1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



83 



One of the important objects of the association will 

 be naminK a committee to secure foul-brood lefjisla- 

 tion for Indiana. Walter S. Pouder. 



Indianapolis, Ind., Jan. 10. 



GOOD CANDY (POWDERED SUGAR AND HON- 

 EY) NOT SUITABLE AS A WINTER FOOD. 



In this issue, on page 98, we refer to some 

 experiments made at Medina in reference to 

 feeding bees various Ivinds of candy during 

 winter. The statement is there made that 

 the Good candy — the mixture of powdered 

 sugar and honey kneaded into a stiff dough 

 — gave good results. In referring this state- 

 ment to the man who made the experiments 

 he says we misunderstood him — the Good 

 candy was the feed tliat gave the most trou- 

 ble and that ran down between the frames, 

 and moreover it was the hard candy, made of 

 sugar and water, that gave the best results. 

 Inasmuch as a misstatement was made it is 

 only proper to make the correction right 

 here. Dr. Lyon had no trouble with the 

 Good candy, because his bees were wintered 

 outdoors, whe;^ there would be less moisture 

 and a much lower temperature. In this re- 

 spect our findings were different from those 

 of Dr. Lyon. 



OUR FRONT COVER-PAGE PICTURE. 



Our fx'ont-page illustration represents the 

 Rev. P. Cavaille, a monk of the order of 

 Grande Trappe, in the act of hiving a swarm. 

 Jn Europe the clergymen, whether they are 

 monks, preachers, friars, bi'others, abbes, or 

 what not, are very often ardent disciples of 

 the bee-keepers' art, and usually they make 

 it both pleasant and prohtalile. And it seems 

 bee-keeping is peculiarly fitted to their tem- 

 perament and environment. Nothing could 

 be more befitting to them unless it is the art 

 of gardening, in which they frequently ex- 

 cel. Both Dzierzon and Schonfeld were 

 clergymen, and the word "Father" is often 

 seen before the name of German apicultural 

 writers, and "Abbe" or "Cure" before the 

 surname of French writers. Mr. Ralph Ben- 

 ton, in our issue of Nov. lo, gave us a very 

 entertaining narrative of a visit to an apiary 

 belonging to the Trappist monks near Rome, 

 from which one can get a vivid glimpse of 

 cloister life in Europe. We have Trappist 

 monks in Kentucky, but we understand they 

 do not keep an apiary as their European 

 brothers do. In England the monks of St. 

 Mary's, Buckfast Abbey, keep quite an up- 

 to-date apiary, and some of the brothers 

 write for the bee-papers very often and seem 

 to i-ead Gleanings and A B C- for, contrary 

 to general opinion, these religious bee-keep- 

 ers are quite modern in their ideas. The 

 English monks we mention were expelled 

 from the Grand Chartreuse of France some 

 years ago and took refuge in England. 



shutting BEES WITHIN THE HIVES DURING 

 WINTER. 



On p. 1559, Dec. 15th issue, we referred to 

 some experiments we were conducting in the 

 matter of shutting bees in the hives by means 

 of a wire-cloth vestibule for outdoor colo- 

 nies, and a rim three or four inches deep, 



with wire-cloth sides interposed between the 

 bottom-board and hive-body for the indoor 

 colonies in our cellar. The results thus far, 

 while not decisive, are rather unfavorable. 

 The confined bees seem to get uneasy; 

 and when they learn they can not get out 

 they stir up the whole colony. We found 

 dysentei-y was starting in a good many of 

 our cellared colonies at a time of year when 

 we never had it befoi'e. The results outdooi's 

 with the wire-cloth vestibule were scarcely 

 any better. Apparently the few bees that, 

 try to get out, and can not, seem to be able 

 to stir up the whole colony. When they be- 

 gin to roar, the contagion, so to speak, in the 

 case of cellared bees, spreads to others. 



Now, understand, we do not as yet con- 

 demn the method, for we are continuing our 

 experiments just the same, to discover, if 

 possible, whether the confinement or some 

 other condition is responsible for the unto- 

 ward conditions. We speak of this at this 

 time in order that some of our readers who 

 may be experimenting along these lines may 

 be on their guai'd. 



Perhaps the reader will say we ought to 

 have known better; but the reports of one of 

 the best bee-keepers in the country, Mr. Her- 

 shiser, were so favorable that we felt con- 

 strained to try it for the cellared bees. For 

 the outdoor bees the removable-screen vesti- 

 bules looked as if they might be a good 

 thing, especially as it was designed to re- 

 move them when they should be removed, 

 and to keep them in on deceiving days when 

 the bees ought to be kept in. We shall see 

 later. 



THE EFFECT OF THE PURE-FOOD LAW ON 

 THE GLUCOSE INTERESTS; GLUCOSE MIX- 

 TURES MUST BE LABELED FOR 

 WHAT THEY ARE. 



In Gleanings for Nov. 15, page 1418, 

 appeared an editorial in these columns, to 

 the effect that the new national pure-food 

 law would be a severe blow to the glucose 

 interests of the country. The American 

 Food Journal, of Chicago, publishes this ed- 

 itorial entire, but dissents from it in this 

 wise: 



We are a trifle skeptical about the new national 

 law being a blow to the s^lucose interests. Several 

 new plants are being constructed, the largest in Joliet, 

 111. The law legalizing- mixtures, compounds, and 

 blends will allow unlimited opportunities to sell a 

 mixture of honey and glucose, and probably compel 

 States to allow its sale which now prohibit it or re- 

 quire it to be labeled adulterated. 



We were not unaware of the reports in the 

 current press, to the effect that the Standai'd 

 Oil Co. was buying up glucose-factories and 

 distilleries, with the apparent intention of 

 using both to make denatured alcohol, which, 

 unless its production were controlled, might 

 be a serious competitor to its gasoline. It 

 was also reported that Standard was I'eequip- 

 ing and rebuilding some of these glucose- 

 factories, but, apparently, not for the pur- 

 pose of making glucose for the market, for 

 it seems clear that the starch from which it 

 is made will have to be used for something 

 else. 



