1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



321 



excess of f.vces produced by the undigested starch 

 which so largely enters into the composition of 

 grape sugar? 



In noticing my account of Mr. D. McCord's heavy 

 losses from wintering his liees on a syrup largely 

 made from grape sugar, you express surprise that 

 he "should have done so foolish a thing;" but you 

 published last fall his account of the mixture he 

 proposed to feed, without a word of disapproval or 

 caution. You also say, in Juue Gle.vnings, " I have 

 never advised the use of grape sugar for wintering." 

 Surely, friend Root, your memory is at fault in this 

 matter. In Gleaninos for October, 1880, p. 489, Mr. 

 Crowfoot, in a letter to .vou, says, "Will you please 

 tell me what you would feed bees that have got just 

 about half enough honey to carry them through the 

 winter? * * * i have about 700 swarms of bees, 

 with about half enough honey to winter on." To 

 this you reply, "If I ha<l TOO colonies with half 

 enough stores for winter, I would supplj' the deti- 

 ciency with frames of candy made of coffee A and 

 best grape sugar in about equal proportions. If it 

 is less trouble to you to feed it in the form of syrup, 

 makethe syrup as described in the A B C. * * * 

 They may die with this feed, but they may also die 

 with natural stores, as past reports fully demon- 

 strate; but I think, if properly done, such stores are 

 just as safe for winter as natural stores. * * * * 

 Very likely the grape sugar that is made now would 

 be safe of itself; but to be sure of being on the safe 

 side, I would use half coffee A, as above." 



Certainly j'ou have sometimes cautioned your 

 readers about grape sugar as a winter bee-feed; but 

 there can be no doubt that, us in your reply to Mr. 

 Crowfoot, you have fully indorsed it as a safe food 

 to enter at least one-half into the preparation of 

 winter stores. When you review carefully all your 

 utterances, I believe not only that you will admit 

 this, but that, with the experiences of the last win- 

 ter, you will condemn its use for winter stores so 

 plainly that no one can mistake your position. Per- 

 haps it needed such a winter and spring as we have 

 just passed through, to demonstrate that no prudent 

 bee-keeper can afford to use grape sugar as a winter 

 feed in any proportions however small. 



Yovi say, "I am very sorry that grape sugar is 

 used for bad or dishonest purposes; but even if it 

 is, I can not see why this should be a reason why we 

 should not use it while rearing queens, and bees by 

 the pound." So enormous are the frauds practiced 

 by the adulteration of our commercial sweets by 

 grape sugar and glucose, that it seems to me that 

 bee-keepers should lend no countenance in any way 

 to those who make them. Already such suspicions 

 have been awakened as greatly to curtail the sale of 

 pure honey at remunerative prices. On selfish mo- 

 tives alone, those who deal in honest honey, and 

 those who have the control of our bee journals, 

 should set their faces as a flint against articles made 

 almost exclusively to be sold for bad purposes. 



You say that the Buffalo Grape Sugar Co. have 

 produced a sugar which " is as pure and simple a 

 sweet as the best grades of maple sugar." Have 

 you any warrant for such an assertion? and even if 

 you had, is it right for you to call down a blessing 

 from heaven upon a company which is making 

 such enormous profits by selling their products 

 almost exclusively to men who, by their adultera- 

 tions, are cheating the poor man in his honey, can- 

 dies, syrups, and sugars? If ever grape sugar and 



glucose are made as pure as the best maple sugar 

 and syrup, and it becomes desirable to mix them 

 with our other sweets, let them be offered at reas- 

 onable prices under their own names, so that we can 

 do our own mixing; or let the mixtures be sold as 

 such for what they are worth. 



Friend Root, you have gained a host of warm 

 friends by your candid admission of mistakes into 

 which you have fallen, and by your readiness to no- 

 tice improvements of others, evec when they have 

 superseded what has cost you much time and mon- 

 ey; nor have you, from a false pride of consistency, 

 been wont to persist in advocating what time has 

 proved to be erroneous. It seems to many of your 

 best friends, however, that on this grape-sugar ques- 

 tion, you have acted under the influence of preju- 

 dices which have strangely warped your better judg- 

 ment. We can not question your sincerity, and can 

 only hope that, when you weigh well this matter in 

 all its bearings, you will feel that you ought to en- 

 list the great influence of your name and journal 

 against a business which, as it is now conducted, en- 

 ables unscrupulous men to commit such monstrous 

 frauds. Your sincere friend, 



Oxford, 0., June, 1881. L. L. Langstroth. 



May the J.,ord bless you, my good kind 

 friend, for your frank and faithful way of 

 taking your old friend to task. I certainly 

 had forgotten giving the advice you quote, 

 and felt sure that I had never said any thing 

 favoring grape sugar so strongly for winter- 

 ing. At the same time, I have no reason 

 now for thinking it any worse than stores of 

 honey. JSlore than ten years ago Ave had 

 abundant proof of the advantage of sealed 

 stores of coffee A sugar syrup over natural 

 stores, and the past Avinter has abundantly 

 corroborated it again. I haA^e alAvays sold 

 grape sugar luider its true name, and, so far 

 as I knoAV, so also have the manufacturers of 

 whom I bought it, and also those to Avhom I 

 sold it. If the experience I have had of the 

 AA'orld is Avorth any thing, I am sure I am 

 right in feeling that the unjust (and I might 

 almost say foolish) prejudice against grape 

 sugar is going to pass away, and it Avill come 

 out and stand as safely as a valuable i)ro- 

 duct from Indian corn, as does starch. Ev- 

 idences of this are noAV found scattered 

 through our papers. NotAvithstanding this 

 conviction, as grape sugar seems, without 

 question, to " make many of my brothers to 

 offend," I will, for the present at least, drop 

 it. I feel sure we shall Avinter better next 

 winter, but I think it Avill be greatly due to 

 some thing more important than the substi- 

 tution of granulated sugar for grape; viz., 

 giving the bees more of my brains individu- 

 ally. As an excuse and apology to our read- 

 ers for the inconsistencies friend L. has so 

 kindly pointed out, I Avould say that I am 

 getting to have a great business on my 

 hands. In my zeal forgetting boys and girls 

 to AA'ork (thatimmortal souls may be saved), 

 a great traffic has opened in supplies. Brains 

 are so much needed at every turn, and so 

 many points are gone over in a single day, 

 that I am no longer able to remember 

 what I have Avritten and advised, as I did 

 a few years ago. In the next edition of the 

 A B C, and also in our price list, I will, at 

 least for the present, advise against the use 

 of grape sugar. 



