THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



651 



I bave two SRinples of heather honey 

 gathered at mnois twenty miles apart. 

 Both are candied— the one as tine as 

 butter, the other with large granules; 

 the former of alight saffron, and the 

 latter of a high amber color ; yet wben 

 liquid they could not be distinguished 

 one from the other, neither in the 

 color nor the flavor. 



If the qualities of honey are to be 

 flxed. let it be by chemistry ; there is 

 a wide held for research in that way, 

 and much might be learnt by its 

 study, especially with honey, to help 

 people to select the best for the vari- 

 ous purposes it is employed, but it 

 will never settle what is the best 

 honey to suit every taste. Chemically 

 speaking, there is a great difference 

 in honeys, although most authors tell 

 us that good honey is composed of 

 equal parts of crystallizable and non- 

 crystallizable portions, these contain- 

 ing three constituents— sugar, muci- 

 lage, and an acid ; then divide these 

 again into their respective gases, 

 which gives but a poor idea to know 

 what good honey is. 



Other modern writers tell us that 

 the quality of the honey depends upon 

 the age of the bees that gathered it- 

 white when bees are young, but de- 

 preciating in color and quality as the 

 bees get older. Then the same en- 

 cyclopjedias tell us the countries that 

 produce the best honey— assertions 

 with little to support them, for the 

 best grades of honey, and with flavor 

 to suit all tastes, need not be sought 

 for out of the United Kingdom, and 

 if the bee is properly attended, the 

 Nation might be well supplied with- 

 out depending upon foreign supplies 

 of honey. 



There has been much written about 

 judging honey, and we have been 

 told that good honey always granu- 

 lates, yet granulated samples bave 

 been frequently disqualified. I am 

 aware that the awards at shows will 

 never give satisfaction to all, yet I 

 think there should be consistence in 

 precept and practice. What I consider 

 bee-keepers should aim at is, to care- 

 fully select all samples of honey ,keep- 

 ing every kind separate, never mix 

 two kinds, and take care when the 

 extractor is used, to extract none but 

 from sealed combs. Many honeys 

 contain much of what may be termed 

 the cream of honey ; this is lighter 

 than the main body, and is of an oily 

 nature, disappearing if the honey is 

 much heated, and is lost if mixed 

 with the watery, unsealed honey that 

 is often thrown out by the extractor 

 either by what is termed the " ripen- 

 ing process." or by fermentation con- 

 sequent on the mixture. 



Scotland. 



[There is a misconception in the 

 minds of many, concerning the bees 

 visiting only one kind of bloom in one 

 journey. We admit that very rarely 

 do bees visit two different kinds of 

 bloom before returning to the hive ; 

 but there are instances on record of 

 their doing so, and on such occasions 

 the bees do actually mix the different 

 kinds of honey.— Ed.] 



Local Convention Directory. 



' HH7. Time and place of MeeUng. 



Oct. 18.— Kentucky Stuto, at Falmouth. Ky. 



J. T. (X)Mnley, Sec. Napoleon, Ky. 



Oct. 26.— Wabash Countv, at Wabash, Inci. 



F. 8. ComBtock. Sec North Monche.tter, Ind. 



Oct. 26, 27.-Pan-Uan.llu, at Wheellne. W. Va. 



W. L. Kinsey, Sec, Blaine. O. 



Oct. 28.— Darke Countv. at Arcanum, O. 



J. A. Hoe, Sec, Union City Ind. 



Nov. Iti-ltf.— North American, at Chicago, Ills. 



W. Z. Hutchinson. Sec. Rogersville. Mich. 



Uec. 7-9.— MlchiKan State, at Bast Satjinaw, Mich. 



H. D. Cutting, Sec. Clinton, Mich. 

 1888. 

 Jan. 20.— Haldimand, at Cayuga, Ontario. 



K. C. Campbell, Sec, Cayuga, Ont. 



|y" In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulara of 

 time and place of future meetings.- ED. 



Value of the Bee-Keepers' Union, 

 etc.— Mrs. L. C. Axtell, Koseville,*o 

 Ills., on Sept. 30, 1887, says : 



We have had rain every day for five 

 days— a real soaking rain, for which 

 we are very thankful. We have al- 

 ready been assisted to secure $30 by 

 the existence of the Bee-Keepers' 

 Union (indirectly). I feel that we 

 ought to throw in our influence also. 

 I have just had a good laugh over the 

 numerous names suggested for ex- 

 tracted honey. I think we cannot do 

 better than to retain the name "ex- 

 tracted " for honey out of the comb, 

 unless it be " liquid honey." Mr. A. 

 is well pleased with his Japanese 

 buckwheat ; it grew larger, and the 

 grain is larger than the other. But a 

 few seeds of the Chapman honey- 

 phtnt grew, and none of the Alsike 

 clover, last spring. 



Small Crop and Increase.- Wm. 



Pearson, Oswalt,© Iowa, on Oct. 3, 

 1887, says : 



The honey crop of this year is one- 

 fourth of the yield of last year, and 

 the increase is 30 per cent. Swarms 

 hived on the Hutchinson plan — 5 

 frames with starters— gave from 20 to 

 30 pounds of comb honey, and gath- 

 ered fall honey enough to winter on ; 

 while others that did not swarm gath- 

 ered half as much. 



Snccessful Italianizing.etc- N. M. 



Middlebrook, Patterson, Os Texas, on 

 Sept. 23, 1887, writes : 



I have now 20 young Italian queens 

 which I reared and superseded black 

 ones with. All are laying and doing 

 well. This was my first Italianizing, 

 and only made a failure of 3 or 4. Our 

 honey crop is about one-half so far. 

 Bees are getting honey now right 

 along, but how long it will last I can- 

 not tell. They are working on the 

 wild morning-glory. This is the first 

 I ever knew them to work on it. 



Common Live-Forever and Aster. 

 —Walter B. Downing, Lexington,© 

 Ky., on Sept. 23, 1887. writes : 



I send two kinds of flowers wliifti I 

 would like to have named. What 

 value are they as honey plants V The 

 Hrst one with the cluster of flowers 

 and large leaf grows in our yard and 

 garden as a flower. It has been bloom- 

 ing for some time, and when the 

 weather is suitable, the bees crowd on 

 it all day. It grows in large bunches, 

 and comes up from the roots every 

 year. 



The other plant is just beginning to 

 bloom; it grows about 4 feet high, 

 and comes up from the roots every 

 year. It grows well on thin " washy " 

 land. We have about 3 acres of 

 " washy " land that was sowed to 

 timothy and grass about 4 or 5 years 

 ago, and this weed is about to take it. 

 The bees are thick on it when it is in 

 full bloom. Last fall we thought we 

 would have to feed for winter stores, 

 but when we examined the hives, 

 there was some honey to spare, and 

 we think that they gathered the most 

 of it from this plant. 



We have secured from 800 to 1.000 

 pounds of nice clover honey, mostly 

 extracted, from 11 colonies, spring 

 count, and increased them to 17 colo- 

 nies. The honey has nearly all been 

 sold in the home market at 10 to 18 

 cents per pound. 



[No. 1 is the common " live for- 

 ever," or garden opine, sedum tele- 

 phium. I find that the bees are at- 

 tracted to it in our College garden 

 not a little. I do not know how much 

 nectar it yields. 



No. 2 is one of our best asters. The 

 asters seem to have yielded much 

 honey this year. I hear good reports 

 of them from all parts of the country. 

 —A. J. Cook.] 



Bees did Well, etc.- Ben. Betten, 

 Goodell's.o Mich., on Oct. 3, 1887, 

 says : 



My bees did well for this poor year, 

 and they have their hives full of 

 honey to winter on. I use one of the 

 new reversible hives, and I like it 

 first-rate. It is so nice to handle, and 

 the reversible crate is all that could 

 be desired. I would use no other. I 

 would like to hear from others who 

 use the reversible hives. 



Convention Notices. 



lay The Darke County Union Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation will hold their next meeting at Arca- 

 num. O., on Friday, Oct. 2«. 1887. J. A. BOK, See. 



Union Convention at Cblcaso.— The 



North American Bee-Keepers' Society and 

 the Northwestern Bee-Keepers' Society will 

 meet in joint convention at the Commercial 

 Hotel, cor. Lake and Dearborn i^trcets, in 

 Chicago. Ills., on Wednesday. Thursday and 

 Friday, Nov. 16, 17 and 18. 188T. Arrange- 

 ments have been made with the Hotel, for 

 back room, one bed, two persons, f 1.73 per 

 day, each : front room, $a.00 per day each 

 person. This date occurs during the Kecond 

 week of the Fat Stock Show, when excursion 

 rates will be very low. 



W. Z. Hutchinson. Ste. 



