154 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1. 



gust, without testing the honey for cooking 

 any more. I inclose some of my recipes, that 

 you are at liberty to publish if you wish. Those 

 published in Gleanings are good, I know, be- 

 cause I tried them last winter. 



It's a pleasure to know that the editor is hon- 

 est and conscientious just at this time, when 

 the politicians are stirring up strife and trying 

 to make all the people think evil of their neigh- 

 bors. The kind of honesty that thinketh no 

 evil is quite refreshing; and so our good editor, 

 in publishing the recipes, gave credit to the 

 journal in which he found them, and generous- 

 ly added a free puff. I suppose he never 

 "thunk" that the whole list had been pur- 

 loined from the book "Honey as Food;" and 

 the editor of the American Bee Journal, not to 

 be outdone, published the same list, advertis- 

 ing his book, " Honey as Food," in the same 

 column, and returned thanks for the use of his 

 own property, and added a free puff too. 



Oberlin, Ohio. 



[The article above came before our honey- 

 leaflet was gotten out. In fact, this leaflet 

 came as the result of a suggestion from friend 

 Fowls and one or two others. 



In addition to the leaflets, it might be a good 

 idea to have on sale cards after the style of the 

 notice above. A neat tasty card setting forth 

 very briefly why honey should be eaten might 

 be read in some cases while the leaflet itself 

 would not be read at all.— Ed.] 



GRAND VALLEY, COL., AS A HONEY LOCALITY. 



ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT SLEEPING OUTDOORS. 

 By M. A. Gill. 



Mr. jRoot;— While reading your description 

 of Salt River Valley, Ariz., I thought perhaps 

 a few jottings from the Grand Valley in Colo- 

 rado would not come amiss to the readers of 

 Gleanings. First, I will say that last spring 

 I was appointed bee-inspector for Mesa County, 

 which gave me a good opportunity to see the 

 resources of this valley. Your speaking of the 

 large apiaries kept in one place in the Salt 

 River Valley brings to my mind that I inspect- 

 ed nearly 600 colonies (on Mesa Creek, this 

 county) in a scope of country not to exceed two 

 by three miles, and only about a third of that 

 area was in alfalfa; and right in the heart of 

 this section I remember one apiary of 64 colo- 

 nies where over 40 of them had five supers each 

 of comb honey on them when I visited them. 

 That night I stayed with Mr. J. P. Utterback, 

 who has 200 colonies dovoted to comb honey. 

 You know nearly every one in this mountain 

 region has a pack outfit (as they term it), which 

 Includes a bed. "Well, after being shown the 

 cozy spare bed in the house I noticed my fiiend 

 bring out his mountain-bed and spread it on a 

 forkful of alfalfa hay in front of the carriage- 

 house. 



"Now," said he, " if you wish you can sleep 

 here with me." 



It was during dog-days in August, at about 

 9 o'clock. The cool mountain air seemed to 

 settle down the mountain sides, and lift the 

 heated air of the valley out; and, oh! the 

 matchless delight of drinking that pure fresh 

 ozone is simply beyond description. It is cer- 

 tainly inspiring, and I imagined it was a little 

 intoxicating. 



Like you, I don't wonder these people are 

 healthy; and, again, I do wonder that there 

 are not more people whose lungs break down 

 in the East, who sleep with their bea-rooms 

 sealed up like a fruit-can. 



You spoke of sleeping out on the ground on 

 Dec. 29th. Well, I slept out that night too; 

 but we had to scrape away about four inches 

 of snow to spread our bed down. We slept well, 

 took no cold, and why should we? Don't the 

 doctors say that there is only one remedy that 

 always agrees with every one, and that is pure 

 ozone ? I didn't have quail on toast, as you did, 

 the next day, but I had a fine venison hanging 

 up by 9 A. M. 



You speak of some of the alfalfa honey being 

 almost equal to the white-clover ho;iey of the 

 East. Didn't the committee at the St. Joseph 

 convention decide that the first quality of alfal- 

 fa honey from the arid regions was the best in 

 the United States'? Arenot you eastern fellows 

 getting a little afraid of the quantity and qual- 

 ity of our honey when you put clover, willow- 

 herb, etc., 1 cent per pound above our best 

 alfalfa? Did it ever occur to you that we can 

 outweigh you nearly one pound per gallon with 

 our best alfalfa honey ? 



This county (Mesa) has about 4000 colonies 

 of bees. I personally examined 3100 colonies 

 last season. I destroyed by fire between 50 and 

 60, besides burning over 100 infected hives and 

 other fixtures. I also drove quite a number of 

 colonies back into their own hives after first 

 saturating the inside of hive with coal oil, then 

 burning it to a char, and giving them only V- 

 shaped top-bars for starters. 



That the honey they carry with them is di- 

 gested before they can build comb and store it 

 is proven, I think, by the fact that of all the 

 colonies so treated only two showed signs of the 

 return of the disease this fall. I will say I have 

 again been appointed as inspector for the com- 

 ing year, and will report to you later as to my 

 success in stamping out the disease in this 

 valley. 



Grand Junction, Colo., Jan. 28 



[Amen to your remarks about sleeping out- 

 doors, friend G. In regard to the a'falfa honey, 

 I have just consulted Mr. Calvert, and he says 

 the alfalfa honey that was put a cent below 

 willow-herb, etc., was not first-class. He says 

 we always rank nice pure alfalfa honey fully 

 as high as clover, willow-herb, or any other, 

 unless it should be the water- white mountain- 



