34: 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 17, 



known as " strained honey," made by pressing the combs with 

 more or less pollen, dead bees, and rotten wood from bee- 

 gums mixed in. 



We offered our honey to grocers. They refused it. We 

 offered it to the druggists, who had never seen anything but 

 the dark strained honey, and who could not believe that it 

 was a pure article. They told us they had no use for sugar 

 syrup ! So we had but a few customers mainly among oar 

 foreign-born neighbors, who had seen and used liquid or gran- 

 ulated honey in Europe, extracted by sun heat. 



Part of our honey was sent to a St. Louis commission mer- 

 chant. Luckily honey was scarce, and although of slow 

 sale the honey brought a good price. It was only after years 

 of efforts, and by placing the honey in the hands of local 

 grocers, on commission, that we could succeed in establishing 

 a reputation for it. It took some 13 or 16 years before the 

 people would even use the terra "extracted honey," and it is 

 but a comparatively short time since the large city markets 

 quote " extracted honey " at all ; many people still mistaking 

 it for the old "strained honey." 



COM FETING WITH ADULTERATORS OF HONEY. 



When extracted honey began to be more popular, the 

 sales improved, but we soon had the competition of adultera- 

 tors, which compelled a lowering of prices. One day as I was 

 offering honey to a grocer — this was in 1877 — he replied that 

 he could buy it in Chicago for much less than the price asked 

 (20 cents), and produced a small jar containing one pound, 

 for which he was paying 14 cents. Imagine my astonishment 

 when I read upon the label the name of a Chicago dealer, to 

 whom we had sold several barrels the same season at 17 cents 

 per pound. How could he bottle it and retail it at 14 cents? 

 But evidently it was not the same article, for his honey did 

 not granulate. We also had the competition of a New York 

 firm who used to put up a small piece of comb honey in a 

 pound jar with liquid honey around it. The comb honey was 

 put in " to prove its genuineness." It took a long time to 

 show our customers that, if they wanted pure honey, they 

 should ask for the granulated honey, since nearly all pure 

 honey granulates in this climate, during cold weather. 



At a bee-keepers' convention held at Burlington, Iowa, in 

 1878, I exhibited a jar of glucosed honey bearing the name 

 of a New York firm, and a committee was then appointed to 

 present a petition to Congress to obtain a general law prevent- 

 ing the adulteration of sweets. This petition was signed by 

 some 30,000 people, and was heartily endorsed by Mr. New- 

 man, in the American Bee Journal. The petition, however, 

 was buried by some committee in Congress, which, in spite of 

 ray endeavors (for I had been put in charge of it) never re- 

 ported. 



Whether this proposed law interfered with some lawyers' 

 idea of constitutional rights, whether it was neglected by some 

 lazy Congressman, or whether it interfered with some wealthy 

 gentleman's interests, I have never known. 



Hamilton, 111. 

 (To be continued.) 



Cover for Sections to Prevent PropolizJng. 



BY GEO. G. SCOTT. 



A nameless questioner, in a recent number of the American 

 Bee Journal, asks Dr. Miller, " What is used to cover the sec- 

 tions, so they will not get covered with propolis ? I use sec- 

 tion-holders." As a constant reader of the American Bee 

 Journal, I have been patiently watching for some one to ask 

 such a question, as it suggests an unfortunate feature of the 

 section-holder. I am in full sympathy with this questioner, 

 as he has evidently experienced the same trouble as myself, 

 viz.: propolizing the unprotected top of the sections. The 

 Doctor's answer, though disappointing, is unique and amusing. 

 His Ji inch " layer of air " as a cover for the sections, while 

 it possesses the essential quality of cheapness, is too ethereal, 

 and does not seem to convey a satisfactory answer in his us- 

 ually practical way. 



My unvarying experience has been, that a bare-headed 

 section unprotected, save by a "layer of air," will at any sea- 

 son of the working year, be more or less soiled. The tops of 

 the sections being the first seen after packing in the shipping- 

 cases, an air of untidiness is given the otherwise faultless sec- 

 tions. So convinced by experience have I become, of the 

 propolizing instinct of the bee to plaster an uncovered section 

 top, that for some time I have not permitted an unprotected 

 section on the hive. 



For the benefit of the Doctor's questioner, and others who 

 may have had a similar trial, permit rae to give a successful 



remedy. Simply tack a section-holder bottom or " pattern 

 slat," on top of the holder. The sections are thus snugly 

 covered on all sides. But you say, "This pattern slat nearly 

 fills the bee-space." That is true. To overcome this, place a 

 frame of li\% strips between the surplus case and the lid. 

 The section tops will thus remain clean, the " layer of air" 

 be provided for, and no bees are crushed when the cover is 

 replaced. So rigged, an annoying feature is overcome, and a 

 handy arrangement is the result. But this is fussy ! The 

 cost, time and trouble is as nothing compared to the annoy- 

 ance of scraping 24 plastered section tops, that later will be 

 packed with irremovable stains. 



Will some one else tell us what to do, as the Doctor's 

 " layer of air " has been found wanting. Shall we continue 

 to allow the bees to soil the section tops, or will we break up 

 the too shallow surplus cases into kindling wood, and order a 

 new lot of slightly increased depth, at an advanced price ? 

 No, not yet awhile ! The pattern slats to cover the tops, and 

 the strips to raise the cover, will suffice us until we have more 

 light. We can probably avoid all these changes, if the Doctor 

 will but tell us how he manages to "allow nothing to touch 

 the sections." His questioner's bees and mine "touch" up 

 the top of our exposed sections until they " get covered with 

 propolis." 



For long years the writer has used exclusively that grand 

 old stand-by — Root's Simplicity hive — with its super of seven 

 wide frames of eight sections each. Being a light weight, and 

 not always in fighting trim, I partly increased my apiary with 

 the dovetail. Save in the case of handling the newer and 

 lighter hives and cases, to-da} I must confess to a friendly 

 weakness and a kindly regard "for the old-fashioned Simplicity. 



g^gmasaicw'j: 



FOR BEMOVING CASES OF SURPLUS HONEY 



In handling the heavy surplus arrange- 

 ments full of finished honey on the Sim- 

 plicity hives, I use a "bench screw ele- 

 vator." It has four ^g'-inch rods bent in 

 at the bottom ends, and hung to the four 

 corners of a frame. This simple and 

 cheap contrivance has been a source of 

 comfort, and a saving of much heavy 

 lifting. The ease with which it can be 

 manipulated, and the surprise it causes 

 the bees at seeing their season's surplus 

 soar heavenward, without apparent 

 cause, would bring a grin on a solemn 

 face. So gently is a full case raised that 

 scarcely a bee ever leaves the combs to 

 interview the delighted operator. Non- 

 patented. Wadena, Iowa. 



End View. 



¥ 



Cause and Treatment of Bee- Paralysis. 



BY ADRIAN GETAZ. 



Before beginning our next campaign in bee-keeping, let 

 us take a good, full look at our enemy, the now famous bee- 

 paralysis. 



As to a description of the disease, I shall refer to my two 

 contributions on the subject in the American Bee Journal, in 

 1894, and also to an excellent article written by a correspon- 

 dent who signed himself " Novice." Also to the description 

 given by Cheshire, in his books, and if Gleanings and the 

 Review are at hand, the articles they have published on the 

 subject, especially those written by Messrs. Ford and Dayton. 



That the disease is produced by a bacillus, as described by 

 Cheshire, is now almost incontestible, and can be safely ad- 

 mitted. That it is exceedingly contagious is also certain, but 

 how it is transmitted from one bee to another is the first point 

 to investigate. 



In foul brood, the bacillus multiplies exceedingly rapidly, 

 and when the brood is dead, and the nutriment thereby ex- 

 hausted, turn into spores by the millions. These spores es- 

 cape, and are carried all over the hives by the bees themselves, 

 as the spores may stick to their bodies by the honey whenever 

 any spores happen to be deposited on it, and perhaps also by 

 the wind, as the spores are so light that they fioat freely in 

 the air, until they come in contact with something or other to 

 which they adhere. 



Among the human diseases, none is communicated 

 directly by contact. In case of consumption, some of the 

 bacilli produced in the diseased lungs are thrown out by 

 coughing with the matters expectorated, transform into 

 spores, and escape, and are carried by the air into somebody 



