1878 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



365 



connnenced to bloom in June— say it has been in 

 bloom ;? month'*. Kich plant has from 3 to 15 (say 8) 

 peduncles, each poiluncle 5 to 8 (say (i) pedicels, and 

 each pedicel 1 drop, (say '3 of a drop). 



The above rtsurcs would g-ive 16 drops to a plant 

 each day. It they are in bloom 90 days and there 

 are 7260 plants to an acre, we have 7i60xl6x'.)0 drops 

 to an acre during- thq season. Dividing- this prod- 

 uct by aiAW, the number of drops in a gallon, we 

 have 170 g-ailons to an acre- say 100 gallons. 



I don't see why I should make it any less. We 

 may be deceived; we are only testing: it, and wish 

 yoii to do the same. T have not tried to save nuich 

 seed, fearing it might prove a failure, and you 

 would s IV that I knew it but wanted your money. 

 I think I have enough to give all that desire it a 

 small piu'kage, and let you try for yourselves; for, 

 1 believe the day is not far distant when we will 

 plant our honey crops, in proportion to the number of 

 little workers we are able to set to gather it. 



Mr. L. sends his compliments to you, friend R., 

 for praising: his wife'sin.g-e unity, but I'll tell you, on 

 the sl\', he tied the laee on, then, after awhile, went 

 back, took it off, and set watch over it, when he 

 spied a lean, lank, hungrv fallow gorge itself from 

 three buds, then off to the hive. I would describe 

 the seed and pollen piirt of the plant, but have 

 written too much alreadv. 



MoLT.iE O. LA.mF„ Pine Hill Apiary. 



Millersville, Christian Co., 111., Oct. ISth, '78. 



P. S.— AVill those sending for seed, please send the 

 money instead of stamps. M. O. L. 



GR.4PJE-SIIG.V1£ ANO AOIJL.TEK ITION. 



fp HAVE been asked why I did not give friend Da- 

 W diint's paper a placr^ in Gr.EANixQS. Principal- 

 -5!i ly, because of the following sentence which it 

 contained:— 



"That this glucose is manufactured from corn 

 starch, by boiling the starch with sulphuric acid (oil 

 of vitriol), then mixing with lime. The glucose al- 

 ways retains more or less of sulphuric acid and lime, 

 and sometimes it has copperas, sucrate of lime, 

 etc." 



In the ^1. C..7., for Oct., page 3.53, Mr. Dadant 

 makes the following statement: — 



"In Franco, solid glucose is obtained by evaporat- 

 ing licpiid glucose. Here it is obtained by putting 

 in it a greater quantity of chalk, and the vendors of 

 that compound, under the name of "grape-sugar" 

 (Mr. Root included), should be published as swin- 

 dlers and humbugs in Gleanuigs!" 



I do not know how sulphuric acid and lime could 

 both be found present in an active state in the same 

 substance, for one would neutralize the other; nor 

 can I see how it would be very profitable to boil 

 down glucose worth 5c. per llj., into grape-sugar 

 worth 31.30. per lb. It is a singular fact, that al- 

 though glucose is a liquid, and grape-sugar a solid, 

 the latter contains a much larger per cent, of water 

 held, by a curious law in chemistry. In a solid state. 

 If we produce the grape-sugar by adding chalk, as 

 friend i). suggests, I am afraid we should soon come 

 to grief, for chalk is an insolutile compound, and the 

 first lump of sugar our purchaser put into hismouth 

 would reveal the cheat. I know, by the letters re- 

 ceived, that there are those so thoughtless as to sup- 

 pose that it is |)ossible to add chalk; will those peo- 

 ple please dissolve a lump of the grape-sugar in a 

 little wann water, and see if it does not all dissolve 

 perfectly. I might have published the article, it is 

 true, and it may be my duty to give everybody a 

 hearing, even should they send in .a paper claiming 

 the mo(m was made of-^ — chalk, l)ut would it be 

 profitable to occupy space thus? I have had some 

 experience in declining articles, and as writing the 

 parties my reasons for their re.lection almost always 

 results in a controversy, I have thought it liest to 

 simply lay them aside, "unless I am asked to return 

 them, which I am alwaj's ready to do. 



A copy of the address delivered at the Kansas 

 State Bee-Keepers' Association contains the follow- 

 ing:— 



"Glucose, with which honey and syrups are adul- 

 terated, is made of sulphuric acid,' lime and corn 

 starch; and it is said that rags answer the same pur- 

 pose as the corn starch to give the syrup body, the 

 color of the syrup being regulated by the cleanli- 

 ness of the rags. Is it not time that the people 

 knew that they were eating old rags, dissolved in 



sulphuric acid and lime, made into dope to poison 

 our people? I say dope because I don't like to dig- 

 nify it with the word syrup. And it is not only 

 mi.xed with honey and syrups but it is actually sold 

 without mixture, in all its ttlthiness, to the unsus- 

 pecting." 



The orator winds up the matter with a piece of 

 profanity, which I have left out. Although it was 

 printed in full, and put in quotation marks, I hope 

 it was not so spoken before the association. I am 

 inclined to think there is much honest misappre- 

 hensioii. In the manufacture of many kinds of sug- 

 ar, especially corn sugar, an acid is used to convert 

 the starch into sugar, a well known chemical pro- 

 cess. Starch and sugar are, chemically speaking, 

 almost identical, and the acid simply converts the 

 one into the other, without taking from, or adding 

 to it a particle of anything. To remove the acid, af- 

 ter it hiis performed its ollice, chalk is used, and the 

 business of the reliner is to remove every trace of 

 both these suhstanoes. I presume the Davenport 

 factory use car loads of both the chalk and acid, in 

 this cluMiiii'al i>roc,'ss, and this mav have given rise 

 to the thouglitless statements made above. The re- 

 finers of cane sugar, use tons of blood and offal from 

 the slaughter houses, as well as burnt bones; but 

 our sugar of commerce contains none of these arti- 

 cles. If grape-sugar is made in so slovenly a man- 

 ner as to cintain articles ])re.judicial to the health, 

 the matter shoul<l hy all means he taken in hand. I 

 have bought it from both the Buffalo and Davenport 

 factories, and the sugar sent me for feeding bees, 

 certainly contained neither chalk nor sulphuric acid. 

 I feel just as safe in feeding it, or eating it myself, 

 as I would in eating the corn meal from which it is 

 made. A petition gotten up with the. misapprehen- 

 sion shown in the one sent me for publication, I 

 think would come to naught, as it should do; but if 

 more stringent laws are needed than those we have, 

 I will vote for them by all means. 



We have laws already for the prevention of adul- 

 teration of syrups and honey, and when we have 

 tried other means and failed, I will be with you in 

 putting them in force, Avith all my heart. IJadant 

 and I have been good friends for many years, and I 

 hope may be so still; I have no fear that his unkind 

 words uttered in the heat of controversy will harm 

 me; on the contrary, they may set me to thinking, 

 and do me good. 



The following correspondence illustrates the mis- 

 conception in regard to grape-sugar and glucose:— 



"Please send mo a sample of your honey, made by 

 the bees, from glucose. I am auxions to see how It 

 looks and tastes. C. B. F. Bangs. 



North Lansing, Mich., Oct. 6, 1878." 



I have never fed any glucose, except a small quan- 

 tity, perhaps a table spoonful, for experiment. Hav- 

 ing it stored in the combs by the bees, would not 

 change it to honey; it would be glucose still, and no 

 one would ever think of calling it honey. The fact 

 that it is so much more expensive than grape sugar, 

 is the reason we do not use it. 



"Your postal is received. Perhaps I ought to have 

 said grape-sugar instead of glucose. Please send 

 me a sample of honey, made by bees, from grape- 

 sugar. If you cannot, please return the Hie, using 

 the remaining 3c. to pay postage, and oblige 



C. B. F. B.^NGS. 



North Lansing, Mich., Oct. 13, 1878." 



But, my friend, grape-sugar does not make honey, 

 nor anything like it. When stored in the combs. It 

 is grape-sugar still; a substance more like pollen 

 than honey. We return your monej'. 



Our friend Viallon, of Bayou Goula, La., bids us 

 assure customers that, if any of his business with 

 them has not received its usual prompt attention, it 

 is on account of the terrible yellow fever scourge. 

 All will be made right as soon as possible. 



Do not worry, if you do not find brood in your 

 hives this time of year; queens seldom lay now, 

 unless the colonies have been fed, or the queens are 

 very young. If there are plenty of bees, they are 

 just as well off, and perhaps better, without brood, 

 from now until Jan. 1st. 



We have now a full report of the meeting between 

 the drones and queen. It comes from California, 

 the land of liees and sunshine, and will be given in 

 full next mouth. It takes place in the open air, not 

 very high up, aametimes at least, and not far from 

 the hives. 



