1404 



GLKAN'lXtiS IN BKl-: ( Tl.TrRI- 



31 



CANK OK BKKT SUGAK. 



I wish to ask 3'ou which is the best, to 

 feed bees on beet sugfar or cane sugar? Is 

 beet siig-ar hurtful? J. P. Hokton. 



Blooming-dale, Mich. 



[lu this country we make no distinction 

 between cane and beet sugar, but there 

 seems to be a difference of opinion among a 

 few. In England bee-keepers are warned 

 against using beet sugar; in this countrj' 

 we have been in the habit of using either 

 beet or cane indiscriminately, for the fact 

 is there is no test we know of that will en- 

 able us to tell the one sugar from the other. 

 I have talked with beet and cane sugar 

 men, both representatives of the manufac- 

 tures, who stated that there was just as 

 much sweetening power in one as the other, 

 that chemically they were the same, looked 

 exactly alike, and that so far as wholesome- 

 ness was concerned there was no difference. 

 -Ed.] 



formic acid in honey; bee-sting poison; 

 what is it ? 



Mr. Root: — Referring to formic acid in 

 honey, page 846, let me state the result of 

 our investigations here on the continent. 

 Honey contains about .002 per cent of the 

 officinal formic acid. How it comes, with 

 other etheric substances, into the honey is 

 not 3et quite clear. The most probable 

 theory is that it is absorbed from the at- 

 mosphere in the hive. Every bee-keeper 

 has smelled the specific aroma which comes 

 from the hive when disturbing the bees by 

 opening the hive. The disturbed bees open 

 their reservoirs of poison, as any one can 

 easily observe. He will notice how the 

 bees raise their abriomens, opening the cav- 

 ity of the sting. All the atmosphere of the 

 hive is impregnated with the etheric sub- 

 stance, including formic acid, which is also 

 the reason that now the honey and now the 

 pollen will be spoiled on account of the an- 

 tiseptic qualitiesof these etheric substances. 

 As to the poison causing the pain and 

 swelling of the stings, the formic acid is 

 the least exciting cause. The chief sub- 

 stance is a well defined albumic toxin, very 

 similar to the toxins of bacteria; or, to be 

 exact, the pain is caused chiefly by the 

 formic acid and the other etheric sub- 

 stances, while the swelling and sometimes 

 graver symptoms are caused by the organic 

 toxin. To the latter the bee keeper be 

 comes immune; but to the first, never. 



Dr. Brunnich. 



Ottenbach, Switzerland, Nov. 1. 



DKCOv hives; a mixture of comb and 

 extracted honey. 



It may be of interest to some of your read- 

 ers to know how we catch bees out here in 

 Nebraska. Why, we just place boxes or 

 hives up in the trees out in the woods, 

 and the bees go into them — our neighbors' 

 absconding swarms. I thought of this when 

 T read of "furious swarming at Medina." 



Nearly all of my bees were procured in this 

 wa3'. They have made a tine lot of honey 

 which I sell at 15 cents per lb., placed nice- 

 ly in gallon syrup-pails. I first put in 

 some nice comb honey, then fill up with 

 strained honey until it weighs a dollar. 1 

 make it all up into dollar packages; cus- 

 tomers take it readily in this way. 



Williams. Neb. Mrs. Joseph Eamk. 



ARTIST MURRAY'S IMPROVED NUM BERING- 

 TAGS. 



ISIr. Root: — Utilizing your idea of the met- 

 al binding on your movable bottom- board, 

 I suggest that a numbering-tag for hives be 

 made which is easily slipped off or on by 

 inserting a screwdriver or anything handy 



in the hole, underneath which is a scooped 

 hole as shown. The block can be madt 

 very cheaply in long strips, and cut off any 

 size, and the metal cap or tag to match can 

 be nailed to any portion of a hive, and num 

 bers or tags interchangeable with any other. 

 No blowing away or hanging askew; need 

 not be made to fit tight. R. V. Murray. 

 Cleveland. O. 



SHEEP IN LIEU OF L.WVN-MOWF.KS. 



I am anxious to know how it would do to 

 put two or three sheep in the bee-yard. I 

 dislike to have the grass grow up among 

 the hives. C. J. Pfarsk. 



Port Terry, Ont. 



[You can put sheep in a bee-yard to crop 

 down the grass, and they answer excel- 

 lently for the purpose; but you can not have 

 grapevines, or other foliage of which they 

 are fond, within their reach. They will eat 

 almost an\' thing green. Of course, they 

 will do no damage to trees where the branch- 

 es a' e high enough so they can not get at 

 them. — Ed 1 



I wonder why Mr. Danzenbaker has not 

 tried turning his brood-chamber bottom up 

 instead of taking out the frames and invert- 

 ing them. Would it not save him and the 

 bees lots of trouble? 



Wells, Minn. J. \'. Woodworth. 



[Frames can be reversed en masse by 

 turning the hive over; but in the case of the 

 Danzenbaker the thing is not practicable. 

 If vou see a hive you will see why. — Ed.] 



