202 



(CLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1:"). 



cific, we should incline to the belief that bee- 

 keepers can not do better for the coming season, 

 or until something less laborious is discovered, 

 than to use the lye solution here recommended. 

 Hut on the ground of the g(M'micidal qualifica- 

 tions of lye, we will venture to say that other 

 chemicals known to have the same effect upon 

 bacteria and parasitc^s. such as camphor, thy- 

 mol, creosote, carbolic acid. tar. etc., will cure 

 bee paralysis if proper solutions of them are ap- 

 plied to hives and frames, and all thoroughly 

 cleansed before being given again to the bees. 

 We believe this to be a germ fatality. If oppor- 

 tunity offers the coming season, vv*^ shall try 

 some of these, as well as make ounself more 

 certain as to the curative properties of salt. 

 Meanwhile we feel sure of the lye solution, and 

 can recommend it until something better is 

 found. Rev. T. C. Potter. 



Cedar Falls, Iowa, Feb. 3. 



THE HASTY SUGAR-HONEY MATTER. 



WII.I. NOT THE DISCIT.SSION OF ADULTERATION 

 BE EQUALLY HARMFUL? 



Friend Ernest:—! wish to thank you for the 

 very fair manner in which you criticise the 

 course of the Review in admitting the Hasty 

 article on the feeding of sugar to produce comb 

 honey. Surely, nothing could be fairer than 

 your treatment of the subject: but. with your 

 permission, I should like to call attention to 

 what seems like an inconsistency in your course. 

 In the very same issue you publish an article 

 from Mr. Byron Walker, in which he states that 

 glucose can be bought for only two cents a 

 pound, and explains the ease with which honey 

 adulterated with it can be sold. Have you no 

 fears that dishonest people will be led into adul- 

 teration by thus ('X|)lainiug how easily the mat- 

 ter may be accomplished? You may say that 

 you nu^.ntion the practice only to condemn. True. 

 But condemnation does not deter dishonest men 

 from doing wrong. If anybody can do any thing 

 to sto]) adulteration, I am with him hand and 

 gIov(^ (I am glad to see you intimate that yon 

 are going to do something): but to be criticised 

 for giving an article explaining how a man 

 might honestly make a profit out of his bees in 

 a poor season, criticised because dishonest men 

 might deceive people by th(^ same method, and 

 then have my critic turn about and publish an 

 article showing the ease and profit with which 

 honey may be adultei'at(id, seems — well, how 

 does it seem ? 



I am glad to see, Ernest, that you have .so far 

 advanced in this subject that you have had en- 

 ter your mind the idea of : "Will it pay?" lam 

 al-so glad to see that you so stoutly maintain 

 that, while Bro. Hasty and myself may be lack- 

 ing in good judgment, we are honest. But the 

 Hasty article lias been published; it is beyond 

 recall: the cat is out of the bag; there is no use 

 of attempting to crowd her back in; in other 

 words, let us lay aside all prejudice and pre- 

 conceived notions upon the subject. So far 

 thei-e has been simply "holy horror" at the 

 ideas advanced by friend Hasty. No one has 

 seemed to give the matter a sober second 

 thought. We are .'^o largely creatures of educa- 

 tion, that, when any one brings up sometliing 

 contrary to our established views and methods, 

 we are shocked. In the Dark Ages men were 

 tortui'ed and bui-ned at the stake because they 

 were heretics. The very idi^as that were then 

 here.sy are now popular. This may be a strong 

 illustration, but I think it a fair one. The time 

 may come (mind, I don't say \t will) when su- 

 gar-honey will be an article of commerce. I am 

 willing to admit that the world is not yet ready 



for it, but the time nuiy come. \Vhen it was 

 first proposed to use foundation in surplus hon- 

 ey, what a hue and cry there was raised against 

 iti "It was not the natural comb;" "it filled 

 the consumer's mouth with wax;" " it would 

 riilii the honey market." It proved to be the 

 "foundation" upon which rested successful 

 comb-honey production. Hence, I say. don't be 

 loo hasty in your judgment upon new ideas. 

 Flint, Mich., Mar. .5. W. Z. Hutchinson. 



[It is a great pleasure to deal in discussion 

 with such a fair and candid man as our brother- 

 editor Mr. Hutchinson. Well, about that By- 

 ron Walker article. It may be that we have 

 been doing just what we had been condemuing 

 in another; but it occurs to us that there is a 

 distinction between the Byron Walker article 

 and that of Mr. Hasty. The former calls at- 

 tention to a practice that is already in exist- 

 encc. and we gave publicity to it for the pur- 

 pose of letting bee-keepers know the real facts 

 in order that they might unitedly combat the 

 evil. The Hasty article proposed something 

 that was not yet in existence, and which at 

 most was a matter of experiment; that is, it was 

 exceedingly doubtful as to whether the prac- 

 tice could be mad(> to pay. While the article of 

 Mr. Hasty might do damage, the probabilities 

 are that it will not. Bee-keepers are too honest 

 to make a bad use of it. even if feasible, and wo 

 have more tlian once had occasion to refer to 

 the fact that our industry is made up. as a gen- 

 eral rule, of .square men. Dr. Miller has a 

 Straw in this issue which points in the same 

 direction.] 



WAX SECRETION. 



.MR. FRANCE ARGUES THAT THE OI-I) BEES AN» 

 NOT THE YOUNG DO THE MOST OF IT. 



I wish to make a few remarks about some re- 

 plies of Mr. Doolittle and Mr. Hasty in regard 

 to an article of mine in the Oct. 1st Gleanings, 

 about wax .«ecretion. etc. Mr. D. remarks that 

 I say that I hived a fair-sized swarm. It was 

 just that, and luithing moie — at any rate, it 

 came from a hive of 16 L. frames. My home 

 yard is all in L.-frame hives, S frames to each 

 .set. I work them during the extracting season 

 three stories high; but this swarm came out bi^ 

 fore I got the thifd set of combs on. There was 

 not over a peck measure full of bees to start 

 with: and a three-story L. hive with 8 frames 

 in a set is not so very large a place for a peck of 

 bees in hot weather. It is only four combs 

 more than a two-story ten-frame hive. But. 

 be that as it may, 4.5 days would come around 

 just as soon for a large swarm as for a small 

 oue. 



As for the young bees secreting all the wax, 

 I am satisfied that it is a mistaken notion. I 

 believe that bees will secrete wax as long as 

 they live; in fact, I am of the opinion that the 

 old secrete more wax than the young ones. In 

 the first place, in order to secrete wax the bees 

 have to stay at home with their sacs full of 

 honey, that wax secretion may go on. Now. in 

 all animated nature is it the old or young that 

 lie around idle? Yo\nig children, and all young 

 living things are apt to get out as early as they 

 can. and exercise themselves; and would a 

 yoiuig bee be contented to stay in the house 

 during its yonth and do housework ? I can not 

 believe it. I believe they go out as soon as they 

 are able to do so. They want to go out and se«^ 

 the world— it's natural. On the other hand, the 

 old bees, like other old folks, would be more in- 

 clined to stay at home and do the housework. I 

 simply throw these thoughts out as a sugges- 

 tion. Who will prove me wrong? 



