1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



233 



"When shall discussion be cut off?" is a 

 question that is discussed in the Review, es- 

 pecially when it relates to something outside 

 of bee-keeping. My plan is, not to allow any 

 thing to go into the bee department that has 

 any reference to politics and the great social 

 problems of the day. Not that I am not inter- 

 ested in these questions, because I take peri- 

 odicals that discuss them more thoroughly 

 and fully than could possibly be done in a 

 journal that is (or ought to be) devoted to 

 something- else. 



THE MICHIGAN FOUE-BROOD EAW. 



Friend Ernest : — I inclose you a copy of 

 the foul-brood bill now before our State Leg- 

 islature. Will you please give it space in next 

 number of Geeanings, and urge every bee- 

 keeper in Michigan to write without delay to 

 his senator and representative in the State 

 Legislature to favor its passage ? 



Geo. E. Hieton, 

 Pres. Mich. State Ass'n. 



Fremont, Mich., Feb. 23. 



Section 1. The people of the State of Michigan 

 enact, that, upon the recommendation of a majority 

 vute of the members of the Michigan State Bee-keep- 

 er-.' Association, the Governor shall appoint for a 

 terra of two years a State Inspector of Apiaries, who 

 shall, if required, produce a certificate from the Gov- 

 ernor that he has been so appointed. 



Sec. 2. The inspector shall, when notified, exam- 

 ine all reported apiaries, and all others in the same 

 locality not reported, and ascertain whether or not 

 the disease known as foul brood exists in such api- 

 aries; and if satisfied of the existence of foul brood, 

 he shall give the owners or caretakers of the diseased 

 apiaries full instructions how to treat said cases, as 

 in the inspector's judgment seems best. 



DESTRUCTION OF BEES. 



Sec 3. The Inspector, who shall be the sole judge, 

 shall visit all diseased apiaries a second time, and, if 

 need be, burn all colonies of bees and combs that he 

 may find not cured of foul brood. 



VIOLATIONS. 



Sec. 4. If the owner of a diseased apiary, honey, or 

 appliances, shall sell, barter, or give away, any bees, 

 honey, or appliances, or expose other bees to the dan- 

 ger of the disease, or refuse to allow said inspector to 

 inspect such apiary, honey, or appliances, said owner 

 shall, on conviction before a justice of the peace, be 

 liable to a fine of not less than fifty dollars nor more 

 than one hundred, or not less than one month's im- 

 prisonment in the county jail, nor more than two 

 months' imprisonment. 



ANNUAL REPORT. 



Sec 5. The inspector of apiaries shall make an an- 

 nual report to the Governor of Michigan, giving the 

 number of apiaries visited, the number of diseased 

 apiaries found, and number of colonies treated, also 

 the number of colonies destroyed by fire, and his ex- 

 penses. 



expenses. 



Sec 6. There is hereby appropriated out of any 

 moneys in the State Treasury, not otherwise appro- 

 priated, a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars per 

 year, for the suppression of foul brood among bees in 

 Michigan. Said inspector shall receive four dollars 

 per day and traveling expenses, for the actual time 

 served, which sum shall not exceed the moneys here- 

 by appropriated, to be paid by the State Treasurer up- 

 on warrants drawn and approved by the Governor. 



Sec 7. This act shall take effect and be in force 

 from and after its passage and publication. 



Sec 8. By this act all previous legislation on the 

 subject of foul brood on the statutes of Michigan is 

 hereby repealed. 



While this is not the same as the excellent 

 Wisconsin law, it contains the essential fea- 

 tures of it ; and those features are the appro- 

 priation of an amount of money, not exceed- 

 ing $500, and the appointment of an inspector 

 who shall receive $4.00 per day and traveling 

 expenses. A law without these essential fea- 

 tures is like the play of Hamlet with Hamlet 

 left out. We hope every man in the State of 

 Michigan will do his full duty; and those who 

 can should go to Lansing and do a little talk- 

 ing privately with the senators and represent- 

 atives. 



THE BOIEING-POINT OF HONEY — WHAT IS IT ? 



In Straws, Dr. Miller refers to what Mr. 

 Taylor sa\ s regarding the difference between 

 the specific gravity of honey and that of wa- 

 ter, and suggests that Mr. Taylor may be 

 right in assuming that the boiling-point of the 

 former is much higher than that of the latter. 

 I am surprised that neither Dr. Miller nor Mr. 

 Taylor made the experiment each one for him- 

 self. Taylor, as you know, believes that the 

 evidence of '"one's own senses" is " a thou- 

 sand times better " than the evidence furnish- 

 ed by some one else, whose skill is unknown. 



I took two thermometers, each showing 

 register-marks running up to 220 and 230 re- 

 spectively. Of course, I expected that they 

 would show a boiling-point, when plunged 

 into water in a state of ebullition of 212 or 

 thereabouts. But imagine my surprise when 

 one recorded 220 and the other one 224. I 

 then plunged them into boiling honey, and 

 the mercury went out of sight, and doubtless 

 would have burst the thermometers had I not 

 withdrawn them in time; but as neither one 

 could show more than 5 degrees above that of 

 the indicated boiling water, it proved nothing; 

 and, taken all in all, I was satisfied that the 

 thermometers were not accurate, for the dif- 

 ference in sea-level could not possibly make 

 that much difference. I finally found a ther- 

 mometer (how accurate it is I can not say), 

 that we use in our rubber-stamp department, 

 that will record anywhere from 220 to 350 

 Fahrenheit. This I plunged into hot water, 

 but the mercury did not rise up to the point 

 where I could see it. I next plunged it into 

 honey that was boiling — yes, it boiled all over 

 the stove — and got a record of 232. If this 

 instrument were accurate — that is, would show 

 boiling water at 212 or 213 — then there would 

 be a difference of 17 degrees between boiling 

 honey and boiling water. As the boiling- 

 point did not show at 220, then I know there 

 was a difference of at least 12 degrees. If 

 this thermometer showed under the actual 

 boiling-point instead of above it, as did the 

 others, we should be as much at sea as before. 



I feel very sure that some of our readers 

 will be in position to use accurate thermome- 

 ters and give us the actual boiling-point of 

 honey as compared with that of water. A 

 good deal hinges on this question. 



In the mean time I think that, for the time 

 being, until we know, my wholesale recanting 

 was the safer side on which to err. Another 

 point to be considered is that, if a scientist 

 boils his foul-brood germs in beef gelatine, or 



