AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



585 



*'C^oiiilbrfal>Ie Ignorance" about 

 honey is so common now-a-days that some 

 folks, and especially the would-be-wise edi- 

 tors of the daily newspapers, are still per- 

 mitting themselves to swallow allopathic 

 doses of genuine lies about honey and its 

 production, without its causing any inter- 

 nal disturbance whatever. Here is the 

 latest form of that old, baldheaded lie 

 about honey, this time dressed up in regu- 

 lar German style, and labeled "Artificial 

 Honey-Combs:" 



An interesting East Side street vender of 

 the German quarter is a stout, clean shaven, 

 neatly dressed man who bears upon his 

 head a shining tin pan filled with golden 

 honey-comb. A spotless white head-cush- 

 ion receives the bottom of the pan, and a 

 knife-handle shows in air above the honey- 

 comb. The latter, as well as its sweet con- 

 tents, looks genuine, and doubtless East 

 Side Germans are tempted by the sight, 

 and are in comfortable ignorance of the 

 fact that artificial honey-combs are now-a- 

 days filled with artificial honey, with the 

 result of d^eiving all save the bees. — New 

 York Sun. 



The above clippifag was sent to us by Mr. 

 T. C. Kelly, of Slippery Rock, Pa., with the 

 suggestion that we "ventilate it," and then 

 send a marked copy of the Bee Journal 

 to the New York Sun, the newspaper that 

 originally published it for "news." Of 

 course it is a waste of space to call the at- 

 tention of reading bee-keepers to such a 

 falsehood as the Sh7i so unblushingly pub- 

 lished, for they know better — they are 

 not so ignorant as are the sleek " kings " of 

 the daily papers who hash up such trash for 

 their sickly constituents. 



The great trouble is that modern scrib- 

 blers attempt to write about something that 

 is as unfamiliar to them as Latin is to an 

 Italian drone ; and yet the paid scrawler is 

 allowed to palm off the result of his ignor- 

 ant imaginations as something literally 

 true. What a pity that the fool-killer 

 hasn't the time to attend to these "com- 

 fortably ignorant " fellows before they get 

 a chance to shove their nonsense upon an 

 unsuspecting public. 



Let us hope that such newspapers as the 

 New York Sun may be as anxious and 

 ready to retract and give the truth to their 

 readers, as they were willing to publish 

 such deceptive and misleading statements 

 as the one about " artificial honey-combs. " 



Bees Oorgecl with honey never vol- 

 unteer an ditta.ck.—Langstroth. 



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 'JO 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. 



Honey TJsed in Producing- Bees. 



How much honey is consumed in pro- 

 ducing a given number or amount, say 

 one pound, of bees ? This question 

 may have been answered a great many 

 times, but I have not seen the answer. 

 It is a very important question to me, 

 and I presume it is to many of the 

 readers of the Bee Journal. 



I. W. Beckwith. 



Ft. Lupton, Colo. 



Answer. — We have an indistinct im- 

 pression that somewhere we have seen 

 some estimate made as to the matter in 

 question, but cannot recall where. Can 

 any one else answer the question ? 



Clipping the Wings of Queens. 



I would like to know, through the 

 Bee Journal, if it is an advantage to 

 have all queens' wings clipped, or if it is 

 a disadvantage ; and what the disadvan- 

 tages are, if any. I lost two fine Italian 

 swarms, this season, by just going off 

 and leaving, and I could not find any 

 reason for their leaving. If the queens' 

 wings had been clipped, I suppose they 

 would not have gone. 



Tacoma, Wash. G. D. Littooy. 



Answer. — Opinions are divided on this 

 subject. If a queen's wings are clipped 

 it does not in the least prevent the issu- 

 ing of a swarm. The clipped queen 

 goes out, too, and may go back into the 

 hive on the return of the swarm, or she 

 may wander off to some distance and be 

 found with a small cluster of bees. 

 Sometimes she will enter a neighboring 

 hive and be killed, if the hives stand 

 close together. The swarm which issues 

 may return to the hive after sailing 

 around in the air a short time, or it may 

 not return to the hive until after it has 

 clustered and hung a half hour or longer. 

 But instead of returning to its own hive, 

 the swarm may enter another hive 

 where a swarm has returned previously 

 on the same day, being attracted by the 

 excitement still there. 



These disadvantages, to the minds of 



