BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
We have some customers who like the flavor of basswood honey the best of any. With a big crop of honey it is important to have each grade of honey kept strictly labelled ; and for convenience, each grade in the storeroom in divisions by themselves. The way we do it is this : We take barrels with us to the different apiaries, enough to hold the day's honey that we expect to get. We can estimate very closely how much storage room we want to hold the day's yield. We extract one whole apiary in a day. In good seasons we get 2,000 lbs. and upward in a day, in the best part of the season. We haul home every night all the honey we have taken through the day, and put it in our storehouse. Then we tack on the head of each barrel a card, on which we mark the date, year, month and day ; the number of the extracting ; then "thick," "thin," or "medium," as the case may be. All barrels of thin honey, if we have any, are set off in a lot by themselves, the thick by itself ; the same with the medium in thickness. Then we have our honey in good shape to sell. We know just what there is in every barrel. Our labels give us the the exact quality of the honey. For convenience we have them divided off together, as regards thickness. If we have any fall feeding to do we feed the thinnest honey (usually the basswood). Be sure to work off all the thinnest honey before the heat of another summer arrives, as thin honey would be likely to sour if kept over until next summer. If we happen to have any thin honey it will sell better when it is fresh. If we keep any over the next season, let it be of the best and thickest honey. Good thick honey will keep for years. I for one have learned a good lesson this poor season. Last year we had 42,000 pounds of the best of honey ; and as we had good seasons for four or five years before, the honey markets were loaded. I wentin with the rest and sold, for what I could get, all of that crop, and what we had on hand of other crops, all at low prices. The same honey kept until now would have sold quick for nearly double the price we got for it. If we
call my laziness is a matter of pure in- stinct.
With all your boasted reason, you seem to have overlooked the doctrine of conservation of forces. You up-braid me with consuming so much of the precious honey, to the gathering of which I contribute nothing! Well! if I made a single uncalled for motion, would not that necessitate an extra consumption of food? What better can I do, then, than to keep as quiet as possible? There is nothing either inside or outside of the hive which calls for any other line of conduct, until the young queens are on the wing ; and as they do not sally forth until long after noon, why should I go abroad any earlier? I can assure you, that, if bridal excursions were in order as many hours in the day as the flowers secrete honey, no worker would ever be earlier to rise, or later to go to bed than myself.
**Misrepresented.**
I an idle, lazy, listless lounger, forsooth! Does any one wish to witness the most perfect embodiment of indefatgable activity? Let him then look at me, when, at the proper time, with an eager, impetuous rush, and a many resonant voice, I sally from the hive! See with what amazing speed I urge what our old friend Samuel Wagner called my "_circumoluting_" flights! For aught you know. I may cover greater distances in describing these vast circles than the busiest worker in the longest summer day. There is great need, then, that I should be abundantly provisioned for such exhausting excursions ; and it is only a law of nature that, on my return from them, all that I carried out with me should be found to have been used up. If you taunt me either for the full or the empty stomach, I merely ask you if you have never heard of honey-moon trips among your own people, which began with extra full purses, to end only with uncomfortably light ones.
**SAvage delight over my death.**
To cap the climax of your abuse what savage delight you take in seeing the worker drive me from my pleasant
home! and how glibly you can moralize over what you call a righteous judgment upon a life spent in gluttony and inglorious ease! Just as if you did not know that the whole economy of the bee-hive is founded on the strictest principles of utilitarianism! Is not a worker-bee, when disabled by any accident, remorselessly dragged out to die, because it can no longer contribute to the general good? Even so exhaled a personage as the queen-mother herself, as soon as it is plain that her fertility is too much impaired, has a writ of _ssupersedeas_ served upon her, in favor of one of her own daughters.
Knowing well the law under which I was born, I urge nothing against being put to death when Shakespeare's "'pale executioners " deem the day of my prospective usefulness to be over. Truly, the sword of Damocles is suspended over my head ; and from the hour of my birth till that of my death it may fall at any moment. Many bitters are thus mingled with my sweets.
I have time to mention only one more. While I know that most of the young queens come safely back from their wedding excursions, I can not help sometimes foreboding the worst, when I see that no drone ever returns to tell us of his experience.
**APPRECIATED BY BONNER.**
I will close my defense, by reminding you how the good father of the great Scotch bee-keeper, Bonner, showed his appreciation of our persecuted race. It was his custom to watch every year for the first flying drone. Its cheerful hum so filled him with delight, as the happy harbinger of approaching swarms, with their generous harvests of licious sweets, that he called an instant halt on the work of his busy household, and devoted the rest of the day to holiday fasting. The patron of the drones ought for ever to bear the honored name of "Saint Bonner."
**THE DECISION OF THE COURT.**
This court having heard the defence of Sir Drone, pronounces him to be innocent of each and every one of the misdeeds alleged against him. It only regrets that it can not inflict adequate
**174 THE BEE-KEEPERS' MAGAZINE.**
look with suspicion on any honey bearing the name of Thurber. The British Bee-Keepers' Association also did good service to bee-keepers in having honey supplied by dealers analyzed and publishing the results.
Hoge left Thurber's and started business on his own account with an office in the City, a honey refinery (?) at Islington, and all the paraphenralia necessary for the sophistication of honey. He advertised extensively, and his honey was to be seen in many shop windows ; and had he dealt honestly in pure honey, probably his career would not have been such a short one. Adulteration, however, proved for him too great a temptation, and when analyzed of all the samples of honey emanating from Hoge's establishment under various names, there was not one pure. We do not wish to enter into details of how he imposed on the credulity of the public by assuming what he was not, and why he and his fraudulent exhibits were turned out of the Health Exhibition ; nor how he imposed on his countrymen a story of which there was not a word of truth, pretending that he had got his honey on the Queen's table, and how this story, with various additions and variations, made the tour of American papers. Knavery may serve a turn, but honesty is best in the long run. Probably Hoge has found this out now in his wanderings no one knows where in America, and his firm have lately paid a first and final divdend, a most remarkable one, of.65 of a penny, or _21. 14s. 2d._ in 1000_.!
We mention these facts merely to show the harm that adulteration has done and the reason that American honey is now a drug in the British market. Bee-keepers, both here and in America, have reason to cry out against these adulterating practices of dealers and should decline to supply them with honey. We have before us a letter written to us a few years ago by Hoge & Co., asking us to supply them with our honey, and they said they were prepared to give us our own price. Suspecting the purpose for which it was intended we declined to sell to them at any price. We hope others will do theis to be said of Messrs. M'Caul and Hildreth, and the rest of the gang of adulterators. They should be made to feel that they are outraging the rights of the bee-keepers of this country, and for the few paltry dollars they may make in this nefarious trade they are ruining hundreds of bee-keepers, and rendering hundreds of others poor, with their families perhaps, in want." Mr. A. Todd, whose kindness to us when at Philadelphia we shall never forget, cried out, and truly, against this practice, and said the competition was so great that there was very little chance of making a living by dealing only in pure honey, but that rather than adulterate he would give up the business. We are glad to find that he has been true to his word. This is what the Bee-Keepers' Magazine says: "It is a lasting monument to our friend, the late Arthur Todd, that, amid all the adulterating dealers about him, he stood aloof, and never soiled his hands with the dirty business, and that when he preached, "Deal in pure honey," he also practiced it."
From the American Bee Journal.
**Protection is Wanted Against the Adulteration of Honey.**
**DR. WM. LEERS.**
**Mr. A. I. Root referred (according to the report of the New York Convention, on page 106) to the statement of the State Chemist of Ohio, that it was difficult "'to tell when honey is adulterated." This deserves an explanation.**
**I think Mr. Root, as well as the State Chemist, are mistaken about the signification of the term "' adulterated" in connection with honey, and trade in general, confounding "' adulterated" with _impurity!_ Nearly all drugs as made in the factories, and all natural products sold in the stores, contain impurities ; but if such impurities are not mixed for a fraudulent purpose, no notice is taken of it.**
**For an example : The immense quantities of acids employed in the arts are all more or less _impure_, but no one would call them _adulterated / Com* 176 THE BEE-KEEPERS' MAGAZINE.
chemist, may be declared "adulterated," will seldom if ever happen. But suppose they did, the producer would be in a similar position to a farmer who had (without his fault) in his rye or wheat so much mother-corn, or in his clover seed so much dodder-seed, that he could not find a buyer ; or of a merchant, who is condemned by public authority for selling merchandise, which (without his fault) had become unwholesome. I will say to Mr. Aspinwall, that glucose in honey of a far smaller percentage than five per cent. can, by a non-chemist, be detected, not only with the polariscope, but also by easier methods. And commercial glucose also can easily be detected at all times. In other countries (England, Germany, Switzerland, etc.) it is not difficult, why should it be impossible in this? A law against adulteration of honey does not exist in Illinois, as far as noxious substances are concerned.
TIME FOR ACTON.
In the past year, when honey was so cheap, was the proper moment for beekeepers to have taken steps to protect their business. The universal adulteration of all human commodities had alarmed the public, the low price of honey stopped its adulteration, because it did not pay, and so strong efforts of the adulterators was not probable. The passing a law similar to that of New Jersey by the Legislature (or even by Congress) would not have found insurmountable obstacles--the demands of the public going in such direction, and no great interests opposing. For the law against the adulteration of milk and of butter, the chances were far less favorable.
Mr. Dadant, to whom I proposed to begin an action, said that the time was not favorable ; State's rights were an obstacle, and adulteration had nearly entirely ceased. But State's rights will not soon be abrogated, and as soon as the price of honey has improved a little adulteration will doubtless flourish again.
The prohibition of adulterated honey is a vital question for bee-keepers, and connected businesses. Important in-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-between-betweenbetween-between-betweenbetween-between-betweenbetween-betweenbetween-betweenbetween-betweenbetween-betweenbetween-betweenbetween-betweenbetween-betweenbetween-betweenbetweenbetween-betweenbetween-betweenbetweenbetween-betweenbetweenbetween-betweenbetweenbetweenbetween-betweennearly, if not quite, a failure in this part of the country, so far as I know.
About June 20, there was a fine flow of honey from the basswood blossoms, which grow abundantly on the banks of the Missouri river, and all along our water courses. This flow lasted two or three weeks, when it ceased, leaving the bees with well-filled hives and a fair surplus stored in the sections. The balance of the season furnished the bees only enough to keep them in good condition, and keep brood-rearing under good headway.
The present condition of bees in general is very good, with the exception of late swarms, which will starve long before spring. My bees, which are being wintered on the summer stands, began the winter with all the conditions favorable, the colonies being strong in numbers, and having an abundance of well-ripened honey.
During thirteen years' experience in apiculture, I have always practiced out-door wintering. By actual test and experience in this matter, I long ago arrived at the conclusion that bees wintered on the summer stands successfully, must have protection against the extremes of temperature of the cold winters of Nebraska. The bees wintered with proper packing, invariably come through the winter stronger in numbers, build up more quickly in the spring with less dwindling and are in better condition to receive the harvest than those in single walled hives standing side by side.
The inventory of my apiary at this date (Dec. 31) shows that seventy-three colonies out of ninety-six are packed in chaff on the summer stands, and if my experience is anything like it has been heretofore, I do not expect to meet with any unusual losses in wintering.
Making increase by division.
While dividing colonies for increase is preferred throughout the country by a large majority of bee-keepers, I practice and prefer in my own apiary, "natural swarming," from the fact that apiculture is my sole occupation for a livelihood, and I work the business for all that is in it.
If the bee-keeper has plenty of time and extra combs, with which to supply his divided colonies, he will without a doubt succeed with this method. I will say this in behalf of dividing colonies, from the fact that I do not wish to be understood to say that bee-keeping cannot be made a success financially without it, viz :
If increase is the bee-keeper's object, and he has plenty of comb foundation already drawn out, and plenty of money in his pocket, by all means use the dividing-method of increase. On the other hand, my experience has enabled me to arrive at the conclusion that _natural swarming_ pays best, if dollars and cents is the object to be sought.
The question might be asked, how do you control swarming? I do not always do it, but then, to a certain extent, I do. Just as soon as the bees begin to show symptoms of swarming, I put on the sections, and keep the bees supplied with plenty of room, never allowing them to be idle if there is honey in the fields. In a few days after the first swarm issues, I open the hive from whence the swarm came, and remove all queen cells but one, if there seems to be no newly-hatched queen present.
Some apiarists may claim that bees will swarm too much, but my experiments in that direction have proven to the contrary. From seventy-six colonies, spring count, I obtained only about thirty swarms altogether, for the season of 1887 ; and in summing up all my reports from year to year, I cannot find one instance whatever, of doubling my number of colonies by natural swarming.
Dividing colonies is a safe way to increase, and can be carried to almost any extent ; and while I have said so much against it, I could not well dispense with this new improvement in bee-culture; for it is by this means that all my nuclei colonies are formed, and queens reared.
comb and extracted honey.
Now a few words as to my method of obtaining comb and extracted honey.
The apiary is worked for both comb and extracted honey, from the fact that there is to be found in any apiary a number of colonies that do not feel disposed to work in surplus sections; whenever colonies of this kind are found, they are supplied with an extra set of combs, and by this means they can be induced to store a fair surplus of honey to be extracted. In this way a portion of my apiary is "rigged up "with two sets of combs, for extracting purposes. When honey begins to come in fast, these combs are placed in the extractor about once a week (or just as often as necessary), and the honey taken out. I seldom disturb the lower story in extracting.
The rest of the apiary, being composed of all strong colonies, is supplied with sections whenever necessary. When one case is partly full, it is raised and an empty one placed under it. My favorite section for obtaining comb honey is the 4_%x4_% inches. I use two widths, namely, the 1%-inch and the _z_-inch. Which width is the best, I am not prepared to say.
My market demands a section that holds a pound of honey ; sometimes I get this pound in the 1%-inch section, and oftimes in the _z_-inch section. My judgment, based upon experience is, that a section which will hold as nearly as practicable one pound of honey, is what the trade and market demand.
In conclusion I will state that the season's work for 1887, summed up in a nut-shell, is not an encouraging report by any means. After uniting a few late swarms in October, I began the winter with ninety-six colonies, having had seventy-six colonies with which to commence the season's work. My sales of comb and extracted honey amounted to upwards of 1,700 pounds, about 1,500 pounds of which was produced during the last summer. The comb honey was disposed of at a good price. Extracted honey has had only a fair sale, but I am glad to say that the demand is increasing.
_Rock Bluffs, Neb._
In winter we may obtain the theory, but now the practical, in bee-keeping.
## 178 The Bee-Keepers' Magazine.
## The Bee-Keepers' Magazine.
twice to be thoroughly effective. I have driven hundreds on straw skeps with the fumigator both in private and in the bee tent, and have not used smoke in my apiary for two seasons.
Foul Brood Not the Fault of the Queen-A Successful Cure.
"Foul Brood," in November number, page 338, I see the fault is laid to the queens. This is not so. I have had to deal with fool brood for four years, and know better. I tried to clean it at first on the combs with the Cheshire plan and failed. But I use carbonic acid to clean the bees, and burned out the box with coal oil and put them back in it, boiled up the honey and wax, and fed the honey back to any bees that needed it. If it was the fault of the queen I would not have been in the business to-day. So don't say burn them. I have bought them knowing I could cure them. I bought a stand from Joe Wightman, deputy marshal of this city, my near neighbor, for twenty cedar posts, and last year I gave him two dollars for another. I brought it home and cleaned it, when I had seventy-five stands in the yard, and I now have four colonies of bees from them. I don't object to fool brood only I lose the drawing of combs.
[The plan you adopted is a good one and superior to the Cheshire (?) method. It should be remembered that in a fool brood colony the queen is not always diseased. --Eb.]
MR. THOMAS WILLIAM COWAN.
Mr. John W. Arthur of St. Joseph, Mo., asks if there is any danger of destroying bees by spraying an orchard in which the apiary is, with London Purple. Inasmuch as the spraying should not be done until the blossoms have fallen, and consequently after the bees have ceased working upon them, we think that no danger need be apprehended. We hope Mr. A. will give spraying a thorough trial and report results next fall to the _Prairie Farmer_.
It seems to me no more than fitting that we should take a little space to speak of one of the greatest of living bee-keepers. I do not mean by this that Mr. Cowan has the largest apiary in the world, for, in fact, I do not know how many colonies of bees he does keep. Furthermore, I do not know that he has ever made any money by following the pursuit of bee culture. It sounds a little strange, does it not, friends, to speak of it in this way? Well, the fact is, friend Cowan gave me a new glimpse of life ; that is, he gave me the glimpse of the life of a human being who is not working as we Americans do, too many of us, simply to pile up dollars. I presume likely he is wealthy ; but he did not tell how much he is worth, and I did not feel like asking him. In fact, since I have been thinking of it, in our country we place altogether too much stress on the amount of property a man has laid up.
In my Sunday-school class of growing boys a short time ago, the subject turned on wealth ; and almost all of the boys directly or indirectly declared that money is the main thing. In trying to give them a glimpse of something better, I asked them how much they knew of Vanderbilt. They had heard his name mentioned, but not one of them could tell me much about him. I don't think that one of them knew whether Mr. Vanderbilt was dead or alive. They only knew that he had had the credit of being worth millions.
Several years ago, while away from home, a locomotive and train of cars stopped at the station where I was standing. There was something so unusual about it that I inquired of a bystander what it all meant. He said it was Vanderbilt's traveling escort. He owned the cars and he owned the locomotive. We did not get a glimpse of the millionaire, but we did see his servants and waiting-men. _They_ were fixed up enough to satisfy us, without
## 18 The Bee-Keeper' Magazine.
**He knew what is possible in mechanics as well as that which is impossible. Now, do you think me vain when I say it is only once in a great while that I meet those who are capable of conversing in regard to the possibilities and impossibilities in the line of perpetual motion. If there are any among our readers who are now thinking of working on this foolish fancy, let me say to them, you can no more create a perpetual motion by cog-wheels and magnets than you can cheat the great Creator of the universe. You can make wind and water turn wheels, etc., and you can make natural gas run steam engines, which ought to satisfy anybody ; but we can not run any machine without motive power. People who talk about the Keely motor-power which made such a stir a few years ago, need a little rebuking in this line. At one time almost all the papers were against the _Scientific American_ because that journal would not admit the claims made for the Keely motor. The _Scientific American_ was at home ; the matter came right on tWeir own ground, and its editors knew whereof they spoke and wrote. The papers that published the accounts of its success ought to have known better.
Well, after talking a little on perpetual motion, friend C. said, with a bright start, "Oh! I have got a perpetual motion among the things I brought to show you."