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no trouble with the bees, they replied 

 that they had the right to pick their 

 berries when they saw fit to do so. But 

 it seems to me that they have uot 

 ethically such a complete control of 

 their possessions against bees as they 

 have against domestic stock. 



If my cattle break down my fence 

 and get into my neighbor's fields, I am 

 justly liable tor any damage that they 

 may do, for it is my business to keep 

 my fence in good repair. But bees can- 

 not be thus restrained. They roam at 

 ■will, and however much we would like 

 to prevent them from visiting our 

 neighbors' berries and fruit, we are 

 powerless in the matter. 



Now bee-keeping being a highly use- 

 ful industry, its peculiarities should be 

 recognized in the laws of the land. The 

 greatest good to the greatest number 

 should control here as elsewhere in 

 society ; and if the fruit-grower can be 

 as exacting in his rights and privileges 

 against bees as against other forms of 

 trespass, the effect would be to drive 

 bee-keepers out of the business. 



The "greatest good to the gre;itest 

 number " would not be conserved by 

 such a policy, for it is even better for 

 the community that the fruit-grower 

 should suffer than that the industry of 

 bee-keeping should be proscribed. 



When the fruit-grower claims the 

 right of planting anything that he likes, 

 and gathering his crop whenever it 

 suits his convenience, law should step 

 in and say : that is your undoubted 

 right to the extent that it does uot con- 

 flict with the higher law of " the great- 

 est good to the greatest number," but 

 when it does so conflict, individual 

 rights must give way to the best in- 

 terest of the community. I am not 

 posted in the law as regards this mat- 

 ter, but it seems to me that this is a 

 common-sense view of it. 



It is decidedly disagreeable to me to 

 have any difficulty with my neighbor. 

 I would much prefer to pay a reason- 

 ble claim for damages than to sustain 

 a suit at law, but I forsee that if I rec- 

 ognize this man's claim for damages, i 

 will have to recognize his neighbor's 

 claims also, and if I pay damages this 

 year, I may have to do the same for 

 years to come, and with such a prospect 

 before me, I should certainly be com- 

 pelled to give up the business, for in 

 its present status, it would not stand 

 such a tax. 



Hudson, N. Y. 



[It is true that the bees and their 

 keepers have rights, and it is equally 

 true that the owners of surrounding 

 lands have rights. To get at, and carry 

 out to their legitimate result these 

 rights all around, is the diQiculty. As 

 General Manager of the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Union, we have advised Mr. 

 McNeill as to what course to pursue, 

 and we have no doubt that the whole 

 affair will be amicably settled— at least 

 we hope so. 



The thoughtful reader will find much 

 to interest him in the article from Dr. 

 Miller, on page 583 of this issue, on this 

 important subject.— Ed. 



EXTRACTED HONEY. 



Its Purity, Oraiiiilation, Uses, 

 and Production. 



Written for the American Agriculturist 

 BY A. H. DUFF. 



Extracted honey is coming into gen- 

 eral favor. The fear of adulteration 

 has been the great obstacle to its sale, 

 but this is now largely dispelled, and 

 people are taking hold of the article 

 with more confidence. It is only neces- 

 sary for consumers to consider a mo- 

 ment to convince themselves that at 

 the present prices for which extracted 

 honey is sold, it would be impossible to 

 produce any substitute that would cost 

 less. In earlier times, when honey 

 would bring from 25 to 35 cents per 

 pound, there was an inducement to 

 adulterate ; but when honey brings 

 only 10 or 12 cents it is impossible to 

 substitute any article with a salable 

 appearance except at a cost that would 

 not exceed the price. Every bee-keeper 

 well knows that adulteration is a death 

 blow to his own industry, and when 

 adulteration was common, it was 

 doubtless safe to lay the blame upon 

 the middleman and not on the producer. 



It has been asserted that adulteration 

 is brought about by the bee-keeper 

 feeding sugar and syrup to the bees. 

 This is impossible, for the reason that 

 sugar and syrup feeding will never pro- 

 duce honey. It will simply be sugar 

 syrup stored in the combs, and will not 

 be changed in flavor. The fact that 

 bee-keepers feed sugar to their bees 

 creates misapprehension among the in- 

 experienced. It is of the utmost im- 

 portance at certain seasons of the year 

 to feed bees, but it is only to maintain 

 life, or to stimulate brood-rearing, and 

 it is done late in the fall and early in 

 the spring. 



The cost of feed brings this to an 

 end as soon as the colony is in a fair 

 condition. This feed is all consumed 

 in the brood-nest, and not a particle of 

 it ever reaches the surplus boxes. When 

 honey is abundant in the flowers, and 

 the bees have access to it, they cannot 

 be led away by any cheap sugars or 

 syrups. It would be folly to furnish 

 food at a higli rate, when honey-pro- 

 ducing flowers are supplying the real 

 nectar in excessive quantities. 



Extracted honey can be secured in 

 greater quantities than comb honey 

 under the same conditions, and at a 

 much less cost. The saving of comb is 

 quite an item, for to produce wax in- 

 volves the consumption of large quan- 

 tities of honey. It has been estimated 

 that 20 pounds of honey are sacrificed 

 in producing one pound of wax or 

 comb. The convenience of handling 

 extracted lioney, and the ease with 

 which it can be kept any length of time 

 in good condition, are greatly in its 

 favor. 



The granulation of extracted honey 

 has heretofore interfered with its sale 

 and use, but it is now pretty well un- 

 derstood that all pure honey will gran- 

 ulate, and in this condition it is pre- 

 ferred by many to the liquid form. 



In extracting, the different varieties 

 of honey produced from different blos- 



soms can be kept separate, and the en- 

 tire crop graded. Most people think 

 there is but one kind of honey, and 

 when they see two different colors they 

 conclude one of them is not right. It 

 is impossible to enumerate the differ- 

 ent varieties, flavors and shades of 

 honey, but we may safely say that in 

 any one locality there may be twenty 

 different kinds, at least as many as we 

 have different genera of flowers. 



All honey when taken from the hives 

 should be stored away high and dry in 

 buildings. Never use a cellar nor any 

 damp place for this purpose. Damp- 

 ness will spoil honey, but heat never 

 will. 



Creighton, Ohio. 



COMB HONEY. 



My Favorite management, and 

 Hoiv to Obtain It. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY WESLEY DIBBLE. 



I commenced using the new Heddon 

 hive in 1886, which was considered a 

 poor season here. I obtained more 

 finished and marketable honey with it 

 than with the hive I had used for 7 

 years previous, and I may add, more 

 honey than any other bee-man with 

 any hive in this territory produced, to 

 my knowledge. I used it according to 

 directions given by its inventor, which 

 was a box on a single story. I, of 

 course, was well pleased with the re- 

 sult the first summer. 



I neglected to feed my bees in the 

 fall, and put the bees into the cellar on 

 Nov. 14, 1886, which were in the re- 

 versible and the Langstroth hives. The 

 result on May 1, 1887, was that I had 

 lost 50 colonies in the reversible hive, 

 while those in the Langstroth wintered 

 well. 



I will say here that I had always win- 

 tered bees perfectly before, and the 

 bees consumed so little honey that I 

 did not see the necessity of feeding 

 those in the reversible hives in the fall. 

 The colonies in reversfble hives went 

 into the cellar very light, while those 

 in Langstroth hives were heavy. In 

 view of all of the above loss, I was not 

 discouraged with the hive. 



In 1887 I filled the hives again with 

 bees, and used them mostly with both 

 stories the second season. About June 

 1, 1887, I commenced to change the 

 lower section or half-hive to the top, 

 and the top one below. I practiced 

 this once in seven or eight days, for 

 four times, and some of them oftener. 

 When the upper story was loaded with 

 honey, I put it below as late as Aug. 1. 



I did not get a natural swarm from 

 the reversible hive in 1887. I put them 

 into the cellar again on Nov. 19, 1887, 

 with both chambers of the hives well 

 filled with bees and honey. The bees 

 wintered perfectly, and now, on July 

 27, 1888, with the same management as 

 last summer, the colonies in these 

 hives are ahead of anything I know of 

 in this part of the country, in storing 

 honey in sections ; and I have had one 

 swarm from 50 colonies. 



