SKT'TE.\rHKK 1. l!)!i; 



a man (ipciiinu a hive would liavc I lie (•()\('i' 

 .iff. 



There are two objections to this way ol' 

 proi-edure, but tliey are so unimportant thai 

 1 do not consider Iheni. First, the bees 



l)uil(l burr comb below the tianius, but it 

 is necessary only to take a hive-tool and 

 scrape it off to handle the frames. " Bees 

 also jumj) out of tlie l)ack of the hive and 

 sfin^' the shins. A i>nff of smoke cures IJiat. 

 Carlsbad, N. i\l. 



WHY SUGAR-FED HONEY IS NEVER FOUND ON THE MARKET 



r.v wM. rox 



Last spiinii j\lis. Allen asked how many 

 l)ounds of .syru]) arc required to make a 

 certain number of pounds of sealed stores. 

 Dr. ]\riller answered that 5/7 of a jiound of 

 suiiar is about etjuivalent to a jxiund of 

 honey, ov in substance that she would get 

 a ])ound of syruj) stored for each pound of 

 thick syrup fed. Several years ago I asked 

 Dr. Miller about the same question, and in 

 his answer he thought the number of poiinds 

 I Avould get stored would about eciual the 

 number of pounds of sugar fed. I suppose 

 he has forgotten more about bees and hon- 

 ey than 1 ever knew, but both his estimates 

 are certainly too high. 



In writing about having sugar syrup 

 stored in the comb to sell for honey, E. W. 

 Alexander said : " Aside from any consid- 

 eration of fraud or the pure-food law, there 

 is no money in it.'' Dr. Phillips says, " Of 

 course this has been tried; but there is 

 nothing in it, financially or otherwise." 



If I can buy sugar for 5 cents a pound, 

 and get it stored in the comb and sell it for 

 15 cents a ]iound, it looks to me, aside from 

 any consideration of fraud or violation of 

 the pure-focd law, like a jiretty good in- 

 vestment. 



When I asked Dr. IMiller that question I 

 was trying to post myself so I Avould know 

 how to talk to a lot of people who think 

 nearh- all the honey offered for sale is made 

 from sugai'. 



I sold a man a ])ail of honey. He said 

 it all went to sugar. He did not openly 

 accuse me of fraud, but it was pretty evi- 

 dent lie thought the honey was made from 

 sugar. Neitlier he nor his relatives Avho had 

 bought of m.e ever bought any more. 



A lady came to my ]ilace to get 20 pounds 

 of honey for herself and 1(1 pounds for a 



friend. She said, " We don't want to buy 

 it at tiie store, for that is this sugar-fed 

 honey." 1 told her what the United States 

 Department of Agriculture had to say about 

 sugar-fed honey, and that the Department 

 has a beeyard a few miles out from Wash- 

 ington, in charge of bee experts who are 

 gathering information for the benefit of 

 farmers and others who keep bees. I told 

 her that from a little experience I had in 

 feeding up weak colonies I thought we 

 should have to feed on an average about 

 three pounds of sugar for every one-pound 

 section we could get the bees to fill, and the 

 price of a pound of honey would not pay 

 for the sugar. I may be a little off, but I 

 guess I am about as near tlie mark as Dr. 

 Miller. 



I also told the lady that the honey in 

 the store was pure Jbee honey, but my 

 honey had been left on the hive for the 

 bees to ripen, and it was probably a bet- 

 ter grade of honey than she could get at 

 the store. I told her a lot of other things. 

 If there comes a time I cannot sell all 

 the honey I can produce, I intend *to 

 write som.e things for the local paper. 



Oakland, 111. 



[There is certainly a danger that un- 

 informed persons finding that a beekeeper 

 buys large quantities of sugar to feed 

 his bees might jump to the conclusion 

 that honey, especially honey that has 

 graiurlated, is made from sugar syrup. 

 Producers cannot be too careful in matters 

 of this kind. There is need of constant 

 education. The truth never hurts. Ex- 

 ])lain that honey produced fi-om sugar is 

 a possibility, but not a iiaying proposi- 

 tion, and consequently there is none on 

 the market. — Ed.I 



NOW WHO'S RIGHT 



1!V Jl. T. PKTT-'llAKIi 



In compliance with Dr. Miller's request, was taken from one of our l)i'eeding-(iueen 



])age 5'21, -Inly 1, I submit the following colonies, and a small ))atch of the eggs care- 



re])ort : fully removed from near the center of the 



A frajue of egas neailv rcadv to liMfcli frMine. it was then icturncd to tlie colony. 



