1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



17 



POISONOUS HONEY. 

 Living where there are large quantities of 

 Kalmia latifolia and Kaluiia angustifolia, I 

 have read with great interest the different 

 articles on poisonous honey and honey-plants 

 that have appeared in Gleanings from time 

 to time. There is no room for doubt that the 

 foliage of Kahiiia is poisonous to certain 

 animals and also to man. The common name 

 of Kalmia aiignstifolia is sheep-laurel, and 

 was given it on account of its making sheep 

 sick that ate it, which they will do if it is 

 allowed to grow in their pasture. There have 

 been cases of poisoning caused by eating 

 partridge that, owing to deep snows, have not 

 been able to obtain any other food than 

 kalmia buds. None of these cases were fatal 

 that I know of. 



In regard to poisonous honey, I must say 

 that, so far as kalmia is concerned, I do not 

 find any thing to support the opinion that it 

 is a source of it. I have talked with other 

 bee-keepers, and watched the honey stored by 

 my own bees, and can not find that kalmia 

 honey is harmful, and I am unable to find any 

 cases of honey-sickness in this locality that 

 can be traced to kalmia honey ; but if at any 

 time I do find any I will let the readers of 

 GEE.A.NINGS hear of it at once. 



All the cases of sickness from honey that I 

 have heard of, I have looked up and found 

 that either the parties ate too much or that 

 honey always makes them sick, no matter 

 what kind it may be or how little they eat of 

 it. L. F. HiORNS. 



Scranton, Pa., Dec 8. 



ROOT'S HONEY DISPLAY IN CANTON ; HOW IT 

 STIMULATES THE TRADE. 



I was quite surprised a few days ago, when 

 the Root Company's display of honey and bees 

 appeared in Canton. I had worked hard for 

 the last four years in building up a honey 

 trade, and was afraid that the Root Company's 

 honey would interfere with it ; but when Mr. 

 Weed saw that I was taking good care of the 

 honey trade in this part of the country he did 

 not tr)- to make sales, and kept on with only 

 the display. It was the means of attracting a 

 great deal of attention, and he has set a great 

 many people to talking about honey, and eat- 

 ing it, who had not thought of it before. In 

 this nay it will help me. The kind of honev 

 used was the California sage. This is one of 

 the best kinds that we have, and is what I am 

 selling to my customers, and I am now ready 

 for 600 pounds more of it. 



Canton, O., Dec. 9. T. A. SwinehearT. 



[To stimulate a demand for honey, and for 

 our honey especially, we have been sending 

 Mr. A. B. Weed, brother of the "foundation 

 man," out to the near-by towns, and this 

 shows what was done in one of them. — Ed.] 



GRADING BY PICTURES INDORSED. 



I like your idea of pictures for grading-rules, 

 and would suggest, when you get them, that 

 they be put on a separate sheet or on a page 

 of advertising matter in Gleanings, so we 

 can get them out to have with us while grad- 

 ing. Benj. Passage. 



Stark, Mich., Nov. 25. 



[We expect to get out some pictures as soon 

 as we can hear from more of the brethren on 

 the subject. I'd like to get all the " pointers " 

 possible. — Ed.] 



the new fence and section. 



I am considerably taken up with the new 

 fence separators. I can't help believing they 

 are just the thing comb-honey producers have 

 been looking for. I will give them a trial, 

 and shall want 350 or 400 of them. This has 

 been a great 3'ear here for honey and swarm- 

 ing. J. W. Cook. 



Poneto, Ind., Dec. 6. 



H. A. B., Pa. — It is not unusual to find 

 bees in bee-trees, wholly or nearly destitute of 

 stores. Colonies found in trees are very often 

 second or third swarms — swarming very late, 

 and gathering very little in the way of stores 

 for winter. In modern times it is very seldom 

 that the first swarm gets away from the bee- 

 keeper. If these succeed in escaping, and 

 are then found in a tree, they will probably 

 have sufficient stores for winter. 



H. C. A'., Pa. — With regard to the unfinish- 

 ed sections that are half filled or more, I would 

 advise extracting and then leveling the combs 

 down with a Taylor comb-leveler. For par- 

 ticulars regarding this last named, see page 15 

 of our catalog. Such sections, if put on the 

 hive early enough, may, under some circum- 

 stances, be emptied by bees ; but the wood of 

 the .section would be very much soiled, and it 

 is, therefore, preferable to extract and level 

 down. 



R. A. //., G?/.— The cost of a patent will 

 be something like $75 or $80 — that is, if you 

 have a competent attorney to work for you. 

 But I would suggest that you make formal ap- 

 plication through an attorney, and this will 

 make you less than half the expense of the 

 whole patent, and then let the matter rest for 

 a time. You would then be at liberty to sub- 

 mit your idea to us and your friends ; and if 

 they thought well of it you could pay down 

 the remaining fees and have the patent formal- 

 ly allowed. This is very often done. The 

 formal application, for at least one year, will 

 secure to you almost as much protection as the 

 patent itself, and meanwhile you would have an 

 opportunity to determine whether it is valua- 

 ble enough to go to further expense. 



