1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1189 



September quotes them at that price. If the 

 dandelion is a "weed" so is white clover, 

 alsike, timothy, and other forage plants. 



The Australian bee-keepers are making 

 an effort to have free sites for apiaries pro- 

 vided for in forest reserves. We think this 

 is no more than right, as a bee-keeper on a 

 forest reserve would be a sort of guard 

 against fires, and, besides, does no harm to 

 and takes nothing from the forest. If the 

 government went to some expense to plant 

 trees particularly suited to bees, then it 

 seems to us the bee-keeper should pay a 

 rental for exclusive rights, but thus far no 

 government has done this. 



A PURE-FOOD LAW IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



The British House of Commons has passed 

 the pure-food bill introduced by Mr. Burns, 

 and now we learn it has passed the House of 

 Lords unanimously. Contrary to the general 

 impression. Great Britain has not legislated 

 against imitation foods as we have, the ten- 

 dency being to get cheap food if possible 

 France has a strong law on the subject, and 

 Dr. Wiley has just returned from there after 

 making a detailed examination of the French 

 system of food inspection. 



THE WOLF IN SHEEP S CLOTHING. 



A CONCOCTION of 90 per cent of glucose 

 and 10 per cent of cane syrup has recently 

 been placed on the market, which has evi- 

 dently been collected by some variety of 

 long-tongued bees; for on the label, which 

 is a brilliant affair, are beautiful sprays of 

 red clover as large as life. The man who 

 conceived this label has a very vivid imag- 

 ination to say the least. He fails, however, 

 to state on the label just how the corn syrup 

 is extracted from the red clover. This is 

 not labeled "honey-drips" any more, but 

 just plain "syrup." 



DANDELION MALIGNED AGAIN. 



" Uncle Hugh, " in the Wisconsi7i Agrictd- 

 turist, classes the dandelion with ragweed, 

 common thistle, burdock, purslane, pigweed, 

 dodder, and plantain. Evidently he has 

 never studied the dandelion to any extent. 

 If he will take the trouble to plant a patch 

 of dandelions this fall, carefully planting it 

 in rows, he will, early next season, have a 

 supply of fodder or pasture second to none, 

 and which, if fed to milch cows, will cause 

 an increased How of milk which will produce 

 butter with a June color and flavor long be- 

 fore June has come. There is nothing cows 

 like better. Only a few weeks ago dried 

 dandelion roots were quoted at 16 cents a 

 pound, and the Hunter- Trader- Trapper for 



UNCLE SA:M INVESTIGATING BEE PARALYSIS. 



We note by the California papers that J. 

 M. Rankin, who is connected with the Divi- 

 sion of Apiculture, U. S. Department of Ag- 

 riculture, has made arrangements with F. 

 M. Hart, county bee-inspector at Hanford, 

 California, to make a thorough investigation 

 of the disease known to bee-keepers as bee 

 paralysis. It is said the disease is quite com- 

 mon in that county (Kings), so that there 

 are many opportunities for studying it. It 

 is further reported the yield of honey has 

 been materially reduced by the disease of 

 late in that section. We hope some remedy 

 will be found for this trouble. 



FINED FOR SELLING ADULTERATED HONEY. 



In the Nashville Evening Banner for June 

 20 it is stated that a J. U. Phelan was fined 

 by the court in that city $25.00 for selling 

 adulterated honey, and that he was arrested 

 by Meat and Food Inspector Blaine Danley, 

 who had received complaints from two ladies 

 about honey being bad. On investigation 

 he decided to arrest Phelan. The latter, so 

 it is said, stated he had sold such "honey" 

 for a number of yeai's, and never had a com- 

 plaint before. Judge Bakei", who heard the 

 case, decided that a fine would meet the ends 

 of justice. 



A few cases exactly like the foregoing 

 would have an excellent effect on the honey 

 market. We want similar prosecutions in 

 all parts of the countiy. 



THE ILLUSTRIOUS SON OF THE GREAT HUBER. 



It gives me pleasure to state that Dr. 

 James Huber, a grandson of the illustrious 

 Francis Huber, who so thoroughly revolu- 

 tionized our conception of honey-bee life, 

 has been appointed Director of the Goeldi 

 Museum of Para. Brazil, in succession to Dr. 

 Emilio Goeldi, also a native of Switzerland, 

 to which country he is returning. The latter 

 has published some interesting monographs 

 on thestingless bees of Brazil, also his broth- 

 er. Dr. Huber, is a botanist. His father was 

 a great authority on ants; and his grand- 

 father the greatest authority on bees we know 

 any thing of, and the inventor of movable 

 combs. Evidently natural historians are 

 born, not made to order. 



HONEY GINGERBREAD IN FRANCE. 



The central society of the apiculturists in 

 France, with its headquarters in Paris, has 

 been trying to find out if it is actually true 

 that only Brittany honey could be used in 

 the manufactui'e of honey gingerbread, and 

 have come to the reluctant conclusion that 

 this is so. It ought to be understood this re- 

 fers to buckwheat honey, which is the main 

 stay of the bee-keepers of Brittany. The 

 reason for this inquiry was, doul)tles3, the 

 high prices paid by bakers for this honey, 



