430 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Junk L 



Our painter friend also added, in conclusion, 

 that the priming-coat should always be of the 

 very best paint. There is a sort of popular im- 

 pression that anybody can put on the first coat, 

 and it does not make very much difference 

 what sort of paint it is. '" Better a good painter 

 with poor paint," said our friend, " than a poor 

 painter with good paint. But better by far is 

 a good painter with good paint." If you are 

 not a practical painter, and wish to do the 

 work as economically as possible, and yet do it 

 well, buy the ready-mixed paints of known 

 purity. 



PKOF. AVILEY AND ADULTERATED HONEY. 



On page 356 of last issue, under the head of 

 Special Notices appeared a correction exoner- 

 ating Prof. Wiley from one of the charges made 

 against him. We were so anxious to state only 

 absolute truth that we felt called upon to make 

 a correction in the same number; but we have 

 since learned, that, while Mr. Charles F. Muth 

 did not send samples of honey to Prof. Wiley to 

 be analyzed, he left with him some samples of 

 pure honey at a convention. Prof. Wiley took 

 them with him, and, after mailing an analysis, 

 reported that they were " probably " adulterat- 

 ed or *• probably " pure. Of course, this placed 

 a ban upon Mr. Miith's honey; so, while our 

 statement on page 387 was not strictly correct in 

 detail, the main fact remains essentially the 

 same. We stand ready at any time to make 

 corrections, where we have made a misstate- 

 ment, and we also do all we possibly can to get 

 at the exact facts. 



Prof. Cook, in another column, is much more 

 charitable toward Prof. Wiley than we were on 

 page 386, last issue; and it is very possible that 

 we were a little harsh in our criticism. If so. 

 we beg Prof. W.'s pardon. But when we re- 

 membered the effect of his " scientific pleasant- 

 ry," and that he had pronounced samples of 

 pure honey, obtained from C. F. Muth, " proba- 

 bly pure" or " probably adulterated," and when, 

 too, we read the report, just out, reflecting 

 against many of our best and most reliable 

 commission houses, particularly that of C. F. 

 Muth, we feel as if our pursuit had been wrong- 

 ed, and that strong language was justifiable. 



On page 640 of Gleanings for 1888 appears a 

 very able article from Prof. Cook, on the tests 

 of honey. In this article friend Cook says: 



We see, then, tfiat tlie chemist can not toll us ab- 

 solutely wliether lioney is adulterated oi' not. There 

 is reason to believe that absolutely ))ur(' honey has 

 been pronounced as probably adultt'iatcd. ' The 

 chemist was honest and able, but did nut under- 

 stand the whole question or its many difKculties. 



A little further on. in the same article. Prof. 

 Cook shows very plainly that the polariscope is 

 very unreliable in detecting adulterations in 

 honey. Prof. Wiley, in spite of all his facilities, 

 seems not to know, or to have overlooked all of 

 this. If he had taken the pains to analyze 

 samples of honey of known purity, that he 

 could have obtained easily from reliable bee- 

 keepers who would obtain the honey direct from 

 the hive, he would probably have seen how 

 they differ from each other, and tliat the meth- 

 ods he has employed all along were unreliable. 



We do not wish to do Prof. Wiley or his asso- 

 ciates any injustice; but we do think our chief 

 chemist of the government ought to inform 

 himself properly in regard to the proper constit- 

 uents of honey, instead of jumping at conclu- 

 sions, as we know he has done, from evidence in 

 some of his published statements; for instance, 

 the Wilev canard about manufactured comb. 



Later. — Since the above was written we dis- 

 cover an article in the ChduUmquan for June, 

 1892, by Prof. Wiley, on the subject of " Some- 



tliing about our Sugar." We have glanced' 

 hastily through the article. It reads well, and 

 no doubt it is correct in the main; but somehow 

 our confidence is somewhat sliaken when we 

 read such a sentence as this, which we copy: 

 "Artificial comb foundation is often supplied ta 

 the bees; <ind this is sometimes so perfect that 

 the bees have little to do in completing a cell 

 except to cover it.'' The italics are ours. This 

 is another evidence of how Prof. Wiley some- 

 times writes about things when he has only 

 a superficial knowledge of the thing in question. 

 While there is an element of truth in this quo- 

 tation, it is very misleading. All foundation 

 that is sent out, so far, is only foundation, from 

 1^ to ^ inch thick, and the bees have to draw 

 out and thin out the cell-walls, and then cover 

 them, after tilling them with honey. The cap- 

 ping, or covering, of the cell is only a very small 

 part of the whole work. By the way. we shall 

 be glad to make Prof. Wiley a present of a nice 

 colony of bees if he will accept them, and then 

 he can study nature as it is. 



STEAM AS manure, ETC. 



Perhaps some of the friends may think that 

 A. I. Root is crowding his gardening hobby a 

 good deal in this issue of Gleanings. Even 

 the boss printer suggested that the Home Talks 

 and the Garden department had in some way 

 run into each other a good deal in this number. 

 Never mind; if we make a mistake in taking 

 too much space in discussing God's precious 

 gifts, it will not be a very bad mistake. And 

 now here is another one that seems bursting 

 forth right before my very eyes. When I com- 

 menced planting rows of difTerent crops across 

 that pipe that carries the exhaust steam, again 

 and again did it seem to force itself on to me 

 that the steam was acting like stable manure. 

 The Hubbard squashes, the American Wonder 

 peas, strawberries, and every thing else, assum- 

 ed a rich dark green right over that hot drain 

 tile, as if a great quantity of very rich manure 

 had been strung along that very spot. Well, a 

 few days ago Prof. W. J. Green, of the Ohio 

 Experiment Station, dropped in upon us; and 

 when I mentioned the matter to him he answer- 

 ed at once, '" Why, Mr. Root, the steam is ma- 

 nure, or, at least, it amounts to the same thing, 

 for it has, without question, been unlocking the 

 nitrates in your soil;" and we estimated that 

 the effect of this steam-pipe showed itself on 

 the plants from five to eight feet away from the 

 tile; so if we ran steam under a quarter of an 

 acre of ground, with pipes even fifteen feet 

 apart, the whole plot would be from two weeks 

 to a month earlier than ground without the 

 steam, and this entirely without protection. 



Our Warfield strawberries, right over tlie 

 heat, are full of green berries, almost large 

 enough to color, and runners have been out 

 thickly for two or three weeks past. Some are 

 even now taking root. Here is a hint for prop- 

 agating some choice vaiiety of strawberry wheu 

 there happens to be a demand for it. Just now 

 it looks to me as if that strawberry is to be the 

 Parker Earl. It is ahead of any thing else on 

 our grounds, all things considered. Michel's 

 Early was the first to blossom; and if it bears 

 such a crop as the blossoms at present indicate, 

 we shall give it a place in our select list. No 

 plant, liowever. that we have evei' seen, bears 

 such a quantity as the Jessie. The rows are 

 now literally a bank of white, and the perfume 

 is like that from an apple-orchard; and the 

 humming of the bees over the blossoms, when 

 it does not rain, is pretty nearly like that which 

 we hear in an apple-orcliard also. I think this 

 is the last I shall have to say about God's gifts, 

 in this issue, as the forms are being closed up. 



