1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1057 



average crop. 1 also learn from it that J. 

 M. Hambaugh has left Southern California 

 for Nevada, owing to the severity and fre- 

 quency of the dry spells in the Golden State. 



L'Apicidtcnr advises bee-keepers to save 

 all the propolis scraped from frames or oth- 

 er parts of the hive. A piece about the size 

 of a black-walnut, when placed on a warm 

 stove, will fill the room with the most de- 

 lightful odor, rivaling the best essences. 

 Pieces of it placed in drawers containing 

 clothes will impart to them a most agreeable 

 odor. Let bee-keepers take good note of 

 this and save all their propolis. 

 i«< 



Dr.' Miller says: 



Good thing to know that sharp eyes are upon us all 

 the time. Over in Germany a bee-journal calls atten- 

 tion to a slip in Gleanings, p. 740, where the French 

 journal, I'Apiculteur is called VAjncultiire. Now will 

 some one tell us whether that spelling originated in 

 Marengo, or whether it was the emendation of some 

 genius in Medina ? 



Between Bulletin d' Apiculture, which is 

 right, and I'Apiculteur, the mistake may 

 have occurred here. Apiculture in French 

 is the same as the English word so spelled ; 

 but apiculteur means the man, the apicul- 

 turist. 



In the British Bee Journal for Oct. 13, 

 Mr. John J. Ker makes the following good 

 points on foul brood: 



Some few years ago one of my apiaries (containing 

 some forty stocks) was almost completely destroyed ow- 

 ing to the ravages of this pest. I tried introducing new 

 V>lood, and purchased a new queen direct from Italy, 

 which was given to a colony and duly accepted. The 

 following spring two of my stocks swarmed, and the 

 young queens mated with Italian drones from the above- 

 named colony. In course of time my other stocks 

 dwindled down to seven, and these were ultimately 

 burned, thus leaving me with only the one stock of pure 

 Italian and two offsprings of the same. This. I think, 

 points conclusively to the value of this particular breed 

 of bees as possessing a certain immunity from the 

 scourge of foul brood. I have had no return of the dis- 

 ease since the introduction of Italian blood, and am con- 

 stantly improving my stocks by obtaining queens and 

 stocks from all parts of the country. 



I take from the American Bee Journal 

 the following rather caustic review of what 

 Mr. W. K. Morrison said in these columns rel- 

 ative to glucose. Ordinarily such reviews 

 should appear in the journal publishing the 

 article in question; but perhaps Prof. Eaton 

 had good reasons for inserting his criticism 

 in the "Old Reliable." 



I can not see any valid reason why bee-keepers should 

 object to the circulation of the " Wiley lie " when they 

 countenance and spi ead such articles as that copied on 

 page 698 from Gleanings, attributed to W. K. Moi-ri- 

 son. Knowing the editors of the above publication, I 

 would not accuse them of intentionally circulating 

 false statements, but attribute them rather to ignor- 

 ance or oversight. 



As regards the article, there is not a single truthful 

 statement of fact from the first to the last sentence, 

 nor in the introductory paragraph. To itemize: 



Pure glucose is sold for 10 cents a pound, and less. 

 Chemists do refer to this article when they speak of the 

 wholesomeness of glucose. The article referred to at 50 

 cents per pound is probably chemically pure dextrose 

 quoted by Merck at $2.00 per pound, or chemically pure 

 dextrin at $1.00 per pound — the chief constituents of 

 commercial glucose. 



Glucose is not a particularly disagreeable article. 

 The poisoning cases in Manchester, Eng., were from 



beer made laroely from glucose instead of containing 

 minute quantities thereof. The glucose was not used 

 forcolor or body.but to supply sugar to make alcohol, thus 

 making a clioaper beer than by the use of grain. The 

 discovery was not made by chance, but by tracing the 

 poisoning to the beer, and by chemical analyses thereof 

 by public analysts. 



Use of glucose in beer is not the pinncipal use to which 

 glucose is put, its principal uses being in syrups, candy, 

 artificial jellies and jams, and preserves. Good beer is 

 free from glucose, and the glucose variety, if not an 

 actual adulterated article, should be sold as glucose beer. 



Finally, the poisoning in the English beer was not due 

 to glucose per se, but to an accidental impurity in the 

 glucose— .arsenic— which was due to some highly con- 

 taminated pyrite from which the sulphuric acid used 

 in manufacture of glucose was made. 



Since the discovery of arsenic in glucose beer, many 

 other articles made from sulphuric acid have been dis- 

 covered to contain traces of arsenic. Sulphuric acid, 

 however, has not been used in this counti-y in the manu- 

 facture of glucose for many years, hydrochloric acid 

 taking its place, which, when neutralized with soda, 

 leaves nothing but common salt in the glucose, and 

 which, being harmless, is not removed. 



There are plenty of grounds on which to fight the sale 

 of glucose mixtures for honey without entering the 

 field of fiction. Prof. E. N. Eaton, 



State Analyst for the Illinois Food Commission. 





EXTRACTED AND COMB HONEY FROM A COLO- 

 NY AT THE SAME TIME. 



"Hello, Doolittle! Got time for a little 

 talk this evening?" 



"Yes, Brown. The evenings are quite 

 long now, and it is a good plan at this time 

 of the year, and for the next three months 

 to come, to talk and study up on the bee 

 question, so as to be the better prepared for 

 the season of 1905. But what did you wish 

 to talk about?" 



"My bees did not seem to work as well in 

 the sections the past summer as I thought 

 they ought to, and I am thinking of buying 

 an extractor for next season, so that I can 

 extract the honey out of the brood-combs 

 when I put on the sections. I think there 

 was too much honey in the brood-combs for 

 good work in the sections. What would you 

 advise?" 



"Well, I would advise every bee-keeper 

 having five or more colonies to procure an 

 extractor, but I would not advise buying an 

 extractor for the purpose you name, for I 

 believe such a fallacy." 



"How is that? I was talking with Mr. 

 Smith in this matter, and he thought my 

 plan would be all right." 



"Many, hke yourself and Smith, seem to 

 suppose that something must be done in 

 times of section honey to clear the brood- 

 combs of honey to give the queen room to 

 lay, so as to keep up the population of the 

 colony, they apparently thinking that, when 

 bees are working in sections, the brood-combs 

 must necessarily become crowded with hon- 

 ey to its exclusion from the sections, while 



