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106 



NINTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE 



Mr. Baxter — None of those crystals 

 at all. 



Dr. Miller — That is something new, 

 because those crystals are very un- 

 pleasant. 



Dr. Bohrer — My impression is there 

 is little, comparatively, known about 

 the use of honey for culinary pur- 

 poses. I know that fifty years ago it 

 was not fit, not prepared in a state 

 that would admit of its being used. 

 The nearest to absolutely pure honey 

 you could get was what they called 

 "strained honey." That is, it was 

 pressed out of the comb and was 

 strained through a cloth and there 

 was so little of it, it was never used 

 for cooking purposes; but the time 

 has come now, when, if the ladies of 

 the country will use it and experiment 

 with it, almost anything can be done 

 with it that can be done with sugar 

 or syrup. That would be my impres- 

 sion about the matter. But it has been 

 so little used that I don't blame the 

 women for not talking about it, be- 

 cause very few of them have tried it 

 but very little. 



Mr. Burnett — I would like to ask Dr. 

 Miller, in his opinion, what the prop- 

 erties of honey are in this matter of 

 removing tartaric acid, or its results. 

 Is it because of the fact that it is 

 turned to the left instead of right, 

 in the process of fermentation? 



Dr. Miller — I don't know, but I sup- 

 pose there is more or less of a chem- 

 ical combination, that the honey com- 

 bines with the acid. You know if you 

 take sugar, if you make sugar syrup 

 and put an acid with it, it will not 

 granulate. Now something the same 

 way here. I don't know just how it 

 is. I cannot give you a satisfactory 

 answer. The combination is made in 

 some way. I only got the fact from 

 Mr. Baxter, and I am willing to take 

 his word for it, that with the honey 

 it does not form those granules, and . 

 I know that is a common thing with a 

 jelly made from grapes, or any prepa- 

 ration from grapes, you have the acid 

 crj'stals. That is the way they make 

 cream of tartar. 



Feeding Sugar Syrup to Bees. 



'7s sugar syrup better feed for bees 

 in winter than honey?" 



Mr. Bull — It is just about as good. 

 There is very little difference between 

 honey and sugar syrup. 



Mr. Fluegge — It may be better than 



most honey. If you have the best kind 

 of honey, I suppose it would be just 

 as well. I think the syrup goes fur- 

 ther, the same amount, and not liable 

 to give them any dysentery if handled 

 rightly. 



Mr. Huffman — I didn't use to think 

 that sugar syrup was good for bees, 

 and I wouldn't try it. But two years 

 ago last fall I took five colonies, after 

 the honey season was over — our honey 

 season the last of June or middle of 

 July is all over with. I shook them 

 on empty foundation, and fed them 

 nothing but sugar syrup, half and halt 

 I used the Miller feeder, and I never 

 had bees winter better in my life. I 

 would rather have it than honey, but 

 sometimes you don't get the good ar- 

 ticle. La^st winter, especially in the 

 middle part of the State, a good many 

 had to extract their honey. If you 

 have a sugar syrup, you don't need to 

 fear any trouble. That is my experi- 

 ence. 



Mr. Cavanagh — I think it has been 

 conceded by some others that bees 

 consume less sugar than honey. It is 

 less stimulating, we know. And 1 al- 

 ways feel that the less the bees find 

 necessary to consume during the win- 

 ter wants, the better they should win- 

 ter. For that reason alone, I would 

 say that sugar syrup would be pre- 

 ferred. 



Dr. Miller — I think there is quite a 

 little we don't know about bees, and 

 that matter of sugar and honey is one 

 that I think there is a chance for us 

 to konw more about than we do. There 

 are certainly some cases in which it is 

 a very great advantage to get rid of 

 the honey that is present, and to put 

 sugar syrup in its place; but where 

 the honey is of the best character, 

 there may be some question. In Eu- 

 rope, I think, the general opinion is 

 that it is much better to have honey. 

 In this country, I think the general 

 opinion is that sugar is the better. 

 They claim that if, for any consider- 

 able length of time, you feed sugar 

 your bees will become weaker consti- , 

 tutionally, that there is food in the 

 honey you don't get in the sugar. This 

 much is certain, that in honey you 

 have more or less pollen, where you 

 don't think you have, where you don't 

 see it, and when it comes to rearing 

 a brood in the spring, then you have 

 the support for the brood in the honey 

 that you don't find in the sugar. So 



