8: 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15 



and every now and then peals of laughter. 

 We very often get into a good-natured ar- 

 gument, and as a general thing Emma is on 

 one side of the fence and I on the other. I 

 dan't really know irhy, unless she has not 

 quite forgiven me for quoting the statement 

 of a boy when once I was trying to find the 

 Miller residence. It was late, and I had just 

 wheeled in from Chicago, and I was in doubt 

 where to go. Said the boy, "You just fol- 

 low this road; and when you come to the place 

 with weeds""' and things in front, turn in." 

 Nor has she forgiven me for taking various 

 photos of the Miller hives that had rags stuck 

 in the cracks to stop up the holes. It is but 

 fair to say that at that time Dr. Miller was 

 about to discard his old hives and purchase 

 new, but was not quite clear in his mind as 

 to what kind of hive to adopt, and so he 

 pieced out the holes with some rags. They 

 were very fantastic, and one morning I 

 busied myself with taking various kodak pic- 

 tures of some of the hives on the sly, intend- 

 ing to put them in GLEANINGS as a good joke 

 on the doctor. Now, Miss Wilson saw me— 

 said I was "not fair to take this mean ad- 

 vantage." So she pulled out the rags, and 

 aftei" she got an armful I turned the kodak 

 on her, taking a couple of shots. 



"Now, Mr. Root, don't you dare use those 

 pictures in Gleanings." 



I insisted so strenuously that I woull, 

 that I left her very much in doubt (f my 

 real purpose until I was about to leave, 

 when I finally promised her they would never 

 see the printed page. I h id the pictures de- 

 veloped and printei, and that is as far as I 

 have gone, and they are in my private col- 

 lection. I suppose I shall get a scoUing for 

 even making mention of the rag-bedecked 

 hives; but time and distance protect me. 



Laying all nonsense aside. Dr. Mdier is to 

 be congratulated in that he has two such 

 able assistants ~ Mrs. Miller and her sister. 

 Miss Wilson. The doctor has tol 1 me that 

 they were rushers, more than equal to two 

 average men. In some classes of work they 

 are very much quicker, and always neater. 

 Indeed, in respect to this last-named quality 

 I think they would much surpass the average 

 woman, and it therefore is no small wonder 

 that they protest at the libel of "weeds and 

 things," and rag hives. 



Well, whenever I visit the Miller home I 

 always feel that I am the gainer in bee-lore, 

 even if I do get worsted in the arguments 

 sometimes; and somehow I feel that I am 

 the gainer in spiritual things, for Christ 

 dwells in that home. 



the new YORK PURE-FOOD LAW; TRADING 

 ON THE GOOD NAME OF HONEY. 



The Tenth Annual Report of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture of New York is before 

 me. In it I find a copy of the New York 

 honey law, which I believe is the most 



* Dr. Miller, like all bee-keepers, is opposed to cutting 

 down sweet clover, goldenrod, and the like. His place 

 was not overgrown with weeds, but the boy's state- 

 ment furnished the basis for a good joke. 



stringent of any law of the kind in any 

 State, but no more stringent than it ought 

 to be. It provides that there shall not only 

 be no glucose mixtures palmed off as pure 

 honey, but that no compound of honey and 

 glucose shall be put out wherein the word 

 "honey" is displayed {prominently, and the 

 other ingredients shown up in small type. 

 The other ingredients must have the same 

 prominence. This is the actual text itself: 



Sec. 80-b. Relative to sellinri a commodity in iinita- 

 tion or semblance of honey.— tio person or persons shall 

 sell, keep for sale, expose or offer for sale, any article 

 or product in imitation or semblance of honey branded 

 as "honey," "liquid or extracted honey," "strained 

 honey," or " pure honey " which is not pure honey. No 

 person or persons, firm, association, company, or corpo- 

 ration, shall manufacture, sell, expose, or offer for sale 

 any compound or mixture branded or labeled as and for 

 honey which shall be made up of honey mixed with any 

 other substance or ingredient. There may be printed 

 on the package containing such compound or mixture a 

 statement giving the ingredients of which it is made; if 

 honey is one of such ingredients it shall be so stated in 

 the same size type as are the other ingredients, but it 

 shall not be sold, exposed for sale, or offered for sale as 

 honey; nor shall such compound or mixture be branded 

 or labeled with the word "honey" in any form other 

 than herein provided; nor shall any product in sem- 

 blance of honey, whether a mixture or not, be sold, ex- 

 posed, or offered for sale as honey, or bi-anded or label- 

 ed with the word "honey," unless such article is pure 

 honey. 



Notwithstanding we have an excellent 

 pure-food law in Ohio, there are mixtures 

 very elaborately labeled, showing the word 

 "honey" in prominently displayed letters. 

 In small inconspicuous wording there ap- 

 pears a statement to the eff"ect that the con- 

 tents of the jar consist of honey, corn syrup, 

 and certain flavoring extracts. I was sur- 

 prised to see that quite a little of this 

 "honey" is off'ered for sale, and more sur- 

 prised to know it sells. The presumption is 

 that people buy it because of the displayed 

 word "honey," and never stop to read the 

 description in fine print; eat the stuff, are 

 disgusted, and then will not buy any honey. 

 The New York law puts a stop to this busi- 

 ness, providing the officers whose business 

 it is to enforce the law do their full duty. 



KING-BIRDS NOT ENEMIES, BUT FRIENDS. 



The king-bird has generally been regard- 

 ed as an enemy of the bee, and undoubtedly 

 it does at times destroy virgin queens in 

 queen-rearing yards. I myself have seen 

 one single king-bird catch on the wing six 

 or eight bees within as many minutes. But 

 for all the evidence against it, a correspond- 

 ent in the American Bee Journal believes 

 that chickens kill far more bees than the 

 birds, and then asks, "Why shouldn't we 

 kill off the chickens as well as the birds?" 

 He adduces proof, showing that, out of 281 

 stomachs of the birds examined by Prof. 

 Beal, only 14 contained the remains of bees, 

 and most of these were drones, while 60 per 

 cent of the king-bird's food was found to 

 consist of injurious insects. One bee-keeper 

 shot a number of king-birds and submitted 

 them to an entomologist, but not a trace of 

 a bee could be found. He urges all who 

 think king-bii'ds are a serious enemy to bees 

 to send a postal card to the Secretary of 



