Feb. 16, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



105 



of bees, gathered in 25 years of practical work wi,th them, I 

 am led to conclude that some one is drawing: on his imagi- 

 nation for his facts when such a statement is publisht. 



I have never seen a pound of comb honey which I 

 thought did not come from natural sources, and I have 

 acted as judge at two international exhibitions, and at State 

 fairs, besides inspecting honey in the markets for many 

 years. 



I fear that some retail grocers discredit comb honey put 

 up in the best shape, for the purpose of working off the poor 

 stuff they have on hand. 



It is the opinion of all bee-keepers whom I know, that 

 have experimented along this line, that bees will not touch 

 glucose syrup unless compelled to by necessity, and then 

 thej' would not be in proper condition to store surplus. 



The colony must be in prime condition — prosperous, full 

 of bees of all ages, and increasing in numbers before they 

 will go outside the cluster to store honey. If there is not 

 plenty of food available which they like, the condition 

 above described will not be present, and, therefore, if thej- 

 did have access to glucose syrup and nothing else, they 

 would not be in condition to use it profitably. 



Now, in defense of my argument, I wish to introduce 

 the testimony of a couple of men who are bee-keepers. 

 These statements were made before the National conven- 

 tion of bee-keepers last fall at Omaha, in answer to the 

 question, " Is comb honey adulterated ?" 



Mr. Danzenbaker, who is a large bee-keeper near Wash- 

 ington, D. C, said : 



" I don't think that bees will take yliicose and put it into comb. Some 

 years aj^o the Secretary of a trlucose manufactory boarded with me. 

 There were bees in the yard, and he took ^reat interest in them. It was a 

 hobby with him. In the early morningrs he would be out there and have 

 the hives open, and I found out that he was experimentinp with g-lncose. 

 He brou^rht j^lucose and put it into the tops of the liives. I wondered 

 what he was doino', and I found the fsrlucose there. The bees would not 

 take it. Then he took the best glucose suirar and put it in, and the bees 

 wouldn't take it. It was during- the honey season, and he thought the 

 bees would mix with it the honey that was cominjr in from the field. He 

 meant to keep bees. He imported a lot of Italian queens, and was think- 

 infj of making honey out of glucose, but the bees wouldn't touch it. I be- 

 lieve that the acid in the (glucose would finally kill the bees. They have 

 an instinct of sense that enables them to detect it." 



Mr. George W. York, editor of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, and President of the Association, added : 



" I would like to give one instance of feeding glucose to bees that I 

 know of. Mr. Grabbe, some years ago, was interested in bees with Mr. 

 Perrine, in Chicago, who was one of the biggest adulterators itt the State 

 at that time. They moved two or three hundred colonies to Mississippi, 

 and began feeding t^litcose, and it was scarcely any time at all until they 

 had killed all their bees." 



Now, if I have not occupied so much space as to rule me 

 out of your columns, I hope you will give this reply the same 

 publicity which the offending paragraph enjoyed. I might 

 add, that the Association which I represent is using every 

 possible means to bring to justice those who adulterate or 

 contaminate the foods which we consume, especially honey; 

 and we hope that the great State of Illinois will speedily 

 pass such a pure food bill as will enable us to get after the 

 adulterators of food products, whether they be bee-keepers 

 or mixers in the cities. Yottrs trulj-, 



Eugene Secor. ' 



We are again delighted. Mr. Secor answers the offend- 

 ing papers in such a complete way. It must do good in this 

 instance, as in the case of the New York Evening Post sev- 

 eral months ago. If we bee-keepers will just follow up 

 this plan for awhile — of letting a little light on honey into 

 the benighted heads of some newspaper correspondents and 

 editors — it must result in overcoming, in amea.sure, the evil 

 effects of the comb honey misrepresentation that was let 

 loose on the public some 15 years ago. We believe the 

 United States Bee-Keepers' Association is doing a great 

 work when it keeps close after the offenders in question. 



To take Qrease Out of Cloth — Make a mixture of the 

 following parts by weight : Alcohol, 8 ; honey, 6 ; soft soap, 

 5 ; water, S ; wet the cloth with the mixture ; rub livelj'; rinse 

 in clear water. The mixture can be kept a long time if 

 tightly closed in a bottle. — Mode Francaise. 



" Queensound " is a word proposed by E. Kreutzinger 

 to signify that a colony is aTT nglil^lis to having a good laj'- 

 ing queen. — Gleanings. 



Mr. I. Gordon, of Dodge Co., Minn., writing us Feb- 

 ruary 9, said : 



" I get ' value received ' in every copy of the Bee'Jour- 

 nal. I could not get along without it and keep bees." 



♦ ♦ ♦ * ♦ 



Mr. W. Bishop, of Otero Co., Colo., wrote us Feb. 4: 

 "It is cold, ro/fl' weather for Colorado. I suppose the 

 bees think so, as snow has been on for a week, and storm- 

 ing most of the time." LTI^ r' I 

 I * * * » ♦ Zl 



Mr. M. F. M.wer, of Green Co., Wis., wrote us Jan. 30 : 



'• I like the American Bee Journal very much. I have 



had bees for several years, butxituld not produce honey to 



sell until I began reading the Journal. Eong live the ' Old 



Reliable.' " 



♦ * # » # 



Mr. R. C. AiKiN, of Earimer Co., Colo., President of 

 the Colorado Bee-Keepers' Association, wrote us Feb. 7 : 



"This is awful weather : terribly cold. The past six 

 mornings from 20 to 40 degrees below zero, averaging not 

 less than 25 below each morning' for the past week, and sel- 

 dom much above zero during the day. We have had it be- 

 low zero every day for about 10 days — I fear for bees — all 

 out-doors in this country. Eots of snow here." 

 » * * ♦ # 



The Eewiston (Me.) Journal is one of the leading 

 eastern newspapers. In a recent issue it had this appre- 

 ciated paragraph : 



■'The weekly American Bee Journal, of Chicago, ea- 

 ters upon the 39th year of its existence with the number for 

 Jan. S. It has well earned the sobriquet of the ' Old Reli- 

 able.' It is perhaps praise enough to saj' that Bro. York is 

 the man to keep the Journal up to its previous high stan- 

 dard and abreast of the times in apicultural progress." 



♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 



" Hasty S.ays GooD-BxJ.'^is_-the ominous heading to 

 an item in the Bee-Keepers' Review in which E. E. Hasty 

 says he is compelled by the great amount of reading in- 

 volved to close the series of " Views " he has been giving 

 continuously in that paper for the past ten years. There 

 must be something a little out of order in the mind of any 

 reader of the Review who will not join with the editor in 

 his regret at the necessity- for sttch a step. Mr. Hasty has 

 always had such an tmfailing sttpply of good-nature, delic- 

 ious iiumor, and upright and downright integrity, that the 

 readers of the Review will sorely miss him. 



Dr. Peiro, when on his visit to the Pacific Coast awhile 

 ago, called on Mr. E. S. Eovesy, of Salt Eake City, Utah, 

 President of the Utah Bee-Keepers' Association, and writes 

 thus concerning him : 



" I occasionally notice .some practical, hard-headed facts 

 regarding bees from the pen of Mr. Eovesy, vrhich vividly 

 reminds me of the delightful visit I had with him in Salt 

 Eake City. I found him ensconced iti his charmingly em- 

 bowered hofne busy ministering to the comfort of his bees. 

 He explained, among other thoughts of interest, that he 

 was trying to circumvent the predatory instincts of the ants 

 which greatly abound and as greatly annoj- his colonies. 

 Just how he has succeeded I am unable to state, but jtidging 

 by the intelligent determination evinced, I suppose he has 

 succeeded in his purpose. 



" I much regret that my allotted stay in that beautiful 

 citj' of saints did not permit me the pleasure of accepting 

 his very kind hospitalities, but my gratitude to him and his 

 good wife is none the less. 



" Under the guidance of another friend I visited many 

 of the noted places of interest there, even to taking a bath 



in the famous Salt Eake jiseli This was one of the most 



singular and delightful experiences of my trip toward the 

 setting sun. A very interesting chat with Elder Snow was 

 exceedingly gratifying-. 



" Atif ivieder sehn .'" Dr. Peiro. 



