476 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15. 



though perhaps less frequently— the same char- 

 acteristic and vigorous editorials that have 

 graced the pages of tlie Journal in the past: 

 and these supplemented by those from young- 

 er blood will add life and strength to an already 

 flourishing paper. 



Thomas G. Newman & Son, while they have 

 sold out the Amerlatn Bee Journal, still retain 

 the Illustrated Home Journal and the bee- 

 supply business. 



A KEQUEST FKOM PBOF. COOK. 



Prof. A. J. Cook, of the Michigan Agricultu- 

 ral College, desires us to secure for him small 

 samples, one pound or so, of comb or extracted 

 honey from various parts of the United States, 

 and from various flora, stored rapidly in the 

 hives. These samples of honey should be sent 

 direct to Prof. Cook, who will see that they 

 are analyzed by competent chemists. The ob- 

 ject is, to determine how the proportion of natu- 

 ral glucose, cane sugar, water, etc., varies in 

 honey of known purity. The point is here: The 

 chief chemist at Washington has decided that 

 pure honey must contain certain proportions in 

 order to be pure. Prof. Cook is of the opinion 

 that these fixed proportions, as settled upon by 

 Prof. Wiley, are incorrect; that many of the 

 pure honeys will show the same chemical prop- 

 erties and proportions as adulterated honey. 

 This fact nstablished. will show that Chemical 

 Bulletin No. 13 is not to be relied upon for its 

 analyses of honey, because the whole bottom of 

 a false basis will be knocked out. Again, if gen- 

 uine honey varies largely in the proportion of 

 cane sugar, depending on the more or less perfect 

 digestion as the bee gathers more or less slowly, 

 then chemists should know this, so as to have a 

 correct standard to guide them. We ought 

 soon to have laws in every State that shall 

 make adulteration too dangerous a crime to be 

 safely practiced; but such laws can be enforced 

 only by our having a correct method to detect 

 adulteration in case it is attempted or practic- 

 ed. Let all who have honey that they know 

 ivas very rapidly (jathered, send a sample to 

 Prof. Cook. In sending honey, state what it 

 was collected from; at what date it was collect- 

 ed, and how much the bees gathered in a day. 

 Wisconsin ought to send some basswood honey, 

 and California some sage. 



THE KEV. L. L. LANGSTROTH AT MEDINA. 



As announced in our last issue, Mr. Lang- 

 stroth called upon us on Saturday last, June 4, 

 remaining over Sunday, and going away Mon- 

 day night. After these 17 years of that dis- 

 tressing intermittent brain trouble since we last 

 saw him, we were surprised to see him looking 

 so hale and hearty; and although he was 81 

 years old last Christmas, his mind seemed to be 

 as strong and vigorous as ever; indeed, it was 

 several times remarked, " What a powerful 

 mind I what breadth of culture! what learn- 

 ing! " It was interesting to see how he enjoy- 

 ed talking about bees and the later improve- 

 ments. In fact, he was more enthusiastic than 

 many of the younger bee-keepers. In spite of 

 the fact that age is usually conservative, Mr. 

 Langstroth seemed to be thoroughly alive to 

 the value and importance of the later improve- 

 ments and developments. To illustrate: Said 

 he, with his old-time fervor, " If money is to 

 come from honey, manipulation must be re- 

 duced to a minimum." He indorsed thorough- 

 ly the idea of handling hives more and frames 

 less ; of using out-apiary hives ; hives with 

 self-spacing frames: hives that can be manip- 

 ulated on the plan hinted at in the quotation. 

 He still thought the new Heddon hive best for 

 the expert and advanced bee-keeper; but he 

 did not believe it would ever come into general 



use with beginners and those farmers who keep 

 only a few bees. For the mass of bee-keepers, 

 the self-spacing Langstroth frame and system 

 would be used. Indeed, he even questioned 

 whether many farmers were advanced enough 

 to have even movable-frame hives; because, 

 even with such hives they would not handle 

 the frames if they could. 



In speaking of his own invention he very 

 modestly remarked that others before him had 

 come very near giving to the world the Lang- 

 stroth hive; and that, if he had not invented it, 

 it would have come very soon. Debeauvoy, for 

 instance, had invented a hive that needed only 

 some very slight changes in order to make a 

 practical hive — such a oneas/ie (Mr. L.) gave to 

 the world, and that any practical bee-keeper of 

 to-day could have shown in five minutes how 

 to make so that it would be practicable. 



In our next issue we will try to give you a lit- 

 tle more about Mr. Langstroth. and a little bet- 

 ter idea of his personal appearance. On the 

 day he arrived, toward evening we took out our 

 best camera and " shot " him in several charac- 

 teristic attitudes — one or two of which we hope 

 to present to our readers. 



HORIZONTAL WIRING AND LIGHT BROOD FOUN- 

 DATION; ELECTRICITY IN APICULTURE. 



On page 428 of our issue for June 1 we ex- 

 pressed the fear that the light brood foundation 

 on horizontal wires would buckle enough to 

 make trouble. As we had already advocated 

 the use of light brood in preference to any other 

 grade, we felt in duty bound to notify our read- 

 ers at once. Well, since that time those very 

 same frames of foundation, about which we 

 wrote as having a tendency to buckle, are de- 

 veloping into nice combs; so those who may 

 have gone ahead and followed our advice will 

 probably find that they will get good combs, 

 after all. Taking it all in all, however, we 

 would rather recommend the use of medium 

 brood foundation on the horizontal wires. If, 

 however, you have a lot of light brood it will be 

 better to put it on four horizontal wires than 

 three. 



By the way, we are still using electricity for 

 imbedding wires into foundation. It is such a 

 saving in time over the old way, and so much 

 better in its results, that we shall never think 

 of going back to the old plan. Neither is it so 

 expensive that the average bee-keeper can not 

 afford to use it. 



UNCAPPING COMBS BY ELECTRICITY. 



The Rambler, now at Riverside, Cal., since 

 we have been advocating the use of electricity 

 for imbedding wires, cherishes the idea of using 

 the same invisible force and heat for uncapping 

 combs for extracting. His plan is, to run a 

 current of electricity through a small thin- 

 bladed knife or knives, strong enough to heat 

 them, and thus greatly facilitate the operation 

 of uncapping. Although we have been and 

 still are very enthusiastic on the subject of 

 electricity, and have given it considerable 

 study, it seems to us, after giving the matter 

 due consideration, that the strength of the cur- 

 rent required will make battery power too 

 expensive to be feasible; for, usually, extract- 

 ing is not and can not be done where the proper 

 current can be taken ofT from some electric- 

 light wire. Mr. James Heddon is somewhat of 

 an electrician, and possibly he can give us some 

 suggestions along this line. 



We have iust received the First Annual Re- 

 port of the Illinois State Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion. It is neatly printed, bound in cloth, and 

 contains 175 pages. It comprises both the pro- 

 ceedings of the Illinois State Bee-keepers' Con- 



