cyj^' 



DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF THE PRODUCERS OF HONEY. 



VOL. XX. 



CHICAGO, ILL., APRIL 2, 1884. 



No. 14. 



''t<r^^^\^^f'^^^^S^ 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Pkopuietor, 



Counterfeit Comb Honey. 



Mr. S. X. Clarke, Delavan, Wis., 

 sends us the following : 



In the Century Magazine for Octo- 

 ber, 1883, on page 816, 1 find the fol- 

 lowing paragraph in an article en- 

 titled, " Outdoor Industries in South- 

 ern California," by wliich, I think, 

 many of its readers may be mislead : 



•■ .\ still more tyrannical circum- 

 vention has been devised, to get ex- 

 tra rations of honey from bees ; false 

 combs, wonderful imitations of the 

 real ones, are made of wax. Appar- 

 ently the bees know no difference ; at 

 any "rate, they fill the counterfeit full 

 of "real honey. These artificial combs, 

 carefidly handled, will last 10 or 12 

 years in continued use." 



I think a contradiction or explana- 

 tion of such paragraphs by bee papers 

 of such standing as the xVmekican 

 JJeh; .Journal may tend to lessen the 

 ill-effects of such mistakes of report- 

 ers, who are mostly ignorant of 

 modern bee-keeping, andj of course, 

 make a botch of what is told them by 

 well-informed bee-keepers. S. X. C. 



It is very damaging to have such 

 articles as tliat quoted by Mr. Clarke 

 api)ear in the agricultural and liter- 

 ary papers and magazines, but we are 

 almost powerless to prevent it. The 

 reporters "dish up " such things with 

 much " gusto," all for sensational 

 effect, without any regard for truth, 

 just as they do items of scandal and 

 infamy in the daily press; and, just 

 as long as the readers relish that kind 

 of trash, they will find it everywhere. 

 It is truly deploral)]e, and, apparently 

 there is no potent remedy at hand to 

 stop such misrepresentation. 



In the item referred to by Mr. Clarke 

 the reporter is not referring particu- 

 larly to the " Wiley story " about 

 " paraffine combs filled with glucose," 

 so often quoted in the papers, and 

 ■which the distinguished " Professor 



Wiley " confessed was without foun- 

 dation, and gotten up by him as " a 

 scientific pleasantry " just for the fun 

 of telling a lie so large that it might 

 make him notorious ! That has been 

 exposed so often that it is, we may 

 reasonably hope, about " played out." 



What tlie reporter was endeavoring 

 to describe was evidently the use of 

 comb foundation, and made the 

 blunders alluded to, by his ignorance 

 of the matter. 



15ee-keepers, too. are very much at 

 fault in this matter, by presistently 

 calling it artificial comb, when speak- 

 ing of comb foundation. This is done 

 at Conventions and in general talk 

 quite often. A prominent liee-keeper 

 of Ohio has cut out and sent to us an 

 advertisement of Mr. A. I. Root, also 

 enumerating '• artificial comb "'as one 

 of the articles he keeps for sale. We 

 hope Mr. Root will see that his adver- 

 tisements are all corrected, as he 

 promised in Gleanings some time since. 

 This matter is becoming quite impor- 

 tant on account of the public misrep- 

 resentation in the press about " arti- 

 ficial combs being filled with glucose 

 and sold for comb honey." Let all be 

 careful to "call things by their right 

 names." 



California Honey Crop. 



We have received the Annual Re- 

 view of California Crops for 188H, by 

 Geo. W. Meade & Co., San Francisco, 

 Cal. They have put the crop of honey 

 for the past year at 960,000 pounds, 

 and divided thus : Comb honey, 12.5,- 

 000 pounds ; extracted honey, 83.5,000 

 pounds. They make the following re- 

 marks about the honey crop : " The 

 product of California comb honey, 

 last year, was very light, sciu-cely 

 more than enovigh to supply the home 

 demand, and prices generally ruled 

 high. Extracted tinned out far better 

 than was anticipated, but owing to 

 the large crop of domestic lioney East, 

 the sale here has been dull and slow, 

 and a considerable surplus will have 

 to be carried over into the new year. 



The European demand for California 

 honey has also been limited, though 

 our honey is preferred there when 

 prices here will permit of business." 



Nearly a million pounds for Cali- 

 fornia in a poor season is not a very 

 bad showing, after all. 



Removing the Bees from Cellars. 



Mrs. L. Harrison gives some good 

 advice about this matter in the Pmirie 

 Fanner, from which we condense the 

 following : 



Good judgment and care must be 

 exercised in removing bees from the 

 cellar, or disastrous results will fol- 

 low. We know of an apiary of over 

 100 colonies that was badly injured, 

 indeed, nearly mined, by all being 

 taken from the cellar all at once on a 

 fine, warm day. The bees all poured 

 out of the hives for a play spell, like 

 children from school, and having been 

 confined so long together in one apart- 

 ment, had acquired, in some measure, 

 the same scent, and soon things were 

 badly mixed. Some colonies swarmed, 

 others caught the fever, and piled up 

 together in a huge mass. If a few 

 hives are removed near the close of 

 the day and put in different parts of 

 the apiary, the danger from swarming 

 out is avoided, for the bees will be- 

 come quiet before morning, and being 

 far apart will not mix up when they 

 have their play spell. The success of 

 bee-keeping depends upon the faithful 

 performance of infinite little items. 



The hives should be higher at the 

 back, inclining to the front ; if the 

 height of two bricks are at the back, 

 one will answer for the front. This 

 inclination to the front is an impor- 

 tant matter; it facilitates tlie carry- 

 ing out of dead bees and debris fi-ohi 

 the hive, the escape of moisture, etc. 



Catalogues for 1884.— The following 

 nev^' Catalogues and Price Lists are 

 received : 



Wm. Lossing, Hokah, Minn. — 3 

 pages — Apiarian Suppbes. 



P. Spoerke, Fond du Lac, Wis.— 4 

 pages— Comb FonndHtion Mills, with 

 sample of nice thin foundation. 



J. II. Nellis. Canajnharie, N. Y.— 8 

 pages — Apiarian Supplies. 



II. K. Beecham, Traverse City, 

 Mich.— 4 pages— Bees and Apiarian 

 Supplies. 



