•?98 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



could fly, and how these grains of sugar set the tees 

 to robbing after they were moistened by the dew and 

 rain. Replying to this, friend Root says h(! does 

 not agree, and adds, " I have been telling you for 

 months you must make the Good candy of pmnlered 

 sugar instead of granulated. The finely i)0wdered 

 eonfcctioner's sugar has the grain so small that the 

 honey dissoh'es, as it were, and j-ou have a smooth 

 paste, almost like butter. We have used this ex- 

 clusively for almost a year, and I do not believe it 

 will rattle down as you say." Again, on p. 728, in 

 speaking of still finer sugar and honey, we find 

 these words: "This paint can not daub the bees, 

 and yet they can eat every particle of it." 



In lioth of the above I think friend Root is mis- 

 taken, for the fineness of the sugar adds only to 

 the value of the candy in the way of its holding 

 more honey than the coarse or granulated sugar 

 does, as I believe that none of the sugar is used in 

 wai-m weather. As bees can not be mailed in a 

 temperature below the freezing-point, so that mois- 

 ture will form in the cage, I hold that not a particle 

 of sugar is used by the bees ia such cages, and that 

 the granulated sugar is no better than so much 

 sand, and the finely ground sugar no better than so 

 much finely ground plaster. I have a double proof 

 lor this assertion; the first of which is, that honey 

 will not in reality moisten any thing as water will. 

 If it will, why is it that a barrel which is thoroughly 

 dry and tight will shrink so as to Uak honey, when 

 filled with the same? The reason is, that the honey 

 absorbs moisture instead of imparting it, and thus 

 the sugar incorporated with the honey is kept.dry 

 for the bees to rattle about in the cage or hive, and 

 out at the entrance. My second reason is. that all 

 (jueens I ship are caged from 20 to 30 hours before 

 mailing^ after which they are left without doing up, 

 with the wire-cloth side of the cage down till the 

 last thing before mailing. I'i)on lifting the cages I 

 always find a little pile of fine sugar on the bench 

 under each cage, which is certain proof that none is 

 eaten, up to this time. Again, when 1 receive 

 (lueens through the mails they of ten come just at 

 night, in which case I frequently do not introduce 

 them till the rie.\t day. When this so happens I 

 untie the cage, pry oft' the wood cover, and lay the 

 cage wire-cloth side down in my secretary, where 

 they are left from 1.5 to :J0 hours as the case may be, 

 aria upon removing I always find a little pile of the 

 -powdered sugar under the cage, although all was 

 shaken out Avhen it is placed there. Now. friend 

 Root, if the " bees eat every particle of it," where 

 does this sugar come fromV Motwithstanding the 

 above, 1 believe sugar to be the best substance to 

 use in our cages, and the finest is the best, on ac- 

 count of its liolding the most lioney. 



:..■{,, (J. M. T)^)()l.rTTI.K. 



Horodiuo, N. Y., Xov. 17, 18*^4. 



Friend D.. it seems to me you are a little 

 disposed to liana; to a tiling "when you get 

 started on it. May l)e some of the rest of us 

 ■are artli<;ted in ihe same way. however, so 

 we will put it down lo a dift'erenee of expe- 

 rience. Perhaps the dirticuUy may be that 

 you have not had the same kind of powdered 

 sugar that \\e have. ^\'e wet up our sugar 

 and honey sevei-al days ahead ; and although 

 I know that lioney is disposed to absorb the 

 moisture, and that honey - Viarrels often 

 shrink, even when full of 'honey, I ean not 

 "quite agree that the honey does not in any 

 ''measure dissolve the powdered sugar. I 



have never seen any grains rattle out of the 

 cages since using the powdered sugar, that I 

 remember of; and as I have told you, we 

 put this kind of candy over the cluster on 

 the frames of a hive, "and it was all used up 

 without our being able to find a bit of sugar 

 on the bottom of the hive. The candy used 

 by Mr. Benton, for queens that come across 

 the ocean, was, as I have told you, even 

 smoother than any thing we have ever made. 

 I should expect butter to rattle out of the 

 cage as much as I should expect to see Ben- 

 ton's candy ; and it seems to me, to get can- 

 dy that is "like his. we ought to have, as I 

 told you before, something like a paint-mill 

 to grind the honey and sugar until there are 

 absolutely no grains about it.— In regard to 

 the sugar'being no better than so much sand, 

 it seems to me you are a little hasty. I have 

 kept bees and cpieens for some days, in warm 

 weather too, when supplied with liothing but 

 lumps of loaf sugar. I have done the same 

 thing vith rock candy, and for a long time 

 we mailed queens quite successfully with a 

 stick of dry candy, "and no water whatever. 

 Of course, the bees can not make much use 

 of granulated sugar, because the grains roll 

 around so they can not even get a chance to 

 lick off the "sugar. They might possibly 

 take agrain at a time in their mouths, and put 

 it on one side of their cheek, as a boy does a 

 sugar-plum, for instance. Before we used 

 powdered sugar, a great deal was wasted, I 

 know% and it was a great nuisance to have it 

 rattling about; but you can surely make 

 candy by powdering the sugar with a ham- 

 mer, or with a pestle and mortar with hon- 

 ey, that can not rattle out. Don't von 

 think so? 



OUR LAWS IN REGAED TO TRESPASS- 

 jCRS. 



fhif.nn i'ond telt.s us sometnixo abovt thkm. 



MV DEAR FR1END:-In Our Homes for No- 

 vember you open up a Viig (luestion, and 

 one that affects our young particularly, and 

 it is necessary, I think, that they should be 

 S!t right. Human nature is prone to stand 

 uji for its rights; and when the idea gains, that the 

 law will sustain, many will go further than they 

 otherwi.se would. In this connection, then, I think 

 the exact legal position of both trespasser and ten- 

 ant should be known; and in order that you may be 

 able, in case you follow the subject further at some 

 future time, to give the law, I will state it herein. 



In the first place, every man has the i-ight to 

 peaceable possession of his own ijroperty, and to 

 remove anyone trespassing thereon; hvt, in remov- 

 ing this trespasser he must use no more force than 

 is absolutely necessary to cause the removal. The 

 whole law is contained in the above sentence. 



If the trespasser will go upon an order, and pro- 

 ceeds to go, no force is needed to remove him, and 

 the law will not allow any. If he offers slight re- 

 sistance, only just enough force should or can be le- 

 gallj- used to overcome that resistance, and in no 

 case would the owner be justified in resorting to the 

 use of a weapon, unless he was first threatened by 

 the trespasser. In the above I refer only to a tres- 

 passer who is simply objectionable, and not to one 

 who comes as a burglar, or with arras in his hands, 



