220 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 13, 



Mr. Langstroth on Glucose. 



THOMAS C. NEWMAN. 



Editor and Proprietor, 



CHICAGO, ILL.,, JULY 13, 1881. 



®" On Saturday, July 2, after the 

 Bee Journal of last week was on 

 the press, the bees in our great hive of 

 nature were thoroughly alarmed, be- 

 cause of an attack made upon the per- 

 son of its chief. Had the intruder been 

 within reach of the infuriated bees, 

 they would quickly have stung him 

 to death. The person attacked was 

 Pres. Garfield ; the assassin was a no- 

 torious fanatic by the name of Gui- 

 teau ; the weapon used was a large re- 

 volver ; the work was clumsily done, 

 at the depot in Washington, as the 

 President was about to take the train, 

 — but the President still lives, to re- 

 joice the hearts of fifty millions of 

 freemen. The messages of condo- 

 lence from all the civilized nations of 

 the world, present a beautiful and af- 

 fecting spectacle. 



Suspended. — The small monthly, 

 " Young Hearts and Little Hands in 

 Apiculture," that was published by J. 

 W. K. and A. G. Shaw, two clever 

 boys, at Loreauville, La., is no more! 

 In its June number, just published, 

 the editors give their valedictory. It 

 has lived just two years. We expect 

 to hear from the "Shaw" boys at some- 

 thing greater, if life be granted them 

 to become men. 



$g- The Minnesota Agricultural and 

 Mechanical Fair and Exposition will 

 be held at Minneapolis, Minn., Sep- 

 tember 5 to 9, 1881. It promises to 

 be a very attractive Fair. We desire 

 to engage some good judge of 

 bees and honey who may attend that 

 Fair to make a brief report of such 

 for the Bee Journal, and will fur- 

 nish 2 season tickets and the necessary 

 documents as our reporter. Who will 

 accept this proposition ? 



$g" Hern Vogel succeeds the late 

 Hern Andreas Sclunid, as editor of 

 the Bienen-Zcitung. The Zeitung is 

 now in its 37th year of publication, 

 and is the oldest bee paper in the 

 world. We extend our congratula- 

 tions, and welcome its new editor, 

 Hern Vogel, whose acquaintance we 

 were very glad to have made at the 

 Austro-Gernian Bee Congress, at 

 Prague, in 1879. 



It is with the greatest satisfaction 

 we give space to the able and practical 

 article from the pen of the Rev. L. L. 

 Langstroth, to be found on page 218. 

 His strictures on the uses and abuses 

 of glucose are exhaustive and convin- 

 cing, while the whole article will well 

 repay careful and studied perusal. 

 Particularly worthy of attention are 

 the following sentences : " So enor- 

 mous are the frauds practiced in 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 On selfish 



motives alone, those who deal in hon- 

 est honey, and those who have the 

 control of our bee periodicals, should 

 set their faces as a flint against arti- 

 cles made almost exclusively for bad 



purposes 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 reason- 

 able 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." 



It is gratifying to know that Mr. 

 Langstroth's able arguments have not 

 been altogetherin vain, for the closing 

 sentence of Mr. Root's rejoinder in- 

 dicates that he is " almost persuaded," 

 although his promise is made with an 

 evident mental reservation. This sen- 

 tence reads: " In the next edition of 

 the "A B C," and also in our price 

 list, I will, at least for the present, ad- 

 vise against the use of grape sugar." 



It will be observed that Mr. Lang- 

 stroth takes the same view of grape 

 sugar and glucose as a commercial 

 product, that we advocated long ago, 

 and is as unalterably opposed to its 

 being offered and sold for anything 

 else. We have always assumed that 

 any article of real merit has nothing 

 to fear from being honestly trafficked, 

 while a product possessing no real 

 merit should not be imposed upon the 

 public under an assumed name. No 

 amount of commercud enterprise can 

 ever justify dishonest dealing. 



The Northwestern Convention at 

 Chicago. — It will be observed, by ref- 

 erence to our local convention direc- 

 tory, that the time for the meeting of 

 the Northwestern District Convention 

 has been postponed till Oct. 2.5 and 26, 

 1881, instead of Oct. 11 and 12. It was 

 found other Societies were entitled to 

 the latter days for their Conventions, 

 by priority, and hence the change. 

 We think the change a good one, as it 

 will enable members of local Societies 

 to perfect arrangements for a general 

 attendance, and give opportunity for 

 a review of the summer's work. 



Fraternal Appreciation.— There is, 

 perhaps, nothing more indicative of a 

 paper's real merit than the frequent 

 appearance of articles accredited to it, 

 and nothing more encouraging to an 

 editor than the receipt of private en- 

 comiums like the following, from those 

 who " know whereof they speak :" 



The Rural New- Yorker, ) 

 34 Park Row, N. Y. 1 

 T. G. Newman, Esq.— Dear Mr: 

 Allow a word of congratulation on the 

 work you are doing for apiculture by 

 means of your paper. Its able dis- 

 cussions of all topics relating to the 

 apiary have won for it an enviable 

 reputation among bee journals. Suc- 

 cess to you ! Fraternally, 



J as. \V. Harrow. 



Seldom have we felt more pleasure 

 than we experienced upon the receipt 

 of the above note from the ollice of 

 the Rural New-Yorker, a paper which 

 stands pre-eminent among the agri- 

 cultural papers of the world. It is 

 unnecessary to return the compliment, 

 as the Rural is read and appreciated 

 wherever scientific and intelligent ag- 

 riculture prevails. 



Explorations in the Orient for Bees. 



The following very interesting letter 

 from Mr. Frank Benton, will be read 

 with much interest. The results of 

 his expedition are not flattering. Af- 

 ter the expenditure of a small for- 

 ture, many months of valuable time 

 and enduring hardships, that but few 

 men could or would endure ; the re- 

 sult is that Mr. Benton has a colony 

 of small bees that are " not valuable," 

 and a colony of Apis dorsata that are 

 in such a condition as not to be 

 " likely to reach its destination, Cy- 

 prus, alive." The result is anything 

 but flattering, and the contemplation 

 of it by Mr. Jones must be rather dis- 

 couraging. Nevertheless let us hope 

 that there may be some result that 

 will, in a measure, give some solace 

 for his many expenditures. 



Mr. Benton's letter is as follows : 



Steamer " Djemnah," ) 

 • Red Sea, May 3, 1881. f 



Friend Jones: No doubt you look 

 for a long account telling you that I 

 have with me scores of colonies of 

 bees of various kinds and races, some 

 of them far more valuable than those 

 we now cultivate, and I should be 

 very glad indeed to be able to give 

 such a report, but instead, I must say 

 I have with me but two races of bees 

 and but two colonies of Apis dorsata, 

 the Great East India Bee, and one of 

 Apis Jlorea, a race of very small bees, 

 curious, but not valuable, and fur- 

 thermore, I cannot say that the colony 

 of large bees is in such condition as 

 to be likely to reach its destination 

 alive. 



Now, notwithstanding this very 

 meagre report, I am justified in say- 

 ing that I have exerted myself to the 

 utmost, and have risked my life and 

 health times without number, feeling 

 that I must do the work I had under- 

 taken if it were a possible thing. The 

 fact is, I have undergone hardships, 

 and have exposed myself to the at- 

 tack of disease as well as to the dan- 

 gers of instantaneous death in a num- 

 ber of ways, to such an extent as I 

 could by no means be induced to do 

 again, even for a very considerable 

 sum. As it is, my only penalty has 

 been a severe tropical fever — the 

 jungle fever of Ceylon— which af- 

 flicted me during 10 days, occasioning 

 me much suffering ; some personal 

 expense for clothing necessary to the 

 journey as well as others spoiled by 

 climatic influences. It was an utter 

 impossibility for me to reimburse the 

 money the journey has cost. I shall 

 likely return to Cyprus with £12 to 

 £15, but if I had had a year's time in 

 the East, and had found very valuable 

 bees I do not believe I could have 

 paid expenses. 



I aroused much interest in Ceylon 

 while I was there. Even with the ut- 

 most economy, traveling and getting 

 along, of tentimes,in such a manner as 

 the Europeans living in the East con- 

 sider "mean," the expense of such a 

 journey is immense, and then it takes 

 so long to accomplish a little. This is 

 partly owing to the character of the 

 people living there, and partly to the 

 climate, to which no European or 

 American dare expose himself as he 

 would at home. 



I will endeavor to give a short ac- 

 count of my journey ings since leaving 

 Java, having told you, I think, of my 

 fruitless and trying search there. You 

 will see from what follows why I have 

 no more to show for the time, money 

 and trouble I have been obliged to 

 use in testing this matter. 



Immediately upon my arrival in 

 Ceylon from Java 1 proceeded to one 

 of the jungle districts where I had 

 been informed I would be likely to se- 

 cure some of the large bees. I had a 

 letter of introduction to one of the 

 native chiefs— the head one of this 

 district, and a man more interested in 

 bees than any other native— perhaps I 



might say person, in Ceylon. This 

 letter not only secured me his influ- 

 ence with the natives, but an invita- 

 tion to remain in his home during all 

 my stay in his locality. Within two 

 miles of his home I saw the first col- 

 ony, or, in fact, the first specimen of 

 Apis dorsata which ever greeted my 

 eyes. 



The bees were about 50 feet up a 

 tree, on a branch to which it was not 

 easy to get. Yet I climbed up so as 

 to reach out and take off in my hands 

 some of these wonderful bees, as large 

 as queens, blue backs with shining 

 blue wings and orange-colored bands 

 under them. The comb, which was 

 new, hung from the under side of the 

 branch about 15 inches long, and the 

 bees hung down (i or 8 inches lower, 

 looking like great wasp-colored hor- 

 nets, beautiful but dangerous looking. 

 As long as wholly undisturbed, or 

 merely taken off from the bottom of 

 the cluster with the hand they made 

 no effort to sting, but a breath or the 

 least jar, or even the scent of the 

 body blown by the wind towards 

 them irritated them much. When 

 one had stung me or my clothing, I 

 have forgotten which, the rest fast be- 

 came wild with excitement, constantly 

 whizzing out from the cluster in great 

 anger. They kept coming in great 

 numbers until I thought it prudent to 

 retire. So down the tree I went, but 

 my new-found friends accompanied 

 me, as I went out into the jungle, 

 " sticking closer than a brother." I 

 received many stings, yet found them 

 not quite as severe as those of our 

 bees, and the bees themselves were 

 more awkward about stinging than 

 are our bees. At last I got rid of 

 them by killing and capturing them, 

 but for some time others kept trying 

 to sting even when I was rods from 

 the tree. With the help of some na- 

 tives I secured this comb and a part 

 of the bees, but the rascally Cinga- 

 lese, being afraid of the bees, let their 

 torches blaze up, although they had 

 been cautioned against it, and thus 

 burned many of the bees. I could 

 find no queen among tne remainder, 

 and of course soon played out. They 

 took no care of their brood, so I was 

 obliged to throw away the comb 

 shortly after. Strange to say, these 

 bees, so ferocious in their forest-home, 

 where nothing but smoke will bring 

 fear to them, can be handled with no 

 fear and without smoke, when in mov- 

 able frame hives, provided they be 

 not jarred or breathed upon, and no 

 quick motions be made. After this I 

 could get no more trace of the large 

 bees near at hand, with the exception 

 of a single colony very high up a large. 

 tree. I had learned that at night was 

 the best time to handle them, if I 

 wished the bees, and so in the night I 

 climbed this lofty tree which stood on 

 the side of a large, steep, rocky, and 

 jungle-covered hill; but except a se- 

 vere stinging and much fatigue there 

 was no result of this venture, for the 

 bees were in too dangerous a situa- 

 tion. Many times when I had made 

 long journeys to secure some, which 

 liad been found for me, I was disap- 

 pointed by finding that some one had 

 cut the combs for the honey, or that 

 these were new swarms, only tempo- 

 rarily settled, and which had soon 

 gone away. 



An excursion of a few miles was a 

 long journey, because it had to be 

 made with an ox-cart, generally in the 

 night to avoid the heat, and as much 

 time would be lost in getting a cart- 

 man and getting him under way as it 

 took to make the journey, or the way 

 would be through almost impenetrable 

 and rocky jungles where progress, on 

 foot, even, was slow and laborious. 



A trip to BambcragaUa(Apis dorsata 

 rock),22 miles with ox-cart and 7 miles 

 on foot, showed me 14 colonies of the 

 great bees, some of them containing 

 a bushel of bees and having combs 4 

 or 5 feet long and 3 to 3*4' feet broad ! 

 But the lowest down was 50 feet from 

 the rough rocky bed at the base of the 

 mighty rock itself, and others were a 

 hundred feet above us upon the under 

 side of a shelving projection, quite 

 inaccessible. Two or three could, at 



