizing such an extensive open- 

 ing for the disposal of it among ourselves as is 

 given us by force of circumstances and nature, and 

 which is being fast yielded up to the sugar-manu- 

 factories, while we seek other openings ahead. 



I have already fed 3.53 lbs. of granulated sugar 

 since January 1 to my bees, owing to their vei"y weak 

 state and small stores, caused by having run the 

 most of them in the queen-rearing business quite 

 late in the past season; still, they have not more 

 than half enough stores to carry them through to 

 spring; this sugar cost me 8 cts. per pound, and I 

 used it, too, after having the offer of squeezed hon- 

 ey at 60 cts. per gallon (squeezed honey is that 

 which has been squeezed fi'om the combs by hand, 

 balling it up and squeezing with the hands, the only 

 method that is practiced here in the South whe;-e 

 box and gum hives are ctclusivly used). Why did I 

 do this? you ask. Simply this: The sugar is here 

 at hand, while the honey is 70 or 80 miles off; and 

 rather than order it and wait, I used sugar. Now, 

 since considering this matter, as I take it, in its 

 proper light, I shall send and get the honey, and 

 not use any moi-e sugar to the exclusion of honej', 



thereby affording a sugar-market among our- 

 lielves to the exclusion of one oum products. No, sir I 



Now, friends, let me give you a few facts. There 

 are quantities of honey sold in E. North Carolina 

 — S(iueezed honey, at from 10 to 75 cts. per gallon. 

 Last summer, several parties I know of went to 

 Wilmington, N. C, to dispose of a barrel of honey 

 each, and they were offered only 40 cts. per gallon 

 for it, and but little sale for it at that. It is retailed 

 by the gallon at the producer's door for 60 cts. per 

 gallon. Now, what need to feed sugar, is there, 

 since this honey can be bought and put at your 

 door for less than sugar is now at its very loweM 

 cost, while these prices, as given for honey here, do 

 not Huctuate, as does the price of sugar? This state 

 of things will bear serious consideration, and a 

 change, if we desire to assist ourselves and one 

 another too, and aid the bee-keepers in being suc- 

 cessful apiarists. 4— Abbott L. Swinson, 71—66. 



Goldsboro, N. C, Feb. 5, 1886. 



The opening article answers you in part ; 

 and anotlier thing, friend 8., a pound of gran- 

 ulated sugar maizes more than a pound of 

 syrup as thick as honey ; and, again, I think 

 I am correct in saying that it goes further, 

 pound for pound. Sugar syrup is pure su- 

 gar. The honey gathered by" the bees is not 

 only grape sugar, a large part of it, but it 

 contains gummy matter and a great variety 

 of foreign substances. You have yourself 

 also given one powerful argument in favor 

 of sugar. It is always to be had at your 

 nearest grocery or country store, at about 

 its actual cost, while the honey is a good 

 way off, as in your case. In your opening 

 paragraph, you speak of the honey being the 

 natural food of the bee. I don't believe it is 

 worth while to quote nature very much. 

 Nature's way would be to let our cows go 

 without milking, and to let our hens go with- 

 out gathering the eggs. We are assisting 

 nature at every step— or, if you choose, im- 

 proving on nature's process. Modern bee- 

 keeping is almost all — nnnatiiral. 



^ I ^ 



REVERSIBLE SIMPLICITIES. 



friend shuck's experience in the matter. 



T WISH to add to the remarks of Hemphill & 

 ||p Goodman, in Gleanings for March 1.5, that 

 ^l I used substantially the same thing as much as 

 "*■ eight years ago. I advertised the hive for sale, 

 and applied for a patent on it more than a 

 year ago. In order to make this form of hive ^•s 

 practicable as possible, I fill the trough in the met- 

 al frame-supports with strips of wood, thus con- 

 verting them into the old-fashioned rabbet (metal 

 rabbet, as generally used in this connection, is a 

 misnomer; they are not rabbets any more than 

 they are O. G. moldings), so that when ptopolized 

 they will stand firmer than when on the thin edge 

 of the metal supports. I then put strips across the 

 top of the frames near each end of the hive, that 

 are just as long as the hive is wide inside, and just 

 thick enough to come flush with the top edge of the 

 hive body. On top of this I clamp my invertible 

 top-board, and the arrangement is perhaps as per- 

 fect for inversion as this foi-m of frame can be 

 made. I hope everybody will try this,, if only to 

 note the hoi-rid deformity of the ordinary hanging 

 frames when inverted. They look well enough 



