1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1423 



be seen iu the front row. Some of these 

 floors had been covered over by the bees with 

 propolis, so that none of the soil was ex- 

 posed to view, making them absolutely wa- 

 ter-tight from below. Where the yards are 

 well drained, the soil inside the I'ims, when 

 the hives are in place on them, never becomes 

 moist, especially as this soil is several inches 

 above the surrounding earth outside. For a 

 permanent l)ottom-board or floor this should 

 be a cheap one. 



BEES AND GRAPES. 



A bee-keeper from Pomona writes me that 

 his bees are complained of as a nuisance, it 

 being asserted by the complainer that they 

 are eating his grapes. Beekeeper wishes to 

 know what are the equities in the case. I 

 think it is well known to all who are conver- 

 sant with Ijee literature that there have been 

 several lawsuits, some of which have been 

 carried to the higher courts, in which the lit- 

 igants have been bee-men versus fruit-men. 

 In every case, so far as I know, the cause of 

 the bees has triumphed. 



This is as it should be. I am very sure 

 that the bees never puncture any fruit 

 if the skin is unbroken. Let bird or wasp 

 break the peel, and the bees are ((uick to dis- 

 cover the wound and save the leaking juice. 

 I feel quite certain that, in case of over-ripe 

 grapes, the fruit itself may rupture, after 

 which, of course, the bees will do their part 

 toward saving the loss. I hr.ve tried many 

 experiments along this line. When bees have 

 been working on grapes or other fi'uit I have 

 taken clusters of fruit not yet attacked, 

 pierced cei'tain grapes with a needle or pin, 

 marking the same, and leaving others sound. 

 The bees would swarm on this fruit, but nev- 

 er molest that which I had not pierced. I 

 have shut bees in the hive till they were rav- 

 enous with hunger, placed grapes in the 

 hive, some of which wei'e pierced, or punc- 

 tured, and some not. Of course, the bees 

 would at once suck the wounded grapes dry. 

 but would never do any injury to others. It 

 has seemed to me from these experiments 

 that the bees must have the odor of escaping 

 juice to lead them to attack, and. as in the 

 case of sound fruit, they have not the pecul- 

 iar odor. 



A SIMILITUDE. 



There are two products which have much 

 to do in our daily life that have a close re- 

 semblance ill more than one respect. I refer 

 to butter and honey. Both of these sub- 

 stances belong to the hydrocarbons. That 



is to say, they are composed of the following 

 chemical atoms: Oxygen, hydrogen, and car- 

 bon, and are different from the proteids in 

 that they never contain nitrogen. There is 

 another peculiarity which both these sub- 

 stances have in common. They can be pro- 

 duced and sold with no impoverishment to 

 the soil. The reason for this is obvious. 

 The plant which gives the material from 

 which they are derived procures this material 

 entirely from the air and water. Thus none 

 of the soil elements are used in this produc- 

 tion. These substances also differ from the 

 proteids in that they have a definite chemical 

 composition, and also differ from the inor- 

 ganic elements in that they owe their exis- 

 tence to previous organisms. There is anoth- 

 er point of similarity: both of these substances 

 are exceedingly valuable as food elements. 

 We must have fats or we can not presei've 

 life, and there is no better fat in all our food 

 than the butter fat. In like manner we must 

 have sugar or we can not live. I believe 

 that, of all the sugars that enter into our 

 food, none are so entirely safe and whole- 

 some as honey. I think it behooves every 

 householder to procure for his family the 

 very best of butter and the very best of hon- 

 ey, as a very valuable if not necessary part 

 of his food regimen. 



UNRIPE HONEY. 



I wish to thank the editor of Gleanings 

 for his correct I'epresentation of my position 

 regarding the extracting of unripe honey. 

 For many years, while I had charge of the 

 Michigan Agricultural College, we were in 

 the habit of extracting our honey before it 

 was completely ripened. The advantage in 

 this was that it was so much more easily ex- 

 tracted, and it saved the necessity of uncap- 

 ping. We were fortunate in having a hon- 

 ey-house without garret and with only one 

 layer of boards for sheeting. As we kept 

 this closed it became very hot for days to- 

 gether all summer through. As we kept this 

 honey in closed receptacles with only thin 

 cloth* above it, it became vei'y thick and I 

 never heard any complaint I'egarding its ex- 

 cellence. One day, however, I happened to 

 be in Chicago, and was taken by Mr. New- 

 man into his wareroom where I beheld a 

 most interesting sight. A barrel of unripe 

 honej' had fermented, the barrel burst, and 

 the honey was scattered all about the room, 

 even smearing the ceiling. Since that I have 

 always advised a delay in extracting honey 

 untirthe bees had it well capped over. This 

 is wise for two reasons: We all know that 

 thin honey is liable to ferment, and this, of 

 course, means ruin. No one can afford to 

 run any risk that may I'esult in such catas- 

 trophe. Again, I believe that honey never 

 reaches the very acme of excellence until the 

 bees cap it over. While we certainly may, 

 if we are always sure to take sufficient pains, 

 procure good honey though we ripen it by 

 artificial means, yet I greatly question if we 

 can ever secure the very best by this method. 

 It should be the aim of every 1)ee-keeper to 

 produce only the best. And thus I would 



