1897 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



hard to understand why it would not be a most 

 protitablo luvestmont forjthe ,/)tT-/cccpcr— not 

 the supply-dealer. It is true, its product soon 

 beeonies brittle if stored away; but its other 

 advantages completely destroy this objection; 

 for if tiie foundation made from it is used at 

 once it is not brittle; and when the machine is 

 right at hand, and works up oven small quan- 

 tities with ease, it pays to make foundation 

 only as wanted. 



I must also question the footnote on page 330, 

 relating to the use of combined machines for 

 folding sections and fastening foundation, say- 

 ing, "We find the two are more rapid, simpler, 

 and cheaper than any combined machine we 

 have ever operated. "J If you find it so, that 

 simply proves that your operatives are accus- 

 tomed to separate machines. Let a man work 

 lone at one thing, by the piece, and he inevita- 

 bly acquires great dexterity. Let him then try 

 to accomplish the same thing by another meth- 

 od, even a superior one, and a few hours' or a 

 day's practice is entirely inadequate to enable 

 him to equal the speed of the method which 

 has become automatic with him by long prac- 

 tice. But is that a fair test? Of course, not. 

 Equal familiarity Cso far as that has a b jaring 

 on speed) with both methods is absolutely nec- 

 essary before pronouncing judgment. I have 

 never used the Daisy foundation-fastener, but 

 have one before me as I write, also specimens 

 of its work. On comparing it with the founda- 

 tion-fastening portion of the machine which I 

 use, I find it impossible to believe that it can do 

 quicker or better work, if as good. But with 

 the machine I use, there is the distinct advan- 

 tage that one does not have to handle the sec- 

 tions twice in their passage from the crate to 

 the super. There is no getting around this; 

 and when both portions of the machine do just 

 as good and as fast work, separately, as the 

 separate machines, it follows with mathemat- 

 ical certainty that, when one handling of the 

 sections is saved, the combined machine must 

 make better time when there is the same degree 

 of familiarity with the combined and the sep- 

 arate machines. Of course, one of your crack 

 workmen might beat me with the Daisy and 

 the Hubbard, or, with a few hours' test of the 

 combined machine, might not equal his record 

 with the two former; but such comparisons 

 would be obviously unfair. Little influences 

 which are hard to describe hamper one's agil- 

 ity in changing from one machine to another. 

 A good performer on the organ can not do as 

 well on the piano unless he has practiced the 

 piano also, ^nd vice versa. I can do faster 

 work with the combined machine (the Rauch- 

 fuss. which, by the way, you have never tried) 

 than with the separate machines I have tried, 

 and that settles it for me; and I feel sure the 

 average bee-keeper, approaching the separate 

 and combined machines with the same degree 



of practice or non-practice, will have the same 

 experience, and vote the latter ahead. 



THE GUANULATION OF ALFALFA HONEY. 



On page 321 it is claimed that alfalfa extract- 

 ed honey does not granulate on account of lo- 

 cality, but on account of lack of " body." This 

 seems a natural inference from the (somewhat 

 meager) circumstances given; but I know the 

 writer is mistaken. There are plenty of pro- 

 gressive bee-keepers in Colorado, though he 

 seems to doubt it. That "body " depends on 

 the handling is one of the A B C's here, and 

 the handling is as well understood as in any 

 State. I never extract before the cells are 

 completely capped, if I can help it, and am in 

 no particular hurry to extract then, if combs 

 are numerous enough to tier up with. More- 

 over, I have frequently extracted from combs 

 which have been two months or more over the 

 bees since being capped. The " body " of such 

 honey can hardly be surpassed. It is difficult 

 to extract at all. But this very honey, kept 

 separate in a reasonably warm and dry place, 

 granulated just like the rest — generally sooner, 

 if any thing, perhaps from some admixture of 

 fall honey. Extracted fall honey here granu- 

 lates much sooner than early honey of the 

 same degree of ripeness (though the early honey 

 is really inferior in body), showing conclusively 

 that something else than handling influences 

 granulation here; and if by "handling" is 

 meant heating as soon as extracted, that also 

 is known here, and practiced by some; but, 

 with a few exceptions, it only delays granula- 

 tion, and does not prevent it. 



This leads me to say that I rather doubt 

 whether Dr. Miller's scheme of draining off the 

 liquid part would work with alfalfa honey, it 

 candies so uniformly, reminding one of solid 

 lard rather than any thing "granulated." I 

 have frequently noticed, though, that some 

 honey in the combs granulates coarsely, here 

 in Montrose Co., as well as around Denver. But 

 such honey is generally, perhaps always, of a 

 golden yellow, and I think is always stored in 

 the latter part of the season, containing a large 

 per cent of something not alfalfa honey. 



Montrose, Cal., May 28. 



[Your implication, that my statement in ref- 

 erence to the cost of foundation was made on 

 purpose to favor the supply-dealer and not the 

 bee-keeper, is a sort of "left-handed compli- 

 ment" — that is, if you mean I would be willing 

 to twist the truth for the sake of booming our 

 wax-working department. I shall assume, at 

 all events, that you did not mean to hit as hard 

 as this. I have endeavored, so far as possible, 

 to have the truth come out, let it cut where it 

 may; but when the truth favors both the bee- 

 keeper and the supply-dealer, I can not see any 

 harm in giving emphasis to it. I believe that 

 nothing would kill a journal quicker than to 

 have it give one-sided truth, and that favoring 

 some manufacturer. Realizing this, it is our 

 constant purpose to make Glkanings give im- 

 partially all sides of important questions. 



