1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



537 



TARIFF INCREASED ON HONEY IN EUROPE. 



Both Germany and France have recently 

 raised their tariffs considerably in the inter- 

 est of agriculture. The raise applies to 

 honey. The Canadians have also decided 

 on a pretty stiff tariff, on both honey and 

 beeswax. In this country beeswax is free, 

 and the duty on honey is not high— 20 cents 

 per gallon, which is not high enough to pre- 

 vent good honey from coming here. The 

 increase in the European tariffs may divert 

 some Cuban and other West Indian honeys 

 into the American markets. If so, it may 

 affect adversely the market for the bee- 

 keeper and honey-producer in this country, 

 for manufacturing purposes; but we haven't 

 much to fear from Cuban honey this year, as 

 there is not much in sight. 



is to substitute paraffine for beeswax in the 

 manufacture of candy, also in druggists' 

 supplies. These people hate to pay 33 cents 

 per lb. for beeswax. 



THE ALMOST UNPRECEDENTEDLY WARM 

 DAYS IN MARCH. 



According to the weather reports, the 22d 

 and 23d of last month were the warmest for 

 March that has been known since 187L At 

 this writing, the 20th, it continues warm. In 

 our locality, prematurely warm weather 

 starts excessive brood-rearing, and then 

 when a cold spell comes on for a number of 

 days (as it is almost sure to do), the effort of 

 the bees to cover this brood results not only 

 in loss of the brood, but of many of the bees, 

 inducing what we generally call spring 

 dwindling. If we could control the weather 

 we would have one or two good flight days 

 early in the spring, then have it cold enough 

 to keep brood- rearing back until natural at 

 the proper season. 



Later. — A cold spell came on, but it didn't 

 last long. Indications go to show that this 

 will be an early spring for the central States 

 at least. 



HOW THE NATIONAL PURE-FOOD LAW IS 



W^ORKING; SOME HEAVY FINES TUAT 



HAVE BEEN PAID. 



The pure-food law is already proving a 

 teiTor to evil-doers. As illustrating this, we 

 may mention a case recently reported in the 

 press, of a company which has a plant in 

 Vermont, but sells its goods in Boston. It is 

 alleged its otHcers pleaded guilty in a feder- 

 al court to four indictments, charging them 

 with having in their possession diseased meat 

 intended for sale. The indictments contained 

 400 counts, to 34 of which, it is said, the com- 

 pany pleaded guilty, and that they were 

 compelled to pay a hne of $3000 and costs. 



Under the old dispensation this concern 

 would probably have evaded the law because 

 they prepai'ed the goods in one State and sold 

 in another; or had they been haled before a 

 1 ocal State court they would have been let 

 off with a small hne, or none at all, for it 

 frequently happens that concerns of this kind 

 can bring local sentiment to bear, and the 

 case is allowed to die. We want to have 

 only a few cases of this kind with regaixl to 

 honey-mixing to put a complete stop to the 

 adulteration. 



Perhaps the greatest temptation at present 



saccharin ruled out in favor of SUGAR, 



AND POSSIBLY HONEY, FOR CANNING 



PURPOSES. 



It is stated in press despatches that the 

 Ohio State Food Commissioner has barred 

 the use of saccharin in canned goods, and 

 will allow no sweetening other than good 

 plain sugar. It is claimed the canners had 

 been using saccharin, which is 500 times 

 sweeter than sugar, and that it was harmless; 

 but from the information we possess it is far 

 from being so. On the contrary, it has been 

 proved to be a rank poison in some cases, 

 and the Ohio commissioner is amply justified 

 in his ruling. We doubt very much, how- 

 ever, if he can compel the canners to use 

 nothing but sugar, for honey stands on even 

 a higher plane than sugar; and the very fin- 

 est preserves made in Europe to-day are 

 sweetened and preserved with honey — a fact 

 which should be better known in the United 

 States, 



WHY THE BEES CLUSTERED OUT IN FRONT 

 OF THE ASPINWALL HIVE. 



Mr. L. a. Aspinwall, referring to the 

 crowding of the bees out of the front of the 

 Aspinwall hives, as illustrated on page 399, 

 draws attention to the fact that the photos 

 show that the slotted dividers or dummies 

 were not in the hive at the time the pictures 

 wei'e taken. For that reason the bees would 

 crowd out of the entrance as they would 

 from any hive under precisely the same con- 

 dition. If the dummies had been alternated 

 between the frames, the bees would have 

 all been in the hive. In talking with our 

 neighbor Vernon Burt this morning he said 

 he had removed the dummies after the sea- 

 son was over, and that it was a fact that, 

 while the slotted dividers were between the 

 frames, the bees remained wholly within the 

 hive, no matter how hot the day. He re- 

 ports that this Aspinwall colony this spring 

 is a rousing big one; and he says if the di- 

 viders and the general construction effectu- 

 ally stop swarming he will get a big crop of 

 honey from the hive. 



BEES POISONED FROM SPRAYING WHILE IN 

 BLOOM. 



About this time of the year some bee- 

 keepers will find a rapid decimation of the 

 bees in their colonies, in localities where ig- 

 norant farmers or orchardists are spraying 

 while fruit-trees are in bloom. There is no 

 question about the spraying-liquids killing 

 the bees by the thousands, for repoi'ts of it 

 begin to pour in every year after the bloom- 

 ing season is over, and we shall expect it 

 this year unless bee-keepers get busy. Our 

 friends should take the matter up with the 

 fruit-growers without unnecessary delay, and, 

 if possible, get them to do their s^jraying just 

 before or soon after blooming. Experiment 



