THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



103 



better than the wet ground. I 

 found all I set out in fine condition 

 except colonies that were made 

 late in the fall, by uniting nuclei. 

 These were used for queen-rearing 

 and I know contained a large pro- 

 portion of old bees. They show a 

 large amount of dead bees, but no 

 signs of dysentery or disease of 

 any kind. 



i " called the roll" of the remain- 

 der to which every colony respond- 

 ed, and as those I carried out for a 

 flight were my poorest stocks last 

 fall, I can safely say my bees have 

 wintered well and without loss. 

 Now, can I spring them without 

 loss? I will try. I shall not set 

 any more out even for a fly until 

 soft maple opens, unless they get 

 restless. My trial swarm I find 

 has consumed eight pounds of 

 hone}- since being put into winter 

 quarters in November last. I dis- 

 like to handle a colony for a few 

 days after being set out of the cel- 

 lar ; they are quite apt to ball their 

 queen or sting her in their excite- 

 ment. But I wanted to know what 

 the consumption of honey was, 

 with an average stock entirely 

 undisturbed, as I knew a fly 

 would increase the consumption. 

 The weight was taken in this man- 

 ner : the frames were taken out, 

 bees all shaken off"and then frames 

 with honey and pollen weighed ; 

 so. the eight pounds includes all 

 they ate of both honey and pollen, 

 and my bees had plenty of the lat- 

 ter this year. I wintered this year 

 on basswood honey mainly. I se- 

 lected a few stocks, tier^ed them up 

 and instead of extracting, set the 

 frames when filled and capped, one 

 side, to build up with last fall. 



Friends, if honey is as good as 

 sugar to winter on, let's use it. 

 Would not that be a good way lo 

 keep up prices? 



1 believe good clover or bass- 

 wood honey equal to any thing for 

 bees to winter on, but I do not 



reall}^ fancy fall or late gathered 

 and poorh^ ripened honey for my- 

 self or my bees either. 

 Thorn HilL N. T. 



For the American ApicuUurist. 



POISON HONEY. 



By a. M. W^illiams. 



Some kind friend has just sent me 

 a copy of the "American Apicultu- 

 rist" for which I am very thankful. 

 It contains a large amount of useful 

 information and appears to be very 

 reliable. I was especially interested 

 in the questions by Sereno Edwards 

 Todd, and for the very good reason 

 that I was the first to bring the sub- 

 ject of poison honey to the attention 

 of the public. Although Mr. Todd 

 has an opinion on this subject, he ap- 

 pears as a seeker after the exact truth, 

 and for that reason he calls for "pos- 

 itive knowledge and not for opinions." 



I propose to make a few comments 

 on his questions. "Do bees ever 

 store up poisonous honey?" Yes. 

 This fact has been known from the 

 days of Xenophon the historian to the 

 present. But we need not go back 

 to ancient times, nor travel a long dis- 

 tance for evidence. I have the 

 honey on hand to show, also the 

 plants that yield it and a multitude of 

 people to testify to it. I can tell 

 how to test this honey without dan- 

 ger and this will answer question 4. 

 This honey has a peculiar taste as if 

 it contained some pepper and makes 

 an irritation of the throat with a ten- 

 dency to cough after swallowing. 

 This is followed by a sickness to the 

 stomach and headache, and, if much 

 is swallowed, by vomiting. Now a 

 very little of this will not do any per- 

 manent injury, and enough can be 

 taken to prove its properties, and one 

 can afford a little unpleasantness for 

 the sake of proving an important fact. 



Question 5 is answered positively 

 in the negative, and I am ready to 



