36 



AMERICAN EEE JOURNAL, 



Jan. 19. 1899. 



their noses at the hive-entrance sooner than his will ; for. 

 if his hives are painted white, as they should be to protect 

 his colonies from the excessive heat of summer, no winter 

 sun will thaw out his bees throug-h that board, but they 

 will be obliged to depend upon their own internal warmth 

 and the atmosphere outside, while mine are already warm, 

 and are only waiting- a favorable opportunity to fly. So 

 much for that. 



CRUDENESS IN .\PI.\RI.iN I,ITEK.\TURE. 



An editorial in another bee-paper refers to a "pair of 

 stairs." and in judg-ing- a honey exhibit says, " I should have 

 believed the judge was impartial or unfair." Now this may 

 be a slip of the pen. or a typographical error, but it doesn't 

 look so. Many other things could be referred to, but I for- 

 bear. 



There is plenty of literary crudeiiess, not chargeable to 

 novices, but publisht over the signatures of would-be-con- 

 sidered experts. But what am I doing ? Guess I'm not 

 feeling very well : in fact, I'm not. for I drank a cup of 

 coffee before retiring last night, and did not sleep well. But 

 let us change the subject. 



Being past the age of active business life. I have plenty 

 of time to devote to ray bees, and either working for or 

 studying them, nearly my whole time is given. While I 

 have read many works on apiculture several times carefully, 

 and while I read all the current literature on the subject ob- 

 tainable, yet there is much to be learned by actual experi- 

 ence. 



TWIN QUEENS — COLOR IRRITATING BEES. 



Some one in last week's Bee Journal reports finding 

 twin queens, and asks if any other person can report a like 

 instance. I had just that experience last summer. A cell 

 was found as long as my little finger, and well formed. I 

 watcht it with much curiosity till the time for the queen to 

 emerge had past, when I opened it and found two queens 

 nearly fully developt, but dead. 



In my experience in the bee-yard my opinion will have 

 to go with the minority in the " Ouestion-Box " respecting 

 the color of g-arments worn irritating bees. My habit is to go 

 to my bees with whatever I happen to have on. and my ap- 

 parel is as likely to be black as anything else ; and I have 

 not yet discovered any chang^e in their disposition. It may 

 be that any g-arment rough or woolly would cause some irri- 

 tation ; yet my bees are so very gentle, as a rule, that no 

 tendency in that direction has been noticed. 



At the September meeting of the Board of Trustees of 

 the Insane Asylum, located here, after dinner it vras pro- 

 posed that we go out and take a look at the bees. There 

 were several ladies in the party, many of whom, as well as 

 gentlemen, were drest in black. We went without smoker or 

 veil, but I suggei^ted that if any desired protection, veils 

 would be furnisht ; thej' however concluded to risk being- 

 stung, so we went with no protection whatever. I lifted 

 several hive-covers to show them section-cases and extract- 

 ing-supers, then took them to a colony which had no such 

 appliances — one which I was building up with a young 

 queen which for certain reasons I thought much of : after 

 uncovering tbe brood-chamber, I lifted frame after frame 

 filled with brood and covered with bees ; examined them 

 from side to side, finally finding the queen, pickt her from 

 among the bees with my fingers, .showed her around among 

 the company, and put her back, replaced the frames in the 

 hive with not the slightest demon.stration of anger from one 

 of them ; in fact, the bees seemed to admire the variety of 

 colors worn by the different members of the party. 



No, my experience is entirely against the theory, that 

 it makes any difference what color one wears. I think the 

 fact that most woolen goods are of a dark color, or black, 

 has created the impression that the color causes the trouble, 

 when in fact it is the texture of the garment, if anything. 



I believe bees possess the sense of smell extremely de- 

 velopt, and that they recognize their master by it as com- 

 pletely as a dog does his. I know mine do. I can put my 

 hands on the lighting-board, and they will run out and 

 smell of my fingers, and go back perfectly satisfied; and 

 the more I handle them, if it is done gently, the more 

 familiar and quiet they become. 



O! I'm a crank, all right enough. I have a lot of 

 things to tell you, but guess I've bored you enough at this 

 time. Kankakee Co., 111., Dec. \2. 



[Mr. Whitney did not write the foregoing for publica- 

 tion — only for the editor's eyes — but gracefully consented 

 to its appearance in print, when we requested it. — Editor.] 



Proceeding's of the Colorado State Bee-Keepers' 

 Convention. 



(CONTRIBUTED BY THE SECRETARV.) 

 tContinued from page 23.] 



DISCUSSION OF QUESTIONS. 



Question — Has any one tried the Golden method of 

 producing comb honey, and with what success ? 

 No one present had tried it. 



honey STORED BY FOUL-BROODY COLONY. 



Question — Can we sell section honey from a super 

 filled by a foul-broody colony ? 



W. L. Porter — It is verj- rarely that a super is filled by 

 such a colony. 



Mr. Adams — There is a fine in the foul brood law 

 against selling such honey. 



FL.WOR OF .\LFALFA HONEY. 



Mr. Booth — It is said that alfalfa honey has no dis- 

 tinctive flavor. Is this true of it any more than of other 

 honeys ? I cannot tell by tasting where honey comes from. 



Pres. Aikin — Prof. Gillette once askt me to tell by tast- 

 ing what a sample of honey was. I g-uest fruit-bloom. 

 Then he said it was sugar-honey. He said perhaps he was 

 not an expert at tasting, as his sense of smell was defective, 

 and he had come to think that .smell and taste went to- 

 gether. I have determined the source of honey by the 

 smell of the raw nectar, and also by dissecting bees and 

 tasting the honey-sacs. Alfalfa honey is not decided in 

 flavor, but mild. Cleome honey has a decided flavor, and so 

 has sweet clover honey ; as Mr. Rhodes .says, it tastes like 

 cinnamon. I was told by a firm here in Denver that they 

 could ship in a little white clover honey, mix it with a good 

 deal of alfalfa honey, and sell it for white clover. 



Mrs. Booth — I cannot tell the difference between the 

 perfume of the blossoms of red clover and alfalfa. I have 

 askt several to shut their eyes and try. but they could not 

 tell. I don't think the dark and purplish honey is cleome 

 honey, as it is said to be. I don't get any purplish hone;^, 

 tho I live in the midst of miles of cleome. 



H. Rauchfuss — Don't j'ou get green-colored honev ? 



Mrs. Booth— No. 



J. Cornelius — My crop was at least two-thirds cleome 

 honey, and was a very dark green. 



(Samples of Mr. Cornelius' honey were shown, both 

 comb and extracted, and were of a jlecided green tint.) 



COLOR AND TASTE OF HONEY. 



Mr. Porter — I have had a good deal of experience with 

 cleome honey. It is always of a greenish cast. This can 

 be .seen in the sections. It has a very little bitterness, not 

 disagreeable. I have noticed a liquid oozing from the bark 

 and leaves of the plant, leaving a residue. This has a de- 

 cided flavor of cleome honey. 



H. Rauchfuss — I think the presence of pollen in honey 

 gives the color. The pollen of cleome is perfectly green. 

 Bees working on the blos.soms become green all over, and 

 soon die. They fringe their wings by pitting them against 

 the hard and sharp stamens in getting the nectar. 



Mr. Booth — A dozen persons might bring in honey, and 

 I would -H-ager considerable that we could not tell the 

 sources of it. 



F. Rauchfuss — Such a sampling of honey was carried 

 out at the Omaha meeting, and the committee made very 

 few mistakes, only three or four. 



Mr. Booth — I don't want them to see it, only taste it. 



F. Rauchfuss — Out of a number of .samples of the same 

 color only one was erroneously estimated. 



Mr. Honnett — Why should there not be some who can- 

 not distinguish tastes, just as others cannot distinguish 

 colors ? Railroad committees examine for color-blindness. 



Pres. Aikin — There is a vast difference in tasting-- 

 powers. You couldn't fool me on buckwheat honey if I was 

 blindfolded. 



Mr. Porter — You couldn't fool me on basswood honey. 

 But it depends on training the observing-powers. I have 



