1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



831 



ther should we think of calling nectar, that is 

 thin enough to sour, honey. 



When I first began extracting, about 1878, I 

 frequently extracted honey that weighed only 

 10>4 to 11 lbs. per gallon, and I never had any 

 sour, although I fiequently keep it from one 

 to several months. Again, I would point out 

 that, when nectar has been extracted and fer- 

 mentation begins in it, its tendency to granu- 

 late is arrested. Souring honey (nectar) can 

 not granulate, or el.se my observation is all at 

 fault ; wherefore I conclude that honey that 

 granulates is always pure imless sugar or glu- 

 cose has been added to nectar. I have made 

 no experiment in the line of mixing, so I can 

 not say at what den.'-ity crystallization begins. 



Mr. Clayton's believing he could have had 

 a dozen sources of flavor assigned to that hon- 

 ey shows how extraneous circumstances help 

 to form guesswork opinions, and how little re- 

 liance can be placed on such opinions. Wheth- 

 er or not that particular lot of honey derived 

 its acidity from citrus flowers is guesswork ; 

 but here is one thing I do know. There is a 

 tiny vining plant, in habit somewhat resem- 

 bling the wild peavintr-, that produces acid 

 honey approximatin^^r a mild tartaric-acid fla- 

 vor, but a! wa3-s decidedly acid ; and it is about 

 as good honey as any man ever smacked his 

 lips over, if he does not object to a pleasant 

 sour mingled with his sweet, which reminds 

 me of something I read in a paper in ]8-"i2 : 



Married. — On the '21it inst., Mr. Ebenezer Sweet to 

 Mi.ss Jane Ivemon. 



How beautifully extrenie.s d^ meet 



In Jane and Hbenezer ! 

 She's CO longer .'-our, l>ul Sweet, 

 And he's a I^emon squeezer. 



I will venture this guess, that that honey- 

 was sour when extracted, and could inert ase 

 in sourness only by concentration of iis acid 

 by evaporating its watery parts. Its granula- 

 tion proved it to be too pure to ferment. 



I have no doubt that, had they searched the 

 field where that honey was produced, they 

 would have found a small vining plant, with 

 a red or reddish stem, small oval leaves, and a 

 tiny white flower on which the bees were busy 

 while that honey was being stored. This is 

 the source of the acid in that honey ; and as 

 the honey was not uniform in color, so the 

 bees got honey from other sources at the same 

 time they were storing from this little vine, 

 which, I believe, yielded all the acid. This 

 vine seems to yield honey nearly every year ; 

 but if there is plenty of honey from other 

 sources the bees neglect it entirely. 



Three years out of nine since I have kept 

 bees in this (San Luis Obispo) count}' the 

 honey gathered from about April 25 to May 20 

 was perceptibl}' acid. Two of these years the 

 sage failed, and was very slim the other. This 

 vine blooms from April 20 to July, bitt was al- 

 ways abandoned when the Ijarberry began to 

 yield freely, about May 20 to 25. The sour 

 honey from this vine is water-white, and it 

 weighs about 11 V lbs. per gallon. It failed 

 to yield honey this year. Barberry honey 

 weighs 11>2 to ILV lbs. to a gallon ; and I 

 have never seen it granulated when pure. 

 The barberry has not failed in nine years. 

 This dry year was the shortest, and yet we 



took 850 lbs. from 80 colonies, and left plenty 

 for winter stores. This year the tarweed is a 

 flat failure — the only one in nine years. We 

 usually depend on it for winter stores after ex- 

 tracting two or three times. 

 Dove, Cal., Aug. 27. 



APICULTURAL LITERATURE. 



Slang or Humorous Expressions. 



BY DR. C. C. MILIvER. 



I'Vom Bee-keepers' Review, p. 280, I quote 

 the following,, written by Hon. R. L. Taylor, 

 in the Department of Criticism: 



" Dr. Miller justifies the use of the class of 

 words to which I objtct because ' a good many 

 like it.' The multitttde likes it. The more's- 

 the pity. What we like is easy. We are 

 prone to it as the sparks to fly upward. Fa- 

 cilis decensus Averiii. The ease of it is the 

 evil of it. 



" The language of the masses is rotten with 

 it. Its breeding-place is in the dens of thieves, 

 and in the holes reeking with the fumes of 

 alcohol and tobacco. Its appearance in print 

 is an echo from such places. To our youth it 

 is more familiar than their mother-tongue. 

 Even our educated youth can hardly utter a 

 sentence without introducing it. Can citizens, 

 especially can parents, look upon such a con- 

 dition of things, and encourage its continu- 

 ance by using the same expressions in public 

 print ? " 



I suppote what called forth the first sentence 

 in the quotation was a Straw in Gleanings, 

 page 609, in which I said, " R. L. Taylor, \h.i 

 Review critic, doesn't like the way the editor 

 of Gleanings talks when in playful mood. 

 A good many like it. 1 rather like to say 

 ' sass ' and some other things playfully." The 

 class of words that I justified because " a good 

 many like it" was "sass" and some other 

 words used playfully, the plain inference be- 

 ing that "sass" was a fair representative of 

 the class. Equally plaiti is the inference that 

 this is the class of words to which I object, 

 because " a good many like it." If what Mr. 

 Taylor says in the second paragraph of the 

 quotation is trtte, 1 am doing a terrible thing 

 to justify the use of any such language, and 

 should earnestly devote the remainder of my 

 life to help undo the mischief already done. 



He says, "The language of the masses is 

 rotten with it." The word "sass" was orig- 

 inally the vulgar form of the word "sauce," 

 that is, as used by the uneducated masses. 

 Less frequently used in that way now, it has 

 come to be classed as a humorous word, and 

 as such I justify its use. A little more humor 

 at the right time and in the right place will 

 do no hurt. To say that language is made 

 rotten by the use of humorous words is a 

 stronger statement than the truth will war-' 

 rant. 



Mr. Taylor says: "Its breeding-place is in 

 the dens of thieves and in the holes reeking 

 with the fumes of alcohol and tobacco." Is it 

 po.ssible that Mr. Taylor thinks that "sass" 



