JUNE ], 1914 



433 



Heads (Q)f Gram fremni Biffereelt Fie 



THE BACKLOT BUZZER. 



It's no place for Virgil's poetry, Plinij's philos- 

 ophu, and Aristotle's meditations on the honeiihe'', 

 when three swarms come off at the same time. 



[The above is the first of a series of drawingrs de- 

 picting: the life and observations of " The Baclilot 

 Buzzer," by J. H. Donaliey, cartoonist of the Cleve- 

 land Plain Dealer. Each issue for sO'me time to 

 come will contain one of these drawings. — Ed.] 



Another Case where Ignorant Spraying of Fruit 

 Trees Kills Bees 



I have had heavy lo'^ses in my bees on account of 

 fprayins for the past tliree years. Thi.s loss by igno- 

 rant spraying is very illusory, in that many small 

 apiarists may ascribe their loss to wax-worms for the 

 simple reason that, when the colonies are reduced by 

 the poison, the wax-worms finish them up very quick- 

 ly. 



My bees got the poison three years ago, in June, 

 just after I had put on the supers, about the 10th; 

 and about the last of the month there did not seem 

 to be half the bees that there were when I put the 

 supers on. In the mean time I had noticed dead 

 lees at only two hives I (bought that these had 

 the paralysis, as had two in previous years that had 

 it. As the weather \ra.= warm, and as they all had 

 eight or nine frames of brood which all hatched out, 

 I got 400 lbs. of extracted and about the same 

 amount of comb honey — all collected during the 21 

 days of August, and all from Clethra amfilia (L.), 

 sweet-piper bush, or white alder. I had seven 

 swarms during this time, and they were the only ones 

 during the year. 



The next year (1912) after selling eleven to go 

 into cucumber hothou.ses I had 35 good strong ones, 

 and two or three weak ones. They were thriving 

 well until apple-trees got into blossom, at which time 

 they began to die off. It was so cold that large 

 quantities of brood died in the cells. About June 1 

 I united them all into 14 hives. I went away, and 

 was gone two weeks. When I returned, several had 

 gone under entirely until I had only eleven. I then 

 1 ought two hives of bees to give them bees to build 

 them up for winter. I also bought several queens 

 luid two 1-lb. packages of bees. I also had one 

 swarm come to me on Aug. 25. All of these gave me 

 12 colonies to winter. Every one wintered well, and 

 all were in fine condition when the apple-trees came 

 into blossom. In the course of two weeks they again 

 went down to three. This is pretty discouraging. 



Woburn, Mass., April 11. John F. Coburn. 



[This is one more link in the chain of evidence 

 showing how bees are killed off by the ignorant 

 spraying of fruit-trees while in bloom. The reports 

 of these cases are so numerous that it would hardly 

 seem there could be any question about it now. — 

 Ed.] 



The Effect of Climate and Soil on the Color of 

 Honey and Sorghum Syrup 



I have been interested in this discussion of the 

 effect that climate and soil have on the color of the 

 honey of the same plant. I believe that the same 

 plant in two different kinds of soil will produce hon- 

 ey of different shades. 



I was born on the Black Land country of Texas, 

 and I've seen a great many men there try to produce 

 sorghum mola-sses. The sorghum cane grows there 

 very luxuriantly, but the finished product, syrup, is 

 Hack and watery — a very poor substitute for some- 

 thing sweet. 



Over on the clay hills and sandy bottoms of the 

 Cross Timbers, only a few miles away, sorghum cane 

 doesn't make such heavy growth, tut the sap from it 

 makes a delightfully clear, fine-flavored molasses in 

 which, in the winter time, there will be found fine 

 granules of sugar. This sandv-land syrup is '.he 

 next best thing to honey. 



Rocky, Okla., April 22. Ko.s Hurst. 



[That climate and soil do have some effect on the 

 color of honey there can be no doubt. Tlie clover 

 honey of Canada is undoubtedly lighter in color than 

 clover honey south of the Great Lakes. Still further 

 .'•outh, this same honey becomes a little darker. The 

 northern-grown alfalfa honey in the Western States 

 is lighter in color than the southern-grown. We 

 have seeii this statement contradicted; but the hon- 

 ey-buyers of the country know there is a difference. 



For some reason the colors of palmetto honey in 

 different parts of the South vary somewhat. In some 

 places it is light in color, and in others it is a little 

 on the amber order. — Ed.] 



The Science of the Granulation of Honey 



What chemical change takes place when honey 

 candies? Is it as wholesome as natural honey? 

 What is the chemical action of v'negar in preventing 

 honey from candying? Is this addition illegal? 



Spokane, Wash., April 24. J. C. Michel. 



[This subject of the mechanical changes that take 

 place when honey granulates has never lecn thoy- 

 oughly investigated so far as we know. Chemically 

 there is no difference between granulated and liquid 

 honey ; that is to say, both will analyze the same. 

 Ordinary honey is an invert sugar, while the raw 

 nectar in the flowers is a cane sugar. It will be seen, 

 then, that the bees make a marked chemical change 



