(pT (^ OLDEST BEE PAPER^ 



.•*t»_a 



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



VOL. XVII. 



CHICAGO, ILL., DECEMBER 14, 1881. 



No. 50. 





Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 

 974 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL. 



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The California Honey Crop. 



Early in September we requested 

 our readers to send on a postal card 

 the results of the season, as to the 

 honey crop, as will be remembered. 



In the Journal for Oct. 5 we stated 

 that the table was nearly complete, 

 and would appear in the next number 

 of the Bee Journal, but that we had 

 received no reports from California. 



On Oct. 12 we gave a " table of the 

 honey harvest of 1881," so far as had 

 been reported to us, and stated that it 

 was necessarily incomplete as it only 

 contained reports from one-twelfth of 

 the bees in the United States. This 

 was distinctly stated and should have 

 been well understood, but by the 

 Semi-Tropic California for November, 

 justtfeceived, it seems that at least 

 one does not comprehend it. Mr. C. 

 N. Wilson, its correspondent, winds 

 up an criticism as follows : 



Now this Table may be all the editor 

 of the American Bee Journal 

 claims it is in other States and Terri- 

 tories, as well as Canada, but when 

 the editor puts the number of colonies 

 of bees at 520 for the whole State of 

 California for the fall of 1881, we begin 

 to wonder where and how the extra 

 labor and study, and the expenditure 

 of brain work, comes to play any part 

 as " valuable or interesting." Let us 

 get at facts, and then compare them 

 with the statements of the very much 

 over-worked editor's Table. 



On the first Monday of March, 1881, 

 the Assessor of Los Angeles County, 

 California, reported 16,613 colonies of 

 bees in the county, and valued them 

 at $33,226, and their owners are pay- 

 ing taxes on that number of colonies. 

 At the same time the Assessor found 

 575,000 pounds of honey on hand, and 

 the owners of it are paying taxes on 

 that quantity of honey, making a dif- 

 ference of 16,093 colonies of bees be- 

 tween the Table and the Los Angeles 

 County Assessor's figures. The total 

 honey product of California, according 

 to the table, is 30,168 pounds, making 

 a difference of 544,832 pounds as be- 

 tween our County Assessor and the 

 editor's calculations. If one remem- 

 bers that such men as Harbison, Wil- 

 kins, Flint, Hale and others who have 

 long been in the business of bee-keep- 

 ing, are residents of California, and 

 any one of the persons named owning 

 more colonies of bees and producing 

 more honey than is credited to the 

 whole State, and that some of them 

 have shipped honey by the carload 

 from California to Chicago, 111., the 

 very place where the editor does busi- 

 ness and publishes the American 

 Bee Journal, the question natur- 

 ally occurs, if it would not be a very 

 good thing for that editor to take 

 Horace Greeley's advice and " go 

 west," and save mental wear and 

 tear — get a taste of some of our pure 

 white sage honey— get acquainted 

 with some of the honey producers of 

 California, and interview the County 

 Assessors as to the honey yield of Cal- 

 ifornia hereafter. 



We never claimed that the figures 

 represented more than one-twelfth of 

 the honey crop— they were given as 

 the result of reports sent to this office. 

 If only a few of the honey producers 

 of California reported, it was no fault 

 of ours, and certainly it is with bad 

 grace for Mr. Wilson to afaise us for 

 not publishing a report which he never 

 sent in I 



The Bee Journal was well aware 

 that the reports from California did 

 not represent more than one-twelfth 

 of the product of that State, and only 

 one-twelfth of the whole crop for the 

 United States— and it, therefore, 

 argued thus : "If the one-twelfth that 

 are reported are a fair average of the 

 whole, then the crop of American 

 honey for 1881 amounts to 120,000,000 

 of pounds," etc. 



In the face of these facts, is it not 

 strange that Mr, Wilson should have 

 misunderstood the Table, and have 

 thought his unjust criticism necessary 

 to defend the honey interests of his 

 State. 



While on this subject we may men- 

 tion the fact that the printer omitted 

 to " point off " the last two ciphers as 

 cents of the amount given as the 

 value of the honey mentioned in the 

 Bee Journal of Oct. 12. This amount 



should have been given as fifteen 

 millions of dollars, as stated on the 

 first page of the Bee Journal for the 

 following week (Oct. 19). We wrote 

 the. amount in words, and the printer 

 put it in figures, and hence the error. 

 This has been the subject of some 

 criticism in the last Bee- Keepers' Ex- 

 change. An argument based on an 

 error which was promptly corrected 

 two months ago, is of no value, and is 

 quite unnecessary to repeat. 



Novice, Glucose and Grape-Sugar. 



In Oleanings for November, Mr. 

 Root quoted an editorial item from 

 the Bee Journal on the use of the 

 glucose trash, and remarked : 



" Now if that is not exactly where I 

 have always stood in tfie matter, it 

 must be I do not see things straight. 

 It looks to me as if friend Newman 

 had come over to my position," etc. 



In the Bee Journal for Nov. 16, 

 we reiterated our position on this 

 subject, and then quoted Mr. Root's 

 published views, which were dia- 

 metrically opposed to our own, for he 

 advised its use to mix with honey, "to 

 improve it for table use," etc. We 

 then added these words : 



Never have we counseled the sale or 

 use of glucose for any purpose what- 

 ever, neither directly nor by implica- 

 tion ; but, on the contrary, our protests 

 against its use have been frequent anil 

 unqualified. We have sacrificed self- 

 interest in our opposition to adultera- 

 tions, and suffered much censure, but 

 the most grievous injury we have yet 

 received was from Mr. A.I. Root, who, 

 with his grape sugar record before the 

 public, unretracted, says "we are 

 agreed." 



To this Mr. Root replied in Gleanings 

 for December as follows : 



The first page of the AmercanBee 

 Journal for Nov. 17, contains much 

 valuable information, collected and 

 arranged with considerable care ; but 

 had friend Newman explained to his 

 readers in the outset that grape sugar 

 and glucose are two distinctly differ- 

 ent articles of commerce, it would 

 have made a much better showing for 

 your humble servant. 



That this is but a quibble to evade 

 the force of the argument, is evident 

 from the fact that Mr. Root uses these 

 terms interchangably in Gleanings for 

 March. April and October, 1878, pages 

 87, 110 and 326. He says : 



. " The light grape sugar that we have 

 been using I find almost as pleasant 

 as maple sugar, and I have eaten it 

 freely for months." 



" Glucose is excellent food, and we 

 should like it just as well as honey, 

 did it not lack the flavor of the flow- 

 ers." 



" Basswood honey is improved for 

 table use by being mixed with the 

 first quality of glucose. I am sure it is 

 just as wholesome as honey." 



"Our friend Dadant is doubtless 

 sincere in what he says of grape sugar, 

 but for all that I think him very much 

 mistaken. I have eaten it in large 

 quantities, just as I would maple 

 sugar, and have fed it to our bees for 

 over a year," etc. 



In order to arrive at the truth, let us 

 imagine Mr. Root on the witness stand, 

 and quote his replies from Gleanings 

 and his price lists : 



Will Mr. Root please give us his 

 opinion of glucose ? Answer : " Glu- 

 cose is excellent food." 



How do you know that it is good 

 food ? Answer : " The light grape 

 sugar that we have been using (called 

 glucose before), I find almost as pleas- 

 ant as maple sugar, and I have eaten 

 it freely for months." 



Do you think it wrong to adulterate 

 honey with glucose '{ Answer : " I 

 really think that strong basswood 

 honey is improved for table use, by 

 being mixed with the first quality of 

 glucose." 



Do you think that mixture whole- 

 some V Answer : " I am sure it is 

 just as wholesome as honey." 



Is the grape sugar which you have 

 eaten for months, the glucose which 

 you pronounce "excellent food," and 

 the grape sugar which you have fed to 

 your bees, the same thing 'I Answer : 

 " I have eaten it in large quantities, 

 just as I would maple sugar, and have 

 fed it to our bees for over a year with- 

 out a single bad feature showing it- 

 self, so far as I know." 



Is that "glucose " or " grape sugar" 

 the same as the article of commerce ? 

 Answer : " It has been used largely 

 all over our land, and is now quite an 

 article of commerce." 



Who makes the wholesome article 

 you have been eating and feeding the 

 bees with? Answer: "I am sure 

 that that made by the Davenport 

 Glucose Co. is wholesome." 



What was the result of your feeding 

 it to the bees for winter stores ? 

 Answer: "The first experiment I 

 ever made with it for wintering, 



caused the death of two colonies 



They did not have the dysentery, but 

 simply starved on heavy combs of solid 

 grape sugar." 



For what use have you advised 

 grape sugar V Answer : " I have 

 favored the use of grape sugar for 

 feeding bees and nothing else." 



As grape sugar has caused the death 

 of your bees, as well as many others, 

 what advice will you in future give in 



