BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
My DeAR Sir: --It was with much pleasure that I read of your suggestion at the N. Y. Convention, of forming a secret society of bee-keepers for the exclusive benefit of the members thereof. Of especial value is the secret part of it, in the matter of statistics. If the statistics of the honey crop are fully published in the bee papers, it will be very likely to do as much harm as good. Take for example the city of Providence; it is almost entirely supplied with honey raised outside of Rhode Island, and much of it is purchased through New York or Boston commission houses, local firms handling very little. Now the Rhode Island bee-keepers reap the benefit of this; for the retailers will buy more quickly and at better prices of us, than they will if they have to go to Boston for it. Suppose it was published in the bee papers that the Rhode Island crop was short, not near enough to supply the demand, how quickly would "Tom, Dick and Harry" ship their honey here, and spoil things for both themselves and us. At present if I am supplying a few retailers and have not enough honey, I buy of those producers either in or out of Rhode Island, the quality of whose goods I have no doubt of, and sell to my customers at the same price as my own sells for, something I could not do if the state of this market were known to all bee-keepers. Now if the statistics are supplied only to members of the society, and they are pledged to give the members residing in a district having a short crop, the first chance to purchase, and when enough has been secured to supply said market, it is reported to the local secretary, who in turn notifies districts that have been offering honey, it would preventa glut. and tend, keep the market firm. I know that all this would necessitate a large and very complete organization, as well as a somewhat expensive one. It would require a prompt, wideawake secretary in every district. It might be politic to merge the present Union with it or better make protection a feature of the new society, thereby enabling the bee-keeper to realize two benefits for _one_ yearly "due." These are only a few thoughts which occurred to me while reading of the statistic matter. Yours respectfully, A Honey Producer. _March 1st, 1888._
[The above is a portion of a personal letter received by the editor, the thoughts in which are so valuable that he has made bold to publish them. --Ed.]
**For the Bee-KeeperS' Magazine.**
**Two Sides.**
_Editor Bee-Keepers' Magazine :_
Ever since you became editor of the Magazine I have been highly pleased with it, for you are free-spoken, and what pleases me more is that I believe that you always try to satisfy yourself that you are in the right before you pass your opinion, and if you do make a mistake you are as willing to be corrected. That is the right spirit, I think. We should say what we believe when we find we are wrong, own up and be honest about it. When I came to the article on page 375, credited to American Tract Society, I was deeply interested, for I believe I know the people therein described, and their manner of giving tribute unto "the Lord " is a lesson that ought to be of great value to every Christian in the land, for, if we are not willing to give to the cause of Christ, how can we expect to be rewarded. Some years ago, when I was a mere boy, I rented my mother's farm and a farm of some neighbor ladies. (It was in Pennsylvania, where they did not blow much.) And on their place I sowed four acres of oats. We did not hardly expect an average crop, for the land was low and wet. I had a certain debt that would become due about the time I would have my oats threshed. I was very uneasy for fear my part of the oats (one-half) would not yield enough to pay it, and I was a believer in the Lord, and always went to Him in prayer with all my trials and troubles. I prayed most earnestly that those oats might pay the debt. It would take fifty bushelts to do it. When we threshed there were ninety-nine bushelts, my share being forty-nine and a half bushelts, and I had to sell by weight, and I was afraid they would fall a little short. However, when I sold them I found they weighed out just fifty-four bushelts. I believe that the above instance was as a lesson to me, to show me that the Lord was willing to help and assist us when we would put our trust in Him. We will all have our dark times all through this life, but by going to the Lord in our darkness, in prayer, we will receive help. I hope that many will profit by the article referred to in Magazine. Dear Editor, I hope you will have a prosperous year, and do us a great deal of good, as in the past.
Gideon B.
Guinman, Mo., Dec. 17, 1837.
Many persons think there can be nothing more pleasant than to edit a paper. The day before we received your letter two others arrived as follows :
Mr. Editor: You may now discontinue my paper. If I want a religious paper I will subscribe for one. We have the ministers to preach the gospel to us, not through the columns of a bee paper. If you want to raise a row combat a man's religion. I like your Magazine very well as a bee paper, but not as a religious paper. Yours, Chas. A. Eckenrode.
Imitteown, Dec. 14, 1887.
Mr. Aspinwall: Please stop subscription to Bee-Keepers' Magazine' Cause for stopping is : I don't approve of sermons in bee periodicals, such as is on page 375. I did intend to renew and try to get two or three more, but since I read the above, gave it up.
A. A. Lepper.
Caron, Nov., Dec. 20, 1887.
We wrote to Mr. Eckenrode and said that the last thing in the world we wanted to do was to combat a man's
## 1 The Bee-Keepers' MAGAZINE.
**I
## 11 The Bee-Keepers' Magazine
The Bee-Keepers' Magazine,
'''
For the Bee-Keepers' Magarme. SOME BEE TALK, &e. BY G. W. DEMARERE.
'''
Stormy winter, dreary winter, it has no charms for me now, if it ever had. The winter was favorable on our bees, on their summer stands, up to January 1oth. Since that time the earth has been covered with the "slickest" sheet of ice ever seen on the earth. A great many valuable cattle have crippled or killed themselves by falling and struggling on the ice. Some of our farmers have lost heavily in this way. I have often noticed that when a great "'sleet" covers the earth, there is a "chill" about the atmosphere that is unfavorable to the comfort of bees on the summer stands. Still we have had no very severe cold weather, and our bees may come through all right. The temperature has at no time gone below zero, and has only touched that point lightly on two mornings this winter.
''' some interesting EXPERIMENTS. I have had a theory in my mind for several years that bees may be wintered safely and in the best of health in a cellar kept at a low temperature. In fact it would make little difference whether the temperature was kept above the freezing point or not, provided the cellar, or bee house, is heated up to a summer temperature once in ten days or two weeks. The heat should be kept up for about twelve hours so that the bees can throw off all moisture from their bodies, external and internal. This I expected to have the same effect as a winter flight in the open air. Well, some experiments I have on hand is in a fair way to prove my theory to be a fact. In the beginning of winter I placed in our vegetable and fruit cellar a small colony of bees, where the temperature is kept but little above the freezing point. At intervals of about ten days the hive has been carried into my office, which is heated by means of a stove to a summer temperature. The several thicknesses of cloth is removed from the top of the hive leaving but one thin burlap quilt which is securely fastened over the top of the hive to prevent the bees from escaping. The entrance is covered with wire cloth. When the bees begin to feel the warmth of the room they gradually rouse up, and in a few hours are ventilating with their wings like summer time. Late in the evening the hive is again covered with some extra quilts at the top and returned to the cellar for another period of repose. These bees are in excellent health at this writing, January 3oth. I have also kept a small colony in a shipping case in my office all the time. They are fed syrup made of honey and sugar about once a week. They roar" loudly in the day time when the room is warm. The temperature goes down below the freezing point when the nights are cold. Several nights the ink on my writing desk froze-solid. These bees also are in excellent health. Of course this colony kept in my office does not come within the scope of my experiment in cellar sintering. They are to test the matter as to whether continuous "' disturbance" will wear out bees in winter confinement. It need not surprise anybody if experiments in the future prove beyond doubt that something else besides pollen or bad feed lies back of the trouble-called diarrhoea. But I will revert again to these experiments when they are completed. While my experiments with the colony in the cellar has made it certain to my mind that _un/avorable conditions_ is the true "cause" of diarrhoea, it leaves undisturbed the practical part of the question, viz : that the best refined food will enable bees to hold out much longer against unfavorable conditions, as claimed and insisted upon by Messrs. Heddon, Cook and others. And both of my experiments put together prove that bees do, and ought to, hibernate under _certain conditions_, as claimed by Rev. W. V. Clark and others, and denied by Prof. Cook and others, and they do not and ought not to hibernate under certain other conditions as claimed by Prof. Cook, and denied by Rev. W. F. Clark. That is my experiments prove
cane sugar (sucrose) dissolved with 100 c. c. water, and a tube 200 m. m. in length filled with the solution, will indicate 100 on the scale. Cane sugar and glucose will therefore indicate " plus" and " levulose," or honey will mark "minus" the zero. The same weight of glucose will turn the plane so far to the right (or plus) that it will exceed too. The commercial glucose, when the normal weight is used, will indicate from 155 to 170, according to the greater or lesser amount of dextrine present. Pure honey will indicate from --4 to --15. Seldom, however, as low as --15, but I have found this figure in old honey of undoubted purity. It will therefore readily be seen that owing to the high dextrorotatory power of glucose, that a comparatively small amount will neutralize the levo-rotatory power of the honey, if added. The same, of course, is true, if cane-sugar syrup is added, but in this case the indication will not exceed too, as will be the case if a sufficient amount of glucose is present.
The mode of procedure is as follows: 26.048 grams of the honey are taken, dissolved in a flask of 100 c. c. and the solution filtered through a small quantity of bone black in order to clarify the solution. A tube of 200 m. m. is then filled with the solution and placed in the instrument and the instrument adjusted, the indication of the scale being noted. If " minus," we may assume that the sample is genuine, for while it is perfectly possible to produce a honey which is adulterated, which will indicate " minus," yet at present, after conversation with and inquiry from those engaged in the business of manufacturing honey, I am of the opinion that the adulteration consists in the use of dextro-rotatory substances. If the indication of the scale is " plus," however, that will indicate that either cane sugar or glucose has been used, and if the scale indicates more than 100 the presence of glucose is conclusive, but if not we must proceed to learn which. This is accomplished as follows: A solution is prepared as stated, or 50 c. c. of the original solution is taken and treated with one-tenth volume of hydro-chloric acid, heated at a temperature of 80 deg. C. for a few minutes, cooled and re-polarized, If now the scale still reads to the right the presence of glucose is assured, while if to the left, cane sugar is shown to have been the cause of the original reading being to the right. The action of the acid is to "invert" the cane sugar, that is, to change it to a substance which no longer is dextro, but is lava-rotatory, and which is termed _invert_ sugar, and acts in the same manner as honey. While cane sugar can be added to a honey, which will not indicate " plus," yet practically the amount used is so great that such is not likely to be the case. If such should be, however, by what is known to chemists as " double polarization" would yield the amount, this being the method for determining the small amount naturally present, and if more than 5 per cent. was obtained it would indicate a _probable_ addition.
Temperature has more or less effect on the rotatory power of invert sugar, consequently all the readings of the solutions should be at a uniform temperature in order for a proper comparison. As an adulterant, however, invert cane sugar, if made without the use of acids and not added in too great an excess, would prove a substance rather difficult to positively detect. If used to a large amount its great levo-rotatory power--a pure invert sugar solution marking at _z3_ deg. C. 32.5 would indicate its presence. It has been tried, but, I understand, has not given satisfaction, and when used has been used with glucose, no honey whatever being used. It has been suggested by some that an examination of the ash of honey would indicate as to its purity. This is a mistake. I have found the ash alkaline even when glucose has been present, and I have found phosphoric acid to be present in a sample claiming to be " virgin honey," and containing no honey whatever. The amount of ash is so variable in known pure honey that this is no guide.
A charming little Magazine.
_Egin, III._
The BEE-KEEPERS' MAGAZINE.
and about thirty thousand workers. There may be also a few hundred drones. Our reason for advising the purchase of black bees instead of Italians, is because they can be obtained much cheaper, and thus the first outlay will be less--$5 per colony on eight movable frames delivered early in the month of May would be about the correct price for this latitude. Of course if you are further south you must get your bees earlier. Dealers ship colonies of bees by express in shipping boxes, and guarantee their safe arrival at your nearest depot, do not ask the dealer, to ship them in a hive, particularly if it is heavy, as the consequent heavy jars in handling will break the combs. Leave the dealer to use his best judgment, seeing he guarantees safe arrival.
The colony has for its principal personage the queen. This bee is the mother of all in the hive, and the only perfect female in it; she lays all the eggs. This monarch has very restricted powers, so far as government goes, The old idea that she governed the colony like a true despot, is one only remarkable for its antiquity. The bee have is a very limited monarchy; in fact it is a republic, the office of whose head is, as President Cleveland aptly remarked of his own position, a purely executive one. The workers govern the colony in truth. These workers are females whose ovaries (egg laying apparatus) are undeveloped. They sometimes do lay eggs, as will be spoken of later, but in that case they become a hindrance instead of help. These workers do the honey gathering, comb building, and are in fact the life of the hive. Upon their energy depends, to a great extent, the prosperity of the colony.--Editor of B. K. M.
**New Edition of Text Book.**
The present edition of the Text Book is exhausted, and we will shortly issue another. It is having a more rapid sale than we anticipated, and thus our stock was gone before we expected it. However, it will not be long ere the new edition appears.
* [11] **Question No. 35.--In testing an Italian queen, can we know if she has mated with a part Cyprian or Holy Land drone. If so,** **B. J. R.**
**I have never had any experience with such mating.--Frank A. Eaton.**
**Ohio.**
**Not positively. Can only judge by the appearance of the workers.--J. P. H. Brown.**
**Georgia.**
**I never had those varieties mixed, so I am unable to say. Holy Lands and Italians being so similar, a cross progeney would hardly be recognizable. But you say ''_part_ Cyprian or Holy Land." That would depend on what the other ''_part_'' of the drone was. Like the boy's pup, who recommended him to be ''_three-quarters '_tarrier,_' sure, you can ask all the other boys about it." When asked what the other quarter part was, said : ''Why--well --oh!--just dog.''--H. H. Flick.**
**Pennsylvania.**
**There is no possible means of knowing, or rather detecting, whether an Italian queen has mated to a cross-breed, Cyprian or Holy Land drone, so far as judging by any of the queens' progeny is concerned--either her workers, queens or drones. In some instances of such mating, the queens queen-progeny, will be nearly all of them dark ringed on their sedgments, and the** _drones_ **will also be darker than Italian drones; then again, the same cross, to all appearance of the** _mating stock_**, will produce a very opposite, that is the workers will be** _very_ **yellow, so will the** _drones_**, and especially will the** **queens be much more beautiful than any Italian queen; this is especially true where the crossing is advanced to the** **5th and** **6th generation. The first crossing of each races** _always_ **give dark color throughout.--A. L. Swinson.**
**North Carolina.**
**Question No. 36.--I. If a colony of bees that have been fed regularly every evening in spring, be neglected for one or two evenings, will they not tear the unhatched bees out of the cells and carry them out of the hive?**
**If fed regularly every evening and not fed in the morning, will they not act the same way?**
**1. If the bees had no other stores to depend upon but what was fed in the evenings, some colonies might, but if they had other stores they would not, as a rule.**
**2. No.--Frank A. Eaton.**
**1. No, not if they are not neglected more than one or two evenings. Would not care to risk it long.**
**2. I never feed in the morning, it is very apt to start robbing. They will not destroy the brood if fed once a day.**
**Will M. Kellogg.**
**_Illinois._
**1. It will all depend on how much honey they have in the hive. If they have a little cap honey a little neglect will cause no trouble.**
**2. If fed regularly every morning they will not carry out the brood from that cause, if they do carry out brood it is from some other cause.--H. D. Cutting.**
**1. In reply to this question I say yes, most emphatically. I must say, however, that if they have ample stores there is no necessity to feed. The theory of feeding to keep brood rearing going on, is correct in itself, but when the colony has stores enough, nothing is gained by so doing. The** _rule_ **is that brood production and comb building go forward only when stores are being gathered. The** _exception_ **is that in early spring it is natural for brood to be reared, to perpetuate the life of the colony, and it will be reared if the hive contains food sufficient for the purpose. I do recommend the feeding of flour or rye meal, when there is little or no pollen in the hive.**
**2. In my own experience I have found that evening feeding only, produced equally as good results as though the feeding was done both night and morning. In any case, food enough should be given to supply all wants of the colony.--J. E. Pond.**
**Massachusetts.**
**1. If you feed your bees to stimulate brood rearing they should be fed regularly, but not too much at a time. As soon as natural supplies can be obtained, you should cease feeding. The neglect of a day or so will not cause injury to the brood.
2. Bees must not be dependent altogether, on what they get daily. They should have some sealed stores of good honey. This I find the best stimulant. I always winter with a good supply of sealed honey--not sugar syrup--so the bees have plenty of sealed stores for brood rearing, then a few days of bad weather does not affect brood rearing. I don't believe in stimulative feeding.
H. H. Flick.
_Pennsylvania._
Read at the Michigan Bee-Keepers' Convention.
Comb Honey vs. Extracted Honey.
The advantages to the apiarist of producing either kind of honey, rather than the other, depends upon his tastes and circumstances. Our choice in all the ordinary, not to say the most momentous things in life, is controlled largely by our tastes ; and this controlling influence will generally be left when we come to decide whether we shall make it our business to produce comb honey or extracted honey, and it is highly proper that this should be so.
Every one does that best which he likes best. I like best the production of comb honey, and my mind involuntarily pictures to itself superior neatness and comfort, and greater ease and more equable division of the labor of the season among the days, as appertaining to this branch ; but while I continue to like this best, I must confess that when I sit down and listen calmly to reason, it is difficult to find any great difference in these respects. So there is no accounting for tastes ; nevertheless they should be consulted, for though they cannot be voluntarily created, yet they are largely formed in response to the necessities of existing conditions ; and it is these conditions which, in the absence of a decided bias, must be consulted in order to determine whether it is better for any particular individual to devote his apiary to the production of comb honey or of extracted honey.
Now, what these conditions are, it is of interest to all apiarists to know ; and, as I view it, the chief among them are the following, namely : Existing appliances, the quality of the honey produced, the season when it is obtained, and the character of the home market.
Of course, if an apiarist is supplied with the appliances necessary for the advantageous production, and the care of comb honey, he should be very slow to incur the expense incident to a complete change of these for those adapted to the production of extracted honey, and _vice versa_.
Secondly, choice in the matter should often be influenced by the quality of the honey produced. It is seldom best to undertake the production of comb honey, unless it is to be white and of good quality. Dark comb honey is almost always a drug in the market, and sells generally at a very low price--so low that when the increased amount of extracted honey that can be produced is taken into account, the latter will be found to bring easily the more money.
Next, it is to be remembered that in the early months of the season the bees produce wax freely, and work it readily, while later in the season they are rather slow to do either ; and the resulting fact is, that with the otherwise equal opportunities they will usually store much more honey during the first part of the season than during the last, if they are obliged to build the comb in which to store it; so it will generally be found more profitable to use combs for extracting in which to secure the fall nectar.
Lastly, the character of the home market is to be considered. I think it is safe to say that if three-fifths of the price of comb honey can be obtained for extracted honey, the production of the latter is the more profitable in all circumstances; and there are many home markets in which nearly or quite as much is obtained for the latter as for the former. Those who are blessed with such a market should cultivate it assiduously, and keep it supplied con
The whiteset honey is made from the blossoms of white clover. Its flavor is fine, too, and it always commands the highest price. Sumac honey is not so white, but is thought by most people to possess a richer flavor, and it is in great demand. Remarkably fine honey is made from the basswood tree. But those who know a good deal about honey producing say they never tasted anything that equaled the apple-blossom honey above referred to. The comb is white, but not such a beautiful silver white as that made from white clover or buckwheat. Otherwise in appearance it resembles buckwheat honey.