3« 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



and innocent bread and butter. If we can- 

 not liave more than a lo^r house, and pay our 

 way as we go. may God help us to be satis- 

 tied with the log house. It seems to me, 

 just now, I would rather have the log house 

 anyway, if it was out in the woods, without 

 any road to come to it, but then I could not 

 give so many hands employment, and I 

 s^hould be leadnig a selfish life, so I guess I 

 will try to do the best I know how, just 

 where God has seen tit to put me. 



It is later in the day now,— and the clerks 

 are all about me, asking questions as iisual, 

 and perhaps some of them are doing their 

 work carelessly, as usual. I guess I will 

 commence reforming myself, by trying not 

 to scold any to-day ; if I carry out this good 

 resolution, some of them may look at me in 

 astonishment, and think perhaps that some- 

 thing is the matter, but never mind, I am 

 going to try hard. Help thy servant, O my 

 Savior, to perform his duties better, and to 

 take a humbler position, nearer to thee, and 

 low at thy feet. 



GKAPE-SITGAK. 



WEITTEN BY ONE OF THE MANUFACTrKEBS OF IT. 



SrN order to give a distinction between glucose 

 ! nnd grape-sugar, as those two diflferent articles 

 _±' arc commercially known, I will say that the first 

 is a heavy, gummy syrup, of about 40 per cent, glu- 

 cose, or grape-sugar, 46 to 48 per cent, dextrine, 

 and 12 to 40 per cent, water; the latter is a concrete 

 mass, without crystalization, of CC to 70 per cent, 

 grape and glucose" sugar, 5 to 6 per cent, dextrine, 

 and the balance water. 



Both articles are made in this country, out of corn 

 Btarcl), such as is used for pudding and other culi- 

 oary purposes, only that the starch is further puri- 

 fied to get rid of the glutin, a very important sub- 

 stance as food for man, but objectionable in this 

 manufacture. The coovertion of the starch into 

 dextrine or soluble starch and grape-sugar is done 

 by sulphuric acid. This chemical is removed again 

 by marble or chalk. 



In preparing grape-sugar for feeding bees, we 

 make it our special object to remove all sulphuric 

 acid, and afterwards, the resulting sulphate of lime. 

 Our grape-sugar for feeding bees is guaranteed to 

 be free from sulphuric acid, and never contains 

 more than 1-50 part of 1 per cent, of sulphate of lime. 

 Both glucose and grape sugar pass through differ- 

 ent refining processes, which are almost the same 

 as in our sugar refineries. Starch can be converted 

 into sugar or dextrine by means of malt also, as is 

 done by distillers of grain and brewers. In baking 

 bread, a large part of the starch in the flour is con- 

 verted into dextrine, and a little grape-sugar is also 

 formed. 



The celebrated malt extract consists mainly of 

 dextrine and grape-sugar, and it derives its valuable 

 nourishing power for convalescing people, from 

 these two substances. As a sweetener in coffee or 

 tea, and for other culinary purposes, grape-sugar is 

 not cheaper than cane sugar; as its sweetening 

 power, even in its chemically pure state, is only H 

 of the latter. This may be the reason that they have 

 given up its use in the hospitals of Paris. However, 

 I know that there are large factories of "dry glu- 

 cose," or grape sugar, in France, and that its manu- 

 facture is not forbidden there, nor is its use for 

 brewing beer forbidden in Germanj'. 



In order to compare the value of cane-sugar with 

 grape-sugar, such as we offer for feeding bees, I 

 would say that I have analyzed 100 or more samples 

 of refined sugars, and found that "coffee A" sugar 

 contains 90 to 93 per cent, of pure sugar; powdered, 

 granulated, or block sugar, 97 to 99 per cent, of pure 

 sugar. 



As a food, dextrine is probably as valuable as 

 grape sugar, and the latter is as valuable as cane 

 sugai'. Therefore the difference between comtner- 

 cial grape sugar and the best dry cane sugar, can- 

 not exceed 20 per cent in favor of the latter. 



I would further say that honey consists mainly of 

 rape sugar, some fiuit svigar. a much varving per- 

 centage of cane supar, ;ind sundry flavoring sub- 



is present in the honey, soon a heavy deposit of a 

 gummy, milky mass, will form ; while with pure 

 honey, there will be only a very slight milky appear- 

 ance observed. 



In Germany, an experience of 1.5 years and over 

 has proven that grape sugar, if carefully prepared 

 lor the purpose, is excellent and wholesome for 

 bees, and never costs more than u to hi of cane 

 sugar. In this country, we have sold grape sugar 

 to about 200 different parties acd receive dupli- 

 cates of orders daily. 



I think I have exhausted the subject and will fin- 

 ish up here; however, I will be rcadv to answer any 

 other questions asked. Lewis Best, 



Sup't Davenport Glucose Mauufact. Comp'y. 



Davenport, Iowa., Sept. 20lh, 1878. 



In addition to the above, it may be well 

 to quote from Mr. Langstroth's book, page 

 273. Bear in mind that this statement has 

 been before the people for more than 20 

 years. Eeferring to grape sugar, he says : 



It can be obtained at a much lower price than 

 cane-sugar, and is better adapted to the constitu- 

 tion of the bee, as it constitutes the saccharine mat- 

 ter of honey, and hence, is frequently termed honey 

 sugar. 



It may be fed either diluted with boiling-water, or 

 in its raw state, moist, as it comes from the factory. 

 In the latter condition, bees consume it slowly, and, 

 as there is not the waste that occurs when candy is 

 fed, I think it is better winter-food. 



Now, my friends, I have waited patiently 

 for you to tell me of some way for feeding 

 grape sugar in frames, as we do candy ; but 

 as none of you have done so, I just "walked 

 around the stairway," and did it myself. 

 Although it is a very simple matter indeed, 

 it is destined, I think, to prove an invention 

 of considerable importance. Take your 

 grape sugar as it comes out of the l)oxes and 

 barrels, and put it in a new tin pan on the 

 stove. Be sure you do not put in a drop of 

 water. Heat it gently, and it will, m time, 

 become so soft that you can mash it all 

 down into a kind of paste. Fix your frames 

 precisely as ^directett in the A B C, for can- 

 dy making, and sitread your grape sugar in- 

 to it nicely and evenly, and let it cool. In 

 an hour or two, you can hang it in the hive ; 

 and there is your feed for 4c. per lb. We 

 will put it into frames for you, for 5c. per 

 lb. ; but it Avill be much your cheapest way 

 to have it shipped by the barrel, and put it 

 in the frames yourself. You must not un- 

 dertake to winter bees on this alone, because 

 it may get too hard and dry ; but, with some 

 honey to go with it, it will do very well, and 

 for brood rearing, I think it is even better 

 than honey, probably on account of the dex- 

 trine. 



iM^m^f 



SEVERAL EGGS IN OXE CELL. 



Did you ever have a case like the following ? My 

 neighbor has a queen that lays from 8 to 10 eggs in 

 one cell; in fact, she just piles them in. I can't ac- 

 count for it. I like your smoker very well; I would 

 not do without it for twice the money. 



John F. Meyer. 



Wyandotte, Kansas, Sept. 3, 1873. 



[A fertile worker often lays several eggs in a cell, 

 and a drone laying queen sometimes does the same; 



