GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



count our chickens before they are hatched. 

 It may be well, however, for us to consider now 

 the mere possibilities, so that those who secure 

 samples can experiment along the lines indicat- 

 ed in 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. 



ANOTHER COMMISSION MAN. 



Mr. O. L. Hersheiser, Vice-president of the 

 U. S. B. K. U., which is to meet next in Buffalo, 

 it will be remembered, was a bee-keeper who 

 graduated at the Michigan Agricultural Col- 

 lege at Lansing, under Prof. Cook. Indeed, I 

 believe he had charge of the college apiary 

 while he was there. He was superintendent of 

 the New York exhibits at the World's Fair; 

 and at present he is an attorney in Buffalo, N. 

 Y., 410 Eeal-estate Exchange. He has been 

 fighting a certain commission man by the name 

 of Wm. H. Unger. operating under the firm 

 name of Unger & Co., Michigan St., Buffalo. 

 A long tale of this man's misdeeds are set forth 

 in the Evening Netvs of Saturday, Jan. 9th. A 

 single paragraph will suffice. 



Here is the story of a man who was once arrested 

 for petit larceny and fined $50 by Judge White, of 

 the Supreme Court, twice arrested for assault (once 

 fined $30 by Judge King), now at large on his own 

 recognizance, having been arrested by United 

 States Deputy Marshal Kane, charged with using 

 the government mails for the purpose of defraud- 

 ing farmers, and the climax of whose career is the 

 offer of a bribe of $3.00 and a box of figs to a young 

 reporter to suppress the news of his arrest, and an 

 attempt subsequently to assault the reporter be- 

 cause the fact was printed. Not satisfied with this, 

 he made a statement to another afternoon paper 

 that the aforesaid reporter had tried to blackmail 

 him. 



There are other commission houses in the 

 city of New Y'ork that seem to be working on 

 the same line; and it seems to me that bee- 

 keepers by this time ought to know better than 

 to send their honey to unknown firms. Don't 

 trust your honey with theno, even if they do 

 appear to give good impressions, and talk 

 about their ratings in Dun and Bradstreet. If 

 there are any other chaps like this man Unger 

 in Buffalo, I am sure our friends will know to 

 whom to look in the way of counsel. 



FOUL, BROOD IN FOUNDATION; APICULTURAL 

 EXPERIMENTS. 



Some years ago the suggestion was made 

 that there was a possibility of transmitting 

 foul brood through foundation; but at the 

 time, we all felt (without making any definite 

 tests) that there was no danger from this 

 source; but Mr. R. F. Holtermann, in the em- 

 ploy of the Ontario government, has been con- 

 ducting a series of experiments along the line 

 of bee-keeping, and among them was this re- 

 garding the possibility of transmitting foul 

 brood through foundation. He selected a very 

 bad case of foul brood, combs being fairly rot- 

 ten with the disease. These were melted up by 

 very low heat — just sufficient to cause the 

 wax to come to a liquid condition, sufficient for 

 dipping. Sheets were secured from this wax, 

 and they were rolled out into foundation. This 



was put into a healthy hive, and the results 

 watched narrowly. The whole season went by 

 and no infection followed. When it is remem- 

 bered that, in the process of ordinary founda- 

 tion-making, the wax is brought to a much 

 higher degree of heat than the mere melting- 

 point— about 142— it will be seen that there can 

 be no possible danger of contracting the disease 

 through foundation. 



formic ACID IN HONEV. 



Another experiment was along the line of 

 determining the amount of formic acid in differ- 

 ent qualities of honey, obtained under different 

 conditions. He secured a number of samples 

 from different sources — some when the honey 

 was stored rapidly, and some when brought in 

 little by little. These were placed in the bands 

 of a chemist, and tested for formic acid. It 

 was found that there was more of the acid in 

 some honeys than in others, and that there was 

 twice as much in buckwheat as in ordinary 

 white clover. Mr. Holtermann told me that 

 he had always observed that bee-stings were 

 more painful during buckwheat season than at 

 any other time, and wondered if the larger 

 amount of formic acid in buckwheat honey it- 

 self, upon which the bees feed, would explain it. 



I had always supposed that there was formic 

 acid in honey, but I was not aware before that 

 there was any definite proof. The presence of 

 this acid is probably due to the process of di- 

 gestion in the honey-stomach of the bee; and— 

 well, I'll not say more for I feel as if I were 

 floundering in the dark. Perhaps Mr. Holter- 

 mann or the chemist or Prof. Cook will en- 

 lighten us further. 



I received the above facts from Mr. Holter- 

 mann by word of mouth while he was here a 

 few days ago. By the way, Mr. H. expects to 

 secure the appointment to the position of api- 

 cultural experimenter for the general govern- 

 ment of the Dominion, at Ottawa. He would 

 be a good man for the place, and I know his 

 friends will be glad to hear of his appointment, 

 which now looks reasonably certain. 



Menthol honey cough-drops is a prepara- 

 tion on the market that tastes strongly of hon- 

 ey and menthol. An acquaintance, troubled 

 with a hacking cough, tried them and reports 

 that they seemed to give relief. Perhaps there 

 are others who would like to try them, as I 

 understand they are on sale at confectioners' 

 shops. We as bee-keepers need to encourage 

 the sale of any legitimate article of merit hav- 

 ing honey as an ingredient. This is not a " paid 

 puff;" indeed, the J. P. Annen Candy Co., of 

 Green Bay, Wis., who put them up, know noth- 

 ing of this notice. 



If your bees are short of stores, and you have 

 no combs of sealed honey in reserve, lay on the 

 frames under the quilt a chunk of Good candy, 

 made by kneading powdered sugar and honey 

 to a stiff dough. 



