742 



GLEANINGvS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



BUCKWHEAT HONEY ; CLAMS, LOBSTERS,. ETC. 



In some families in York State it was some- 

 tliing of a surprise to me that they should pre- 

 fer buckwheat honey to the best clover, moun- 

 tain sage, or alfalfa honey ever produced. 

 Some of them, if they wish to treat you to 

 their very best honey, will give you buck- 

 wheat. I suppose it is one of those kinds of 

 honeys that we have to learn to like, just as 

 we have to learn to like olives, oysters, clams, 

 and lobsters. I tried to learn to like clams on 

 my recent eastern trip, and I tried to learn to 

 like buckwheat honey, but I failed signally 

 with both. We are all glad, however, that 

 there is a very large class of people who think 

 buckwheat is the very best honej- in the world; 

 and were it not for this particular liking, many 

 of the York-Staters would not be keeping bees 

 as they now are. 



WHITE HONEY FROM CUBA. 



Mr. Fred L. Craycraft, formerly of Cu- 

 ba, but now of Astor Park, Fla., of whom 

 mention was made in our last issue by our Mr. 

 A. I. Root, has sent us up a sample of campa- 

 nilla honey. When he was here in Medina he 

 stated that Cuba produced large quantities of 

 white honey, and their best was campanilla. 

 It is of good body, almost as light in color as 

 California sage, and quite the equal of it in 

 flavor. In fact, it would compare very favor- 

 ably with any light honey in the world. I do 

 not know how much our Cuban friend has of 

 such honey for sale, or how much he is ex- 

 pecting to have, owing to the war that is now 

 unfortunately devastating that island. But 

 there ought to be a good demand for it in the 

 London markets, and I bespeak for it a good 

 sale when peace shall have been restored in 

 that beautiful island now desolate by the cru- 

 el hand of war. 



FOOD ADULTERATION. 



The Department of Agriculture, Washing- 

 ton, D. C, through Mr. A. J. Wedderburn, is 

 now making special effort to investigate the 

 extent and character of food adulteration, and 

 is desirous of securing all the information on 

 the subject possible. Among other questions 

 asked were: "Would a national food and 

 drug law assist in preventing adulteration?" 

 Also, " What is your opinion as to the extent 

 of damage done to legitimate business by the 

 imitation of brands?" And again, "Have 

 State laws assisted in preventing adulteration, 

 and to what extent?" Proinpt replies are 

 called for. We have already written, giving 

 our opinion of the evil done to the honey 

 business by the use of glucose, and saying 

 that a national law is exactly what we need. 

 We hope our subscribers will take the pains to 

 write to Mr. Wedderburn, at Washington, D. 

 C, care of Department of Agriculture, Divi- 



sion of Chemistry, and let him feel that we 

 are suffering from the glucose business, and 

 that we need relief. Please do not put this 

 off, but give it your immediate attention. 



SWEET CLOVER — THE WHITE AND THE YEL- 

 LOW; DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO. 

 I BELIEVE it has been stated in our columns 

 that white sweet clover and yellow sweet clo- 

 ver were exactly alike except in the matter of 

 color of the blossoms. Mr. E. T. Abbott, of 

 the Busy Bee, and m3'self were sitting in the 

 same seat in an electric car that was making 

 its way to Niagara Falls, when suddenly he 

 pointed to the roadside. All along the way 

 there seemed to be literally miles of yellow 

 sweet clover skirting the track. Mile after 

 mile there was nothing but the yellow, and 

 then occasionally there would be patches, 

 of the ordinary white sweet clover, and then 

 it would change to yellow. Mr. Abbott called 

 my attention to the fact that the yellow was a 

 smaller plant. While the white at a short dis- 

 tance was from four to six feet high, the yel- 

 low was scarcely ever over two feet. The re- 

 markable thing seemed to be that there was 

 no white mixed in with the 3-ellow. It was 

 either one thing or the other. 



I saw yellow sweet clover in only a very 

 few places in York State. I have never seen 

 it in Ohio or anywhere else. Whether the 

 bees will work as well upon one as upon the 

 other, I can not say. We were spinning along 

 at such a rapid rate on the street-car that I 

 had no opportunity for investigation, even if 

 bees had b.en on the blossoms. 



APIARIES IN SHEDS ; GOING TO PICNICS. 



The editor of the Amer. Bee Journal, as 

 well as your humble servant, has been out at- 

 tending bee-keepers' picnics. At all events, 

 Mr. York, with his office force, attended what 

 was styled the " Honey Harvest " at the out- 

 apiary of Mr. L. Kreutzinger, Aug. 21, 1897. 

 Mr. K. had sent out nearly 200 invitations to 

 his friends, and a picture of the compau}' (for 

 it would seem as if his friends all came) ap- 

 pears on the first page of the Amer. Bee Jour- 

 nal. On another page of the same periodical 

 is a half-tone view of the apiary. This is said 

 to be the largest one in Cook Co., 111. The 

 hives, instead of being on the ground, are 

 placed under sheds facing each other in such 

 a way as to shut off the wind and yet let in a 

 flood of sunshine. From the looks of the pic- 

 ture it would seem as if the hives are handled 

 from the rear. That being the case, the apia- 

 rist is in the shade. If his back aches in han- 

 dling those hives near the ground on the first 

 shelf, all he has to do is to straighten up and 

 commence manipulating the hives on the up- 

 per shelf — about breast-high, I should judge. 



In my eastern trip among bee-keepers I saw 

 only one apiary the hives of which were in 

 sheds, and that was at Mr. House's, at Mar- 

 cellus, N. Y. This Mr. House (I have forgot- 

 ten his initials) is a brother of Geo. W. House 

 who a few years ago was connected with the 

 Atner. Apiculturist. These sheds were ar- 

 ranged at the base of two hills facing each 



