AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



463 



quantity of honey, etc., from one colony. 

 Mr. Hooker's uncapping machine is 

 very ingenious ; it will be found of great 

 service in facilitating the work of pre- 

 paring combs for the extractor. 



In 1888, he published a small book 

 called Hooker's "Guide to Successful 

 Bee-Keeping." He has also obtained 

 several prizes and medals for comb and 

 extracted honey at various shows. 



Since he removed from Seven Oaks to 

 Lewisham, although in the same county 

 (Kent), the proximity to London has 

 prevented his continuing bee-keeping to 

 the same extent. 



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In this department will be answered those 

 questions needing immediate attention, and 

 such as are not of sufficient special interest to 

 require replies from the "0 or more apiarists 

 who help to make "Queries and Replies" so 

 interesting on another page. In the main, it 

 will contain questions and answers upon mat- 

 ters that particularly interest beginners.— Ed. 



TJntested Queens Asked About. 



I have a question to ask about un- 

 tested queens. A queen-breeder adver- 

 tises Italian queens, and a bee-keeper 

 orders one dozen of the untested Italian 

 queens by return mail ; when they ar- 

 rive they are examined and found to be 

 hybrids and blacks. Is that just? 



H. W. McCoMBS. 



Richmond, Iowa. 



Answer. — An untested queen is one 

 reared from an Italian mother, without 

 knowing how she has mated. If she has 

 mated with a pure Italian drone she 

 will produce three-banded workers. If 

 she has mated with a black drone, part 

 of her workers will look like pure Ital- 

 ians and part will look like pure blacks. 



You say that when the queens arrived 

 they were found to be hybrids and 

 blacks. There probably was nothing to 

 judge from except the appearance of 

 the queens. Few bee-keepers of experi- 

 ence would like to give a positive judg- 

 ment as to the purity of a queen with 

 nothing but the looks of a queen to 

 judge from. Some are very dark, some 

 are very light, and some are striped 

 yellow and black. 



The only question to be determined in 

 the case is whether the queens sent were 

 the progeny of a pure Italian queen, it 

 will be seen that you must depend 

 largely on the honesty of the man send- 

 ing them out. 



Purposes for Which. Honey is Used. 



I would like to see a statement showing 

 for what purposes honey is used, and 

 the portions used for dififerent purposes. 

 My curiosity is great to know where the 

 barrels of honey go. L. M. Brown. 



Glen Ellen, Iowa. 



Knowing the very extensive experi- 

 ence that Bro. Chas. F. Muth has had 

 in selling honey for manufacturing pur- 

 poses, we referred the above question to 

 him for reply, and he has kindly given 

 this interesting answer : 



In replying to the questions of Mr. 

 Brown, I shall endeavor to answer as 

 fully as possible. 



The proportions of honey used for 

 different manufactures seems to be the 

 business secret with each manufacturer. 

 Once I had given unpardonable offence 

 by stating, to a tobacconist, the quality 

 of honey bought by one of his competi- 

 tors. It has been stated that the sac- 

 charine contents of pure honey are 

 almost the same as those of pure cane- 

 sugar, but that the sweetening power 

 of the former goes further than that of 

 the latter. If correct, a manufacturer 

 can easily find the proportion required 

 for his special business. 



During my experience, we had a sea- 

 son, every year, when one manufacturer 

 or another, or one class of manufac- 

 turers or another, would buy large lots 

 of honey for 4 to 8 months steadily, 

 when their orders would be curtailed for 

 awhile, or cease entirely, until their sea- 

 son would commence again. I can 

 satisfy the curiosity of Mr. Brown only 

 so far as to state the quantities sold, 

 and to whom. 



Our best customer among tobacconists 

 was one to whom we shipped, for years, 

 3 barrels of honey (1,500 1,800 

 pounds) every other day ; the next best 

 one received 5 to 6 barrels a week. 



Among bakers, our best customers re- 

 ceived 5 to 10 barrels a week, and one 

 of them a carload every fifth or sixth 

 week. 



A fruit-canner buys a few barrels of 

 honey every fall for making pickles. A 

 few pork packers and a few brewers buy 

 occasionally 25 to 50 barrels of honey. 

 If barley should ever again bring $1.50 

 a bushel, brewers would buy the bulk 

 of the honey crop of America and Cuba. 

 Pork men having used honey, acknowl- 

 edged, in every instance, the superior 

 quality of their meat. But I cannot 

 account for the reason why honey is not 

 in more general use among them. 



One of our most important customers, 



