228 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apr. 1 



the other. I believe Mr. Foster must have gotten 

 hold of some very fine sugar, and, because It dis- 

 solved on his tongue quicker than the other, he 

 considered It sweeter. But the size of the grains Is 

 dfttermined by the way the sugar is granulated in 

 the factory, as one of the foremen in the Longinont 

 sugar-factory has just explained to me, and the 

 chemical composition has nothing to do with It. 



To come now to the more practical side of the 

 question, Mr. M. A. Gill, who fed some 10.000 lbs. of 

 beet sugar last fall, showed me syrup In some of his 

 hives to-day that had not granulated, and he did 

 not use hot water in making the syrup. 



As to the Ideas of housewives. It is very unlikely 

 that they can detect a difference between two sub- 

 stances that the best chemists declare to be Identi- 

 cal; and I deem It very possible that prejudice may 

 cut considerable figure In the matter. In reality, 

 much sugar sold as cane sugar is doubtless manu- 

 factured from beets, and hou.sewlves never know It. 

 I hardly believe a governtnent chemist could de- 

 tect the error in beet sugar labeled cane. 



Longmont, Col., March 7. G. C. Matthews. 



[As long as so many instances have been known 

 of beet sugar having been fed to bees extensively, 

 with no bad results, we must conclude that, for the 

 bee-keeper at least, it is all right. The subject has 

 been discussed pro and con for a number of years. 

 Perhaps for the present, at least, it had better rest. 

 —Ed. 



Kings as well as Queens; Bees Drunk on Cider. 



Would you Yankees like to know how we manage 

 bees down here in Rockingham Co., N. C.7 Here is 

 how some of us try to do It: 



To begin with, according to some of our oldest au- 

 thorities our bees are better protected than yours, 

 having a king as well as a queen, while the only 

 drones with which we have to contend are those 

 bees that have been so foolish as to have stung 

 something. To prevent swarming, a string Is tied 

 around a hive half way from the bottom. I have 

 been told this Is a sure preventive; but after seeing 

 one thus treated cast three swarms In as many 

 days I am not so sure about It. In case of the death 

 of a bee-keeper It Is necessary that the bees be In- 

 formed at once, else they speedily follow the fate of 

 their master. 



You may wonder that, following such methods as 

 these, we shoiild have any trouble, and yet we do. 

 Last season was a great one for fruit, and much ci- 

 der was made; consequently many bees were killed 

 at the presses. Tho.se that escaped stored no hon- 

 ey, and winter found colonies weak In bees and 

 short of food. Very few colonies that were not fed 

 survived, and I have no doubt that at least 75 per 

 cent of all colonies that were In this county last Oc- 

 tober are dead. I am told that the reason for this 

 is that the bees were drunk all summer on elder. 

 However this may be, a good fruit year usually 

 means a poor honey crop with us. Whether the 

 bees prefer drinking elder to gathering honey, or 

 whether there is no honey to gather, I don't know. 



Reidsvllle, N. C, March 7. Hugh Johnson, 



Flour Method of Queen Introduction. 



Mr. R. F. Holtermann, In his Canadian Notes for 

 Dec. 1, discredits my claim to Introducing queens 

 by the flour method. I think I am entitled to that 

 honor. The mistake belongs to R. F. H. Accord- 

 ing to his Canadian Notes, Mr. MacDonald's claim 

 Is as a " bee-quieter." I had long used flour in this 

 capacity before I thought of using It for queen In- 

 troduction. I had tried Dr. Miller's water method, 

 also the honey method; but neither was to my 

 taste as a clean, handy, reliable method; and In 

 seeking for such I hit upon the flour method: and 

 after an extended use of the same I gave it to the 

 bee-keeping world In 1909. 



Hagersvllle, Ont.. Dec. 19. Joseph Gray. 



Wasps do Enter Hives with Bees. 



About that wasp-nest, p. 16, Jan. 1. in about the 

 same way I found one In a section of honey. Three 

 cells were built In one beeway section, the second 

 section back from the front, and the third from the 

 right side of a super having fence separators. This 

 was over a medium-strong colony In an eight-frame 

 hive. Here Is my side of an argument, although I 

 haven't my proof, for I broke those mud cells out of 

 the section, so I have neither section nor photo. 

 But take my word Jor Jt.agalnst Mr. A. S. Parson's 



argument, page 70, Feb. 1. 1 know those cells were 

 built while bees were working In the same super, 

 and some In an extracting-super of half-depth 

 frames above the one in which they were built; and 

 I know those wasps used the same entrance as the 

 bees, there being no other entrance or crack' large 

 enough to admit an ant. 

 Merrill, la., Feb. 11. G. L. Zimmerman. 



Sour Smell Comes from Aster Honey. 



The sour smell that J. B. Chrisler, Louisville, Ky., 

 speaks of, page 150, March 1, Is caused by the honey 

 gathered from aster. The odor Is not unpleasant, 

 but Is very noticeable when the bees are bringing 

 much of It In, and can be distinguished at a consid- 

 erable distance from the hives. Last fall, on com- 

 ing home irom my place of business at night I 

 could smell it at a distance of 600 ft. from the apia- 

 ry. In fact, the amount of "smell" is such a good 

 criterion as to the amount of honey coming in that 

 one can tell the quantity he is getting from these 

 Indications alone. My 30 hives were never opened 

 from .July 15 till late in October when I found that 

 I had secured within 50 lbs. of the amount of honey 

 I had expected to find, judging by the smell alone. 



Harrodsburg, Ky., March 7. W. H. Reed. 



Carbolized Cloths All Right in Special Cases. 



I used carbolized cloths several times In Eng- 

 land, and found that the plan has Its advantages in 

 special cases. When the weather Is cool It helps to 

 keep down robbing, and if the bees seem extra 

 cross, as it causes less disturbance than smoke. 

 But great care must be taken or the honey will be 

 tainted. In one case especially I remember taking 

 off sections for a friend late in the evening. The 

 bees were so vicious that smoke had but little ef- 

 fect. They even stung me through my clothes. 

 They would dart at and sting any moving thing. 

 But I conquered them with the carbolic cloth. I 

 used it according to the British Bee-keeper's Guide 

 Book, page 101, 18th edition. 



Leamington, Ont. J. J. Pendray. 



Alley Stock Non-swarmers. 



I have just read J. B. Hand's letter on page 148. 

 We got one of our first Italian queens of our old 

 friend Henry Alley In the summer of 1874. Her 

 bees were not quite non-swarmlng. but I got two 

 queens of him seven years ago that certainly did 

 produce non swarming bees : and queens reared 

 from them, and mated with drones of your red- 

 clover strain that we got of you ten years ago last 

 fall, very seldom swarm, and are the best bees we 

 ever had; while some we have of another strain 

 that have a little Carniolan blood in them are 

 much Inclined to swarm. So Instinct does not 

 seem to be always the same. Ila Michener. 



Low Banks, Ont., Can., March 10. 



The Word "Pure" No Longer Necessary on Hon- 

 ey Labels. 



I believe that. If we would leave off the word 

 " pure " from labels, It would help as much as any 

 thing to quiet the suspicion that honey is adulter- 

 ated. A purchaser seeing "Pure Honey " on a la- 

 bel will naturally think there Is an impure honey 

 upon the market, and possibly some of it has got 

 Into the package behincj the label. 



Flint, Mich. " Barrett Pierson. 



