THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



220 



have five reasons for my preference, 

 viz. : 



1. When I put on the sections, I 

 know I shail find the bees at work 

 there the next time I look at them. 



2. Tliey are not lialf so apt to swarm 

 until after storing a fair crop of sur- 

 plus honev. 



3. Wlien I take off the sections, 

 they are always capped over, if there 

 has been any reasonable flow of honey. 



4. They make whiter combs than 

 the pure Italians. 



.'). They are better honey gatherers ; 

 at least, to me, they have proven so. 

 In every respect tliey are just as easy 

 to manage as any race of bees. 



My best colony of bees, this sea- 

 son, was from a Heddon tjueen ; she 

 was from the cross to which I have 

 already referred. I introduced her 

 into a "fair-sized colony of blacks, and 

 set them by the side of my best dark 

 Italians, and worked them for comb 

 honey. 



When I took off the sections at the 

 close of the season. I had 40 pounds 

 more of comb honev from her colony 

 than from the dark ones. I also 

 reared two nice queens besides ; and 

 then had 2 strong colonies in good 

 condition for wintering, besides the 

 old one which had the body of the 

 hive full of capped honey, on which 

 to winter. The hive, in size, is the 

 same as the 8-frame Langstrotli. 



Bees have done very well, consider- 

 ing the shortness of the season. I 

 averaged about 100 pounds of comb 

 honey to the colony ; and one more 

 than doubled from spring count. All 

 went into winter quartera with the 

 hives full of comb honey, well capped. 



Petoskey, Mich. 



For the American Bee .Journal. 



Bees and Honey in Kentucky. 



DR. N. P. ALLEN. 



The Kentucky State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, at their last Convention, 

 appointed a committee to collect in- 

 formation in reference to Kentucky 

 as a honey-producing State. Two 

 kinds of circulars were printed, and 

 sent to some .300 or 400 beekeepers of 

 the State. One circular requesting a 

 statistical report of the crop of honey, 

 etc., for I.SS3 ; and one, asking for a 

 sketch of the different counties, as to 

 their adaptability as an apicultural 

 field. While 99 bee-keepers responded 

 to the call for statistical reports of 

 their bees and honey, last season, only 

 a few sketches were received. The 99 

 reported 3,608 colonies of bees (in- 

 cluding swarms;) and o7,108 pounds 

 of comb honey, which sold at an aver- 

 age of 17^^ cents per pound, and 130,- 

 302 pounds of extracted honey, which 

 sold at an average of 12^3 cents per 

 pound. The total number of pounds 

 of hoaey were 187,400 ; which sold at 

 an average of 15 cents per pound ; 

 making $28,110. 



We find the average per colony .513^ 

 pounds ; making returns of $7.76>4 

 per colony. At least 3^ of the colo- 

 nies reported were new ones, asd the 

 freater part of them furnished no 

 oney. There were over 100 reported 



as used for queen-rearing, which fur- 

 nished no honey, and a number of 

 colonies of black bees in box hives 

 were reported as having but little 

 honey. We lind that Italian bees in 

 movable frame hives give a much 

 larger average. 



One bee-keeper reported an average 

 of over 300 pounds to the colony, and 

 four others with 370 colonies, report 

 an average of 110 pounds i)er colony, 

 bringing an average of $16.30 per 

 colony. Thus showing the advantage 

 of Italian bees and movable-frame 

 hives, with the liberal use of comb 

 foundation and the honey extractor. 

 The committee contemplate publish- 

 ing a pamphlet setting forth the ad- 

 vantages of Kentucky as a honey - 

 producing State. We would be glad 

 if all bee-keepers in the State would 

 report, giving a sketch of their coun- 

 ties as to the advantages for honey 

 production. 



We also lind that nearly all have 

 Italians and hybrids, and Langstroth 

 hives ; and that white clover is the 

 great honey-producing plant, furnish- 

 ing more honey than all others com- 

 bined. We do not make this as a full 

 report; but hope yet to hear from 

 many more. 



Smith's Grove, Ky. 



Kor the American Bee Journal. 



Statistics of the Honey Crop. 



D. t>. M KINSTUY. 



As Dr. ('. C. Miller asked for ex- 

 pressions on this subject, I take this 

 opportunity to give my opinion. He 

 remarks that the plan for each bee- 

 keeper to report to their vice-presi- 

 dents is a good one, if they can secure 

 the report ; but bee-keepers will not 

 report, excepting about one in twenty, 

 who are interested in gathering statis- 

 tics. Nearly all of the plans sug- 

 gested are made after the idea of in- 

 dividual reports every fall, which 

 plan, I think, has been tried long 

 enough to prove its failure. I think 

 the only practical way to do it is by 

 the plan the Department of Agricul- 

 ture pursues in gathering agricultural 

 statistics. 



1. Have the assessors gather the 

 statistics of the preceding year, each 

 spring, and report them to the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, as they do 

 at present in the State of Illinois 



2. Appoint from one to four crop 

 correspondents in each county to re- 

 port, first, about the middle of May, 

 how the bees have wintered, and give 

 the prospects for the honey crop; and, 

 secondly, about the last of September, 

 report tlie results of the season as 

 compared to an average ; stating it in 

 percentage, that is: if there is 10 per 

 cent, more honey than an average, re- 

 port 110 per cent. ; if 10 per cent, less, 

 report 90 per cent. 



In this State we have nearly all we 

 can desire in complete statistics as to 

 the honey crop, excepting to get it in 

 time for use in disposing of the crop, 

 which can be done lay the correspond- 

 ents reporting the state of the crop 

 in the fall, as stated above ; and if we 

 cannot get the correspondents to 



make accurate reports, whose duty it 

 is, you surely cannot expect bee-keep- 

 ers in general to make reports, es- 

 pecially where they point out a failure 

 of the one reporting. 



This plan, I am sure, will work in 

 this State, and I think in any State 

 where they take agricultural statis- 

 tics. For further information on 

 State statistics, I refer to Mr. S. B. 

 Atwater's article on page .')7. I should 

 not try to get statistics of so many 

 things, as we have in the past. 

 Methods of increase, how wintered, 

 kind of hives, etc., although interest- 

 ing in themselves, should be left out 

 of statistics. What we want to know 

 is the number of colonies and the 

 amount of honey produced. The plan 

 of giving papers to the assessors to 

 till out, will do but little good, unless 

 they are compelled by law to see that 

 they are filled. The assessors in Illi- 

 nois have these two blanks to fill, in 

 relation to bee-keeping: 1. Number 

 of colonies on hand ; 2. Amount in 

 pounds, of the honey crop of the pre- 

 ceding year. 



If we could have this added to the 

 assessor's blanks in all of the States, 

 where they take agricultural statis- 

 tics, and laws were passed in such 

 other States as do not, by the aid of 

 con-espondents we might have our 

 object accomplished. What objection 

 is there to this plan, Dr. Miller ? 



Grant Park 111. 



For tlie American Bee JoumaL 



Adulteration. 



E. A. THOMAS, D. D. S. 



" What is the world coming to ?" is 

 a frequent expression, and when I 

 think of the increasing adulteration 

 of food, sugars, etc., I feel like drop- 

 ing my hands and saying, " I don't 

 know." 



Adulteration seems to be on the in- 

 crease, and that to an alarming ex- 

 tent. I was told by two heavy whole- 

 sale dealers that their sales of oleo- 

 margarine had more than doubled 

 during the past year, and the amount 

 of their sales was simply astounding. 

 It has come to be a question whether 

 a man can sit down to a table in our 

 large cities and be sure of what he is 

 eating. A wholesale grocer in Phila- 

 delphia told me that he sold spurious 

 butter to some of the best retail deal- 

 ers, and sold it as such. 



It is almost an impossibility to get 

 any good old-fashioned West India 

 molasses now, so extensively is it 

 adulterated with glucose. Why, I 

 have just heard of a farmer in \'er- 

 mont who has just bought seven bar- 

 rels of white sugar, the latter being 

 very cheap, to mix with his maple 

 syrup. Another farmer I know of, 

 mixed so much glucose with his syrup 

 that there was ho maple taste left. 



The adulteration of honey has been 

 so fully discoursed upon that I will 

 say nothing upon that point, further 

 than to remind the reader of its mag- 

 nitude, and the necessity for con- 

 tinued and united efforts for its sup- 

 pression. 



The point I wish to call attention 

 to, is the manufacture of fancy syrups. 



