THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



633 



ments which, by opposition, might be 

 so construed. 



Looking at the subject from the 

 stand-point of this year's experience 

 I find It true that the habit of storing 

 in sections is most lilcely to be un- 

 interrupted if starters only are given 

 in the brood-chamber. This is a most 

 valuable advantage. I believe that 

 the different results received from 

 apparently equally good colonies, the 

 cause of which is so universally 

 " shouldered off" onto the queens, 

 can frequently be traced to the api- 

 arist's failure to control the habits 

 formed by the bees in early spring. 



I also find that the most surplus, in 

 a majority of cases, is secured by 

 hiving swarms on starters only. You 

 ,may say that ought to settle the whole 

 matter. Perhaps it would if un- 

 limited time was at the disposal of 

 the apiarist, but such is not generally 

 the case, and he may be " paying too 

 much for his whistle." 



I believe I can so manage the new 

 hives that 35 cents worth of founda- 

 tion in the brood-chamber will in no 

 wise lessen my crop, save time enough 

 to more than balance the first cost, 

 have infinitely better combs, while 

 the " fearful looking forward " is 

 made to give place to a serene trust 

 in the future solid comfort we have 

 thereby securely provided. Thus 

 while my experiments, as a whole, 

 rather favor empty frames, my lean- 

 ing is towards the " luxury " of comb 

 foundation. 



Haverhill, o Mass. 



For the American Bee JourDal. 



Siiar for Winter Stores. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



Mr. A. E. tlill,in his first paragraph 

 on page 601, says : " But if the price 

 is (of honey) is lowered as the result 

 of producers giving the public occa- 

 sion to believe that honey is obtained 

 by feeding sugar, are bee-keepers 

 more prosperous then ?" It will de- 

 pend, of course, upon the extent to 

 which the price is lowered, as com- 

 pared with the cost of sugar, plus the 

 greater surety of wintering the bees 

 upon sugar stores. It is difficult to 

 ascertain the extent to which the 

 public can be led to believe this false- 

 hood, or to learn how much it really 

 cares about the matter if it does be- 

 lieve it. Notice the extent to which 

 commercial syrups are used, when it 

 is known that they are adulterated 

 with glucose, a substance which many 

 regard as unhealthful, while there is 

 no question as to the healthfulness of 

 cane sugar. The use of foundation is 

 open to objection upon the same 

 grounds, yet no one thinks of dis- 

 carding it. 



In his second paragraph Mr. Hill 

 says he cannot understand why I 

 class " sugar feeding " with " founda- 

 tion," and the " honey-extractor," 

 i. e., as an improvement. I think there 

 is no question in regard to the ex- 

 tractor and foundation being improve- 

 ments ; but when extracted honey 

 was first thrown upon the market, its 



beautiful clearness led many to be- 

 lieve that it was adulterated ; and 

 even now extracted honey is looked 

 upon with suspicion, because of the 

 ease with which itcan be adulterated. 

 Shall we make this an objection to 

 the use of the extractor V I have 

 several times called attention to the 

 fact that foundation was all that ever 

 gave any " backbone " to the Wiley 

 sensation, still it is regarded as an 

 " improvement." Now, when it has 

 been shown that the use of sugar for 

 winter stores enables many to winter 

 their bees more cheaply and success- 

 fully, and to secure larger crops of 

 honey, I am told that it is no "im- 

 provement." Why y Simply because 

 it may assist in giving color to unjust 

 accusations. 



Other improvements are open to 

 the same objection, but these other 

 improvements are now old and well 

 established, and to oppose them would 

 be folly. But let no one suppose that 

 these old improvements had not to 

 run the gauntlet — the same ordeal 

 through which all improvements must 

 pass. I wish I had space to quote the 

 whole of an article published on page 

 54 of the Bee-Keepers'' Magazine for 

 1878, but must content myself with a 

 few extracts : " Extracted honey, 

 from its very nature, will be liable to 

 such adulterations ; and we already 

 see the effect upon the market by this 

 cry thus early raised against it." 



Again : " Let any bee-keeper of 

 experience contemplate for a moment 

 the purity of commercial beeswax, or, 

 what is more to the point, a quantity 

 of refuse comb before it is adul- 

 terated. Containing, in addition to 

 other impurities, dead bees in various 

 stages of putreflcation ; with moth 

 worms of all sizes, dead and alive, to- 

 gether with their excrement, and this 

 to be cooked together in a kettle of 

 water until the savory extract has 

 thoroughly flavored the beautiful 

 yellow wax, destined to become a 

 delicious morsel, and component part 

 of comb honey. And, in case your 

 own stomach is not affected, I ask, 

 cannot such a picture be used by our 

 opponents against us "i"' 



" We must keep comb honey free 

 from the impression that it is other 

 than the pure, be,autiful food God has 

 made it, working through the wonder- 

 ful instinct He has implanted in these 

 little creatures." 



"But let the impression once go 

 forth that it is otherwise, that it is 

 'doctored,' that it contains anything 

 of questioned purity, that the beauti- 

 ful comb is not the work of wonder- 

 ful instinct, but a thing gotten up by 

 machinery in any sense, and you have 

 deprived it of an interest to the con- 

 sumer that must effect the sale of it 

 as an ornament and luxury to the 

 table." 



Do you not see, my brothers, how 

 the honey extractor and comb foun- 

 dation had to " catch it" when they 

 were introduced V Almost exactly 

 the same arguments were used 

 against them as are now brought 

 against the use of sugar for winter 

 stores. But of what avail were these 

 arguments y Mr. Hill admits that 

 the right way would be to compare 



"the prorata loss of bees wintered 

 on sugar compared with that of those 

 wintered on natural stores," and then 

 asks me to give the pro rata of loss. 

 He well knows that this is something 

 no one can do, as no accurate statis- 

 tics have been kept. In my own case 

 the loss upon sugar has been nothing, 

 while upon natural stores it has aver- 

 aged 50 per cent. In his last para- 

 graph, with regard to " Shall we stop 

 using foundation V" Mr. Hill says : 

 " Foundation is made from pure bees- 

 wax, which is solely the production of 

 the apiary, and certainly its use 

 should not be abandoned on the 

 ground that ' sugar feeding ' is ob- 

 jected to." 



The fact that foundation is made 

 of a " product of the apiary " is 

 neither here nor there ; the point is 

 just this: Mr. Wiley stated, in a 

 scientific journal, that artificial comb 

 was made by machinery, that it was 

 filled with scented glucose, and sealed 

 over with a hot iron, etc. This was 

 widely copied and read, people saw 

 the smooth, white, perfect sections of 

 honey; and at fairs and exhibitions 

 they saw comb foundation and ma- 

 chines for its manufacture ; putting 

 all this together it made quite a 

 plausible showing, and many believed 

 the story. Nothing has done more, 

 and is still doing more to give color 

 to this unjust accusation than the 

 use of comb foundation; and that 

 foundation is made from a production 

 of the apiary has no bearing what- 

 ever upon the case, and as its use 

 assists in giving color to an unjust 

 accusation, again I ask : " Shall we 

 stop using foundation V" 



Please remember that I do not 

 assert that the use of sugar for winter 

 stores will ever become universal, as 

 has the use of the honey extractor or 

 comb foundation ; neither do I assert 

 that those who now use sugar will 

 always continue its use; but I do 

 assert that this practice must stand 

 upon its merits, and if it does possess 

 merit, no amount of argument will 

 bring about its abandonment. 



Eogersville,c^ Mich. 



For tlie Amencan Bee Journal. 



Marsliall County, Iowa, Convention, 



The Marshall County Bee-Keepers 

 Association met at Marshall town, 

 Iowa, on July 17, at 1 p.m., but owing 

 to the busy harvest season at that 

 time, but few were present ; still the 

 meeting seemed to be one of interest 

 to all present. 



The subject, " Eall bee-manage- 

 ment," was discussed by Mr. Koeper 

 and others, showing the necessity of 

 looking over and preparing all colo- 

 nies in good condition for winter, by 

 contracting the brood chamber to 

 suit the size of the colony, evening up 

 the stores to suit their necessities, 

 and feeding when neeeded. Also 

 showing the desirability of late breed- 

 ing in order to successful wintering. 



Several other subjects were mutually 

 talked over, we think to the benefit 

 of all. Some reports were made for 

 the season, but as they were not in 



