812 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



of solos and chorus songs, the music by Dr. 

 Miller, and the words by Eugene Secor. Al- 

 though the doctor had made all plans to be 

 at Chicago, during the sessions of the big con- 

 vention, sickness and death among his rela- 

 tives prevented his presence. We were at a 

 loss to know how to carry out the musical 

 part of our program; but, very fortunately, 

 Mr. and Mrs. York and little Miss Ethel Ack- 

 lin, already referred to, came to our assistance. 

 Eihel sang several solos, playing her own ac- 

 companiment, greatly to the delight of the 

 members of the convention. She not only 

 sang well but "brought down the house" 

 several times. She is a daughter of Mr. and 

 Mrs. H. G. Acklin, of Minneapolis, a promi- 

 nent dealer in bee-keepers' supplies, and 

 queen-rearer, of their section of the country. 



BA.RREI^ VS. SQUARE CANS; A HVEI.Y DIS- 

 CUSSION AT THE CHICAGO CONVENTION. 



At the Chicago convention quite a spirited 

 discussion took place between Messrs. York, 

 Hatch, et al., on one side, and Messrs. Pickard 

 and France on the other. The question was, 

 ' ' Resolved, That the squire can is the only suit- 

 able package for marketing extracted honey." 

 Many arguments were presented on both sides, 

 and the discussion waxed warm. The affirma- 

 tive argued that there was always a loss of 

 honey due to its soaking into the wooden 

 staves of barrels ; that the staves would 

 shrink ; that the barrels would leak ; that 

 they were heavy to handle. Mr. Hatch spoke 

 of having jammed his fingers in handling bar- 

 rels. It was admitted that barrels were 

 slightly cheaper, but that square cans would 

 deliver a larger percentage of honey to mar- 

 ket in good order, and were therefore more 

 economical in the long run. The advocates 

 of the barrel side of the question argued that 

 the cans were very awkward to handle ; that 

 two of them in a box were very unwieldy and 

 awkward to lift, making an aggregate of 

 Something like 130 to 135 pounds gross ; that 

 it was much easier to roll a barrel into and 

 out of a wagon ; that it could be ended up 

 without much difficulty where boxes with 

 square cans had to be lifted by main brute 

 strength ; that so far as leaky barrels were 

 concerned, square cans, in their opinion, were 

 just as bad. If one of those 130-lb. boxes 

 were to drop it would loosen the solder and 

 let the honey run just the same. 



It was developed, however, in the discussion, 

 that barrels could not be used in the West, 

 owing to the very dry climate, and therefore 

 the tin packages were the only thing that 

 could be used. It was also pointed out that 

 poor cooperage was responsible for a great 

 deal of the trouble from barrels. Mr. N. E. 

 France, one of the largest honey-producers of 

 Wisconsin, showed the importance of good 

 cooperage, and of stuff well seasoned. He 

 never had any trouble with his barreled honey 

 shipped to market. Many, he said, seemed 

 to think a barrel should be rinsed out with 

 water before putting honey in it. This is one 

 of the greatest mistakes. 



The opinions of two commission men, Mr. 

 A. V. Bishop, of Milwaukee, and R. A. Bur- 



nett, of Chicago, were then called for. Mr. 

 Burnett seemed to favor the square cans, and 

 Mr. Bishop, who is right in the heart of the 

 barrel country, did not express any decided 

 preference, t fancy, however, if all the deal- 

 ers in honey in the country had been present 

 there would have been a large showing in fa- 

 vor of the tin cans. 



Every now and then we are receiving bar- 

 rels of honey almost empty. Our readers 

 already know of our experience, of the honey 

 running out, and on to the bottom of the cars, 

 and how the robbers made tV.ings lively for 

 all the railroad men. The honey-buyer of 

 The A. I. Root Co. says square cans should 

 always be used for white honey. If we get it 

 in barrels we have to go to the expense of put- 

 ting it into cans, because our trade calls for it 

 in that way. Low grade? of honey are gener- 

 ally put up in barrels because the bulk of it is 

 used for manufacturing purposes. But the 

 best grades should be put into cans, if for no 

 other reason than that the ho ey can be sold 

 in large or small lots. Many customers will 

 take one or two cans when they would not 

 take a whole barrel. 



HOW TO PREVENT SUGAR SYRUP FED FOR 

 WINTER FOOD FROM GRANULATING ; AN 

 INCIDENT AT THE CHICAGO CONVEN- 

 TION. 



I RECEIVED a mild scoring at one of the 

 sessions of the Chicago convention. It came 

 about in this way : While the question-box 

 was up for consideration the question was ask- 

 ed, " What is the best way to prevent sugar 

 syrup fed to bees from crystallizing? " One 

 or two answers were given, to the effect that 

 a small quantity of good vinegar or some good 

 extracted honey should be mixed with the 

 syrup during the process of making, using one 

 part of water and two of sugar. I was then 

 asked to give my answer, which I did. I used, 

 I said, one part of water and one of sugar. 

 This made a //;/;; syrup approaching somewhat 

 the consistency of raw nectar as the bees 

 gathered it from the flowers ; that when this 

 syrup was 'fed to bees it was better ripened, or, 

 as some might term it, turned into a kind of 

 honey. But immediately this raised a storm 

 of protests from Abbott, Mason, White, and 

 Moore. They considered it almost heresy for 

 any one, particularly the president of the 

 Association, to admit on the floors of the 

 national convention that sugar syrup fed to 

 bees could be converted into honey in any 

 sense of the word, and they demanded that 

 he recant, or be " reduced to the ranks." I 

 soon found they were combatting a proposi- 

 tion for which I was not sponsor, and then ex- 

 plained what I meant. Sugar syrup fed thick, 

 one part of water and two of sugar, could not 

 be ripened by the bees properly, and it there- 

 fore had a tendency to turn to sugar again. 

 According to Prof. Cook they could not "di- 

 gest " it as they would thinner syrup fed slow- 

 ly. According to Mr. Cowan, of the British 

 Bee Journal, they could not invert it so well ; 

 and according to others, they could not make 

 it into a kind of honey. Mr. Abbott did not 

 care what the chemists or scientists thought. 



