».** 



DEVOTED TO SCIENTIFIC BEE-CULTURE AND THE PRODUCTION AND SALE OF PURE HONEY. 



VOL. XVII. 



CHICAGO, ILL., MARCH 16, 1881. 



No. 11. 



lis* ra r*» iHI >k «*&■*«%, r\ri fY kg \ 



I 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 

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MMm$vM 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Pure Liquid Honey in Glass Jars. 



CHAS. DADANT. 



Under this heading I find an article 

 from Mr. W. M. Hoge, who says that 

 he has invented a way of preparing 

 liquid honey so that it will not congeal. 

 He adds that this discovery will be ben- 

 eficial to bee-keepers, and he explains 

 how we will profit by it. The tendency 

 of honey to candy, for all the adultera- 

 tors of honey, has proved to be a great 

 impediment ; while, for the producers, 

 it is a good characteristic, for it is the 

 best stamp that a bee-keeper can put on 

 his product— a stamp that the adultera- 

 tors are unable to counterfeit. 



Now that the consumers at large be- 

 gin to give their preference to candied 

 honey, the adulterators, seeing their 

 sales decreasing, try to invent some 

 means to stop this result, and incite us 

 to help them to continue their fraudu- 

 lent practice. 



Let us remember that the candying 

 of honey is the best test of purity thus 

 far; that, by preventing honey from 

 candying, we lower it to the level of 

 glucosed honey ; and that, as long as 

 liquid honey can be found on our mar- 

 kets, we will be compelled to compete 

 with adulterated honey, for the profit of 

 this adulteration will always tempt the 

 unscrupulous dealers, while we will be 

 unable to compete with them for the 

 price. 



A few years ago we could find liquid 

 honey, in glass jars, in every good gro- 

 cery. Three years ago I produced, at 

 the Western Illinois and Eastern Iowa 

 Convention, held at Burlington, Iowa, 

 one of these bottles, bought in St. Louis, 

 labeled " Pure Extracted Honey, from 

 John Long, New York." Mr. Hoge, 

 who resided in New York at that time, 

 probably knows "John Long." This 

 "pure honey" was analyzed by an 

 expert chemist and found mostly glu- 



cose. These jars and tumblers are now 

 of slow sale, forthe consumers begin to 

 have confidence in candied honey. We 

 are, therefore, in a fair way for selling 

 our product. Let us go on, and turn 

 the cold shoulder to the advice of those 

 who have, so far, caused more prejudice 

 than profit to bee-keepers. 



Mr. Hoge, who has visited the old 

 continent, knows, as well as I do, that 

 in Europe liquid honey is unsalable, for 

 the consumers are accustomed to buy- 

 ing candied honey. Let us persist m 

 our efforts to educate the people on this 

 question, and we will drive all spurious 

 honey from our markets. 



Hamilton, 111., Feb. 2, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Colchian Honey. 



REV. W. BALLENTINE, A. M. 



I see in the Bee Journal, under the 

 above caption, a question from Mr. H. 

 G. Colwell, of Columbus, Ohio, relative 

 to the effects of honey eaten by the 

 Grecian troops, under Xenophon, as 

 they passed through Colchia in their fa- 

 mous retreat homeward. In regard to 

 this, you propose a query, " Why did 

 the ancient Colchian honey cause the 

 above disorder ¥ " I have frequently 

 had my attention turned to this subject 

 in reading Xenophon's Anabasis in the 

 original, from which the extract by Mr. 

 Colwell is taken. From the best 

 sources of information at my command, 

 the following seems to be the most ra- 

 tional. 



• The honey of Asia Minor in many lo- 

 calities appears to be gathered from the 

 flowers of the order Apochynocese, or 

 dog-bones. Of this order, Prof. Wil- 

 son, in his botany, page 588, observes: 

 " These plants possess active, and often 

 suspicious qualities, residing in the 

 white juice with which the order is per- 

 vaded, and in the seeds, which are often 

 deadly poisons. The alkaloid astychine, 

 or strychinea, one of the most violent 

 poisons, is the active principle of the 

 btrychorea Nux-vomica, of India. It 

 is sometimes administered as a medi- 

 cine, but with doubtful success; a sin- 

 fle seed of one species is sufficient to 

 ill 20 persons. The order is generally 

 emetic." 



In corroboration of this, I will give 

 you the opinion of the celebrated Ains- 

 worth, who traveled over the route of 

 the Grecians, and took notes of all the 

 localities and incidents recorded by 

 Xenophon. He observes that this fact 

 of the honey of Asia Minor being, in 

 certain places, and at certain seasons, of 

 a poisonous nature, was known to all 

 antiquity, and is very common at the 

 present day, so much so, that I have 

 known the peasants to inquire if we 

 would prefer the bitter or the sweet 

 honey, tor the honey so qualified has a 

 slight, but not unpleasant, bitterness, 

 and is preferred by many, from produc- 

 ing, when taken in moderate quanti- 

 ties, the effect of slight intoxication. 

 Pliny notices two kinds of honey, one 

 found at Heroclea, in Pontus.and an- 

 other among the Sanni or Mocrones. 

 The first he supposed to be produced by 

 a plant called iEglatherem, or goats- 

 bane; the second by a species of rhodod- 

 endrom. Dioscorides,Diodorus,Liculus 

 and Aristotle, all notice the honey of 



Heroclea Pontica. The celebrated 

 botanist, Tournefoil, ascertained on the 

 spot, that the honey of bees feeding on 

 the Azalea Pontica, as also on the 

 Rhododendrom Ponticum, possessed 

 mischevous properties; but as the bit- 

 ter and intoxicating honey is found in 

 many parts of Asia Minor, where these 

 plants do not flower, it is extremely 

 probable that these peculiar properties 

 are further derived from the flower of 

 the Neriun Oleander, or common rose- 

 laurel, the leaves of which are known 

 to be acrid and poisonous. The natural 

 family to which the rose-laurel belongs 

 (apocyhnaceae)is distinguished by plants 

 endued with dangerous and fatal prop- 

 erties, and these act on the nerves so 

 as to produce stupefaction. Rhodara- 

 cese also possesses narctoic properties, 

 but in a less marked degree." 



It appears from this, that the honey 

 gathered by the bees from these poison- 

 ous plants, possessed some of the in- 

 herent qualities of the plants them- 

 selves, and operated like a narcotic or 

 opiate on the nerves,producing stupefac- 

 tion and intoxication. If you see 

 proper you can give the above a place 

 in the Weekly, with which I am, so far, 

 very well pleased. 



Sago, Ohio. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Combined Summer and Winter Stand. 



n. l. fenfield. 



The engraving shows a perspective 

 view of a combined winter and summer 

 stand, which I put up to accommodate 

 12 hives of the standard Langstroth 

 pattern. It is constructed as follows : 

 Put in the ground 9 oak posts 4x4 inches, 

 for a frame to nail the 14 foot boards to 

 —3 posts on each side, and 3 between 

 these, set in the ground 18 inches. The 



A. a— Ventilation and bee escape. 

 B— Space to work in and shaded. 



ends are 9 feet wide, which I And gives 

 ample room to manipulate the bees be- 

 tween the rows of hives, the operator 

 being in the shade, and not in front of 

 the entrance of the bees, which seldom 

 bother me. The sides front east and 

 west. The ends are open during the 

 summer, and the north end boarded up 

 in winter. We use millet hay for pro- 

 tection, filling in spaces between the 

 hives, and over and under them, almost 

 filling up between the rows, clearing 

 away enough in front of the entrance 

 for the bees to take a flight when the 

 weather permits. 



This protection keeps them quiet, and 

 storms beat on the shelter and on the 

 millet hay. Of course, this is not a 

 water-proof shelter or cover, and I do 

 not thmk one is needed. It is advan- 

 tageous to have an opening in the apex 

 of the roof ; this plan of having one 

 roof higher than the other secures it 

 with the least expense. It is curious to 



notice how the bees fly out of these 

 spaces marked a, a (as both ends are 

 open) while the operator.is manipulating 

 the hives. Sixteen boards 14 teet long 

 and 1 foot wide cover it, and with the 9 

 posts and 4 2x4 studding to set the hives 

 on, and short pieces to set on top of the 

 posts to nail the roof to, complete the 

 lumber bill. 

 Himnewell, Mo. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Foul Brood, and Its Causes. 



H. L. JEFFREY. 



You ask for my observations on foul 

 brood regarding the cases noted in the 

 Bee Journal. There are many who, 

 I know, will disagree with me, but nev- 

 ertheless, it seemed to come from no 

 other source. The largest case of it was 

 25 colonies in one apiary. Ever since 

 the year 1873 they had been wintered in 

 the cellar, in a sort of room fitted up 

 especially for them. They were usually 

 put in about Nov. 25, and taken out 

 about April 1st to the 20th, according to 

 the season. This receptacle was directly 

 under the living room, which was kept 

 very warm. The bee-room was gener- 

 ally quite dry, and towards spring would 

 stand from 45° to .50°, which would let 

 the bees have from 60° to 80° in the 

 hive, or perhaps 90°, causing the cluster 

 to spread, and there was always a good 

 supply of brood in the combs when taken 

 from the cellar, and generally a consid- 

 erable number of young hatched bees. 

 So far everything was as good as could 

 be asked for, ana every good bee-keeper 

 will say this could not have anything to 

 do with foul brood ; perhaps not. 



These same hives, with more space 

 and more surface of comb than a 10 

 frame Langstroth hive gives, were put 

 into the cellar with all their combs in 

 place, with a box 6 inches deep below 

 the hive, and another above filled with 

 straw, or with a top story filled with 

 rags, old clothes and pieces of carpet or 

 straw. The full complement of combs 

 was left in the hives, regardless of the 

 strength of the colonies, and they were 

 then set on their summer stands with- 

 out using division boards, or any con- 

 traction of combs. After setting out 

 they were generally fed liberally every 

 night to induce breeding, which is a 

 good plan if properly handled, but in 

 this case it helped to breed the disease, 

 and it did do it to the fullest extent. 

 Why ? First, a small colony should not 

 be given any more combs than it can 

 cover, either in summer or winter. If 

 the hive is too large, insert adivisionon 

 one or both sides ; if on both sides, let 

 one of them be at least half an inch 

 shallower than the hive, then if the num- 

 bers increase, they can crowd outside 

 of it. 



Second, if they are wintered in-doors, 

 in a hive full or combs, take away all 

 you can before they are set out in the 

 spring, even if you have to feed to pre- 

 vent starvation! 



Third, if you do winter in-doors on a 

 full set of combs, do not commence 

 feeding regularly, to induce breeding, as 

 soon as set out, though it be the 25tn of 

 April or even the 1st of May. 



In the case mentioned the conse- 

 quences were : In the weak colonies 

 some of the bees died in the combs and 



