THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



21 



From the experience 1 have had I would 

 advise bee-keepers not to risk too much in 

 working two queens in one hive." 



I could never see any advantage in the 

 Wells system that might not be gained by 

 simply reducing the size of our hives. Put- 

 ting two queens in a large hive is simply in- 

 creasing the "queen power," if the express- 

 ion is allowable, and reducing the size of a 

 single hive does the same. 



Detecting Adulterated Honey. 



If there is any one thing that we need to 

 " go slow on," and be sure we are right be- 

 fore we go ahead, it is in the matter of de- 

 tecting honey adulteration. The foremost 

 chemists of our land are beginning to admit 

 that in some instances it is exceedingly dif- 

 ficult to determine to a certainty in regard 

 to the purity of some samples of honey. 

 Years ago Mr. Muth's honey (a sample; was 

 pronounced "probably impure." Mr. Muth's 

 reputation saved him, although this report 

 caused him much annoyance and some loss. 

 But suppose Mr. Muth had had enemies who 

 would have rejoiced in his downfall, how 

 would the case have been then ? I am not 

 pleading for adulteration, but it is a terrible 

 thing to accuse a man of a misdemeanor of 

 which he is not guilty. How would you feel, 

 my friend, to be brought into court and 

 fined for the adulteration of honey, when the 

 only evidence was the analyzation of the 

 honey, and that analyzation performed per- 

 haps from the formula of some old chemical 

 work ? These thoughts are brought to mind 

 by reading the following taken from the 

 American Bee Journal. 



" A case of alleged adulteration of honey 

 recently came up in ttie Cleveland courts, 

 and the seller of the product was fined. The 

 item reads thus : * George G. Willard, of 

 Cleveland, 0., has been arrested and fined 

 .$70.85 (including costs) for selling adulter- 

 ated honey.' The court relied for its decis- 

 ion upon the report of a chemical analysis 

 of the honey itself. Mr. Willard claims that 

 he did not adulterate it, but sold it just as it 

 came from the bee-keeper in whose apiary it 

 was produced. 



Owing to the unreliability of chemical 

 tests of honey, it behooves every honest 

 honey-producer to carefully mark or label 

 each package of honey he produces and sends 

 out from his apiary. Verily, there are in- 

 teresting times ahead, if courts in cases of 

 alleged honey adulteration are to base their 

 decisions upon the results of so-called chem- 

 ical tests. The Bee-Keepers' Union may 

 have to step in and help in these matters." 



One year ago the constitution of the Bee- 

 Keepers' Union was so changed that it could 



use its funds and influence for any purpose 

 in furthering the interests of apiculture. 

 The principal idea in view in making this 

 change was that it might thereby fight adul- 

 teration. It will be a little remarkable if its 

 first work in dealing with the matter should 

 be defending bee-keepers who are unjustly 

 prosecuted for adulteration. 



A Condensed View of Current 



Bee Writings. 



E. E. HASTY. 



fAM not going to be contrary this time 

 about that station report in last Re- 

 view. I thaw out. If I don't mind I 

 shall actually get enthusiastic and say that 

 it is a real nice and valuable piece of work. 

 After the foundation man had stuffed us 

 until we almost thought the bee was nowhere 

 compared with " our extra-thin," it is pleas- 

 ant to have it authoritatively proven that the 

 bee in person is just nicely leading the race, 

 so far a delicacy of work goes. And it's 

 quite instructive to see that flat bottomed 

 foundation, although much the lightest of 

 all while in the sheet, comes in seventh in a 

 class of nine as to weight of wax in the 

 finished comb base. Presumably the little 

 creatures tinker at it and punch it, because 

 it don't look natural, and put on more wax 

 while doing so. As the micrometer meas- 

 urements give it a little higher standing 

 (fifth instead of seventh) probably the added 

 wax is stuck into the angles. 



And what do these dry tables say ? Wash- 

 burn says, I can read a single ten thousandth. 

 Beal, although a college man at work at his 

 regular business, says, five ten thousandths 

 is close enough for me, and ends all his fig- 

 ures with 5 or 0, This reviewer rather ad- 

 mires his candor. Both find great variation 

 of thickness in some of the samples. Very 

 likely bees part of the time plaster instead 

 of annealing the surface they think too hard 

 and smooth. Both find natural bases uni- 

 form in thickness. And as one says .50 and 

 the other ,57 the 7 seems to be the " personal 

 equation " of the two men, one looking to 

 see how thick it is, and the other looking to 

 see how thi^i it is. (^r perhaps Beal mentally 

 tossed a copper whether to say .50 or .55 and 

 the wrong figure got it. The uniformity of 

 natural comb extends, I am quite sure, only 

 to comb made in the same batch. At least 



