5^2 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



sectior s by using' the queen-excluding hon- 

 ey-board between the sections and the brood- 

 nest when working for comb honey? Last 

 year I had some trouble by the queen getting 

 into the sections. In other words, can you 

 get more honey without using- one? 



W. H. Dickinson. 

 Middleton, Conn., Jan. 28. 



[There is a diflFerence of opinion on this 

 question. The g-reat majority do not con- 

 sider that excluders are necessary when 

 running for comb honey if fall brood-nest 

 be allowed. If contracted they are almost 

 a necessity. I should like to hear from our 

 subscribers on the point raised by our cor- 

 respondent. I ma}', say however, that, in 

 the production of extracted honej', exclud- 

 ers are generally considered quite essen- 

 tial since brood or extracting combs are 

 more tempting to the queen than section 

 boxes with foundation. — Ed.] 



A PECULIAR CASE OP SOURED HONEY. 



Quite a lot of bee-keepers have sold some 

 honey to Pomona merchants which either 

 was not ripe (something very unusual in 

 California) or else there is some strange at- 

 mospheric condition prevalent which tends 

 to start fermentation in honey. Last sea- 

 son's honey, as well as honey kept over 

 from 1902 crop, was already granulated 

 solid, but became liquid again, and then 

 started fermentation ( according to the state- 

 ment of parties interested) . I suggested that 

 perhaps there was some soldering-acid left 

 in the tins used, which started the mischief. 

 Well, the trouble is that quite a number of 

 merchants complain that honey on their 

 hands dots not keep in good condition this 

 year (extracted only, as comb honey has 

 given no trouble). Now, we want to know 

 what can be done to this honey to make it 

 salable. Will cooking take out the sour- 

 ness? Can it be fed to bees without bad 

 results? What do you do in such a case? 



M. R. KUEHNE. 



Pomona, Cal., Mar. 14. 



[Heating soured honey helps it somewhat. 

 After it has been cooked, if the bees will 

 take it in warm weather I do not think it 

 would do any harm. If they will not do 

 any thing with it, the only thing to be done 

 is to convert it into honey vinegar. As to 

 the cause of this sourness, whether the hon- 

 ey was taken oft" green, whether soldering- 

 acid got into it, or whether the source from 

 which it was gathered had some effect on 

 it, I leave our California friends, who may 

 be in possession of information, to answer. 

 — Ed.I 



from one to a hundred. A fourth-inch hole 

 was punched in each tag near the edge, and 

 they were then hung on a brad on the sides 

 of the hives, while a correspoading number 

 in my book showed the record of each queea. 

 They are not expensive, and the man wh) 

 mikes your stencils can furnish them. I 

 like the system better than any that I have 

 ever seen; for instance, if hive number eight 

 should cast a swarm, I hive the swarm in a 

 new hive, lift off the check and hang it on 

 the new hi e, and my book- record still holds 

 good. I simply place a new check on old 

 number eight, and make another record in 

 my book. Walter S. Pouder. 



Indianapolis, Ind., Mar. 7. 



[The only objection to these brass tags is 

 that the numbers would be inconspicuous. 

 They ought to be plain enough to be seen 

 quite a distance away. — Ed.] 



brass tags for hive- numb BRING. 



I notice that there is a demand for a 

 better system of keeping a record of hives 

 in the bee yard. Wnen I kept my bees in 

 Ohio I used a system which I bel eve will 

 interest 30U. I secured 100 brass tags 

 about the size of a half-dollar, numbered 



instinct; cooked nuts vs. meats. 



Friend Root: — In regard to instinct or 

 prudence impelling bees to remain in their 

 hives, page 1010, my opinion is that the 

 field bees were practically all destroyed; 

 and by the time the younger generation 

 were of suitable age to go to the field the 

 hawks were gone. 



Page 1012, Dec. 1. in rearard to a circle 

 of bees around a queen preventing her from 

 la3'ing, it occurs to me that these bees were 

 nothing more nor le.ss than her retinue or 

 nurse-bees, with the most friendly intent. 



Page 1019. same issue, Mr. Lathrop's ar- 

 ticle on uncooked foods as compared with 

 meats, I should like to ask if the oil con- 

 tained in the English walnut, and freshly 

 roasted peanuts, would not represent in a 

 certain degree the oil contained in meat, es- 

 pecially if the meat contains any fat. This 

 would certainly be true of the roasted pea- 

 nuts, as the roasting changes them materi- 

 ally from nature. I know people (of the 

 same denomination referred to in A. I. R.'s 

 article, page 1015) who substitute peanuts 

 for both meat and butter; in other words, 

 the}' make a sort of butter out of them I 

 am not setting myself up over older or wis- 

 er heads; but these thoughts just occurred 

 to me while reading the last issue. 



Hillsboro. Wis. Elias Fox. 



[Peanut butter has come to be quite an 

 article of commerce. At our house we use 

 quite a little of it as a relish to spread on 

 bread and butter. Just how far nuts can 

 take the place of meat in a diet I am not 

 prepared to say; but I have learned from 

 experience that, when I am all "run 

 down." there is nothing that does the work 

 of building up like clear lean .beef. It is 

 the natural food of man, and, when prop- 

 erly cooked and properly proportiofied with 

 other foods, there is no article of diet that 

 quite takes its place. I believe I have a 

 right to speak from experience, as I have 

 "been there" — not once but several times, 

 and I have seen its effects on others. — Ed.] 



