232 



(CLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apkii. 1. 



always show these city folks the extractor, 

 explaining how nscd; and if there is honey to 

 extract, some is thrown out. that they may see 

 the /low. Some remark, " We have often heard 

 of this way of taking honey, but had little or 

 no faith in the story; but one must believe 

 when he sees." These people become our best 

 customers. 



When the grocer stated to Mr. R. that " the 

 only way to get the confidence of the people is 

 to produce and put on the market honey of first- 

 class quality." he was preaching logical doc- 

 trine. Here the man displays knowledge gain- 

 ed by experience. He is not the only person 

 who has learued this lesson. The wise profit 

 by this experience: but foolish, short-sighted 

 men go on from year to year producing and put- 

 ting on the market honey of an inferior qual- 

 ity, made so by lack of experience, want of 

 judgment, or thoughtlessness. At one time the 

 honey is extracted while thin, only in the con- 

 dition of rank-flavored nectar, and often, in 

 this state, no effort to place ii where it might 

 be improved by evaporation. Again, it is stored 

 in shaded or damp looms wheic both comb and 

 extracted honey rapidly deteriorate. Who has 

 not seen beautiful while combs gradually tak- 

 ing on that watery, unsightly — yes, sickly ap- 

 pearance? Honey left to the care of the" bees 

 never gets so, unless the hives are located in a 

 damp, shaded place. 



Extracted honey that is thin from any cause 

 should never be stored in any other than shal- 

 low, open-mouthed vessels, then kept in a 

 warm, dry, well-ventilated place; and the same 

 theory holds good with comb honey. 



No doubt the majority of bee-keepers take 

 great pains to excel in the matter of producing 

 and placing on the market honey of a first-class 

 quality; but it is a fact, deplorable and injuri- 

 ous as it is. that many who are engaged in 

 producing honey are careless and indifferent as 

 to the quality of their product. The injury this 

 class are doing to the industry is very great. 

 It may sound harsh, but I must say they are a 

 nuisance to the fraternity. 



As we buy from producers and dealers in hon- 

 ey each season not less than lOO.OOn lbs. for our 

 retail trade, we get some sorry experience. I'll 

 give a sample or two. A party wrote us last 

 fall that he conld ship us 20 barrels of pure 

 orange-bloom honey, mailing at the time a 

 sample of it. When received, four barrels of 

 the lot was about all palmetto honey, dark and 

 ill flavored. Again, samples of mesquite honey 

 of best quality were sent; and to this party an 

 order was given; but a few cans of this lot was 

 alfalfa, of the meanest kind. Other orders 

 were sent to the same parties, but more and 

 more alfalfa was put in each lot, the last being 

 entirely alfalfa, dark and strong in flavor, and 

 by no means " fit to set before a king." 



Another lot received from a producer had 

 been extracted in the nectar state, and then 

 stored in cans reeking with the fumes of kero- 

 sene oil. This stufl' may do to feed bees, but 

 not to sell for table use, if a regard for one's 

 reputation is thought of. 



It is surprising how many there are who. for 

 the sake of a little temporary gain, violate with 

 impunity the princi])les of honor and fairness, 

 forgetting that their betrayal of trust must 

 eventually fall upon their own heads with 

 crushing weight. 



ADULTEUATKD HONEY. 



As we sell honey in every town and city with- 

 in quite a distance of us, we see much of the 

 honey-markets. AVithin the last two years 

 many city packing -houses have gone into the 

 business of putting honey in tumblers and 

 bottles. Some of this we find to be good pure 



honey; but for the most part it is a glucos« 

 mixture surrounding a small piece of comb 

 honey. Does this honey, or stuff, detract any 

 from our sales of choice honey? We think not; 

 in fact, we are of the opinion that we sell more 

 honey because of this adulterated stuff. 



We call on a family to see whether they will 

 buy honey. The question is asked, "Is it the 

 strained honey?" .Answering, we say, "Yes, 

 we have either liquid or comb." 



"Well." they say, "we don't want strained 

 honey. We got some of it at the store, and 

 that's a fraud." 



Now, we give them a sample vial of just 

 what we will bring them. Then to see them 

 lift the frown, and say. "Ohl that's different: 

 that is bee honey. If you bring us that kind 

 you can depend on us for good customers." 



Our reply is, "Yes; if. when delivered, you do 

 not find it equally fine as the sample, you need 

 not give us your money." 



In this way we add another to our list of 

 thousands of permanent customers who will 

 buy no honey put up by packing-houses. 



But, Mr. Editor. I would not discourage your 

 efforts to bring to justice these robbei's who are 

 engaged in the nefarious scheme of l)ottling 

 glucose with the lie "Pure Honey" pasted on 

 the packages. J. A. Buchanan. 



Holliday's Cove. W. Va.. March 8. 



QUEENS 



BY MAIL TO AUSTRALIA. 11,600 

 MILES AWAY. 



In my last article I said that, according to my 

 opinion, the size of the cage (5x:3xl3^) as given 

 in the Postal Guide should not be specially con- 

 sidered when sending queens to Australia, as 

 there was no law governing the matter regard- 

 ing queen-bees to that place, other than having 

 the packages they were sent in conform to what 

 would be allowed in our domestic mails. Why 

 I looked this matter up so closely was, that I 

 am not just pleased with tlie " Root- Benton " 

 cage, for the reason that the candy-hole is lia- 

 ble to become clogged with dead bees, which 

 reason the editor speaksof on page 72 of Glean- 

 ings for IS'.tl. Should this cage happen to so go 

 on board of the steamer that the candy end is 

 downward (whicli would bi' its tendency every 

 time, thai end of the cage Ix'ing much the 

 heaviei'), the result would be. that, should there 

 happen to be any dead bees in the cage, they 

 would fall down into the candy-hole, thus vir- 

 tually cutting the bees oft' from their food, caus- 

 ing them to starve. I have evidence that this 

 was the cause of the death of some that I sent, 

 as those reporting to me speak of two of these 

 cages as coming with "every bee dead, all 

 bright and clean, with little of the candy eaten, 

 and many bees wedged into the candy apart- 

 ment." 



This difficulty confronted me when sending to 

 New Zealand in 1884, so I fixed the cages then 

 used (2x2x53^) with a large candy-hole in either 

 end, and the apartment for the bees in the mid- 

 dle. This gave the bees a chance to feed from 

 either end of the cage. This old cage was all 

 right on this score, but, to my notion, it confin- 

 ed the bees too much in a heai) during the ex- 

 treme heat they mustendure in ])assing through 

 the torrid zone; so in shipping this year I tried 

 to overcome this difficulty. Accordingly a part 

 of the queens were sent in the Root- Benton 

 cage, a part in a cage a^^x^i'JixX, having ten 

 holes bored in the same, with partitions through- 

 out, so the bees could spread out all over the cage, 

 except that part filled with candy; or, when' 



