342 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



to feed the bees glucose for exclusive 

 brood-rearing is of slight advantage 

 and doubtful propriety, and can in no 

 way make up for the suspicion that 

 will surely rest on bee-keepers if they 

 deal in this weapon of the evil one 

 for whatsoever purpose, even though 

 the special use might be entirely riglit 

 and i)roper. It is a matter for con- 

 gratulation that all our bee journals 

 are now united in opposition to all 

 use of glucose in the apiary or by 

 apiarists. This is most wise and 

 politic. Our National and State socie- 

 ties of bee-keepers have worked most 

 earnestly not only to create a riglit 

 public sentiment, but to secure legis- 

 lation to aid in putting down this 

 dislionest and corrupt practice of 

 .adulteration. The Michigan Associa- 

 tion took the initiative and exerted 

 all possible influence to secure the ex- 

 cellent lavp passed by the last Legisla- 

 ture, looking to the suppression of 

 this adulteration, and the traffic in 

 adulterated articles. Many of our bee- 

 keepers have written, spoken and 

 circulated petitions for years at no 

 small expense of time and money, to 

 the end that this nefarious work 

 might be jiut down. Bee-Keepers 

 everywhere in our country are tremen- 

 dously in earnest in this matter, and 

 are urging uixui tlie press and tlie 

 people to cry out against adtdteration, 

 not only on moral grounds but from a 

 practical standpoint, and it might be 

 added from a sanitary consideration 

 as well. It is greatly to be hoped 

 that they will be aided by others, that 

 public opinion may become so enlight- 

 ened that the entire public shallbe- 

 come incensed at these monstrous 

 frauds and shall arise in their might 

 to stay the evil. 



It is a well known fact that most 

 kinds of honey will granulate or 

 crystalize wlienever the temperature 

 is reduced below freezing, or even a 

 higher degree than 32° F. A few 

 kinds of honey, like that from the 

 famous white sage of California, will 

 not granulate, but this is so excep- 

 tional that tlie candying test, as so 

 often urged by Mr. Dadant, is a pretty 

 sure one. and is liy far the most jirac- 

 tical one that has been suggested. 

 Honey that as winter approaches be- 

 comes solid, may be considered as 

 pure. 



If it remains fluid it may well 

 be regarded as suspicious. It is stated 

 that the Thurbers first used glucose 

 to preserve the fluid condition of the 

 honey, as granulated honey was ob- 

 jected to by their customers. Ot 

 course they were not slow to appreci- 

 ate the further gain of selling glucose 

 at double its maiket value. Dr. Da- 

 dant then is right in urging people to 

 purchase only granulated honey, 

 unless they purchase comb. Ex- 

 tracted honey if granulated may be 

 easily reliquefied by setting the ves- 

 sel containing it into hot water, that 

 is not more than ISO^ F. for an hour 

 or more. Caution is required that the 

 vessel containing the honey shall be 

 entirely surrounded by water, so that 

 the honey shall not be over heated at 

 the bottom of the vessel. In this way 

 candied honey is reliquefied without 

 loss of flavor or quality. If after re- 



ducing it it is kept in a warm place, 



it will not solidify again. 



As already stated, the adulteration 

 is done by the dealers. Once started, 

 as suggested above, the excessive 

 gains to the wholesale dealer secured 

 its continuance until the sharp de- 

 tectives over the sea brought the ini- 

 quitous practice to light. Yet the 

 evil is by rto means abated by the 

 dealers. Hence another way to de- 

 tect the pure from the spurious. If 

 honey is offered for sale in a neat 

 glass jar, with the trade mark of a 

 New York or Chicago dealer, it may 

 well be tested, especially if it shows 

 no tendency to granulate upon ex- 

 jiosure to the cold. On the other 

 iiaud, if in tin pails or common fruit 

 cans or jelly cups, with the name of 

 a producer on the vessel, it may be 

 regarded safely as honey. Tliis will 

 readily granulate, and very likely will 

 be solid when purchased. This should 

 be considered as a recommendation 

 and not as an objection. It has been 

 asserted of late that certain Hrnis in 

 Boston and New Jersey manufacture 

 comb honey ; tliat by use of delicate 

 machinery the comb is made and 

 afterward filled with glucose. It oc- 

 curs to me that a person to give cre- 

 dence to such tales must know little 

 of the wonderful delicacy of comb, 

 and the exceeding attenuation of the 

 walls to the cells, or else must be 

 possessed of an amazing degree of 

 credulity. To be sure, in these days 

 of telephones we may believe almost 

 anything possible ; but I do not hesi- 

 tate to say that the day of the manu- 

 facture of comb honey is not yet. 



Michigan Agricultural College. 



For tbe American Bee JournaU 



Bee Stiugs— Blacks vs. Italians. 



T. c. a. 



I am but a novice in bee-culture, 

 and do not [uetend competency to in- 

 struct my brethren of the craft. Like 

 all others, I was once a beginner, and 

 have gone on until by some experience 

 and many blunders, I am beginning 

 to know enough of bee management 

 to make it a matter of interest and 

 much pleasure to me. 



I see occasionally an article about 

 bee stings, that great terror of the 

 uninitiated ; 1 see, also, thatoccasion- 

 ally some old bee men manifest a lit- 

 tle dread of tlie.se daggers given our 

 little pets for defense of " vested 

 rights." Having discovered a prompt 

 and efficient remedy, I present it for 

 trial. If applied immediately, the 

 pain quickly subsides and no swelling 

 follows. I have never known it to 

 fail. It is also a remedy for the poi- 

 son of all insects, and even of ser- 

 pents. It is simply salpetre. Make a 

 strong solution, upon being stung 

 wet the place well with it imme- 

 diately, and keep it so a moment or 

 two and the work is done. 



I have only 3.5 colonies, mostly 

 blacks, which at this time are doing 

 well. The honey flow at this time is 

 grand indeed, if it will just last long 

 enough. From a colony of blacks, 



transferred from a box gum in March 

 last, and which built out upon foun- 

 dation all the combs for the upper 

 story of an eight-frame Langstroth 

 hive, I have extracted to date a frac- 

 tion over 78 pounds of first-class- 

 honey, from the upper story alone. I 

 do not know that this is at all extra- 

 ordinary, except with beginners. 



I notice an old complaint among bee 

 men, that all colonies do not prosper 

 alike. Some are flush with bees and 

 honey, and others far behind tliem. 

 Some time since I noticed one of my 

 colonies in this condition. I could 

 see 110 good cause for this. Wishing 

 to Italianize a certain colony ot blacks, 

 I demived them of their queen, and 

 put lierin this lazy colony. In a very 

 short time the bees seemed to wake 

 up and go to work all right, and it 

 soon became one of the best I have. 

 Hence, I have concluded from this 

 and other experiments in the same 

 direction, that wlieii we have a back- 

 ward colony and no cause being visi- 

 ble, clip their queen's head, and give 

 them a good one. A change will soon 

 be apparent. 



I am using section boxes for th& 

 first time. I placed, about 10 days 

 since, a set of sections in a hive and 

 looked for several days anxiously, for 

 a beginning of work in tlieni. The 

 bees, however, " could not see it." 

 They did not seem inclined to go up 

 into the sections at all, even for a 

 promenade. I removed the sections 

 to another hive ; here the result was 

 the same. I was puzzled ; tliought I 

 had fixed things wrong. At last I 

 concluded to have my own way just a 

 little ; so applied the smoker' freely 

 and drove the whole pack u)i among 

 the sections and left them. Tlie next 

 day they were busy up tliere and have 

 worked right ahead ever since. Since 

 then I have placed sections on a num- 

 ber of other hives and smoked each 

 colony up right off, and in every in- 

 stance they have gone immediately at 

 work in the sections. This is per- 

 haps nothing new to old bee men, but 

 novices like me may appreciate the 

 fact. 



I liave a few colonies of Italians — 

 gentle fellows, easy to handle, and 

 very pretty ; but so far they have not 

 surpassed my bUicks in storing honey 

 during the "present honey flow ; in 

 fact, the blacks are much in the lead. 

 I have noticed, however, that when 

 honey is scarce, the Italians gather 

 more than the blacks. My curiosity 

 was excited to look into this matter 

 and see what caused the difference. 

 I at once observed in scarce times that 

 the Italians were social and friendly 

 neighbors to my blacks. All around 

 the apiary Madame Italian paid her 

 respects, peeping in here and there, 

 and occasionally effecting an en- 

 trance, and after a while coming out, 

 with her honey sac replenished from 

 the labor of her neighbors. As 

 Messrs. Heddon and Archimides 

 would say, — "Eureka." In times of 

 scarcity, Italians rob most, at least 

 mine do. Now if this is not peculiar 

 to all Italians, then I have the real 

 Apis Antericana, and no mistake. 



Luling, Tex. 



