186 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



The Usesof Glucose.— Mr. Editor: I 

 think you are mistaken in your opin- 

 ion ahout tlie uses of glucose — that its 

 only use is to adulterate. The grocers 

 of the country sell large quantities of 

 a flue looking syrup in .5 and 10 gallon 

 kegs, which is, I think, tlie genuine 

 glucose. They call it down here"corn 

 syrup," and do not pretend it is any- 

 thing else. It retails at 65 cents per 

 gallon. It is very clear, light color, 

 transparent, with, to me, a sickish 

 sweet taste. Most people are fond of 

 it, many preferring it to tlie best 

 sorghum syrups, and paying for it a 

 higher price. It is utterly worthless 

 for cooking purposes, and known to 

 be so by the consumers. It is used 

 only as a table syrup, and will be 

 found in almost every house. Of 

 course, the great mass of the people 

 are ignorant of its true character, and 

 believe it harmless and wholesome. 

 There is only now and then a person 

 who knows it to be worthless and un- 

 healthy and who will not have it in 

 their house. D. P. Nouton. 



Council Grove, Kan. 



[Being ignorant of its real character 

 the people use it, but if they knew 

 what they were eating, they wouid 

 never think of using it. Is it not, 

 therefore, a fraud and a snare, detri- 

 mental alike to health and life V And 

 should its real character not be ex- 

 posed in the interest of common 

 humanity ? — Ed.] 



Drouth in Kansas. — Bees did well in 

 this locality until the commencement 

 of the basswood flow, after which 

 they barely gathered sutHcient for 

 brood rearing, the drouth being con- 

 tinuous the entire season. As a con- 

 sequence many colonies died of starva- 

 tion, and are generally in a weak con- 

 dition. JuHN Y. Detwiler. 



Doniphan, Kan. 



about half full of brood. I can handle 

 my bees without gloves or veil, and 

 not get stung any more than with the 

 Italians. Give me the Syrian bee every 

 time, even if the Marylanders have 

 better ones. Lizzv Hautjian. 



South West, Ind. 



Sweet Clover with Wheat.— Can I 



seed a piece of winter wheat this 

 spring with sweet clover, without in- 

 jury to the wheat, and the clover do 

 as well as other clovers sown on winter 

 wheat in the spring? We seed winter 

 wheat in this country generally in the 

 spring with clovers and timothy, and 

 they do well. Bees are doing well in 

 this locality. March 2d my bees 

 brought in pollen. I have 75 colonies 

 packed in chaff on their summer 

 stands. We have had a very mild 

 winter so far. Eli Bkooks, Jr. 

 Center Road Station, Pa. 



[Certainly ; the growth of the sweet 

 clover will be so slow the first season 

 that the vv'heat will get out of its way, 

 and the clover will take no harm from 

 the wheat.— Ed.] 



Syrian Bees.— 1 will give my ex- 

 perience with the Syrian bees, as I see 

 that Messrs. Pike and Valentine have 

 each given theirs. I do not rear 

 nuclei for sale, therefore have no axe 

 to grind. When Mr. Jones first im- 

 ported the Syrians, in 1880, I pur- 

 chased 8 queens, having but 9 colonies 

 at the time^which made 8 colonies of 

 Syrians and 1 of Italians, that fall. 

 The winter of 1880-81 killed nearly all 

 the bees in this part of the country, 

 but 6 of my Syrians came out in good 

 condition, having lostthe Italians and 

 the 2 weakest of the Syrians. The 

 season of IHSl was a very poor season 

 for honey, so all the bee-keepers say 

 here, but my (i colonies increased by 

 natural swarming to 24, which are all 

 in good condition at the present time, 

 besides getting more surplus honey 

 than Italians ever did for me. I find 

 the Syrians splendid honey gatherers, 

 working early and late ; mine carry 

 heavy loadsof honey, and lotsof them. 

 Last fall, wlien I prepared my bees 

 for winter, I found nearly every 

 colony had twice as much honey as 

 they needed to winter on, having'the 

 brood chamber full, with the excep- 

 tion of about 2 combs, which were 



Red Clover Queens and Bees. — Much 

 is said about red clover queens, or 

 queens that will produce worker bees 

 that will gather honey from red clover, 

 but I don't see anything strange about 

 having such queens. My bees gather 

 honey from the first and second bloom 

 every season. Some seasons they 

 gather half of my crop of honey from 

 red clover. Every queen in my two 

 apiaries will produce worker bees 

 that will gather honey from the first 

 bloom of red clover in Western Mary- 

 land. D. A. Pike. 



Smithsburg, Md. 



Kentucky Bees All Right.— I send 

 the glorious news of a safe passage, 

 without the loss of 1 colony out of 28. 

 Last winter I lost 21 out of 33. Bees 

 have been bringing in pollen for 2 

 weeks. On the 9th of March I noticed 

 a number of peach trees in bloom 

 nearly opened to full size. I opened 

 some colonies on the 5th of March, 

 and found young bees capped, brood 

 and eggs, all in abundance. One had 

 some drone brood capped. At this 

 rate, I expect swarming to commence 

 early in April. The Bee Journal 

 improves all the time. 



G. W. ASHBY. 



Valley Station, Ky. 



Bees in Better Condition than for 

 Many Years.— One year ago I lost all 

 my bees except 3 colonies. I had 

 nearly 50 colonies. I have just bought 

 7 more good strong colonies. Bees are 

 in better condition this spring than 

 they have been for many years. 



W. G. Porter. 



Weston, Mich., Feb. 9, 1882. 



The Outlook the Best for Years.— Our 



bees have wintered well, and are novv' 

 gathering honey fast. The outlook is 

 the best for years. 



W. K. Marshall. 

 Marshall, Texas. March 16,1882. 



A Veteran Bee-Keeper. — I com- 

 menced bee-keeping when 18 years 

 old ; and have kept bees since. I am 

 now 74 years old ; was born in North 

 Wales in 1807, and came to America 

 in 1832. I have taken much pleasure 

 in working in the apiary, and have 

 made it pay very well some years. 

 Please tell me what are Albino bees? 

 Wm. Roberts, 



Vaughansville, O. 



[We believe they are the result of 

 carefully breeding the lighter strains 

 of Italians, until their peculiarities 

 have become a fixity. — Ed.] 



Feeding Syrups.— I wish to inquire 

 if the syrup which has a soda or pot- 

 ash taste is fit to be used to feed my 

 10 colonies to induce early swarming? 

 Our grocers call it clover honey syrup. 

 It has an abominable taste when eaten 

 on warm cakes. C. M. Clark. 



Lincolnsville, Pa. 



[Clover honey syrup is probably only 

 another name for glucose or grape 

 sugar. Do not feed your bees on any- 

 thing you would be unwilling to eat 

 yourself, unless it be something you 

 know to be a natural production. 

 Better mix honey with warm water, 

 or make a syrup of pure cane sugar. 

 —Ed.] 



Experimental Wintering. — I am try- 

 ing to winter my bees by three differ- 

 ent methods in order that I maj^olve 

 the winter problem ; ,33 are packed in 

 chaff, whicli are wintering finely, and 

 they have had several good flights ; 

 two I placed in the cellar on Nov. 22, 

 and are doing well ; .58 are buried in 

 the ground. I shall be unable to as- 

 certain their condition until I take 

 them out. Should you want to know 

 the result of the three different 

 methods, I will inform you by the 1st 

 of May. Many are anxious about the 

 burying process, and are coming 

 several miles when I take them out. I 

 think of sowing an acre of mammoth 

 mignonette, together with sweet 

 clover. 1 like the present form of the 

 Bee Journal much better than last 

 year. I value it more and more every 

 day. G. H. Adams. 



North Nassau, N. Y. 



[By all means, give the public the 

 result or your experiments, and the 

 conclusions you arrive at.— Ed.] 



Bees in Kansas.— Bees have wintered 

 finely in this region. I know only of 

 three colonies having perished during 

 the past winter, and they were weak 

 and died from starvation. A little 

 care would have saved them. 



J. W. Margrave. 



Hiawatha, Kan. March 14, 1882. 



Lost One out of Fifty-three. — Bees 

 have come through the winter well, 

 so far. I have lost 1 out of 53, but the 

 bees went up into the upper story and 

 starved on empty combs during the 

 first cold spell. JonN P. Fry. 



Ronceverte, W. Va., March 10,1882. 



