c "^ l^nkfifl Jfe^v ■i B-^- ^:^.^ '^^ ,.;s^; :^'^^ -■^ i)i^;>. ^^*^ :'fl L 5 6 3 1 DnaDDnnnDnnDDDnnnannaDDDnDDnDnnD D D D D D D D •<^*<«^% D D a D D i^^ h\ D D D ^ ni Ir ^ fB " D D * ^^\ff I^ ■? D D •p 'i^tf'v^^ ^ D D D ^'^^^SfT^**^ D n D D D D D D D D UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS D D n LIBRARY D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D □ D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D n D D D D D D D nDDnDDDDDnDDDanDDnDDDDDaaDDaDanD UNlVERS:iV CF \ AMHERST, SaSS. V . i. o A •Journal: • DELVoT To •Be: ^ •andHoNEV- 7\RD HOME. •iMTE.PlEST4> I-KooT- rAEDINAOmO Vol. XX. JANUARY 1, 1892. No. 1. Stray Straws FROM DR. C. C. MILLER. Thk. hkst MOTii-Kxci.rDEK. the Bee-keepers' Mdiltizine says, is the bee. Right. Most hkksw.w. R. F. Holteniiann thini.\UGirs NKW METHOD of handling bees comes in for a good deal of discussion in C. B.J,, and great things ai-i' claimed for it: but so far it is a profound secret, and Mr. Aipaugh him- self is expressively silent about it. The Bee-keepers' Union is on the up grade. Fifty per cent increase of members in one yearl It's doing good work, and the membership ought to more than double for the coming year. Send *1 to T. (J. Newman, and become a member. It may save you S^IOO. Scientists must be suppressed along with anarchists and all other ists. Here they've gone and invented microbes, bacteria, and things of that sort, to give us grip, foul brood, and every thing else. Fifty years ago the air wasn't full of such things, and people got along better without them. Secretary Hutchinson, speaking of the action of the Chicago convention relative to grading comb honey, says, in his report, "The adoption of these rules was really the most im- portant work done by the convention, and per- haps the most important that will be done by any convention this year." Vaseline, the C. B. J. thinks, might be a good thing to paint lightly over a queen to be introduced, with the supposition that, as it drives robbers away, it would drive away from the queen any bees that might try to sting her. I'd rather tiy it on a cheap queen first. It might have just the opposite effect. A correspondent says he has been watch- ing Gleanings in vain to see what was my crop of honey the past year. From 'iSii colonies I got about 8<)00 lbs. of comb honey, or 3()'., lbs. per colony. Although living not L'O miles away, he took only 150 lbs. from 80 colonies, or about 2 lbs. per colony. But he sometimes gets honey, I think, when I fail. After zero weather it is again milder, and Dec. 20 bees could fly outdoors, the first time since the last week in October. So you see there was nothing gained by leaving them out after the last of October, unless they were left out till Dec. 20, and I'm afraid the flight on that day would not counterbalance the harm done by the previous zero weather. What makes people paint the inside wood- work of their houses, when pine or any other wood is so much handsomer, and costs no more finished off in its nattn-al color? I'd rather have it finished with nothing but linseed oil rubbed on with a rag than to have the finest job of painting. But I'd like still more to have something itetter than the oil and rag. Grading honey is one of the things that I suspect will not be .settled in a day, and it may be well to thoroughly discuss the matter in print. I'm anxiously "waiting to see what was done about it at Albany, but I suspect it will still be open for discussion. Unless thev modi- 10 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Jan. 1. ii good tiling, and will prove a boon to bee- l«H-pf'i's. It is likely that further improvements will be made in the near future: and if he will adopt such suggestions as are valuable, much will be gained.^ In these days of study and in- vention, one man can hardly hope to know it all: in fact, most of the implements used in bee-keeping are the joint invention of many. There is one thing more that I wish to men- tion in connection with the hiver: and that is. that we often have hives containing comb and honey that we wisli to put our lirst swarms into. Now." it will not do to place such hives to re- ceive the swarms, on account of moths and rob- bers. In such cases I use an emptv super on top (how would it look if placed on the side?). Now. when the swarm is in the air. and the queen in the upper part of the swarmer. I un- hook it from the super and slip a piece of tin behind it. so the queen can not escape. Remove the old hive, and place the one with combs in on the old stand, and the part of the swarmer with queen in. in front of the entrance, remov- ing the tin. It is not best to remove the swarm- er for several davs. as the bees may take a notion to abscond.' I have several times liber- ated the queen an hour or two after the swarm was hived in this way. but soon found them all in the air again, and had my work to do over. I can fully agree with Mr. Alley, that the swarmer greatly lessens and retards swarming. On this account, as well as not tolerating a horde of drones in every hive, bees will gather more honey per colony uith the swarmers than without them. Mr. A. is certainly. mistaken in his statement, made some time ago. that two or more swarms issuing at the same time through the swarmers would each return to its own hive. They won't do that in Illinois. I have used swarm -catchers for more than fifteen years, and in such cases I still use them, and they are just as good with the hivers to prevent doubling up as ever. C. H. Dihbekn. M-ilan. 111. GIVING A LAYING QUEEN TO A PARENT COLONY. 1A)CATI()N. AN1> ITS HE.\KlNf^ ON THK (QUESTION. (Question 197, found on page '.>28, December 1. regarding the giviiig of a laying queen to a colony having just cast a swarm, is a very in- teresting one, and one that has much to do with our honey crop if we are situated in certain localities." This whole matter of i)rotit. resting on whether we should give such a (lueen or not. must be decided by our location. If the loca- tion gives a continuous yield of honey, then the giving of a laying queen iiinnediately after swarming will prove a prodtable investment; but if the location is one lik(( the average loca- tion, which gives a good yield of honey at one or two stated periods during the season, then the giving of a laying queen at the time of swarming will generally prove decidedly un- prolitable. We have been told for years that the bee-keeper who wished to secure the best results from his bees should have on hand, and give to swarming' colonies, queens as above: and the reason advanced for so doing has al- ways been, that the time lost by th(! ])arent col- ony in rearing a (jueen was equivalent to a swarm. I have experimented largely on this line: and tlie truth of the statement, that the time lost by the bees in rearing a queen in nat- ural swarming is equivalent to a swarm of bees, is tlu' first reason that it will not prove a suc- cess in locations similar to my own. which gives, at most, only two honey-yields each year. If it were bees I were after, the case would be different. With me white clover yields only enough honey to keep the bees breeding nicely, and prepares" them so that they swarm mainly from June '.'O to July 1. Our honey-harvest is from basswood. which blooms from July in to Hi. Now. all who are familiar with natural swarm- ing know that the bees are comparatively few in numbers in spring, and increase by the rap- idly increasing brood produced by the queen, which, in due time, hatch into bees until a swarm is the result. Hy giving a laying queen to a colony immediately after it has cast a swarm, we bring about the same result (swarm- ing) as before, for we place the bees in the same condition. The only dilTerence is, that, having plenty of brood, they build up quicker, and are prepared to swarm in a shorter time. As this second prime swarming, brought about by giv- ing the laying queen, comes right in our bass- wood-honey harvest, it cuts off the surplus honey; for it is well known that bees, having the swarming fever, do little or no work in the sections; and if allowed to swarm, the object we have sought after (section honey) is beyond our reach. If this laying queen had not been given, and we had worked so that no after- swarms had issued, we should have found that the young queen, which was to become the mother of the colony, would have hatched, as a rule, in eight days after the swarm issued, and in ten days more she would be ready to lay. which would bring the time of her laying at about the time basswood would be yielding honey nicely. During this period, between the time when the swarm issued and the young queen commences to lay. the bees, not having any brood to nurse for the last half of the time, consume but little honey: hence, as fast as the young bees emerge from the cells, they are lilled with honey: for bees not having a laying queen seldom build comb in the sections. Thus, when the young queen is ready to lay she finds every available cell stored with well-ripened honey. At this point the instinct of the bees teaches them that they must have brood or they will soon cease to e.xist as a colony. A general rush is made for the sections; the honey from below is carried above, so as to give the queen room, and in a week we have, as a result, the sections nearly tilled with honey, and later completed, if the season is not unusually unfavorable. In this way good ivsults aie obtained in such a location as this, while, if a laying queen is giv- en, the basswood-honey season is nearly or quite used up by the colony becoming "sulky"" with the swarming fever, if they can not have their own way. After basswood we have a honey-dearth, hence the b(»es from the introduced queen are of no value, but. on the contrary- bt'come use- less consunu'rs. On an average, it takes :ll days, from the time the egg is laid, to the per- fect bee ready to emerge from the cell. Then. if the colony is in a normal condition, this bee does not commence labor in the Held till Ki days old; hence the egg for the honey-gathei'ing bee must be deposited in the cell 37 days before the honey-harvest ends, or else they are of no value as honey-producers. As the basswood is all gone before the eggs of the introduced queen i^ecome honey-producing bees, and as the larger part of them die of old age before buckwheat or fall flowers yield honey, a great gain is made by letting each old colony, having cast a swarm, rear their own queens, for thereby we save the expensive feeding of the larva?, which are in turn to become expensive consumei'sof the hon- ey of the hive. These things are well worth looking into by every bee-keeper; and if brood-rearing is used advisedly, with an eye on our location, we shall 1Said srather honey." In other words, if these e}X}is our respects to I'rof. C'ooU, wiio. after t he ardii- won't haleli iiees that will y:alher honey, don't ous hihoi's of the day. was resting in I lie coolin^r allow tin' e^irs to he deiiosited. Mr. France also shades of llie veranda, comes ri;:ht. to th(> |ioiiit where lie says. " If we should introdnce a laying ip"'''" nfter tiie s(^a- son was so far advancd, bees hatched from her esu"^ woidd never fiat her any surplus honey for US. as the season wdnld he over before tliey would hatch out. I would much rather not feed hrood at that time." Reader, here is somethin.tr worth carefully thiiiKiiiir over, for by such thinking along these lines inticii prolit may come to you. Horodino. X. V.. Dec. 17. C. Nl. Dooi.trTT.F. [Your points, as usual, are well taken. Lo- cation, no doubt, does iiavi' a strong bearing ui)on the question. Right liere may we sug- gest tliat this is one of tlie reasons why some of the large honi'y - producers remove their (pteens during the honey season?- priiriarily, of course, to sto^j swarming for the time being, and. secondarily, reduce the working force of bees at a time of year when th(M'e is no honey to be liad. Hee-keepers should study well their locality. They should manage somehow to have a strong working force of the right age when they do havi- a honey-flow, and as light a force as possible when tliere is no honey to be had. and when tlie bees tliat remain ari' simply consumers.! RAMBLE NO. 50. MKHKiAX AGKICTLTIKAI- C()I,I,K(;E. ""ITS— I ,^ ■y>.. Lansing, the capital of Michigan, is another name made familiar to a considerable class of people through the name of one man. and that is A. J. Cook. Professor of F^ntomology in the Agricultural College. His wide range of writ- ings, and his valuable hook on bee culture, have made his name familiar to all progressive bee- keepers. Recently calling to his aid my old- time friend J. H. Larrabee. of Vermont, the col- lege had a sort of magnetic influence over the Rambler. We had together tramped the hills of Vermont and New York: rowed and fished for i)ickerel on their lakes, and can you wonder tliat. late one afternoon. I was in Lansing, hunting for the stage that would take me out to the College, three miles distant ? At 4 o'clock the stag<» started from the postoftice. and. with a load of students, a keg of |)ickles, and some other groci'fies. we started. The road was ex- cell(>nt. but somehow the horses had a discour- aged gait, and it was a relief to arrive upon th'^ college grounds and have sometliing else to look at. I soon found the apiary, and. antici- pating that I would immediately see my friend fjarrabee. I was astonished when a young uuiii came to the door, his face lathered for a shave, and. speaking Frenchly. he was -sdus xkjurtit: but he evidently didn't "care a darn." and told me to sit down. ^Vhen he linished his toilet hi' blossomed out into a g(jod-looking young man. and I will intiodiiceyou to Fred, Hro. Larrabee's chum, studying engineering. If I remember right, he informed me that Mr. Larrabee was in the college kitchen experimenting in gas- tronomy. Our friend soon came in: and from his flushed ajjpearance, his labors must have been arduous. We placed ourselves in a vis-a- vis position, and conv(>rsed on eastern themes, and particularly of the lakes and grand hills of Vermont. This portion of Michigan is a roll- PHOF. COOK AND HIS f'L.iVSS IX AI'IC'UI.TURE. Th(> Michigan Agricultural College was es- tablished in 1857, and is one of the oldest in the country. It has a farm of (100 acres, all under culture, and nicely located on a good stream of water. The many buildings scattered here and there among the trees remind one of those pretty summer-resort villages in Northern New York, Near the center is a campus, or play- ground, of several acres, where the students are put through military drill, and are taught to handle not only the musket but the big guns on the far side of the campus. Base ball and other athletic games are indulged in. It is an inter- esting and long journey to go through all of the departments and over the farm. I sptjnt several days at the college, and found something new to study every day. A portion of the farm is devoted to experimental crops. In one section .MK HIGA.N AUKICLI/rURAL C'OLLECtK AIMARV. were a large number of varieties of wheat: in another, oats, and so with all seeds that will grow in this climate, all tested as to yield, arid effect of ditlerent fertilizers, etc. Three hun- dred young men are hei'i' i)reparing themselves for future usefulness. The plan piu'sued is to give the theoretical or scientific education, and then put in the practical — study in th(! class- GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Jan. 1. room, and practice in tlie field. In the study of entomology, for instance, when the insect AiJis melUnca is studied in the class, a section of the class," headed by Prof. Cook, go out into the apiary, and the students manipulate the hive while" Prof. Cook explains and directs. Our camera caught a very good view of the class this endless menagerie and call tliem all pet names! After an arduous day we sought rest with our friend in his boudoir; but that museum was too much for me. and I shall let the artist tell the nature of my di'eams. The present president of the college is Mr. O. and kept as beautiful as a lawn. The hives used are one-third Gullup, which I believe is the professor's hobby; one-third L., and one- third Heddon. I A commodious honey-house is located atone side; two rooms are. devoted to the apiary. Another is Mr. Larrabee's reception-room, and in the rear is his boudoir, with a bed and a 1 thus occupied. Nearly all protect themselves Clute, who, a great many may be pleased to with veils: but Prof. C. will be seen at the left know, is the John Allen who wrote "Blessed in the center of the group, without a veil. Bro. Bees." Larrabee is approaching with a bold shirt-front. The glorious Fourth of July was ushered in Many graduates of the college have taken up with the distant boom of cannon. The college bee-keeping as a business; and among those boys had made preparations to boom the big who have made a stir in apicultural 'ranks is guns on the campus; but a lady in one of the Frank Benton. cottages near was critically ill, and a request The college apiary contains about 80 colonies, for quiet stilled all noisy demonstrations, show- nicely arranged on sloping ground, and shaded ine that the young men were truly gentlemen with grapevines. The grotinds are_in grass, in their deference to the suftei-ings of othei-s. As there were celebrations in many towns a few miles out. the college was nearly deserted at an early hour. John H. L. said we would go to Grand Ledge, about 13 miles out, where there was to be a great celebration. On the way we would hunt up Mr. Jacob T. Timpe, the bee-man. We walked to town, secured a ivery rig. and journeyed out through a monot- onous country. We commented on i ., the various phases of farm life, large farms, small houses, and no barns: we saw but few places that came up to our eastern ideas of such things. The monotony of our journey was at length I'elieved by coming to a considerable hill. Bro. L.'s love of home and his hills, and his glowing patriotism, got the best of him. and he was going to enjoy that hill, even if it took all day. Hurrah for the hill! The Rambler shared somewhat his en- thusiasm, and, after an exhaust- ive time, swinging our bandanas and hats, we proceeded to Mr. Timpe's. We found him hard at work in his apiary, close beside the road. Said he to Bro. L.. whom he had previously met. "Is that the Rambler feller you have with you?" Mr. T. had his yard full of hives and nuclei, and was raising (lueens at a high-pressure rate. We first had the impression that the hives were arranged by driving a load into the yard and letting them drop out at the rear, as we once read in Gleanings; but Mr. T. didn't do that way. A cyclone must have picked up a hive here and thei'e in various States, with a few board fences and chicken- coops, and landed them all in Mr. T.'s yard. But Mr. T. had a new yard in mind, and no doubt he now has one equal to the college apiary. He handled his bees without smoKe or veil, and seemed to be proof against stings. Mr. T.'s were of the tive-banded order, and his method of rearing a combination affair. Strips of drone comb were cut (( /*( .'\lley. laivie in- serted (I lit Doolittle. and the stiip pinned on the side of a comb a la Timpe. We were shown several very Hue queens. Mr. T. is a young man, and evidently cut out for a progressive bee-keeper. We went to Grand Ledge to celebrate; found the little town full of people celebrating on a roller toboggan slide, and rowing around in a sort of duck-pond. The Grand Ledge from which the town received its name was about 50 feet liigh. We soon tired of this tame celebra- tion, and returned to Lansing via another route. I dare not trust my friend near that hill again. UAMBI-ER AT THE AGBICUI.TUKAL COLLEGE MUSEUM cot. Every thing in the house and apiary is kept in excellent order, and the Rambler really enjoyed the few days' sojourn. It was ('(lual to camping on Lake George. Several experiments of a minor nature were in progress, and others will be followed up. Our friend Larrabee was just getting used to his new duties, and the fraternity should not expect too much from the first yeai's etforts. If bee-keepers have great problems they can not solve, send them to Bro. Larrabee, and he will give them due considera- tion. This place, if any in the world, can con- duct careful experiments, for tht^y have all fa- cilities for practicing them. Connected with the college is a large and growing museum. In it are specimens of beasts of the field, historic and pre-hisioric; l)irds of the air; fishes, great and small: insects of all imaginable sizes, shapes, and colors; horned toads- lizards, centipedes, repulsive spiders, and. just to think of it! Prof. Cook can go into IS'.II? GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 13 Th«' fiDSsip iifomid tlw I'limpiis the ncM iliiy was iihont the cpisdilcs of ilic Kourlli. I'vrtl liiid won a pri/.f in a foot-nu-c: another stiulcnl. was in a tijilit: aiiotluT oainc back tiit> worse from beer. So thi' I'oiirth passed into liistoiy. and on bis journey ii;,Min passos tlie Rambi.kk. [The Micbijian Asricuitnral College is a jirand place to visit. It is an institution that tlie State of Micbisian may well be proud of. Hy no means tbe least important jx-i'sonage of the i^olieixe is I'rof. ("ook. In faet. he is more widely known for his researches and writings than anv other instructor or professoi- in the collesie.] BOUNTY ON HONEY. A <.OVI-:iiNMKN 1 STAMf O.N IIO.NKV. A.Nl) WIIV. The meeting of the Illinois State Bee-keepers" Society at Springlield, on the 16th and 17th. was pretty well attended. es])ecially by bee- kt'epers near Spiinglield. 1 was quite soii-y not to see Messrs. Miller. Dadaiit. and Newman present. Still. I l)elieve tiuitn'onsiderable good has been accomplished. Tlie proposition of the Northwestern was gladly received, and the re- quest to meet in Chicago once each year was unanimously accedeil to. There, now. brother bee-keepers, not only of th(> nortliern part of the State of Illinois, but all of you in r.-ach of Chicago, come and help us make the Illinois State Bee-keepers' Association what it ought to be. Our interests are one; and the same, and we ought to set^ to it that the annual appropria- tion is well expended. This society ought to take hold of the World's Fair business. Of course. I don't think that it ought to try to monopolize the honey and supply exhibit, but it ought to have a committee there, at least, to welcome the bee-keepei's from other States and from all over the world. There is one thing that I think ought to be agitated everywhere, and as often as possible: and that is the two-cent bounty on extracted iioney. The comb-honey production doesn't need it. Now. were the bounty the only thing in it I don't know that 1 should think it so im- portant. But. here: let tlie government goto placing a stamp on what honey is actually pro- duced here in this country, and the adulteration of extracted honey is at an end. See what the government does for the lirjuor interest. It not only labels and stamps their difiei'ent brands. but places a penalty on using their packages a second time. If we can only get this bounty on extracted honey it will do more to lift up the bee-l)usiness and encourage the bee-keepers than any thing else I know of. for it will soon riiak<' an almost unlimited market for extracted honey, for every one will then have confidence in tlie purity of what he is purchasing, for then there will be the gctvernment's guarantee as to its purity on every package. What more could any ijiirchaser ask for'.' IJesides this, there is nfi doubt that the darker grades of honey have got to come in direct competition with sugar that does gel a bounty from the government. Now. why should the sugar interests have an advantagi' of over :.'.") per cent on their output. and the honey interests be forced to compete with tln'ni foi' ;i market '? Such a condition of affairs is manifestly unjust, to say nothing of being forced to compete with a mixture of glu- cose. The government Wfmld. in this way. lake the very best census of the bee-keeping in- terest that it would be possible for us to have. I had the pleasure of visiting the Lincoln Monument in company with Mrs. Harrison. N\ hih' at Springlield. .Sheagi'eed with me that. if we could get this government stamp on ex- tracted honey, it would be of immense advan- tage to bee-keepers. She seemed to think, also, that the l)ee-business is tiecfiming rather risky, with the present prices for honey, ami the fact that the bee-pastuiage is year by year becom- ing i)oorer and poorei' since the amount of land that is not tilled is t)ecoming less and less. IjOW wet places, that were forn\erly too wet to be cultivated, were tlie natural home of plants producing honey, but they are now either lieing ditched out or el.se underdrained. At I'eoria, where her bees used to get an abundant har- vest, it is now occupied by a thriving city. Fri{MSIlI\(; HKl'OKTKKS MATTKH HKI.ATINCi TO CO.NVKNTIONS. In r<'tnriiing home, a reiiorter \\iio had seen me in the meeting came and sat down by me. and began to make iruiuiries about bees and honey, and aliout the association. He went on to say that they would liave been glad to give the bee-keepers two or tiiree columns of matter in their journal, while there at Springfield, if they had had any way of getting the copy. I wonder if we can't get the conventions to take the hint, and have a committee to preiiare copy for the reporters when they come around — have it ready for thein. In this way a large part of the public can be reached and educated in re- gard to honey and bees that can not be reached so easily in any other way. Instead of growl- ing at what daily and weekly newspapers pub- lish, try giving them facts, in a readable shape, to publish. A. N. Dhapek. Upper Alton. 111.. Dec. lit. [We believe this is an important question, but it is one on which we are not yet prepared to give an opinion. We hope it will be thor- oughly discussed in the next few weeks, both as to the desirability and feasibility of having a bounty on honey. Mr. Elwood touches on this .same point in his president's address, which we will publish in our next issue.] BEES OF ITALY, AGAIN. ITALIANS A fixp:i) kace: amekicans trying TO IMPROVE THEM. I noticed a communication by Arthur T. Goldsborough. on page 842. 1891, in which he asserts that the bees of Italy are not three- banded. I was in hopes some of the older writ- ers would give us a chapter on the color of the Italian bee: but so far I have not seen such a communication. It seems strange that this writer, being as close an observer as he claims to be. should asseit that no bee would show more than one yellow band. Now. the fact is, among all classes of bees, all mixtures and crosses. I have never been able to find a single bee with only one yellow band. Wherever I find a bee with yellow on any bands, there is yellow on the three; and, again, if the bees of Italy are not three-l)anded. how comes it that, of all the bees that are yearly imported from there, no importer has received a single bee that does not show the three yellow bands'? Any imi)ortcr will guarantee this. Another thing, all the (pieens that are brought from Italy are not tested quiMiUs. Especially last spriiig. the breeders of Italy could not fill all their early orders with tested queens, and get tliem here as soon as the importers wanted them: and yet the liees of Italy, so far as I have seen them (and I have received queens from several breeders in various parts of Italy), are three-banded. The bands are not bright vellow, but more inclined to be red: and I be- 14 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. J AX. 1. lieve the dcirker colored these bands are, the better ivorkers the bees prone to be. I uotice, both by the circulars of breeders and by several letters which I have, that the first thing the avei'age American ti'ies to do is to improve the Italian bee. This is a character- istic of the American, and '"improvement" is his motto; but liow is a person to undertake to improve a thing tliat already has fixed charac- teristics? I find that this " improvement" (?) consists in making it yellow, yelloirer, yellow- est. While I liave no objection whatever to these yellow bees, and liave and intend to continue to keep the yellowest bees procurable, yet I will say for them that they will not reproduce themselves. Out of ten queens from a five- banded mother, mated in an apiary where drones from five-banded mothers abound, not more than two of the untested queens will prove to be five-banded. I find the iive-banded liees as gentle as the imported stock; but the l^ees from queens of five-banded stock that produce bees with only three bands are not gentle. Last season there were many of these queens sold. Last fall at the fairs I found many dis- appointed purchasers of them. They had bought untested queens of tliem, expecting to get some five-banded. They had failed, and consequently they were disappointed. The Americans have bi'ed tlie short-horn until he is a fac-simile of the Devon. Tliey have bred the Poland -China until a whole field full of experts can not tell a Poland -China from a Berkshire, ears alone excepted. And they have bred the Italian bee until it is identical with the Cyprian. Now, this has not all been done by " judicious selection." When there is a demand foi- anv type of ani- mal or bee, the Americans are going to supply that demand, and do it right spi'edily. Why is it. Mr. Editor, kiiowinir as you do the nature of the imported bees to produce workers almost identically the same, you charge about double for a queen from an imported mother, that herself happens to be a little yellower than ordinary? W. C. Frazikk. Atlantic, la., Dec. KJ. [Our experience as importers is quite in line with yours. Next to tVie Italian bee-keepers themselves, the importers who receive annually large consignments of queens from that country ought to be in position to judge of the general cliaracteristics of the bees. It is our experience that imported Italians are as fixed as any race of bees known, in their general characteristics, with the possible exception of the black, or Ger- man race. Of tlie hundreds of queens we have imported from Italy, we never saw any four or five banded progeny from any of them; neither have we seen any one-banded progeny. They have been uniformly three-banded bees, though in the progeny of a few the third band was quite indistinct, and some would pronounce them only two-banded. It is remarkable that the bees of Italy should show .so generally such fixed qualities, and that these qualities should duplicate themselves so nearly in the first gen- eration. It is a fact, as w(; iiave often I'epeated, the bands of the importeds are leather-colored, or, at least, a dark yellow; and these darker bees have so far given better results in lioney. We therefore take the liberty of putting in ital- ics what you say on this point. It is true, that Americans will endeavor to give people what they want: and because thei'e is a demand for yellow qiie(-ns, and Ijecause of the fact that only a few of thcni are among the daughters of itnpoi'tcd mothers, we have had to charge more foi" them: hut as we say in our price list, tlit^r bees will have no more than three yellow bands, nor will they be any better honey -gatherers than those from darker daugh- ters. In regard to the article of Mr. Golds- borough, you will see. by turning to page 'J48, Dec. l."). that he must have visited only a few localities in Italy, or else lie observed very care- lessly. Although not intending to misrepresent, his article gave a very incorrect idea of the kind of bees found in Italy.] THE HUBBARD BEE -HIVE. ITS MERITS SET FORTH. Friend Root: — As brood-frames witli fixed distances have attracted so much attention of late, I think it possible you will lie interested with a description of the Hubbaid hive, which in a measure combines both fixed and movable distances. It was patented Jan. Ifi. 18S3. The main objects attained by having my brood- fi'ames hung in tliis way are: 1. They can be swung out to tlie left, giving plenty of space in which to remove combs with- out danger of scraping them together. 2. They are spaced l^o inches from center to center, at the fiont end. and at the reai' end of the frames a long staple sets in fine, deep, saw- tooth notches which allow the frames to liave their distances varied, and at the same time stay where they are put. as the frames will not move unless the hive is turned on its side. The adjustment at the reai- end allows a queen-cage to be introduced, or the distance to be varied to accommodate combs of different thickness. 3. Each end of the frame has a projecting nail at the upper left-hand corner and a long shallow staple below: therefore the frames may be hung eitlier end front. 4. Frame - bearings are metal, and. lieing. small, do not get waxed fast. 5. This accomplislies the fixed-distance idea without danger of crushing bees between wide end-bars or top-bars, and with no projecting top-bars to catcli them. (5. The staples in the bottom of the frames k(^ep liees from being crushed under the bottom- bar when you set a frame to one side on a flat surface. 7. When returning a frame to the hive you find it practically self-adjusting. Get it some- where near its place, and lai'ge notches in its tin bearings at the front end guide it instantly to its place, wliile you swing it to the point at which you wish it at the rear. S. Hives ought always to slant a little toward tlie entrance. This hive does; and by having a frame — hanging below at the front end, a bee- passage is always maintained; the frame does not sag and get waxed fast, nor make a harbor- ing-place for vermin. IS'C' (;lkanix(;s in kkk < ri/rruK. 1;-) •». Tlic iipiiuist (loi'S lidi hrcaU liis hiu'U looU- iiiK over his hrdotl-i-oiiihs. Scvnal years a^d. wlicn out" friiMiil Hiiti-liinsoii was in llic (lui'cii- busiiicss, he ii;\\o lis a tifsiTlntion of tin- l)ai'i<- ai"ln' from liaiicllinsr Im-cs tliat many will ic- nii'iiiln'r. Well, with tins sidc-opcuiiifi liivc you tliii|i down on one lur iiccs w ith an case ydu would l\ardly liclicvi' possil)l(\ As to tindin^r tiuccns. it is usually doni' w itliont rt'niovinfi tlu' iVaini's from tlicii' front lianijintjs: swiu'jr tlicm around and lool< down hctwcm them. Arc these |)oints honestly taken '.' Come and see foi' your-;elf. Seven miles from the city is AlbtMt 11. (Jrover's lluhhard-hive apiary of from f.V) to l.V) eolonies. Tliis is where my bees and (iiieens are raised. Any man within, say, :!(K) miles of here, who will shij) .">() colonies of Italian bees to this apiary in any othei' hive, and tind all tlie queens as (piickly and easily as Ml'. (Irt)ver will from .">() of his colonit^s of etiual strengtli. will havi' his moving expenses paid. and good wages foi- his time. Is the hive ex- pensive'.' No more than oth(^r single- walled hives. Is it complicated ? Many I^iactical bee- keepers, after seeing the hive itself, say it is mucii more simple than they expected after reading piinted description. A break - joint honey-board is used t)etween brood - chamber and super. Several thousand of the hives are in use in over twenty States. (}. K. Ht^BHARD. Fort Wayne. Ind.. Dec. 13. [.\s the question of fixed distances and the hnding of the queen by /io< removing the frames has of late been agitated, we asked Mr. Ilub- lianl to give us some of his eN|)erience along this line, in connection with his hiv<'. We have no doubt that he can. iTiany times, tind the (pieen without removing a frame; but for some reason of other, side-opening hives have never been popular with the masses of bee-keepers.] THE IMPORTANCE OF SEPARATORS. .SIIAI.I, WOODEX SKI'AKATOHS UK TURK OJ! THIN? THE SEKIOI'S INCOXVKNIKNCE AXD CO.ST IX HAVIXG THEM WKT WHEN PUT IX SECTIOX-CASES. I have always had quite an opinion as to the importance of separators, and latterly I have raised myo|>inion as to their importance. A good many imperfect sections I have traced to imperfect separators. That is. if a section is nearly linished. and then is moved to some oth- er part of the super where the separator is not exactly like the one where it had been, then wherever the separator comi's a little too close to the .section the comb is likely to tje gnawed aAvay. and little bridges of wax built from the comb to the separator. I have seen a section, one side of which was entirely finished, have its finished side nearly all unsealed just because. when moved, the s[)ace between comb and s(>p- arator was not as great as it had been in its first position. And although lam not sure of it. I think thi're have been cases where the warping of a separator made trouble with a section, although its position had never been changed. I think it is pretty gen(u-ally agreed that wood is better than tin for loose separators; and as a large proportion of seinirators us(;d are loose. it becomes an important matter to know just what is the best wood separator. I have seen separators a quarter of an inch thick, and it always seemed to me like a waste of lumixM' and super room. Still. I never u.sed any of that thickness, and it is i)ossible that thev mav have advantages of which I do not know. 'Wln-n wood canu' to III' hii'gi'ly U'^cil Im- se|»arators, and liiey consequently came down to a vj^ry moderate |irice, I (lecire what I needed, so I sent down for a crate containing ;^50 of them. It cost me 7.5 cents. I have a large stove-kettle. capable of holding 30 gallons. I use a tin can inside of this kettle for liquefying candied hon- ey. If the syrup is made inside of the can with water around it there would be no danger of getting the candy scorched. If scorched, it would be worthless for winter feed. But then, if I get it too thin it would be a slow job to cook it down, in this manner. As it had been thor- oughly cooked in making the sugar, what good would it be to put a lot of water in it to boil out again ? I made the candy in this way: I tirst weigh- ed 2.5 lbs. of water and placed in the can. When it got boiling hot I weighed 25 lbs. of granu- lated sugar, poured into the water, stirred it un- til it dissolved, then poured in 25 lbs. moi'e su- gar, and stirred until it dissolved. One hundred pounds of sugar will all dissolve; but in order to get it to harden so that it will harden suffi- ciently to haul to an out-apiary it is necessary to put in from 15 to 20 lbs. more of sugar. Now, it is necessary to place the butter-trays on the floor, or on shelves with a small stick under each side of the trays, to prevent them from turning over when tilling, and while the candy is hardening. The trays hold about 2 lbs. of candy each. I fixed up nearly a barrel in this way, and took it out and placed it on top of 51 hives. The following card, received from Mr. Dorsey. will explain matters. Dear Hiincy :—Youv candy is g'oing fast. It is dry and hard, and all g-oiie back to sug-ar. I think they are carrying most ot it outside. Better come t)Ut riglit awav before it is all wasted. Doksev. Moro, 111., De(_-. 11. There 1 A. N. Draper. Upper Alton, HI., Dec. 15. [Now. look here, friend D. You led us to be- lieve you were going to make a grand success of your venture: and just at the point when our expectations were raised to the highest notch, you turn the tables by quoting a card from your neighbor Dorsey. As Josh Billings said, •■ Eggsperiens teeches a goo'd skule, but the tuishun comes purty hi." Joking aside, as nearly as we can make out you did not follow directions carefully. Your candy was too hard. Notice the last clause from your quotation from Hutchinson. In order to be suitable for the bees there should be enough water incorporat- ed in it to make it tolerably soft, and yet hard enough to hold its own. We have made candy, and poured it on butter-dishes, as you say, aiid it worked beautifully. It might not have been a bad idea for you to have tried a little at first, before melting up the whole batch. We have had some experience ourselves: and if you were to turn to the subject of Candy in the ABC book you would find this: " Perhaps you had b(;tter try a pound or two first, whih^ you get your hand in. Our fii'st (Wijeriment was with iifty pounds. It all got " scorched " " sonu'how.' " You might have used Good (oi' rather Scholz) candy and been piM'fectly safe.] MELILOT. SO.MK INTKKESTING EXPEHI.MEXTS FROM U. R. BOA RDM AX. Dr. C. C. Miller sends a letter which he has received from H. R. Boardman. and suggests, as it comes from such a source, and as it seems to be so well worthy of publication, that we give it insertion in our columns. This we are veiy glad to do : and if friend Boardman has any further facts we should be much pleased to h(>ar from him again, more in detail. We IS'.)-.' (;li;.\mn(;s in I{|«;k ( ii/itije. arc vi'i'\ ■^urc he \\ ill iiavr im nhjcci imi iiiSR'"'! iiilo |ii'iiit ill this \\;iy. />;•. Miller: — Von may icmi'iiihcr thai, at ilir ('ohiiiit)ns i-onvt'iition. I cxitrcssci! a i^oimI deal of I'oiiliiiciu-c in ri'irard in liicNaliic of sweet I'lDvcr as a Idiairi'-iilaiil for slock. Tlid'c was roiisi(l('ial)li' (iisciissioii on llic snl).ji'iM. If 1 fc- nuMiilu'i' lifilitly you were among tliosc who syniiiatlii/t'ii witli my own viows. Tlic proof of tilt' piuldinR. yon l tifst year's gn)wth from the seed, and grew thick and line, and wascni'ed in good condition late in the season. I feed ii to my hofses. They vat it. hut I think it is hettcf' foe cattle and slieei). A fai'mer living near m(^ with whom I am W(M1 ac(iuainted. has a slrij) of sweet clover gfowing along one side of a lot next to the rail- road, where it sjji'ead from the railroad etn- hankment. He pastured a Hock of sheep in this lot last summer, and he said to me those sheo]) persisted in eating this clovtn' when the feed was ahundaiit elsewhere in the lot. He supposed nothing would eat it: but they did, and kept it fed down close. They seemed to prefer it. He did not know why. He regarded it as a nuisanc(\ notwithstanding the evidence he gave in its favor. He is not a bee-man. So much for a bad reputation. 1 have seven acre.s. sown last year. It will bloom next season. lam sure it can be raised on our hard clay land, and made profitable. H. R. KOAKDMAN. East Tow nsend. O.. Dec. 1. •iiiLT i;. McKnighl. I THE NORTH AMERICAN CONVENTION AT ALBANY. liKI'OinKL) BY KWNKST. The Albany convention lias come and gone. and only memory remains to recall the feast of good things. It was indeed ;i representative ■convention, perhaps moi'e States being repre- sented, and more miles traveled by bee-keep- <'rs, than to any other convention in the history ■of the iissociation. Something over KM) railroad fares were paid to Albany, and many of these fares covered long distances. As wasexpected, there was a large number of distinguished bee- keepers present, although not all that we hoped would be. A. E. Maiium and Mr. I<'iaiik Hen- ton were; detained on account of sickness, as were also the two doctors. Mason and Miller, much to the regret of all present. The doctors are a whole team in themselves, and are enough to make any meeting bubbl(> o\-er with eiithiisi- asm. ]}nt we had other good men. Capt. J. E. Hetherington. the one bee-keeper wiio enjoys the distinction of being the largest honey- pi-o- dncer in the world, was present. He is full of vim and busine>s push, it w as easy to S(M'. A delightful and interesting speaker, he fairly captivated the whole convention by liis joviali- ty and enthusiasm. (J. .M. Doolittle was another bright light. I had always supposed that he was more of a writer than a convention man: but I was very agreeably siirpiised. Like Mr. Hetherington. he is a clear and foireful speak- er. ('. I'. Dadant and Hon. .1. M. Ilambaugh came from the Mississijipi Valley, and Eugene Secor came from beyond the Mississijipi River. They had come the furthest of any of the bee- keepers. Of these Til tell you mure in our next issue. There were also two representatives from I'anada. in the persons of R. F. Ilolteiniann and .-,■■- lir\e iii'jirly every one of llie New England Slalis had oih' or moie icp- leseiilative.s. The .New Hampshire lOxperiment Station actually sent one of its insiructors. a Mr. Wood, to tiie con vention, t he ultimate ob- ject being to establish a school of aiiiciiltiire Of course, the Vork State bee-keepei-s tiii-ned out (11 (/la.sNr. among them being, I. II. .\ellis. of t lie former iiic-iiciicis' H.kIki injr : .luliiis lloll- inan. I'. II. Elwood. (J. II. K iiickeriiocker. .\. I). Wesi. W. E. (lark (he's iiiiitc a driver in con- ventioni. Thomas I'ierce. the two Coggshalls. I. Scholield I guess \'(\ better sto|). or somebody will feel hurt because 1 didirtmeiitioii his name. This convention, while it lacked stnne of the eiitliusiasm of ot her iiieeiingsof the association, was remarkable in that I here was not a, woi'd of discord uttered. The pl(;asaiit(^st and best of feeling prevailed at every session. With Drs. Mason and Miller, supported by Caiit-. Hether- ington and Doolittle and the r(!St, the enthusi- asm would have run high. As it was, it did not go down to ;i very low ehb. Were there any women -folks present '.' Only one or two at a time, and that. too. after all I had said about bi-ingiug along the wives, sweet- hearts, and daughters: I'm not discoiirau-ed. ril invite "em to come to \Vashiiigt(>n next yeai-, and they'll come. Well, what about the convention? What did th(n' say and do? More things than I have space to tell you. A very full report by that prince of reiiort.ers. W. Z. Hutchinson, will ap- Ijeai' in iht' AiiKrlnm Bee JounutJ: and if you are not already a suhsci'ilier of that journal, send 10 cents for a few sample copies, and you will be amply rt^jaid. I will attempt to give you only a gist of the subjects discussed. The president's addiess is so excellent and impor- tant in its suggestions that we have decided to publish it entire in uni- next issue. INCOUPOKATION.O.VND WHATrIT MKANS. The North American is now incorporated un- der the laws of the State of Illinois. At the first session it was asked what incorjioration meant, and why any particular State should take jurisdiction. It was explained that incor- poration signiHed t he making of the society into a legal body. and. so to speak, an individual ca- pable of transacting business — one that can sue and be sued. As to localizing the incorporation, it was explained that a society, in order to be incorporated in the United States, has to come under the jurisdiction of some particular State; and as Illinois is centrally located, as far as the Northern bee-keepers are concerned. Chicago was thought t(j be an appropriate place for its headquarters. All other societies that are in- corporated, whether fraternal or otherwise, are under the laws of some (larticular .State, though in their practical workings they may be nation- al. The North .American bad also procured medals, as |)er the clause in its constitution, and was ready to distribme them to afliliatcd socie- ties when called for. HEES, THK I.OCATIO.N', AND THK MAN. Mr. Doolittle gave us an exct^llent talk on the subject above. The tifst thing of prime impor- tance; is the (iiieen. \V(» should not have excess- ive biood-rearing after the honey-season, but encourage it by all jiossible means hrfoi'c, so as to have a U>vco of bees of honey-gathering age come on at the right time. As to location, most of us. Mr. Doolittle said, are bound iiy our eii- vironmeiils. and therefoi'e the location may be good or bad: but all honor to the man who se- cures good crops in a poor location. As to the man. he must be one of push — one not woi'king to fill out so many hours, but wcjikiiig for a cer- tain delinite result. He must eniov bis work: 18 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Jan. L and the bee-kepper who has made a success must be an enthusiast. BEES BETTEK THAX FARMING ; CAX BEE-KEEP- ING BE MADE A SPECIALTY ? A lively discussion followed after Mr. Doolit- tle sat down. It assumed all sorts of phases. For instance, "Do bees pay better than farm- ing?" The reply was made that it did. As to whether it paid to make the bees a specialty, or mix in other things, was also discussed in a lively manner. While the majority evidently seemed to think it did pay. a few insisted that it did not. Capt. Hetherington was not sure whethei' he was a specialist or not. When a boy sixteen years old he wrote to Mr. Quinby. asking whether he had better make bees a spe- cialty. Mr. (}. advised him not to do so. and suggested connecting it with dairying or school- teaching. The captain asked us to note how very few of the old bee-keepers who had made bee-keeping a specialty had made it a success. Mr. Doolittle was then asked the question as to whether he was a specialist or not. He was hardly prepared to say that he was. His main business now was queen-rearing, while, years ago. he produced comb honey. Why didn't he do so now? some one asked. Because, years ago. he got ;.'8 cents a pound, and now it has come down to 13 and l.">. While queen-i"earing paid him. he also thought the production of honey would pay. even now. The feeling seem- ed to prevail that it is not wise to embark in liee-keeping hastily as a specialty. If you have already something that pays you well, don't dabble in bees. CONTROLLING SWARMING. A paper from W. F. Clarke was read, on the pi'evention of swarming. By knowing the cause we may bring about a cui-e. He asked. " Are not our hives too small, oi' overcrowded ?'" and added, '• Is not swarming a great deal like emi- gration?" He believed in plenty of room, and in keeping the hives in a shady place. Quite a discussion followed the reading of this paper. Most of those present seemed to acknowledge their inability to control swarm-, ing. and some others averivd that they did not care to do so— it is nature, and nature should be gratitfed. because more honey is secured there- by. It was easy enough to control swarming when running for exinivicd honey, by the use of Ijerforated zinc: but when it comes to the pi'o- duction of comb hon<'y. it was another maitei'. Thi' (|uestion then came up as to controlling swarming by caging or i-emoving the queens, as is practiced bv El wood. Hetherington. and A. E. Manum. (i. M. Doolittle and .1. E. Crane could not mak(> it work. President Elwood was then called upon. Some varieties of bees, he said, are much more inclined to swarm than others. They ran about iK)U colonies for comb honey, and thcM'e was not one strong colony out of all tliat number that did not attempt 'to swarm. Half of this number they suhse(]uently reduced in strenglh. and from the other half they re- moved the que(>ns. From the latter thev got more honey. Mr. West succeeded in controlling the desire to a very great extent by the use of his(iueen-cell protectoi's— that is. he would de- stroy all old queens just before the swarming season, and insert crils from choice (juef'us in his protectoi's in the colonies made (pieenless. When the young iiueens got to hivinjr. the swarming fever would be over. THE ITALIAN BEE. AND HOW SHAM, IT 1!K MARKED? Mr. Knickeibocker I'ead an essay on the Ital- ian bee. showing tli<' piincipal points of excel- lence. Italians. In- .-aid. w oik earlier and later, and iireed uj) earlici'. and store hoiiev in the brood-nest. As to which quality we should give the preference, that depended upon cir- cumstances. If we want bright colors, breed for them: if we want honey, ])reed for honey and good wintering qualities, rather than for bright colors or particular markings. But Ital- ians have certain general characteristics and markings; and it would be very desirable to have a standard that the National Association could agree upon. It is now an undisputed fact, he said, that many Italians have been sent out that were mixed with Cyprian blood. Italians must be Italians, and nothing else. A lively discussion followed the reading of this paper. Many took the ground that a stan- dard could not be made: and the point came up as to whether the Italians are a pure race of bees or hybrids. The dkscussion grew " redhot,'^ as the boy said ; but every one " kept sweet." Doolittle averred that the Italians were hybrid, because they were so much inclined to sport, and that the black bee was the only pure race. Dadant and one or two others insisted that the black bee was not a pure bee— that there were varieties or sports of this I'ace. The discussion waxed warm until a committee was appointed by tbe chair to follow out Mr. Knickerbocker's suggestions — that is. draw up a standard with a scale of markings for recommendation to the convention. This committee was composed of G. H. Knickerbocker, G. M. Doolittle, C. P. Da- dant, and .1. E. Ci'ane. When the committee as- sembled, the old bone of contention was renew- ed, and they took sides, neither party being willing to yield to the other. I longed for a Kodak, or something to photogra])h them. It was a real sight to see them argue with their index fingers pointed toward each other. They finally compromised matters very nicely, and the report, with one or two amendments as adopted by the convention, is as follows: WHAT CONSTITUTES AN ITALIAN BEE';' Italian liees must adhere to the combs when proi)- erly liandled, and not cluster about, or i-usli around and fall to the ground. They nuist have tliree liands, of a color ranging- from golden yellow to leather coloi'. They must he quiet when well han- dled, and in time of scai'city must place their honey in a compact shape. SCHEDVLE OF MARKING. Comb-building, 10. Wintering, 15. Honey-gatheiing, 35. Gentleness, 10. Proliflcness, 15. Color, 5. APICULTURE AT THE C()LUMBL\N EXPOSITION. A paper was read by Dr. Mason, on the out- look of apiculture at the Columbian Exposition. From it we learned that all exhibitors are to be on the ground by April 1. 1893. and that each State, for its honey-exhibit, would be allowed only 100 .square feet. Colorado bee - keepers alone had applied for 1000 square feet. This was a poser. In the discussion which followed, it was urged that we ask for tuore space, as 1(X) square feet per State would be insufficient. But over against thisit was urged that all the States would not attempt to make an exhibit of honey.' and their apportioiuuent of space would go to help make up the allotnu'Ut of the States that did wisli to exhibit. Dui'ing the cour.«e of the discussion. Capt. Hetherington. wlio has had much experience, told us. in a very intei'esting way. of the honey-exhihit wliich he pi-epared for the Centennial in ISTCi — an exhibit wliich at- tracted so general attention at the time. He gave us many interesting suggestion^ — sugges- tions which the commitiee will probably make use of. A committee of tliree. consisting of Dr. Mason, P. H. Elwood, and Hon. .1. ^V. Hain- baugh. with Dr. ]Mason as chaii'inan, was ap- IJointed to confer with the |iroper authtirities of the exposition at Cliiciigo. with reference to an apiarian exhibit at the World's Fair. As here- IS'.f.' cLKAMNMJs IN HKK cn^'nin'; lofori', llic i-(iiiv cm ion \\;is iihmit tn ii'cuiiiiiirii(l \)i. A. I>. Miisim as ilii' rijilii iiiaii tn lakr fharirc of tin- liom-v -cxliihit. Sonic one. I l)i'- licvc it was Mi'. Dadaiit. said it was an nnncc- I'ssary step, as liic i-ontmissioncrs wonld follow tht'ii' own sweet will, no matter wiiat reconi- niendation we niiy:lit inals dead and dving iindi-r trees that had been sprayed with arsenical poisons: and the doses for till' s|)raying were no strong<'r than was rec- ommended. I was niv.^elf surprised at the number who had seen bees jioisoned from the spraying of fruit. If a iniiltitnde of testimonies and a stiong array of circumstantial evidence mean any thing, tlie professor must undoiibted- ly have iieen convinced, even biirrini: the chem- ical analysis of the bees" stomach^. At anv rate, he seemed sati-tied. and said he would continur- to advise as he had done heretofore, to spray lieforr- and after lilossomiiig. A vote of tlianks was then tendered hini for his kind con- siiieration in our behalf. One of the \ aluable >e| \ ices I hat t his com' I'll - tion has i-eiidcrcd is lo lia\ f the bad resiiltsof spraying during fruit-bloom. It also showed that the interests of the fiuit-grower and hon- ey-raiser' are one: tliat all the results that can be (Icsii'cd can be accomplished after tlu^ petals have fallen off from IIm' ininialure fruit. Pi'of. ('ook'"s alilc paper, read before tln^ Association for the advancement (d' Agricultural Sciencr". at \\'ashinglon. and pulilished on page 73;i. ISUI. was introduced in evidence. rWO SIZKS OK SI subject as above. The doctor discussed the desirability and feasibility of having two sizes as standard. Tlmy iiece.ssarily cost the supply- dealer more, and therefore indirectly the bee- keejier. It would be desirable, he thought, to have only one standard: but in the present condition of things, that seemed imijossible. He ratiier objected to IK sections for one of the standards, because they hold less than a pound, and iiecause the consumer buys it for an osten- sible pound package, when it was not. He did not wish to lie a party in any such business. In connection with th(^ essay were read two letters, one from W. T. Falconer, and the other from the (i. H. Lmvis Manufacturing Co. Both held tlie ground that it was desirable to have a standard if it could be adopted. The l'^^x4liKi}4 comes as near as aiiy thing to being a standard: but bi'sides thi'se there are dozens of other sizes whicli they are obliged to keep in stock. A number of commission men were present, and objected to the point made by the doctor on small-size or under-weight .sections. The " under- weights " were accepted readily. Con- sumers would ask. " How much is honey a pound?"' The reply would be. for instance. ■"Eighteen ccuits.'" The consumer would call for a section. When the change was made out he would be charged only 1(5 cents: but let there be an over-weight section, and there would be complaint. Commission men seemed to prefer large and thiniuu' combs, of a tritie under a pound, and this is one reason why per- hapsa4^oX4'._. section, seven to the foot, has been coming into prominence. H. R. Wright showed his under-weight tall section, a trifle taller than wide. The display was a little better, he said, and consumers readily took it. GRADING OF IIONEV. The di.scussion Hnally tni'ned to the all-impor- tant question, (jradiiuj honey. The system adopted by the Northwestern at Chicago was discussed "pretty thoroughly. The first grade at that convention was " superfine."" (Irade No. 2 also calls foi' very fine honey: but the mere fact of its being classed as No. 2 puts a stigma upon it that it does not deserve. The Alliany convention, as well as commission men readily saw the need. of a change here. A large committee was afipointed. comprising a num- ber of prominent iiee-keepei's and commission men iireseiit. to draw up a new schedule id' grading, and report to the convention. The re- port as adopted is as follows: HKI'OKT OK COMMITTKK ON OK.>M)li\(i COMli HOXKV. Hone.v sliall lie M'i'adfd in two grades, tlie tlrst to \n- known in llii- trade as "faiicv.'" or "fancy white," and to lie marked "A." It shall lie coin- posed of well-tilled sections of lifilit -colored lionies. One fiij-e of eacli section sliail l)e leifei't in appenr- aiice, fully sealed, except the IiiH' of cells toucliinj!' tlie wood. The other side of tlie section sliail t-illier be perfect in I'olor and sealiiifr. or lu'arly so. 1'he second grade sliall lie known in the trade as fair 1o good, while, and lie inarkefl "'('." and shall he packed to meet t he refpiireiuents of those desir- ing a good honey, but who care little for outside ai)i.earance. It shall lie conipo>cd of honey tlir.iwn out of the Hist grade, irregular and travel-stained 20 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Jan. 1. combs, sec'.ioiis not perfectly tilled, but yet having- liut little unsealed honey. White honey, third grade, nii.ved with inferior honey, includiuK buckwheat and fall ttowers, sliall be graded by itself, and mark(ut upon them a private mark of their own. '1 his should also apply to hon- ey-dew and any other kind not falling in regular grades. 1 was out when the report was read, and now thai it is .sent in — well, it is not quite to my no- tion. W. Z. Hutchinson e.xpresses liinisclfin a private letter as being not quite satisfied. He and I were both in hopes the Chicago grading might t>e taken as the basis, and the munc of the grades changed. But Albany and Chicago are two very different localities, and it would be hard for them to agree upon one system of grading. RENDEKING \VA.\. A paper was read by R. F. Holtermann, on some facts not generally known about render- ing beeswa.x. By experiments which he had made, he was perfectly salislicd that wax is oft- en overheated, therefore injuring it to a great extent for foundation. Dadant took the ground that it was not over- heating, but steam, that did the mischief: that it was the incorporation of water into the wax that made the trouble. Mr. Cornell was not of the opinion that overheating would hurt wax. In fact, in some experiments in melting wax in a double - walled solar wax - extractor, he had maintained a temperature, on a num- ber of successive days, of 320 degrees. It might have injured it. but it was his opinion that it did not. Mr. Dadant then showed us samples of foundation, one in which too much steam had entered into tlu^ wax. and one in which it had not. The former had a milky color, and the latter wasof a transparent beautiful am- ber. The former he made transpai'ent by sub- jecting it to the heat of a gas-jet. NEXT PI-ACE OF .MKETING. When we came to talk about the next place of meeting, a number of points were considered. We were very much undecided where to go un- til Captain Hetherington urged the claims of Washington. In a very neat and felicitous speech he made, it was evident that he had carried the day; and evei-ybody began to talk and urge Washington. When it came to a vote by ballot, the decision was almost unanimous in favor of the city on the Potomac. Washington is the Mecca, it was urged, of all true Americans; and every bee-keeper is a loyal man, and desires some day to visit the national capital. Some one else" said that it would be a grand place to take the women- folks and children, and that what might be lacking in local attendance for the next meet- ing would he more than made up by those who had come to see the capital as well as to attend the convention; that is, a double interest would attract many, whereas the single interest of the bee-convention might not. The election of officers resulted as follows: President, Eugene Secor, of Iowa; Vice-presi- dent, Captain J. E. Hetherington, of New York; Secretary. W. Z. Hutchinson, of Michigan; Treasurer. E. R. Hoot, of Ohio. ALBANY CONVENTION SIDELIGHTS. chats with this one and that one. During the recesses tlun'e would Ijea lotof bee-keepers who would rush to the room where bee-keeping im- plements wei'e exhibited. There were lots of hives and fixin"s there. A variety of double- walled hives were shown, and other imple- niiMits over which one bee-keeper would lie very enthusiastic, and yet another one would not have them as a gift. Several times some small bee-keeper would explain some new lixing of his own. Why. he had experienced lots of comfort with it during the past season, and wished his bee-keeping friends to know it. Some of the veterans — those who nuinl)er their colonies by the several hun- dreds, would look on and smile, and remark, aside. •■(Jood enough for him, but (re can not tolerate such a roundabout way of doing things." I had long wanted to see the extractor of W. L. Coggshall. that West Groton bee-keeper who produces so many tons of extracted honey, and there it was, among the other exhibits. He wouldn't have any of the commercial ma- chines, as they are not made to suit him. He uses a Langstroth frame, and wants it to hang in the extractor just as it does in the hive. A very little talk with him will convince you that he has some very good reasons for such a pref- erence. Of course, it makes the extractor large and ungainly. Why. it is as large as the Stan- ley automatic, and the combs are not reversible either. It is a four-frame machine; and instead of combs being put in the four sides of the basket, they are put in in pairs, with a strip of tin between. Of course, the two inside combs are nearer the center-shaft; but he says that makes no practical difference. The idea is not so crude as it might be. Some one jokingly asked Mr. C. why he did not make his extractor large enough to take in a whole ui)pei' story, one on each side of the basket. A number of prominent bee-men were present: and as if it were a huge joke, tiiey be- gan to outline the plan. "Why," said one, " all you need is some sort of an tuicapping-machine that will lull between the combs just as they are in the hive. Then slip in a sheet of tin be- tween each pair of combs. Put two supers of this kind in the extractor, and let it whirl. The honey will fly out and strike the sheets of tin, and drain out below: then reverse the supers the other side out. and start the machine, and, presto I there would be two whole supers, each containing ten Langstroth frames, with the honey all extracted, without so much as a frame being removed." I began to think of the Heddon supers, and the thought came to me that there were possiMfitJes in the line of un- capping combs without removing a frame, es- pecially with fixed frames. There was also a possibility of having sheets of tin so fastened that they would be held at equal distances; and these sheets or rack of spaced sheets could be dropped between the spaces between the combs. We all had a big laugh over the big invention, and it turned somewhat at friend Coggshall's expense. "See here," I said, " gen- tlemen, there may be a bigger thing in this than you think, taken in connection with the shallow extracting supers with fixed frames." Nobody can patent this, because reliable wit- nesses will testify that the invention was Iwrn at Albany, even if it does seem now like a big joke. Understand, I do not say it is practicable, but some day somethiny might come of it. IN HETAVEE.N SKS.SION- To me, the best part of any convention is the intermissions— the hand-shakings and the little I had a very pleasant visit with i aptaiu Hetherington. The impression has. perhaps, gone abroad that he is a recluse, and a man who keeps all the good things to himself. Nothing could be further from the truth. He 18!fJ (JLKAMNciS IN KKK ( ll/riKK. tistnl ti) bi> pi'omiiifiit ;ii cniiv iMitioiis. iiiid his inuiu> aMpoarcd frciinciitly in hcc-joiirniils: hut it tMiiailt'd siu'li ail iminciisc anuiiint of coiics- pmuiciu'i', ami itroiiiiiil Sd iiiaiiy visitors to liis plaoc. tliat lie foiiiHl lie w as ohliiicd to w itii- (iraw liimsclf from the piihiii-. As he was iicitliiM" an t'llitor nor siipijjy-ilcaicr. siicli an amount of iHiirt'spomiiMUT. amisomany visitors, not only bot'anm a irrcat hufdi'n, tmt could l)o of no possible service to him: and ln> was too po- lite not loanswcrhiseorrespondents.aiid toiu'oi- dial not to entertain, ami so the only alternati\'e was to out otT the oii iiave so many excel- lent liee-books and bee-papers. I sincerely hope the liay is past when it was nocossary to go and intfM'view and taUe the time of some of thes(^ extensive bee-keeix'rs. at least uninvited, and durinc the busv rush of the honev-season. 1 had delightful chats with J. H. Nellis. of the former Bic-kcejwrs' ExclKimje. and with .lulius Hott'man. the man who invented the ilotVman frame. I showed him our modified HotVman frame foi- the L. hive, and explained to him how it was we were obliged to use a straight top-bar. After looking it all over he readily acquiesced with our modification, and said that it was better for the L. size. At one of the intei'inissions Mr. Ilott'man favored us with some music on th<» piano. It was easy to see that it was a master's hand that touched the keys, for indeed he is one ()f the most accom- plished musicians in the country- I vvas sorry afterward that I did not think in time to suggest the propriety of his favoring the whole conven- tion with rnusic. Perhaps he can at some fu- ture time. Some of those large honey-producers of York State — those who produce their honey by the ton and carload, are a little sensitive about liaving their crops made public. One reason is. it creates a wrong impression, and leads out- side liee-keepers to think that they are making a mint of money, and quite frequently it is the cause of others coming into their locality, and crowding upon their fields. When these large crops are published, small one-horse bee-keep- ers are apt to forget the enormous expense and labor required to harvest the crop: and wiien they come in, with little or no knowledge of the locali y. they are sure to make a failure for themselves, and to seriously interfere with the average per colony of those bee-keepers who were lirst in the field. While sitting at the dinner-table at the hotel. Mr. McKnight. of Owen Sound. Canada, gave us a very interesting account of the. Colonial Exhibition in i.oudon. and how the Canadian hcjiiey was gatheri'd up. how i* was shijjjjed. how it was displayed, and finally sold. The information he gave us was very valuable, and we hopi' he will some day give us the benefit of the information througli an article or two. in order that the bee-kee])ers of this country who are about to prepare a mammoth exhibit of honey for the World's Fair may profit l)y his experience and suggestions. W(- will not at- tempt to reproduce Mr. McK night's account here, as we fear we might not get all the facts straight. W. Z. HUTCHINSON'S VISIT TO MEDINA. wiiA I hi; thinks of ihi; homk of iiik Ho.\- i:v-i!Ki:s. We were going to '• wiite up"VV. Z.'s visit here: but the following. tak outsitte of the hiiildiiiK's— tlie illustra- tions in GIjEanings have shown these quite fairly — Imt it .seemed to me as thoiifi-li they were about three times as larg'e inside as they were outside. Medina is not a larg'e city— about 'MM inhaliitants — and almost from necessity many trades must lie represented at this one institution. Tliesendinji- away for repairs, and delays from fretting- out of many thiiiM's,- would be too expensive. Tlieie are many thin.us that Puniest said he would tfladl.v driip, and rid himself of so much worry, hut it seemed well-nig:li impossible to do so. Ernest showed me over the establishment, then b.\- a sort of tacit agreement he went alxiut his work and allowed me to roam about at my own sweet will. You see, we were to go on togethei- to Albanj', and we both knew that we would liave plenty of opportunity for visiting wlille on the road. The beauty of m.v visit was that everybod.v seemed to know me at once. This ma.v be accounted for tiy tlu^ fact that eveiy employe receives a copy of Gleanings. In live minutes the* pi-e.ssman and I were deep in the dis- cu.ssion of hard and soft " packing" for cylinder presses, of the kind of jiaper needed for the various kinds of work, the liest inks, etc. Then he fished out his printers' magazines, and we kioked them over. This is a fair sample of how I put in mj' time. I don't remember ever going through so lai'ge an establishment where every thing was quite so neat and clean. Eiiiest remarked, in a joking way, in a re- cent issue of Glkanings, that if folks would only let them }nii>w when the.v were coming, they W(mld have a " clarin' u]) " spell before their arrival. Of course, my visit was known in advance; but some- how 1 feel just as though there was no "clarin" up" spell on that account. Most of the rooms were just as clean as a dwelling-house; .ves. far more so than some I have seen. Then ever.v thing was so liand.v and convenient — so sjstematizedl Each had a i)ar- ticular dut.v to jierform. and the manner in which these duties were performed pleased me exceeding- l.v. It was with a sort of pride in the work. Yes. I went out with Ernest and looked at the bees. The apiar.v is very pleasantlj located. The view lately given iuGLE.iNiNGS of the Shane ai>iary, after it had been brought home, is tin- onlyone that does justice to tlu> Ilea lit y of the .vard. This view, however, does not show the whole yard. The evei^ greens on the north and west sides stand in as neat and symmetrical rows jts T ever saw. .\s an orna- ment and windbreak t hey are a suc<-ess. Ernest is exiierimenting quite a little now as to the use or non-use of absorlients. It looks now as though ab- sorbents might be an actual detriment. Eet the bees seal tlie covers down tightly, so no moisture will escape, then use ]jrotectioii of some kiiifl out- side tlie hives, where the moisture can not reach it. The management of the apial•.^• and of Gleanings is left largel\' lo Ernest, while the liusiness manage- menl is ill the hand-, of Mr. Calvert, tiardening is Mr. A. I. Root's liolibj- now; the " lioys," as A. 1. calls them, being allowed a wide latitude in their departments. They are more gi\-eii to the " trying of new things" than is the case with A. I., although no momentous step is taken without his advice or consent. One of the new things that are about to lie (;leaning.s in bee culture. Jan. 1. broiiglit out is a revei-sihle hyney-extractor. Tt is not automatic, but tlie liaskets can he reversed so (juickly that but little time is lost, while much is jfaiiied in the way of making- the can smaller, and in lesseninof the expense. Yes. T saw tliat biig-lit joung-ster of eifi^ht months, Lehind Ives, wlio is now able to sit u|) in a high- chair and make a noise in the world. T did feel a little {iuilty for .coiiiint!- away without calling- on his new cousin, Howard Hoot Calvert; but he is so young- that 1 feared he wouldn t take much notice of ine. As some of you may know, Ernest's liobbj', or one of his hobbies, is that of photog-i-aphy; and when I tell you that he brought home his fourth or fi/(?i camera on the day of my arrival, it is not to be won- dered that his wife said, "What! oy«/f/)er one '•'" us- ing the same tone and expression that my wife sometimes uses when T bring liome a new font of displa.v type. When I woke up in the night it took me some little time to decide that it was A. I. 's windmill that was going " squeak, squeak, s-q-u-e-a-k." " Yes," T thought to myself, " its master's hand is away in the West. If it were here that windmill would be— greased." But, enougli of incidents. I could till the Review with them, but there are so many things that must go in this issue that I must cl().se by saying, " Suc- cess to the Home of the Honey-bees and those who work therein." [Brother Hutchinson in a few words has de- scribed very vividly the inside workings of the Home of the Honey-bees. If we do indeed de- serve all the kind things he has said of us. we are pleased. We really vvere not aware that we kept things neat, although we have for some time back taken considerable pride in our system. \Ye had a delightful visit, and freely talked over all the kinks of the trade. No secrets or pointers were held back for fear that the " other fellow ■■ might get the advantage. The feeling was that we were all of one family, and need not be jealous of each other's prosperity or new hits. We enjoyed ]Mr. Hutchinson's vi.sit because he is somewhat of a hobbyist himself. Yes, he guessed right. It was the fifth camera that we brought in that day. Mrs. R. does not object to the camera craze, only the wonder is. what we are going to do with' so many instruments. Well, to tell the truth, by the death of a rela- tive we came in possession of quite a lot of pho- tographic apparatus. Two of the cameras are very tine ones, and we advertise them in this number for about half their original cost. Five cameras! Even (ce have no use for so many. Bro. H. is peculiarly graphic when he speaks of the windmill " .squeak." We presume the sen- ior editor will see this, and wonder whether it is .squeaking now. After W. Z. H. spoke of it we forthwith sent a man up to oil it. It does not squeak nosv. We not only enjoyed our visit together, but we traveled together to Albany, occupied the same sleeper and the same berth: and. as if that were not enough, when we got to the hotel we registered together for the same room; and, fiu'thermore, we were frequently seen walking up and down the streets together. It was a sort of contindriim to luany at the bee-convention how two bee-editors could with conflicting in- ten^sts agree .so well together. Mav this feeling long continue: and we hope the day of old jeal- ousies between bee-editors is past and gone.] GRADING HONEY. AND ITS IMPORTANCE. HOW CIIK.M' (;I{.\NII,.\TEI) STGAR IS .SUP- I'LANriXG HO.NKV IX BAKKKIES, of the Albany convention. However, one fact we will state: and that is, that the commence- ment at the Northwestern convention, relative to grading honey, was a step in the right di- rection: and now if a bee-iuan writes that he has a first grade of buckwheat honey we know that it is such. If he writes he has a third grade of basswood honey, we can also answer him intelligently as to what it would sell for in this market. Color and flavor should not be considered in gi'ading. by any means. A point that has been much argued, namely, ■• Does the low price of sugar afifect the sale of extracted honey '?"" we desire to answer by stat- ing that a manufacturing firm to whom in past seasons we have sold carloads of honey in one order writes that, after having e.\i)erimented with granulated sugar, they find it far superior to honey, since the article manufactured, with honey as an ingredient, will sour in time, while with granulated sugar it will not: and since it is cheaper in future thev will not ptirchase any honey. " S. T. Fish .<: Co. ' Chicago, 111., Dec. 19. [This is certainly not welcome news, if it is becoming general among bakers. We should like further information from others on this point, from those who are in position to know. By all means let us face the lion, if there is one. that we may be prepai-ed to tight it.] CUBA A BEE-KEEPER'S PARADISE. We perused with interest the article of Mi.ss Wil.son on page VMi(). and would respond thereto at length, but we desiie tirst to learn the action AX IXTEKESTING LETTER FROM FRED fH.W- CRAFT, OF .irVENILE GI.EAXIXGS. Deitr Sir: — I am in Cuba. You will ask. '• Who are you f I will refei' you to Juvexilk Gleanings of July. 1883. page 4.5. There you will see that you give a ten-year-old bee-boy credit for being the cause of your starting the ••Juvenile." You will see. on page (31, my name appears in connection with our friend E. E. Hasty as one of the boys who weighed the bees and their loads. lam still with the bees, and love them dearly. I came here from Astor Park. Fla.. in October; and through the kind- ness of Mr. Osborn I secured the situation which I now occupy. Before coming to my new home I spent a few days with Mr. Osbnrii at Punta Brava in looking over his large apiary and admiring his mammoth e.xtractor: and I also had the great pleasure of seeing it run. It is a fine piece of workmanship, and runs as smoothly as a sewing-machine. The apiary which I have charge of. called the "• Two Sis- ters,"' owned by Mr. Manuel Gomez, Portuguese consul-general at Havana, is only a small one now, it being the desire of the proprietor to ■have the bees increased to an apiary of .500 or •MX) colonies, and then put in an extractor run by steam. Mr. Gomez has contemplated hav- ing an apiary here for some time, and has built sheds to put the bees under, and also a large honey-house and workshop, all furnished with every thing needed for taking care of a large apiary: but he has not had time to give it his personal attention, he having one of the largest importing and comtuission houses in Havana. The kind of hive in use here is diff'erent from the Simplicity. It is a two-story hive, the sec- ond story being used to extract from. The size of each is 13 x Ki. and lO'.j inches deep, each story containing nine frames 10xl.">. set cross- wise to the entrance. When I came here the bees were not getting much honey, owing to rain and stormy weather: but we are having better weather now, and the bees are doing well. The principal honey source, the campa- nola. is just beginning to bloom, but there are 18<»-.' ChKANlXCiS IN 15K10 ( Tl/rURE. •-'3 always plenty of llu\\('r> lure. Tlif lircs :iri' WDi-kiiiR MOW on tlu' royal pahu-irci'. li is sim- ilar to tilt' raliliaiTf-pahnt'i to of Florida, only, insii-ad of Itloominy: two or tlircc wccUs. likr till" palnit!tto. it blooms all the year. As soon as oni' st«MU of lilossoms is (lone, another taUes it^ place: and a small ai»iary eould store snr- pliis honey almost all the yeai' from that alone. 'Phis is a heaiitiriil i-oiintry. Instead of hein}; low and swampy, as many people suppose, it is hiirh anil rollinij:. w illi mimy hills that mijilit almost he diirnilied Ity the name of monntains. The place where I am located is eifxhtcen miles east of Havana by one of the tincst roads on the island. TIk' farm consists of about 8(M) acres, all in fruits, suirar-cane. and i)astnre land. There are a ujreat many kinds of fruit here, amonsj: which I nilfiht mention oranges, lemons, limes, fii'aiu'-fruit. bananas, plantains, niamayas. coi-oanuts. mangoes. cotTee, and many otiiers that are strange to the eyes of an American. In describing some of the many things to be seen here one can not fail to mention the roads. This is a limestone country, and the rocks are ))nt to a good use in paving th(> roads. The road leading fiom Havana to San .lose, two miles from heie and twenty fioin Havana, is as smooth as a race-track, and lined on each side with palm-tfees. This is certainly the bee- keepef"s paradise, and will one day lead the world in the production of honey. P'red L. Chayckaft. Havana. Cuba. Nov. 17. [We are glad to hear from you. friend C'lay- craft. We were about to say "• friiMid Freddie:'' but after all these years you must have grown to the stature of a man. We remember very distinctly the part yon took in the early Juvk- xiLK Gleanings, especially when you weighed the bee-loads a Id Hasty. We trust the same spirit of investigation will follow you in your new quarters, and that you will give us further of your impressions in that land of flowers.] Lad/es' Conversazione. WAX BOUQUET OF AUTUMN LEAVES. SOMETHING TO PO IN AVINTKK. No prettier ornament for the parlor can be de- vised than wax leaves and flowei's; and as win- ter is the time when bee-keeping ladies or their daughters have leisure for fancy-work, if ever. 1 will tell how to make a bouipiet of autumn leaves; and next month, if desi)(.d. I will tell liow to make a wreath of wax flowers, or a white cross in wax. r.,eaves are made by pressing thin sheets of beeswax lUJon a leaf-mold until they are veined and cut oft. Urst wet the mold. Cov^r a wire for a stem, with strips of wax |)ressed around smoothly, oi' use one coveri'd with thread (such as are used in ladies" hats). !,ay tlu' st<'ni on the whole length of the leaf: then lay on an- other sheet of wax. and press on tightly (but do not press on the wire) till cut off smooth all around. I''or autumn leaves, use iliin sheets of y(;llow beeswax — just such as are used to make founda- tion for sections: the thinner the Ix^tter. so that there are no holes in the wax. Wet the mold: I>ress on the yellow wax. and cut ofl': then, while the leaf is still on the mold, rub on to it some red. green, or t)rown |)aint. as fancy dic- tates. Do not rub on too mucli. as the lining will not stick. Now lay on a su-ni covered with wax. and press on the mold again another bit of yellow wax. 'I'his last forms the lining to the leaf. Now press on ai'ouud the edges until they are cut (itV smooth. The ro(tm should be warm, so that the wax will work easily and not break -just comfortably warm issuflicient. The lea\cs may tie made entirely of beeswax which is more pliable than wiuit we buy. or thi' upi)er sni-face may be ruad<' of slieeied wax pre- pared for the |)urpose, and sold in packages generally kept by drujjgisls. or it may be or- dered by them, both gieen and variegated. After the upiier surface of boughten wax is made, lay on the wire stem that has been cov- ered with wax. and for a lining use sheeted beeswax. If the upper surface is green, or near- ly so. then the lining should be of giceri wax. Hut if the upper siu'face is of yellow wax. to im- itate an autumn leaf the lining should be of yellow wax also; and as the wax we buy is so brittle I always prefer to use a lining to the leaves of beesw ax. There should be a variety of leaves made, to look well in a bouiiuet, placing the smaller ones at the top, and grading down to the largest for the bottom leaves, i'.egin at the top to nail them on to a prepared board lined with white paper. Nail each leaf on s<^parately. then tlie next leaf so as to cover the stem of the one above it. and so on until all the stems are cov- ered and the leaves nailed on. Now linish by making a few large green stems, and press on underneath the leaves, causing the cluster of leaves to look as if one could hold the bou<|uet in his hand by th<> stems. Around the stem ar- range a wax ribbon so cut and stuck on as to imitate a ribbon tied in a bow-knot. Cut each bow separately, and stick on; then the short strings below the bow, and stick each one on .separately; them a short strip of the wax stuck on in the center, to form the center knot. Four or five leaf-molds will be needed to give the best eflfect, altiiough a very pretty bouquet may be made on but one or two molds. For sheeters to make up sheets of green wax and small quantities of yellow wax. I form them of plaster of Paris by stirring up a pint bowl half full of it and pouring it into a large break- fast-plate. Before this hardens, put in some- thing iron for a handle — three or four large nails stuck into a potato, with the heads all even; then hold the heads down into the plas- ter until it hardens, just escaping the bottom of the plate. In r.'4 hours heat the plate and then take it out; soak it 10 minutes in lukewarm wa- ter, then dip it into the melted wax (previously colored with a little thin bag of green paint, Paris green, pressed out with an iron spoon). Do not use too much green paint, as it makes the wax brittle. Dip again into the water, caus- ing the wax to peel off the sheiiter just as it does in sheeting wax to be pres.sed into foundation, except that this sheeter makes a round sheet. Yellow wax may be sheeted the same way, but not colored. If'the wax is too hot it will be full of bubbles, which shoidd be skimmed otf. as thev will make the shei-ts full of holes; and if too cold, the sheets will be too thick. Do not trv to make flowers out of such wax, as it is too thick: but it is just right for leaves. After th(' leaves are formed into a bouquet, tack on the side pieces, which should be about an inch and a half or two inclu^s deep, forming a box to preserve the leaves from being broken. Over this may \m\ tacked a pane of glass; but a picture-frami' looks much better. L'se some green leaves in the bouquet, and rub on to the" yellow. Use quit*! freely of red. brown, or greeii paints, so that the botiquetmay not have too yellow an appearanc<>. The leaves should lie flat, yet stand out dis- tinct froTu each (tther. nearly touching the glass. 24 GLEANI1*»G.S IN BEE CULTURE. Jan. 1. Wire stiff enough to hold the leaves in place should be used. Do not use long wires, but tack each leaf on close to the leaf, with a carpet- tack. The board to form the back should not be too thin— »K of an inch is about right. Use a small hammer, and a nail-set to drive the tacks with, and cover the heads with other leaves or green moss. Line the bo.x with white printing- paper. A few dead and dried bees stuck on are pr^'t- tv: but as honey-bees dry up so small. I prefei- queens or drones, or butterflies. Stick a small black-headed pin through them before they are fully dried, and stick it through a leaf. The yellow-headed bumble-bees also look natuial on wax leaves or flowers. I'OTATO-BAI.T. BREAD. This is the bread for swarming-time. Why? Because it never sours within any reasonable length of time. If made uii at night, and mixed the first thing in the morning, it will be ready to hake before the bees begin to swarm in the forenoon. Or, the yeast may be set in the morning, and attended to through the day just when there is nothing else pressing, only so that it gets light: but it does not sour by being left some time after being light. It may smell somewhat sour: but by being mixed it takes the sourness all out of it. although it may have been as light as a puffball. and is always good if not allowed to get too light before being baked. HOW TO MAKE IT. Take two or more fresh yeast-cakes and soak them soft. Stii' into a pint of mashed potatoes the yeast, one teaspoonful of salt, one teacup of sugar (half a cup of sugar will do after the yeast has been started). Use no water nor flour. Set this away for four days in summer. or one week in winter. To make bread, take one quart of finely mash- ed potatoes, cool enough not to scald the yeast. Stir the potato-ball in thoroughly, and save out two-thirds of a pint for bread next time. Now stir into the remainder about one-fourth teacup of water (use no flour), and let it stand over night or until light: then add one quart of wa- ter, and flour enough to make a sponge. Beat well and let it stand until light again, or until you are ready to mix (it never needs soda to sweeten it): then make out into loaves. Oil the top of the loaves: when light, bake in small loaves, as such do not require being baked so long as larger ones, consequently the crust is not so hard. If two loaves are made in one pan they may be broken apart to see when done, and yet "not injure the bread. If one has any trouble to guess when the bread is done (as Ijread is often injuied by being baked too long), handle gently when setting it in the oven, as jarring and shaking will not allow of its being so light. If graham bi'cad is wanted, use half the po- tato sponge for graham sponge, and the other half for white l)read. When light, mix it stiff with white (loin-, and treat the same as for white bread, only be careful not to get it quite as stiff as for white bread. If too stiff', work in more water. Both the white and brown bread should be made u\) so stiff they do not require more flour when w()rked out into loaves. I?ake it nicely, neither too fast nor too slow, and you will have good bread every time with even fair flour. Much bread that otherwise would be good is spoih'd in baking. The tire to bake tli(> bread should be started immediately after the bread is mixed into loaves. If there is fire in the stove already, and the oven-doors closed, and the dampfU' to heat the oven adjusted, all well: but if there is no tire, then it should be started before the bread is made out into loaves. Many persons wait until the bi'ead is ready to go into the oven be- fore any attempt to heat the oven is made,, which carelessness allows the bread to run over, or get too light, and then the fire is hurried up so fast that the bread is burned. The heat of the oven bakes much the nicest after being heated quite hot. and is Ijeginning to cool. Oft- en the last loaf baked is baked the best. SMALL POTATOES. These may thus be used up for bread, as the large ones are nicer for table use. I put them into a wire basket and set them in a kettle with plenty of boiling water. When done, lift out the basket and pour a few into the potato- masher while hot. Press the lever, and the potato is pressed through the perforated metal. The skins are retained in the masher. This leaves no lumps in the bread, uses up the small potatoes, and saves time and potatoes in paring them. By the way, this same potato-masher makes potatoes very nice for table use. Boil nice large ones, and, just before sending to the table, run them through this masher, sprinkling in a little salt, or salt in boiling. As fast as mashed, pour out into a dish, and cover them. Pour over them some hot rich cream, in which a lit- tle buttpr has Ijeen beaten up. and you have a most delicious plate of potatoes as light as a puffball. Uo not stir them after being mashed or pressed thiough the masher, as it will take the lightness out of them. I mention the above way of making bread, l:)ecause. in swarming time, it sometimes seems very difficult to get bread made when the cook has the swarms to look after. Two summers I have had help who could not make bread. Though I had three girls one sumnKM-. none of them could make bread, and were inexperienced in bee-work also. The bees swarmed incessant- ly that summer, and gathered much honey. Mr. Axtell took sick about that time, and I had both yards to look after. With the help of the gills, I could only get time to mix up biscuit dough and bake for bread in the morning be- fore bee-woi'k began. Another summer I undertook to mix light bread outdoors where I could watch the yeast when light, as I had set it in the sun to rise, as the girl could not make bread, and was in- experienced in bee-work also. I had just got my hands into the dough to mix the bread, when out came a swarm. I rubbed oft' the dough and ran for the queen, and took care of the swarm. By this time the dough had dried pretty well upon my hand, which took me a long time to wash. I had just got into the dough again, when out came another swarm. I could hot take time to get the dough off my hands very well, for I was afraid I should lose the queen: so I found from experience that bread - making and queen - catching did not work well together. VENTILATION THROUGH THE HIVE. In your article on page 889, in the Nov. 1.5tii issue "of Gleanings, you say so many bees died in hives that were not protected by outside cases, I wondered, as I read, whether there would have l)eeu thi' same loss if there had lieen passages through the center of the hive. a la Heddon or Mr. B. Taylor, or holes punched through the tops of the combs, as we u.sed to do a good many years ago for winter passages. I have seen the same things happen to colonies we were preparing for winter, and had set some of the brood-combs outside of the division- boards for the bees to carry thi^ honey in. One cool night had caught them, and they drew uji into a cluster, leaving small clusters on tlie CI.KAMNliS IN UVA<: ( ri^TIIlK. ".'5 cumlis ilial wi'ii' uulsidc ilic (livisioii-lioard. Tlu'sc hci's sciMUt'd (lead w Iwii foiiiui: luit if Ihc h(>('s well' let almic. ami a w arm spell w as not too loMi; in comiiiir. I tliinU tlicv w ai'mcd u|) and cfawli'd i)aid< into tlic iiivc a;xaiti,.jnst as I lia\i' socn hers do \\ lien 1 liavi' fi'd them out of doors more syi-iip lliaii lliry i-onid carfv in hdoir it btH'aiiic too I'ooi in the I'vcninii. Tlicy would l)c seen sittintr afouml upon the feeder, as if deail : t>nt if. next day. the warm sun shone upon tliem they w tiuld all or nearly all re\ ive and llv lilaeU to their hive. Hut I liaxi' an idea tliat sui-li ex- posure sliortens tlieir Mncs. Evanirelist .1. H. \\'o!f. who is editoiof John 7'/i /■(■('->'(. i7(C/(. sa\s, in the Xo\(Mnl)er number. "Mr. Harry haliirop. of lirowtown. Wis., sent us ah(Mit 40 il)s. of the linest liom-y it ha;' l)een ourprivileiie to test for a lony:time." I suppose it is Unown that Uro. Wolf is. witii other lielp- ers. oarryiusr on an Indian orplianaiie and train- ing-school in \'iiiita. Indian 'I'erritory. 'I'he funds tliat sustain them are siven in answer t,o prayer, and by friends of tlie mission. .lust now the little orphans, aged from S lo Ki years, aiv in need of shoes and stockings, as winter is com- ing on. There are a thousand other ways in wliich help would he appreciated Just now. Will not many more iirol hers and sisters remem- ber IJro. \\()\f and his large family of orphan children, with substantial aid now as the holi- days draw near".' Remember the words of the Lord .lesus. " It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" I will send yon two pictures of the older orphan children. Mns. L. ('. Axtkt.l. Hoseville. 111.. Dec. V.K POULTRY-RAISING. now Nor TO IIAVK FAIIATKES; BY .\ BKK- ke?:per. Ever since reading Mrs. Stnith's letter in Gi>EANiXGs about raising poultry. I have felt like telling a little of my experience. WMiile whati have to tell may be nothing exactly new, still there may be something that may be a help to her. We generally have pretty good success with our poultry, and raise a good many chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, and guineas. The first thing to be looked out for is the parent birds, which shonld be two years old. to have the best success. If tiiey are younger, the offspring are apt to be weak and delicate. The next thing is food. Perhaps some people can feed all other poultry the same as they would little chickens, and have good luck with them, but I can't: for while little chickens will thrive and do well if fed plenty of corn meal, no other kind of poultry will, for me at least. When they are small, the best food for them is bread and milk, or cheese made from thick sour milk, and seasoned with a little pepper and salt, just tlu; same as though it were to be eaten by boys and girls in i)lace of baby turkeys and geese. As they grow older, scraps from the table, and almost any thing ex- cept raw corn meal, will do for them, and they will pick a great part of tlicir living if allowed to run. The next, and perhaps a still moi-e important point, is to keep them '7/-i/ and ii'dnii. It will not do to provide them with good coops and think they will tiike care of themselves, no matter w'hether they have hen - mothers (jr mothers of their own kind. A run through the wet grass in the early morning, or a cold driz- zling rain, will put an (effectual damper on the enthusiasm of almost any poultry man. or woman either. Although water- fowls, little goslings and ducklings Ix-come chilled, and die. just the same as littli' turkeys, if they get wet. e\en when I hey are uearls' half grown: so we make a yard around their coops. .\ hoard on<; foot w ide is high enough to keep them in in the morning till the grass is di"y, or on days when it is rainy. Last s|)ring. about tin- middle of May we had over lifty little turkeys, and some ducklings and goslings, when there came a colfl rainy spell that lasted for three or four days. The ground, and every thing ontsich^ was thorough- ly wet and chilled. I put the little fellows in some liifge boxes, and brought them intf) the hous(> and kept them by the lire (the mothers wei'e left outside), till the storm was over. A few of them died: but over twenty of the tur- keys went to marked, for Thanksgiving, and there are some more to go for Christmas. They brought a good price, as they were early, and so were larg(! and well grow n. Mi;s. A. L. Hali.enbeck. Millard. .Neb.. Dec. 1891. A NUT FOli I)K. .Mir.LEK TO CliACK. Please ask Dr. C. C. Miller what he meaiis by the expr(>ssion, "Pretty good for Missouri."' Did he not know that lie would stir up a hor- net's nest'.' Why should not Missouri, with an area nearly equal to all of New England, be up with most of "em".' Where is the State that has great(M' natural advantages in bonify Mora, cli- mate, and all that goes toward making success- ful bee- keepers? And then to have one of the liig doctors say, '" Pretty good for Missouri," as though we were some out-of-the-way corner, when in reality we are the very heart of this great United States! Now let him rise and ex- plain. Miis. .1. M. NuLi,. Miami. Mo. Heads of Grain FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS THE NEW frame; A REVKRSIBI.E HOFFMAN. I am glad that bee-men are coming to reason as to frames being spaced. What an idea, to do a thing at guess as one has to with a loose frame! — no room in one place and too much in another. Again, what a sad blunder it was to use a 9h top- bar — sad unless we i-eversed often. The cuts of your frame in last Gleanings show some very excellent frames. I shouldn't like the narrow bottom-bar, for it is a loafing- place for bees. I mean to use all the room to good advantag(!: and to fill the frame, I will reverse. I have a rcn'crsible wire- of my own, and I'm now workMng on a hive to n^vei'se. and use the regular Hoffman frame. It is a wonder to me how a frame closed the whole h'ligth. and close to the hive-ends, can please one. I bought one such this fall, and it was impossible to get a frame out^perfectly glued everywhere. I shall ti'ansfei' them in tlu; spring. I can haidly see the need of a follower in your hive. Why not wedg(^ the ends of frame, and save so much extra? Make a wedge one way M' wide, one way %, and you can make one width answer. I know t hat extra board makes more work and cost, and takes up valuabh^ room. Hallowell, ]\I(!., D(!c. 21. E. P. Churchill. [All that is necessary to make a hive of Hoff- man frames reversible is to wedge or key up the frames. Lay a cou[)le of sticks X-i'it*^' square across the frames, and at each end. Put a bot- tom-board on, turn the hive over, replact; the cover, and the work is done. Leave the hive 2() (JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. .Tax. 1. thus until the bees have built the combs down, and then restore to its normal position. With the Dovetailed hive this can be done very nice- ly. We put in a follower or division-board be- cause, when removed, it gives more room for handling frames. ]Many times all that is nec- essaiy is to pull out the follower, shove the frames apart in the center, look down between the combs, and close up without removing a frame. Then for any thing less than eight frames the division-board is a necessity. This often occurs when preparing for winter, or in queen -rearing.] THE NEW top-bar; THE MOLDED C'OMB-(irlDE NOT NEW. In the last issue you say, " It seems almost a wonder that somebody did not think of this be- fore." Somebody did' think of this. The tri- angular top-bar comes pretty near it. only the little buzz-saws would pei'sist in making the bevel a plane instead of a concave surface. About fifteen years ago a sash and blind factory in Vermont made some top-bars in just this form by lunning them thi'ough the " sticker." which was provided with knives ground in the form of two intei'secting arcs of a circle. The frames were made to ordei' for a neighbor of mine. I believe they were quite satisfactory, yet we did not recognize any gain in making them concave. An advantage in making the bottom- bar nar- row would be found when we attempt to lift a frame from between two others, the imrrow bottom being less likely to ci'ush bees oi' scrape the adjoining combs. A disadvantage is. that this form is no better adapted to winter use than the loose one. In your experiments in wintering, why not ti"y a few colonies in single-walled hives out- doois? It would act as a check upon hasty con- clusions, and help to determine how much of your success is due to the hive and packings, and how much to thorough preparation before- hand. W. H. Upton. Morning Sun, Iowa, Dec. 2\. [The top-bar you describe is not exactly like our own. Our cut. as we explained, did not quite do justice to the comb-guide. This latter projects down about \ inch below the two in- tersected arcs, forming a bead, and an excellent plaQe for the fastening of foundation, as we shall shortly explain. In your top-bai' you dis- covered no gain beeau'^e there was practically no comb-guide. Our top-bar has the comb- guide part and parcel of it. We (lid not claim that there was any advan- tage in such a bottom-bar for wintering. It riiulilii't make any difference. In rcg;ird to wiutci'ing in single-walled hives outdiiors hrside tii()s(> in double-walled hives — that is just what we have been doing. Bees in single-walled hives have died for us before the first of .Januai y. We have had most disastrous results in trying to winter outdoors in hives not piotected. We don"t think, hut we know, hives must be protected with cases.] I also put it the same way in the upper cham- ber, where it works as well. I do not think it pays to use full sheets of foundation. Now about a queen you sent me last year, a select and tested one. Last spring I wanted to raise some early drones if I could, so I fed well and put drone comb into the brood-nest, but 1 could not get a drone. I tried all summer to get her to fill a frame of drone comb, but could not get her to lay a drone egg. She filled the brood-nest froiu a foiu'-frame nucleus to a twelve-frame colony, with eggs. Besides that. I got 42 lbs. of extracted honey: and if there is- a non-swaiming race of bees I think her bees belong to it, as there was not a swarm cast from that colony. I received her a year ago the ;.'lst of last September. Dr. C. H. Peabody. Providence. R. I., Nov. 3L [You can use starters, and the bees will build them out into combs over wires; but you are liable to get drone-cells instead of worker-cells. For this reason the majority of bee-keepers de- cide that they must have full sheets of founda- tion in the brood-nest. The rearing of many drones is pretty apt to be prognostic of swarm- ing. Inversely, the rearing of ?io drones means little or no swarming. It has been noticed, also, during the past summer, that drone-traps at the entrance curtail swarming because they kill the drones. Therefore one reason why the progeny of your select tested queen did not swarm was because no drones were reared.] ISIMi STARTERS FOR WIRED FRAMES: A QUEEX WHOSE PROGENY WOI'LDN'T RAISE DRONES, OR SWARM. J see articles in every Gleanings about wir- ing frames. Now. I let the bees do most of theii- own wiring. I do it in this way: I wire the frames as you recommend in A B C: put in a st artel' about '.".J in. deep; put the frann- be- tween two full fi'aines of comb and brood. The result is. that I get the comb l>uilt clear to the bottom-bar. and no sagging, as straight and sTuootii as a planed board. iVs a rule, by the time the comb is built down it is full of lirood. HOW TO MAKE A DAMP CELLAR DRY FOR BEES; INFORMATION WANTED. Can some one tell me how a bee-cellar can be remedied to prevent it from being too damp during the time the bees are confined thenMn? The cellar was dug eight feet deep with good thick walls from the bottom to the top. and the floor made of cement. The laud lies perfectly level for quite a distance around, and a race of water runs on the west side about 8 rods from the cellar. The soil is what would be called clay for the depth of (i feet, then comes sand. The cellai' was so damp last winter that it molded the combs considerably: and as the old bees crawled out and died. they. too. would be- come moldy very soon thereafter. There was an abundance of good ventilation in the cellar. This cellar has cost the owner now not far from ^100. as it now is, and he does not like the idea of casting it aside and building something else, so he asks if there is not some way the evil may be remedied without going to the ex- pense of making another. A. [If your soil is porous, with a race of water S(^ near as you say. it would be difficult to make the cellar dry. A grout cement bottom is sup- posed to remedy the evil if any thing will.] HOW TO RENDER OUT OI-D COMBS. I wish to ask what is the best method of ex- tracting the wax from old combs. Do the ex- tractors accom|)lisli that object better than any other way of separating the wax from old combs; i. e.. can you get more wax than by boiling and straining and using a squeezer? I should like to know thi' experience of your con- tributors. It is certainly a rather unpleasant job when done in the old-fashioned way of boil- ing and straining. A. P. Fletcher. Ludlow. Vt.. Dec. 1">. [The Dadants say. Wait till cold weather, and then nuish "em all up fine, after which ren- der them by any of the well-known methods. There is no betti-r method for getting out all the wax than by biiiling. straining, and squeez- 189',' ci.KANiMis i\ HKK cii/rriiio. illK tllf rcsitlllr. Iin lUilllrr liy wllilt killil 111 iiuicliiiiiTy il is (lone. It slumld l>f rcii.aiki'tl. liowi'Vcr. lliiit Moiir of tlic n'>itlii(' slioiild tic tlnown away, li should be troaicd to snlpliu- lio ai'id. as dJ'SiTilicd in last ycai-'s voliiiiu'.] THK NKW 1>0\ 1.1 AII,KI> CIIAIK III\ K. AM) lldW IT IM.KASKS. Tlii> live siiifilc-stoi'v chatV hives I imri'iiascd a siu-- oessfiil oiitdtu)!' wiiUtM- hive and for summtT tln'V ait' .jiist as handy as the singlc-walU'd hivi'. Voii have not. asked my advice, and may not thank me for it: but I would su!;g<'^t. how- ever, that, if the ooveis were made one inch wider they woiiM be better, as the sliuht mai- jrin tliey liow have will sometimes let the wet in. .Ias. S. .Simontox. West RichtielU. ().. Dec. V!. [We make a wider and deeper cover for those who prefer it. For winter us(> it is not intend- ed that the flat cover shall be put on the hive. Put a super on, and then the covers.] riir. i,Ai;(;i: and smai-I- bki<:-kkkpek. and riNKEHING WITH ITiAI'S. It is (juite amusing to I'ead the descriptions of the many traps and notions that, some of your correspondents sct'm to icgard as absolutely necessary to success. One who keeps a few colonies "of bees for pleasure may enjoy " tinker- ing" witli all the "new notions;" but for those who keej) bees for prolit. and ki'cp them by the hundreds or thousands, as is done by many per- sons in Califoi'iiia. it won't pay. and there is no time for fooling in tliese large apiaries. Many things that might be applicable in the East would be useless liere. Dklos Woon. Santa Harbara. Cal. [Yes. there is a difference in localities, and a difference in be<^-keepers. We can't all like the same thing.] WHAT I.S A (iOUl) MAX IX THE AI'IAKY WOHTll'.' How mucli can the owner aflford to pay, per colony, to a practical apiarist, in money, to manage, say. not less than •.'.">o or :'()() colonies of liees that are in good coiHillion and in a fail' ht- cation? The owner is to furnish all material necessary for the successful management of the bees. The apiarist is to furnish all the labor. How much w hen bees are in bad condition and in bad hivesV S. 15. [We would advise hiring your lielp by th(> day. It would be (iil'ticnlt if not imi)ossihle to make a fair schedule on the other plan. Labor in tile apiary is worth from 2^) to ,50 per cent more than common labor, and the price of this varies as to locality.] MOI.KS IN THE APIARY: HOW TO CiET HID OF THE.M. I should like to have some information on the following: I have on my farm, south of this eity. an apiary of fifty colonies. They are lo- cated on the south side of my residi-uce, and I do iKjt care to movi' them: but moles are un- dermining the ground in that particular place so badly that my hives are sinking into the ground. What can I do in this case? Columbus. O. E.VKLE Ceic'KEN<;eh. [We would not move the bees, but poison the moles. ■• Rough on Rats" ought to extermi- nate them. If you do not like to use poison, procure a good cat oi- rat-terrier.] KiioMiDi'; OI' i'oi'Assu'm; a cai'iion. Fiiiiiil liiinl: 1 wish to call your attention to what Dr. .1. II. Kellogg says iii f^oor/ Ihdllh. N\)V. No., page :{41, about bromideof potassium. He says, '■ A vast amount of harm has been done liy the use of this nostrum." Some years since. I received apiiai'i'Ul ly temporarv benelit from the use of this drug, and was toid by our family physician that it would do me no harm: but I very soon found out that it was injurious lo me. and I (luil the use of it,. W. r. AsI'lN \VA 1. 1.. Harrison. M inn.. Di'c. 4. I'tUK ri'AI.lAX (^UKKNS THAT AUK lil.AfK. I had an occasion to start a lot of iiueen-cells. and one of the second lot of (|ueens Miriii'd out to be black. She was as black as the blackest luni]) of coal you ever saw. I kept her, and she throws good Italian bees. Did you ever know of a jet-black Itiilian queen? HufTalo. X. 'S'. James Kodixson. [We have had Italian (|ueens that were per- fectly black, and yet tlieir bees were perfectly marked Italians with three distinct yellow bands, and. besides this, they showed all the other qualities of pure Italians. This is a fact we hav(! mentioned in oui' price list. Italian queens may \>c any color from black to yellow, but their Ijees should show three yellow l)ands.J A DISAPI'OIXTIXG SEASON'. The past season has been rather disappoint- ing to the bee-keepers in most of New Jersey. Although both cIovtM' and buckwheat were never more promising than at the oj)eiiing of the past season, yet. owing to excessively wet weather following, mv vield from :>H colonies was bill '.»'>5 lbs. W. W. Case. l^aptisttown. N. J.. Dec. 1. THE five-banded BEES. On reading the report of Mr. Wm. L. Ewing. page 930. 1891. about Hve-banded golden Ital- ian bees. I wish to say that I have tried them and found them very gentle to handle, and tine honey-gatherers. I must say that they did bet- ter than the three-banded. R. E. Smith. Tilbury Center, Out., Can., Dec. 8. KKM) LUS. FliOM 11 colonies, AND INCIJEASED Tf) 2i. It has been a very good year for bees. I had loOO Ibsi of comb honey from 11 colonies, spring count: increased to ~;4. (t. J. Hobaht. Westford. Vt., Dec. 7. [You have done exceedingly w'ell.] Can you tell me what is the cause of brood- combs being of a moldy color at this season of the year, when thi^re is a strong colony of bees in the hive? G. A. Latimeh. Norfolk. Neb., Nov. -T). [Dampness is the cause. The use of ab.sorb- ents will cause this. It will probably do no harm.] GARDENING HETTEK THAN KEE-KEEPING. (hardening pays better than bee-keeping here, although I am much attached to ray bees; but the range is not good for them. John Franklin. Round Itock, Texas. Dec. 18. A California cheiTy-grower claims that bees are necessary to grow a successful crop of cher- ries, and says that the question is, to bee or not to hpe.—Rurtil Neir-Yorher. 28. GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Jan. 1. DK. MILLERS FLAX OF WIXTERING ALL RIGHT. Tell Dr. Miller that I have wintered with perfect success in single-walled hives packed with straw, similar to his plan, only I left them where they stood, and put a cushion over the frames and piled straw up around the sides. All mv hives face the south; and unless the winter is severe I do not protect the south side. If you use good long oat straw there is no trou- ble about its wetting in; at least, I have had none in six vears' experience. The only trouble is its untidy looks: but if it is neatly done it doesn't look so bad. It is no more trouble to put on and take off than outside cases, and is decidedly cheaper: and. besides, there is not a lot of loose traps to house. We have to winter outdoors here, as all the cellars are very damp. Do vou remember my speaking of having trou- ble with mv bees going to a neighbor"s well of soft water last summer? Well. I took A. I. R."s advice, and drilled for that vein of soft water, and got it: and since then my bees trouble no- body's well but my own. John Eurk. Bracevilie, 111.. Dec. 21. THE KAWEAH COLONY A THING OF THE PAST. A few months ago I wrote Gleanings a let- ter, denouncing the above colony as a fraud and a swindle (see page .59.5 for July 1.5. 1891). I re- ceived some very sharp replies to said article. As I stated. I had investigated the workings of said colony, and I knew there was dishonesty and rascality in the management to such an ex- tent that it was sure to come to naught. A few rogues were gaining money in handsome sums of the poor, honest, and confiding toilers, by misrepresentations, iics' weie the game. lam happy to infoi'm your readers that Kaweah Colony is a thing of the past. It has gradually sunk into its inevitable fate. It is dead— so recognized by its leaders, and almost if not all of its members here in Tulare County. They have sent out a circular to that effect, and sev- eral leading papers have published long articles on the same. J. G. (Jilstrap. Last. Cal., Dec. 25, 1891. pure GRANULATED SUGAR FOR BEES. Friend Root: — It occurs to me that the sub- ject of pure sugar for food for bees is one of na- tional importance to bee-keepers, and ought to receive the attention due it. Last fall I fed two colonies with syrup made of granulated sugar, with about 3€ extracted honey added. I now find that the sugar is not only granulated, but caked hard in the combs. We are having nice warm weather, bees fly- ing, and 1 have taken advantage of this to ex- amine some of my bees, and I fear I shall lose the two fed with sugar. I have seen it stated somewhere that confectioner's " A " sugar is better and purer than granulated: that bees fed the granulated went through the winter in a weakened condition, and would soon die out. I am no chemist: but this seems to me to be very reasonable. Could not Prof. Cook analyze the two grades of sugar, and report through the Ijee- journals? Can't you arrange to have him doit? Would it not be better still to have a pure sugar manufactured especially for bee- keepers—one that would not easily granulate ? It occurs to me that the Bee-keepers' Union could arrange with some reliable manufacturer to have such a sugar made and sold to bee- keepers at wholesale prices for about the same as granulated sugar. It might be furnished to members of the Union at wholesale prices, and charge a small advance to those not members. This might be the means of greatly increasing the membership of the Union. I am going to join the Union myself this coming year, and expect to remain a member of it. If such a sugar is made I will take 10 barrels next July and would take 15 to 20 barrels every year thereafter. I would also suggest that it be put up in barrels of a uniform size of 350 lbs. each. T. K. Massie. Concord Church. W. Va.. Dec. 23. [We have not been able to detect any differ- ence in granulated sugar. We have used a great deal, in feeding, that made from the beet, and some from cane sugar, but we were not aljle to notice any difference in results. We have always regarded granulated sugar as a pure article, and the most uniform and pure of any sweet known. ' It is next thing to impossi- ble to adulterate it with cheaper sweets, and yet have the fact concealed. Still, we may be mistaken, and therefore solicit facts from those who are in a position to know.] Notes of Travel FROM A. . ROOT. AT COLOR.\DO SPRINGS. Dec. I. — I met Prof. Cook, his good wife, and their son. Albert Cook, but we usually call him •■ Bert," for short. As I described things fully, thi'ee years ago, along here, I have not thought best to write them up again now. Bert is a fine strong active boy of 18, and bids fair to be his father over again. Although we were having very fair summer weather. 1 told my companions that, before we got over the mountain summit, we should have winter, and perhaps sleighing: but they laugh- ed at my prediction; but when a two-horse sleigh at Leadville took us from the station to the hotel they began to have more respect for my knowledge of mountains and altitudes. Bert took occasion, after supper, to have a skate in a city whose altitude is greater than any other of its size in the world. One would suppose, of course, that lead was the principal mineral in and around Lcf(f7ville: but not so. Gold and silver aiv thi- minerals that give the place its celebrity. The grand canyons of the Arkansas and Rio Grande, with their rocks and strata, gave, of course, much food for talk and study; but Prof. Cook tells us that geologists nowadays do not give earthquakes much credit in ac- counting for this wonderful region. The con- traction of the earth in cooling, and the action of water, which has very evidently, at some time, covered much if not all of this region, it is thought, has done most of it. The convention at Salt Lake City, Dec. 3 and 4. was fairly well attended, and our efforts re- sulted in getting well under way a pennanent organization. This seems much needed for sev- eral reasons. Foul brood has been making great havoc in some localities around here: and for some time back, but little has been done about it. The market price of honey has also been a good deal demoralized. The price has been allowed to go down because no one has gathered up the product and sent it off where it would command a proper price. I am greatly indebted to two bee-friends. Henry Taufer and J. C. Swaner. for making my visit pleasant. Salt Lake has now over .50,000 inhabitants, and over 75 miles of electric street-cars. Three years ago such a thing was unknown here; but now they have runs equal to 12 miles in a single straight line, and they run up the mountain- side, and along the "mesa "* wherever cottages are found, until horses and wagons are almost *Mesa is a Spanish word meaning table, or any level spot on the mountain side or summit. I S'.f.' (;i,i;.\MN(iS IN MKH CULTURE. r.".t urmi'i'i'ssiiiA . IliTi' 1 lirsl fdiiml rais /uv/N'i/by clci'tricily. 1 hiivc lonji Ix'cii fxpi'i-tiiig this: and iu)\v. dear friciiils. clcfti-icity is hen-, ready not only t(t iijilit our iioiiscs and do tiii> woi'lv. but it is alffady triviii!; lu-at. Heat. lii,Mit. ami power ai'<' iiivcn w lici r wanted, tliidutrli tiie medium of a sintide wire. Let us liuni n|) all souives of power not only our luituiul water- falls and rivi'rs, but our artesian wells, tras- wells - let us stither the power tliey fiive, then witli a simple wire we have i)owei- to carry our- selves ami our burdens from place to i)lace: liilht to make our i-ities ami dwellinctricity. this restless and at times unmanageable servant of ours, the irlnd, is ul- timately to give power, light, and heat; audit is to In' inaih' tdinc. ! is goiiiR to v»n»ss we cxpcot to t:il<<' ill tlif Mioiiigan oonvontion at (irand liapids. w hii'ii will be hold 1)ih'. 31 ami .Ian. !. Wk have siivtMi iniitc a long lepoit ul' the North .Vnicrifan in this issue, but by no means so full as will ai)pt\ir in tiic Amerinin Bee .Inurniil. of ("hiiMSO. Thomas (!. Newman i^ Son. publishers, will be glail to mail you sam- ple copies. Thk December Bee-Keepers' Hevleir comes out with a new feature; i. e.. a small portrait, in half-tone, of its regulai- con-espondents, at, the head of llieir afticles. At conventions we like to see as well as h(>ar the big bee-guns. Ijro. llutchiiiM)!! is going to gi-atify that desire, so fai' as it can ho done on paper, for a time at least. Wk receive a great many kind letters, espe- cially at this time of the year. They are of the real, homelike, chatty sort, containing words of cheer and encouragement. Such letters are always welcome, and have their influence in molding the future policy of the journal. It is impossible to answer them all. but we extend our thanks here to one and all. It has been observed that bees will winter on honey-dew: but just how much better they would have done on sugar syrup is somewhat of an open question. Here is a little item in point, from a subscriber, Mr. E. E. Smith, of Carpenter. III. He writes: Bees wintering' on honey-dew are rearing brood; Imt there are about twice as many dead bees in front of theii- hives as there are of tho.se fed on siifrar s.\ r\ip. TnK senior editor is not " enjoying " the best of health. He has had one or two slight re- lapses, the last one being at Portland. On'gon. At last reports he luid left Portland for Fidal- go. Washington, the place where H. A. March. a bee-keeper and supply-dealer, holds forth. From his last letter we presume he is. ere this, on his way to a convention in Los Angeles, to be held .Ian. <■, and 7. When he gets that far south, we hope that his malaria. f)r tendency to fever and chills, will entirely disappear. SixcE our article in our last issue, we have had some iniiuiries as to whether the improved HotTman frame will go in the Dovetailed hive. Why. to be sure.- The real purpose of the article was to explain how the Hoffman frame had been adapted to that hive. Yes. this frame will go in any standard I.angstroth hive, such as the Dovetailed. All our frames of standard size are interchangeable with any of our standard hives. The new Hoffman wilfgo in the old-style Simplicity as well as in the lat- est Dovetailed hi\^^^ No one should attempt to secure a patent on some device unless he is passably familiar with the literature' relating to it — certainly not until he has read one or more of the excellent text- books. The patent-offii'c rejioi-ts show that even now patents are being granted to parties who are lamentably ignorant of the first princi- ples of bee-keeping and of what it requires. lo i he ow ner. \Vk ai'e soj-ry to note that la gri|)pe is still seiioiisly inconveniencing Thomas (1. Newman iV .Son. it has tiiken a severe hold upon tin' junior nminber of the lii'in. contining him to his residence; and even Thomas (i. himself is near- ly ill. We sincerelv hope for their speedy re- covery to hciilth. \Ve have already ourselves had a mild attack of trrii). inlluen/.a. or some- thing else, but we are liapp.\' to say. at this writ- ing, that we are on top. Dr. ('. C .Miller is an- other one who has been sufVei-ing (piite s(^verely from the ravages of the epidemic. Although quite weak, he is still able tcj attend tf) some of his correspondence^ I.\ one of our subscription blanks, the follow- ing woi'ds are written: "' I'lease discontinm'." No name oi' atldress was signed. .\s this thing is continually coming up, both for discontinu- ances and for renewals, accompanied with re- mittances, we must remind our sul)scribers again to please let us know who they ai<'. We have no way but to wail for a growl, and per- liaps oui' subscriber who desired us to discon- tinue may be very iinicJi tttad because we do not obey orders; and no doubt tne other fellow who has sent us a dollar for renewal will be very much put out because the date of his journal wrapper has not been changed in due time. Ix another column 8. T. Fish A: Co. give us some startling news, to the effect that at least one large bakery has abandoned the use of ex- tracted honey, and is now using, and will con- tinue to use. granulated sugar, because it is so cheap, and because it is so much better. We have been a little skeptical about the low price of sugar affecting the honey-business, hut per- haps we shall have to give up. If it does any thing, it will affect only the sale of the poorer gradi's of I'Xtracted honey. Comb honey of all kinds will hold its own just the same. The Ijoorer and darker grades ol e.rtntrted may suf- fer considerably from competition in just this wav. Let us have the; facts. Eememhkr. any subscriber may have his journal stopped at the time paid for if he will simi)ly so order when remitting. Those who are of this class can be accommodated as well as those who are in the great majority, who do not want their journal stopped, and who will remit as soon as they can make it convenient. But all should remember that we do not allow any one to get very far in arrears before his journal is stopped, or, at least, some arrange- ment has been made whereby it can be con- tinued. We are glad to state that we have no deadheads on our list. It is practically all paid up. Our advertisers get the advantage of a list of live subscribers. A deadhead list, however large, would be of no practical benefit to adver- tisers, but a large expense to us. It is no doubt a fact that more Imyje bee- keepers were present at the North American at Albany, and. as a natural result, a larger ag- gregate number of colonii'S weic re|)i-(vsented. than at any other bee-convention in the history of the North Ann-rican. There have been larger attendances at other conventions, but never a larger nutuber of men who count their colonies by tlie seveial hundreds. There was not only present th(.' largest bee-keeper in the world, but a considerabh; number who own in- dividually in the neighborhood of 3(K) or 4(X) col- onies; and yet they are not always the ones 32 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Jax. 1. who say and do the most in conventions; but when it conies to practical experience as touch- ing the production of comb or extracted honey —well, they know how to " get th(!rp." The American ApicuUurist for January lias got things just a little mixed in regard to the Albany convention. On page 11 this sentence occurs: "The great convention has met. and was a grand blank, as will be seen by the re- port of its proceedings in this issue." In justice to that convention, and to Mr. Henry Alley, we gladly make an explanation. INIr. Alley says he originally wrote that the convention was a grand sitcc'ess. At the time the galley proof passed through his hands he was not sure whether it was a success or a failure, and so drew his pen across the word " success " and wi-ote in the margin, " Leave this blank." Mr. A. closes up his letter thus: " I'll be blast if the girl didn't insert the woi'd hhmk. What a blunder!" Yes. Mr. Alley, it was quite a blun- der. We would suggest the propriety of read- ing the page as well as the galley proofs. We members of the Albany convention will forgive you this time. J. W. PoRTEU. of Charlottesville. Va., sends us the following letter from the Assistant Secre- tary of Agriculture, Edwin Willits. which will explain itself : DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE, WASHINGTON, D. C. OfBce of Assistant Secretary. December 7, 1891. Mr. J. W. Porter:— Yours of tlie 4tl) instant, mailed the evening- of the 5th, reached rue this morning-, with reference to tlie meeting of the North American Bee keepers' Association next year in Washing-ton, under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture. In answer I have to say it will he gratifying- to this Department to have such meeting held here at 1 lie time indicated, and we shall be most happy to furnish your Association with every facility ni our [lower, both as to rooms for the meeting of the as- sociation, and as to cooperation in other respects rington proposed the capital of the United States, we stated the contents of Mr. P.'s letter, and fell in with the scheme at once. You know the rest. After Oliver Foster, of Mt. Vernon, la., se- cured a lower freight classili cation on honey, granulated, shipped in pails, we asked for a simpler method of solidifying honey on short no- tice. Th(» ijroblem had been, not how tf) gran- ulate it, but how to keep it from doing so; but thei-e an^ certain reasons wliy, in some cases, it would be desirable Ui have the liquid product candi(^d on short notice, trranulated honey ships more readily, and consumers are already demanding it that way for table use. No one seems to have answered our inquiry; but quite by accident we ran across the following, in the British Bee Journal, the editor of which ti-ans- lates it from a French bee-journal. Lc BuUetin Apicule: If the bee-keeper wislies to have liis honey grranu- lated witliout having to wait six or seven weeks, he can, after a week, churn it the same as is done wltli cream to obtain butter. Honey treated in this way granulates with a ver.v fine grain. We have just tried this process on lioiiey that had been exti-acted eight days, and in flfteen minutes the lioney, in a one-pound bottle, passed from tlie thin liquid state to a thick syrui>. Sometimes honey granulates in coarse grains, wliich makes purchasers think that it is adulterated, ft can be melted in a water hath and tlieii exposed to cold, wlien it will granulate very flue. There, friend Foster, and everybody else who is interested, here is a plan that will probably work — that is, if you can't wait till cold weath- er. "HONEY GLrCOSED BY THE HUNDREDS OF TONS." We have just received the following letter from M. H. Tweed, which will explain itself: Friend Rixjt: — I don't understand why lioney- producers as an organized body do not do some- thing toward helping on the time when this nation will have a pure-food law, such as every even half ci^^lized nation has all over the world, except- ing tills. It would help the bee-keeper wonderfully. Thousands of people in cities do not use honey to any extent, not liet'ause they do not like it, but sim- ply because they have no coiitidence in the article they l)uy, whether it he comb or extracted. Now, to show how such a law would help, take a look at the good that is done by the one in Ohio. You ask a dealer in maple syruii ill Pittsburg if he has pure maple .syrup. He will, if he has any ( >liio syrup on hand, at once say, "Yes, this is from Ohio, and I can guarantee it pure, for they have a strict law there against the adulteration of it." It inspires coiitideiii-e ill llie article at once— .so much so that the (lislioiiest dealer says his syrup is from Ohio, whether it be the truth or not. And another advan- tage would be that, instead of hundreds of tons of glucose being sold in our cities as honey, there would be that quantity of honej' sold Instead. Allegheny City, Pa., Dec, 1891. M. H. Tweed. Mr. Tweed makes a good point, providing glucose is sold by the hundreds of tons for hon- ey, or mixed with extracted honey. But we can not believe that such a state of things exists; that is. we think our correspondent is misin- formed. If so, we should have had some ink- ling of it before this. We have carefully trac- ed down all these cases of glucosing extracted honey, and, with the exception of one case in Detroit and one in Chicago ferreted out by Mr. Newman we found that nothing but pure honey was sold. We do not deny the existence of mistrust on the part of consumers as to the purity of extracted honey; and this mistrust, although i luay be entirely unfounded in fact, does almost the damage if the practice existed in reality. Now. let us have the facts. Let us face the lion in his den. //extracted honey is glucosed to any great extent it would be folly for bee-keepers and bee- papers to try to cover it up for fear of the bad effect on the general public. Gleanings is willing to invest some money in liaving the truth brought to light. We should be glad to have those wlio have positive evidence give us information, and we will see what can be done. Bee-keep- ers may depend upon it that they will have the hearty support of ail the bee-papers and of all bee-associations, including the North Ameri- can and the H(^e-k'.r (ii,i;.\MN(is IX UKK cn/rrKK. :vA liat i^. trt'dill^ lllf hrrs the stiill. Would lir r\- oiM'iliiiirly iiiipi'olitaltlf. ll is only tlic lioiic.N in the liiiithi form, tliat miKlit !>•' Kiiu-osed. 1! tluTc is any of ihc paclvinj; iionscs tliat ai'c Kiiilty of tliis hilicr upon satisfai-ioiy cvidcni'c, we will SIM' iliat tlii'V arc tliorou«lily advertised and I In- pubiii- dniy warned ajiainst, Miem. Yes, wcwillsio one step fiirtliiT. if recourses to the courts w ill lielp us. Spec/al Notices. HIRLAP ADVANCKU. 'ri\e hurlap we liave l)een sellinti" for the last year or two lias lieen rat liei' lijrlit, Ix-iiifr onlj' T'j ounces totlieyard. \Vc liavi- JU'^I Ixiutrlit a new bale, 10 ouiu'e> to t lie yard. and. of course, it is worth iiioic. The price from now un will lie 1(1 cts. ;i \iird; 10 \(ls., •Wets.; by the baleof ::r to the failure of nat ural jias for use in the jf lass-factories of Pittsbury' and \icinit.\'. the makers are obliged to advance the price, owinti' to the in- creased cost of production. The ()nl.\- chanofe for the present will be on Nos. 78H and 7S9 tund)lers, listed, patre 31) of .Ian. 1st catalos-ue. The price by the bairel will be |i")..")0 instead of >f.5.(IO; and for the nested. *!t."Oin.stead of $8.70. The middle sheet of the price list wa.s printed before we received notice of this advance. KA(5LE ArT()M.\TIC INDELIHLE PKNCIL FOU •'V DIME. We have for yi'ars been selliiiiSf the Eag'le auto- matic Indelible pemdl at 2ilc. We recently got track of a job lot of the latest style of these pencils with stop-fraufi'e, and we boufi'ht them so low we are able to furnish them for lilc earevents the lead fiom fallinji' out any further tiian .\'ou want it 1o write with, and the lead can be exposed for use with one liand, without the necessity of di-ojiping- it on to the other hand or on to the table, to prevent its fallinjr out. EAULY-ORDER DISCOUNT. Wit h t hiN date t Ir' disi'ount for earl\- orders drops to ;i in'r cent. All orders received this month for goods listed on pafCN 10 to ;J9 of our new piice list will be entitled to a cash discount of 3 ))er cent . You will ha\e received, befoic you get this numbei-, our new pi-ice list for 1^93. Send in .vour order early, that you may have the goods m;ide up i-eady for the bees wiien t hev are 7'eadv foi- them. Notice what 1)1-. Millei' says in •' Stray "Straws," Dec. 1,5th number, about ordeiingeaily. It is gri-atly to your advantagi' and protlt, and It greatly a.ssists us in taking can; of oi-ders i))-omi)tl.y in the busy .season. WINTER CARE OF HORSES .\Nn CATTI^E. This is the title of one of oui' rural books written hy T. R. Teiiy. one of our most popvdar and practi- cal agricultin-al writers. Ever.\ oni> wlio has the cart,' of li\-e stock will tind jirolit in the perusal of this little work from his hand. It is esi>eciall.v valual)leat this season of the jcar when you caii put its hints into i)raciice and have the time to read it during the long winter' evenings. We ha\c made the price iiiriforin with our- other- i-ural books— Sfi (rt-s. wit h other- goods; by trjail, posti)aid. 38 cts. A copy is giverr fi-ee for- one new subscriber foi- Gleaninos, with ^l.QO. MAPLE SUri.\R AND THE SUiiAK-Bl'SU. The time is near- at haird wlieir those who have maple-tr(;es will be actively engaged irr producirrg maple sugar- arrfl syrup; arrd to do so to t hi; best ad- vantage .vol! can not atfoi-d tot)e without this valua- ble work, by Piof. A. .1. Cook, of Michigarr. It is writterr from actual experience in the busli iir pr-o- duciirg syrup of the finest (pi;ilit.\-. Other's as well a.s maple-sugar makers will be interested in reading it. as any thing fi-om the pen of Prof. Cook could not well be othei-wi.se than interesting arrd pr-ofilable reading. Price :i5 cts. ; by mail, postpaid, 38 cts. It i.s given free for one new subscriber to Gleanings, with ?1.0(). ■riiicK-r-iu' riroMiD-rrt \.Mr:s wnn di\ idem row In milking rrp thick-lop fi-,-imes we get on marry boards ;i piece not wide enorrgh foi' a top-bai', but which will make half of one. Two of llicse h.-rlv(!s rirake wlnit we c;ill ii di\ ideil I op-bar-, which man.\- use and prefer-. In)iut(lng (he f rames (ogcl her-, "a niece of foiindal ion can be placed l)el weerr I lie I wo iialves. to firslen it. .Mair.\ go (o Ihr expense of havinglop-b;rr-ssplil fr-onioneerrd neai-l.\- 111 rough to t lie other- for- 1 he purpose of insei-ling ilie sheet of foundation when these di\ ided tops would ariswer- .iiist as well, and can in- lurnished much cheaper-. Since we began saving the pieces iis above we have arr accumulation of several Ihousiind thick -toj) fr-ariies with these divided tops nioi-e than wehax'i! had calls for-. Our- regular- thick-top Ir-ames sell for- .•fl.ritl per- lIKI; but to close these out, we oiler- them at .1il.:iO per KHI, or- ^'i.!:^ per bo.x of 250: aOO or- riror-e at *1.00 per- IIKI, in the Hat. without cotrrb-guides. If you want w leri comb-guldes, add Kic per- KMl. Most of them are packed 350 in a box Sl-;COND-HAND FOUNDATION-M I r .l,S. We ha\e the following second-haird foundation- mills in Stock that some may r-ather- lane at the price than a irew one. Of course, we'd rather sell you a new machine than one of these, ;iird t liink, also, that it would give better sat isf;ii-tion usually; still, for- those who wish to make only for- their- own use, or in limited quantities, one of these machines will iirobably do you as well as a new one. We have quite an a.ssor-tment to choose from, and the list will be corrected as they are solfl. The ear-liest orders will have the best choice. One old-style 10-inch, our make, with rounil cell, for medium brood foundation; has been used \er-y little, and is ;is good now as a new mill at the tini'i- this was iiuule, although not to Ik; i-ompared with our present make. A rrew mill of this size .sells for- ^30.00. We offer this foi- $13.00. One 10-iucli, which answers to the same descriptioir as above, but made later-, arrd is a little better machine. Will sell for t I4.(KI. One ]3irieh lie.xagon;il cell, medium or heavy brood mill of the original Washliui-n make, and in excellent condition. It' wax is dipped the right, thickness this will make excellent- found;ition. I be- lieve it oi-igiriall.\ sold for- ^^511.00. We otter it now form.OO. One 13-incli Dunham round-cell heavy-brood mill. This was original l.\- used hy the Dadants, arrd will make good foundation yet. We offer it for- -lilS. 00. One 13-incli Dunliam r-ound-cell hea\y-br-ood mill, in excellent condiiioir. We took this fr-bnr E. France & Son. in exchange for- a new mill to make lighter foundation more feet to the iioiind. Their only ob- .iecl ion was that it made foundation heavier than they wished to use. Its condition is pi-.-ictically as gootl as new, although it makes foundation about 4 feet to the pound uidess the sheets arc dip])ed thin enough to make it lighter-. AVeotler this for- $:,'0.00. which is two-thirds the )ir-ice of ji new inai-liine this size. If any prefer we can submit .samples of foundation from any of these machines before you buy. We shall be pleased to .send samples fi-om new ma'i;Iiines if you would rather have that kind. lftQ9 ROOT'S Dovetailed Hive IOA9 \QJ3L at his prices. Circular free. IO9& Geo. W. Cook. Spring Hill, Kan. OTTUMWA BEE-HIVE FACTORY. liee-l\ SECTIONS. $2.50 to $3.50 per ITI. Bee-Hlve»« and Fix- tures cheap. NOVELTY CO., etfdb Rock Falls, Illinois. i:^"lii respoiidini^ to this adviTtiMiMcnt imnlioji Gl,i;A.MN^-horse-power engine, governor and governor-belt, all ready to attach to a boiler, 875; 5 h. p., $1U0; "I'A h. p., 13.i; 10 h. p., 81.50. These prices are net, although we will make the usual discount for • cash. If you want a thoroughly well-made engine, you can not do better than to select one of these, providing the range of power is within what you need. While we com- pete in quality of workmanshij) we can not compete in ])rice with some of the cheap engines on the market. fl. I. f^OOT, MEDlflfl, OHIO. IMPORTED QUEENS. In May and June, each $3.00 In July and August, each 1.80 In September and Octobei', each 1.60 Money must be sent in advance. Safe arrival guaranteed. Queens that die en route, if returned in the letter, will lie replaced by mail, postpaid. No order for less than 8 queens by fxpress will be accept- ed. CHAS. BIANCONCINI, 1-lld Bologna, Italy. Please mention this paper. 7d TAKE NOTICE! BEFORE placing your orders for SUPPLIES, write for prices on One-Piece Basswood Sections, Bee- Hives, Shipping-Crates, Frames, Foundation, Smo- kers, etc. PAGE & KEITH, 14tfdb New London, Wis. In writing advertisers please mention this paper. Syracuse, New York, FOR ALL OF A. I. ROOT'S APIARIAN SUPPLIES. FOUNDATION is Our 0%vn IVIake. F. A. SALISBURY. In writing to advertisers please mention this paper. Itfdb CAMERAS CHEAP. By the death of a relative, as explained in anoth- er column, I have come in iiossession of two very fine photographic cameras. One of them is a Hawkeye, 4x5, with a jointed tripod. It has three dry-plate holders, and three cut-film liolders. Be- sides this, it has a lens that cost uriginallj- 835.00. with a triplex Prosch pneumatic shutter worth 810 more. The whole outfit cost oi-iginally about 875. The camera-box has been newly finished, and looks like a brand-new instrument. It will also take a roll-holder when desired. I will place my guarantee upon the instrument as being first-class in every I'espect. It has a far better lens than the average Hawkeye camera. Samples of the work will be mailed tipon application. Desiring to give imme- diate returns to the family of the deceased, I offer this camera for $35 cash. It is a bargain for some one who desires something really fine in this line. Speak quick if you want it, as it will probably be snapped up. I would, under lu) circumstances, let it go; but, as I have already said, I have two or three other good cameras of my own. A 5x8 PHOTOGRAPHIC CAMERA CHEAP. From the same source I also Iiavea5.\8 sliding- front swing-back revol\-iiig-back camera. It has no lens. It lias three dry-plate holders, tripod, car- rying-case, and focusing-cloth. Its original cost was about 825. As it is second-hand, I will disjiose of it for an even 810. A good lens for it can be bought for about 84..50; or for 814.50 1 will include the lens. E. R. ROOT, Medina, O. 18'.rj (;i-KANl\(;s IN HKIO CLTLTURl'J. Everybody Admihs. OTHERSEEDSi^FQUALLY^^RELIABLE ^eed Annual Free, - Wrii-g Far ih NOW! A.W.LIVINGSTON'S SONSj BOX 273, COLUMBUS^ OHIO. Srin respondlns to this advertivenient mention Olkaninosl HALF A MILLION Sectiinis. 3511 Coloiiies of Ik'^s, etc. Must he sold, i\t bottom prices. Send for ()rice list to E. T. FLANAGAN. 15ox 783, Belleville, 111. l-12dh Please mention this paper. WILL EXCHANGE fouiulatioii for wax or cash. Also make wax into fouiidiition. wlieii sent to me, at the lowest price in the world. StMid for sain- ples and prices to Jacot Wollorsheim, Kaukauna, Wis. SECTIONS. $2.60 to $3.50 per M. Bee-Hives and Fix- tures clieup. NOVELTY CO., «tfdb Rock Falls, Illinois. I3^1m respDiitliiij; to tliis advertisfiiitTit inrntiini iil l.ith. A few tine breedets, either i-ace, *5.0II. I li;i\-e cli;ing<'d my )H)sto(li<'e from Farnu'rs\ille, Texas, lo l'lo\(l. .Monc\ -order olhce Greenville. JENNIE ATCHLEY, Itfdb Ft-OYO. Hunt Co., Texas. tirin respondinK to thisodvertiseinciit nit'iition Olkaninqs. ScMid for our new pi-ice list of Bi'c supplies and Fi-iiit oack- ages. A liber- al discount al- lowed on win- ter orders. Ad- dress MERLIN FlU IT BOX CO., Berlin Heights Erie Co., Ohio. l-6db ^^In responding to tJiis advertisement mention Glkaninqm. SOUTHERN BEE-KEEPERS, Our location enables us lo fuiiiish jou with sup- plies at .50 per cent less freight rates than any other house in the country. Send for cii'cular I.J.STRINGHAM, 92 BARCLAY ST., N. Y. Please mention this paper. 1892 Itfdb Improve your stock '. Get the l)est : Beautiful yellow Italian Qut'ens from stock bred for busi- ness, as well as beauty. Orders booked now. 1(48 queens sold, and never iieard of but two mismated. Will be ready to begin ship- ping by May 1st. Warranted (lueen, $1.00; 6 for $4.50. "IV. H. liAU^S, liavaea, Arit. l-2d Bee - Keepers' * SuppM We are prepared to furni.sh bee-keei)ers with sup- plies promptly and at lowest i-ates. Est iniatesgladly furnished, and correspondence solicited. Our goods are all tirst-class in quality and worknianship. Cat- alogue sent free. Reference, First National Bank, Sterling, 111. Addiess l-34db WITI. I»1«<;| NE A < O., Nterliiiiu;, llliiioi!!^. t^In respond! ntr to thl-. .i.lvi ■ii-.ni.nt (neniion fJi.KA.viNOS. "hatch chickens by steawT^ ExcimifR INCUBATOR Liowest-priced Firat-claas Hatcher made. Simple, Perfect* £il!>|^BRa^^lillicBuli*tins. t^ln i-espoiidlinr to lliis aiiverli It nifiitioii (ii.i iyMfBOvEO t;.;cc: ThonsandB in sue- kceMMful operation. ■ ■ Guaranteed to hktch I a larger percentage I of fertile eggs nt bsa '■list than any other incubator. Send 6c. for lUus. Catalogue. ^GEO.H.STAHL,0uincy.in. 40 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. .Ian. 15. Contents of this Number. Absorbents Adulteration of Honey Bee-disease, Peculiar Brood-frames, The Best.... Burr-combs Cowan Reversible Basket.. Dadant and Hambaugh — Daisv Foundation Fastener Distances, Fixed Editor's Notes El wood's Address Epilobium Essays at Conventioris Extractor Gearing Foundation, Imbedding .., Foundation, Thickness of.. Frame, New Hoffman Frame, Non-burr-comb Frames, Fastening Frames, Wiring Grading Honey t3. Grand Rapids Contention. Hibernation Hive-hobby Riding Hoffman's Success Honey, Grading Honev, Estimate of Cost .. m> Gould. Postpaid 25c. Kodak Fiend 69 Man Who Knows It All March, H. A Funics or Tunisians Queens, 12 to .Australia Rauibler at Heddou's Reports for Daily Papers . . . Snow and Honey Spraying Fruit 58, Top-ijars, Wide Tuui.viMn Bees Willow herl) Wintering, Outdoor FOR SAIiE, 13 Coloiiie»i of Italian Bees, 4 ill Laiifrstroth, 1 Simplicity, Id Dovetailed hives, with T supers, section luilders, 3(JU sections, everv tiling' complete. $40. HENRY \VIN(4ERT, Loveland, Ohio. GRAPE CULTURE." ,^,K^^^rA?:^T W. E. aOULD, VILLA EIDGE, ILL. BOARD SIGNS AT A LOW PRICE. We have just made a iiuiclia.se of about .50IM) board and clotli sig-ns. Fouiof tlie board sig-ns are as follows: HONEY FOR SALE. DO VOVi \^\\0>M B EE-KEEPERS' SUPPLIES FOR SALE. tliat your success iu securiiiy a good cro[> depends almost entirely on the queen V Then WHY toler- ate old W(n-n-out queens, at a loss of "^i to $5 per colony in honey each yeai-, when you can buy young, vigorous (lueens, of the liest strain Leather- back Italians, during- March and April, at M2.(M) per dozen, i^l.2."i each? Ten per <-ent discount on orders booked 3u davs in advance. A. F. BROWN, HUNTINGTON, PTTNAM CO., FLA, Agent Southern Express Co, Xeiifl for Pricf List to R. E. HARBAUGH, Man-f'r ami Itiitlt-r iu li< e- Kct'p'-rs' Supj^f *''■'<• Breeder of Italian and Carniolan Bees and Queens, Liglit and Dark Colored Ferrets, 35th a lift CUitf Stu.. - - - St. .Tosfph. Mo. OC5 rOliOMES Black Bees in a patterii of Sim- ^O plicitv hive, for $1U0, .]. M. OVENSHIKE. D, D,S.. Dundee, Yates Co.. N.Y. FOR RENT. NO HUNTING OR SHOOTING ALLOWED ON THIS FARM. They ai'e 6 in. by 2 feet, neatly in-inted in black on smooth white painted boards. Price is 10 cts. each; or b.y mall, 2.5 cts. In quantities not prepaid, we will sell 3 for 2.5c; 6 foi' 40c; 12 for 7.5c, or a bunch of 25 for $1 2.i, all of one kind. We will furnish them, as.sorted kinds, as follows: 6for.5'>c; 13 for 90c; 25 for $1,.50. We have, besides tlie three old .signs. " HoneySfor Sale.*' "Bees and Queens for Sale," and "This Propertv for Sale.'" 4V^xl8 inches, and a sign— "This Propeitv for Sale." 6x36 inches, all at lOc each; 80c foi- 10. .^11 but the last is niail.ililc at 6c extra. A. I. Root. Medina. O. EHGINES. Yes, we build a few. We have, in connection with our large bee-plant, a lirst-class, well-equipped machine-shop, in which we build all kinds of bee-hive m;icliinery, saw-man- drels, saw-tables, dovetailing-machines, foundation-mills, extractor-gearings, etc., and, when our men have nothing else to do, engines. These are upilght in style, and econo- mize tioor sviace. They ai'e built under the special supervi- .sion of an expert machinist of many years" experience. The rods are all of flnislied steel. The cross-heads and slides are of the substantial hicomotive style. The cylinders are lagged with Russia iron, and are liras.s-bound. The boxes are babbitted, and can be i-asliy taken uj) for wear. The ])iston-head is provided with two expansion- rings. The bright parts shine like a dollar. The governor is a Waters, .sulistantial and reliable. We have three of the.se engines running in our works. One has been running two years, with exci'llent i-esnlts. .Making them, as we do, during oui- dull season, they ai-e Immeasurably superior to the ordinary engines of their kind, and the price is low, considering the very flue quality of the work. Pi'ice of the 2.;<-horse-powei- engine, governor and governor-lielt, all ready to attach to a boiler, $75; 5 h. p., *100; 7)^ h, p., $125; lOh. p„$l,50. These pi'ices are net. although \\v will make the usual discount for (■a.sh. If you want a thoi-oughly well-made engine, you can not do better than to select one of these. While we com- pete in qmility of workmanship we can not compete in price with some of the cheap engines on the market. These en- gines are also connected with boilers. Wiite for prices. R. I. t^OOT, ]VIEDIHR, OHIO. l»V> (.I,i;.\MN(iS IX HKK ClL'rrKK. Honey Column. CITY MAUKhrrfi. MlNM'.vroi.is. - Hiiiiiji. 'I'lif (l('iii;iii(l lui white lumoj in this iiiatkcl is jrood ;it ISr; diiik liimt'.\ is sUiw "saK- ;ii !:.'(« !•': wliilc t licic is vt-iy little (lernaiid for extraeted li(>iie\' at Sc. 'I'liefe lias nut been ii time this season when the nitli'kot here has lieen oveislockeil with fancy white honej , and. in faet, as a fiile. an\ lliinjr dt'siiahle iti the line of fancj' stock is usually shipped to ChieajiO of othef I'astecn niai'kels. whicli is soinet hiiin' we call not account fof, as we hii\i' watched I he dillcfent inai'kets, and oiii-niaiket ha-- been from Ic to :*c hinhef than tlit^ «-:Lstel!i Of soul hef n mafkets all the season. Bct'-gwiix is scaicelv calli'd fof al :i5c. .1. A. SUKA \- ( ().. .1)111. (>. Miiinea))olis, Minn. ('iNCiN.N.\ii.--Hi)/itj/.- Thcfe is no change in the hone.v-markt't. While demand is jfood for family use, demand fi'oin manufacltiiefs is slowei" Ihaii we ever kiU'W it lo be. Cheaii sujijir, no doubt, is an impoiiaiit factor in this connt'clion. We quote: 14((' Ki fof best comb in the jobbing way ; .")@»« for »'.\tracte' lig-ht, white, 7@7/^; ilaf rates. This deparlinent is intended only for hona-lldo ex- chantres. Exchaiijris for cash or for price lists, or notices of- ferintr nrlii-Ies lot sale, can not he insirtcil under this head. Kor sii.h onr n^'iil.-i !■ rales of ■;ii ,ts. u line "III !>.■ charifcd.and tliev will he Mill wilh the icruhu- ad veil ismi.nls. We can not he responsihic for dissatislaelion arisintf from these "swnpB." WANTED.— A good Christian housekeeper with- out incumbrance, to keei> house for a family of three adult persons. 22-23d J. L. Ci.ark, Apalai-hicola, Frjinklln Co., Fla. WANTED.- To exchange for honey or oflers, Vic- tor Safety bicycle, in No. 1 condition, Barnes foot-power saw, Stanley automatic honey extractor, new; No. ,5 Novice e.\1 factor, 4V4x.")'/4 photographic outfit ; queens, to be sent ne.vt season. 24tfdl) J. A. Gheen, Dayton. 111. W ANTED.— To exchange purt! Scotch collie pups for any thing useful on fariu or in bet^-yard. N. A. Knai'I', Rochester. Lorain Co., O. ANTED. Extriicted honey, etc. Have Dove- t!iil(>d hiscs. printing, large lot of electrotypes, nice lot of apple trees. schmIs, etc., to offer in ex- change. CulilSTIAN WeCKESSEK. l-2d Niagara Falls, N. Y. U/ANTED.— A buyer fora6 h. p. "Monarch" en- VT gine. with 12 h. p. holler, nearly new. A bar- gain for .somebody. For description and i>rice ad- dress l-2d J. W. Buchanan & Bro., Eldora, la. A SUPPLY DEALER wants prices on sections, foundation, and smokers. W. H. Putnwm, Itfdb River Falls. Pierce Co., Wis. ANTED.— To exchange fruit trees for .section boxes. Jas. HAEr>ENHECK, Altamont, N. Y. W For SaIvE Cheap.— lo bbls. e.vtraeted honey mixed with honey-d. One, $1.35: 6 for !f6.00. BREEDING QUEENS. $3.00 to $5.00 eacli. Ail oideis flllcd promptly. Send your name NOW for full partii'iilars. Safe arrival and entire i<(ttisfiictii»i (jtiannitn d or money refund- ed. Orders hooked now, pay wlien you want the queens. l-24dl) S. /=■. ntion this paper. POULTRY. Choice Fowls and Eggs for sale at all times. Finely illustrated circu- lar free. (lEER BROS.. St. Maivs, Mo. 21tfdb APRAY im FRUIT TREES ; VINES 6 Wormy Fruit and Leaf Blight of Applei, Peats, Cherries, CVPCI ClflD 8PRATIN« Grape and Potato Rot, Flam Onrcnlia prevented by using LAULLOIUii OUTFITIi. PERFECT FRUIT ALWAYS SELLS AT GOOD PRICES. Catalogue show, ing all injorions insects to Emits mailed free. i,arge stork of Fruit Trees, Vines, and Berry Plants at Bottom Prices. Address WM. iSTAHL, Quincy, Ills. It^"ln responiliiit; lo this advertisement mention (!i,KANINu». Porter's Spring Bee-Escape. We guarantee it to be the Itest escape known, and far supeiior to all others. If, on tiial of from one to adoz- en, you do not find thenj so, or if they do not prove sat- isfactory in e\-ery wa.\-. leturn them l)y mail within 90 days aflei- receipt. ;nid we will refund \tmv money. PRICES:- Each, by mail, postpaid. 'with full direc- tions, :.'0(-; pel- dozen. &:.'.'>. Send for cir(-ulai- and testi- monials. Supply dealers, send for wholesale prices. lOtfdb R. «£ £■. C. PORTER. LEWISTOWN. ILL. »#"! M res|ioridintr to this advertisement mention (tLKa.mny that liavi' lu>i'ii pfoposcd. That adopti'd at the Xorthwestorn coiiviMitioii was ratlior too exact- ing in sonu> of its rcciiiirciiicnts. and in some re- spects was incomplete. I think this would be admitted by a good share of those wlio voted for it. At" best, it was a compromise adopted with the expectation that it would be fnrther revised before being accepted as a uniform sys- tem of grading. But while it placed tlie stand- ard too liigh. I think the system adopted at the North American convention went to the other extreme. Any bee-keeper who is up to the times in the production of comb honey can readily select, after a good yield from white clover, linden, or any other source of white honey, a large proportion of sections that are almost, if not quite perfect in every respect- such honey, in fact, as would be graded No. 1 according to the Northwestern scale. It pays to have such a grade: and any one who under- stands selling honey can readily get a fancy price for it. With this grade added I would not liave much fault to find with th<> Albany sys- tem of grading. There are excellent reasons for the establish- ment of a superfine grade of honey, and there are also gootl reasons for using names or letters, instead of numtiers. to indicate the grades, though I have always used numbers for all but the best, which I call •' extra select." following with numbers 1. •.'. and 3. My system of grad- ing might be formulated about as follows, us- ing letters advocated by the Albany committee: KXTKA SKI.KCT. Light - I'olored lioney. uf ffoofi tiavor; comh.' straight, well built out, of even tliickness. and near- ly uniform weight, attached to tiie section on all side^: ;dl cells sealed, with white <'a|)|iiugs, and with both comb and sections unsoile unuui-ranted intei'fcrcnee with oui- rights, and a coinniitUie should be appointed to work diligently until reduced I'ates and better treatment are secured. We have; had such a committee in our State Association, but we need a united effort throughout the counti'y. 3. I..ack of iiniformity of packages and grad- ing is a barriei- to a pioper distribution. VVhat is accepted in on(! market is not in another. Put up the honey to mef-t tlu; demands of the markets to which it is sent, has been the ad- vice. This sounds too mucli like the cry of the sensational or Sunday newspap(tr num, who says. "We publish \\hal the people di'nuuid," and the pajx'r gels down lower ami lower all the tim(^ Tlu! (jeople are oft(Mi not th<' best judges of the educated. Starting with the two-pound box. glassed, we have succe.ssfully met and catered to the de- mand for one-pound sections, glassed and un- glassed, full weights and light weights, paper cartons and pasteboard boxes, wood and mica sides, thick (,2-inch) boxes and thin boxes. 1%. V}^ down to 1 '.J -inch, square boxes and tall boxes, until there is the greatest diversity in packages, and it is difficult for a dealer to du- plicate an oi'der for any quality unless it is from the same consignment. The producer has wasted his substance in continual changes, and. like the sensational editor, has been but a pup- pet to a senseless demand. We should adopta stand: and if glassed honey looks better, cari'ies lietter. and keeps better, why not gradually enlarge the production of this kind, and, if possible, educate the consumer- to buy honey in the standard box. or "'section"? I have this year had calls for glassed honey from the West, and yearly the demand for this kind is increasing in the East. In the reduction of duty on sugar, no bee- keeper, to my knowledge, was consulted: and fearing that, in the contemplated treaty with Spain, we might again be overlooked, I thought it my duty, as an elected representative of the bee-keeping interests of this country, to address a protest early in the year to the State Depart- ment against the free admission of honey from Cuba. A copy of the letter is here appended: Starkville. May 14. 1801. Hon. James G. Blaine. State Department, Washington, D. C. Mr. Secretary: — Information reaches me that this country and Spain will probably agree upon a treaty of i-eciprocity. With sucli prob- abilities ahead. I desire to be informed, as rep- resentative of the bee-keeping industry, wheth- er honey is upon the free list. If so. I wish at this early day to enter an emphatic protest against any change in the tariff'. The contemplated removal of the duty on honey in the Spanish-American treaty a few years since was met by a most emphatic protest "from the 300.000 bee-keepers of the United States of America. Much better reason have they now for protesting, since the great reduction in the price of cane sugar, tlie chief competitor of liquid or strained hon(>y. The removal of the duty on foreign sugar was followed by a bounty to our domestic sugai'- l)roditcers. e\-en to the pioducers of maple su- gar, which is chiefly an article of luxury and not a competitor of cane sugar in the manufac- ture as is "strained" honey. Our legislator's who so kindly ri^memb<'r(^d the sugai'-growers. entirely forgot the honey-produeei's. whose product is tint sugar undi r another name. In the manufactuie of certain products, honey is superior to sugar, although not so much supe- rioi' but that we shall have to lower present prices in many cases to avoid the sulistitution of the inferioi' and cheaper article. Now. to permit ('\il)an honey to enter free, and still fui'ther reduei' prices, would be an act of iujustice that could hardly be forgiven. In fact, it is que-^tionable whether our industry could survive, unless it should be that limited hi'anch of it devoted to the production of comb and li(|uid hon(^y for table use. Cuba is pi-ob- ably the tinest honey-producing country in the woi'ld. and capable of ])roducing an immense amount of honc^y. So supei-ior is it in this re- spect that sevei'al of our most int<'lligent bee- keepers have left all the advantages of their na- tive land to engage in the production of honey there. Our industry is still in its infancy: and while we already produce many million pounds of honey, it is capable of an expansion .so great as to wholly eclipse the prt'sent production of su- gar from the sugar-cane. Four contiguous counties hav(i produced in one season over four million pouiuis of honey, and this represents but a fractional part of what might have been gathered. Knowing well the genuine interest von take ISSfJ (JLKAMNdS IN I;KK ( ILTliliK. 4;% ill the uflfair lit ilic i)i'ii|)lc (if ymir (•(MiiUiy. 1 ;im I'onlidciii that yon w ill nivc tliis siilijriM llic aitt'iiiion its iniinirtam'c (icscrves. Slioiild tiicir Id- any |i<)iiiis on wliicli yon dcsit'c adiiitional inf(iriiiati(iii. i-oinniand iix- at yiiiir pleasure. Vdurs. (Mr.. I'. 11. Ki.wooi). I'lcsideiit (if tlie North .Vniefieaii l{ee-Ke('|i- ers" .\ss()i'iati(iii. also President of the United Stales lloney-Produceis" K\(,'iiange. and i'lesi- dent of New York l{ee-Kee|)eis" Assoeiation. The letter 1 received in ici)ly is n(it at hand, but it stated t hat tli(> snbject should liave the attention its imi>oftanee seemed to deiiumd. 1 am fiiad to say that the treaty maUes uochanfje in tile present duty. As tlie hand of our Icfjisiatofs lias one(^ been laid heavily upon us. and may lie again. 1 sug- gest tiiat a standing ■" watch-dog "" committee on legislaiiou be appointed. Also, if you tliinU liest. this committei> may be authori/ed to dfaft a bill regulating the uso of arsenical jioisons on fruits and vegetables, liy siiraying and othei' processes. That bill should be in suitable foi'm tor submission to the several State Legislatures. The Committee on Medals liave completed their labors, suitable dies have been obtained. and medals stamped fordistribution to affiliated societies, as called for in the constitution. Much credit is due to Mr. Thomas (i. Newnuin, who worked oil this committee with his usual vigor and ability. A few extra medals to be awarded for meritorious inventions, discoveries, and ex- periments, would help our society and pursuit. The original experimeins made by Professoi' ("ook on ■■ Fertilization by the Honey-bee." read at Washington, is w(3rthy of a medal: but prob- ably our awards should b(> conditioned (in hav- ing the rejiort tirst made to this society. I hope Professor Cook has continued his experiments ^o as to include buckwheat, as farmers have but little idea of the great beneiit to be derived from the honey-bee in the fertilization of this grain. A medal should be offered for the best essay for general distribution on "The I^se of Honey in the Arts and Manufactures." When we know that a single tirm of bakers within a few months bought *13.(XX) worth of honey to use in their business, we are led to believe that its use might be largely extended. Manufacturers have leained that certain chemical processes take place with honey that do not witli sugar. In medicine. Jioney might often besubstituted for syrup, to the benefit of t he patient, as it is more easily digested, and in lung and throatdis- easesit is a valuable medicine. Formerly it was the custom of our .secretaries to prepare a cojiy of our proceedings for the press, or a copy from wViicli reporters could make extracts. I advise that we naurn to this custom. Reporters are not familiar with bee- keeping; and while we sometimes have (>,xcel- lent reports, usually those published in our dailies are not creditable to either the b(>e-men or to the papers that [luhlish them. I therefore ask that our secretary furnish a report for the [iress. We are pleased to have with us in this nK^et- ing many representative bee-keepers who have not met with us heretofore. Mr. Frank Benton, who has nearly compassed the world in search of new varieties of be(^s, and to wh(jm bee-keej)- ers are under lasting obligations, has promi.sed to be here. One whom we have been accustomed to meet at our State Conventions is not hen^. Mr. G. H. Ashby, whom we held in liigh est(^eni for his su- perior qualities of head and heart, will be sadly missed on the floor of this convention. P. H. Ei.wooT). WHAT IS HIBERNATION 7 rut: !u;sr iK.Mi'i'.icxTfiti-; Foit Hi:i;-fKi,i,.VKs. A correspondent writes. "At what tempera- lure should liees be kept so tliatthey will liiber- iiate ?" Well, that d<>pcnds on what is meant by " hi- bernate." If that word is to be so turned from its legitimate meaning that it means getting i|uiet. then experience, in my case, proves that a temperature of alioiit 4.'.' to 4()° is as near as I can come to it. If it means a sinking into that torpid stateinto which ants, wa.sps. woodcliiicks, and such like things go. then if such a state were possible with the bees, which I can not ac- cept, they would require a very low tempera- ture, and said low lemiieratiire would not only be required outside of tli(> clustei', but the same or neafly so would obtain inside of the cluster also. That 1 never found the temperature low- er than <)0° inside of any cluster of bees, in all my experiments to a.sceitain the temperature of the cluster of bees in winter, even where the temperature was as low as 10° below zero out- side, proves conclusively to my mind that bees never hib(!rnate ill th(> true sense of the word. Ants, wasps, and hornets, freeze up solid, and often stay so for months at a time, in which case they can be truly said to be hibernating; but all know that, if any colony of bees ever come to this point, even for a single day, they would never revive with the warming breath of spring. This correspondent next asks, " Is it advisable to keep them at such a temperature that they will hibernate?" In the above he will see that, if true hibernation is meant, only loss can occur if the bei^s da hibernate, even if for only a short time. But if he means a state of quietude in- stead of hibernation, then I should say tiiat it is advisable. The more quiet bees can be kept during winter, the better: and I find that the temperature as above given is the one in which bees are the most quiet: but under conditions different from those existing with me, a temper- ature varying from this might be the best. Ac- tual observation in any case will be found of far greater value then set rules from a different locality. Try for yourself; and when you have f(mnd the temperature in which your bees are the most quiet, then stick to that till experience points out something better. Seasons some- times vary, and you may find that the tempera- ture of a previous winter will not work (equally well the next. One thing is always to be borne in mind, which is, that b(M'S are inclined toward a dormant state in the fall, and toward an active state in the spring. Bees go into a state of rest in October, and remain more or less in this condition, in any temperature varying from fi.5° above to 30 below zero, until interrupted by somedisturbance, or aroused toactivity by the commencement of brood-bearing, which occurs anywhere from the first of January to the first of April, in all well-regulated colonies, accord- ing to the climate they are in. After brood- bearing has commenced, more or less uneasi- ness will pr(!vail from this lime until the bees have the benefit of warm weather and frequent flights. A mild temperature in preserving ani- mal vitality is to be desired, and a uniform tem- perature is the most congenial, the disturbance of sudden changes being avoided as much as possible. That the reader may know a little more explic- itly regarding the matter. I will say that, where a colony is wintering just as I should like, they will not be disturbed at once by the rays of light from a candle or lamp falling upon them. When I go into my bee-cellar and hold the candle so the rays of light fall upon the cluster where the 46 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Jan. 15. bens are to be seen at the bottoms of the combs, all that is to be seen of the bees is a row of pointed abdomens standing out in all directions, all quiet and motionless, they remaining so for a moment or two. if no jar is made nor heat from the candle or my breath allowed to I'oach them. After a time, if the light is held steadily upon them, a few will begin to stir slowly, and, if held long enough, the whole colony will raise an uproar. When viewed from the top, by lifting the covering over them a few will slowly stir, perhaps putting out their stings and giving otf a buzzing sound, as much as to say. " We wish you would go off and leave us." When in this condi- tion. I consider that colony wintering splendid- ly. If, on the contrary, I am greeted with bees flying to the light as soon as I enter the cellar, and upon looking at the cluster at the bottom of the combs they are found all uneasy, crawling about and ready to fly at the light, with the hives full of restless bees clear to the ends of the frames at the top, I know that, unless this col- ony can be gotten quiet, they will prove of little or no value in the spring, if this happens as early in the season as the middle of February, while the colony will be much damaged if as late as the middle of March. Another correspondent writes, wishing to know whether his cellar is suitable for bees, saying. "It is frost-proof, with a dry earthen floor, well ventilated, but there is usually stored in it all the vegetables used by the family, and frequently from 30 to 1(X) bushels of apples. Are these injurious to the bees? If not. I should like to store mv bees in this cellar in years to come." I should' consider the cellar suitable for win- tering bees, and the presence of the apples and vegetables no objection, if the temperature can be controlled between 42 and 48°. If the tem- perature can not be thus controlled. I should prefer to winter the bees on their summer stands. If I had been successful, or even com- paratively so, in the past, I would go slow on the cellar, trying only a few in it the first year, putting in more and more eaeh winter, accord- ing as I was successful. Decaying vegetables should not be allowed in any cellar, whether there are bees in it or not; and the bees should not be disturbed, by jarring or otherwise, when entering the cellar after any thing stored therein. Borodino, N. Y. G. M. Doolittle. [Your statements quite agree with our obser- vations, which we have been making of late.] SUCCESS IN BEE-KEEPING. ELEMENTS OF IT IN JULIUS HOFFMAN AND IN HIS METHODS. In a former article we outlined Mr. Hoffman in his career as a bee-keeper. In this we shall endeavor to point out some of the reasons for his unparalleled success. When we claim his suc- cess to be without parallel, we qualify— i. e., we take into account his uniformly good results; his small outlay for labor; his extraordinary success in getting bees through the severe win- ters, and his large yields of lioney per colony. Other b('e-kei'[)('rs produce greater quantities of honey, but require more bees; and the cost for labor, and the lack of general economy, leaves smaller net profits. After Mr. Hoffman settled at Fort Plain it be- came a matter of great interest for \is to visit him in his liome apiary, as before stated, we discerned in him a bee-master of no small cali- ber. We found in liim a man of intense energy who is ever busy; a man thorougly educated in his calling, and well trained to ex(^cute his knowl- edge; a finished wood-worker who realizes the great importance of having hives, frames, sec- tion-cases, etc., made from good material, and exactly alike, so that no time be lost when time is exceedingly valuable. To these qualities may be added another, which requires that all work be done properly and in season. His location was peculiarly fitted to bees in autumn and spring by reason of being sheltered from the west and north winds; and its sunny exposure contributed in no small degree to his exceptional success in wintering. We saw the fact demonstrated, that, in prop- erly shaped hives, packed with warm material, in a sheltered sunny position, bees become and remain strong much better than when condi- tions are different. Mr. Hoft'man's frame is about 13 inches dei'p and 11 inches wide, and (i to 8 of these form a chamber, or nest, similar to the old-fashioned box hive, than which, when properly handled, no hive ever gave better results in wintering. Tlie real Hoffman frames, in use. confine the warmth at the top and for a considerable dis- tance down the sides, and thus virtually make a box hive. Indeed, as Mr. Hoffman uses them they are warmer than the box hive, for the walls at the sides and tops of the frames are double, and nearly so at the ends, added to which he applies several thicknesses of burlap or sacking over and upon the side? of the frames. LiThere are some facts that amateurs can not learn too soon. One is, that bees naturally revel in warmth, and that for this reason they should be kept as warm as possible, during fall and spring, no matter where or how they are win- tered. To accomplish this result, double walls and packing are needed through most or all of the year. This packing, in sunny weather, acts like a balance-wheel to a machine, i. e., the warmth accumulated during the day goes far through the night: and at all times, when sud- den changes of temperature arise, the clus- ter need not expand or contract fast enough to disarrange it. Another fact is, that ventilation of every de- scription should be prevented at the top of the hive. Openings at or near the top carry away the warmth of the cluster, and allow the moist- ure to escape, both sure to work disastrously. Mr. Hoffman understood these points some years before many of us had learned them, and profited by his application of the knowledge. The following incident, that transpired dur- ing the seventies, made a deep impression on the writer's mind. and. after long meditation, led to the conclusions stated as facts, in the • preceding paragraphs. We visited Mr. Hoffman during the winter, and took a look into liis cellar. As wp recollect, 4CM) or .500 colonies were placed in it, and the temperature was rather high. Tlie hives had no projections, and were packed in double rows, several tiers deep, leaving aisles for passing be- tween them. As placed, they were packed like bricks, and the warmth of the different col- onies was communicated to the mass, making it homogeneous. The result was, not a few of the strong colonies clustered upon the outside of the hives. Indeed, upon some hives several quarts of bees were gathered. These bees were quiet — in fact, so dormant that th^y scarce- ly moved; and, wlu^n disturbed, they tiirned up their stings, filling the air with the odor of poison. We did not understand the situation then, but have since concluded that their repose was due to a perfect state of health caused by good man- agement before thev went into winter quarters. Mr. Hoffman's nive is W^ inches long, hence, when filled, it holds eleven or twelve frames. Except for extracting, not over eight frames are lS!f,' (JMOANINCJS IN HEE (UI/rUK. 47 used, hciu'c th(M>xtni sn!H't> adinils two follow- (>rs uiul jrivt's room foi- liitci'ul movement of tlie frames. The value of the lIolTmaii fiam(> for rapid inaiiipiilalion (iepfiHis upon this al)ility to separate tiie frames wiiiionl lifliiiii; ami liei'e- in. perliaps. as miieh as in any t)ne point, lies the seciei of his aliility to rare, almost unaided, for sueli laisie numl)ers of l)ees. \V«> liave touched hurriedly upon tliecausesof Mr. llotTman"s sneeess. and may have omitted some points. If ain readei- desires mori' lisht. we will ffladly resixmd if in (Hir power. In oui- next we will tell something about how W(> ap- ply and use tlie HolTman frame. Canajolijirie. N. V. J. H. Xkij.is. [Mr. Hoffman is one of those bee-keepers who always meet witli a fair measure of success; and this success is due in no little degrree to his short-cut metliods. hive, and frame. The mere fact of liis handlinsr 4 or .">()() colonies. i)ractic- ally alone, is a powerful ai"tiunient foi' his frame. This is right in lin<> with l'r(>sident Taylor's address, published elsewliere. The reason why some bee-keeix-rs can not make the business pay is because, theii- methods ai'e so lal)orious. recpiiring .so much hired hi>l|) that the iioney costs about as much as they get for it. Such bee-keepers can never make money out of the business during poor yeai's. When Ihev can average .")0 lbs. of comb hon(!y. or T.t to l()o"lbs. of extracted, they do faii'ly well. The successful bee-keepei- of the future is the one who will, with a small average crop of honey, (say ■-'."> Ibs.i. miike a fair margin of prolit: and wlien lie has a larg<' croi) he simply has a bo- nanza. Now. Mr. Hoffman is one who secures his crop of honey with the greatest minimum of labor, and he is l)ound to make some profit, even if he has only a small yield. Hut lie gen- erally securi'S pretty good yields. Perhaps some of you may think We are " putting" Mr. Hoffman again. We have no desire to do this. but sim])ly to call attention to ftJiorPcut uieth- o'/.s-. As long as we have editoiial control of this journal we are going to do all w(^ can to cry d(jwn many of the old-fashioned long, labo- rious methods in honey-production.) .W years ago, when he refused t« meet with the best bee-keepers of his tinn*. when bee-liter- ature was hai'dly in its infancy. Naples. N. >'.. .Ian. 7. !■'. (ii-.Ki.NKi!. THE MAN WHO KNOWS IT ALL. i)/.ii;i:zoN AND GUNi)i:i.ArH. Dr. .lolin D/.ierzon will reach his 81st year Jan. Hith. IS'.t:.'. He is enjoying good health, is engagenter from above to deposit propolis. I'm not saying that you don't accomiilish the same thing as with the HolTman, but that doesn't make it a Hofl'man any more than a steam-engine is a modified horse because it does the work of a liorse. lint let us examine the frame itself. That it can be used in the liives already in use, is in its favor. True, to get its full benefit the fieculiar tin rabbet must go with it. but it often com(!S handy to mix up frames in the old hives. That tin rabl^et strikes me as a good thing. It giv(!S the advantage of allowing the frames to slide along even more readily than tlie HofTman. As to the top-bar, I must say I am just a bit skeptical ai)out .^^i:!^ bcnng as good for thickness as %. The little experience I have had says % is more secure against burrs and braces. It is possible that, with every thing else just right, however, that % is sufficient; and if it will do, wecertainly don't wantany unnecessary lumber. In any case, that bead looks like a good thing. One object in having a thick top-bar is to pre- vent the possibility of the least sagging; and that bead will prevent tlie sagging of the top-bar perliaps more than the same weight of wood added to the top-bar in any other way. There are also some other advantages in having a comb-guide, that I never thoughtof sufticient value to make me use a loose one; but it is well enough to have them when we can have them with no extra trouble along witli the other ad- vantages. The straight end of the top-bar will not kill bees like tlie Hoffman, and perhaps that will more than counterbalance the advantage; of warmth in winter of tiie Hoffman. Tlie end-bar varies from the Hoffman in hav- ing one side cut to a V edge. While new it will mash fewer bees; but it is a question whether it will when it has been in use some time. That V edge leaves an angle l)etween it and the next end-bar. and an acute angle at that, giving the bees a pressing invitation to fill it with propolis, and they will be very poor hands at the glu(^ bus- iness if they don't i^rom lit ly accept the invitation. Incieed. if they are good gltiers they will be likf^- ly to fill the angle on Uie outside of the V edge as well as on the inside. When these two angles are filled, the frame will be worse than without tlie V edg(\ for it will b(^ much harder to move the framt^s. and I suspect a good many more bees will be killed than if no V edge had been cut. The bottom-bar squints toward a radical change. You may remember that, some time ago. I suggested that, while the best form of the frame was in an unsetth-d state, it might be well to consider the advisability of trying the bottom- 48 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. .L\x. 15. bar as used by D. A. Jones and others. But why not go the whole figure? If I remember cor- rectly, the bottom -bar that Jones uses is only about an eighth of inch thick laterally, and perhaps ^^ inch deep. Yours contains as much or more lumber, but its width is greater than its vertical thickness. Whafsa bottom-bar for, any way? For one thing it keeps the lower end of the end-bars at the proper distance apai't, and I'm not so sure that it has any other use. You may say that it makes the bees build the comb down to the right place; but the bottom-bar in general u.^e does nothing of the kind. The bot- tom-bar is just where we should like the lower edge of the comb to be, but the bees stop build- ing about a quarter of an inch above the bottom - bar. I have had some combs built in frames without any bottom-bars, and they were quite satisfactory. Now, if bees will build down bet- ter to a bottom-bar I4 inch wide than they will to one Js wide, will they not do still better if the bottom-bar is only }% wide? Would' not a bottom-bar Jg wide and ^i deep answer every purpose? While we are at it, lefs make a sure thing of having the comb built down to the bottom -bar, with no holes between comb and bottom-bar for the queen to hide in. With such a small bottom-bar, if the bees are still inclined to leave hiding-places, the foundation might come down over the upper edge of the bottom- bar and be fastened there so as to make, proba- bly, a sure thing. If the }ix% bottom-bar is retained, would it not be a good thing to cut in it a rabbet V^H' to fasten the lower edge of the foundation in? Since you've given up the Hoffman idea of keeping the bees off the rabbets.^perhaps it would not be so bad a plan to cut away all of that V edge except 3-t or }i an inch at "the up- pei' end, and the same at the lower end. Oi'. it might be bef.er still to have no V edge, and then cut away enough to make bee-space be- tween end-bars, leaving only enough at the top and three inches lower down to hold the frames at the right distance apart. I think that would kill fewer bees than the end-bars you now have. Now. if you think I am inclined to modify too much your modified frame, just remember that I am not yet entirely free from the influence of that great modifier, the grip. Marengo, 111, C. C. Miller. [It may surprise you, doctor, if we tell you that the new Hoffman frame is more a Hoff- man in its real essence of working than the one we offered last year. While we have left out one feature of the original frame, that of the widening of the ends of the top-bar. we added another, that of V-ing the end-bar<. which the inventor regards as very important. You seem to have the impression that this is an addition of our own. By turning to (tlkanixg.s for July 1, I8S1O. page 48i), you will Sf>e this V edge illus- trated and described by Mr. Hoffman himself. As many may not have the back number in question, we quote Mr. H.'s words: "One of tne edges of the uprights orjends of the fiame. as far as they are close-fitting, should be l)eveled otT to a little less than ^ of an inch, so as to meet the center of the scpiare edge of the next franiH. This will prevent the gluing and the sticking-together of the frames, also squeezing of the bees to a largi^ extent, and allow faster working of them." You se(^ from that this V edge is not a matter of experiment, and that your fears as to the effect of the proijolis are groundlc^;^ in fact. It was natural for you to think as you did; so did we. We might add. further, that the V edge requires no wedging, and this is a big point. We used somi^thing over .">(X) thick-top frames last season, only S inch thick; and although most of the frames were loaded with honey there were only two or three of these frames that showed sagging of the top-bars. This sag- ging was so slight that it could be detected only by a straight-edge, or by sighting across the top. These would not have sagged: but the grain of the wood favoi'ed it. Pi'actically. then, there was no sagging; but to our new thick-tops we havp added a comb-guide, which will be more than the equivalent of a top-bar ;^4 inch thick. The new Iwttom Cno. it's old) has been most heartily indorsed — in fact, so has the whole frame. We may get the bottoiu-bar a trifle narrower— say % square ; }ix% deep we fear would be too much of a good thing. With regard to the whole frame, a number of the Michigan bee-keepers at their State conven- tion said, in private conversation, they were much pleased with the modified Hoffman; in fact, we never offered any bee- keeping appliance that has been so heartily indorsed by so many letters from all parts of the country, in so short a time, as the new Hoffman frame.] OUTDOOR "WINTERING. FKANCE CKITICISES Dlt. MII.LEK S PLAN. AX1> AL.SO DESCRIBES HIS OWN METHOD. On page 9.i.5 Dr. C. C. ^Miller has an article on the above subject. He asks, " What are the ob- jections to this plan, and what improvements are suggested? '" First objection, it is too much work, as we can accomplish the same thing with less work. His fence arrangements would be sure to catch snow- drifts if there were snow to drift. His boards standing up in front of the hives would catch rain, and lead it down to the entrance of the hives, and make trouble; and his great pile of straw over the hives would get wet, and al.so make a harbor for I'ats and mice. We have been running out-apiaries several years, and we never haul bees home to winter — no need of it. If they are properly fixed they can just as well stay on their summer stands; and as most of our out-apiaries are located in pasture-grounds where cattle, sheep, horses, and hogs all have a free run. what would become of Dr. Miller's pile of straw that he puts over his hives? Of course, if he fenced around the hives he could keep the stock away, or perhaps he could fence the whole apiary: but that is too much work; and, in fact, I'd rather have the stock run among the hives, as they keep down the grass and weeds, and the stock don't do any hurt — nothing but a blind horse. Keep the blind horse away. Now, how am I going to improve on Mr. M.'s plan? When he has his four hives in a bunch, he is very near right; but instead of having four single hives I make the four all into one hive— make the lower story all solid together, having partitions running through the hive both ways, and have u bee-entrance on each of the four sides. Then our upper stories are made single — each one rests on one division of the lower hive. We can tier them uiias high as we wish. We use two tier-^ of single stories, making a three-story hive during the summer and work- ing season. When we put them into winter quarters we tak& off the "third, or upper story; s<'lect the best frantes of honey — enough to fill the second story with t'liU frames of honey — I don't want th(^ bottom frames to have too much honey in them; in fact. I don't care if they are empty combs, as tne bees want empty combs be- low the honey, to cluster in. Then as they eat the honey out of the second story they work up; so when spring arrives the bees \\\\\ be in the is use an oiiflit-fiame hive tlial is. in a set. r.'4 in all — when the third story is on. These hives an- ehatV-liited ail around the tmtside. and have a jiabie-roofed I'ovtM' deep eiiousli to eover one S(>t of n|)i)ef stories and still s:i\e room fof stiaw ovef the bees in win- ter. We use a "s-iiudi honey-board over the l)eos at all times. The eover is made in halves, iiinjied on top. so wc can tnr:i one half of tlio rover on to the otiuM' half: then we can work two of the colonies, then slnit down the. cover and turn up the other side, which fiives us a chance to work the otlier two colonies. We inak(> a stand for the hives by driving six slakes into the ffiound and nailing three strips of boards across from one stake to an- other: make all level with a spirit-level: then set the hive on. Have the stand lour or live inches from the ground. If we have four good strong colonies in one of these hives, eacli one has a (lueen and eiglit frames /((// nf haucn in the second story. If the apiary is put in a place sheltered from the wind there is not a bit of danger of winter loss. I'd rather have them out than in the cellar. I liave over UK) colonies in niy home yard, outsiile. with two good cellars -one in the centerof tlie yard, under the shop, and one at one corner of the yard under a storeliouse :30x:?0 feet. All the use I mak(> of the cellars is to winter a few barrels of vinegar in the shop-cellar. The cellars were both made on purpose to winter bees in: l)ut after trying to winter some in the cellar and some out I gave up the cellars and now winter all out. ~ I am aware that you will object to my large hive, as it is too big and heavy to handle. There is no occasion to handle the liive at all. When it is placed on its stand let it remain, unless you want to move it to an out-apiary or sell it. In that case three or four m(!n will load it on a wagon. The advantages of this large hive are, the wind won't blow it over very easily: stock won't push them over: thieves won't pick one up and go otT with it. as they could a small hive. Hav- ing four colonies in one bunch they receive mu- tual benefit from each other during the winter: help keep each otlier warm, enabling us to win- ter safely outdoors, thereby saving the trouble of housing them. With these large hives there is no necessity of hauling an out-apiary lioiue to winter. Just leave them on their summer stands, and save all the work and worry of mov- ing home and back again in spring. The four- colony hive is just as good for comb honey as a single hive. If any one has any questions to ask about these hives, sail in: I am here. Flatt«ville. Wis.. ,Iaii. 1 K. Fhaxck. [We have no doubt tliat youi' tenement hives work very nicely. We had one for a few years, but abandoned it liiuilly. Tlie only objection to them for out-apiaries is. that most of our out- yard locations are not permanent enough in their honey-llows. This is esi)ecially true in certain portions of York State, and in other lo- calities where basswood is being cut off. As we have before explained, the inroads of civili- zation, large wheat-fields, and the raising of other agricultural crops, cut off clover, the original source of honey, ^\■itll many of us. we want a hive that can Ije easily moved to a new location. For four or tivi- years one location may be good, and then it happens that another one is better. Migratory bee-keeping is corning more and more in practicf;: and your large hives would be ill adapietl lo that kind of bee- kee|)ing. We have no doubt, however, tluit tiiey answer your reiiuiiements perfectly, as your locations are permanent as to their re- .sources for lioni'V.J Recent Developments. BY E. R. ROOT. For some time back we have been convinced that the most satisfactory method of fastening starters is by tlie use of a heated plate, or tongue, so arfang(>d as to pass under the strip of fouiKlation, melting its edge. The tongue is then ((iiickly withdrawn, allowing the founda- tion, with its niell<'d edge, to come immediately in contact with the wood of the section. This principle is quite old. but we have been very slow to see its merits. We have made this ap- plication of the princii)le on various machines during the past summer: but up tociuite recent- Iv we have been unable, to construct oik- that could be sold for less than *:i.")() retail. Tiiis figure w (> considered as almost prohibitory for the use of the machine. Besides, there were some other defects wliich we were not able to overcome entirely. During the last month we hit upon a plan for overcoming the defects of foimei m.M bines, and at the same time making It so simple that it would not cost at retail more than ^1 00 including the lamp and directions. Fig. 1 shows simply two boards of unequal length, hinged together as shown in the cut. The board in the rear rests again.st the table at an angle, and to it is attached a lamp- shelf for holding the lamp as shown. On the top of said board is fastened a piece of steel plate, or tongue. 4 inches wide, at right angles, and long e n o u g li to project clear through a slot in the front board. The latter is made as shown, with a little shelf for holding the section. A spacing-block 3:^4 square (and thick enough to cen- ter the foundation) is fastened at the right dis- tance above the shelf, so the section can slide un- der it. Bcitween the two boards is a spiral spring, and the pressure of the front bf)ard causes tlie two to come together at the top. making the pi(>ce of steel plate heated by the lamp below to pass under the strip oi' foundation resting against the spacing- block. On one side of the operator is supposed to be a pile of foundation starters: on the other side, a large empty basket for receiving sections with the starters after being attached. To put in the foundation, sit in a cliair with your feet on each side of the machine. With tlie left hand pick up a section; set it on thi; litth* shelf, and with the i-ight hand at the same time put a foundation starter on the spacing-block just above where the heated tongue will come through. Press slightly upon the front board or section, and this will cause the heated tongue to protrude directly under the foundation starter. Let the starter drop and come in con- tact witli the tongue, then release the pressur*!, and let the foundation drop on to the section. Vi^. 1. THE DAISV FOUNDATION- FASTENEH. 50 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Jan. 1.5. It will bo instantly attached, and can be thrown immediately into the basket, without danger of the starter dropping out. It does not make any difference whether the day is hot or cold, or what the condition of the wax is. With this machine about ICKX) starters can be put in in an hour: and it is so far ahead of any thing else we have ever seen or tried, it is with great pleasure that we present it to the bee-keeping public. WIIUNG FRAMES, AND FASTEXINCi FRAMES TO TOP-BAKS. For some time back the Dadants have told the bee-keeping public in their excellent work, the Revised Langstroth, the best and most sat- isfactory way of wiring frames and fastening foundation to the top-bar. The writer person- ally has been somewhat interested in the plan, but never "got around " to put it into execu- tion. From the test we made last summer we were convinced that the JwrizonUil wiring as described by the Dadants was tne simplest, and most satisfactory in its results, of any plan we have tried, and you know we have tried a good many. We once thought that foundation would buckle or bulge out between the horizontal wires; but by observing the precaution of not drawing the wires tight — just tight enough to take up the slack, there will be no trouble with buckling, even with the thinnest foundation. Our experience, as well as that of the most practical and extensive bee-keepers who have tried it. say that it is so: and the bee-keeper who won't try it is not doing himself justice. For the L. frame we place the wires '2}4 inches apart. This makes three wires, the first wire being 2^4 inches from the top-bar, and the bot- tom wire % incli from the bottom-bar. Of course, the end-bars should be pierced in the first place by your supply-dealer: but if they are not. you can do it with a brad -awl very quickly if you use a little ingenuity. The wires are imbedded in the regular way. with the foundation-imbedder. While the Cai'lin tool works very nicely, it is by no means equal to a spur-wheel such as is shown in the accompany- ing cut. Formerly we have rubbed the foundation on the comb-guide — an operation which, while satisfactory in its results, was too slow. We Fig. ;J. IMBKDDIXG FOUNDATION. The cut above shows the horizontal wiring such as we have described, and how the wire is pressed into the foundation. The special fea- ture of this little notched-wluM'l tool over the other is. that you do not have to lift it up to take a " fresh bite:" and another thing, it will run clear up to the end-bars, whih; with the other tool you must "backup," as it were, mak- ing an extra operation. We gave oui- girls who imbed foundation for us the choice of the two implements. As we had only one of th(\se wheel tools, they almost quarreled, som(!tinies. about it, especially when they were imbedding by piece ivork. now TO FASTEN FOUNDATION TO THE TOI'-BAK. Our new top-bar, while it is a most perfect comb-guide, is especially adapted to fastening foundation. Fig. H. FASTKNlN(i FOUNDATION TO THE NEW TOP-BAK. finally devised the tool after the Hambaugh device, as described in Dadant's book. As shown in Figs. 3 and 3. it is simply a wooden handle notched out to receive a wood(>n wheel 1J-.2 inches in diameter. The edge of this wheel is rounding, and V inch thick. The operation of fastening foundation is simply to run the wheel along the edge of the foundation against the comb-guide. A couple of "sweeps " make the fastening so perfect that the foundation will tear off before it will pull off. Another thing, it does not matter whether the wax is cold or warm : and all that is necessary is to dip the wheel into water occasionally, to prevent sticking to the foundation. This is really cop- ied after the Hambaugh device. We hesitated to christen it by that name, as it might make confusion with a different model of the same device originally designed by " the gentleman from Illinois." IMPROVEMENTS IN EXTRACTORS. Within the last two or three months Mr. Washburn, the foreman of the machine-shop, that expert mechanic who first perfected foun- dation-rolls, has been asked to turn his atten- tion to the construction of extractors. We have had frequent complaints of the old Novice gear- ing being too light, and accordingly ISIi'. Wash- burn was asked to make drawings for a cast- iron arm to reach clear across tlie can. We furthei' stipulated in our instructions that the gearing was to have the handle at the outer edge of the can, so that there will be as little as possible in the way of putting in and with- drawing the combs in the baskets. The follow- ine cut shows the result. Fig. 4. THE NEW HoKIZON'rAL EXTRACTOR- GEARING. This gearing, as well as the cross-arm. is old in principle: but it is new in connection with the Novice extractor. We have been corres- ponding, as well as asking the opinion, at con- ventions, of large extracted-honey men. as to ISitt (il.KANlNCS IN lUCH ( ULTURE. 51 tlio kind of Ki-arinp tlit'v prcfrrrctl: and tlir 4i('iMsi(Mi lias IxM'ii iiiiif()iiiil\ lor one like tlic one shown in till- cut, FJ!;. 1. "• Wliatcv cr' yoii do,"' tJi(\v said, "dtin"! make yoni' jjt'ariiiif too weak. Kit on llic side of making it too slionK. if any lliinc. I'vi'ii to tlic apncaiaiK'c of hciiiji clmnsy." Tlic last jjcaf \M' inati'- is sii-oiifj. hut not cliiinsy : and to a|>pii'i'iat»' tlir dltlcrcni't' one lias only to ivy the two kinds. It costs a little iiioic. and fof tho |)i('S(Mit we shall liavr to cliaifi'' a lit tic inorc; and those who wish this tfcai'inK will liavi' lo specify it in tlieir oideis. HKVKHSim.K KXTK ACTOKS. The one frreat ti'onhle with leveisible. extract- •ors has heen that they are very ex()ensive. and tile can so laffie as to foihid tluir in>\niiig these liees. and. so far as we can .judge from dried specimens, they are no other than ordinary Tunisian bees, which vv(^ have already described as being similar to t-liosi^ from Algeria and Morocco, and not a new species at all. Mr. ixirby stated that Mr. Ilewit* proposed to call them "runic"" bees, iiiid he stated that they wei'e difl'ereiit from the oi'diuar\' 'I'unisian l)(>es. We fail to see any difference, and there will be some dilficult-y in (persuading entomologists to adoptanmv nam<- for well-known bees. We were also toUl that these bees would not sting, which made us smile, more especially as wo remem- ber'ed what Mr. Kenton had said alxiiit them. Here are his own words wh(ni he wrote from Tunis, March :.'(). KS8."). "They are also active, energetic workers, but. unlike Cyprians and Syrians, they are liable at times to lly at one and sting him when he aiMiroaches the apiary, and yet does not molest iln^ hives. '" There is a great deal we could say about Tu- nisian bees; abont the "'Kassartyr" apiary of forty hives; about a French gentleman (whose name, for obvious reasons, we at present with- liold). whose apiary is not quite on the border of the Sahara desert, whoexportsTunisian bees to England, and upon whom (if not in Paris), amongst other bee-keepers we intend to call when wego toTunis forthe purpose of ascertain- ing why Tunisian Itees, w Inch an? of the same race as those of Algeria and .Morocco, and, we may add, (jf the Haleariclslands.sometimesshow yellow, which the bees of the last three places do not. Of course, we have our own theory on this matter, but we wish to verify it on the spot by personal observation. We hojie. also. Ixsfore long, to be able to show specimens of these bees from all the above places at a meeting of the Entomological Society, and also of the Linnean Society. Wo were much amused when Mr. Kirby told us that the importer wished these classified as Apis nhjer. As they are alr(*ady classitied as ^/>/.s inellificd. it is not likely that the name will be changed for Tunisian bees, which are onlv a variety of this species. — British Bcc-Joj<;-/K/f."Uec. 17. 1891. BURE-COMBS AND WIDE TOP-BARS. FHO.M (INK i)K rilK i'l(lNKKi;S 0,N IIIK N< tX- lUIil!- ( OMH t^i^Ksriox. The above topic has betui discussed many times in (Jleanings during the past two or three years; and every time I see an article on the subject I am tempted to rewrite an article I wrot<' a few years ago for (ri.KANiX(is. which was refused |)iil)licati(y are not only desirable, but very neces- sary. Dr. Miller, in the last Gleanings, in his usual happy vein, writes thus on this subject: AVheii Newman, of the American Bee Jnurnal, cliaiiges his mind, he makes no bones of saying' so. Foimei'iy he aig'iiert tliat essays at a convention were essential. Now lie says, in the most unreserv- ed manner: "The Northwesleni was a convention without essays, and it was a c'harining' success. Tliere was no want of subject-matter to discuss, and no la_'k of eutlnisiasin." It was only the doctor's extreme modesty which prevented him from quoting the whole item. The r(>st of it. on page 709. reads thus: •■ With sucii a president as Dr. Miller, no essays or programs are ever needed." And that is the i' i)ait of Jul.\ . Tlu' head is tlien nailed on tight and daubed around witli nioitar. The bees also go "chinking'" up the cracks and crevices on tlie inside with propolis, so that, t>y the time cold weather comes on, the hives are just about air- tight, a iifl upward ventilation is an impossiliility. Tlie sealing of proi)olis is not broken in the fall to remove pollen, or for an.^• other ))iii'pose. The bees, as previously stated, come out strong and healtliy in the spring. From tliese facts I have drawn the conclusion that the pollen theory and upward ven- tilation cut no tlgure in the winter in'obleni ill my localit.v. It nia.v lie said that the box hives luue the larg-er entrance, and therefore more ventilation at the Ixittom. True; liut this is easy to remed.v, and it seems to me Dr. Tink(>r is a long step in ad- \ance in this respect b.v this arrangement for ven- t ilatiiig' his liix'es through the bottom of his winter case. Us«i'.' OLEANINMiS IN HKH ClI/rrUH. 53 Now. if Wf i>l:ii'i' :i lliiii li();ir, tuid tluis prt-vt'iit all air cmnMils fioni passiiiif up tliroiivrli <»ir liivi-s, wo nyaiu rcI even with our box - hive hrrtliion; and wIutc wc prcMMit all ra board llio sanii' as we do the sido; and. fiiitlicr. in spiiii>r and caily stininicr wlicn we >rivf our bco jnsi i he vciil ilalioii ii-quiicd b> lais- inKlliis board we an- anollicr loiijf step iilioad of tluMU. This board should be lliin. so that it will warm thi-oujrli i|uickl\' whrn wo i-cinovt' lln' ousli- ion, and lot tlio stin's rays stiiko it. His just as >roo(i. or l>ottor, an absorbont of nioisi uro than tlio Hill dovico. or stioks and cluilV cushion. [Y(>s, tluit is (|iu"t(' ill liiiowitli our i'\[)(M-i- nioiits. S'oii afo not t lie tirsloiic to make pub- lic this niattt-r of sciiicd covers imdor pacising. Tiiis is ji vory old. old idea, and was made pub- lic yi'urs ago! Wo have not takoii tine to look ov<'f the tiles of the hpe-joufiials. but we call to iiiiiul Mr. Francis l)aii/.eiil)aker. now of Wash- iiii^toii. 1). r.. who wrote an article some two of tiiree v<'afs ago. emphasizing this point very strongfv. .\ftor all. it does not matt(>r very much as to who lirst made the iiiatt(>r public. The real (iiiestion should be. " Are absorbents a iletriment? and if so. is a .sealed cover, or a board over the frames, better?" .So far we agree with you that it is. Mr. IMerce. you will remember, has tx'oii working on this same idea for the last four or live years. Probably this will call forth information as to who made the iiiattei- pulilic sonn- years ago. There may be a satisfaction in knowing, even if there is no (H'ai'tical importance attached to it. J RAMBLE NO. 51. pets. I pushed on to a rear room, and was met by a large, well-regulated, benevolent-looking nian. with sandy hair ami beard, who informed me that .Mr. Ile'ddonwas not only out. luit out of town, bul would soon return. This was en- couraging ni'ws: and after a lunch at the hotel At I)0\VA(il.\C My friends, did you ever see an emery wheel at work ? Of course, you have: and you have seen what a smart wln^el it is too. An emery wheel at work means business. .Mark a point back on your piece of hard steel, and apply pressure, and the wheel soon gets there. To get theri' is second nature to an emery wheel: uiid what a reckless way it has of showering stars, comets, and whole constellations around it! how the streams of tire scintillate, glow, and snap ! and iiow we admire them I \Ve have to go to the material world some- times for a comparison for certain men we meet. Should you meet the man I met in Dowagiae, Mich., and call him a sitting hen. everybody would laugh at the preposterous comparison. Some men are called foxy: but this man is not. for he is not after things that do not belong to him: neither is he a snake in the grass. All know just where he stands: so the brilliant scintilations of the emery wheel remind me of the remark of a i)rominent bee-keeper in Mich- igan, that I would meet the smartest bee-keep- er in -America in Dowagiae. My comparison is I'orrect. and .lames Ileddon is the man. Ifliis inventions, his writings. and the discussions and stir caused by them during the past few years, have not been a sort of pyrotechnic display. then our comparison is vain; and whatever may b(» said of the man or his methods, there lias certainly l)een an ad\ ance in pi'actical bee <-ultiire since the display commem-cd. I found Mr. Heddon a prominent factor in the pretty little town of Dowagiae. As a live edit- or of the leading news|)api'r of the county he has a d<'e|) interest in tin' welfares and develop- ment of the town. It was to this oftice I wend- ed my way after alighting fiom the train, find- ing the office occupied only by writing-tables, type-writers, and a profusion of books and pa- IIIK t!.V.MHl.i:i! .\NI) Ills JC.MIOI'.V WHKKI,. I found Mr. Ifeddon. or. rather, he found the Rambler, and in a short liine thereafter we were doing the town behind a horse that was 7.5 per ceift fasti^r than that "slow poke'" of E. R. Root's. We were bowling along over the level roads, taking in the beauties of the town, when a young man was oviM'taken and invited to ride. This was Mr. IIeddoii"s apiarist. Mr. McNiel. The young man looked lonesome on the rear s<>at alone, and another man was called in to keep him company: and it was that be- nevolent-looking man I first saw in the print- ing-office. The introduction given here in the wagon awakened a lively interest in my thoughts towai'd the m:iti. It was Mr. Her- bert A. Rtirch. Mr. Hitrch a few years ago, as will be remembered by the older bee-keepers, was an apiarist, and an instructive writer upon the various phases of be(\ culture. Winter losses, confidence in those; unworthy of it. and perhaps mistakes in business calculations, threw a cloud over his name, and he retired from the business. That he is now Mr. Iled- don"s trusted manager of the Uowagiac T'lmea, and has done all he could to straighten out the tangles of the past, the Rambler believes should be known: and I otter this as a slight tribute to a man who may have suffered silent- ly, but who deserves the sympathy of the many who have made mistakes and had misfortunes. In the evening our party was increased by the ijresence of Mr. St(jlley. a bee-keeper, and .Mr. II. 's two sons: and under the lirillianl- elec- tric lights we listened to the past, present, and future conditions and methods of bee culture. Mr. Ileddon is rapid in the use of language, positive in expression, and emi)hasizes his words by muscular action. .\ rocking-chair is made for ease and cotnfort: it was proljaiily a com- fort to Mr. H.. but the chair had a hard time of it. It was well made, howevi-r. iind stood the racket. Mr. II. is a universal genius, .\mong other trades he has been a shoemaker, tinsmith, blacksmith, carpenter, teacher in dancing, and .Sunday-school superintendent. The latter occupation iiiitst have occupied attention sev- <'ral years ago. I judge so from the nature of 54 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. .Tax. 15. the story he told us about the Devil and the minister. Mr. H. is now editor of the Dowagiac Times. a"clean-cut political paper of Democratic pro- clivities. "Tl^ Still, for the money invested, time and ex- pense and work, the apiary was the best paying business in which Mr. H. had ever engaged. My call was made in the height of the bass- wood season, and that day the bees were boom- ing on it. During the night, heavy thunder showers prevailed. The electric lights of the street were set to dancing by the vivid dis- charges above: and when the day finally dawn- ed, a cool north wind prevailed. Tlie horse was called to duty again, and his fleet feet covered several miles ere we returned. Several bass- wood gloves w(>i'e passed. The north wind was which water could be drawn, cans of honey plac- ed, and all heated from a stove in the cellar. A large amount of candied honey can be quickly and safely prepared for market. The Rambler would have been pleased to present with this a photo of the apiary: but our camera was at the hotel, and Mr. H. has never had a photo taken, as there is no place, according to his mind, to get a good view of it. iZZ Upon entering the apiary one becomes aware of the fact that but few of the new divisible brood-chamber hives are used;, here. Mr. Hed- don, being an economical man, he will not de- stroy his good L. hives, but prefers to replace them gradually, and run his out-apiaries with the new hive. The idea has never been con- veyed that any more honey can be obtained in the new hive than in any other standard hive» HivE-iioimv riding: the race for supremacy. swaying thp pendent blossoms to and fro, but not a honey-bee was at work. " This means $75 out of my pocket to-day, and every day this lasts," anxiously said my friend. Many clumFJS of pleurisy were pointed out here and there in the fields: and that great nortliern honey-plant, epilolnuni. had put in an appearance further north, and given Mr. H. an enthusiastic hope of its further rapid ad- vance. The home yard in tiu> outskirts of the town contained about 2(M) colonies of bees, with a commodious honey-house upon one side, and all surrounded by a high and tight board fence. Every thing in the interior of house and yard was neat and tidy. A large double-geared Stan- ley honey-extractor was on duty. One very con- venient arrangement was a large tank, into but that it can be obtained easier, and with less- manipulation. The Rambler has used the H. hive to some extent, and wishes here to sum- marize some of the good points. While I do not insist upon a divisible brood -chamber, I still find many good points in it that, after much questioning in my own mind, lead me to pre- fer it. Contraction can be accomplished in a moment, and the whole force confined to one case. Expansion can be as (juickly accomplish- ed, and a colony built up rapidly, and not a frame removed. If it is desired to increase the number of swarms early, the shallow cases ac- complish it with the least amount of labor. The queen-excluding honey-board has come to- stay, and it can be used to greater advantage, and toa wider extent, than upon any other hive. The latest improvement before the fraternity. IS'.fJ r.LEANINCS IN HEE CULTURE. and tilt' full iiupnit of w liicli is not vft fully ap- prcriattMi is tlic Ponci- bcc-cscapc (which is rt'ully tilt' luilv i; rxposuit^ of diippiiiii conihs when fiMiifucd to the hive. .\n(l now the only thinij in the way of cnalilins one man to fxifact fi'oin douhh' the nuinbcf of i-oloiiics ho now dtti's is an nncaiipinfi-inachinc and a olu>ap inotof: and lot ino tril you. fiicuds, elec- tricity is fioins to do it. The I., fiainc is a {rood cnoufrh frame in the l)i()od-clianilii'r foe piobably a iricat nui.jority of lM'(>-ktH>pi'rs: but tin' tendency of the times is to liavc every thing iialf story above it. There are other favorable points in the sliallow liive in relation to feeding, wintering, and niov- injr. and the above pt);nts were arri\('d at amont; the hills of New ^'ork. in actual work with over a hundred boomin^r colonies. When the prejudice and factional feeling tiiat has been aroused by perhaps a too acrimonious dis- cussion subsides, the di\isible brood -chain her will occupy a more prominent place in the liroad tield of apiciiltural pursuit. The race for suiui'inacy is for the most deserving: and in the hours of tli(> night, and while in the elegant home of Mr. Heddon. an — (Jeorge E. Hilton, of F'remont, Mich. Mr. Hil- ton explained that only a few had come, and tliat most of the trains on which th(! bee-keepers would come aii'ived aft(M' on(^ o'clock. After making the acquaintance of the few who were present, we adjourned to Mr. Hilton's room, where we had one of those delightful, informal conventions. It was not e.xpected that the attendance w ould be very large, or even up to what it had been formerly. Michigan bee-keepers had pass- ed through another very poor honey season. Very few indeed there were who could report an average yield of more than 10 lbs. per colony. But there was a fair attendance at the opening of the convention, in the afternoon. After the transaction of a little business we listened to President Taylor's address. I was prejjared to take notes in the usual way; but as I listened I became more and more convinced that the ad- dress was so valuable, and so vital to the inter- ests of all bee-keepers, that it would be an ag- gravation for you to read only a brief resume of it. I accordingly stopped taking notes, and at recess requested a copy of the address in full, which I am glad to present and recommend to the careful perusal of every bee-keeper. Mr. Taylor prefaced the reading of his address by stating that he had chosen for his subject, EfONOMY IN HONEY PRODUCTION. Another year has come, bestowing its bless- ings where it listed, and is gone; and whether it lias favored us as we had hoped and desired or not. we may well look, and in no complain- ing spirit, to discover, if we may, by what rule its largesses hav(^ been bestowed, and why our expectations ha\'e not been met. To the coun- try at larg<>. its bounties have been unexampled; y)ut to t-iiose who pursue that vocation which this convention is met to promote, they have been, we will pretty generally agree, in one point at least, rather meager. But are we al- together right ill our estimate '.* Are we not too much given to cultivating a feeling of disap- pointment, that we do not get a heavy crop, rather than to accepting an average crop with gratilicatioii. oi' to making the most of a small crop".' Relatively we have, of course, had a bad year. .• .Some have even had no surplus at all; but. on the average, has the year been necessarily an nnprofitaole oiu^'.^ I say necex- s(irU]i. because sometimes one has notions of the prolitable character of the venture he is about tp engage in S(j elevated that he wastes sut'ticient to make a fair profit. Once, many years ago, a craze for the pro- duction of hops took possession of the farmers ill a certain localitv near where I lived. Prices 56 GLEANIN(iS IN BEE CULTURE. .Ian. l.V werp high: llie crop, in their esiimaiion, cer- tain, and so they were impressed with the cer- tainty that in<'vitable wealth must fall to every one engaging in liop-raising. Tlicn. natiii'ally. the absolute cejtainty of coming wealtli usher- ed in a feeling that it was already in possession. At furthest the gold was only over the fence, in the soil of tlie hop-licld. and a little plowing and liarrowing in tlie spiing would secure it: so they were already wealtiiy, and acted on the assumption. No effort was made to secure a line of retreat. Victory was sure. Extrava- gance in the building of liop-houses, in laying in supiilies for the pickers, and for the han- dling, weighing, diying. and packing of the hops, ruled the hour. But the storm came. Insects infested the hops: the quantity, quality, and price were all lessened, and bankruptcy overtook nearly all of them. The same thing is illustrated by num(!rous instances in the pine-lumber business. High expectations ob- scured the necessity of cai'<^ and economy, and waste kicked the profits out of doors, and let in disappointment and failure. Ruminating upon these things in conneclion with the business of honey-pioduction, the idea suggested itself that perhai)s our notions of the status of bee-keeping with respect to profits and necessary expenses need readjusting, and that the present series of bad years would be a good time to consider the subject. It may be, f tliought, that we are risking a chance of failure by encouraging fanciful pros- pects of success which are much too highly col- ored, so that we become content to calculate that, though by the spending of time in the useless manipulation of the bees, and by the purchase of elaborate lines of machinery and supplies we make the cost of comb honey 13 or 14 cents, we may yet be sure of a crop lai'ge enough so that the difference between those figures and the selling price will yield a good profit. I do not question the prospect of profits in fair seasons, with good management: l)ut I wish to call attention to the danger of putting too much reliance on the profits, trusting that they will carry us through, no matter what the seasons are or to what a high point we run ex- penses. If one practices proper economy, and thereby keeps ('X])(Mises down to the lowest reasonable point, he has still no bonanza, to be sure, but a safe, comfoi'table business. The criterion of expensesshould be actual needs— not what it may be supposed the business will beai-. If we make this latter the test, as the majority are greatly inclined to do, we are all sufficiently optimistic to fall into the fatal error of putting the average yearly production too high, and. as a consequence, to encounter failure in the end. Mr. G. M. Doolittle has said, that, if laboi' and capital get their due rewai'd. the cost of comb honey is 1:5 c<'nts per pound. It would be interesting to know how he arrived at his conclusion. Did he take the average of the seasons, as they are with him. as a basis? In that ca.se. as the seasons with him average bet- ter than with bee-keepers genei-ally, to them the cost would be even greater thaii to him. Then I should like to know how much of the cost is labor, and how much capital. May be he is extravagant with laboi-. Not long since. if I remember correctly, lie gave it as a reason why lu! prefei'red a liiv(> whose frames re(iuir(>d handling to one which coulil be handled in two sections to accomplish the same purpose, that he enjoyed handling the frames— thai h(> got his pay in fun. It may be that Mr. D. and some other bee-keepers nuiy grow fat on fun; but I am ijretty sure that our wives and children will not grow fat on the fun that we alone enjoy. We may well imiuirc. too. whether he figures in this kind of labor to make up the 13 cents cost, and so is contriving to get full pay from each of two sources. At all events, it requires no argument to show that it would not do to per- mit the cost of honey to reach 13 cents per lb. If it were a necessity to permit it. but few of us would I'emain in the business. There is no one but will admit that we should keep the cost down to the lowest possible point, and all would be glad to know what that point is. Of course, there must be no extravagance in buildings nor in supplies, and there must be no loss of valuable time. I have made, and submit tentatively some estimates which may, at least, serve as a stimulus to further calcula- tions, as well as a conclusion to the suggestions I am making. For my figures I have taken 150 colonies as perhaps the average number that could be kept profitably in one place. The ex- pense is made up of what may be called the fixed charges; i. e., tliose that' are the same, whether the crop is large or small, and the vari- able charges, which are made up of those ex- penses which vary with the amoiuit of the crop. The larger the crop, the less, of course, is the cost per pound; and my figures are made so as to bring this out somewhat in detail. I esti- mate the value of the necessary plant as fol- lows: Sliop luid cellar $300 Tools, cases, and extras 150 loO colonies of bees at $5.00 750 ^_^__^ Total $1200 So my table will'stand thus: FIXED CHARGES. Interest and wear and tear on plant, at 10 per cent nil $1200 $120 One m;ui 6 weeks during- lioney-harvest 45 Takina' l)t't's into and out of cellar 5 Otlier manipulations 5 Total $175 VARIABLK I'HAKGES. Cost pt'i' (.'acli 1.500 ll)s. siii'phis, being an average of 10 lbs. per coloiij'. 2(100 sfCtions S 7.00 Foundation lO.UO Fastening in tV)niidatioii 1.00 Putting: sections togethi'i- 1.00 ("rates 10.00 Packing 4.00 Conimissioii and fieiglit 17.00 Total $50.00 Total cost of a ciop of 10 ll)s. on the average, or ir.uii lbs., $225. To this must be added $50 for each additional average of 10 lbs., whence we get the following restilts: With an a\-e)-age of 10 lbs., the cost per lb. is 235 di\ided 1)\' lodO, which gives .15. Witli an a^•eI■ag■e of 20 lljs.. the cost per II). is 275 divided by :iOii(i, wliieb gives .0916. With an average of 30 lbs., the cost per lb. is 325 divirleil l).v 4.'')00. or .(.72. With an average of 40 11)s., tlie cost per lb. is 375 divided by 60(i0, or .0625. Willi an average of .")0 Ills., tlie cost per lb. is 425 divided by 751)0. or .056. With an average of 60 lbs., tlie cost per lb. is 475 divided by 91(10, or .0.52. With an average of 70 11)S., the cost \ui th(>y speak powcil'iillv for kccpiiip cxpciisi's (iown. Ill an avcras'' ItK-aticiii. (iiic wliospciuls :ni.">ilays ill till' year (III l.V) colonics can not ex- pect to tfet licli; liiil by iiiaUiii); six or seven w eeUs do. lie can make his invest meiii pay well. ilie ditl'ereiice in t lie luuiihei- of colonies in dif- ferent apiaries, the presence of hnildiiii^s or cellars that can he used witlioiit expeiis(> of niakinjr special hiiildinsjs and cellars, and the dilTerenci" in avcrai^e yiel(l> in dilVerent locali- ties makes a jjreat dilteience in the nei cost of honey: yet tlioiisili our circiiinstaiices vary greatly in many ways, we can. neverlliel(>ss. hy severally i"aU'iiiatinii the i-ost in our ri'sjiective cases, assist one another in put tins; the business on a more stable basis than it has hitherto oc- cupied. I{. L. 'r.\ vi>on. Tiie presiileiit was so modest that lie jiassed riirlit on to the lu^xt topic on the projrram before tlie bee-keepe|-s present could enter into any discussion. Hut duriiifi all the sessions the subject of the address would lU'op out. .1. II. Larrabee. of the Michigan Agricultural Col- lege, thoii.sht he could perform all necessary work in a well regulated apiary — in fact, do every thing in connection \\ith the business. from the folding (d' sections to putting in start- ers, to the linal disposition of the honey crop on the market, and yet allow only half a day's time for each colony. That is. 150 colonies would re(iuire 75 days 300 colonies. 1.50 days. It was suggested that the average bee-keeper could not afford to do (('I the work — that it would be cheaiKM' ffir liim to hire cheap labor to perform such work as folding sections, put- ting in starters, pi'oviding crates for the hives, scraping the sections, etc.; that the time for each colony might l)e thei-eby rc^duced very malerialiy. leaving the exi)ert or owner of the liees to do expert labor, such as getting the bees into proper condition for a honey crop, manag- ing the swarming, putting on and taking off the sections. Some argued that Mr. Larrabee was too economical of lime, and wanted to know what would be done about swarms. Some one suggested caging queens until the swarm- ing season was over; others dividing, and still others using drone-trapsor autcmiatic swarmers. It wp.s too expensive to keep a man in each yard to look aft<'r swarms. The iiuestion finally turned to the importance of handling hives instead of fraines. I was called upon to tell what I knew about it. As I liave already made myself sufficiently plain in previous numbers. I will not go over the ground here again. Mr. Taylor then explained how he could find (|iieens in the Ileddon hive with the shake-(jut function, and how he cmild ascertain the amount of bi'ood by simplv dividing two sections of the brood -nest. Taking every thing into consideration, it was plain that l)ee-kee|)ers had become accustomed to putting too much time iipcjii their bees: that the (jiily way tf) reduce the cost of honey per pound was by handliiiome more posiiiverdata on the subject in a fuiiire issue. ItKsr.-.M.I.-ITKI'OSK HI!uol>-KI{.\.MK. Mr. Larrabee. in a well-written paper, dis- cussed this subject. It was not dillicult, for each one. he said, to decide upon one for him- self; but no coin'ciitiiin of bee-keepers could agree. The essential feal-iire of an all-purpose brood-frame was, that it should have a top- bar thick enough so as not to sag. and from l/,;tol'n in width. lie liked the narrow bot- tom-bar that Hro. Root had recently introduced, for the reason that bees build combs down to it better: and with such a frame, when with- drawn from the hive, there was less danger of rolling over or killing bees. The (pieen also was less likely to liiid a hiding-place between the bottom edge of the comb and the bottom- bar. Fraine-eiids should be at least % inch thick. As to whether theyjis a whole should be of the lixeii or self-spacing style was a ])oint upon which he had not yet decided, lie urged that all bee-keepers, as soon as practicable, adopt a staiidai'd size: and that standarti size, in the I'liited Stales at least, was the Lang- stroth. Mr. Larrabee then read replies from a number of [irominent, siipply-d<'alers. all of which, with one exception, indicated that thick to|)-bars iwe about to displace all frames with the narrow and thin lop-bar. I was called upon to giv(^ my exjierience with the thick toiJ-liar. Most of our readers know what 1 think about them, so I will not take space to repeat it here. But I was surprised to see how many there were who leslili(!d to the value of the non-burr-eomb frame, after an experience of from one to three years. I was interested to note, also, how many, both in con- vention and in between sessions, signifii^d their intention of adopting Hoffman end-bars.; or some st.yle of fixed frame. ;epii-<)1uum. ok wili>ow-iiehh. I was indeed surprised to hear so many testi- fy to the value of epilohium as a hon(>y-plant. In some places it is called willow-herb, and in others. I believe, tireweed. In localities wher(> it grew profusely, even during the last poor seasons, it has yielded well. At tln^ hotel table it was my jdeasure to sample some of that Mr. Hilton had brought in, on buckwheat cakes. In l)ody and color it was all that could be desir- ed, and in flavor superb. If I had taken it at the first course, my opinion as to its qualities miglit be taken at some discount: tint I tasted it after having eaten a liearty dinner: and or- dinarily the keen relish of taste must'have been dulled S()ir'> THVINCi .VEVV r}IIX(iS. W. Z. Hutchinson, of the Bee-keepers' Revieiv, read a very interesting paper on th(^ subject above. Hee-keepers. he said, are given to try- ing new things. They are ready and eager to invest their hard-eanu'd dollars in new-fangled traps. It is unwise to invest in and accept every thing that is new, as good: and it is equally iinwist! to re.ject ev<'ry thing simjily be- cause it is new. \\e are to choose wisely. To an experienced bee-keeper a description of an article, device, or method, is all he may possibly need to decide regarding its practicability; but many are given to juin|)ing at conclusions with- out carefully weighing and testing. .Among the new things, he mentioned the later varieties of bees, automatic swarming -[devices, cbee- escapes. etc. At the conclusion ofj his !paper a lively dis- cussion look plai-e in regard to the I'linic. five- banded, and Carniolan iiees. The two latter had their advocates, as well-as those who had 58 GLEANINOS IN BEE CULTURE. .Tax. l.i found llu'iu wauling: but the Pnnics no one seemed to know verj' much about. AUTOMATIC SVVARMmG-I)p;VICES was another new fad that was discussed. A few had faith iu them, and thought they would some time amount to someihing; but tlie chief objection seemed to be their expense, and fail- ure to get ail oi- a large part of tlie bees of the swarm into the new hive. It ^vas argued by President Taylor and others that the labor of attaching them to the hive, and helping them to complete the unfinished work, would be very nearly as much as hiving the swarms outright. Mr. Hutchinson had faith in them. THE I5EE-ESCAPE. Thei-e was no dissenting voice, so far as I can remember, as to the great value of this labor-saving device. A number testified how much time it had saved them, and what fun it was to take off crops of honey. Mi-. Larrabee said his brother had taken off r.'700 lbs. of e.\- tracted honey without so much as brushing or shaking the combs, the bees being freed fiom the supers by the bee-escape. Some one asked Mr. Larrabee what sort of escape his brother used. It was one of his own construction, on the horizontal-cone plan. As many of our read- ers may be interested in this escape, we hereby ask one of the Larrabees to send us one of the escapes, with description, and we shall be pleased to place it before our readers. Mr. Ray and President Taylor had used with satisfaction Dr. Miller's bee-tent, the same thing that was described in Gleanings several years ago. They piled up the supers, put one of these bee-tents on the top case, and let the bees crawl out at their will. I believe they said they hastened the matter by shaking out as many bees as possible in the first place, and then smoking them upward. Among other new things were the late meth- ods of wiring. M. H. Hunt preferred the old style, with perpendicular wires, and secured perfect combs. One or two others had tried the Keeney plan with good results: but I, of course, argued for the horizontal wiring, as being cheaper and requiring less labor. WINTEKING IN MICHIGAN. A. J. Acker, Martiney. Mich., gave us an in- teresting talk on the subject of cellar versus outdoor wintering. He did not have success with the outdoor plan, and finally necessity obliged him to winter indoors. His plan was, to have the covers sealed down, and set the hives on top of trays four inches deep, one end of the tray being open for an en- trance. This gave ample bottom ventilation. F^oi' a winter repository he used an upground cellar, something as G. M. Doolittle has lately described. In these he puts his colonies, pil- ing them in closely, but each hive having a four-inch space under the frames. The results had been most excellent. J. P. Berg. Traverse City, Mich., the fun-maker at this convention, not so much for what he said as for his innnner of saying it. wintered both ways: but colonies that wintered outdoors in chaff hives not only wintered the best, but were stronger in the spring, and cast swarms earlier. Geo. E. Hil- ton. M. H. Hunt, and J. H. Larrabee corrobo- rated this testimony, and stated that that was the general expc^rience in their localities. I'res- ident Taylor could do nothing at outdoor win- tering, but indoors he had success. There were advocates at this convention of both plans: and it .seemed to me. as I listened to their testimo- nies, that, while one wintered indoors and the other outdoors, the result was due largely to locality. I learned afterward that there was a great difference in Michigan localities. Where it was very cold, there cellar wintering gener- ally prevails: and in milder places the outdoor plan gives better results. BKK-KKEPING AND OTHER BUSINESS. Mr. \V. E. (lould discussed the question as to what business can be combined with V)ee-keep- ing: and Mr. A. .1. Pieice, a little later on, the subject of bees, poultry, and fruit. The two topics naturally covered the same ground: and in order to save space I will endeavor to give the gist of both discussions in one. Mr. Gould argued that, where one had two or three out- apiaries, he was. in a sense, a specialist, and therefore would hardly have time to do much with any other business: but if he had only one yard of only a hundred colonies, it might be well for him to consider what other business he could combine profitably with it. Localities and men differ very much: and what would be a success with one would not necessarily be so with other men in other locations. Other things might be combined with the bee-business, such as fruit culture, teaching school, and poultry- business. Mr. Pierce, from the standpoint of the fi'uit-grower. gave some valuable sugges- tions along this line. Fi'uit and poultry com- bine very nicely together. The latter help very materially to diminish insects on the fruits, such as the destructive curculio on the plums. The small breeds of poultry, such as the Leg- horns, are bettei- for this purpose. The Asiatic kinds are not so good foragers. The manure from eight hens is equal in fertilizing value to that from one cow. As with bees, fruit-men sometimes experience poor seasons. At such times the poultry and bees are a great help, and make all the diflference between profit and loss. It seems to be a recognized fact, said Mr. Pierce, among all fruit-men. that bees are necessary to the proper fertilization of the blossoms; and if his neighbor didn't own bees, he must have a few colonies for himself. It would pay him, even if he secured no honey. Mr. Berg gave us some excellent suggestions along this line. He is both a fruit-grower and a bee-keeper, and he found that his poultry had so reduced the evil resulting from the curculios in his plum- orchai'ds that the cui'culio was not to him a pest. In fact, he wanted a few to kill off some of the fruit, as his trees would bear too heavily otherwise. Along with these discussions came up the matter of SPRAYING FRUIT AND POISONING BEES. This convention, like the North American at Albany, furnished abundant proof to the eflfect that bees have been poisoned in great numbers when the trees have been sprayed during the time of blossoming. Mr. Pierce gave us some of his own experience. He had had his apiary nearly cleaned out by a neighbor who had sprayed his trees during the time of bloom. This neighbor did it ignorantly. and stopped at once when he learned of the consequences. The bees had becm in the most promising condition for a good honey crop; but the spraying had utterly ruined its prospects. The neighbor in question followed the directions of the pump- maker; and it was suggested that all pump- makers or manufactuivi's of spraying-apparatus be labored with, who advise spraying during fruit-bloom. Two oi' three bee-keepers. Mr. }*ierce among the number, said that, so far as they had learned, they were all very glad to modify their directions as soon as they were informed of the evil results to the bees. The opinion seemed to i)revail that, as soon as fruit- men and manufacturers of spraying -outfits were properly informed, bee-keepers would have no fui'ther trouble: although it was urged that every State pass a bill, more for its educa- tional effect than for legal coercion. lS\r.' (;i.i:anin(;s in hkk cii/ruKio. ■.'.t A l'i;( ri.lAli ltl,K-I>lSl.ASK OU MA1.A1)\. TluMV WHS only OIK* liidy. Mrs. Delia Coop. pn>S( of starters in brood- frames. i)erhaps bees will enti-r sections sooner, but tliat is not the only thing desired. Drone comb would be apt to be the result unless great precautions were taken, such as young queens and tirst swarms. The abuse of foundation was the manner of putting it in. As his sheets were cut to the full siz(" of the frame, he fastens the edge^' by pouring melted wax from a spoon around the edges, the point of the spoon being narrowed to make a fine stream. The election of officers resulted as follows: President, R. L. Taylor: Vice-president. J. H. Larriiboe: Treasurer. M. H. Hunt: Secretary. G. K. Hilton. The next place of meeting is Lansing. THE VISIT OF MR. C. P. DADANT AND J. M. HAMBAUGH. HON. TIIK K()I).\K FI?:XI): THK WIXTKK IM;oliI.i:.M : I'OTJTKS .\xn BKE-KKKP1X(;. By Ernest R. Root. The Dadants have been perfectly free in giving us some of the kinks of the trade in foundation- making, and I have long desired to reciprocate. In response to my repeated invitations to visit Medina. Mr. Dadant finally told me. at the Al- bany convention, that he had decided to go home with me.'. taking with him his fi-iend, the Hon. .1. M. Hambaugli. Tliis was indeed a double pleasure. I have sufficiently introduced the representa- tive of the largest foundation establishment in tlie world, so that our readers are quite well ac(|uainted with him: but with .Mi. Ilain- iiaiigh t here may not be the same acquaintance, and I am very glad of this opportunity of in- troducing him iiioic fully. Hon. .I.M. Hainbaugh is not only a promi- nent and successful bee-keeper of Illinois, but one of their leirislatois. He was elected as a member of the House of ileliresent a t i ves. and was oneof the famous 101 l)eim)ci'ats w ho liiial- ly succeeded in electing .1. M. Palmer to tiie V . S. Senate. Those who are familiar with the facts will r(>membei' that, in the Ilniise of Rep- resentatives of the. State of Illinois, there wen; 101 Democrats and KK) Republicans. I'.esides these there were three Farmers" .\lliaiice men. In order to elect their senator, the Republicans would have to win over to them the three Alli- ance! men, or the Demot'iats two of them. Aft- er voting and ad.jonining day aftei' day. with no result, the Democrats linally elecK-d their candidate by secui-ing two of the Alliance men. Mr. Hambaugh. besides being one of this fa- mous 101, w ill !)(• remembered as the one who introduced the bill, which passed tioth houses, securing to the Stati' Hee-kee|jei-s" Association an appropriation of .*."■>( K) annually. He also in- troduced another bill, which nearly passed, regulating the matter of spraying fruit-trees in such a way as not to be detrimental to bee- keepers. This bill would have passed, but it was near the close of the session, and was sim- ply held over. At the close of the last day of tin; Albany convention, Mr. Dadant and Mr. Hambaugh, together with your humble servant, boarded the train for Medina. And then we talked as only three bee-keepers can. We covered tlie whole round of bee-keeping: but as we had an " honorable gentleman " in our crowd, w'e drift- ed more or less into politics. Messrs. Dadant and Hambaugh would continually fall into ar- gument, while the third member of the trio listened. I do not know how the other two felt after they arrived at Medina: but it is sufficient to say that my sides w-ere sore from laughing over tlie good-natured sparring that passed back and forth between the two Illinois men. We arrived at Medina on Saturday morning, and the visitors were then escorted about the Root establishment by our business manager, Mr. Calvert, while your humble servant looked after the matters that had been left until his return. In the afternoon, as they were obliged to take the evening train I went w ith them through some of tlie other departments. We tarried some little time in our foundation-room. I noticed Mr. I), watching one of the girls rcll off foundation. A smile began to play over his face. ■■ What now ?" said I. " I guess." said he. " theise is one of the kinks that you people haven't learned yet."" Mr. Dadant observ(!d that the foundation had a fashion of sticking to both rolls asitcam(; out. tearing the wax, and making it difficult to secure the end free from both rolls. He stepped foiward and dipijed his hand into some cold water, and allowed the water to drip on the uiipei' lol I. and. presto I as if by magic the foundation stuck tli(> next time to th<' upper roll, and pulled oft' easily. This was something that we hadn't yet got hold of, and we are glad to give it to the bee-piihlic for what it is woi'th. Mr. Dailant explained that tlie reason the foun- dation stuck to both lolls was because tliey were of the same temperature: that you could make th(! wax stick to the upp(>r roll by cooling it slightly. After looking over things inside of the build- ings, we rambled over to the "' yellow house,"' as we call it, where we keep all sorts of imple- ments that are sent in for our approval or crit- 6() GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Jan. 1*. istc i.l,K.\\l\i.S IN |{1:K Cll/l'IKH. 01 ii'isiii. AiMunir (itliiT tliintr>. I >lit>\\ cd i he ;;cii- tlcnu'ii tlu' llt'ilirrintfloii-<,>iiiiil)y liivi'. and liou it difTcri'd fnnii iIk- (triirinal «^)iiiiihy. Wliilc Mr. Dadiint acUiiowlrdircd iliaiitwas tu'ilcr tliaii tli<- (ui^inal liivc and w liilf it iniixhl l)t> llic only tliinir thai the hcc-Ui'ciMMs in S'orU Stali'. aim Ml IT I In- hills, could nsr. he i-ould not toi('i"al<' it tor his section id' countiT he was snrc Mr. Ilamhaiisrh took no particular side in this dis- iMission. \N'e next wtMit out into the apiary, where I showed them w hat experiments I was maUinji in the mallei- of outdoor w iiilerinii - why I was <;i-adiially leaiiinj; toward liavinu; no absorbents over chalT-packed colonies, and w by I was lieirinniiiir to believe that a sealed cover. covered with plenty of |)acl Have any of the fiiends in i)e<' culture experi- enced troubli' from bees dying off bet'ause fi'uit- ti'ees were si)i'ayed near their apiary".' Mr. Axtell sprayed our fruit-trees and vines four different times, but sjirayed none while in blos- som. l>ut at the right lime after th<' fruit had set. as per A. J. Cook and Wm. Stalil. of <^iincy. III. Our bees, when taken from the cellar, were in fair condition, and seemed to piosper as well as bees usually do in tlie si)i-ing. all the while having all the biood they could take care of. so that the most of our colonies, we thought, would be strong enough to gather honey w lien w hite clover canu'. without fui'tlier building up. This time of looking througli them was about the time api)le-trees were sprayed. Two weeks later, in looking tlirougli they were no stronger, and we feared that not many would be strong enough for the honey harvest, so we took out brood fr-om some and built up others, so as to have as many sti'ong as possible, and yet ih(>y did not build up. There seemed to be but few old bees in the hives the first of .June, although the combs all the while were full of brood, and cover(>d with young bees: but they seemed to die off as soon as they began to work. This was the condition of the hives all through .lune in our home apiary. At our out-apiary, four miles away, ne'ai' the timber, thecolonies were not thusaffected. They were wintei-ed out of doors, and built upinto line strong colonies by the lirst of .lune. neai'ly eve- ry colony, and gathered some .^OO lbs. of surplus from honey-d(!\v l)esides increasing to as sti'ong colonies as I ever saw: yet theic was no swarm- ing. They seemed to know what a hmg dearth of iuuiey was before them. In the home; apiary there were so few old bees that they could not (!ven fill up their brood- combs with honey. There was a strip of hick- ory timber about one mile away, from which they gathered .som(^ honey-dew — enough to have caused the colonies to become pojjulous. They were not so strong on tlu^ first of July as th<'y often are no th almost eveiywhere, and do you wonder that there has been a great stampede for Oregon and Washington? Dec. 24. I suppose I might as well own up that I have been sick. I thought for quite a spell I would say nothing about it: for you have- heard almost enough about doctors and medi- cine already; but as there seems to be quite a lesson right here, I think I will give it to you. Well, you know I advised calling a doctoiv when you need one, from among your own neighbors — a good man from among your ac- quaintances. But suppose you are a stranger in a strange land, what then? Why. inquire about and find a doctor in good practice that is gener- ally well recommended. That is just what I did in Portland. Oregon. I had been suffering from a severe cold for almost two weeks, and it had settled into a fever, so I thought it must be " lung fever." The doctor, however, said very decidedly that it wasn't lung fever. After a lit- tle examination he said, " Your lungs are quite sound. Your cough and cold is a bronchial trouble." I could hardly believe this: but as it is the third time I have been told much the same thing by as many prominent physicians, I was obliged to believe it. Then he said almost exactly what our doctors away back in Ohio had said— " My dear sir, the real seat of your trouble is a broken- down nervous system: and if you have at pres- ent any business on your hands, just get out of it as soon as you can." I told him I was on a pleasure-trip solely for my health: and he resumed: ■■ The immediate trouble just now is, how- (>ver. that you are bilious. Before the quinine you have been taking for your cold can do any good you must get your stomach in trim. What have you been eating lately?" •' Why, doctor, that is the great trouble. I can't eat any thing— nothing tastes natural, un- IS'.IJ GLEANIX(;s IN HEE CULTURE. <;:{ h'ss it is oiMiiRi's. priipt's, lemonade, or soinc- thinji (if thiit sort." "OliI hut tlicsc are the verv Ihiii^rs you inust >i(»f eat. ril ^fei you out of t liis snarl ; and now , mind yon, you ai'e to iia\ <■ only niill<, meal hidth, p\nH' w ater " stfaifilit." no lemons or susar. nof any tiiinp of tiiat sort." '• Itut. re. doctor, has this fever got to have a run of three or more weeks? and liad I not lietter send at once to Ohio for my wih>'.*" "Oil, dearl no— at least not just yet. I'll tix that fever, at least I tliink I will.'' " But, doctor, this cough 1 have every night will kill me if it isn't stopped." He left a pri'scription for the fever and anoth- er for the cough, and said he didn't think I would need to liave him called again; but if I did not get right along, to send him word. Now. I was inclined to get exasperated. He wasn't In the hous<^ more than twenty minute.s, and yet seemed so sure. He said my lungs were all right, that I wouldn't ha\e another run of the fever, and that he could stop the cough. He charged 82.50 for (»ach visit, and I was very much inclined to lose faith in him, and doctors and humanity in general. But everybody said that Dr. Gels'ce was all right, and so I submit- ted. The fever next day was later and milder; and the day after still more so; and the cough began to abate, so I became more reconciled to my milk-and-water diet, and in a week I was ready to travel again; but I felt very much as I did after my fever of last fall. The moral of this is. that, without a physician's advice. I should have done just the wrong things. An- other moral is. that there is progress in medicine as well as in otlu'i' things. H the intelligent, educated young doctor of the present can tell you in twenty minutes just what you n(>ed to do to get well, it is cheaper to pay ^2.M for it than to have a doctor call in every day for a week, even if you pay him only S].()o for each visit. I am pleased, also, to note the perfect agreement Ix^- tween the skilled physicians of Ohio and one from so far ofT as Portland. Oregon. Now, d<'ar reader. I am ready to go on with my story. Portland. Oregon, is a progressive city of about t out in th(! fall, and any time during the winter when most con V(mi lent. I had a very pleasant visit from Mr. I). Ivaulfman, of Needy. Oregon. He told rae of having his l)ees gather hoiu-y from the willow in February, during om? .season, so they stored in the sections as high as 30 lbs. per col- ony. The princii)al honey-|)lant among the nuiuntains is an evergrc-en shrub called "fal- lal." Friend Kauttman very kindly presented m«^ and the friends with whom I was staying, a nice lot of beautiful honey from that source. oThere are a good many Chinese in Portland, and Tiiany of them, I am told, are men of wealth. For the first time in my life I saw here a Chinese woman on the streets. She was rich- ly dressed, much as the men dress, only she wore nothing on the head. I am told they are al- ways bareheaded when on the streets, no mat- ter what the weather is. .Judging from a sin- gle specimen, I should call Chinese women very graceful and pretty. As I moved out of Portland (Dec. 21) on the way to Seattle, Washington, I was much stirred by the sight of the steamboats on the river. It reminded me vividly of a similai' sight when I was attending school, aliuost 40 years ago, on the banks of the Ohio River. Oh what beauti- ful green fields, right here in winter time! Yes. and gardens too, and orchards, where the apples are not yet i)icked. Very likely almost everybody knows that there are feiiy boats large enough to carry a whole train of cars; but I shall have to confess 1 had no thought of such a thing until our train actually ran on such a ferry to cross the Colum- bia River. Thei'e were three tracks on the ferryboat, and the train was divided into three sections. The boat was so large that the weight of the locomotive and train hardly sank it per- ceptibly. As we left the ferry I saw men pull- ing sturgeons out of a fishing-boat, many of the lisli being as large as the men who raised them with pulley and tackle. The Columbia River salmon is a inost delicious lish. as 1 happen t,o Ifnow. for tln^ doctoi' told me. when I needed some solid food besides my milk- and-hrotli diet, to eat fresh tish. Se;ittle is an- other new and pretty city of about ,50.000 inhab- itants. A great deal of fault is found with railroad companii^s, express and telegraph companies, etc. 1 want to say a. word of luaise for the lat- ter. On Monday, Dec. 21, my good wife felt as if she could stand itno longer to think I w-assick with my old fever, and she not near me, so Ernest .sent nn; the following telegram: "Moth- er wants to go, if you are willing. Wire an- swer." I do not know what time Monday this was sent, but it went to Portland; and. tinding 1 64 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. J AX. 1.5. had gone on. it traced me to Seattle, found the liotel where niv name was registered, and at twenty minnti's before midnight the clerk wak- ened me and lianded it in my door. Before the clock had got to VI I wii-ed back, "I am quite well now. Better await letter from me." Well, even at that hour of the night the te.le- gi-aph company sent a messenger to receive and send off my answer, without charge. That is, they made no charge for sending a boy at that time of night to get the telegram. Tbi> hotel clerk simply pressed a button, and this notified the office to send a boy to get an important mes- sage. For $!2.(X). or about that sum, my family in Ohio called to me in Seattle. Washington, to know •• how I was." The hotel clerk woke me up. and'l called back to them, nearly 3000 miles. •' I am quite well now." Isn't it worth some- thing to live in a country whei'e such a thing is possible? And is it not true that we have a good many people who acce])t responsibility, and discharge these duties faithfully and well? I am proud of our people, and I feel it a pleas- ure to pay them for their faithful service. Probably most of our readers have heard of H. A. March, of Fldalgo. on Puget Sound. Washington. Years ago friend March gave us some valuable facts on how far bees tly. and these facts are embodied in our A B C book. Lat- er friend M. has becoiue famous as almost the onlv man in Aiuerica who grows successfully, on our shores, cauliflower seed. Right near my elbow, while I write, stands a bag of this seed, worth about $1000: and there is more than double this amount in cabbage and cauliflower seed in the house: but I haven't got quite ready vet to tell you about friend March's gardening. While in Salt Lake City I received a letter from friend M.. saying he should feel greatly honor- ed if the President of the U. S. should conclude to pay him a visit, and that he would do his level best to make the visit a pleasant one: but that, could he have his choice, he rather thought he would prefer a visit from A. I. Root. Well, this explains why you find me away up here at Seattle, waiting for the steamer "Wasco" to take me to Fidalgo. I was so weak after my sick- ness that I felt faint when I stepped on board: but something seemed to tell me I was going to find health and strength there. As we pushed out into the waves, which were already running high, I stationed myself near the bow. where I could readily imagine the steamer was a fast horse and I the rider. Reader, if you ever get seasick, try my plan. Look straight ahead, in the direction the steamer is going: brace your- self; lean a little forward, and hold on. I soon began to enjoy it. Sea-gulls were all about us, even flying so close you could look into their eyes. And ducks and geese— oh my ! how thick they are up here I There are so many varieties of both, I feared I should never learn them: and then there is a most handsome water-fowl they call " brant." It is about half way between a duck and a goose. Hunting water-fowls is a trade here: and when the day is suitable, the cracking of the guns is heift-d "almost incessant- ly. Puget Sound is almost alive with ducks and geese, and very often the air is full of them. Sometimes their cackling and singing makes a constant, steady nois(\ When we got out into thi^ open salt water the steamer rolled and tum- bled a good deal: but I rather enjoyed it. W(^ pa- trough of tlu' waves. Ohl but LUdn't she roll and pitch! The waves went right over her, and did the neatest job of washing and scrubbing off the decksiyou ever saw. Yes, the waters even washed the window where I was looking out. until I couldn't see ahead. It really .'teemed as if the great steamer had taken a sudden notion to dive, head first, clear down to the bottom of the sound: but just befoi'e she got clear under water she would strike something so solid I really thought at first shi' was bumping her head against the bottom. When I suggested as much, don't you believe my fellow -passengers were rude enough to have a big laugh at my simplicity! ''Bumped against the bottom!"' and then they " haw-hawed " again. Well, it seemed just like a big load in a buggy that makes the spi'ings strike together every now and then. Finally some one >aid it was the front part of the boat striking the surface of the water, as she came down upon it. The wind in- creased, and so did my enjoyment, until toward night, when it was so high they tried again and again to tie up at a landing. Somebody said they would have to give it up and go by: but one of the crew said we had got to lonrJ. for they were out of both wood and water. Well, they finally got her tied up: but when she was loaded, the captain said it was not prudent to start out in such a gale and such utter darknes-s. Then I discovered that I had eaten three pretty good meals; and after the clei'k had stowed me away in a nice warm berth. I foi'got about being sick, and went right to sleep. About 3 o'clock the whistle blew and we pull- ed loose again. I looked out: and as the moon was shining I dressed and came out to see the rest of the fun. We soon landed at Anacortes, a town of over two thousand inhabitants, where, only ?^> months ago. was an entire wil- derness. This is a fair example of the way they get up booms up here in this northwestern country. About a dozen steamers touch at An- acortes every day. They have already two railroads and an electric-motor railway, eleven miles in length. Of coul•S(^ there has been a wild excitement in selling land and lots for the past year. I landed at the wharf, went to a hotel, and, as it was at least two hours until daylight, the landlord built a fire for me in the ladies' parlor. . and at the proper time gave me a nice breakfast, and charged only 35 cts. for all. So you see these new towns that "start up so suddenly do not al- ways charge exorbitant prices. At Seattle I paid 75 cts. for breakfast, and no better, to my notion, than tlie 25-centone. I must not forget to mention that, away up here near the north pole, the days are very short. It gets night about 4 o'clock, and it isn't morning much before 8. Business men. many of them, open their stores at about 9 in the morning. The sun pops up a little, away off in the south, duiing the middle of thi^ day, and then pops down again. But in thesummer time, oh what a difference! I)awn then comtnences a little after 3 in the morning, and fiiend March says lie can r(>ad a paper out in his dooryard until almost 10 at night. From Anacortes I went 3 miles by rail to Fi- dalgo. and then I had a mile through beautiful woods of pine and fir to the March ranch I have read about and seen for years, only in imagina- tion. Salt water is everywhere, for this whole country is islands, peninsulas, bays, and sounds. The forest- trees are immense, and the perfume of the firs and other evergreens is wonderfully delicious, especially to one who has been sick. I always love to see running water, and here I found enough of it, as it has been raining so much. The shrubbery and und(M'growth are so thick in these woods one can hardly get through unless he follows the wagon-roads. I passed IS'.rJ (.li:a.\in(;s in hkk cliltuue. over till' Mitnmil i>t I'icialirn I>l;iii(l. iiml ciiiiif lmhi'i'. The lloofs wci'r all raised a i-ouple of feet fi'oni the tri'onnd. doiii)tless to avoid dami)ness. and padioi'ks on the doors indieatcd that things were not iiian;igt>d in a loose way. As 1 neared the fence that dividi-d the wood land from llie garden. I notieed tiie rain-water ruiiniiifj in a series of silt-basins, and from these a sei'iesof niulerdrains led down through liis srardens to the hcaeh. Oh what, ei lei'N sreei- <'d my evesi Thei-e are at least •.'."> or lid ditlerent oulbiiildinsrs around his home. 1 passed throntrh the gardiMi. through the apiary, and under a broad low shed at the back of the honse. Here 1 stopped and looked abont. An eldei-Iy man ap- proachi'd. and 1 told him I was A. I. Koot. \(>\\ ought to hive seen us laugh aud-talk. Here is friend Mart-li. just as I saw him. -m H.A. MAKrH. Kll)Al-(iO. SKACilT CO., WASH.. Till'. VKTKHAN HKK-KKKt'KR. f AULIFI.OVVKU- sKi:i) (;nowp:H. o.vrdkxki!. .wd iMioi'uiirroH OF rM"<;KT sol XI) KG(;-KAr,M. Ill less time than I can tell it the whole ranch was at my disposal. I began to take in great lireaths of strength and enthusiasm all at the same time. In the tirst place, foi' the first time in my life I saw before me a .siircessful egg- farm. Friend M. has raised eggs as a bnsinc^ss for more than twenty years past. He runs incu- bators, and hatches over 2000 chicks each year. His SrjO laying hens are in about twenty differ- ent houses. While all have unlimited rang(\ they all go where they belong, to roost. They are always fed in their houses, and the eggs are laid. also, in nests made in the buildings. They are now getting daily from 1.50 toriOO eggs: and at 37'. J cts. per dozen they more than pay all expenses. I went over, one by one. the dif- Icn III olistaclo u>iiall\ iiiei In keeping poultry by the tiioiisand. I'ri nd .M.aiid Ins boys have met each (haw l)ack. and rou«:ht through it. Kats. disease, \erinin. w ild animals in tlie wooils, etc.. are held In chi^ck only by ■'eternal vigi- lance." It, is the same way with his wonderful achieveineiils In markel-gaideiiing. (Jo over his place and talk with liliii. and you can well understand why he succeeds when everybody else fails. l>ei me give you an iiicldciii characteristic of the man: When lie look a noiion. about ten years ago. to raise caiillllowcrseed hesoon toiiiid lie musi, have water for irrigation. Hack in the woods, on ihe hillside, he found a weak spring of w aier. This spring w as near a line fence be- twc(Mi himself and neighbor. As Ills means well! then limited he niaile troughs of boards, nailed together and supported sawlior.se lasliioii, locally the water clear down to liis garden. He succeeded, and began to make some money witli his seeds. As more water was needed he began opening up the spring until It came clear up to the line fence. At this point his inuglibor bi'gan looking on and linally demanded .'*:.'.").0() a year for the water that came out under the fence. Friend March refused to pay it, and tiu; neighbor shut the water off, to bring him to terms. Friend M. '■ looked the ground over." and found a wet-looking place on iiis side of the fence, a little further up. so he and his men turned their ditch alongside of tlie fence up toward this wet spot. They kept going into the hill, until at the upperend they were 14 feet be- low the surface. While the work was going on he hajipened to be going up with his son, and they noticed a great volume of water pouring down the troughs. Supposing the men had probably let it off where they had dammed it up lie remarked: •• Al. 1 would give a thousand dollars for a spring that would give us water likt^ that," and .just at this moment the men came rushing down to say they had struck a spring as big as a man's arm. Here was all the water lie wanted on his own land, and, behold, his neighbor's little spring had suddenly become dry: for all the water, so it transpired, came from tliis one big vein. Now he could not only raise all the cauli- llowerseed he wished, but he could raise cab- bages, celery, strawberries, and any thing he wished, on his whole 12 acres of uiiderdrained and enriched market-garden ground. All the underdiaining liere is done witii red cedar, and this U-lool trench was soon bridged over clear to the spring. A huge tank was then construct- ed on the upiier side of his garden, where the water is warmed up by the sun before putting it on the plants. Our friend had no money to buy iron pipes, ami his ground does not lie so he can run the water in trenches, so he lay awake nights, as bee-men often do, studying out his apparatus for irrigation, and this is what he did: He bought some heavy ducking, or sail cloth, and made his own cloth hose. A wiiole piece is iinrolleil, t'lit from end to end in three equal strips. Each strip is rolled u[) and made into a hose by double seaming on a sowing-machine. Then h(^ put tliis cloth lio.se into a tub contain- ing boiled linseed oil and tar, one gallon of tar to live of oil. The sni[)lus oil is now iiressed out by running the hose througn a common clothes-wringer, and. when dry, there is oil enough to hold the water, h'or connecting these cloth tubes, a short tube of heavy tin is pushed into the cloth tube, and tied with a stout piece of twin(\ To prevent it from slipping apart, a bead is turned near each end of the short tin tube. He has about :.'000 feet of this canvas hose, and it cost liini only about :i cts. |)i'r foot. He has ii.sed some of it for five years, (W GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Jan. 1."). and It has not broken anywhere yet. This is rf ally doing better than rubber hose that cost us about 12 cts. per foot. To irrigate a field the cloth hose is laid to the point in the lot furthest from the tank. One of his men now takes the end of the hose in hand and thoroughly waters nine rows of plants — four rows each side of him, and the one between his feet. As he gets the ground well soaked he walks backward: and when he gets back to a coupling in the hose he pulls the bow-knot in the string, and drops one length of hose. This he repeats until the nine rows are watered the whole length of the field; then he puts his hose together and waters nine rows more, and soon. A good man will thoroughly soak an acre in a day. When dry enough the cultivator is put on, and then a lump-pulverizer — a ma- chine of March's invention. This machine scrapes all the lumps into the middle of the row. and then mashes them up fine. Is all this too nmch bother? By and by I will show you a Kodak view of a dozen stalks of his irrigated celery. They are about all I should want to carry. I hardly dare tell you what crops friend Marcli h.. Manufacturer of Apiarian Supplies.'" These signs are to be tacked across the sides of the loaded cars as they come from our factory. Our carloads are now beginning to leave the Home of the Honey- bees: and may be if you are on the lookout you may see some of these signs " skylarking " around the country. There is nothing like keeping vour name constantlv befoi'e the public. See •? " '_ On page 18, the per cent of the schedule of the marking of the Italian bee. as reported by the committee at the North American at Al- bany, does not seem complete. The total foot- ing amounts to only 90 per cent. The committee in their hurry failed to notice it. We would suggest that honey-gathering be made 40, and prolificness 20. This will make the footing IS'.f.' (;i-KAMN(;s IN uKi: ( i i/nuK. (iT conrot. Mr. T. (J. Ncwniiiii callcMl tun ;iiirii- tiori to till' miitt«'i\ 1 r li;is oftt'ii bi'i'ii S!ii. si) loiijr as we Imvo siirli cxc'cllciit liiM'-litc'i;ilnrc. art' i)f no value, cxcfpt, tlic soi-ial lcatm<' ol ilii'iii. Tliis is piirtly tfiie; hut soint' of llif iiuisi \ alual'li' and iinporiant (lucstions laUc root in I'ouvciuions and iiivc food for fuithcrdisrussion tiirouirii till- licc-journals. NNC refer to the matter of sprayinfj fruit-trees and poisoninii bees, irradinir honey, etc. .\ convention of l)i'e- lrot.est ugainsl injurious le<^- ishilion tiian all the bpo-journals put together. Oti; booU review, on page !>.">■.'. Dee. 1. of Mr. (i. U. rieree"s booU. "The Winter I'robleiii in Hee- keepiiifr," has ealh'd forth nuu'ii eoniinendation and corroborative testimony. We ar(^ unable to siive place to all that has been written on the s\ib.ii'ct, but we will {live somethins more in our next issue. It si'(>ms t liatothers ha\'e been ex- lierimentiu}; in regard to the use of absorbents versus non-absorbents; and the results of ex- pei-imeiit,s so far seem to justify the use of a sealed cover properly protected with packing. We would suggest, that as many of our readei's as can. conveniently, test tlie two side by side. What might be true of one locality might not be of am)thi'r. Let us see whether non-absorb- ents are bt'tter— that is. give tlie best results for all localities. Hko. Nkwmax. of t\u^ Aincririni Bee Journiil. seems to deplore the fact that the matter of spraying fruit-trees, as introduced by Prof. Lintner. at the Albany convention, was not ex- Ijunged from the records. The mere fact that the professor seemed, for a time, to reject the statement of Dadant and Hambaugh as lacking proof, called forth such overirhchnuKj testimo- nies that neither lie nor anyboily else could doubt that spi'ayiiig fruit-hloom is decidedly injurious and destructive to bees. Hee-keepei-s wlio have not had experience in the matter of spraying have not been positive tiiat it was a damage to the bees. But Prof. Lintner's skep- tical attitude has called forth such overwhelm- ing facts that we for one are glatl that the mat- ter came up as it did. A FAI.SK ALAR.M: ADUI.TEKATlOX OF IIOXRV, ETC. 0.\ page 23. .Tan. 1. 8. T. Fish v<: Co. state that a certain manufacturing firm to whom in past seasons they had sold carloads of honey, after iiaving experimented with granulated sugar found it far sutierior to honey, since the article manufactured with honey as an ingi'edient would sour in time. From this language we gathered that it was a bakery tirm. and so stat- ed it editorially on page ."Jl of the same issue. We have just received a lettei- from S. T. Fisli \- Co.. stating that it was not a baking concern, l)ut a tobacco firm. They say: <)u p;ige 2:2 you quote us as havinK said it was a l)akery iliat refused to purchase liouex . Now, we did not flesire to mention the line of Imsiiiess in wliicli they refused to liaiidle Imncy this season, siiii'e we thoug'ht it of no si)ecial benefit to the lead- eis; tmt since you tlioufrht llie same oujrht to lie Kiven we will set you rijrlit in the matter by statinif tliat it wa.s ;i tol)aceo Hrni. No doubt you are awai'e thatapreat deal of lione.v is used annually tiy to- bacco nianufacturei-s; t)iit whenever fault is fiuind tlie.v endeavor to reruedy l)y e.\|ierini(!ntinK'; aiifl oiii' fa<-tory did this in the" beUef that the hi)ne.\- liad soured the tobacco after it had been in the liaiifls of t he jol)bers. We exi>lained to them that tlii'i-e is a difference in lione.v, and we reg'ret tliat aii.v lione.v was Sold them that should not have met with their entire satisfaction. Relative to the ai-tieli' from M, H. Tweed, on nage :J2, we quite agree with him; and while we iis sellei-s can not |ilai-e oui'selves in a positiun open to crlti- rism, we ha\ 1' rm (iciiibl I ha I \ nii « (iiilil he in a pi)si- lioii (d lliid nioi'e Ih.iri I wo iliiiis in Ihc West who luaUr a business of adull eial ion. We a I'e nut of the opinion tlial >iiu I'oiild Rain a n.\ t hluK by pub- lishing tlieni; but whene\-ei- it is decided to lake aii.\ art ion. and we are con stilled, we believe wf! can jii\i' \oii consideiable information. Chicago, III.. .Ian. K. S. T. Kisii & Co. \V(' shall be very glad to avail ourselves of your assistance in ferreting out this matter of adulteration. The editor of the .1 //k'/'K'ok Bcr JiiiniKil. who is also manager of the ISee-keep- ers" I'liion. of your city, Mr. T. (;. \ewman, !!)'.» East Randolph St.. is the one the most compe- tent to deal with the matter. We suggest that you confer with him at an (!arly dav in regard to it. SNOW. A.NI) rrs IJKI.ATIO.N TO TIIK KAII.IUIO OF TIIK IIO.NKV CKOl'. Wnii-K we were sitting at the table in tln^ hotiil at Grand Rapids it was our phnisuri* to make the acquaintance of Mr. A. .1. Pierce, whose name we have referrtMi to in our conven- tion repoi't. In speaking of the past four or live years of almost total failure in bee-keeping in Michigan, he gave it as his ojiinion that it was owing to the lack of snow in winter. He be- lieved that it was necessary to pi-eserve the young clover, and also to give it sufficient mois- ture for its best development. We had never thought of this before: but. as nearly as we can lecollect. there has been rather a scarcity of snow for the last three or four winters, in re- gions whei'e bee-keeping has been almost a total failure. There was no snow last year — at least, none of any account, in Michigan, and a poor season for bees followed. In York State and Vermont last winter they had very heavy snows, and through all that section of country they had a good year foi' the bees. It might be interesting to have some statistics prepared, to see what relation there is between snow and poor honey years. Possibly there is no relation at all: and what seems to point that way may be only a mere coincidences Perhaps some of our readers may be able to furnish us some statistics or facts as to whether winter snow has any bearing on the mattei'. keports of hee-c()nvention.h ix the daily papers; a np;wspaper reporter's version of one of the essays read at grand rapids. On page 4."). cturiuit issue, President Elwood. in his address, makes an excellent suggestion, to the effect that the .secretary furnish news- paper reporters reliable matter for their papers. It is very well known that they do sometimes make ridiculous bungles, and some bee-keepers have been too much disgusted to even turn their hand over to help them. The reports tliat appeared in the daily papers of Grand Rapids, of the Michigan convention, were very good as a whole; but to show how tiven the best of re- porters do S(mietimi's get things mixed, we will give you an illustration. In our essay on the subject of •' Bicycle vs. Horse for Out-apiary Trips" we incidentally referred to th(i fact that we had on this machine visited bee-keepers in localities in New \'ork State wiiere there were thousands of colonies. In anotluM" part of the paper we had referred to the use of the bicycle in visiting out-apiaries, and told how we had gone seven miles to the yard, and returned. Well, how do you think the reporter got it? We failed to secure a cojiy of the paper for our own use: but as wv remember, it was something like this: " E. R. Root has used the bicycle to good advantage. On it he has gone seven miles into York State, and visited thousands of apia- ries. He thought the bicycle a good thing for tlie bee-keeper." A bee-keeper would natually (W GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Jak. 1.>. think that apiaries must be pretty thick along that seven-mile route in York State, or else that we were greatly given to exaggei'ation. It's too bad it is not true, for here would have been a grand chance for the advocates of bee- legislation, or priority of location. The report- er had doubtless heard us use the word "' thou- sand" as referring to colonies, and. as nearly as he could recollect, it was tltousdnds of apiaries. Whew! This is worse than Alley's version of the North American. We would suggest the propriety of each one, who pi'epares an essay or paper for convention, writing out a brief digest of it — yes, two or three of them, to hand to re- porters. They will appreciate the favor, and will be glad to give a correct version. It is the fault of bee-keepers, not of the reporters, that such garbled notes app^^ar in the daily press. Bee-keepers should avail themselves of the free notices in regard to our conventions; but let us by all means have correct reports. M. H. htjxt's non-burr-comh fha.me. itAt the Grand Rapids convention iNIr. M. H. Hunt exhibited his uon-burr-comb frame. It is a double top-bar, with a bee-space between, and is the same as that suggested by I. H. xVmes, Hudson, Mich. (Gleanings, p. 204, 18tX)), with this difference: The upper bar is only % inch wide, to give plenty of room to the fingers in handling. The lower bar is l3s wide. This, he says, is an absolute prevention of burr- combs, and we do not doubt it. When the mat- ter originally came up. you will remember we were quite enthusiastic on this double top-bar. It answers the purpose of a Hill device in win- ter, and also allows the enamel cloth to lie flat, and to be scaled on the frames for winter — a very desirable desideratum, by the way. The I'eason we preferred the thick top-bar was be- cause it is cheaper, and th^re are fewer pieces: and, barring the Hill-device feature, it was every way as good. Another difficulty with the double top-bar was the trouble of putting in a suitable comb-guide. As Mr. Hunt wires on the perpendicular plan, a comb-guide is un- necessary. (iRADING HONKY. On the first page of this issue, . I. A. Green otters some good suggestions on grading. Be- fore reading his article, howevei', our idea was to use the Chicago system as the basis, calling the first grade "Fancy:" second grade "A," and the other grades by the letters of the alpha- bet in their order. The Chicago scheme of leaving out color as a quality in each grade, we thought a good one, leaving the matter of color to be decided entirely by the kiiid of honey. Foi' instance, a fancy buckwheat could come under the highest grade; but the name "'buck- wheat" would describe a dark honey. But perhaps there is a ditficuly here. The general public, and many of the commission houses, probably would not know what is meant by '• Fancy " or "A" grade smartweed or Spanish- need le honey: and they would be utterly in the dark as to what would be their respective colors. The trade call all wiiite honeys clover; that is, it prefers to do so, as its customers are not ac- ijuainted with th(> many sources: but when a honey is described as ••whit(>„'" it has some sig- nificance. On the whole, then, we would indorse Green's system. It seems to be an improve- ment on both the Chicago and .\lbany classifi- cations. We should be glad to have this subject discussed further. It would be a great boon to bee-keepers and honey-merchants if a national system of gi'ading could be adopted. It sliould be broad enough to l)e frei- from local interests. and yet be six'ci tic (Miough to cover e\ei'y sort of honey. HEAVY AS. LIGHT BROOD FOUNDATION. Many of our readers, in anticipation of send- ing in their orders soon to their supply-dealer, are debating the question whether they shall use heavy or light brood foundation. We have formerly given the advice that, whei'e frames were not wired, to use the heavy brood. As the horizontal plan of wiring described elsewhere is so cheap, and so little laljor, every one will find it cheaper and vastly more satisfactory in its results to purchase medium or light brood foundation, and wire, than to purchase the heavy article and not wire. There are a good many bee-keepers who think it is unnecessary to wire; but we fancy that, if they knew they could wire and yet get good combs for less money they would do it. While in this connec- tion, we might I'emark that a certain German supply-dealer is ordering all his foundation- mills made for extra heavy brood foundation. The walls are so deep that the foundation is J4 inch thick. We have tested this foundation; and while it makes beautiful combs, it is an awful expense. Only about three Langstroth sheets to the i)ound can be obtained; whereas, of the light brood there are about eight sheets. With the ordinary heavy brood there are from four to five. With these figures before you, considering tliat light brood costs only six per cent more than the lieavy brood, with nearly twice as many sheets to the pound, the reader can figure out for himself which foundation he prefers. It is immaterial to us or to any man- ufacturer which grade the be«>-keepers order. We do. however, want them to look after their own interests. SUCCESSFUL MAILING OF Ir.' QUEENS TO AUS- TRALIA. Aloxc; last September we sent by mail some thirteen ([ueens toditlVrent parties in Australia. The r(>ports are now in, and show that twelve of the thirteen arrived alive, and eleven are now successfully introduced. We make extracts from the letters, that will speak for themselves: Tlie queen you ordered from G. M. Doolittle ai-- rived siife with six workers alive. R. J. Crib. Brisbane, Queensland, Sept. 22. lamg-lad toiuform youbotli queens came through in tiptop condition. Tliey arrived here, and wei-e safely introduced Nov. 14-tli. You can mention the fact "in Gleanings, stating- tliat Mr. Bell, of Bris- l)ane, received and safely introduced the queens on my belialf. S. H. Bateman. Kedlaiid Bay, Aus., Nov. 22. You will lie pleased to hear that the three Italian (lueens mailed l)yyou Oct. 8 were received Nov. 10 all alive and in ^ood condition. In one cage there were two (k'a> to lie al)le to inform you that tlie three Italian ((uet'iis arrived liert^ (piite safe on Saturday, tlie 14th insl. The only living liee in one of the cages was the (lueeii, and in one of the other cages tliere weri- seven alivt' liesides the <|ueen, and in tlie third one tlieie were only tliree liees dead, and they were stuck in their footl, and that was tlie cause of most of the deaths, I believe. As soon a.s they ar- rived I introduced them liy cagiiif them on the comli, as per instructions in the A 15 C, and yester- is».r.' (;i,i:AMN(is IN iu;i: ( t i/iiKK. (I;iy tlu'V li!i(l K'iiil\M|i(';ii':iiu-c. in Ilir hcsl of IicmIIIi; sii, in a slmil linn- 1 (Xiicct III liavi' all iiij hiai'k (iiii'viis iciilaccd xviih \ flliiw iiiii'N. lam iiiclintil ti) liclirxc in llic llaliaii liifi'il. (il.KA\lN(;s lia> a \cl\ wide cii rnla- lioii lll^l>Il^ill all thf cDliiiiif^. and iin" doiilil iilciil\ of jdiir readers wiiiild liii|uirl lar>iel.\ fi-oni \(iii in (|il('eii>. (inl.v llie\ are afraid ipf the risk; liul if tlie.\ send aboiM AiiKllsl I lie\ will >ret the niieens onl in Noveinlier. Tliat isjiisl llieriKlit 1 line lo intrndnce llieiii; and 111.' facl of Ihiee«iilt of lliree heiiiK land- ed in l»iili')o lo nie will show that there is little or no ri-k in iiii|>oilin>j: them. ('. Pkakck. Dubho. N. S. W., Nov. 17. It siM'ins .Mr. Dooliltle (lidnt have (|iiite the siu'cess we did. It is possilije iiis t-aiidy was iiol just riirlil: but lie will <;et the kiiark (if ii if any one oiui. .\s it is. we oaii say uiifcseivedly liiat till' inailiiijr oi queens across tiic oi'caii. even lo iiall' way around the globe*, is no cxpcri- nieiit. but a siK-eess. Our in»>tiiod of jin-pariiiEC tile mail pai'liafics was dosorihed in delail in our Dec. l.'th ninntxT. pago itTO. COWVEJNTION NOTICES. IlIK I. OS .\NGEI,ES CONVKNTION". .IisT as we go to pi-oss. a note from A. I. Ivoot. addressed to the "folks at home'" comes to hand. .\s we have liad many iiuiuiries regard- ing liiin. aiui the condition of his health, we make an extract from tiie lettci'. which answers for itself. Tlif convention is over, and «e \\-avv had a most splendid time-- not a breath of tiisrord. I wanted to write up notes of it; but Prof. Cook makes a \elie- ment protest. He sa.\s that, if t don't stop working' every da.\ and hour. 1 shall be little bi'tter ott here than at home. He advises an apiary out in some of these mountain ranches, and says that, with Mvs. l{oot to take care of me, I mia'ht live to a frood old a>re. Well, I am jiroin};- to live to a good old ag'e any way, if 1 eontinue to eat and sleep as I do now. While tiiero is little probability that the sen- ior editor will establish an apiary in California for his health. Prof, ("ook's advice to husband his strength is sound, and the Roots, big and little, add tluMr heartv indorsement. Onto bee-keepers should remcunber that the State convention meets this year at Cincinnati. Feb. 10 to V2. at the West End Turner Hall, on Freeman Avenue. It is especially di'Sired that those who expect to attend seinl tlieir names to the secretary, S. K. .Morris. Bloomingburg. O. The fact that Charles F. Mtith is president is a guarantee that tlu' arrangements at Cincin- nati uill be complete. Mr. .Muth desires us to iinite also the bee-keepers of Kentucky and Indiana, as the place (>( nteeting is on the bor- der of three Stiites. TuosK of our readers who are poiiltrymen will take great intei'est in reading the senior editor's noti'S of travel, especially where he speaks of his visit to H. .\. March's. CIRCULAHS KECEIVED Tlie tolluwin^ pai-tifs liave sent us llieir price li>t foi- IXliri: The Berlin Fruit-box Co.. Berlin Huigrhts, O. The St. Joseph .\piary Co.. St. Joseph, Mo. G. B. Lewis & Co.. Waterti.wn, Wis. S F. & I. Trepc. s»e.vlv,uiia.,iiiil W.slein New York Bie-keipers' Asso- .•lai.on will |„. |„ld in Asl.laliula, (I, Jan. 'iT, •J8. in in,. p«,-|ors ol he ll,,ic .lanes. ArcmI i.rot'iaiii i- pr, pared. The .lUes- ion- .,,x will be a pioiiun.nl tealuie. I'loiframs wiUbe sent lo all WHO ilcMie Ihein. .\ II are invited, (iKO. Spiti.ku, Sei'., .Mosieitown, Crawford (h>.. Pa, The Minuet, la Bee k<'< pers' A>s..ri,ition will niecl in Owaton- MM .Alinn on the ■;»ll,„,ul-;i., of January. I8'j;. I',- nteitain- luiit XMll hepn.vi.le.l l,,i- th..-e alteiKllMH. I.y the eilizeiisof Owat,.ii„a..uMl 11 i>ex|Hrle.l that Ihe railroads will carry, at lediiced rates, those .■.itendi.iK-. Th.i State HorticuUnral Soci- ety Holds Its annual ineelin(i; at the same time. UedwniK, Minn. W. Dankokth, .Sec. The Oliio .Slate Beekeepers' .\sso.-iation will hold its next annual nieetiiiK- at the w, st Knd Turner Hail, Freeman Ave.. I in.'.niiati. lei,. l.Mo r;, l,S!f.'. bet'innhifr at 10 a. m. on the 10th. All local associations sli.nild endeavor to meet with us or .send their deletrales. Tb,,se int,.M,lin(; u pivsenl -vill , .'" send their names to the seeretarv at their earliest conven- ience. The president. C. F. Muth. Will endeavor to t'.-t reduced railroad rates, and lediiced rates at hotels. The proKram will soon be issued, and all particulars published. BloomuiBburg, O. s. R. MoKHis, See. Spec/A L Notices. ALSIKE CLOVER SEED ADVANCED. In order to get stmie choice alsikc to fill present orders, we were oblifred to pay more than the ad- vertised luiccliiour list. ('. .\s we are the pioneers in its introduction and imi'rovement it would seem as though you stood a better chance of getting the latest improved hives by buving of us or one of our dealers. Joseph Nysewa'nder Des Moines. Iowa; Harteldes & Co., Denver, Col" and (Jolwick &; Colwick, Norse, Bosque Co.. Te.va.s are sui)plied with ourhitest hives in carload (luantitv Weexi>ect to ship very soon to sujiplv F. L. Posseii & Co., Portland. Oregon;. Ino, Nebel & Son, High Hill. Mo. : Oliver Hoover & Co., Hiverside, Pa and our eastern branch at Syracuse, F. A. SalisbtU'v agent. Hesides these, and others who buy in cat- load lots, there afe manj' others who buy in less (quantities to sell again. To all regular dea'lers who will handle our supplies we make special terms and inducements, sent only to tlio.se who ajiply My Catalogue of APIARIAN SUPPLIES for 1892 is free ; My Pamphlet, "HOW I PRODUCE COMB HONEY," by Mail, 5 cts. GEO. E. HILTON, Fremont. Mich. Please mention Gleaninos. '^-13db 70 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Jax. 15. Dovetailed Hives, Simplicity Hives, SECTIONS. EXTRACTORS. ETC. A FULL LINE OF BEE-KEEPERS' SUPPLIES. 60-PAGE CATALOGUE. Itfdb J. M- Jenkins, Wetumpka, Alabama. C^lii responauisr to lin.s udveixi^eiut-ii Itloll til.KANJN(iM Tlie above is a representation of our factory. BUILT AND EQUIPPED EXCLUSIVELY FOB THE MANUFACTURE OF APIARIAN SUPPLIES. We liave in connection with our business a LUMBER YARD, A TIN-SHOP, and a PRINTING-OFFICE. All this enables us to manufacture and sell almost all kinds of goods very CHEAP. We have sold over FOUR CARLOADS of supplies since November 1, and of those contemplating buying, either in SMALL or LARGE QUANTITIES, we ask a TRIAL. Remember we will not be UNDERSOLD or EXCELLED IN QUALITY, i'4-page catalogue free. Address liEAHV ^'F'G CO., Higginsville, Mo. tW\n respondiDg to this advertisement mention GLEANli'Gs, $4 or $5 Will buy ONE HIVE of ITALIAN BEES AND QUEEN. Simplicity Hive and Frame or Hoffman Closed-End Frame and Hive. JOHN A. THORNTON, ^^'"^ Lima, Illinois. Please mention thispaoer Eoot's saw-tiU)le. 3 saws, gauges and belt, $2.5.00, also small grist-mill, cheap. Addi'oss for particulars 2d A. A. LEWIS, Watcibury, Vermont. Syracuse, New York, FOR ALL OF A. I. ROOT'S APIARIAN SUPPLIES. FOUNDATION Is Our Own ITIake. F. A. SALISBURY. In writing: to advertisers please mention this paper. 4tf(lb Cash for Beeswax! Will pay 2.10 per lb. easli, or 28c in trade for any quantity of good, fair, average beeswax, delivered at our R. R. station. Tbe same will be sold to those who wish to purchase, at31e per lb., or 35e for best selected wax. Unless you put your name on the box, and notify us by mail of amount sent, 1 can not hold myself responsible for mistakes. It will not pay as a gen- eral thing to send wax by express. A. I. ROOT, Medina, Ohio CAMERAS CHEAP. By the death ot a relative, as explained in anoth- er column, I have come in possession of two very fine photographic cameras. One of them is a Hawkeye, 4x.5, with a jointed tripod. It has three dry-plate holders, and three cut-fllm holders. Be- sides this, it has a lens that cost originally J35.00, with a triplex Prosch i)neumatic shutter worth $10 more. The whole outfit cost originally about $7.5. Tlie camera-box has been newly finished, and looks like a brand-new instinment. It will also take a roll-holder when desired. I will place my guarantee upon the instrument as being first-class in every respect. It has a far lietter lens than the average Hawkeye camera. Samples of tiie work will be mailed upon apiilication. Desiring to give imme- diate returns to the f:nnily of the deceased, I offer this camera for $3'> casli. It is a bargain for .some one who desires sometliing really fine in this line. Speak (juick if you want it, as it will probably be snapped up. I would, under no circumstances, let it go; but, as I have already said, I have two or three other good cameras of my own. E. R. ROOT, Medina, O. VT03MXATIC COSffB rourrDATioir mills. 2-7db — MADK nv— W. C. PELHAM, Maysville, Kentucky. Please mention this ]).s 3tfill) .1. .1. Tl'CKKK, Nevada, Mo. l-1'.Mti Please mention this paper. WILL EXCHANGE foiiiuialioii for wux or cash. Alsd make wax iiilo f(iiiiul:il ion. wiicii si'iit to liu'. at till" lowest piifc ill t III' worUl. SimkI for sain- l>k'- ami iH'iccs to Jacol: WoUcrshoim, Kankauna, Wis. OTTUMWA BEE-HIVE FACTORY. Hfc-kccinMs. lo()kto\oiii' iiitcri'sls. E\i'i\ tliiii;.;' ill till' line of bi't'-sui'plirs coiisl aiil Ij' on liaiul. Pri.'i' list five. GREGORY BROS. & SON, l-l:.M Oil imiw a, la. 8oiitliside. tiriu resijonclinit to tlii.s iulv.iii.-.i.|]ii iii nuiilioii lii.K.\NiNOS. *ClOK SALIi.— APIARY OF 110 COLOINIES ^ Italian Hei's. in 2-story Simplicity and new HiHldoii liivcs, includiiifr 3 lots and liouscs in this town. Tins is an I'.vccllcnt location for bees, and a fail' market for lioiiev. Also 'Z tons of extracted honey for sale. " H. HEYMAN, 3-4d Rrackett. Kinney Co., Texas. Please mention this paper. My Catalogue of APIARIAN SUPPLIES for 1892 is free ; My Pamphlet, "HOW I PRODUCE COMB HONEY," by Mail, 5 cts. GEO. E. HILTON, Fremont, Mich. Please mention GLKA^^NGs. 'i-lSdb Hatch Chickens by Steam. IPLOVED EXCELSIOR INCUBATOR kWill do it. Thousands in saccessfnl oper- Tation. Simple. Perfect and Sr1j'~Heyuliitinq, rLowest-pnced first-class H.atcher made. I Guaranteed to hatch a larger percent^fre of fertile e^esat less cost tnan any otber. Sendee, forlllas. CataloK. UUO. U.STAIlL,(juing7, lil. f^lii >f.~iioiiaiUi£ to mis tujvi Tii^eiueiit meutum OLKAJSlNGa. ELEVEN YEARS WITHOUT A PARALLEL, AND THE STAND- ARD IN EVERY CIVILIZED COUNTRY. Bingham & Hetherington Patent Uncapping-Knife, Standard Size. Bingham's Patent Smokers, Six Sizes and Prices. Doctor Smoker, 3X in., postpaid Conqueror " 3 " Lar?e " 2^ " " Extra (wide shield) 2 " " Plain (narrow " )2 " " Little Wonder, IX " " ... 6.") Uncapping Knife ..1.15 Sent promptly on receipt of price. To sell atfain, send for dozen and half-dozen rates. .$2.00 . 1.7.5 . 1.50 . 1.25 . 1.00 Milledgeville, 111., March 8, 1890. Sirs:— Smokers received to-day, and count cor- rectly. Am ready for orders. If others feel as I do your trade will boom. Truly, F. A. Snell. Vermillion, S. Dak., Feb. 17, 1890. Sirs:— I consider your smokers the best made for any purpose. I have had 15 years' experience with 300 or 400 swarms of bees, and know whereof I speak. Very truly^ R. A. Morgan. Sarahsville. Ohio, March 12,1890. Sirs:— The smoker 1 have has done good service since 188,3. Yours truly, Daniel Brothers. Send for descriptive circular and testimonials to Itfdb BiKQEAii ii HsTBEBnTOTON, Abronia, Mich. l^rin resix*ndin^ to this utlvti'tisejufiit iiieiititJii Gl-KAMN^i's. Everybody Admil-Sc Other SEEDS^^guALLY^RELiABiE -Jped Annual Free, ' wriie For W NOW! A^.LIVINGSTON'5 SONS. BOX 273, COLUMBUS^OHIO. Please mention this paper. IMPORTED QUEENS. in May and .June, each $2.00 In July and August, each 1.80 In September and October, each 1.60 Money must be .sent in advance. Safe arrival gnaianteed. Queens that die en route, if returned in the letter, will be replaced by mail, postpaid. No order for less than 8 queens hy express will be accept- ed. CHAS. BIANCONCINI, 1-lld Bologna, Italy. Please mention this paper. 7d M«\\N \lOT Take a hint V See Gleanings for .lanuary 15tli. A. F. BROWN, HUNTINGTON, PUTNAM CO., FLA. Agent Soutliei'ii E.xpress Co. I^rin responuiiiyr to this advertisement mention GLEAjnNQS. J^. C. SAYLES, HARTFORD, WIS., Manufactures Apiarian Supplies op Embry Description. Catalogue Free to All. Seno Your Address. 3tfdb Please mention this paper. queens:: drones:: Send foi' ))rice list of Italian Queens, Drones, Hives, Smoliers, Foundation, etc. Finest breeding (jueen. after March 1. if-l.OO. Tested. ^2.00; 3 for ROO. Untested, in April, $1.00; 6 for $5.00, or $9.00 per doz- en by mail. Safe arrival guaranteed. Orders for Queens booked for 20 days or more, 5 per cent dis- count. Make money oideis iKnable at Clifton. 3tfdl) COLWIOK & COLWICK, NOESE. BOSaUE CO., TEXAS. Pl<'a>e mention this paper. -V— JWuth's Honey - Extt^actot^. Squafe Glass Honey-Jafs, Tin Buekets, Bee~hives. Honey-Scetions, &e., &c. Pepfeetion Cold-Blast Smokeps. APPLY TO -^^%^%^v.^v.^v.^^>-^^ CHAS. F. IVIOTH & SOfl, Cineinnati, O. Send 10-ct stamp for "Pi:ictical Hints to Bee-keepers." Please mention this paper. GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Feb. 1. Contents of this Number. At»sorbents in Winter Australia. Queens to Bottom-bars. Narrow Bounty. Object of... Bounty, Dr. Miller on Bounty. Government Bumhie-bee— .\ Poem Candy for Feeding 88 Closed-end Fr's in Aust'iia. Clover. Hw eet. in the South. Colorado Let ter Comb. Artificial 1 Contraction, Theory of Edit! .r at H. A. March's Extr.icting from Supers — Frames, Fixed. Axtell's. . . . Garden City Hit Glucosinjj Honev 9:i Hibernation 98 Hoffman's Residence ...89.91 Honev. Frazier's Grading.. 9.3 Italians in Italy 83 Man or Hive? 8.i Melilotus Alba 91 OntariM B. K. A. Secedes.... 10,5 Rambler in Chicago 95 Salt for Foul Brood 84 Strawberry, Everbearing.. .103 Sugar vs. Honey 81 Swarmer, Automatic 93 Sweet Ciovei- 91 Wax -melting 84 CONVENTION NOTICES. The Ohio State Bee-keepers' Association will hold its next annual meeting at the West End Turner Hail, Freeman Ave., Cincinnati. Feb. 10 to 12. 1892, beginning at 10 A. M. on the 10th. The following is the program : Report of ser-retarv, and routine business, 10 a.m.. Feb. 10. Fir.st day, 1 ; 30 P.M.— Essay by Miss Dema Bennett, Bedford. O, •• Taking up bee keeping fn a' general way. and managing the apiarv.'' Discussion— Which is better for the present bee-keeper— that the number of bee and honey producers be increased or di- minisheii; 7 p M.— What is a standard section?— Di-. C C. Miller, Maren- go, 111. Discussion— How can bees be helped artiflcially, so that the apiarist will be benefited (inaneiallv? Second (lay, 9 a ji. -Essay liy G W. Demaree. Cbristiansburg. Kv. ■ How'io pi event swaiiiiing during a good honey-rtow?" biscussion-Are absorbents important! Grading of hcmey, and bounty thereon.— H. R. Boardman, East Toivnsend. O. 1:30 p. M —Packing bees for outdoor wintering.— E R. Root, Medina, O. D:scussiou— Istop ventilation preferable to bottom ventila- tion during the winter months? 7 P.M.— Paper by Dr. A. B. Mason. Auburndale, Ohio. " Foul brood." Are closed-end bars of brood-frames preferable to ones?— Dr. G. L. Tinker. New Philadelphia, 0. Third day. 9 a.m.— Discussion— Is honey-dew injurious to bees as a winter feed? Are artificial swarms less vigorous than natural imes?— O. A. Corev, Frankfort. O. Discussion — .Are bees injurious or are they beneficial to grapes and finiit in general? Music will be intersiiersed each da.v as convenient. KAlLRilAD KATES. The Central Traffic Association of Chicago has agreed to give us I!* tare on all roads leading into Cincinnati, providing we haVe'liH) persons in attendance. Everybody buying a ticket to Cincinnaii snoiild ask the agent for a certiticate for the con- vention. Tliis certiticate, -igned by Sec'y Morris, may entitle the hoick-!- to a one-third faie home. It positively will not. if less than lOO tickets are sold, on all branches of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & D lyton Railroad. Hotel rates will be announced at the convention. Bloomingburg, O. S. R . Morris, See. Special Notices. ALSIKE CLOVER .SEED. We liave secured a choice lot of seed since our last, in such quantity uud at such a price that we can otTer it at the following price till further no- tice: 2.5c per lb.; l)y mail, :i4c; *2.8.) per peck; ^5 51 per >2-husliel; $10.50 pel' bushel, or 2 busiiels for 120.00, bags included. The time for sowing- this seed is near at hand, and we regaid it a safe invest- ment to secure your seed at tliese prici-s, ;is it is almost sure to be higher later in tlie season. root's goods FOK the EAST. Bee-keepers of New ^'ork, Veimont, and the East should bear in mind tlmt we have establislied at S.vriicuse an liiaslern bi;inch where our staple bee- keepers' sup|)lies are ke|)t for sale and in-onipt shipment. You can save time and freight by order- ing from our E:istern branch. We ha\e engaged Mr. F. A. Salisbury lo take charge of this business, and he will treat you well, .\ddress all orders, Eastern Branch, F. A. Salisbury, .\gcni. lti:C) (leii- esee Street, Syracu.se, N. Y. with tliem, especially in view of the splendid edible (jualities of the Puritan and Monroe Seedling. This idea will lie better appreriated when it is considered that the Monroe Seedling. Lee's Pa^•ol■ite. and even the Puritan, will, if jjlanted about the first of June (in this region), keep until new potatoes come again. TO THE FRIENDS OF THE G.ARDEN. We wish to apologize for being a little later than usual with our seed catalogue. We are so well pleased with the selection of varieties we offered last year, and our cu.stomers report such good suc- cessVith them, that we make compai'iitively few changes in the kinds. We otter our friends better seeds this year than we ever have before. The most of them are our own rai.sing. and saved only from carefull>' selected stock. The new catalogue will be out in a few days now; but if you are in a hurry for your seeds, send on your order; we will fill it from new stock just the same, and send you a new catalogue as soon as they can be got ready. There ai'e a few changes in prices al.so. Stime things do not cost so much as last year, and, owing to failure of crops, and our determin-ation to fur- nish only the best of seed, a few things will cost a little more. We have a nice lot of plants .started and will be ready to sliip as soon as the weather will permit. We can ship cabbage-plants, asparagus roots, and pot;itoes to the South between blizzards if ovir friends want them right awa.v. HEADQUARTERS IN THE SOUTH BEE - KEEPERS' SUPPLIES, DOVETAILED HIVES MADE OF CYPRESS LUMBER, A SPECIALTY, AT A. I, ROOTS PRICES, SEED POTATOES. We would call special attention to our li.st of seed potatoes. We have a tine stock of all the varieties we advertise. You will notice our list comprises from the earliest to the best of the medium late. The very latest kinds are so much more ex|)ensive to raise, on account of the long time they must be cared for, that we do not advise anybodj' to bother SPECIAL DISCOUNTS TO DEALERS. H> arc srt Arrnnf/f(t tlmt iff Can Xow (live Special L'tic I'rchflit Untcf. Early 4-rrame Nuclei and Italian ftueens. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED ON ALL TRANSACTIONS. If you need any Bee -Hives, Frames, Sections, Foundation, etc., send tor 14th annual catalogue. P. L. VIALLON M'F'G CO., BAYOU GOULA, LA. 350 Colonies 1,000.000 Sections, Foundation, &c. KS?~Send for price list. E. T. FLANAGAN, BELLEVILLE, ILL. tSrin responding to this adveilisement mention r;LE.\.\iNr;s Manchester Nurseries. All of the leading varieties of BBEKISS, CUEEAHTS, and OEAPES. Bei-ry-plants at one-half the usual price. Introducer of SUITES PEOLIFi: EASPBEEEY. Best new black raspberry out. Send postal card for prices, and desciipiitm of new berr\-. EZRA G. SMITH, Manchester, Ontario Co., N. Y. J^In responding to tbis aWveiti.seineut mention Olka.N'INGS. BEES 18«fJ (II.K.WIXCS IN HEK CUI/rURE. Honey Column. lftQ9 ROOT'S Dovetailed Hive IQ9£ Mt his pi'ji-cs. rirc'iihii I'i'ci'. 1892 CITY MARKETS. Ai.HANY. /f.i)i!j/.-"M;ifki'( Vfiydull on ciiiiil) luiii- i-y. Small lots are St ill cominvr fuiwani. I)iil tlifri' is but very lilllf r de- inaiid. and stoi-k 1)11 liaiid wrv small. We (|iiiilc: t'lovor, ll((ti:«: l>iK-kwli.-at, S(i>ilti. Rxiiactod. lifrlit. T@8; dark. ti.icV. /Jir.siC(i.c, :i'iGii~>>. Jan. 31. Cn.\s. Miri'f.r,()cii &("().. Albany, N. Y. Huston.— /full. !/. Tiic demand for lioiicy is lifriit. and ilu' supply is amplf. Prii-c of conib. 14@].'j. Kxtiaotoii, tidi.T. Bri:-fht domaiid. supply lif^lit, wliite, T®?^ ; diU'U. ."i(<0tj. ZJ''t>'W((.r, none on the inai'kt't; woathtT oold with lifrlit trade. Hamhi,i.n & Hearss, Jan. 3ii. 514 Walnut St.. Kansas Citv, Mo. Xkw Yokk. — Hri»i( jy. -No demand; .stocks ex- bausti'd. Extracted, fail' demand, supply moderate. <'alifornia. lijrlit amber, TXf'T'i; Florida, TfSTi^; Bui-kwbeal, 6@.S;2. Beexwnx. s;-arce Ti{a?M. Jan. 2ii. r. G. Stkoumkykh & Co., New York. CHic.Ar.o.—Hoiiej/.— Honey selling;- fairly well for season of year, at l.")@16 for wbile comb. Dark sells slowly, and prices are not certain, but ning'i' from 13(?? 13. Extracted, witliout special cliang-t;, brings 6(S)7@8. Bee«wax, 27. R. A. Huknett, Jan. 19. 161 So. Water St., Cliicago, El. Detroit.— Wioiei/.— Comb honey is selling- slowly at 13<'a)l4e. Extracted. 7@8. Bfeswdx. in fair de- mand'at 36(527. M. H. Hunt. Jan. 30. Bell Branch, Mich. St. Louis.— Wonej/.-White-clovei', fancv to choice, 17'?18; fair. U@il.5; pood. 12@13. Extracted, in cans, 7@8; buckwheat, 5!4; dark, in bhis., 4'/^@.">. Bee^twax. 3.'). W. B. Westcott., Jan. 30. St. Louis, Mo. Kansas City.— Hrmew. —Market well supplied. .-^elliiiK slow. One-pound white comb, 14@15; dark, 9@13. Extracted, white. 7'/2 ; dark, 5@6. Beeswax, lig-lit supply; selling at 2:3@36. Clemons, Mason & Co., Jan. 31. Kansas City, Mo. For Sale.— 6 jog lbs. extracted honey, in 60-lb. cans. C. H. Stordock, Durand. Winnebago Co., 111. For S.ale Cije.\p.— 10 blils. extracted honey mixed with hone.v-dew. Quality good. Will sell in any quantity desired. Price on api)lication. Sample sent for a two-cent stiimp. E.MiL J. Baxter, Nauvoo, Hancock Co., 111. For Sale.— About 2 tons of nice granidated hon- ey, in lard cans, holding about 7ii lbs. each. K. Hevman. Hrackett, Kinney Co., Texas. BEE-HIVES AND FIXTURES wholesale FOR SALE CHEAP. re7a°l. .Send for illu.st rated catalogue. Send 35 cents foi- "Amateur Bee-Keeper," bj' J. W. Kouse, a book de- signe.fl for beg^inners, sent postpaid on receipt of price. J. W. ROUSE & CO., Mexico, Mo. Please mention this paper. UNTESTED aUEENS, $100. LASGE,'PnTE, GENTLE, AND BEED for business. Re;idy about March 3*1. Dealers send for prices. Fine tested, n.od to i'ZM. A few breed- ers, Italian or Golden, ivl to $5. :Jlfdb J. B. CASE, Port Orange, Vol. Co., Fla. Please mentiun this paper. TT. A T? T.TT aOLDEN, BrF-krrPFRS wsHiNc TO use my Dcc-i\ccrcno Hive and methods Please write fur piin's on l;iiin light .-iml sample hive. A;:ents write for terms. JOHN CONSER, Sedaua, Mo. Reference First .National Bank. .Mo. W Wants or Excl'ange Department. Notices Hill lie inserted umler this head at one hall our usu- al i-ates. All advertisenieiits intendeil for this department must not exceed five lines, and you must say you want your adv't in this dejiartinent. m- we vvill not he responsihle for ei-- roi-8. You can have the notice as many lines as vou please; but all over five lines will cost you ae<-ordniK to our reg-ular rates. This department is intended only for liona-tide e.x- chang-es. Exchanges for cash or for i)riee' lists, or notices of- ferinparti.les f.n- sale, cm not be inseited under this head. For such our r.jfular rates of '.iOcts. a line will be charged, and they will he put with the regular advertisements. We can not be responsible for dissatisfaction aiisiug from these "swaps." WANTED.— To exchange for honey or offers, Vic- tor Safety bicycle, in No. 1 condition, Barnes foot-power saw, Stanley automatic hone.N exiractor, new; No. 5 Ntmce extractor, 4)4x5i4 photographic outfit; queens, to be sent ne.xt season. 24tfdl) J. A. Green, Dayton, ni. ANTED.— To exchange pure Scotch collie pups for any thin^ useful on farm or in bee-yard. N. A. Knapi', Rochester, Lorain Co., O. SL^PPLY DEALER wants prices on sections, foundation, and smokers. W. H. Putnam. Itfdb River Falls, Pierce Co., Wis. WANTED.— To trade a large lot of Heddon hives, nicely made and good as new; some with combs complete for honey, now or after crop of '92. Write for particulars. Address D. S. Hall, 2tfdb Scjuth Cabot, Vt. n/ ANTED.— To exchange honey m- bees, for foun- V? dation mill; Platform scale, -100 lbs. or more; or a Rapid rectilinear lens. 3-:5d F. W. Stevens, Moore's Hill, Ind. WANTED.— To exchang-e $;3.5.00 saw-table. Stover's Ideal Feed Mill and iiower combined, and a lot of job type. Want sections, foundation, and honey. 2tfdb O. H. Hyatt, Shenandoah, Page Co., la. mANTED.— To exchange one fine old Hopf violin, V? with fine lonp bow, for pair of Poland-China pigs. 3-4d W. C. Gathrioht, Toccopola, Miss. A WANTED.— To exchange a Columbia bicycle, 48 in.. Pope M'f'g- Co., Mass., with bell and tool- bag. Cost $90. Will trade for Italian bees. H. P. Kettering, Greeihsbuig, Pa. yv ANTED. —An apiarist to tend 190 colonies bees; Vy foundation-mill, 3 extractors, and 2(10 lbs. comb fuinished; also wagon and team. Will g'ive one- half bees (increase) and one-half honey. :J-4d E. Y. Tekral, Cameron, Texas. ANTED.— Situation with a bee-keeper. I have four years' experit e. Address Henry Earhart, Courtei', Miami Co., Ind. W JO. 1 Sections only .$3.00 per M. ' free. J. M. Kinzie, Rochester 20-pag'e price list Oakland Co., Mich. WANTED— .To exchange bees in frame hives, for pure-bred sheep, poultry, cash, or offers. C. G. Strong, Atoka, Tenn. WANTED.— A situation with a bee-keeper in the west or southwest, b.v a .voung man with four years' experience. Address J. M. Worthen, Bonaparte, Iowa. rs GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Fkk. 1. wp 28-page RESTRICTOK book. How W VA A to avoid swarms, brace-combs, and losses i ■ ww» in wniiter. How to get bees into sections in one hour; and rear qneens in full colonies, etc., same old fixtures. C. W. D.\.yTON, Clinton, Wis. 24-23db Please mention this paper EARLY QUEEITS, TyUi^.TI our brancli Apiary in Texas, which is "" three miles from anv other bees, and none but the best FIVE-BASI»ED Cioldeii Italian QueeniK used to rear t.iiieeiis and tDiones. Our bees are the g-entlest, best workers, and most beau- tiful bees known. Safe arrival and eiitiro satis- faction g-uaranteed. one Warranted Queen, March and April, $1.35; 6 for ^ti.dO. If yon want the besl, send for our circular at on«'e. l-34db S. F". <£ I. TREGO, SwEDONA, /Li.. In writiner rua>lvei-ti.-iers please in.nti.iii I pis paper. We make the best g-oods and sell tliem cheap. Our Sections are far the best on the market. Our Works turn out the most goods of any facto- ry in the world. Our goods are known as the best throughout the United States and Euroi)e. Write for free, illustrated catalo;^uc and price list. G. B. LEWIS CO., WATERTOWN, WIS. Please mention this paper. Itfdb ^NLy 654: Colonies of Ita^lisins Are wintering well, and, as usual, I will sell a lim- ited number of them to reduce stock to the required number. Each hive shipped to my customers will contain a full prosperous colony of Italian bees, with a last years tested queen, on eight Hoffman frames of brtxid and honey. As my main object in handling bees is honey, we raise all our queens in full colonies from cells built under the swarming impulse, using the choicest and most profitable stock to breed from. Safe arrival guaranteed in May and first half of June. For terms please address 3-8db JULIUS HOFFMAN, CANAJOHARIE, N. Y. tayin respontlinir to this CANADA BEE KEEPERS Will sa\i' niDuv.v by i>urchasing supiilies fiom T. Phillips & Co.. bril'lia, Ontario, who manufacture all styles of Hives. Sections. Frames, Foundation, Extractors, and Smokers. Also many new things not handled by other dealers. Send for catalogue and samples of foundation, free. T. PHILLIPS & CO., 3-5d ORILUA, ONTARIO. CAN. THH dAHOAHY REVIECn Is now out. It contains articles from W. F. Clarke, and Ernest Root, upon "Writing for the Bee Jour- nals." R. L. Taylor shows liow mucli it costs, or ought to cost, to i.roducc <-omb lioiiey. Mr. S. Cor- nell explains how, with liut little trouble and ex- pense, any one may know if his bee-cellar is too damp. R". C Aikin furnislies a long, interesting ac- count of "Colorado, its Soil, Climate, and Alfalfa Farming, and how the latter furnishes Honey." The inimitable Hasty begins in this issue what is to be a series of articles entitled: "Comments on a Beg'inner's Day -Book." This "Day -Book" was kept by Mr. Hasty when he first began bee-keeping. E. T Klanagan tells how he has bridged over poor seasons. Mo.st of the articles are embellished with a portrait of the author. There are the usual ex- tracts and editorials, including an account of the trip to Albany, and a "leader" ujion the special topic for the February issue, viz., "Grading- Hon- ey." If you would like to see this number, send ten cents, and with it will be sent the December num- ber ; and whenthe Feljruary number is out, that too will be .sent. The Review is $1.00 a year. The book, "Advanced Bee Culture," is 60 cts. Both for $1.25. All new subscribers for 1893 will receive the December, 1891, issue free. Address BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, lotfdb Flint. Mich. tSfln re.sponding to this .-wl vertisement mention Gi.kanings. BEE SUPPLIES POUNOATION f~Sau,» RETAIL —AND— WHOLESALE. Everylliiiig used in the Apiary. Greatest vtuiety and largest stock in the West. New catalog, 54 illustrated pages, free to bee-keepers. E. ZEETOHMEE. EED OAK, IOWA. In writing advertisers please mention this paper. SECTIONS are my No. 1 V-groove r Sections at $3.00 per tliousand. Special prices to dealers. Send for free price list of every thing needed in the apiary. 2tfdb M. H. HUNT, Bell Branch, Mich. t;^lnresnon- •ARDHOMEL- ■' 'uBii^Heo BY (j^' r r\0 0 P ErYeai^ \^ fAEDINAOHlO Vol. XX. FEBRUARY 1, 1892. No. 3. Stray Straws FROM DR. C. C. MILLER. DooLiTTLE is to talk b(^es in tiio N('\v Yoik Voice. Ho'll have a big audience. They'll have a good man. TiiK British Bee Journal thinks Messrs. Alley and Pratt are somewhat changeable in their views about Carniolans. Wn.L FHiKXi) Dhapek please tell us wlnj '"comb-honey production doesn't need it." if e.xtracted honey needs a two-cent bounty ? La Gkii'I'kI La Grippe! You old rip. How you sip The very life out of a body I AiroMATic swARMiNG-DEViCEs (p. 58) Were discussed at the Michigan convention. I don't need any swarming-device. My bees swarm too much now. DooijTTLE, bees do hibernate. I know yours don't, neither do mine; but the kind that work wax with their stings as ti'owels hibernate any cold night. R.AMBLEH takes the "■ we" and '' I" business hard. Even in his dreams it troubles him. Wonder if ifs a bad conscience, or if they fed him something wrong at Dowagiac. The Revicio has struck out in a new line by giving at the head of each article a picture of the writer. Some of the likenesses are excel- lent: but mine was taken when I was bad with the smallpox. Tell A. L Root that they are sending around some of that lumber he saw in Oregon where it will do most good. My house was covered last fall with red-cedar shingles from Oregon. They cost, but they last. SoMEBODV must have read my paper crooked at Albany to make me object to 43^x43^xl>< sections. Why. I'd rather have all 43^ sections so thin that no one could be cheated into buy- ing one for a full pound. The big New Yoijk bee-men, wc are told on page 21, are shy of reporting their crops, for fear of some one crowding in on their territory. Wonder if they would object to having legal control of their terriUjry. Naphth.\line is reported in B. B. J. as a cure for asthma, and also for whooping-cough. For asthma, a sm(!il of the drng before going to bed, and for whooping-cough the room to be filled with the fumes from % of an ounce placed on a hot metal dish. Exactness is important in all bee-fixtures, as a general rule. Now, there is one thing that often nulHKes all efforts at exactness — warping. Before me is a piece of beautiful workmanship; one piec(>. however. iV, thick, has warped ^^^ out of true, and a piece an inch thick shows warp I)lainly. Can Mr. Warni^r or any one else tell US the secret of selecting lumber that will not warp ? A. I. Root better couk; home and see to those boys. They'v(! gone and painted th(i cover of my la-it GEEANiN(is another color, so I didn't recognize it when I took it out of the postofifice. I like the change, though. May be they'll give us a different color each year, so we can tell at a glance to what year any number belongs. George W^ashington "couldn't tell a lie." I'm different— I can. But I won't. And the plain truth is. that the installment of Stray Straws for the Jan. 1.5th number of Gleanings was not lost in the mail, but was gently repos- ing in the pocket of my second-best coat, where I had forgotten them. Moral— Don't have more than one coat. Adam GRUnr showed me a cellar that he had just built, with a cement bottom, with which he was pleased, but on trial he found it a fail- ure. I had a cement bottom purposely made for bees, but don't use it. Bees winter better in the part not cemented. Before building a new cellar. "A'' (see p. 26) might try tearing out his cement floor. The honey faihre is laid to the weather by Hon. R. L. Taylor, in Review. He proposes to remedy the matter by dosing the weather with condition powders. I have no faith in such a thing, and warn all bee-keepers not to buy of him. He is a good law-maker and a good bee-keeper, but has no regular medical education. If your weather is out of order, send $1.00. with description of weather, to Dr. Tinker or me. The space below frames, two or three inches deep, for winter, is a "pet notion" with the B. B. J. That shows that the B. B. J. is wise in its selection of pets. As proof of the benefits other than prevention of clogging, the editor says, "What bee-keeper of experience has fail- ed to notice how well second swarms, which have only half filled their hives with combs, will winter, and how healthy and vigorous they will be in spring?" Feeding sugar to produce honey, in the shape of the Wiley lie, has kept us fighting for years; and now comes a correspondent of the Revieiv and gravely raises the question wheth- er, in bad seasons, we may not have good comb honey made by feeding sugar in the right way and at the right distance. The W'iley affair was an attempt at murder; the present effort, coming from one of our best men, in one of our best journals, is an attempt at suicide. I'm beginning to get mad. There's so much said nowadays about "handling hives more and frames less," and now Hutchinson says that the use of frames is to have us learn the 80 (JLEANIXG8 IN BEE CULTURE. Feb. 1. mysteries of the hive, and, "having in a large degree mastered these, there is little need in practical bee-koeping to handle combs." Now, J"d like to handle frames less, but I don't want to handle hives " more." If W. Z. is right, we can learn the mysteries from books, and keep box hives. That m't of Mrs. NiilFs on page 2.5. Struck it wrong, and hit your finger instead of the nut, sister Null. Why. bless your heart, the nut's all right, and there's a good meat in it. So far as I know, Missouii has beaten all other States in getting up a large State society at the start, and it's onlv because I'm not handy in the use of the English language that I didn't i)roperly express the admii'ation that I really felt. I think the start made is " pretty good " for any State, even such a central State as Missouri. Now we're friends again, aren't we, Mrs. Null ? BOUNTY ON HONEY. IS IT DESIRABLE OR FEASIBLE ? DO SUGAK AND CANNED FRUIT COMPETE WITH HONEY? The matter of making an effort to secure a bounty ou honey was lightly discussed at Chi- cago, and it also came up at Albany. The editor, on page 13, seems anxious for light as to its desirability and feasibility. Perhaps it might be better to discuss its justice and feasi- bility, although, in the highest sense, if it is not right it is not desirable. Unless there is both justice and feasibility, it is not worth while spending lime talking about it. If there is justice in the case. I have no great doubt as to feasibility. The simple fact that justice de- mands a bounty, ought to be enough to secure it. Still, it is not always enough. But I think a sufificient amount of united effort would be effectual. Therefore, before discussing how we are to obtain a bounty let us first settle conclusively that we ought to have it. To say that I should like it is one thing: to say that of i-ight I am entitled to it is quite another. As a premise in the case, we may start out with the fact that a bounty of two cents per pound has been granted to sugar-makers. The truth of its accomplish- ment is a strong argument as to its being a righteous act, and indeed I do not know that its righteousness hats been called in question, al- though I am not politician enough to know. Granted, then, that sugar has a right to the bounty, can honey make the same claim? I believe the argument in favor of sugar is. that, when the tariff' on sugar was lowered, it let in foreign sugar at a so much lowei' rate that the home product could not successfully compete with it. and for the sake of encouraging the latter the bounty was allowed. Whether that argument will bear the clo.sest scrutiny I am not prepared to say: but. admitting its correct- ness, will it, or will it not, apply with equal force to honey ? If it can be established that, there is competition between sugar and honey, then I can see no reason why the same argu- ment that applies to domestic sugar will not apply to honey. Indeed, if there is any differ- ence, the argument for honey is a little stronger than for sugar, always provided that sugar competes with honey. P'or, by a direct act of government, sugar has a bounty of two cents per pound, thus giving it an advantage of two cents per pound over honey, whenever the two come in comix'tition. Therefore; justice de- mands that the injury done to the honey mar- ket, by putting it in competition with the bountied sugar, be righted by a compensating bounty on honey. The only question in that case is whether the bounty should be two cents per pound, or proportionally greater according to the relative values of the two products. Pos- sibly it should be somewhat according to value. That is. if honey is .50 pei- cent more than sugar in price, then the bounty on honey should he .50 per cent more on honry, or three cents jier pound. But that can. perhaps, not be claimed, for it would be replied that a dollar's worth of honey does not compete with a dollar's worth of sugar, but that a pound of honey competes with a pound of sugar. Now. let us see how far we have got. If thej'e is no leak in my logic, we have about settled that, if sugar is entitled to a bounty, and if su- gar competes with honey, then honey is entitled to a bounty. Now let us ccmsider the question as to whether the price of sugar has any effect on the price of honey: in olher woi'ds. whether the two are really compi'titors. Before having written thus far, I spent some time thinking over the problem, and it occurred to me that one who used considerable quantities of both would be a proper person to help decide how far they can be considered competitors. So I w«nt down to the sitting-room, where my wife sat sewing, and, after telling her that bee-keepers were agitating the question of a bounty on hon- ey, I said, '" I hardly know which sid(» of the question I am on."' "But." said she. •"the chance for rascality in claiming a bounty on more honey than has been raised, just like" the dishonesty in the pension business I" "Ohl that has nothing to do with the ques- tion in hand," said I, a little nettled at the insin- uation that there were dishonest men among bee-keepers. Then, aftei' sitting foi' a little time looking at the glowing anthracite in the Howe ventilator. I said. " Does the price of su- gar have any thing to do with the amount of fruit that is put up. or used for sauce?" •■ Oh. certainly! a great deal to do with it." ■■ What has it to do with it?" ■'Why. if sugar were, say, a half higher than it was this year, I wouldn't have put up nearly as much. Get along witli less — that's all." After studying the coal tii'e a little longer. I asked. "' Does the amount of fruit sauce or can- ned fruit make any difference as to the amount of honey used in a faiuily ?" She answered, somewhat slowly and hesitat- ingly. " Why. I should think it would." Then in a more decided mann(T. "Yes. certainly it would.'" Then. ;ifier sewing a few moments in silence, she added, " Because, when you have those things you don't caieso much for honey." After sitting a minute. I said, '" As it looks to me now. I'm in favor of the bounty," and then went back \ij) stairs. My wife's view of the case looks reasonable, and she speaks from expei'ience. Grocers have also told me that, when fruit was scarce, honey sold more readily, and vice versa, showing that a diminnti(m in the amountof fruit sauce used helps the sale of honey. Of course, if the high price of fruit helps the sale of honey, so would the high price of sugar, for either one would make the sauce more expensive. . I think it is a very clear case that molasses and syrups are in competition with honey, but I'm not so sure that the prices of these are directly affected by the price of sugar. But where the syrup is home-made, simply melted sugar, as it is often used on hot cakes, then the competition is evident. Supposing that it may iie clearly shown that the allowance of a bounty is the correct thing, it is just possible that another question may arise in something like this form: "Will a bounty, in the long run. be a benefit to the pro- ducer, or will it be only to the consumer?" Marengo. 111.. .Ian. S. C. C. Miller. 1S«.>'? (;i,i:A\IN(iS IN I5KE Cl'I/rURE. 81 SUGAR VS. HONEY. Tin: ( oMiKi 1 HON tu-- < iii.ai' .-^i i.ai;. .ii;i,i,ii;s. AM> OIIIKI! l)i:i,l(A( IK.s. (IN lloNKV: lUSCKlMlN A riN(; I.KOISI.ATION A(iAiNsT Tin: ni:i;- KKKl'Kl!. Tli<> idea lias hccii .■Jmcral tiiiics a(lvaiic(>(l. in Ihc.sc rolumnsaiul clscwiicii'. iliat olK^ap siifiai' doi's not in any \va\ ounit" into i'onip<'titioii witli coiiil) lioiu'V. and iliat it is only llic clicapcr graiii's of cxtiai'ttHi lioiu\v that siilTci- from sncli competition. I think both of these opinions in'e fallaeioiis. as a little study of tli(> (piestion will show. I'eojjle do not iisnaljy eat honey simply because it »V hoiiev. Some eat it simply because it is one of the family of sweets for all of which they have a natural craving. This craving can be satistied Just as well with sugai'. or some sweet made from it. as with honey, (ienerally honey is oaten because it is a palatable table sauce, a pleasant addition to the bread and butter and other articles of food. In this direc- tion it has many rivals. Ditl you never, as you sat at the table, hesi- tate' as to whether you would take jelly, honey. or plum preserves'.' Or. perhaps it was a nice dish of cranbeiri<'s or other stewed or canned fruit, or any of the long line of similar delica- cies that divided your liking. Just as you hes- itated, the housekeeper hesitates in furnishing her table, anil in making her choice, if she is thrifty and careful— and generally she is: she is influenced largely by considerations of economy. When honey is plentiful and cheap, she may buy of it freely and often: but when it is scarce and high, as we well know to our sorrow, she selects something else to iill its place. When sugar is cheap she puis u]j large quantities of fruit, with jams and jellies galore. Witli all this array of good things ui)Oii her pantry- slielves she does not see any ne(>d of buying honey, unless very occasioiuilly. just as a change. If she is not of the providing kind her family are not allowed to suffer. In every grocery store sh<^ may find a tempting array of jellies and of fruit butters at astonishingly low prices: and since sugar has taken the place of th(^ gluco.se that was formerly a chief ingredient of very fair quality, the growtli of the trade in such articles has Immmi enormous of late, and no doubt will continue. One has only to visit some of the groceries where they ladli' their jellies and fruit butters out of barrels, when, only two or three years ago. a few half-pint tumblers constituted their entire stock of such articles, to realize that here is our most foiTuiilable rival. Honey is called a lu.vury. and must be .so con- sidered: but by comparing the sales at the dif- ferent classes" of groceries I have discovered what seems at tirst sight a little peculiar. It is not the rich nor yet what arc called the upper middle classes that use tin; most honey in pro- portion to their nnmber.s, l>ut those who are only in comfortable circumstances, the families of artisans and laborers. The foi'mer. with tlieir stores of table delicacies laid up. or readi- ly procurable, have felt no need of buying honey but get it only as the fancy siiikes them. The latter, living more •• from hand to mouth." must buy such things as they are needed. Often in their search for sweets for the table they have found h(»ney as the only competitor to the sugar and mola.sses baiTols. But witii cheaj) sugar, that is l)eing changed: and a great variety of fruit preparations are for sale at low prices. This competition will.nodoubt.be stimulated, and bi'come stronger. We do not perceive its full etlects yet. because of the scarcity of our product. But let a large crop of honey be put upon our markets, and we slK>nld speedily see to what I'Xtenl we have been injur(>d Ity dis- criminating legislation. The same inlluences that alfecl the sale of comb honey are also operative against the .sale of extfacli'd honey i'or table use. It is in anoth- er direction, however, that we have most to fear. Within the past three or four years the use of honey in the arts has beiui much extcnd- (>d. Now. just as we are congratulating onr- .selves on the market thus gained, comes the unwelcome m-ws that the cheaper sugar is be- ing substituted for the honey. Now. even though it be true that only the poorer qualities of honey have been thus supplanted, this can not fail to have an elTecton the general market. When the outlet has been cfo.sed for these grades of honey they must seek a market (>lse- where. In doing this they must come into competition with other (|u"aiities. and tend to force their prices down. It is said, that no par- ticle of matter, however minute, can change its position without affecting the entire iiniver.se. So every pound of honey placed upon tin; gen- eral market must affect in some degree the price of all honey sold. So. too. the government can not interfere with the natural ciianiu'ls of trade in any industry witliout affecting to some extent all others. In this case we are the ones who are pincluHi. Of course, we squeal. We ought to. Let the bounty on sugar be removed, or let us receive a bounty and so pass the bur- den on to somelx)dy else. The point touched upon by A. N. Drajjer on page 13 might be an important one if it were true that the government placed its stamp upon all packages of sugar upon which a bounty is paid. If I am coiTect. it does not do this— cer- tainly not to the extent and with the thorough- ness that it does in the liquor and tobacco busi- ness. I think that, when the producer furnish- es satisfactory proof that he has actually pro- duced a certain amount of sugar, he is paid the bounty, and that ends the matter. I see maple sugar in the stores nearly everyday: but there is nothing about it to indicate whether it came from a Vermont, sugar-camp or a Chicago mixing-establishment. J. A. Gkeen. Davton. III.. .Ian. 7. A GOVERNMENT BOUNTY HONEY. OR TAX ON KEASOXS WHY IT WOULD WOKK SILSCIilEF TO BEE -keepers; IT WOULD NOT HINDER OR PRETEXT ADULTERATION. As the subject of a government bounty on honey has been spoken of in Oleanixgs, and a discussion of the subject invited, will you allow me to say a few words in regard to it, and also comment on what was said on page 13 by A. N. Draper? He refers to the connection "Of the government with the I iquor-t rattle as an illus- tration of how a bounty would lielp the honey- business. That the laws of the natioiuil gov- ernment foster and make more powerful the liquor-traftic. there is no reason to doubt; but that it hinders adulteration, we know is not true, but just the reverse. By protecting it for the revenue, it creates a vas£ monopoly; and by taxing the manufacture and sale, it en- hances the price more than fourfold, and con- sequently makes adulteration (when it goes into the retailer's hands) very profitable: when the fact is. that, if it weie not for the tax that it pays, the original liquor would not be more than 2.T cents a gallon for whisky, and at that price there would be no profit iii its adultera- tion. Then, in order to make the liquor and honey business similar, a tax should be put on 82 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Feb. 1. honey, and the government conkl put its stamp on the package to show that the tax was paid ', but how is the government to know that every package is pure honey when so much disagree- ment has been shown among the chemists who have analyzed samples heretofore? Honey is alreadv on the protective-tariff list, and now we would have Uncle Samuel put his hand into other people's pockets and take out their money to give to us so much a pound because we are producing a different kind of article from that •which they produce. Our government can not get money except by taxing, directly or in- directly, the people; and every dollar paid as a bounty on sugar is taken from the peo- ple as a whole and given to a class who pro- duce sugar. The hundred million or so a year that is the government's share in the liquor- business comes from those who drink it, and, in consequence, hundreds of thousands of poverty- stricken wives and children of drunkards are deprived of food and clothing, and the other necessaries of life, that the liquor-monopolists and its powerful partner, " Uncle Samuel," may fill their pockets, while the great proportion of the remainder of the government's revenue is derived from the consumers of the tariff-pro- tected articles imported into the United States. Now, again, I ask, by what principle of justice can the government put its strong hand into my pocket and take my money and (jlve to somebody else because he is engaged in another kind of business? I make some butter, as well as produce some honey; and as prices have been for a number of years, I have not netted two per cent on the capital Invested, with labor thrown in; please tell me why I should not have a bounty of 5 cents per pound on my but- ter; and then the men who produce pork, beef, wheat, oats, potatoes, and, in fact, every prod- uct of labor, should not have a bounty, for the producers all say, and truly, that they can not make reasonable profits on their business. A man who desires the government to take other people's money and gire to //im for no equiva- lent is either very selfish orelse he has not look- ed the matter over carefully; for it indisputa- bly would be a violation of every principle of justice. Let us use our efforts to get stringent laws passed in all of the States against the adulteration of honey, and then get, if we can, executive officers elected who will not neglect their enforcement; and that is the best we can do. VoLNEv White. Findley's Lake, N. Y., Jan. 7. THE OBJECT OF A BOUNTY EFITS. WHOM IT BEN- BOUNTY ON HONEY NOT DESIRABLE. I notice in the Jan. 1st issue of Gleanings a letter by A. N. Draper, taking up the topic of a bounty on honey, and treating from a point of view that might for a while result more favora- bly in some particulars to the producer of hon- ey. (By the way, an outsider would naturally draw the inference that Mr. D. is a producer of the extracted article, as he says comb honey needs no bounty.) As the question of the bounty on sugar is understood in this part of the country, the bounty is not primarily intend- ed so much for the benefit of the party or par- ties producing the sugar, though, of course, that is where the benefit first alights; but it is to foster and help the growth of an industry that will be an infinite benefit to the country at large. It is also supposed to act as an induce- ment to timid capitalists to invest enormous sums of money in factories for working up large amounts of material into a product that the people have been sending their money abroad for in vast amounts foi" many years past; the idea being kept in sight at all times, that, in a very few years, these plants or factories will not only be self-sustaining, but that they will return the money paid them in bounties by the government much larger sums to the people in the form of cheaper sugar. Now, honey is not a thing that the country in general considers a nec<'ssity, neither is it a thing that they should or would be willing to be taxed to pay a bounty on for the benefit of the producer. Honey-yjroducing is an industry that has been developed pretty extensively for a number of years, and that can stand on its own bottom, with a little assistance in the way of a tariff duty on the imported article, which it already has. He says, further. " Let the government stamp what honey is actually produced in this countiy. and adulteration will cease;" and likens honey-producing to whisky- producing. Has the government ever paid a bounty on the production of whisky ? If so, it was before my time. Tiie stamps affixed to the packages of whisky cost the producers of that article quite a tidy sum, and I believe the gov- ernment does not undertake to certify to the purity or wiiolesomeness of any package to which the stamp is attached; further, liquors which Ijear government stamps and inspectors' marks are popularly supposed to be as rank and vile mixtures of adulterators as is possible for them to concoct; at least, so we were taught by the truly good prohibition brethren last cam- paign in Nebraska, so there falls one of his principal points. So long as learned chemists pronounce pure honey from the bees as adulter- ated with glucose, as has been done on several occasions, so long must consumers take their chances of a mixture; and so long as a cheaper product can be mixed with the genuine honey, to the financial advantage of the mixer, so long will a mixture be on the market unless we get in force a severe and stringent law punishing the seller of a product that is sold for what it is not. It is really too bad that Mrs. H.'s chances of a crop are getting a trifie risky at Peoria be- cause her field is covered by a city. It has never been considered a function of the govern- ment, however, to assume all risks in the busi- ness ventures of its citizens, and guarantee them a profit. I can see only one of two reme- dies in her dilemma. She might persuade the Peorians to go west and uncover her field, or, failing in that, she might come out. possibly, herself with her bees where we have many broad fields yet uncovered by cities, and we would make either Peoria or Mrs. H. awfully welcome too. I am probably wi'ong, but it seems to me a good deal disgusting— ilie howl that is ascend- ing to the skies for something to be given to this class and that. It seems to be getting to be a mania to want to pull at the public teat in some manner. Farmers want government to build them warehouses in which to store their crops: and not only that, but to give them the money for their crops, and hold it till they can starve those needing it into giving all they choose to ask for it. Not only that, but, after the government has given tnillions of farms to the present owners, they now want the govern- ment to let them have the worth of their farms in money without interest, and keep their farms too! Bee-keepers want other people to pay them two cents for their honey, and allow them to keep their honey. Sugar-men want two cents per pound for all the sugar they can make. But here is some return — they sell the sugar two cents per pound cheaper than they did before the bounty was granted, so there the people are nothing out for their liberality, while in a few 1S supply of extracted, witli- out a coii-esi)oii(lins incfease in the (ieniand, except at a lower price; conseipiently the l)ee- keejiers would he in the same lix as now. only with an increased nnini)er of producers in the field. The trouhle with hee-Ueepers. as I plain- ly sei' it. is. thiit the pnttlications of the craft arc too much interested in fiiMliiifi new i)lood in tiic business instead of well heatitifj tip the jiround that is already occii|iied. They seem to feid it their ilnty to attempt to convince every individual with whom tln'y come in contact that it is the rosiest bnsini'ss in the universe, and that their whole duty will not ho performed until they hecome bee- Keepers. It is the only trade. |)rofession. or business in the uni\'ers(> that makes constant and \itiorous etTorts to in- crease its supply and decrease th«^ demand for the products of its labors. I " am a bee-keeper for pleasure" (and protit): but when I con- stantly tryto jiet others to start in the business, and begin to shout for a little assistance in the way of a bounty for the lioney I produce. I am going to decide there is no fun in the business. and resign. At the same time, if the philan- thropists insist on putting into otir pockets a few extra dollars as they did for the maple- sugar men (which was an outrage). I am not going to make a heavy kick, but it will be a fraud just the same. ('. F. Tiio.mas. Dorchester, Neb.. .Ian. 7. ITALIANS IN ITALY. TH08. B. HI-OW, OF f:XGLAND. WHO HAS TRAV ELED IX ITALY. SAYS THE BEES IN ITALY- ARE NOT t'NIP^OK.M AS TO COLOR OK MARKINGS. De(ir Mr. Root: — I have read with interest your note to the letter on Italians in Italy. Now. I know that, of all things, you wish to get at the truth in these matters, and also to show where the advantage or otherwise to the bee-keeper comes in. As to color. I think far too much stress has been laid upon tliis. What we should strive after is. rather, working qualities. Bright- colored three-banded Italians are very prcaty, and all that: but what the bee-beeper wants is not beauty altogether, but work — honey-gath- ■ring. There is no question at all but that plenty of bright-colored, three-banded bees do exist in North Italy, and especially arc; they found (by selection, of course) in the large api- aries of the (lueen-raisers.' Tiie bet! of North Italy does vary a good deal in color, and often is very dark. This fact is well known to those who have studied the question on the spot (and, by the way, one of the persons wiiom Mr. Bian- concini mi'iitions in his letter as an eniineiil authority, has, I believe, never been in Italy at all. but has been simply an importer of bees, and is not accepted iiere as an authority in this particular subject). To my own certain knf)W ledge, at one time Cyprians were used in some of the original type, and the changes piTMhiced in that original type by climate and ditt'erent natural surroundings, are called "va- rieties." If by thr; term "hybrid" Mr. Doolittle means that the yellow Italian bee (I use the word " yellow ■" advisedly) is a variety of the black, or (ierman bee, it's possible that he is cot rect, though there are several distinguished natural- ists who hold that the yellow bee is th(! species and the t)lack the variety. But if Mr. Doolittle means that the crossing of the two species is so rr>cent that the type is not suHiciently fixed for the Italians to be called even a variety. I con- tend that he is w-rong: for in its natiH'al locality it has a fixed type thai has not changed since Virgil first wrote of the yellow-banded be<% as can be shown by comparing the descriptions of Spinola. who, in 18().>. called them Ligurians; 84 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Fkb. 1. of Dziw'zon. who intioduced them into Ger- many in 1853, with that given on page 14 in January Gleanings. That there are changes under different climatic and geological condi- tions. I admit; and it is to be expected, reason- ing from the changes that are common in both animals and plants when removed from their natural home (see page 14 as above). The original location of the Italian bee, I be- lieve to be the mountain-ranges of Northern Italy and Switzerland; hence Spinola's natne. Ligurians. Mr. Woodbury, of Devonshire, ob- tained the first Italians, imported into England in 18:V.), from M. Hernuin, of Samin by Chur, Switzerland, who, in a pamphlet publislied about that time, says: ''The yellow Italian bee is a mountain insect, found between two moun- tain-chains left of Lombardy and the Rhoetian Alps, thriving up to 4.500 feet above sea-level. The Alps are their native country."' This, their home, has very marked character- istics—high mountain-ranges with perpetual snow on their summits, while in numerous shel- tered valleys there is almost perpetual spring. Such a district would naturally impart peculiar traits to all its inhabitants; and what wonder if. when transplanted to less rigorous climes, a change, improvement or otherwise, occurs, as emphasized by Mr. Herman in his pamphlet quoted before? "The further one goes from the Alps, tlae less handsome they are, until in lower Italy they are entirely lost in the black species." Perhaps here luay be found the e.xplanation of A. T. Goldsborough's letter in a recent num- ber; and, to carry the point still further, but in an opposite direction, in more ways than one, turn to page .50(5 and read what J. P. Israel says of the Italian bee in California. There in the mountains it found a country more nearly ap- proaching its native land than elsewhere in America. I conclude, then. that, as the points which give the Italian bee superiority over others are due to its natural environment, we »shall con- tinually need to import fresh stock from its na- tive Alps to get home-bred queens superior to instead of deteriorating from the natural type. Avery, La. H. Fitz Hart. THE SALT KEMEDY FOR FOUL BROOD. Wn,L IT CURK IF PKOPERI-Y APPLIEI)? On page 822, 1890. W. L. Coggshall. of West Groton. N. Y.. says: "'I have (500 colonies of bees. My e.xperieiice with bees has taught me that, as soon as they begin to tly in spring, and to breed, they require salt; and I know that, if salt is used propeily, it will cure foul brood and other diseases." On i)age S:.*<(, same issue, the editor says: '• Friend Coggshall forgets that the salt remedy has been thoroughly discussed at conventions, and carefully tested by scientilic men. until it is Eretty certain that common salt or salt water as no effect whatevei- on foul l)rood." On page 006, sam(! volume. th(> editor refers to the alleged salt cure again, and says: "Dur- ing th(! whole time that foul brood prevailed in our apiary we used salt in front of the hives, for keeping down weeds. Whenever there was a rain, or even a heavy dew. the bees could b(^ seen in the sawdust aroiuid the entrances, help- ing themselves to their hearts" content. Prof. Cook, or some one els(\ has reported testing the matter with scientilic exactness, and the salt water had no effect whatever on tlie foul brood." Now. it seems to me that the better way. in order to discuss the salt remedy intelligently, would be to request friend Coggshall to write out his experi(Mice with salt, as indicated, and then publish the same in Gleanings. It seems to me that a bee-keeper who has 000 colonies of bees, and who says that he knmus salt will cure foul brood, when used properly, ought to know what he is talking about. When he gives his expeiience in print we may then tind that friend (.'. does not use salt for the cure of foul brood by sprinkling it over " weeds " and " saw- dust." but that he lias some special way of using it, for he says it must be used properly. The writer of this is by no means a novice in the management of apiaries afflicted with foul brood. My experience with foul brood began some 30 years ago in westein New York, and has continued at intervals from that time to the present. My experience has taught me that a foul-brood apiary can be made about as profit- able as a healthy one. and that the disease can also be exterminated therefrom when so de- sired. Put there may be a better way than mine, or any tiiat has been made public, to rid an apiary of foul brood: and this is why I de- sire to know the details of friend Coggshall's plan, and to have the same published in Gleanings. M. M. Paldridge. St. Charles. 111.. Jan. 10. [Mr. Coggsliall is a prominent and successful bee-keeper, and we hereby solicit him to reply.] "WAX-MELTING. WHY FOrNDATION IS MII,KY IX COLOR. There are some who think steam makes foun- dation milky, and some that heating hot injun>s wax. Now, steam, if not used right, will make poor foundation, and heating hot will spoil wax; but wax heated in water can not be heated too hot. and steam used rightly increases its value. When melting wax, if steam is used direct.be sure to let all boil together (water and wax) furiously for 15 minutes. Then let it stand five hours, and the wax will be perfectly clear — so clear that you can see to the bottom of a dipi)erful. There is now no water with the wax. If the wax is dijjjjcd inHuediately over into the dipping-can aftei' melting, or if the wax is not heated fcot. but only enough to just melt it, the wax will be milky", and foundation made from it will look as though full of sand. At our State fair there was 1.50 lbs. which we clarified foi' a bee-keeper, and it took the first premium. It ceitainly would not if it had been sandy. Every one that has rendered wax is accjuainted with the refuse on the bottom of the cakes. Some of it is loose, and is easily scraped off. This is in the same condition that the w lK)le cake would have been if it had been heated only just enougli to melt, and given a good stiiring. If you ever have a cake of wax in this condition, to remedy it put the cake in some watei' and heat to the boiling-point and boil hard for 15 minutes, then set off' the stove, distui'l>ing it as liitle as jjossible: covei' up so as to keep in a melted state as long as you can. Let it stand for :.'4 hoins. when you can take off a cake of wax just as good as it ever was. Save all tiie scrapings from the bottom of your cakes, and try this. You will get enough wax from them every year to more than pay for Gi^e.^n- INGS. 1 wonder whetlier those who say steam in- jures wax have melted much that way. We rendered about 1000 lbs. of wax from old combs this last year, and challenge any one to show as nice a lot. It was rendeied by steam at a pre.ss- ure of .80 lbs., blowing directly into the water containing the coiubs. I don't know of any 1S9-? (H.KAXIXdS IX moK cn/riMiK. way to ial<('\\a\ tlial I'onn- to us. iliai w a-- r<'iulri-('(l ill iiiiii iiti'iisils. and iiial acid coniiiincs wiili tiic ifon. and sinixs in tlic inntdiii w itii t lie water, leaviiiir tile \\a\ (vcr IVuiii ii. wiiic-h niad<' it dark in I'liior. One tiiinsr 1 sliHiild Iiirthan wax. the process of getting the wax from the combs would be vei-y simple. I have used water and acid, half and half by measure, on old combs, and have succeede. F. A. Sai.i.siuky. Syracuse. X. Y.. .Ian. I'l. IS'.i:?. [So far as our experience goes you are coiTect. although you are the first one to discover the plan to us. We may aild. incidentully. that any foundation, after having l)een rolled, that is milky, instead of yellow and transparent. may be brought to the latter condition by ex- posure to the rays of the sun before a window for a fesv minutes, or by exposure to artificial hear. .-Vny foundation that is used for exhibi- tion purpos(>s can Thus be very much improved where otherwise it might pass for a second grade.] COLORADO. Mi:. JKSStI' KXfl.AINS I NCLP; A.MO.S JOKE. It is now the 11th of January, and in this time the bees have had four days "in wiiich they could en.joy a cleansing flight since Jan. 1. and you may rest assured tliey enjoyed themselves. Well, friends, since Uncle Amos has started the .joke a going I might as well aeknowledg<' it. and say that it is my treat: but since I neither smoke nor drink, and don't think that any of the rest of the bee-k<'epers do, I suppose I shall liav(! to set up the candy. To make a long story short. I will tell you how it was I came to ask the senior editor to subscribe for his own journal. We are all liable to make mistakes, and of course I knew ht; was expected there: but I was so sure that he was another man that I did show him (JLK.wixcis. and ask- r-d him to subscribe: for. as Uncle A. I. says. I was very deeply engaged in soliciting subscrip- tions for it. and I wanted that man to ■siihsarihe for it. Howe\»er. it is only a joke, and I am one who can take a joke in as good play as any one. when it is a truthful one. nil-; FIJATKHXAI- FEKI.ING KKTWKEX HKK- KDITOK.S. And right here, while I think about it, is something that I would speak about: It is the general good nature displayed by our brother bee-keepr'i-s. Take for. instance, the case of A\". Z. Hutchinson and Ernest, as described by W. Z. himself when they were at Albany to- gether, and note the perfect good will" and bnillieiix kiiidiie-v sjiow II ill ilieir travels, and also notice the liiscription of the discussion, too, how their discussion grew •"redhot," and still they kept '• sw<>et:" and you might ask why they ilid. Hecaiise it is hard to liinl a man who has passed i lie experiiiient a I stage ams of years are fast being realized. I have at last secured me a farm, and am jire- paring to settle down and make me a home; and 1 wish to say to my friends a,ud brother bee- keei)ers in the East, that, w hen you are visiting ill the West just come around and I will en- deavoi- to make youi' visit as pleasant- as it, is possible to do. I am located just six miles east of Greeley, on the south side of the l*latte Riv- er, and my apiary shall be known as the Aurora Fai'm Apiary. 1 hope to be abl(> to give you a Ijlioto of my home and apiary some time during th(^ coming autumn. Thko. V. .Ikssi:i'. (xreeley. Colo. THE MAN OR THE HIVE-WHICH 1 t)()()I,ITTr,K GIVES SOME OF THE KEQUIHEMEXTS OF SUCCESSFUL BEE-lvEEPIN'G. From the many (piestions from different cor- respondents which I r(>ceive nearly every day, and fiom the many who are seeking after the best hive, a hive which will "give big results " every time, it would seem that all one has to do is to procure a iloot Dovetailed, a Ileddon divisible. Hoffman. Langstroth. (Jallu]). or some other good hive, to meet willi ccrt six and s('v<'ii frames facli. while some of tlie stl'oii;;est were left t lie wliole ti'll frames. The iii\es taeed south, and those' oon- triuMod had their fiames shoved to the east side of the hive; a pieee of hiiilai) was put over the flames, reai'liiuir to the hdttom-board, and the spare on the west side tilled with clialT. A t'Mi-ineh supv'i' was i)laeeii on each hive, and lilled nearly to tlw lid with ohafT. Now. although the wiiiti>r was excpodingly mild. Ix-es llyinsi almost eveiy day during l)e- cetnher and .lanuaiy. and exeeptionally ilry, there heinsr no lain of any i'onse(iuenee. tin; hives were all somewhat damj) inside — tliose witli the least chatT oviM' the frames being tiie dryest. The ten-frame hives, with nearly ten inches of ehatf over tlie frames, were no better off tlian tho.se in the double-walled liives, while the ehalV next the frames was damiier — in faet, the burlaps, which were sound and good when put on in the fall, were .so lotlen that, in most cases, they pulled to pieces wlien taken fr'om the frames. Still, the colonies were generally strong, excejiting three that were attacked with paralysis, blind - staggers, or whatever yon clioose to call it. and left to go it alone, " pe- tered out." I am now tirmly convinced that absorbents next th(> bees are a detriment, for the reason that they take up and irt(tiii the moisture that, from the adverse action of the heat and cold, will accumulate on the inside of hives wintered outdoors in this latitude. I believe they also absorb, and hold for a time, the nitrogenous gases emanating from the cluster; and when they became saturated they precipitate both moisture and poison upon tlie occupants of the hive. I believe hives should be packed, but tliat a i)ine board, and not a chaff' cushion, should go next to the bees. W. .1. Cui-LINAN. yuincy. 111., Jan., ^S9^2. [Your experiments only negatively confirm the sealed -cover non-absorbent idea, tf you liad tried, alongside of tliose colonies packed with chaff abxirbents. others also packed in chaff, but with a sealed cover over them, the experi- ment might liave been more conclusive.] CONTRACTION. ITS THKOKY, OIJ.JECT, AND RESULTS. Some years ago. at a convention in Chicago. I was sitting talking with E. J. Oatman before tlie opening of the session. I told him I would give a good deal to know of some way to pre- vent swarming when working for comb honey. A little to my surprise he replied,"! would rather have every colony cast a prime swarm." Then putting his hand to one side of his mouth, and speaking in a very low tone, he said. "The secret of it is to hive each sw arm on four frames, and let them store for all they're worth, and then double up in the fall." That was th(> first I had heard of contraction. Contraction ists have been a good deal mis- understood. Some of the theory is easily under- stood. Su[)pose a queen i< capable of keejiing seven frames full of brood. It seems very easy to understand that, if the colony of that queen be kept in a hive of six frames all the year round, wlien the harvest comes, if the queen keeps the whole six frames tilled with bniod. the bees can have no lielp foi- it but to put all their surplus in the supers for want of any oth- er place. Without taking tim(> to give reasons, let it suffice to say that, in actual practice, a six-fi-ame hive all the year round is a faihiic. and no genuine conlractionist stops his theory in that bound. Yet that is about all the idea a great many seem to have of contraction, that it simply means to ki'ep tiie room for lirood-rear- iiig reslrict-ed. As Doolittle has so vehemently urged, the most important part of contfaction is expansion. I'se all metiiis t(i lia ve as strong a I'oi'ce as pos- silile at the beginning of the liai'vesi. and no six-frame hive will t\i) for that. '/Vm/i, when the harvest commenco. limil llie room in the brood-chamber, and that is the contraction of coiitfactionists. Contraction or rm rontraction. few will (jues- tion the wisdom uf getting the strong force ready for the haiAcst. Heyoiid this tlieri; is room for difference of o|)inifMi. Crowding the (pieen awakens the swaTming impulse, unless, indecMi. there can be awakened such a gr<'ed for storing that queen and all hands may turn their attention in that direction. Is there not nat- urally a tendency that way in any heavy hai"- v(>st? Still, there can be no (piestion that un- limited laying room t<'iids to discourage swarm- ing, and hardly more question that a colony that never has the ilcxhc to swarm is the better for storing, other things being eciual. So. on the whole, it is prol)al)ly right to set down the tendency to swarm as a pretty serious objec- tion against contraction. " Contraction stops raising a horde that will be too late to be of service in the harvest, and will help consume that harvest after it is gath- ered." I confess I have been gradually losing faith in that till I have come to the point that I do not believe it at all. Mind, I don't say that I fc/ion' there is nothing in it. only I don't believe there is. The argument is something like this: Suppose the harvest stops July 1.5. It is clear that all eggs laid in the 21 days next preceding July 15 will raise bees that can not touch that harvest; and as workers do not take to the field till Ifi days old. we can add that 10 to the 21, making 37. so there's no use in having the queen lay after June 8, which is 37 days before July 15. But, is it true that bees do not become field-workers till 10 days old'.' Al- though that luay be what ordinarily happens, is it not governed by the needs of tlie case? I have seen bees live days old cairying in pollen, and I suspect that those same bees might have been kept from field work till they were much more than 16 days old. Even if they do not go to the fields for i(j days, they can do housework during that time and allow just that many oth- er bees to go, that but for th((m would be oblig- ed to stay at home. But. tlieoretically, there ought to be a gain on that harvest, to stop the queen laying to her full capacity 31 days before the cessation of the flow: for during that 21 days none of the eggs will hatch into bees, and it costs honey to feed th(> brood and hoes to nurse it, which bees might otherwise he at work in the field. You see that the argument that bees may work in the Held before Kidays old works in favor of contraction at this point. But then comes the question: "' If the queen is limited at this time, will it not work against the futures prosperity of the colony V VVhen I have practiced caging queens, time and again my assistant has insisted that this colony and that colony had sw ai'ined. when I knew that it was nothing but the rapid depletion taking place without any young bees to replace the older ones that had worked themselves to death. Will not such colonies continue to be weaker? — weaker for winter? weaker for the next spring ? But for all that I have said, contraction may be right, and I don't think theory would have made me give it u)>. I had the theory all straight, and expected good results from it: but somehow the liees wife so stupid they didn't seem to see the advantages I was offering them. GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Fkb. 1. Facts are stubborn things, and I don't under- stand now why my tlieories haven't worked better. I don't understand why. last year. I didn't get as much from two colonies united at the beginning of the harvest as I had i-eason to expect from the same iwo colonies if they had been kept separate. I know that, in ail my attempts at contraction, however varied. I have not done as well as when I allowed each colony to have ten frames all the year round. I may as well say here, by way of pai-enthesis. that I don't believe I want larger than eight-fi'ame hives, but I can't take time just now to explain. The difference in seasons is so great that it may account for all. but I doubt it. Then there are those two miserable French- men down at Hamilton, allowing their queens to lay all over creation, and yet getting big crops. True, they woik for extracted honey, but they have it stored in supers, and don't dis- turb the brood -nest. I read also of the big crops harvested in France, in the Layens hive with its 20 or more frames, and nothing like the labor given to the contraction system. To sum it up. contraction makes more work. and I can't feel sure that it makes more honey. I am an expa-iisionist. and it's only fair to say that all true contractionists are: but when it comes to contracting down to any less space than will allow the queen to lay all she will, then I feel, to say the least, that I am in doubt- ful company. C. C. Mili.kr. Marengo. 111. EXTRACTING FROM SUPERS 'WITHOUT RE- MOVING FRAMES, J. A. GREEN CONSIDERS THE MATTER POSSIBLE, AND SUGGESTS HOW. I see that, at the Albany convention, there was some talk, though ])erhaps only in a joking way. of putting a whole supei- into the extractor at once, without removing a frame. Somewhere back in Gleanings I mentioned this idea, which at that time had shaped itself in my mind. You do not seem to have thought of the practical way -to do it. I consider it entirely possible, and I have considerable faith that it will prove practicable to extract honey in this way. If it should prove so it will lead to an entire revolution in the methods of ijroducing extracted honey. In th(! first place, the ordinary method of ])lacing the frames in the extractoi' would prob- ably have to be given up for tlie radial method. That is. the combs should be placed at right angles to the usual position, so that the sides of the combs are on lines drawn from center to circumference. Iik(> the spok<'S of a \\ heel. This plan has been i)roposed before. I am not sure whether it has been tested in actual practice, but I am cei'tain tliat it could be nuide to work. The extractor I have in my mind's eye is a large one, in which eight or more supers could be placed at one time. By steam or other pow- er the whole would then be revolved so rapidly that all th(^ honey would be thrown out atone operation, no reveisiug or sheets of tin between the combs Ix-ing necessary. An uncai)|)ing-ma- chine couUl be nuide to run between the combs. Uncapping-nuichines have been illustrated in the foi'eign bee-journals, though I can not say as to w hetlier any one uses them. My plan, though, does not contemplate hav- ing any uncapping to do. I would take the honey from the lii\'es before any of it was cap- ped. This thin unsealed honey could l)e ex- tracted in the manner I have outlined, witiiont any doubt. iiy the use of the bee-escape and plenty of empty combs it would be entirely practicable to extract all the honey in a large apiary every day if necessary, leaving the bees free to do their utmost in the way of gathering nectar. Swarming would be entirely done away with, the amount of labor required reduced to a min- imum, and. in short, the business of producing extracted honey reduced to a sound business basis. •'What would you do with that raw unripen- ed nectar?" Well, •• there's the rub." Show me how to change this nectar into good, well-ripened hon- ey in a simple, inexpensive way. and I will pro- duce extracted honey at a profit at half the or- dinary prices. I have said but little about this before, be- cause I wanted to experiment for myself before saying much about it. But experiments, to be conclusive, would cost nutre time and money than I can at present devote to them, so I will ask others to help me in them. Perhaps Mr. Larrabee can take hold of the matter. Two methods of disposing of the nectar occur tome. One is. to evaporate it by natural or artificial heat into a salable article of honey. The other is to feed it liack to the bees for the I)roduction of comb honey. It might be kept without fermentation until the honey-flow was over, and then fed back to selected colonies. I know that, to many, this will look wild and visional y. To such I can only say, " Wait and see." CANDY FOR FEEDtNG. The experience of ^fr. A. N. Draper, on page 1(), is a common one with those who attempt to make bee-candy for the first time. Tf the direc- tions in the A 1} C book are cai-efully followed, the beginner should have no trouble in making good candy, though he is apt to get it a little too hard. It is wonderful what an amount of water can he stirred up into dry candy. In making candy I woiihl use a kettle large enough to hold a con'siderabl<> quantity. Dissolve the sugar in as little water as possible — about four ptirts of sugar, by weight, to one of water. When you think it is almost done, let it boil very slowly while you are testing it. Do this by putting a little into a saucer and stiiring it vigorously until cold. .lust as soon as you can get it to become hard by stiiTing it is done, and should not be allowed to boil any more, though it may beset on the back of the stove to keep warm. Take a convenient quantity of this, and stir it until it is just beginning to harden, then pour it into your dishes or other receptacles. Von will find thatyou can make dry solid candy of what would have be(>n only syrup if allowed 1o cool without StiiTing. If you want a candy that will- not readily dry oiit. boil it a little longer and add a little iioney after removing it from the fire. It is some time since I made any candy, and I am not sure about the |)roportions: but I think I have stirred in as much as one-eighth honey, making a nice, soft-grained candy that will keep moist a long time. This nuikes delicious confectionery. Try it. The candy made of honey and pulverized su- gar is rather the best for feeding: but it is more expensive, as well as more troublesome to make on a large scale. Friedman Greiner's position on artificial hon- ey is sound. I've got something to say on that point soon. I am sure, though, he is mistaken about comb honey being damaged when bee -escapes are used: at least, it doesn't work that way with me. I am surprised to see in the pages of Glean- ings such a recipe as that on page 8. And sent by Di'. Miller tool Well, well! What's that 18«t2 t;i,i:.\MN(;s in mee rui/ruup:. Si) yi'iist for. Dr. M.? Ami \\li;ii wdiiUi lir i he ctVi'ci on a mail wlio drank a (|iiail itr so after il was ■•y:oo(l for iisi- "•.' .1. A. Ckkkn. Dayton. 111., Jan. r.. I ^'o^ lia\ (• hit it (vacllx : ami allliouy;li snmi' limy still lu> iiu-limd to rcsjafd it as a joixiiitr inatti'f. a tiiinir lifxoml i)o>sii)|i' ai'hitnciucnt. we oiilv voice yt)ni' words, ■•\\ail and .sec." Yoiiwili rtMiKMulu'r that, on pa^cs CiS;! and 77:5. Vol. XVI.. we e\i)erimented unite a little witii the extractor on the radial |ilan--tliat is. with combs arrans''d liUe the spukes of a wheel, how we trii'd soini" coml)s of ijnite tiiick honey, said combs liaxiiis b(>en left in a room tiear tlie frei-zinjr- point. Tiiis new scIkmhc of <>xtractor didn't cleati the ceils as perfectly as on(> on the ordinary ph\ii: but. oh niyl it would extract unripened iioney as well as the ordiiuiry ex- tractoi. ^'ou seem to consider the scheme practicable if ytm only had some way to ripen tlie raw nectar. A. \V. Osbmn. of Ciiba; J. F. Mclntyre. of t'aiifornia: Thomas Wm. Cowan, of England: L. (\ Root, of ('oiiiH'cticnt: G. M. Doolittle. of New York, and oilier bee-keepers of iiote and large experience, insist tliat the artilicially ripened honey is as good as thai ripened by tlie bees. Tiie two lirst mentioned, if we are correct. inaK'e it a practice to extract tlie raw lioney. and ripen il in large vats. But tiiey have an advantage in locality that many of us do not possess. Now. tlien, wlio will liave the Itonor to lie tiie tirst lucky ciiap to extract the lirst ton of honey by this new scheme? If this same chap will then ripen it so that the average consumer can not tell it from the hon- ey just as it comes from the hive, the North American Association ought to give him a medal and a chromo. This may seem like a castle in the air, and perhaps that is all there will be to it: but .\\ hen there is (iveii.a gJim- mcriiKj of a possihi'lity of sometliiug big. why not investigate".'] JULIUS HOFFMAN'S HOME. A .SKinCH OF IT BY .J. 11. NELLIS. Reader, are you di.scouraged ? Has bee-keep- ing failed to yield the profit you expected? Have your hard work and well-laid plans mis- carried? and do you lack tin; returns you an- ticipated? Then go with us. in imagination, to the homeof a man. who, unaided except by his strong will, untiring energy, and intelligent action, has, in the space of eighteen years, built up two places: who. in this time, has ac- cumulated the paraijhr-rnalia to carry on his extensive apiaries: who. at this writing, is thoroughly equipped: has nearly reared a bright, intelligent family: has provided for iliem the comforts of a ])leasant and substan- tial home, and who lo-day. through his ripened and extensive experience, will be able to pro- duce a competence to carry him through his declining years, and give; pecuniary aid to his children. This man is none other than .lulius Hoflman. whom we had the pleasure to visit and interview a few days ago. Indeed, to an intelligent bee-keeper who. through practice and experience, has a keen appreciation of ad- vanced methods, a visit to Mr. Hoffman's is a feast long to be rememhered. The pleasure of such a visit is greatly in- creased through the hospitality of .Sirs. Hoff- man, and by an hour passed in listening to the beautiful and diOicult music produced by Mr. Hoffman with his violin, assisted by his daugh- ter Hattie up(jii organ or liiano. To assist the reader, friend Root has pioduced from a photo- graph this view of Mr. Hotfmairs home. rnfortunati'ly this ;s not the best point from which to see the |)lemises. but it Was used I e- cause it included a immlierof liives. The read- er looks toward the northeast— i. (>., the hoii.so fiiMits the south. The bees shown in the en- graving are not the home ajiiary, but a lot liroiight from out-apiaries, and placed here (>x- pressl_\ to show in tlii^ picture. 'I'lu' man near th(> center, in shirt -sleeves, is Mr. ilolfnian. To his right stands hisdaiighti'r iJ/./.ie. a pret- ty assistant of no nieun value. To the extreme right is Mrs. Hoffman, and in the background may be seen other members of the family. At tli(> left ajipears Mr. lIofTman's faithful man, who has helped for some years. liehind the young man, to the left, can be seen the barn, wagon-house, and farm build- ings. To the extreme right, and partially hid- den, is the shop and honey-house, a two-story liiiilding about ??x32 feet. On the upper floor are stored the box honey, and fixtures used in its production. L'ndernealh is a cellar about l!)x2() feet. Thiscellai'is of ordinary construc- tion, about () feet 4 inches deep, and has a ground floor, in wet seasons quite damp and muddy. Over a small space, in the vacant end, watei' stood upon the ground when we visited it. The temperature of all the cellars is kept as near 4o° Fall r. as possible. At this time about :U0 colonies are stored in it. The bottom hives are placed upon summer stands (which we will describe later on), and other hives are piliKl upon these until foui' tiers d(^ep. The hives are setasclose logeiheras possible. and aconsid- erable space at one end of the cellar is occupied by the stairs and a large pileof tnangel-wurtz(!ls. Five luindi'ed hives could be placed in this cel- lar: but this is not advisable, for the tempera- ture gets too high, and good air is not .so easily provided. Huilding-paper covers the floor tim- bers on the under side, and these are frequently besttidded with huge drops of water. Next season this shop and cel.lar are to be (>nlarged to double their present capacity. Under no cir- cumstances would Mr. H. cement or flag the bee-cellars, for he believes that the ground imrilies the air and gives off gases beneficial to the bees. At the middle of .lanuary. probably not a peck of bees could be gathered from that cellar- liottom. There is no unnatural hum oi' indica- tion of uneasiness. To some hiviis the upper entrance holes were liiled with hees to the outer surface. Mr; H. overhauls and prepares his bees for winter during September and October, and ?0 pounds of honey is considered necessary to take a colony through the winter. By lifting the hives he determines the supply. Eight frames are left in each hive, thus providing nearly two inches of space bet-ween the followers aiui ends of hive. IJefore the hives go into winter quar- ters, the enamel-cloth sheets used to confine the bees in summer are removed, and .several thicknes.s(>s of sacking placed over and tucked down into these spaces. Formerly this enamel cloth was left on: but some combs were moldy in s|)iing. which is avoided now. The bees wiutci' equally well whelhei- tlie enamel cloth is left on or removed. These covers of sackin,g confine the bees securely and quickly — a great advantage peculiar to the closc^d ends of the Hoit'man top-bars. The hive-caps are not taken iiilo the cellars. " 'j .,Mr. Hoffman has about 10.5 colonies under the living-i'ooms, in his house cellar, and 1.50 in tin; cellai' of a tenant house, a short distance from his residence. He placed 6.5.5 colonies in the three cellars. Two men bring the bees, and i\Ir. H. places them. The three can put the whole number in the cellars in about ten hours. How^ they are able to handle this number so quickly 90 txLEAXIXC.S IN ISEE CULTURE. Fe:;. 1. IS'fJ (JLEANINCS IN HEE CULTURE. '.II \\ ill ii|i|)i'ar w litii \\c (ii'si'iilic tlic liivcs. jiiir- iii^r the iMTJotl fitiiii Nov. l."i In Nov. ■.'."). .M r. lliilTmaii ri'llais liis liccs. If the wcallicr pcriniis-i. c. if no loose snow is upon tiic jirouiui. uiul tlic day is warm. Mi-. II. would fihullv rcmovr all tlir Ihts from a ot'llar and let llirm lly durin-r mid-winter. Tliis work can he done for abonl ?1.(K» ^ler lOd eoionies. Wiien Ihcs remain in eellars tonr or live months, tlu' mortality arises chielly from the inahility to i-etain tin' f;eces. If one flood flv oeenrs diirinfi mid-winter. Mr. II. is liappy. aiid is tlien assnn-d that liis bees will eoiiH! otil witii little or no morialily. and he stron}^. Mr. lioHman assuics us that sntiar syrup is better than honey for bees in winter: but the sufiar syrup is not nearly as good as honey when lirood-rearinfr begins and progresses. Mr. II. is certain that buckwheat honey is su- perior to white honey for i)r()od-rearing. \\hile sugar syrup is best for wintering. Mr. 11. could not be induced to replace tlie honey with syrup, for I he work and exiienso arc too great. He has encountered honey-dew. and finds more ditli- culty in wintering" bees at such times. At the approach of cold weather, honey-dew solidities, and Mr. H. discovered that, in tiie damp cellar under tlie sliop, bees wintered mucli bettei- than in the cellars not so damp. The conclusion: Moisture rendered the honey-dew .softer and more acceptable. Mr. H. believes that, when honey-dew is present, or at any time when the cellar is very dry, a supply of water, fed regu- larly, is worth the cost. He says many of the ("lerinan bee-keepers supply water during win- ter and spring. As soon as possible after the bees are set out in spring, the enamel-cloth covers are replaced, for then the moisture should be carefully retained. Mr. Hoflman scouts the theory that b(vs void the faeces in a dry state. He never saw any thing to warrant this conclusion, and is satis- tied that it never occurs. Mr. Hoffman has experimented with colonies wintered outdoors packed with chafT and other materials. He has been tolerably successful, but would not practice that system, for it is too e.\])ensive in the material used and labor of packing, and in the cost and bulk ot the hives and the extra trouble and expense for moving them fioni place to place. The home apiary is located some rods l)ehind the shop, so far to the right that the photogra- pher did not include it. In spring this apiary usually contains about 1:2.5 colonies, and the out -apiaries. .SO colonies each. In our next, we will describe the hives and SOUK- of their advantages, and explain the meth- ods employed to secure surplus honey and in- crease. .1. H. Ni:i-i.is. Canajoharie, N. Y. [Mr. Hoffman is one of those extensive Ijee- keepers who say but little at conventions, but who neveitheless are wonderfully s\iccessful. We prei-uTue that there are not a dozen other bee- keepers in the land who have had better or even equal success. His pli-asant home and surroundings all bespeak it. He is so modest that we are glad to have him shoved forward. He is an intelligent (lerman. and is therefore thoroughly conversant with the researches and experiments of the bee-kee))eis of his mother- country : and. besides this, he has thorough familiarity with American bee-literaturf-; and hence, coupled with his large expeiience. he is able tos]jeak with authority on many subjects. Mr. Nellis has touched upon many things that possibly the reader might like to know more about. If so, please let us know, and we feel sure that lie will feel glad to give us the desired information. There is one point which may interest some of the readers; and that is. that M r. I loll'man has success in wintering in i}. subjei't of sweet clover. About, a year or more ago I sent an extract from a hotter by I'rof. Tracy, of our A. and M. College, to Gleaninos regarding tlie value of sweet clover as a forage i)lant. from exi)eriinents derived in the cultivation of about KiU acres of it, on the college farm, in which, both for pasture and hay, he gave it high praise: but in that let- ter he advanced the doubt as to the plant tiourishing on other than limestone soils. I now hav(!the pleasure of handing you a commu- nication from General S. D. Lee. president of the same college, to the Stodnaan and Farmer, giv- ing his personal experience with it as a " forage and restorative crop'" on one of his private farms. Editor Southeni Stockman and Farmer:— In reply to your recent note a.s to my e.vperience with meli- lotus as a forage and restorative crop, I take plea- sure in inclosing a letter of Mr. Emmel Dantzler, of Noxubee County, wlio lias cliarge of my planting Interest in that county. He is a gentleman of large e.\i)eiience. and in tlie six years he has been asso- ciated witli me has not made a single failure in crops. He protested vigorously against planting meli- lotus; but now, after five years' experience, he is a thorough convert, and is gradually substituting it for red clover, both as hay and as a re-storer of fer tilitj' to worn lands. The backbone of my planta- tion, which was about worn out, with this crop (melilotus) is now Ht)out the most productive land on the place, and is making 1 1(X) pounds of seed cotton to the acre, wheieas it made only 6W jxiuiids three years ago, and 3(i bushels of corn, wlu-reas it made only in busheis three years ago. 1 consider melilotus :i:") jjer cent lietter in restoring feitility tliaii red clovei-. They liave been tried side l)y side for live yeais. My niuU's and cattle prefer melilotus as a hay to clo\'er, and it does not slol)ber my mules. It furnishes two and sdinetimes three cuttings the first year's planting, and one good cutting the sec- ond year, when it goes to seed. The roots are larger tlian tlie roots of red clover; and consequently, when they rot the second year, it drains the land better. Melilotus stands drouth better than red clover, and it grows on poor land, whereas it re- quires pretty good land to insure a catch of red clover. Mr. Dantzler has had from tifty to one hun- dred acres each of melilotus and red chner for five years. He is now- dropping red clover and increas- ing acres in melilotus. as all the conditions for hay, restoring fertilitj-, drainage, and more certain crop, are on the side ot melilotus. These facts are ti'iu' on our prairie lands, and are vouclied for only for tliese lime lands. I regai'd melilotus as the "God-send " for restoring fertility to our worn prairie lands, and in laying the road for changing from cotton to stock in our system of farming. 1 can not too earnestly urge our praiiii!- land owners to ti-yit. My j)lan' has been for five yeai-s to keep one-third of "my place in red clovei-, melilotus, and lespede/.a. and change crops so as to gradually get ail my place in grass every four or five years. The following letter is from Mr. E. E. Dantz- ler. Cliftonville, Miss., to (ien. Lee. Mr. D. is the manager of Gen. Lee's plantation. Dear Sir;— Yours, relative to melilotus, at hand. In reply I would state that I have had five years' 92 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Fkb. 1. experienco with it. It slmtild be planted in Februa- ry, but will do as late as tlie lutli of April. There should be three-fourths bushel of seed sown per acre to secure a thick stand, but half a busliel does very well. The land should be broken up broad- cast, and harrowed well before sowing-. The plant seeds tlie second year, then the roots die— but not until it goes to seed. It has but one superior as a hay crop, wliich is our lespedeza, and it sliould be cut for liaj- wlien it is about fifteen ini;hes high; after tluvt time it is too woodj- for good hay. I have mowed it tliree times in one year, but general- ly twice. Ifliid it to be a bettei' fertilizer than either peas or red clover. T appreciate red clover very hig-hly, but ha\e abandoned it entirely since I found the advaiuayes melilotus had over it, l^oth as a fertiliz- er and liay crop. I had a cut of poor land which would not produce more than ten bushels of corn per acre. I sowed it down in melilotus. I then put corn back in it after running' it in melilotus two years, and gathered 28 Inishels per acre. Cotton land which made 600 pounds of cotton to the acre makes now UOO pounds after two yearsin melilotus. I find it stand.s the droutli and cold bftter than any other clover. It is adapted to our black and worn-out white lands. I don't think it will prove a success on our red post-oak land, although I have not given it a fair trial. Any information I can g-ive you about this g-rand plant, write me and I will cheerfully respond. With kind wishes, E. E. Dantzler. These experiments afford excellent proof of the value of melilotus. TJie experimeutai stage has been passed, and the fact seems clearly estab- lished. The only remaining questions to be solv- ed in regard to the great usefulness of this clo- ver ill tile near future are: Will it grow advan- tageously on other than limestone soils? and if so. will it take hold of impoverished lands and restore tliem as rapidly as will cow-peas and other restorative crops ? I am convinced that it will grow and thrive on soil not of limestone formation, hereon our average loam on red-clay foundaMon, but deep and rich. My experience does not extend to poorer or worn-out land. The small patch I have is as luxuriant as any one could desire, growing to (5 or 8 feet high, and so dense that it is a heavy task to go through it — a solid mass of bloom in its season, and swarming with bees from daylight till dark. Scattci-ed about on the place where seed have been carried in souk; way are bunches of it, and many of them on poor red clay with little soil on it; and these bundles of it, while not as tall as on the rich spot wliere I sowed it, gi'ow 3 to 4 feet, and look green and flourishing, besides yearly getting lai'ger. showing they are more than ■• holding their own." From this, though I have not tried sowing a plat of poor laud to it, I have faith to believe if such soil is well prepared, and some cheap fertilizer like ashes or air-slacked lime is sown broadcast ovei' it be- fore or wlien the seed is sown, it will catch, and that, if it ■' catches," it will ••hold."' I shall give it a fair trial before admitting sweet clover is a failure on poor land. Unfortunately it blooms here with bitterweed, and for this reason it is hard to get at tlie facts regarding its honey value, quality, quantity per acre. etc. But I feel conlident it would equal alfalfa, if grown to the same extent, and that it would supplant bitterweed with the bees, whicli seem to utilize bitterweed only when sweet nectar to the extent needed is not available, evidence of which we have; every fall by securing nice sweet honey as soon as as- ters and goldeni-od come in, though bitterweed is still in bloom. One mor(> point I desire to notice regarding sweet clover. The piece of ground I hav(^ seeded to it is part of an orchard: and though it has th(; deepest, richest soil on llie place, there seemed to be some property lacking, as the trees grew vei'y slowly, being outstripiied four to one by those on very much poorer land. Since the dense clovei' growth, and without cultivation, which they previously had, these trees have >hot up like Jack's beanstalk. The clover roots, aided by tlie densi^ mulching on the surface, did tlie business. For two weeks hogs have been allowed the run of this orchard, and I find they greedily eat both stem and root, having torn the place literally topsy-tui'vy to get at the roots: and the result will be, no clo- ver crop this year, except from the reseeding. My crop of honey for 1891 was: :.'1.56 lbs. of extracted from :.*3 colonies: 14fi lbs. of section from 2 colonies— 3302 lbs. in all, from the 25 colonies. April and May crop was white; June and July crop was dark, but clear, well ripened, and of good flavor and line body, and sold at 7 to 7K cents, and gave satisfaction. I have inquiries for it now at s cents, which goes to prove that all honey-di^w is not low grade, for this later honey was mixed with honey-dew. My bees went into winter quarters full, both stories. ' C. P. Coffix. Pontotoc, Miss., Jan. 11. [Many thanks for the facts that you have presented us. Wherever it can be grown, it would be a great boon to bee-keepers, to say nothing of its enriching farm lands. This fact alone will induce farmers to take hold of it. We hope that bee-keepei-s who are also farmers will try a small patch, and report. The matter is too important to let go by.] A SUCCESSFUL AUTOMATIC SWAEMEE. A NKW YOKK MAN SAYS IT IS NOT A FAILURE. How about automatic hivers? All total fail- ures, you fellows say; or. hold on I there is Dib- bern, who says his device, with a leader from the lower hive to one on top, is all right. Tell Mr. D. I published this exact device in the American Bee Journal two years ago. I am inclined to believe it would be folly — yes, fool- ish— for me to explain how to run successfully thi'ee or four yai-ds of bees five and seven miles from home, entirely alone, and have entire cou- tiol of the swarms— yes, or prevent swarms, and take either box or e.xtracted honey. ••Why, Dibble," you say, '•you must be crazy." '•Yes. yes; I am. I liave been for 15 years, and am actually getting worse all the time. For 15 years I have been putting into practice all of the different devices— bee-hives, section- cases, clap-traps in general. (Isn't this good evidence?) lam aware that your wortliy cor- respondence for Gleanings is mighty good evidence on any and all subjects pertaining to bees; but theory isn't practice. Send some of those fellows over to Middlebnrgh. .Schoharie Co.. N. Y.. next summer, in June. July, or Au- gust, and I will show them how to hive swarms in the absence of the bee-keeper: how to pre- vent swarming, to a certainty, by the proper control of the queen; liow to supersede an old queen, or an inferior one, without losing a mo- ment's time in egg-laying. These three tilings I lulieve are bothering the bee-keep(M's more to-day t lian any or all the com- bined things put together. I am crazy enough to say, and invite your especial attendance for proof, or llanililer's, that, with your hive, (>ight frames and attachments, such as I am using, and in this locality, knowing the honey re- sources as I do, it is no longer an experiment with me, but facts proven from practice, in my yards, that these three things are easy, sure, and practicable. I can't make a speech; I can't write much, IS'.fJ (;i,i:anin»;s i\ i:i;k cn/riKK. '.»;( and 1 iloii'i I'Xpci't lo siR'i'ccil ill iiiaUiiiK lli«' b<>o-k('c|)( IS tliinix tlio moon is iiiadi' of I'lici-sc. as soiiir otht'i's do: l)iit runic and sec iis. t liosc w lid an- iiilcirslcd in wlial 1 am lalkiiiK alioui. Middi.'l.iiri:li. N. V.. .Ian. t. W. Diiuii.K [You lire hist the man we want to hear t'loni. friend DilibU*: and we hereby invite you to send us a trood photojiraiili. aeeompunied witii a de- seription of your aiitomatie swanning-device. Tell us. also, in another arlich'. how you con- trol swarminix. and how you supersede an old queen without losinir a moment of time — that is. i>rovidinsi you do not intend to Ueep it a pro- found seeret. as we |iresume you do not. Per- iuiiis some of our readers will recoRuize in Mr. Dibble the t)ee-iuan whom we called upon in 8ehoharie ("o.. while on our bicycle tour. We arrived at his place about noon, just in time for dinner. We had a very jileasant chat with Mr. Ditible. and I'ound him to be an intelligent and progressive bee-keeper. At the lime, we urged liimtolet his light shine more. When we wrote up oui' tra\'els we presented our lead- ers with a lepiiig public, as it will be impossible for us ail to visit him. W'e suggest the w isdom of our friend not making ills invitation too broad, or he will be swamped with callers.! GRADING HONEY. HOW W. C. FHAZIKi; DOKS IT. w hile tho>e w ho are I'ortuiiale enough lo secure white honey in tiist-class style could mark their product ■'I''ancy A." The grade marked ■• Family" will lind a much more ready sale, at a better price, than the same honey would bring if marked :'.(l or 4th grade, it would not take tlu- honey-producers long to learn that "A" means white. ■■ IT' yellow or amber, and ••("■ dark, and then to grade according to con- dition: and there is no use in having four or five ditTereiit grades so that it would take an expert to jiack honey. Tlie three grades of condition are enough — •■ Fancy " for the best; '•('iioice" for good honey, slightly bulged or travel-stained: "Family" for wliai/s left after the two above grass of putting up honev in tumblers and other small packages. The Co.. of f'ittsburg. have been selling tumblers with something called honey. Tliey have a piece of comb in them, and tilled with liquid. They are not labeled honey or any thing else, but simply a strip of paper round llie edge of the lid. giving the linn's lumie. The way their are labeled is a violation of Ohio law, as it does not say what the contents are. nor \vh<;re put up. In asking the parties that offer it for sale tliey always say that is pure hom-y: that the firm' [Hitting it up guarantee's it to be pure. I have no analysis made of it to prove that it is not honey: but it has not the least bit of honey taste: on" the other hand, the taste is disagree- able to me. 1 have liad samples of a great many kinds of honey, but ni'ver had any that tasted as this does. It is not the amount tliat is sold that hurts the trade: but when a customer who knows what good hoiu-y is buys some of this it makes him suspicious of honey. I should liki' to know the pro|'er way to deal with the Ijarties Selling such stuff, and how to provethat it is adulterated. If you would like. I shall be glad to send vou a sample. 11. CJ. CA.\ir. Winona. 0.\ .Ian. IH, 189:2. [We have suppressed the name of the (inn for the pie>ent. and in the meantime will write and find out what they have to say for themselves. We hereby invite'all th<> testimony you can se- cure. If this testimony is sufiicient to convict, and there are laws in Pennsylvania that will cover such cases, we will see what can he done. Now. we are not yet i)repared to admit that 94: GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Feb. 1. honev is being adulU'rated— at least, by the '• hundreds of tons," as averred by Mr. Tweed. We should glad to have bee-keepers all over the country give us the I'acts, where they have good reason to believe that packing-houses are adulterating. AVe may not be able to accom- plish anything: but if we do this much we shall find whether there is iveu a belief among bee- keepers as to the adultiMalion of our product. It just occurs to us that, if there is any adul- teration at all. it is lu'cause the newspapers have been trying to make us believe that it was done on a gigantic scale, and therefore a few of those who are inclined to adulterate would argue that, if they were not in good company, they were in a large one. There may be a few concerns that would stoop to such low busi- ness. CLOSED-END FRAMES IN AUSTRALIA. A SUCCESS WHEKE I'KOPOLIS IS THE WORST. In your issue of Sept. 1.5, p. 729, appears a let- ter from J. A. Green, giving his decision to use half-depth frames closed -end. You express great interest in his letter, in your footnote, so perhaps another on the same subject, although somewhat late in appearing, may be of interest to you and others dissatistied with the loose hanging frame. As one of the chief objections raised against closed-end frames has been that of propolis. I should like to say, first, that, in thi^s district, there is an abundant supply of it lying around on the ground and under the remains of the grass-tree, or yuccas, and the bees bestow a lib- eral share on every crack and joint in the hives. It would compete favorably. I fee] contident, for tenacity when cold, and stickiness when warm, with that of Cuba, described in your issue of Oct. 1,' p. 7(5U. by Mr. T. O. Somerford. I have tested some 100 hives, with closed -end frames 5t^ deep, alongside of some .50 Simplicity loose- frame hives in this apiary for two years. The frames have 1^^ end-pieces, KX]^ top-bars; (sX J^ bottom-bars, with bee-space back and front of the end-bars, frames hanging, top-bars liHg long. With these frames closed up by two iron thumbscrews and a dummy. I have no more difficulty individually than in moving any indi- vidual frame in the Simplicity hiv(;. One tuin of the screws gives about >« to tk side play; the frame neai' the center is pried apart from its two neighbors with the fingers easily, in warm weather, and lifted vertically up. and replaced as Mr. Green describes, the adjacent frames be- ing close, l^.j inches apart at most. There are no bees caught between end-bars as the frame descends. Contrary to what Mr. Somerford says, these combs can be put into any position in the hives when replaced, and 1 take no par- ticular care to put them back, except for other rea.sons that hold good for every kind of hive. I never have to ''emove the dummy: and while I can handle a single frame of either kind, out and in. in about the same time I can handle a set of frames of the closed-end type in any mat- ter that involves disarranging and arranging (or spacing) them again quicker and easier than loose fi'ames. Besides this, many operations, as set forth by Mr. Heddon and others, can be per- formed upon a whole colony at considerable gain in time over a similar one upon loose frames. One occurs to me just now with double force, as I jiainfully learned the difference to- day. Go to one of these hives in the apiary just now — swarming time — and a nice honey-flow till to-day. The (lueen has possession of three brood-cases of eight frames each (before swafm- ng). With a chisel the lid is loosened, and the cases over the queen-excluder are lifted off; a few jars and shakes, and a light tap of one cor- ner on the ground, and four-fifths of the bees, Cyprian and Italian crosses, are out before rob- bers (of which yesterday there were none, but a plenty to-day) can well dive in: the cover is on, and the supers are piled up with others near the honey-room, with a Dibbern horizontal escape- board on top of the pile, 'to drain out the re- mainder of the bees. Now open a Simplicity two-stoi'y hiv<^ of twenty frames. Ten times combs have to be lifted -and shaken; ten times the bucket has to be opi'ued, and ten times the robbers dive into the sticky bucket and still open hive, kejjt open for. say, four or five times the period of the former hive. But this is not all. The real superiority at this time is proved when the empty combs are being replaced later on. If there is the least slack in the honey-flow with us, the first comb put back, sticky and odorous, means bees bent on stinging. By the time ten are put back and spaced properly, the uproar and stings are to be deplored. On the othei' we lift the cover with one hand: with the other we put on the case of eight combs, all ready spaced, and close up. In less time than it takes to space two loose frames it can be done. And their advantaged have not seen it mentioned) is, that full sheets of foundation, about 7 feet to the pound, can be safely used, even in our hot climate, in frames only 5 in. deep; nor do I now wire these frames. Tlie frames in the brood-cases and supers are all alike, as described above. As a recent writ- er pointed out in the Bee-keepers' Review, the fjiU advantages of handling hives vs. " frame- handling " can not be realized where foul brood is prevalent. As we have ever to be on the alert here for that enemy, there is considerable advantage that our closed-end-frame hives pos- sess lost to us through the necessity of con- stantly examining combs. There are only two advantages that I know of in the loose-frame Simplicity hives. They are made up more quickly from the flat, and cheaper, and the frames are turned a little quicker in the extractor than two small frames, though there is less difference here when used to the small frame than might be supposed. The smaller frames are more speedily capped over, and uncapped too. I find, which compen- sates for the former advantage. For building up. disposing of brood at swarm- ing time, without increase, and at all times where hive-lifting and comb-carrying, full or empty, is to be done, my testimony is in favor of the shallow cases of closed-end frames, as being less laborious, tedious, and painful, and more economical of time. It may be thought an additional commenda- tion when I state that, from W hives, spring count, I took 11.000 lbs. of honey, mostly ex- tracted, last season, mostly taken in January and February last. T. Boi.ton. Dunkeld, Victoria, Australia, Nov. IS. isni. [Propolis is apt to be much worse in warm or semi-tropical countries. It has been stated by some of our coiTcspondents. and no doubt with a good deal of truth, that it is very bad in Cuba— so much of it, in fact, being deposited on the frames and other parts of the hive that fix(xl distances in the shape of Hoffman or closed-end frames would b(^ out of the question. But sev- eral correspondents have stated several times, yoiu'Self among the number, that propolis is probably as bad in South Australia as anywhere else on "the face of the globe, and yet you say fixed frames are a success notwithstanding. You have stated quite forcibly and clearly why fi.xed frames are superior to loose frames that require to be spaced. We feel (luite sure that bee-keep- 1892 (;i,KA\lN(;s IN HKK CULTURE. 95 < IS will) o(iiit*Mui tliat lixctl lianits can not he liaiidlfd as lapiilly. will tind. stMnicr or later, iliai iIk'v art- lu'iiiir Irli in the race for profit.] RAMBLE NO. 52. IN CllKAfio. .Vftt'i' Icavin-r Dow asjiat- tlic route is ovci' a ♦Iciiirlit fill portion of fonniry. On one side we oati-li friiinpscs of the sparire (|nite conitnon ilironsili XortiM-rn Ohio and in Micliitran: hnt luM'e tliey Ix'canie more nunieions and laiii<'>': tJie waving lields were ready for the harvester, and many of these machines liad eommeneed their labors. All availahle hell), inehulinj? women. W(>re at work, und here I tirst saw women engaired in the stal- wart lalior of piteliing hay upon wagons, and they .seemed to nse tile i)itelifork as dextronsly as any man. From appearances they were German families who had bronght their fatiier- land love of work, strength, and tiiiift with them. Tlie average .\meiii-an can not endure to see a woman at work' in the lields: the spec- tacle of petticoats behind a pitchfork or a hoe is not very snggestive of a very gentle, refined lady, which an American loves to honor. The shivery of the kitchen is. however, quite as great, or even a greater bai'rier to refinement than a judicious amount of outdoor labor, and its attendant pure air and health-giving exer- cise. Soon large gardening areas take the place of wheat-Helds; the villages become more nu- merous and larger, and the traveler ;kno\vs from these unmistakable signs that he is ap- proaching a large city. Soon the houses be- come continuous: and as we glide smoothly into a large depot, the breakeraan shouts out that talismanic word. " Chicagol"" How often' this wonderful inland city is brijught to our atten- tion by,some stirring episode within its borders! o.\-niKi:i.\(; itav in indi.xna. How often we think of its marvelous gi-invth. and imagine the greatness of its futnrel And now for two years or more all eyes in the civi- lized world will be centered on this city, and will place here on exhibition their best efforts of brain and muscle. Chicago is not dejected at all over the hercu- lean-task before her, but extends the hand of hi'arty welcome to all lu-w arrivals. A whole delegation of her heterogeneous citizens met the Hainbler. and every one was vociferous to shake hands. Seli-ciing a bi'oad-shoulden^d iiibei'nian to shake with, 1 was landed uncere- moniously into his elegant >liay, and ra|)idly sliayed away, with several other' di>liiigirished jiersons. to the Comnreicial Hotel. This hotid will aecommodate KXH) pc^ople, more oi' less. It is iirn on the Americair plan — so much for a r'oorii. and a good price for what you don't eat. SOCIALISTIC " CIMF.X LECTUI.AIUUS " (BEDBUG). The fatigue of the journey .sent me early to bed via the elevator. The Chicago night air, the evening cuisine of the hoteT, or somfe an- terior circumstance, caused the Rambler to arouse toward morning with a fearful sick headache, and all day the bed was occupied with a despondently sick person. A good rest the second night enabled me the next day to eat a little and make a few short trips on the streets. It is said that first impressions are lasting. As this was a severe stomachic on(\ it will be remembered. My next impression was through my generoirs olfactory organ as I ap- proached the Chicago River. A celebrated comedian is said to have remarked, before a Chicago audience, that he heard them talking much about tilling irr and beautifying along the lake front: but he would advise them to win renown by.lilling in that immense filthy sewer called the Chicago River. The river, though filthy and loud-smelling, is full of shipping and trafhc. and. entering the lake thr-ough the business por'Jon of the city, it is spanned by over t)0 drawbi'idges. and rrndermined by two tunnels, .ludging Chicago from the river point of view, the impression is irot good. • The Comnrercial Hotel, charging me for all the meals I missed •(liu'ing my indisposition. I changed to a splendid : and beneath the exterior I have reason to know there beats a kindly and fraternal heart. My first acquaintance with the American Bee Journal dates back to about the fourth volume, or when edited by its founder. Samuel Wagner, and only a short time pi-evious to his death. The old numbers of those early volumes are carefully preserved. The editorials have a scientific cast, showing that tlie founder had a love for research, and a power to impart the same spirit to others. The Ramblei-'s first es- say in the interests of bee culture will be found in these early volumes, over the name of '■ Scientific." and not much science about them either. Aftei- the death of Mr. Wagner I lost interest in the journal until it was revived by the present editor, since which time I have been quite regularly its ])atron. The enter- prise of the present editor needs no turther comment than to refer to the fact that he was the first to give the fraternity a weekly paper. I do not know whether the editor ever becomes discouraged or not: but between the grip and the low price at which the paper is publishi'd it would be no more than human if he did. Let us see — occupying the position it does in the apicultural ranks, and the legal status it has given to bee-keeping ihrough the Bee- keepers' Union, its circulation should be great. It costs the reader less than 2 cents per week. Now. whatever circulation the journal may have, I feel that an addition of ten thousand more would give it such a boom that, though valuable now, it would be enabled to become doubly so. That such a state of things may be accomplished is the wish of the Ramiu.ei!. [Gr.KAXiNRS desires to second your wish in regard to the old Aiiiermm Bee Jijunial.] LADIES' Conversazione. CANDY FOR BEES. WHY A. X. drapp;k had bad i.uck with his candy; how to make cream candy for home consumption. After reading Mr. Drapers article on feeding bees candy for winter. Dr. JNIiller wished me to write .soiuetliing alioul: candy-making, not be- cause I hav(> had any experience in making candy for bees, but because I have had a good deal of experience in making candy for our own consumption, and he thought some of the points might be of use just here. First, Mr. Root, I turned to the A B C to read your in- structions for making. You say. "Into a tin saucepan put some granulated sugar, with a little water— a very little water will do."' When I make candy I like to know exactly what pro- portion of sugar and water to use." I think it makes a great difference in results if you know. You also say. •' Make it boil, and stir it.'' Do you mean to stir it when boiling? I can hardly believe you mean that, as I think it will inev- itably give you just what you started with— granulated sugar. I have often had it granu- late without stirring, and cream of tartar in it besides, while the slightest stirring when boiling is sure to make it granulate. Some sugar is worse about granulating than others. I suppose your bee-caady is what confection- ers call "'creamed'' candy, which is used in candy-making as the basis of a great many different kinds. If properly creamed it will not granulate, and will keep for a long time. In making. I use 7 lbs. of sugar. 2 teaspoonfuls cream of tartar, and three pints of water, or in that proportion, and never stii' in the least when boiling. Let it boil till it reaches the ■' feathery " stage, as confectioners call it, which is determined liy dipping a skimmer in the syrup and blowing haid through it. Whenever you can blow i^ubbles ihrough the holes in the skimmer, it is done and must be taken from the fire instantly. A great deal depends on taking it off' at just the right time. I now tuin the syrup into a large bowl and stir very hai'd until thdroughly creamed, when it will be milk-white. If too hard it can be mad(» softer by adding a few drops of water, stirring it thoroughly. If too much water is added, the candy will be too soft. I believe Mr. Draper made three mistakes. First, he had too much sugar for the amount of water used: second, he stirred wiu^n boiling; third, he did not cook it enough. He says he set the can with the syrup inside the kettle of water, and water can be heated only to 2J2°; and although I do not know how hot the syrup must be before it reaclu^s the rijjrht point. I feel pretty sure it is considi-rably hotier' than 2\2°. I tliink syrup boils at a good deal higher tem- perature than water. If you have some syrup on the stove boiling, and let it cool down till perfectly still, then drop a little cold water in the syrup, that water immediately boils, show- ing that the syrup must have Ix'en consid(>rably above 212° before it stopped boiling. It was not only not sufficiently cooked, but. if I understand Mr. Di'ai)er. the sugar was not all dissolved, for he says. " ItiS pounds of sugar will all dissolve: but in order to get it to harden enough to haul to an out-apiary it is necessary to put in from b") to 20 pounds more sugar,'" in- timating that the sugar was not all dissolved. You say in your footnote. Mr. Editor, that his candy was too hard. I don't see how it could be too hard. It doesn't seehi to me it could be called candy until it had had more cooking. Wasn't it simply water with all the sugar stirred in that it would dissolve, then a little more sugar put in to thicken if? What was there to prevent its being granulated sugar again when the water evaporatecl 2 Isn't it the boiling alone that mak(>s all the difference between wet sugar and candy? Even if every thing else had been right, I should imagine that stirring when boiling would alone be sufficient to spoil it. Since writing th(> above I have just discover- ed that you give fuller instructions for candy- making on the next page of the A B C. On page .57 you say. " Make it boil, and stir." which seems to mean to stir while boiling. On page .58 you say, "Take it olf the stove at once; and as soon as it begins to harden around the side, give it a good stirring, and keep it up until it gets so thick you can just pour it." In this IS'.rj (iLKAMNtIs L\ I5KK (.TLTUllE. case yoii say not liiiiir altmil stiriiiijj iiiilil il is tak in making candy for bci^s. Thy .\. I. Koot. It is (uir impression, however, tiiat iiedesireIi:s. AXTKI.I, EXPLAINS THIMH QX'IXBY HIVE: IIS XlEPHOl) OF .MANIPL'LATIOX. ETC. I have an idea tliat a large frame woiks bet- ter as a lixed closed-end frame than a small one wonld. as a large frame gives more spac(> for the bees to gatlier in the center than a small frame, and so is less liai)le to kill bees in manip- ulating thein. Our (^uinby hive is just like Elwood's, as shown in cut in (iLEAXixos. except that the sides and ends are clamped together at the cornel's iiisiead of being nailed as his is. and slip- ped down over the top with the top nailed fast, if I can rightly see it from the cut in (tleax- iX(is. His hive-body. 1 see. does not come cl(>ar down to the bottom-board eitiier, while ours docs, and is lu'ld in place by a dowel -pin in each side, tliat drops into a socket in tlie liot- tom-l)oard. Onr hive has a Hat board on top, tinned over w iih an inch rim around the sides. When we work through u hive we take off the top and take down the liack-board and unclasp one front corner, which lets one side lean over, as the dowel-jtin in the bottom holds it up. We can then take out one frame or all the frames, and replace them; then push up the side board that acts as a vise and shoves the frames up lightly. This is the hive we use in the honn^ apiary : but tlie one wi' use at the out-apiary holds twelve frames, and a dummy the width of 3 franu'S. or 16 frames without the dummy or tiller. The lirst hive w(> bought uirect of (^liin- by, and we made about 1(X) of them: but linding they were heavy to handle, and as w'e wi-;hed to tier up instead of getting section honey at the sides of the bees we mad<' smaller hiv<-s. hold- ing r.' frames. Since tlu^n we have put in dum- mies the width of three frames, and now use only 7 frames to the liive. with the dummy and super holding 31) sections resting on top. as we found we got tlu_^ nicest com!) honey above the bees. In the large hives at the out-apiary we use only 7 or 8 combs with a dumnfy atone side, and a division-board at the other side, which leaves f nipty sfiace in theliivesduringsummer: but in winter it makes an excellent outdoor hive for outdoor wintering. Iiy setting the bees in the center and lilling in the sidt's and on top with chatf. We also lift the bees up from the bottom-board about i}i inches. We used to turn them around in the hive so as to have chaff on all foursides. but that makes more work. The hives at the home apiary, holding but 7 combs, do not winter outdoors so w'cll as the larger hives. We used to remove the dummy and fill in with chatf. and chaff on top: imt for two winters we have not used chaff in the hives put into the cellar, and I think thesis do better, as the mice worked in them .so badly: and warm winteis it wasdifficult to keep them cool enough with from l:.'."> to l.V) in one cellar. We raise them u|) also from the bottom-board. In these large hives we loosen that viselike ai'iange- ment and simply shove the frames up tightly together. ^Vith care wc kill but very few liees. .Mr. ('. I*. Dadant says in (Ji.EANixcis thi-y are ■ pei'fect liee-mashers." and lu; has seen such ini-n as Axtell handle them : but he is mis- taken about ever seeing Mr. i\xtell handle iiees in the (^)uinby hive, as he has never been at our house, and Mr. .\xiell has never be^'u in an apiary with him except in his own apiary, and 1 believe he does not use the lixed frames. \\'itli care one does not n('ed to kill bees any more with lixi'd frames than with the loose frame. 1 should not think so. at least,, although I havi>- never handled the loose; frames much. With tight end-l)ars. and boards at t h(>. sides of frames, one can males that 1 bought. I do not know who made them. I adopted the narrow bottom-bars and made all my thick-top frames with them last year. I have not used many of them in my apiary yet. but my experience leads me to believe that the narrow l)ottoin-bar is better than the %. There is less tendency on the part of the bees to build brace-combs to narrow bars, therefore the frames are more easily and quickly handled. I have not observ- ed any tendency in the bees to draw the comb down closer to the bottom-bar tlian to the wide — at least. I have not seen any combs connected with the bottom-bar l)y the bee.s. 98 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Feb. L I make the bottom-bar kxfV and they go on wide side up. I intend to try them abontthe same size with the edge up. That will give less surtace underneath, and more stiffness to the frames when pulled upward. Bottom-bars might be dispensed wilh altogether were it not for the fact that they are needed to give strength to the frame: therefore the smaller we can make them, and preserve the requisite strength to the frame, the better it will be. Wetumpka, Ala., Jan. 20. J. M. Jenkins. SUCCESSFl'L MAILING OF QUEENS TO AUSTRAL- IA, AGAIN. The two queens arrived on the 12th of Sept. They were both in splendid condition. The first that T opened had eight dead bees in the box, and the other one had only one dead one. The box with the eight (h-ad ouf^s had consumed the most stores, and the inside of the box was very dirty. The other box was almost as clean as the day it was made. The bees balled one of the queens after they had liberated her. but I saw them in time, for she is laying all right, and does not seem any the worse. She has now got four combs tilled with eggs and brood. The other one is a little ahead of her. as she has eggs and brood in Hve combs. We have every promise of a good season. The bees are beginning to swarm. We have been troubled very much with foul brood, but I am happy to say that mine are free from it now. Jamks Adamson. Hastings, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, Oct. 6. ANOTHER VICTIM TO GRIP. Baxter C. Griffith, one of our brightest young apiarists, has gone to join the great majority. His illness was short — only eight days. Grip was followed by pneumonia. The only child of aged parents; the father of five lovely girls, and the owner of a large apiary, with no one left to manage it — all go to make his death a peculiarly sad one. His place in church, in state, in api- culture, and in society, will be hard to fill. He was a bee-keeper of only a few years; but by his untiring efforts, and the knowledge gleaned from his many text-books and journals, it is safe to say he was well advanced in the art of bee-keeping. He was a consistent member of the A. R. P. church, and his pastor's loss is hardly second to that of his family. To his be- reaved wife we can only tender our sympathy, and point her to Him who does all things well. Pineville, N. G. A Friend. MR. DOOLITTLE ON HIBERNATION. I find but little to controvert in Mr. Doolittle's article on p. 45, except his narrow definition of hibernation. It is not turning the word from its legitimate meaning to make it designate the state of quietude, torpor, or semi-torpor, which he describes, and which is necessary to the best wintering of bees, wlu^ther out of doors or in- doors. Bears hibernate, but they do not'" freeze up solid." If a thermometer could be introduc- ed into a beai''s internal economy while in a state of hibernation it would register higher than f)0 degrees. The bee-cluster is a kind of entity during winter cjuietudc oi' torpor. Hi- bernation is not a fixed condition. It has its degrees and variations. See Kirby and Spence's Entomology, and other similar works. Guelph, Out., Jan. 23. Wm. F. Clarke. fully fill your father's place as editor of Glean- ings? I venture the assertion, that the ques- tion has been propounded thousands of times, " I wonder how Gleanings will prosper when A. I. Root is taken away." But He that doeth all things well has pi'ovided for the continuance and prosperity of that, of which from its birth he has had a controlling interest. May you both be spared yet many years to enjoy its pros- perity is my prayer. I want to thank you for the kind words, and prominence you have given me in your very nice report of our convention. I am sorry the meeting was not up to the aver- age, but you have made the reason very plain., D Fremont, Mich., Jan. 19. Geo. E. Hilton. [Thanks. For the last five years'we[have had editorial charge of Gleanings so far as it relates to bees. If we have done well on the last three or four numfjers of Gi>eanings it only shows that it is not new business to us. We have just been keeping on in the even tenor of our way.] AN average of 160 LBS. OF HONEY FROM'6.5. colonies, and ajj increase of 20 colonies. I keep my bees near the Mississippi jRiver. on the west side. and. you might say. in a perfect wilderness of wild flowers on which they work from the lattei' part of February until about the 1st of November. I commenced in the spring of 1S91 with tw colonies in fair condition, and inci<'ase(l to S~^ colonies. I left plenty in hive to do them through the winter, and took, in 1-lb. sections. 280(i lbs.; extracted. 780u lbs., an average of KiO lbs. of honey per colony. Be- sides that I saved 122 lbs. of beeswax. I have had to sell lower than heretofore, parties back of Memphis, my best market, underselling me. R. J. Mathews. Rosedale. Miss., Jan. 1. 1892. THE FESTIVE BUMBLE-BEE. A LITTLE PRACTICAL EXPKKIENCE. GLEANINGS FOR .TAN. 1.5. AND THE .lUNIOR ED- ITOR. Dear Bro. ^r/icxf.-— Gleanings for the 15th is here, filled to the covers with good things. Do you know that it is wonderfully gratifying to the bee-keeping world to see that you can so Wlien a g'entle kind of stirring- "iieatli a tuft of grass 1 see. And 1 hear the g^entle buzzing- of a lonely bumble- bee. Then I know tliat I shall catch it, and my flesh in fancy itches, As I feel its little stinger througli tlie seat of my old breeches. Every tingle of a shingle has an echo as it hits; But a thousand burning fancies from a bee-sting- always flit; While a thousand bees and hornets 'neath my coat- tail seemed to swarm, For there's nothing like a bumble-bee Ui make a fellow warm. Away out 'cit)ss the meadow I thought the thing had passed. But soon beneath my coat-tail I knew 'twas stick- ing fast; And there it kept a buzzing, and merrily did sing. And all the time kept playing with its dainty little sting. There was an intermission, and I thought, " Now, here's my clianee;" And so 1 struek at Mr. Bee, but only hit my pants. For that cross bee soon showed me that it could swiftly fly- It came around so quickly and hit me o'er the eye I It never stopped a moment, but quickly flew aloft — My eye, it swelled to blindness— my other end got soft. Oh loving, tender mercy! cast your pitying glances down, For I'm the worst used fellow in all this Hawkeye town. I've had, of fun and spoit, all I ever care to see. And I never more will mimkey with a festive bum- ble-bee. Muscatine, Iowa. JOHN E. Fcltz. 1892 (il-KAMNCS IN HlOE 1'lM/n.TRE. '.I'.) Notes of Travel FROM A. I. ROOT. I.KTTKK TO IirHKIt. Wfll. my boy. if yon wcri' will, |in|i;i ihis nioniiiigk lu' oouUi show you ;i Im ol runny things. Right in front of the window wiiciv 1 vfvite is a pnMty dooryard full of tioos. losc- hvishfS. oto. A i)ath runs down to tlic fiatc: and you would cxpfcl. oulsidc ihc fjatc a wau;- on-i'oad. of I'onrsc. Well, now . tluMc isn't any waiion-road outside tlu'fjatt' at all. Conic down witli mo and sc(>. It is just a iin-at lake of n alcr; and wliiMi till' tide is liisili. tiu' water comes al- most up to tlie jjate. Tliis water is the" wagon- road " tiiey liave otT iiere. Do you want to see tlie" wagons'.'"" Well, lH>re is one in full sail. It is a very pretty boat, piovided l)otli with oars and a sail. ".\1 "" and 1 w(>nt over to tlie post- it up near enough to i be siiore for me to get in. ^'ou see. the bottom of the boat sti'uck tlie gravel, and 1 conldii"! wade in the walei- as Al did. because I haaded and Irdvvfooted, nursing her H. A. MAKCH S YACHT. office in the boat. Al is Mr. March's oldest boy. He is 18 years old. He put up the sail, and I sat in the stern to steer. It is real fun to steer a boat when the wind just makes it plow through the water. The wild ducks and wild geese were just a gabbling and diving all around us. Al shot some snipes, and they flew out into the water: but the dog that was with us. he just plunged into the salt water and swam out after them, and brought in every last snipe. Al killed I'.i at two shots. When we went around the point. Al told me several times to steer pretty well out, as a bar of gravel ran out into the sea. I told him I would be sure and keep out in deep water; but, what do you think? All at once the boat struck bottom and plowed away up into the gravel, and we were •• stuck " sure. Al took a pole, however, and finally pushed us out into the water again. We went up to the depot and got our freight, and, after it was put into the boat, it made it sink in the water .so much that Al couldn't get baby with perfect unconcern. The baby turned to look at me, but the wind blew his straight black hair all over his eyes so he could hardly see. Several other women were going aljout ban^footed, often stepping into wau^r with ice in it, with perfect unconcern. Mr. March says they go barefoot all winter long, but never take cold. They have mats made of a kind of cat- tail, that they sit on and sleep on. These mats are also used for shelter, making a kind of wig- wam. Oh! I forgot to say the men all wear rubber boots, while the women go barefoot. As we started to go away, tb(! old chief motioned to us and pointed to "their boat. This was the boat that brought them th(>re, and Mr. March said th(>y wanted us to look at it and see what a nice one it was. I went down, and was very much surprised to lind a boat large enough to lake (juite a tribe of Indians. It was made, or, rather, cut out. of a single log of wood. It was beautifully light and gracefully fashioned, and all done by the Indians themselves. It takes 1()0 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Feb. 1. an Indian two or three years to make such a boat. This is because the\- won't use an ax or an adze, but just cut out little bits at a time with a little tool of their own. Lately, how- ever, the younger Indians are learning to use modern carpenter tools. The young Indian girls also wear shoes and stockings: it is mostly the middle-aged or older women who persist in sticking to their old customs. Well, after I had examined the boat all over, and praised it. the old chief wasn't satisfied. He made motions, took hold of the boat, and grunted, and then we understood that he didn't mean us to see the boat, but to take hold and help pull it up on shore where the waves wouldn't wash it off into the water. Friend March commenced to help pull it up: but as I had been sick. I thought I wouldn't lift any: but this didn't suit the old chief. He made mo- tions to me to take hold, and then grunted again, to indicate I was to pull and lift too, and to lift hard. So I had to take hold, and at least make helieve that I was pulling a big lot. The Indians are what they call " Flatheads." They used to fasten a board over every baby's head, so as to flatten down its forehead. You can find pictui'es of them in some of your geog- raphies. Mr. March can " talk 'Injun' "' a good deal, and he sells them apples and all sorts of garden stuff. The Indians live mostly on fish and game. They cure their fish so it looks a good deal like dried codfish. This they put on sticks stuck in the ground close to the fire in front of the door of their tents, and toast it as we toast cheese. 1 rather wanted some myself: but as I didn't pull on the boat very much. I was rather bashful about asking for apiece. Since I have got well I am hungry about all the time, and I can eat any thing anybody else eats. Among the other kinds of water-fowl we saw in such abundance on the bay were " Mother Carey's chickens." They are just as cute as can be: but if you just shake your finger at them they dive down out of siglit in a most comical w'ay. There an^ all sorts of divers and ducks that are not good to eat. They say it is becausethey live altogether on fish. The ducks and geese that are good to cook' live on seaweed and other vegetable products. Besides the ducks and geese, there are tliousands of sea- gulls. These are about as large as a common chicken, but have much longer wings. They follow the steamboats in great droves, just to get the leavings of the table after the meals. You see. they just follow the boats until some- body'"shakes the table-cloth." and then, '"oh my I"" what a scampering! Th<'y dive right down into the water, like a lot of bees after some honey. They drop into the water, and swim and dive in a wonderful way. They also skim over the surface without moving a wing, until you begin to think they fiy without any motion at all. They will skim along by the boat, moving just as fast as tlie boat does, but scarcely moving otherwise, until it seems like witchcraft. There is a law against shooting them, as they clean up so much rubbish and refus(> matter, and so have becom(> very tame. They will sail so close to you that you can al- most reach them. I think I have studied out how they fly or sail so long without moving tlieir wings. They collect in a flock, on a cer- tain side of the boat, and keep right there for miles. This place is where the wind strikes the boat and is turned upward. We call it an " as- cending cuirent of air," Well, as long as they keep in this it keeps them up. If it blows up- ward too hard, they tip their iu^ads down and sail downward. If not hard enough, they will have to flop their wings a little occasionally to keep up. They must be loonderfuHy expert in flying, to keep right in this wind that blows constantly upward, and still keep at just such a height all the time. When the wind was blow- ing very strong, once in a while a bird would get out of the current I have syx)ken-of. and away he would go like a shot. Why, he would have to fly with all his miglit for quite a spell to get back to his place witli his comrades. I took a lot of them with the Kodak, and hope to show them to you when I get home. They are of all colois, from pure white to ever so many shades, and some of them are beautifully mottled, si)eckled. and striped, in the most fantastic way. There, Huber. I think this letter is long enough for on(! time. Before I take leave of our good friend March and his poultry, celery, cabbage, cauliflower, etc., I want to tell you of a plan of getting two heads of cabbage from one plant. Put out your Jersey Wakefield in the usual way, only use the very best strong plants, and set them on your very ricliest land; and when the heads are ready to sell, cut out the head, leaving all the outside leaves attached to the stump; that i.s, cutout tlu^ head so as to have no leaves to strip ott' and throw away, foi' the leaves are all left on the stump. Now keep cultivating these stumps along with the other cabbages that have not yet headed, and very soon small heads will start out on the stump. Pull off all these little heads but the best one. and this will soon make a head as good as. and may be better than, the first one. I piesurae this is not new to many of you. unless it is the picking-otf of all the little heads except one. Vei'y well: now, these second-crop heads will, many of them, mature so late they may be wintered over in the usual way, and these are the ones friend March gets his choice cabbage seed from. Do you see the point? To keep up the Jersey Wakefield to its best for an early cabbage we want to select seed from the first and best heads made in the spring: but I never knew how this could be done until now. Simply select the first good nice head of early cabbage you get next spring; cut out the head as above, and let it make another, and this last one yon can win- ter over. Set it out in the spring, and you can raise your own seed, and have it from your best and choicest specimen. Or, if you don't want to raise seed, you can have a spring crop and a fall crop from the one cabbage- patch. THE GREAT NORTHWEST, AND ITS FUTURE. When friend March sent me his kind invita- tion, he mentioned the wonderful new town, only three miles from his ranch, a town of 25.50 population, which, only twenty njoiiths ago, was a wilderness. This town is Anacortes. There may have been instances of like rapid -growth on n^cord; but if so. I have never heard of it. I expected to find it made up chiefly of buildings of unplaned lumber, put up in *the cheapest possible manner. Not so. I was greatly astonished to see fine brick buildings and handsome, stylish residences witlu)ul number. Their waterworks cost them about ^SoO.OOt); electric railway of eleven miles. $2.5(),0()() ; ten miles of planked and graded streets, S10b,000. An electric-light plant is all comi)let('d. and a daily paper has been going for some linu'. as well as two weekly ones. A school-building to cost $40,000 is nearly finished. A Presbyterian church is completed, and a Methodist church will be ready by spring. I need not tell you of the craze and boom in real estate here during the last two years. Land worth two yeai'S ago $;30.00 per acre is now valued at. and has been sold for— well, let us say many thousands per acre. Poor men sold half their small farms, where they had lived for years from hand to ISU2 (;i,i;.\MMis IX m:K cii/rrKK. loi iiioulli. ami ici'i'ivcd ill ^()1(1 nioi'i' iuomcn iIkiii doin (if (iod iiiid his litrlitcoiisiics^'.' ^'..M.('. A. llicy fVt'i' I'Niu'oli'd to sec. TiuMi the man w Im icadins-fooms and l)iiildiii>;s afc I'oiiiid in mosl paid tlii'm so mm-li iruld sold lialf of //i.s' halt, in towns (tf any si/c; and at. Tort Townsciid t.hn less than lluTc (hiys afiiT liis iiniidiasc, for nuiii' linildiim was Ictlcri'd. on tlic side frontinfr \ho. ii\an he paiil foi' all. Saloons spian;; np nntil liay. with h'ttci's so laifji' they oonid he plainly almost every othei- house, in some pai'ls of the icad from vessels thai passed lliioiifih the hay; town, was a saloon. iSiii eliiiii-h people were and I saw the saini' at oIIht towns. This is im haml. and chiiivhes wefe started lo keep paee suiily liopelnl. Why shonlil not, the l.,oixl"s with them. The \V. ('. T. l'. has lixetj nji a ea\ise he plainly advertised as well as the S'"<'Jit very pi'i'tiN I'eadiiiK room. liuht in Ihe htisiness hotels and saloons? A\ AnaeoiMcs they have a pail of the town: ami when I went in so many hotel ealled " Nohai' Hotel." and so the sif^n were maUin.i: use of it that a man fose up and leads in lai'^c lettei's. meaning thai no har for iIks otl'ered me his seat. Sunday eveniiifr. 1 was sale of liipiors is eoniieeled with it. Aiidthis re- asked to talk to the l-^nwdith lieagiii' of the minds me that there are more or less \acant Metliodist C'linivh hefore ihe regular service at hotels in nearly all these new towns. As most 7 o'clock. I chose for my text. *' V(; are tlie salt of tlu; liotids have a baf. 1 have been wondering of tlie earth."' and applied it to the Christian if it is not one reason for it. Building a great people. espiH'ially to tln> \(»iing Christians of hotel when a town is to he stalled seems to be a .\iiacortes. The audience was good and very sort of mania: and great hotels that have never attentive: and the president of tlie league, and bei'ii occupied at all an-seen quite freriuently. al>o the pastor of the church, both indorsed Town-building is not always a success; for at with exceeding kindness tlie points in my talk, many of the railroad stations we lind deserted Many of the saloons have alr(>ady starved out. tow ns. buildings almost all vacant, and boards and. when closely examined, are found to be nailed over the windows. If those who go into only a sign and an em|)ty room. .\t I''idalgo. such towns would start right into gardening, w Ill-re fiiend March gets his mall, they tried to poultry, Ix'cs, and such industries, the future of start a saloon. The matter was hotly contested the town would be assured; for the steamers by vote, but the friends of temperance gave up and railroads take any kind of produce, and with sad hearts, and much dismal foreboding, pay good prices. In fact, pi'ices are better here when they were beaten by a vote of one. The for almost every thing than in the East. Great saloon-man was triumphant, paid for a license;, hop-lields are found here and there: and were it and opened up business. Xow. what do you not for the hoi)-aphis this region would [jrohably think? Why. he never received money enough sujiply the world. I confess, however, the in- foriiis liquors to get back what he paid for his 11- dustry does not make me feel happy. If all cense, let alone profit, and i;ow /(is- building, too. the hops raised were to be used foi"- making is an empty room with a sign over it. When a bread, then might we rejoice; but as by far the saloon-kee])er is starved out he hasn't energy greater pai't of them is for the support of the and ambition enough left to take his sign down, breweries it is a serious matter. As we come 1 tell you. friends, there is something hopeful in outof Tacoma. toward Portland, on each side all this. Public sentiment is advancing, of lh(> railroad are some of *,he finest-looking ("hristianity h getting to be "the salt of the farming lands I have ever S(H>n. All the under- earth:'" and sometimes we. Christians, in oui i)ru-li has been cut out. leaving only handsoijie want of faith, don't even suspect how rapidly we young lirs and cedars. These arc; in clumps, or lire gaining ground. Do you wish to know scattered here and there tlirough the field. The what I think of the future of Anacortes, and a grass is just like a beautiful lawn, and for miles liuiidred other towns growing in like manner, and mil(\s it looks like a handsome park. This but |)i'rhaps not so fa-^t? Well. I think this: If may have beisn done by real-estate owners or Christians will renuMnber tlieir divine commis- by the railwjad com|)any: but evim if it has, one sion. and push the cause right along with, and can not help admiring their taste, side by side of. th(^ boom and leal-estate excite- For fear the boys will neglect the Tobacco ment, tlie outcome will b<' all right. Hut. oh Column while I am gone. I think T w^ill put in let us beware that oui- "'salt " does not "lose its an item hej-e. Some years ago friend March re- savor." for then shall Satan triumph, and the ceived a smoker and gave up tobacco, even end will be i-uin. The wild speculation in though he had used it 40 years. It was a hard, building up a new town can not last long: and. bitter struggle, but Ik- came through victorious, in fact, to make it iiold out, people must go to As he had a smoker already, he set the new one work. If there were more like friend March, upon a litth; slielf, or bracket; ami when sorely who likes to make money by raising eggs, eel- tempted he would go and look at the smoker, ery. cabbages, and seeds, there would lie need of and remember his pledgi^given tlirough (tI.kax- towns and cities; and I was {ileased to note how i.Nos. and th(> eft'ect it would probably liave many of his neighbors were succeeding with should be pay foi' the smoker, and own up h(>at- fruit and other like industries. I'uget Sound en by tobacco. The smoker as an object- les.son has wondi'rful resources in tish. minerals, and hel|)ed him to " overcome." agriculture, and both railroads and i)oals are "Mi-. Poot.'' said he, as heext(uided his liand right at hand to move her produce. I am told at aim's length before me, " can yf)u hold your that the lisherm(-n of the sound employ .3(KJ() hand any stiller than mine; is?" I had to con- men, and the product is something like a mil- less I could not. for there wasn't (n«m so niucli lion dollars yearly. Seattle, with a population as a tremor in one of his lingers; and he resum- at present of 4:^.(KM). has grow n uji much in the ed. " Wt-ll. when I was using tobacco my hand the same way as Anacortes. but perhaps not so would shake so I could hardly write nij- name, rapidly, and is now a beautiful city, with all the and I supposed it was because I was growing equipments of one of the finest eastern cities, old; but it was only the poison of tobacco."' Tacoma. a lival city, abftut 50 miles distant, has Now. dear reader, here is a text and a lesson 40.(X)0 inhabitants, and is in many respects a for you. If you are a tobacco-user, hold out beautiful place. The largest ocean steamers your liand as fricmd March did. Let your good run into all these places, and sail from thence to wife say whether it shakes or not; and if it every part of the world. Even Anacortes does, stop before you are a day older, boasts that twenty different steamers and Now. this isn't all the story of that smoker, steamboats touch her landings every day. () After he had conqtiei-ed, and it did not trouble my dear friends! who in this wide world has him more than a year, he still kept that bright even a conception of the things God has in store smoker in plain sight on that bracket. You see, for those who are daily seeking, first, tlie king- he had some boys in their teens, and it was well 102 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Feb. 1. he broke off when he did. Well, one day a stur- dy German neighbor came to see him, and to learn about bee-keeping. While he looked on and listened he smoked a meerschaum pipe. Hiseve caughton the new unused smoker, and he wanted to buy it. Friend M.. with a twinkle in his eye, told him inoiicy could not buy it, but that he would gii?c it to him on one condition. Then he lold him the story. Our sturdy brother looUed at his favorite pipe, and stood aghast at the fearful price he was to pay, and then he doubtless reflected that his nerves, too, were suffering from the nicotine poison. He forgot about the bees, and looked first at his pipe and then at the new smoker on the shelf. For a couple of hours he fought the battle, and considered the matter in all its bearings. Did you ever see a German deliberate on a trade? No doubt he smoked his pipe all the harder, as he made up his mind. But it was finally made up. and he answered, "All right! I take him." He gave friend March his pipe and took down the smoker: and although years have passed, he has never used tobacco since, and. like friend M., is rejoicing in the renewal of youthful nerves. While in the office of Posson & Son, Portland, who handle bee-supplies for us, a man came into the inner office, where a lady works the typewriter, with a cigar in his mouth. As he went out the senior member of the firm looked at me and remarked that the man had unusual cheek. I asked him if he had read Gleanings enough to know where I stood on tobacco. Said he. "Mr.Root, although I have used more to- bacco than enough to balance my weight, you can't hate it worse than I do;" and then he told me his experience. Years ago his wife was in poor health; and one day he thought a buggy- ride would do her good. When a little way from home she looked so deathly pale he turned his horse about in alarm, to take her back home. As he turned, the wind blew the smoke of the cigar the other way and she revived. But even then the good and' patient wife tried to hide from him the real cause of her sickness. He guessed it. however, and threw awaj his cigar, and they finished their ride with no more of the faintness. He has never used tobacco since. Oh! hold on! There is one very important point in friend March's experience I came near omitting. In one corner of the room is a book- rack, tilled with choice books, almost from floor to ceiling; in another corner there are as many more. Said our good friend, with a wave of his hands: " Friend Root, there is my tobacco." and. pointing to the other corner, he said, "there is more of my tobacco. When I gave it up and took a smoker I resolved to use an amount, to buy me a library, equal to the amount I had been using for the purchase of tobacco, and there is the library of good, useful books." Now, it seems to me, dear friends, all this tes- timony ought to give the Tobacco Column a "boom." It is a .sn/e thing to boom, as I sup- pose you will all agree; and as I sit here and write (in a neat little room in the McLallen House. Roseberg, Oregon) it is New Year's day —the day for starting every thing good. Of course, it will be long past that day when this reaches your eye; but remember that, when the above was written. I prayed that God might bless my feeble words in such a way that r/oof?. fruit may be the result of this testimony of such weight and convincing power. A bright new- smoker stands all the while on friend March's raantlepiece. I presume it is to keep fresh in his mind the fierce battle he fought and tvon. Oh! wait a little. I am not quite done yet. When I was at vSeattle, Mr. C. M. Sheafe and family entertained me most royally: and while talking over their plans for the education of their three boys (all in their teens, I believe), the subject of tobacco came up. Friend S. broke square off from the habit Nov. 21, so he was right in the midsi of the battle at the time of my visit, and I oflVrcd him what encourage- ment I could. I picked up his good wife's little Bible, and read from tlie third chapter of Reve- lation, the 5th, 12th, and 21st verses. Dear reader, if you are striving to overcome uv«> them iliiis w lien iliry luiii^r sin-li uomi pricos liiTr. Till' sriMUTv is hi'iiulifiil. rvrii at tills si'ason of lln' yrar. and tiir liciirht colnrs of the many sliadrs of jri'i'i'ii tlial aiioiii I iir spnuM's, liriiilorUs. ami vaiioiis i-nlais tliat covrr till' hills, an- liai'd t()dt'sciil)i'. Tin- land is iirctty mm-li all fiMu-cd and under ciiltlvatloii. \VintiM' ulicat st'cms to hi' a Ki'i'iit staph' in tin- vicinity of Sali'in: ami as tlir sun striki's it.il adds not a littlr to the l)rauty of ihi' iandscaiu'. Wlirn 1 susfft'sti'd to a passi'n^cr that this mild moist wcatlun" would make t,h»> whoat giow too fast for ♦he srason. he told mo it would: but tliey pastiui' it down, and I ai-tiially saw sheep turiii'd on till- wheat to-day. wIutc the ed as it did on his grounds, in some places right in the immediate vicinity. He has tor several years sold these lierries from .August, to Decemher. and made a nice thing with them. Me sells only the fruit and not t he plants. - fl^ ^^' .^;^^i^^^-^l°° VERYEARj In the multitude of cuunselors there i.s safety.— Pr. U: U. A nouNTV or no bounty »n honey— that's the question. Dk. Mii,i.ki{ says somebody did not report him correctly at Albany. We suppose he means us. Well, doctor, we accept your correction. The old Missoiiri Bee-heeper, as per previous announceTuent, comes out under a new name — Tlie PnxjresHive Bee-keeper. The paper is\<'e]l edited, as usual, and well deservi^s patronage, not only for the State of Missouri, but for all the States. We are glad to renew our regular installment of Stray Straws, and we hope no other unlucky accident will prevent their regular appearance. The sii'aws in this issue are unusually fresh, and sparkling with good nature. The doctor tits the place well. FoK the last month we have been having quite severe weather. If it should continue thus it might go hard with bees throughout the country. For our locality, however, we are glad of it, as it puts our winter cases to a .se- vere test. Our self - registering thermometer showed that the temperature went down as low as 11>^ degrees below zero on the night of the 19th. Since then we have had some cold snaps, but not so low. Cement or grout cellar-bottoms are not rec- oraiuended in this issue by such good authori- ties as Dr. C. C. Miller and Julius Hoffman. As many, possibly, may be proposing to put in such bottoms, perhaps they had better wait and investigate a little before going to any great expense for something that luight be useless or even wor.se than useless. We should like to have reports fi'om those who are in position to give us facts in this matter. If you discover any lack of editorial sifting in this issue, please lay it to that old fiend La (Jrippe. It did not get hold of us this time, but it laid low the business manager. .7. T. Calvert: and the consequence was. we were obliged to take up his work for a week, and part of the time work nights on (ii>EANiNGs. Mr. Calvert is now back at his post as usual, but little if any worse for his siege of grip, and things are going on as usual again. We i)resume Pro. Newnuui. of the ^liiicricdii Bee Joitnidl. knows how to ai)pr<'ciate the position we were in a few days ago. ■ It has been rumored that there is another chap who is about to place on the market arti- ficial honey-comb, filled with glucose, deftly capped over by ap|)i-opiiate machinery. As .M. II. Hiuitsaid in his paper at the convention of the Michigan .State Pee-keepers" Association, the prospective luaiuifacturers of honey-comb jiever get any furtlnsr than they are "going to," or "are about to do so." Bee-keepers need not worry. The newspaper canards have made some fools believe that it could actually be done, and that there was a mint of monev in it. 104 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Fei5. 1. But they are deceived. It never will be done, so that "the product can be told from the genuine. Remembeu the Ohio State Bet-keepers" con- vention at Cincinnati. announceintMits and pro- gram of which are given elsewhere. Nothing preventing, we expect to be represented by J. T. Calvert. VVe have been informed that Dr. C. C. Miller will be there also. His presence insures a good meeting. The last letter from A. I. Root was to the ef- fect that he was over his nervous chills, and was quite himself again. One day he walked eight miles and another thirteen, climbing the mountains. But our fatherly advice in another column (now on the press) still holds good. We want him to get permanently well and so save himself for many years of usefulness. The watchword has always been, "Order early;" yet, in spite of this sensible advice, bee- keepers fail to get their supplies in time, even though their dealer is prompt in making ship- ment. A customer to whom we made a ship- ment of goods some two months ago. and who has not vet received them, even though we have sent two tracers, wrote us, "What would I do if this were the honey season? or, worse still, in the height, without any goods? lam mighty glad I ordered early, for there will be some chance of my getting them in time yet." Bee-keepers, no matter of whom they order their goods, should remember that freight ship- ments are sometimes delayed or lost. It some- times takes a couple of months to recover goods, and sometimes even four. Some of our customers even yet do not quite understand why we require cash or reference of those with whom we have nevei' had any deal. Perhaps some of these people are bee-keepers whom we have met at conventions, and with whom we have enjoyed pleasant chats. It seems a little hard to refuse them credit; but the strict rules of business require that we know whether such a person is responsible in money matters, a man may be affable and pleasant— in fact, a leader in society, and, we are sorry to say. in a few cases, a leader in the church, and yet be very poor pay. If our friends would only understand that, even though they are perfectly responsible, we must liave some "evidence of it. and that, when we requii-e cash or i-eferences, we do not necessarily impeach their honesty, it would save trouble. One of our subscribers. Mr. F. J. Miller, of London, Ontario, Canada, writes: Has not A. E. Miiimm loCDVered yet from liis hon- eymoon seiisoii V Surely tluit '" queen " is receiving more than usuiil eai-e. or lie would luive found time to let us know liow he succeeded with those five apiaries alone. No wonder he required help before the season was over. Mr. Manum promised, some two or three months ago. to write again, and we trust now that he will resume his pen, seeing that the invitation has been renewed. This is not the first inquiry we have had from subscribers, by any means', and we trust that his new queen will spur him up to duty. Ye.s, wo do want to know how he got along with those live apiaries alone. There was a tolerably good honey-flow in Vermont last season, and we are anxious to know all about it. We take great pride in our short symposium, in this issue, on the subject, "A Bounty on Hon- ey." It is a cause of congratulation to bee- keepers that they have among their number men who are able to discuss these deep and weighty questions in so admirable and candid a way. The discussion on both sides is very fair- ly and well sustained, and we hold our columns open for its further consideration. Pei'liaps some of our readers would like to know our own individual opinion. As Gi.eaxings is neither sectarian nor partisan, we think it wise to withhold, at least for the present, our own position. We are sure a little further discus- sion will, in any event, reveal the right or jus- tice of the thing, one way or the other. There is one thing, however, we ought to say: and that is, bee-keepers should look beyond their own interests enough to consider the geneial public good. So many selfish and conflicting interests are the bane of our politics. the locality of g.\i!i)ex city. kax.. as a bee-country; a little ai>vice to the bee-kkepeks who move to PASTUKKS >EW. Two or three months ago one of our corre- spondents spoke very highly of the region round about Garden City, Kan., as a bee-country, stating that colonies would average 90 lbs. of the very nicest honey, that as high as 180 lbs. had been secured in some cases, and that alfalfa was on the increase. A resident bee-keeper sent in a communication which we published shortly after, protesting that their country M-as no better than many places in the East; that bee-keepers would be disappointed if they came there with any great expectancy of obtaining great things. Since the appearance of these two articles we have received a number of com- munications from parties on both sides of the controversy: and as much of it is too personal, and as both sides have luid a hearing, we think best to have the discussion stop where it is. Perhaps we ought to say this: That any bee- keeper who would rush into a new bee-country that has been loudly applauded, without nuik- ing proper investigation, such as writing to a number of resident bee-keepers, would be. we were going to say. a fool; but perhaps " foolish man " would be a more respectable term. Well, there is truth on both sides of the controversy relative to Garden City. As nearly as Me can make out, it is something like" this: Two knights of old. riding along the I'oad. met under a suspended shield, one side of which was red and the other blue. After a fight in regard to the color, they discovered that theywei'e both right. They had not examined hDtli sidcx of the shield. Although only a little of the Garden City controversy has appeared in our columns, we wish to say to all parties concerned that we believe there fs truth on l)oth sides. It makes all the difference on whirJi side of the shield we are looking. This same thing happened over A. ,J. King's graphic coloring of Arizona, as seen on page Cc'S of last year. No sooner was it pub- lished than his bright colors were greatly shad- ed by a letter from J. W. Johnson, on page 7<)»3; and on page 7(i5. same issue. Mr. King has an- other enthusiastic lettei' in regard to Arizona, hut not so much so as his first one. :M1!. and MRS. A. I. ROOT S CONTE.VIPL.\TED VISIT TO FLORIDA. Within the past few weeks the whole rem- nant of Rootville have, in their letters, been urging Mr. and Mrs. Root to prolong their trip in California. The weather has been so very cold here in Ohio. and. as the senior editor's health since he has been away has not been of the best, we made up our minds, now that he was already in the land of flowers and perpetu- al sunshine, it would be folly for him to rush home again before the C^ifornia climate and its surroundings could have its legitimate effect in dispersing his chills. It has always been his habit to be on the rush wherever he has ISif.' (iLKANiNcis L\ iu:i: cLi/n'Ri':. 105 licfii: :iM(l now it is nl' ilic iitiiuist iniix'i l:iiu'<' tliat Ik- tiikc t liiiiirs slow l\ . ;iii(l trivc N;il iiii- ;i KOdil liiy: I'haiu'i'. aw ;iy from hiisini'ss ami lis atlciitiaiil cares. We cMimkI to liini a lillle "• falhi'ily ailvii'f *■ over llic piinlcil pafic ami \vt' pit'siimt' he will areopt il. even if the tables are tm-iie<1 w itii respeet \o riMationsliip. \\'el!. we have also heeii iiriziiiLr thcin. as soon as they reaeh New Orleans hy the Soiitheni I'aeitie. ffoiii Califoniia. to taUe the boat ami run over to Kloi'ida. ami inaUe a short sojoiiiii thi'fe. This tii(\v liave partially consented to do. Now. tiiere ai'e donltlless l)ee-lpei's. both at New Orleans and in Florida, w l\o would liUe to meet lliem. or. |ierliai>s. would b(> irlad to have them call on them at their homes. If any of our bo(>-Ueepiiifr friends in tlie vicinities named desire to take advantasieof this ojipor- tunity. write A. I. Root at X(>w Orleans, care of ,1. W." Winder. .")T<". :\IaKa/.ine St. Mr. Winder is an old bee-Uei'pinir friend of oiu's, and we take tile litierty of iiavinji tlie correspondence reach him via iiis name. They may iiot reach New Orleans before tlie middle of February, and hence you may not get an immediate reply to your letters. Now. you need not tell him any tiling about it. but we have been working a little scheme. They would say it would be impossible for them to go to Cuba : but if w(> could once get them to Florida, we are then in liopes of coaxing ttiem to go down to the '"gem '' of the West In- ilies. and take a look at bee-kee])ing in its ex- tensive projiortions in that fa\'ored clime. Mi. and Mrs. Moot an' not expected to reach home before the first of March: but the weather will still be quite cold at that time, and we hope they may be prevailed on to remain until some time in April. They have been skylarking around the country so fast that we have ?iot been able to follow them noi' to give them any fatherly advice as readily as we might have wished! We are sure that Gleanings will reach them at the earliest possible moment, for it goes everv where. TIIK ONUAKIO BEE - KEEPERS' ASSOriATION SEVERS ITS CONNECTION WITH TlIE Noirrn American. The following is a copy of the report of the committee appointed by the Ontai'io Bee-keep- ers' Association, to consider the advisability of again alliliating with the N. A. I>. K. A.: said report being subsequently adopted in conven- tion: TO THE PUESIDENT AND MEMBEHS OF THE ONTA- JUO BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. Yuur coiiiniittee to whom was referred tlie rela- tion of Canadian boe-keei>eistothe North Ameiicun Bee-keeiiers' Association lieff leav(! to lepoi't : Tliat the North Anieiican Bee-kee|jers' Associa- tion (as its name implies) was oi-ifriiially founded on an international basis, the United Stati's and Cana- da being- parties toand partners in (lie orjfanization. Fur upward of twenty years, and until a veiy recent period, this international character lias been maintained, notwitlistanding- tlie manifestation of a disposition on the part of some United Stati-s liee- keepers to rejtrard and speak of it as a national institution. This feel in tr took detinite and formal sliape at the annual meeting- lield at Keokuk, Iowa, last }-ear, when a projiosal to inr-orporate tlie asso- ciation under tlie State laws of Illinois was made and ag-reed to. Tlie delegates from this association, pre.sent at that meeting, met tlie proposal with earnest reinoii- sti-!iiice, emi>lia1ic protest, and firm oiipositioii; but in spite of their efforts a cf)ni!iiittee was appointed to incorporate tlie body, with headquarters 'it Chicago. One of your delegates was named as a memljer of that committee; hut from what subse- quent l.v transpired he was led to believe that those with whom he was as.sociated cared little for his opinion on the subject. Moreover, we liave reasons for believing that the official report of the Keokuk meeting, in tlie niallrr of llir |iiolcsls made liy .\nni- rcpnvciilalivcs llicrc, i> largclj eliioai'terl/.ed Uy t\ mi iipii. ■'Sill mi ; that coniniiinir,-il ions snii |)y tluiii to two leading liee-p:ipcrs in t Ije l' lilted Slates, diseii-^siiig the Mil).ie-. No infoi inalion Is \-onchsafed as to the tei-ms and conditlnns of incorjioral ion. The bald statement is. "The association Is iiu-orporated un- der the State laws of Illinois;" l hat " t he fi'es are paid, and the certilicate in the hands of the secre- tar.\-." Not a word Is said as tii its inoliable etlect in the other States of the Union, or here in Canada: Iml it enibiaces the important announcenieiil that the incorporators are tlii' " life-members lexUh'iit in the Uiiiliii Slatrx." The life members resident in Cnimdn are (|uietly ignored. Hetore the tinal adoj)- tion of this i-e])oit, one of your lepresentallves at the Albany meeting asked whether '• Incorporation, as now etfected, did not localize the .jnrisfliction of the association, and make it an Illinois institntion," and was answered that the association was "now \ni-n\. hut ittf infliiinci' wniild he iiatii»ial." Wlien he put the (jnestion in another form, he was told, " It was necessary to iiicoriiorate under a State law. hut the oi-ganization would he natiuniil in its charai'ter." Vour committee is not in a, position to express an oiiinioii on the futii.e intluence of the association, or to closely sci-ulinize its character; nor is it with- in its province to inquire what yiarticular relation- ship it bears to the bee-keepers of the United Stiites resident o(( »-i(te the limits of Illinois; Imt it has come to the conclusion that Canada has no rights under the new state of things, and that it was not intended she should. This is amply clear from the fact that her life-members are iiol'among- the incorporators, and that tlie widest character and intiuence claimed for it, by its promoters, are " national " and not international. Your conimil tee considers that the changed nature of the association is not a mere innovation, but a complete revolution in tlie grouiKhvork and nature of the institution as it w^as lieretofore constituted. Befori'. it was broad and international; now it is local, with hut a declaied mitioiial influence, and your committee look upon this change of organiza- tion as a gross violatit)n of an existing- compai^t, de- liberately carried into etlect in the face of the vig- orous protests of your repi-esentativiis. Your committee are unanimously of tlie opinion that the oiil.v couise open to the bee-keepers of Canada. <'on8isleii1 with indeiiendence, self-i-espect, and national dlgnltj', is to retire f lom a iiosition which has become, through no fault ot theirs, anomalous if not hiiiiiiliatlng, and therefore recom- mend that the Ontario Bee-keepers' Association do not continue in alliliation with the so-called North American Bee-keepers' Association. Your committee has no hesitation in expressing the helit^f that the bee-keepers of Canada regret the cii'ciimstances that compel the severance of ties wdiich have pleasamly (existed for more tlian a score of years, and in their name lender to the great body of American bee-keepers, which it be- li^'ves are not resiionslble. the assurance of our con- tinued fraternal good will, our high consideration and jordial regards, and of our readiness at all times to co-operate with tlieni in any enterprise calculated to further the interests of the industry in which we are alike engaged. All of whicli is respectfully submitted. K. MClvMGHT. Wm. F. Ci.au ke. S. CoilNEIlj. Allen Pringle. The abovi? came to hand from the secretary, and his language is couched in such a form that one miijlit get the impression that in llie sending of it lie was doing a disagreeable duty, and simply acting under instructions. We were 106 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Feb. 1. greatly surprised and pained upon reading it- surprised, because we are certain ttiat none of the niemljers wiio were instrumental in liaving the N. A. B. K. A. incorporated had the least thoufilit that that action would cause the Cana- dian' brethren to withdraw. We were pained, too, because of some statements in the report that are calculated to carry the impression that we desired to put out from the N. A. B. K. A. the Canadians and break down their '• national dignity." etc. Nothing could be further from the real truth. We have since received a pri- vate letter from one of the members of the com- mittee, to the effect that the grievance was not against the bee-keepers of the U. S. as a body, but against a/eu; of the leaders, and mentioned Thomas G. Newman. Dr. A. B. Mason. Dr. C. C. Miller, and the two Roots. We know that every one of the gentlemen named will be as much surprised as ourselves; but they will doubtless speak for themselves. VVe greatly regi'et that the two members who were present at Keokuk should still misunder- stand (we can not believe intentionally) the purpose of incorporation. Although it has been explained heretofore, it seems they have entirely overlooked the fact that organizations in the United States that are national or inter- national in their character and influence, are, or should be, incorporated under the laws of some one particular State; and. as was also ably explained by Capt. J. E. Hetherington, at the Albany convention, incorporation does not make the association local, but a legal body politic, amenable to the laws,with special func- tions, rights, duties, and liabilities; capable of suing and of being sued — in short, transacting business. It is quite probable that the mem- bers of the O. B. K. A. as a boOy, not being fa- miliar with the laws of the United States, were not in position to appreciate what incorpora- tion on this side of the line means. We could not incorporate under both the national govern- ments, nor under the laws of the United States, but under the laws of some one State. But, we repeat again, the North American is not less international now than before. Let us give one illustration of what the society now under in- corporation is capable of doing: As a body it can sue any packing-houses in any State, where the laws are strict enough, that may be engaged in the adulteration of honey. It is in better position, also, to protest against injurious legislation from national or State governments, because it is an incorporat- ed body. Nine-tenths of the bee-keepers of the North American are residents of the United States; and Chicago, the place of incorporation, is the most central of any point for those bee-keepers. The great mass of them in the United States are in the North. This our subscription-books show very decidedlv. Nothing was more nat- ural than that the iState of Illinois should have been selected; and it seems to us, to speak plain- ly and in all kindness, that nothing but a parti- san spirit, or a silly quibble on technicalities on the part of the committee, could make any ©b- jection to it. We have no grievance against the body of the Canadians who voted for the adoption of the i-eport, for they were acting in good faith. Some of our warmest and best friends we number among the Canadians. The report goes on to say, " We have reasons for believing that the official report of the Keo- kuk meeting, in the matter of the protest made by your representatives there, is largely char- acterized by a suppressio veri; that commu- nications sent by them to two leading bee- papers . . . were not published." We have before us the report of the Keokuk convention, as written by the secretary, C. P. Dadant. The report had to be brief, necessarily, on almost every subject that was discussed: and yet it seems, as we look it over, that the Canadian brethren were given a fair hearing. Glean- ings was one of the leading l)ee-pubiications designated, that is sold to have suppn-ssed one of the communications. The matter at the time was " not available;" and, moreover, we weresure thewriter did not properly understand what incorporation meant on this side of the line, and we thoughtit useless to stir up discord or partisan feeling over misconception and misunderstanding. We were not aware, until we read the report as above, that the life- members in the United States only were the incorporators. We are very sui'e that the Can- adian life-members were left out for no other reason than that the laws of incorporation re- quire that the incorporators be residents of the United States. By the way, if we are correct there is only one life-member in Canada, and twelve in the United States. The Canadian member is D. A. Jones, and we are sure he would never quarrel with us on that point; and of the committee who make thisasa big handle, not one is a life-member. Reference has been made to the fact that bee- keepei's on this side have called the North American "'national." As we had no really dis- tinct national association, the nearest to it was the North American Bee-keepers' Association; and when " national" was used it was employ- ed as a convenient term, without any thought of excluding Canada. As an evidence of the fraternal feeling, we presume it will do no harm to let out the secret that there was a strong effort on foot at Albany to put S. Corneil, a Canadian, in as president of the N. A. B. K. A. for the ensuing year. A number of members, including President EI- wood, approached the writer on the subject, asking whether he would vote for him. and what he thought of our CanadianT)rother for the position. We not only indorsed the name, but said we would give our support to it. which we did. Those who were present at the Albany convention know well that Mr. Corneil would have been elected president if he had not abso- lutely refused to accept the honor. After this we were a little surprised that his name should appear among the members of the committee who drafted the report as above. This ought to show, beyond a question of doubt, that the American bee-keepers, who are members of the North American, desired to recognize Canada, and desired, also, to continue their past pleas- ant relations, as we had done heretofore. Mark this: The very bee-keepers who voted to elect Mr. Corneil are the same ones who voted to adopt the article of incorporation. Now, brotiter bee-keepers across the line, does this not show that the idea of crowding Cana- dians outside of the association was the fur- thest from our thoughts? and does it not prove that we on our part desired to continue otir pleasant fraternal relations ? We have taken a good deal of space to reply to this; but the reason we have done so is be- cause it is an international matter; and now that the O. B. K. A. has taken the action that it has. it is proper that, as one of the Roots, and as a member of the N. A. B. K. A., we should explain our side so that our Canadian brethren can see that we were not intending to break down, nor even thinking of breaking down, their " independence, self-respect, and national dignity." If the Canadians refuse to reconsider, of course that will leave our association dis- tinctly national, for Canada has been the only nation, outside of the United States, which had a voice in the proceedings of the North Ameri- can. tS<.»".' cMvW'iNiis IX UKE ( ri/ri;RE. Ill ^Tn>fl^- Everybody^ Admihs. OtherSeeds^^Iqually^^Reliabie 5eed Annual free, '^ Wri^e For ih NOW! A.Vf. LIVINGSTON'S SONS. BOX 213, COLUMBU5> OHIO. eflnrt'sp.iiuliiit.'l.. ihi.-a.lv.iiix-iu. Ill 111. 1,1 II. 11 ui.KAMN(; mw,S' HATCH CHICKENS BY STEAM: ExcelsiorMNCUBATOR Lowrst-prircd FirBt-clans lliitoher made. Simple, Perfect^ KSSlSBa^t^lMiegulatiiig. GEO.H.STAHL,0uincy.iiL It mention GLEANINGS. Ipoii our L'3i) acres ul iXuiscr) w c nave ev- ery family of Trees and Plants hardy in a northern climate; whether fruit, ornamental, nut, or flovverio'^. Among the numerous choice new sorts are Lovett's Best Blackberry, Beebe and.I.ovett's Early Strawberries, Japan Wineberry, dreen Mt. Grape, Lincoln Plum, Hardy Orange, JapanWalnuts, Ice King IVim- rone, Everblooming Spiraeas, etc. All are accurately described and quotetl at half the price of solicitors in Lovett's Guide to Horticulture, the most complete and elab- orate catalogue published by any nursery es- tablishment in the world. The book is richly illustrated and is replete with notes on purchas- ing, planting, pruning, care and culture. Mailed free; with colored plates, loc. Shipments to distant points a Specialty. J.T. Lovett Co., Little SiVer, N. J. S3'"In responding to this advertisement mention Glkandjosl Is a beautiful book of one hundred pages, elegautly printed with true pholo-engravings and colored plates and plain, truthful and reasonable descriptions. It is a Mirror of American Horticulture to date, and with less brag and exaggeration to the square inch than most books of this kind. We show that in one order, from under one roof, we furnish all Seeds, Plants, Bulbs and Gardening Helps, a combination not possible else- where. We offer completeness in every department and have a record in each; famous Chicago Market Vegetables Grand Chicago Parks Bedding Pansies and Lawn Seed, i6 Mammoth Greenhouses with all Roses, Chrysanthemums, Palms,— new or old. from home or abroad. ««= IX TELI^S XHK "WHOI^K STORY "r our World's Fair Edition of '93, we will imil Five Grand Specialties if vou mention this paper. S'^fveet Pea BlailCtie Kerry, large pink and white, 10 days earlier than any other; profuse bloomer on long stems; very sweet Pansy Velvet Ciein, nearer red than anv other Pansy many reddish shaiies in its v iriations. ^^sturtiuttl Aurora, vellow with carmine lid purple, a distinct novelty. .Tll^fiionette, Oiant t of 119,121 l';utnVi>hii) 122 Rambler's Hive-hobby 119 Kambler in Salt Lake City 129 Swarms. Returning 116 Ventilation. Upward 128 Winter Problem— Pierce... .125 Wintering, by Mrs. Axtell...l33 CIRCULAKS BECEIVED. Catalogues have lately been received fv>iii llu- following; W. W. Bliss. Duarte, Cal. S. C. Gorham York, Neb. Harris & Brown, Laniine. Mo. E. T. Flanatran. Belleville, 111. (4. W. O lok. Spring Hill, Kan. M. H. Hunt, Bell Branch, Mich. G K Hubbard. Fort Wayne. Iiid. Mrs. Jennie Atchley. Floyd. Texas. Gregory Bros & Son. Ottumwa. la. St. Joseph Apiary Co., St Joseph, Mo. I J. Stringham. 93 Barclav St., New » '>rK; W. T. Falconer Mfg. Co . Jiimestown, N. i . We are now printing a tine catalogue for L'vering Brothers, Wiota, la. We have ,ju>t liiiished the annual price lists otE. H. Trurapers. Bankers. .Mich., and J. B. LaMontagne, Winter Park, Florida. We have iust printed W. S. Pouder's annual price list of api- arian supplies. 32 pages-17.5 East Walnut Street, Indianapolis, Ind Friend Ponder has also just published a primer on api culture, entitled ■' The Busy Bees, and How to Manage Them." It Is sold at the nominal price of 10 cents, and tairly bristles with good points for these who have had a little experience with bees, but who meet dirticulties ot various kinds. It is worth the price to any bee-keeper. Chicago Bee-Keepers" Supply Co., Are Maniihctarers of and Wholesale and Eetail Dealers in BEE-HIVES, HONEY SECTIONS, FOUNDATION, .iNI) OKNERAL sri'I'MKS KOH HEE-KKErKRS. Write for circular with special prices. Agents wanted. Office 68 &70 So. Canal St., I TOPEKA CHiCACO, ILL. 1 KANSAS. 4tfdb Please mention this paper. LOCATIOIT Is a \)ig piiint. ill siu'pl.ving' low freig-lit rates. As we sel our circular of supplies. mods; ours g'lves jou low, you sliould have l-18db I. J. STRINGHAM, 92 BARCLAY ST., N. Y. mention thi^ paper. Now is the lime t moiitlis. We liave the following i>rirt condition of the iii; 1 lb., postpaid, dl 1 lb. witli otliei I sow, and during- tlie next two I fiood suppl.v of chiiice seed at ,, wliicli are low for tlie jiresent rket: ; ;i Ills, for iFl.dO. ods. -Z^r: 4 ll)s. for tI.IKI. i peck (15 Ills.), .K.()IIT. Record sap-siHuits, $l.iui iier ]ii(); $s.( 0 per 1000 10-qt, buckets. IC tin, $1H01 per KiO; IX tin. $1S.()0. 12-(il. buckets, IC tin, $l7.t 0 per 100; IX tin, $19.00. Patent hinged covers. $6 00 per 100. Reversible wood covers, $4 5: 1 jier 100. Wire loops for wood pails, 30c per 100; for tin pails, 25c per 100. 1-gal. SQuare cans. 50 or 101 in a crate, $12.(10 per 100. Box- ea 10 in a lio.v, for re-shipment when filled, $1..50 per box; $14.00 for 10 boxes. A. I. ROOT, Mfedina, Ohio. IS'.fJ (ILKAMNciS IN lilOK rUI/rURK. Honey Column. CITY MARKETS. DktuiHT. //iikci/ — No cIciii;.''!' ill piiiT ^i ikt last 4|ti(italiilljiiK' at I5({{ilti; oilier ff ratios an- slow at iiiH'criaiii v.ilius. 'I'lic (Icniaml for ox- Jrai'lcd is fair with prices lanjiiiia- I'roin ti(f( 7(5*8. Uccmciw. ~'r Willi (K'luaiul tfooil. K. A. IJuilNKXT. 161 So. Water Si... Cliicafro. III. B EE-HIVESAND FIXTURES FOR SALE CHEAP. in WHOLESALE AND RETAIL. SciiiM'oi- illii^l lalril cilaloKiic. Sciid :.'.'» cents foi' "Aiiiiiloiir Hi'e-Keellow on arrival. (has. F. Murii, Tel). 8. ('iiiciiinati, Ohio. Kansas rn-v.—Zfojicj/. — Demand poor. Supply liirg-e of comb, l-lb. fancy white, lo; dark, 8^9. Ex- tracted, lifrht demaud. supply lijiht; white, 7@7>^; ■dark, .t(^(!. Bfcsitxix, none on ihe market. HaMISI.IN & I5EARSS, Feb. .s. -.U Walnut St., Kansas City, Mo. Saint Louis. Hokcj/. -Market tame: little In- ■quiry. CVmib M to 12. Extracted, cans, (!'/4@7. Barrels, 4i4@5i.i. Beesivax, piime, 2rt. Feb. 8. D. G. Turr Cko. Co., St. Louis, Mo. S.\N Fkancisco.— H'iney — Honey remains very firm, as the prospects foi- next season, at the pi-esent time, are i)oor. We quote: extracted honey, 6@6JiC; and comb honey, Mb. 11@13; 2-lb.. S(»li. Bieswax, scarce, 24fa.2B. Schacht, Lemcke & Steineh, Jan. 23. San Francisco, Cal. PoKTLANi). — 7i i/ieiy.— The honey -trade has been ^somewhat dull since tlie holidays, and prices foi- -.•omb are not s) stitf as they were, altlioug-h stocks generally are li^ht. Fancy wiiite, 1-lb., sell to-day at lt)@l7": darker {grades. 13@.15. Two-pounds, Ic per lb. less all around. White extracted, 8c; liyht am- ber, 7c. Beeswax, not quotable. Jan. 11. Lew, Spiegl & Co., Portland, Or. Kansas Citv.— HoHej/.— The market is well sup- plied with both comb and extracted, selling- slow. 1-lb. white comb,14(gil5; dark, s(<^' 12; white extracted, ■7X; dark, .5(®6. Bee^u'ax, light si i| (ply, tfood demand iit 2:i@26. Clemons, Mason & Co., Feb. 8. Kan-sas City, Mo. At^BANV.— H(/nev.— The demand for comb honey ■continues lifrht. and the supply is ample. Plxtracted in jyrood demand with a small stock on the market. We quote: White-clover, 1-lb.. llfT/ 1:^; mixed, lil@ll. Buckwheat, 8®l(l. Extracted, lifrht, 7^.8; dark, 6@7. Feb. 11. Chas. McCiM.oCH&Co., Albany, N. Y. New York.— H')?tejy.— Little demand for comb honev,witli suflicient stock. We quote: Comb honey, white, 1-lb.. Vmii; off grades, 11; buckwheat, 9. Extracted, basswood and clover, 7@7>^; California, 7@7J. Southern, 6.5@70c g-allon. Beeswax, scari-e and advancinfr, 2S(r/2!t. Feb. 9. liii.uKETH Bros. & Segelken. 28 & :i(l West Broadway, New Y'ork. For Sale. — California 2-lb. section comb honey at 12c per lb. Wis. and Mich. 1-lb. section candied comb honey at lie per lb. If you want honey of any description, write us. S. T. Fish & Co.. 4-.5-6d 189 So. Water St .. ( 'hicag-o. 111. 1892 A PQ^LTRV Called "The Chiekeii Busi- ness, and How to .Make it I'ay." Tells till about it. Dl'^t'M^ I'inel\ illustrated, |ii act ical, and orijri- llWVyrX I,;, I, |.,.i,.(. ,-,11 cents, postpaid. An il- ^~^"~ lust rated I'ircular free, {rivin>r particu- lars al)out Ihe book, and prices of pure-bred fowls and eg:gs for sale hv the author, 4tfdb H. B. CEER, Nashville, Tenn. Wants or Excl^anje Department. ASll'l'LV DE.ALER wants prices on sections, foundiit ion, and smokers. W.H. Putnam, Itfdb River Palls, Pierce Co., Wis. WANTED.— To trade a laifre lot of Heddon hives, nicely made and frood as new; some with combs complete foi- honey, now or after crop of '92. Write for particulars. Acldri'ss D. S. Hall, 2tfdb South Cabot, Vt. ly ANTED. —An apiarist to tend 190 colonies bees; Vy foundation-mill, 2 extractors, and 200 lbs. comb furnished; also wagon and team. Will give one- half bees (iiicreasei and one-half honey. 3-4d E. Y. Tehral, Cameron, Texas. WANTED.— To exchang:ea »ew 22-cal. Stevens ri- fle, with g-lobe sights, cost $20.00, for an incu- bator; must he in No. 1 condition. 4d J. S. Waknek, Medina, O. WANTED.— To exchange $a5.00 saw-table. Stover's ideal feed-mill and horse-power combined, and a lot of job type. Want supplies and honey. 2tfdb O. H. Hvatt, Shenandoah, Page Co., la. WANTED.— To exchange, red raspberry and Ijlack- berry plants for pure Italian queens, or eggs from pure poultry. E. R. Miller, 4-.M Garden City, Cass Co., Mo. WANTED.— For 1892, as learners, two young men, brisk, honest, and temperate. Can back in- struction by iii) years of active experience in apiary. 4-5-6 S. I. Freeborn, Richland Centre, Wis." w ANTED.— A man to handle my bees the coming season. Filmore Cole, Lima, O. 4tfdb WANTED.— To exchange a flne target gun tVjr foundation. D. Bennett, Union Furnace, Ohio. W J ANTED. —Situation in an apiary, a single young- man of four years' experience. " 4-.5d A. C. Fuhrman, Plea.sant Home, O. WILL exchange Italian queens for Brown Leg- hoi'ii fowls or eggs. W. C. Gathright, 4d Toccopola, Miss. U/ILL exchange lot .5(1 x 143 feet, well located, in Vt Larned City, for high-grade bicycle, typewriter, or Barnes foot-power machinery. A. H. Duff, 4d Larned, Kansas. WANTED.— To exchange 60 straight brood-combs ill L. frames at 12 cents each for supplies in flat. E. 1). Barton. Flast Hampton, Mid. Co.. Ct. Improve your stock ! G(,'t the best 1 Beautiful jellow Italian (Queens from stock bred for busi- ness, as well as beauty. Orders i booked now. 1^48 queens sold, and never heard of i but two misniated. Will be ready to tiegin ship- j ping bv Mav 1st. Warranted (jueen, ^I.IK); 6 for -54..")". ■ ' W. H. l..\ WS, Lavac-a, Ark. l-2d WANTED.— At once, a man to go to Lake Wortli, Dade Co., Florida. One who is comi)etent to rear que^jiisaiid take full managementof an apiary. State age, experience, and salary exjjected per year. Harry Stites, M. D., l.'.OO Sixth St., Harrisburg, Pa. yiT ANTED.— By young man, agreeable outdoor em- \) ployment during summer, in a pleasant, healtliful locality. Have a little knowledge of bee- keeping. Address H. B., Box 1.51, Bellevue, Pa. 114 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Feh. 15. Free 28-piig-e RESTRICTOK book. How- to avoid swarms, brace-combs, and losses in winter. How to get bees into sections inoneliour; and rear queens in full colonies, etc.. same old fixtures. C. W. D.vyton. Clinton, AN is. 24--23db Please mention this paper EARLV QUEEITS, FKOM our brancli Ajnary in Texas, whicli is three miles from anv other bees, and none but tlie best FIVE -BANDED Ooldeii lialiaii QiieeUK used to rear Queens and Drones. Our bees aretlie g-entlest, best woi-kers. and most beau- tiful bees known. Safe arrival and eiitln- satis- faction g-uaranteed. one Wari-atUed Queen, March and April, $1.2.5; 6 for $6.00. If you want the best, send for our circular at once. l-24db S. F. ense, any one may know if his bee-cellar is too damp. R. C. Aikin furnishes a long, interesting ac- count of '"Colorado, its Soil, Climate, and Alfalfa Farming, and how the latter fuinislies Hone}'." The inimital>le Hasty bejiins in this issue what is to Ilea seiit's of ai'ticles entitled: "Comments on a Bej;iinier's Day - Book." This "Daj'-Iiook" was kei'T by Mr. Hasty when be first began Ijee-keeping-. E. T. Hanagan tells how he has bridged over poor seasons. Most of the articles are emliellished with a portrait of 1 he author. There are the usual ex- tracts and edit(jrials, including an account of the trip to Albany, and a "leader" upon the special topic for the February issue, viz., "Grading- Hon- ey." If you would like to see this number, send ten cents, and with it will be .sent the December num- ber ; and whenthe February number is out, that too will be sent. The Review is $100 a year. The book, "Advanced Bee Culture," is 50 cts. Both for $1.2.5. All new subscribers for 1892 will receive tlie Decemlier, 1891, issue free. Address BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, lotfdb Flint, Mich. [^"In responding to this adverti.le liy mail of THE UTILITY BEE-ESCAPE. Thoroughly tested, praclical and cheap. It cleans them out and they stay out. Any one ,--an make it. Get a sample ;ind make your own. 4tfdb J- A. GREEU, Day-boxi, 111. C^In responding to this advertisement mention Gi.eanings SUPPLIES RETAIL — SXI) WHOLESALE. Everylliliig used in tlie .tpiary. Gi'( atest variety and lar;;- ^l stock in the West. New catalig. .54 illustrated pages, free to bee-keepers. E EEETOHMEE EED OAK, IOWA. In writuiK advertisei^ pka^t^ mention tins paper. FnilNnATinN *^"* sections are my UU raUH I lUil Specialties. No. 1 V-groove Sections at ^^J.(HI per thousand. Si)ecial prices to dealers. Si'nd for free price list of every thing needed in the apiarv. 3tfdb M. H. HUNT, Bell Branch, Mich. I^"In resoondiner to tlii- .-iilv.-r. i-ement rii.nli.in (4LE.\NiNas. Send for Price l,i.it to R. E. HARBAUGH. Ufamifr and Healer in Hee- Keepers' Supplies. Breeder of Italian and Carniolan Bees and Queens, Light and Dark Colored Ferrets. 25th and Clay Sts., - - - St. Joseph. Mo. Porter's Spring Bee-Escape. We guarantee it to be tlie best escape known, and far superior to all others. If, on trial of from one to a doz- en, you do not find them so, or if they do not prove .sat- isfactory in every way, return them by mail within 90 days after receipt, and we will refund your raonej'. PRICES:— Each, by mail, iJostpaid, with full direc- tions, 20c; per dozen, $3.2.5. Send for circular and testi- monials. Supply dealers, send for wholesale prices. lOtfdb R. <£ E. C. PORTER, LEWISTOWN, ILL. tyin responding to this advertisement mention Glkanikgs • DELVoTED. •ANCHoNL^ 'ARDHOMEL- e^'liltOOr- f^EDiMA Ohio Vol. XX. FEBRUARY 15, 1892. No. 4. Stray Straws FROM DR. C. C. MILLER. Pi'Xic HKKs arc tluoatciiiiig a libfi suift in England. Aij'auoh's t^koket is now ?2. I'd liUr<>d an nar- nost in-otest against opening tlio World's Fail' on Sunday. Tiihee-sixteenths of an incli is advocated as a bee-spaco by no less anthoiMty tlian J. B. Hall, of Canada. That's HKiiiT. Mi'. Editor. Keep A. I. down in Florida and Ciilia till settled warm weather, then lie won't spring dwindle. Pkogrkssive Bee-kep:pp:r is the new name oi \\w Missouri Bec-liceper. It can't progress any further in getting up a neat, clear page. Now Tii.\T ther<' seems a general tendency toward 4'4x4i4 as a standard section.it seems loo bad to start up 43'.. ( "ri.ADSTONK says: " 1 have always taken great delight in my garden, and do not think I shall ever be old enoiigii to lose my interest in seeing things grow. If the season is propitious I fre- quently spend the half-hour before breakfast among my flowers." T wonder if that has some- thing to do with his vigorous mental powers in his 83d year. QuEKN-EXCi.uDEKS Under surplus-chambers, a correspondent of the B. B. J. thinks, are not needed over the whole surface of the hive, but only at the front and back end, and a thin board over the rest. He says the bees don't go up through the middle of the brood -nest, and the full-sized excluder gives much more room than is needed for bees to go up. Some- how I'm afraid the bees will not work quite so well over the board: but actual experiment only would settle it. KETURNING SWARMS TO THE PARENT HIVE. DADAMT EXPLAINS HOW TO DO IT AND NOT HAVE THEM SWARM OUT AGAIN. Fnend Root: — The inclosed letter from . I. S. Willard explains itself. Mr. W. desires that we should give in Gleanings the particulars of ovir plan of returning the swarms to the par- ent colonies to keep down increase. You will remember that this was mentioned in Glean- ings for 1891, page .541. and called forth a num- ber of inquiries from bee-keepers in different localities. Messrs. Dadant & Sun;— In describing- your plan of keeping- down increase l)y reluming- tlie swarm in 48 hours, you do not say where to hive the swarm in order to save tlie bees that have tlieir new home located; and, also, would you hive them in an emp- ty hive on starters ? A friend of mine wanted me to write you for particulars about tliat plan of returning: tlie swarms; and, in fact, I tlioug-lit I should Ulje it myself too, and very likely several of the readers of Gleanings would like to have you de- scribe the plan more minutely; and if y >}i tliink so, you can write a letter to Gleanings at your leisure. Bedford, Iowa, Feb.. 1S93. .7. S. Willard. We wish to say, first, that this plan is not of our originating. We saw it lirst in the Cours (V Apiculture, of Hamet, published in Paris years ago. Hamet advised this plan more par- ticularly for the secondary swarms. In those days of box-hive bee-keeping there was but little need of returning primai'y swarms to their colony. But we tried this method on primary swarms, and with good success. We notice, also, that a number of apiarists have tried it the past summer with fair results. Hamet says: "'The swarm which is to be i-eturned to the parent colony should be hived like any oth- er swarm, and placed as close to the old colony as practicable. The next day, or the day follow- ing, the swarm should be shaken in front of the parent hive, just as is done in uniting several swarms together. They should mwer be re- turned the same day, as they would surely start out again in 24 hours. When they are returned after a lapse of time there is a fight between the queens, if the young ones are hatched, or the returning queen destroys the others in the cells." Collin, in his book. " ic Guide du proprie- taire d^Ahellles" advises the apiarist to place the swarm on the old stand and revnove the old colony to a ncnv location, wailing till the queens ai-e all hatched before bringing it back. But this method has one objection — the swai-m remains too long in the new hive, and raises brood in it, and this bi'ood is practically lost. The plan that we followed, and which we recommend, is to hive the swarm into an empty hive with frames and guides of foundation, ex- actly as if it were intended to be kept, and to place it near the old colony. In 24 to 48 hours, shake all the bees in front of the old colony. The combs that have been built in the nu-an- while will never come amiss, and the few eggs laid will hurt nothing. It would be still better to remove the old colony from its stand, and return it when removing the swarm, and also to destroy the queen that has the least value — the queen of the swarm if very old, or the young queen if the old one is valuable. In fact, it is better that the old queen should remain, as bees are more likely to swarm with an unini- pregnated queen than with a laying one. We believe that this method prevents further swarming, only when the hive is in such con- dition that it would not have sent forth a sec- ond swarm. The issue of the first swarm puts an end to the swarming fever, the supplemen- tary queen-cells are destroyed by the young queen, and one of the two queens vanishes in a duel when the swarm is returned. Unless the season is very favorable, the time for swarming passes away before the bees find out that they have been fooled by the apiarist, especially if he has provided ample room for their surplus honey. As mostof our bee-keeping friendswell know, we are no longer comb-honey producers. For a number of years we have raised nothing but ex- tracted honey, and ther(>fore have no need of this method of prev(Miting increase, for (Dr. Miller to the contrai-y notwithstanding) in an apiary pi-operly run for extracted honey, there is no swarming to speak of. Every time that we have had swarming to any extent it was when we had infringed upon the I'ules that re- quire that a colony of bees be supplied with a sufificient amountof empty combs ahead of need, during the entire honey season. It may be of interest to oui' readers to know how we found out the value of Hamet's advice on the I'eturn of the first swarm to the parent colony. It was in 1870. We had a number of colonies of bees in the apiary of our friend A. Daugherty, residing in Rocky-Run township, some 14 miles from us, in a very good honey- producing district. The season was a rushing one. and we were behind. The bees were swarming wherevei- they had not been provided with a large stock of empty combs. Friend Daugherty, who had some 80 hives of bees, including ouis. found himself short of empty hives, and began harvesting the swarms in any kind of l)ox. in nail-kegs, in fiour-bari-els. When oui' junior reached his apiary with a wagonload of empty hives, there were .some 12 hives full of bees, that were not hives at all. So we began transferring the bees out of these boxes into the movable - frame hives, by shaking them out in front. The bees had been hived from one to three days previous- ly, and had but very little comb biiilt in their odd-shaped homes. Strange to say, they were so ill satisfied with the unceremonious transfer that every swarm left the new hives provided for them, and went back home to their parent hive. None of these hives swarmed •subse- quently; and as the latter part of the season was unfavorable they were the hives that made the best crop. We hope the above is a sufficient explanation, and that Mr. Willard and others will find in it enough to pay them for the trouble of pciusing it. Dadant i^ Son. Hamilton, III.. Feb.. 1802. [If we understand the matter the whole se- cret is this: The hiving of the swarm in a sep- arate hive beside the old one and allowing them to nmiain there for a day oi' two gives sufficient time for the bees of both colonies to feed them- selves as belonging to separate households. IS'.t'.' (iLKAXINcJS IN KKK (l l/rrUK. 117 TIh'M w lull tlit>yarr miitcd thcrt- is w ar w il li lh«' qiit't'ii. and tlic swanniiijj fever is fornoltcii. This is il valiialile iiein. ami we sluuild like to jrel re|)(irts from others.] THAT CANADIAN IMBROGLIO. I>i;. MlI.I.KK OKFKKS .SOMK NT'I- I'Ol! 1111'. oN- lAKIl) COMMITTKK TO ( KACK. Notw illistaiuliii.si the faet tiiat 1 am siiifiled oiit as one of the evil few who were anxious tit oust Canadians from the North American l>(>o- keepers" .Vssoeiatioii. the aetioii taken by the Ontario liee-keepers" Assofiat.ion came to m(^ with a sni'iirise as niter as it was painful. What! desire to be disassociateii fi-om that l>ody of be(>-keepers whiidi includes in its numbers many whom I highly esteem, men whom I love as brotliersi Have I so soon forjjotten the kind- ly spirit sliown by the Canadians at thi' Toronto convention'.' If. in n>ality. 1 had any desire to remain separate from them iieieafter, then I should certainly liave no word to otTer in reply. Or. if the action of the Ontario were simply a withdrawal because fui'ther atliliatioii were considered unpleasant or uni)rolitable. then I could only regri't the loss and submit in silence. Kut when false charges are made, even if they arise entirely. from misconception, then, for the sake of those whose good opinion I value. I may be allowed a reidy. Tile first cliarge made is the feeling "on the part of some I'liited States bee-keeper.s to regard and speak of the North American as a national institution." It is true, that the soci- ety was often called the '•National" for short, aiid I think that is all the evidence there was of such feeling, or. rather, of such supposed feeling, for I am sure that for one I never had anv other thought than considering the Cana- dians just as much brethren as the Georgians or Texans. Looking over the pages of the his- tory of the society, characterized by Rev. W. F. Clarke as that "admirable compend" for which ■■ we all owe a debt f)f gratitude to our friend Thomas (J. Newman." I find it called the '• National Society" in the minutes of 1878: and in 1SS4 a motion seconded by a Canadian, S. T. Pettit. appoints a committee " to consider what moditicatioiis, if any. should be made in the NiitiiDKtl .Soci(!ty." "'Rev. \Vm. F. Clarke, of Ontario, spoke at some length on this resolution. . . . He said it was first intendcid to call tlu^ society by the name 'National,' but at his re- quest it was called 'North American,' so as to include Canada. It was often called the " Na- tional Society." l)ut it would be inoni proper to call it the International, for such was its real character, and such he hop(;d it would con- tinue.'" In all this it hardly appears that tlie term. "■National '" was looked ii|>on as any thing betokening any wrong feeling, and it is hardly possible that Mr. Clarkad to any per- manent estrangement. The truth will come uppermost, and we shall know each other better. Marengo, 111. C C. Miller. A BOUNTY ON HONEY NOT DESIRABLE. THE OB.JECT OF rKOTECTION; ClIEAl' SUGAR, ETC. Our prohibition friends have a good deal to say concerning special privileges granted by the government to the liquor-traftic. A class of " reformers " demand that the government shall provide ouildings for the storage of agricultural products, and insist that they are asking no more than about what is now granted the liquor-traffic. Now, it seems that a few bee- keepers are disposed to ask that honey shall be granted special favors similar to those suppos- ed to be granted whisky. Did it ever occur to these friends to account for the reluctance of whisky in accepting these special favors? Why! it requires an army of vigilant officials, assisted, in some instances, by Winchester rifles, to per- suade the whiskey-men to accept these alleged special favors. "Hie object of a protective duty is to guard a domestic product against the lUthUity of being (rrowded out of our own market by a foreign competitor. From Root's piice list we ascertain that the prices of some grades of tin plate are as low now as they were three months before the "McKinley Bill"' was reported to the House, and on no grade has the price been enhanced to the extent of the additional duty levied by that bill. To protect tin plate it does not necessarily follow that the prices which obtain- ed two years ago shall be advanced or even sus- tained; but it is necessary to guard against a repetition of that kind of competition which quickly suppressed former attempts to manufac- ture the article in this country. Yes, when sugar was admitted free the price to the consumer was cheapened to the e.xtent of the duty removed; but does any one believe that a like reduction could or would take place in the prices of salt, linseed oil, and wire nails were they placed on the free list? Does any one know of a locality or of a country where manufacturers sell salt at 10 cents a barrel, or where consumers can buy linseed oil at 1.5 cents a gallon, and wire nails at ^\.m per 100 lbs.? When coffee was put on tln^ free list, did ihe price, in spite of trusts, go down and remain down ? 1 merely refer to these subjects to indi- cate the difficulties to be met in any attempt to formulate cast-iron rules concerning the eftects of tariff prices. The protective system aims to build up all important American industries; but, to date, the sugar industry has not built up to speak of — it's a going to. Now the beet sugar is making promises. The existence of this iudustry, at present, seems to depend upon protection; and as it has been clearly demonstrated that the consume!' pays the full amount of the duty levied on sugar, and that the price of the do- mestic article, in this instance, is also enhanced to the full extent of the duty levied on the im- ported article, it seems that it would be better foi' our people to pay only the duty on the small amount pioduced here. Under the present law we pay no more to the producers of domestic sugar than we had been paying to them during the last two decades. But is honey, under present conditions, entitl- ed to bounty ? To get it. it will require a much stronger case than has been made up yet; and you may rest assured that there is no immediate danger of biding incumbered Ijy a bounty on honey. A few years ago strawberry -growers — some of them — were demanding protection against ba- nanas and a few oth(>r foreign fruits. I believe their demand was not complied with; but straw- berries are still grown, and the demand for them continues good. At present I feel like classing this demand for a bounty on honey with that demand of the strawberry-growers. E. Springfield, O. R. M. Reynolds. BOUNTY NOT DESIRABLE. SEALED. COVER, ETC. An impression seems to have gone abroad (and I Hnd it in last Gleanings) that the comb- honey industry is independent of the price of ex- tracted honey. Let us not be over-contident. I find a class of customers who would rather have comb honey, but are willing to pay only about 2 cents per lb. more than the price of ex- tracted. It would be only just, no doubt, to have a government bounty on honey: but 1 am sure all kinds will need it alike. But I fear the " Govei'nment Stamp" as a protection to bee- keepers (page 13) would prove a delusion and a snare, and so would the " trade-mark." THE winter problem. I believe Ernest and G. R. Pierce (p. 9.52) are on the I'ight track. My top cushions are often very damp, and in this condition combs are apt to become moldy and bees sickly. If upward ventilation is the thing, why do bees always seal every thing except the entrance as tight as a drum? I think I should like yonr new Dove- tailed chaff hive, only I fear the chati' wall is not thick enough for our climate. We require a thermometer which is very long at the Unver end. Then for the new-old system of wintering mentioned above, it would need a bee-space over the frames to take the place of the Hill device used under cushions; also several years' experi- ence on a small scale leads me to favor Dr. Mil- ler's idea of an inch or more under the bottom- bars. This, of course, would be impossible in bodies intended to be interchangeable with su- pers, but the chaff-hive body is permanent. WHO IS the inventor? It may be easy to determine who is entitled to the credit of introducing this or that improve- ment; but the name of the inventor may be Le- gion. Take, for instance, your new hive-rabbet. Not liking the sharp edges of your old rabbet, I several years ago devised the identical form which you have adopted; but not finding a tin- ner who had a folder which would make it. I continued to use " linger-cutters." \S\r2 (iLKANINCS IX lUOK ("lII/rURE. ll'.i NON-inUK-COMll KUAMKS. I niiit'f witl) M. II. limit iisiotioiihlc lop-liMr- ill inodilicd llolTinaii frames. Tlicv arc /xr.^v- tii'ii ill incvfiiiiii:; liiiir-coinlis. and cxci'llciu in otinT r(>s|ii'fis: and w iicii made of one jiit'oi'. with till' hci'-spaoc out out with a saw, us you siiRi^i'stiMi last spring (or was it longer ago?) llicy could not he vory expensive or coiii- nlii-ated. Then. too. the new (•(Hiili-guide could lie made the same as in your new thick-top fr.ime. HiKiiKiT IIasskit. Monaii'. low a. Jan. ■.'".». RAMBLERS HIVE-HOBBY RIDING. Pli. llNKKi; KX1M..\1.NS Ills IIIXK .\N1) SVSTKM. AM) now 111'. ( .^MK TO OUKilNATK IT. II was possiiiiy unintentional on the part of Kamliler, in i'is sketch of hive-hoiiby riding, page .54. to convey a wrong impression to the pul>lic coiu-erning m>' hive. The idea sought \o be conveyed in hitching my hive to Heddon's is. that I have copied after or borrowed from the New Heddoii hive. If I have an incorroct view of the matter, and it was intended on the. part of Rambler solely as a bit of his inimitable and ever appreciated good liiimor. 1 shall hope he will set me right. I desires to state, liowevei'. once and for all. that my liive is not copied after the Ileddon hive, 'ind that I do not jirac- tice nor recommend any part of the Heddon system. The hive I use and recommend is a Lang- strotli hive, and represents no principle not embodied in the Langstroth invention. It is constructed with the bee-spaces and the simple suspended broofl-frames of the great inventor, that are now in use by bee-kee|)ers the world over. It di tiers from the standard iiiveonlyin size: and it may be of interest to know why I made such a hive. III ISSl .Mr. Doolittle gave to bee-keepers the first iiublished ideas on the subject of contract- ing 1 (food -chain hers in the production of comb honey. To him also belongs the credit of de- veloping the idea, by writing several articles upon the subject, until many bee-keepers, in- cluding niyseif. were interested. About this lime (18K1I think) Mr. I). A. .Jones introduced (iueeii-excluding zinc to this i-ountry. and the bee-keepers were not a few who saw that, if we contracted our brood -chambers, we should be compelled to u.se a queen-excluder between the brood and sections. So the new zinc came into immediate use. and I began contracting all of my hives used for swarms by means of the zinc Atxiiit this time I made the now well-known wood-zinc queen-excluder, and put it to use extensively. The proper size of a brood-cham- ber for a swarm to be worked for comb honey U) the best advantage was soon determined. It was found that, if the tirood-spaci; given was too small, much pollen would go into the .sec- tions: and if too large, the bees stored a part or all of their best honey in the brood-chamber. After many experiments I decided ihal all that was necessary during the active working season, both for swarms and fcjr full colo- nies, was a •■ iiroodchamber for brood," as I have so many times stated in the bee-papers, and that such a brood -chambiM' contains about 8(X) squai'e inches of brood comb. It is then not a half or a divisional part of a brood-chamber. as in the Heddon hive, although it is smaller than the standard; but it represents the utmost limit of profitable contraction, and requires an extra story for spring breeding. As I used a hive of this capacity long before Mr. Ileddon made known his invention, and am also original in its use. I believe that, my rights to it will be resjiected by the mass of bee- keejiers. For several years I made the hives with t,)uinby frames, but tinally. alioiit six years ago, changed to the suspended Langstroth frame without altering the capacity of the original frame used in my experiments. I have since used no other hive or frame. I call it a "storifying" hive bi^cause it is made on the principle of the Simplicity and Cowan bee-hives that wr-re so made that th(i stories could be piled one upon another as high as desired. In using the hive for comb honey the sections are always placed upon th<^ lirst story: and any extra stories that may be on tln^ hive are carried to th(i top of the s(!ctions. I5y conducting these operations at tlii; propc^r time I am able lo prevent swarming, as a rule; and if an occasional swafin does issue in an apiary it is very easily re-united with the parent colo- ny, thus disposing of all undesirable increase. In this management I am also original so far as 1 know. Thus it will be seen that my hive stands upon its own bottom, and is neither borrowed from Heddon's nor from any one else, nor is the man- agement advised tlu; same in any particular, except in so fai' as bee-hives have always been managed. Dr. (J. L. Tinkkh. New Philadelphia. O. [The Tinker hive, although shallower than the Langstroth. may resemble somewhat the Heddoii hive: but from the reading of Dr. Tinker's book, the system of manipulating it is very ditl'ei-ent from the plan used by Mr. Hed- don with his hive.1 COST OF COMB HONEY. Ml!. DOOLirTLK CONSIl)KH> FIOURKS. .MR. TAVI.OH Along in the seventies, a bee-keeper living some three miles from here was afflicted with a cancer. He went to a distant city to be cured of the same. While away he wrote me that he wislied I would go to his place and put his bees in the cellar for him. as it was then time of year for the bees to go in. I went and did as he re- quested, being gone from home half a day, for which 1 chuiged him .Sl.OO. On his return I asked him if he found the bees in good shape, and he replied that they were in splendid order. He then asked ine how mucli he was to pay me, and I told him. Although quite a wealthy man. he thought I had charged him too much, and said he could have got such a one, men- tioning a man whose capacity pi-ople consider- ed worth about his board, to have set the bees in for 2.5 cts. I said nothing at the time, but led him out about the curing of his cancer, and asked him how long the doctor was, all told, in taking out the cancer and dnissing the wound. He thouglit that, if all the time he saw the doctor was put together, it might amount to about two hours. I then asked him what he had to pay him for taking out the cancer, and he said ?=.'>(). I next asked him why he did not get ■"such a one,'" meaning the 2.')-cent man alluded to above, to take out his cancer, and thus save the extra ^49.75 he had paid the doc- tor. He saw the point at once, and, without a word further, handed me out the dollar. I was reminded very forcibly of this little incident in n-ading what R. L. Taylor has to sav regarding the cost of comb honey on page 5fi" of a late issue of (Jlkanixgs. It seems strange to me that Mr. Taylor should be will- ing to so belittle our pursuit as to allow only -*45 for an apiarist who has suflicient brains U> 120 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Ykb. 15. do all thft necessary work which 150 colonies of bees require during six weeks in the height of the honey season. Whyl the man who has only brains enough to break stone on the high- way is not asked to work that length of time for a penny short of .*52..50. in York State, that being S10..i0 more than Mr. Taylor allows him- self, who is said to be a noted lawyer, a senator, and a man of unusual ability. I wonder if he would not have been mad if it had been said that the Hon. R. L. Taylor earned only #45 for the six weeks he represented his State at the capitol. And is not his time worth just as much in the apiary as it is in the senate or any- where else? 1 do not see any need of this low- ering the standard of our calling, that a large "'net profiV^ can be published to the world. Where is James Heddon, that we hear no warn- ing from him about putting the rosy side of bee-keeping before the world? Is the keeping of bees such a menial service that the one who works at the calling can be allowed only §1.07 a day and board himself, while the profits on that same labor amount to $10.50. should the season prove an extra good one? I protest against any such showing. He leaves out many items of cost, such as our bee-papers and books, time to read them, attending conven- tions, taxes on bees, hives to put the bees in, sugar for winter, feeders, and work of feeding, etc. Let me try my hand at the matter, and let Mr. Taylor rest assured that I shall make no charges for the fun part of our pursuit, which he fears the "wife and children will not grow fat on." Interest on bees, and wear and tear on plant. S120; double intereston 1.50 Heddon hives, $.54; taxes, $(>; sections. $25; foundation. $30: shipping-crates. $40; hauling honey to railroad, freight, and commission. $125; bee papers and books. $5; attending conventions. $20; sugar for winter stores (10 lbs. per colony where the Heddon hive is used, as the combs are expected to be nearly empty in the fall), $70; time spent, as follows: Reading bee books and papers, at- tending conventions, feeding, making crates and sections, fastening in foundation, packing honey for market, taking bees in and out of cel- lar, and other manipulation. 40 days, together with 41 days required during the honey harvest, making 81 days needed during the year to prop- erly care for an apiaiy of 150 colonies. This time at $5.(X) a day (not an unreasonable figure for an intelligent apiarist), amounts to $405. which, together with the other items of expense mentioned above (which foot up $495). makes $900 as the cost of running an apiary properly for one year. Now for the income: Seasons, oi' something else, seems to have changed: and where .50 pounds of comb honey was considered an aver- age yield per colony 12 years ago. and 45 pounds five years ago, the average yield at the present time can not well be called more than 40 pounds, according as I have summed up our yields during the past three or four years. At an average of 40 pounds for the 1.50 colonies, we should have (jOOO pounds of honey as the income from the bees, which, at 15 cts. per pound, would amount to $<.>0(\ or the same amount that the cost vvas. Hence I conclude that the cost of a pound of comb honey at the present time is 15 cents, and all that it brings us over those fig- ures is net profit. When I gave figures very similar to the above to the N. A. H. K. A., in 1S87, according to the repoi't of that convention. Mr. R. L. Taylor was the first man on his feet, and said. -'In the cost of honey there are many points to be considered, and Mr. Doolittle has not mentioned all of them: for instance, the losses in winter and from disease. I think the prices given are too low.'' Italics are mine. I then called the average yield 45 pounds, and arrived at the conclusion that the cost of a pound of comb honey was 13 cents, and Mr. Taylor immediately arises and says it is '" too low." .What has hap])ened on the hoiizon of his vision that has so changed his opinion dur- ing only about four years of time? I there al- lowed the man the whole year to work th<^ bees at $1.25 per day: but if valuable time is to be used, as Mr. Taylor puts it. and a less number of days be spent, then •■*5 a day is none too much for xkilhil labor. G. M. Dooijtti.e. Borodino. N. Y. [This question is somewhat complicated, and there is plenty of opportunity for error and in- correct assumptions; and pei'haps our corres- pondent, though usually so accurate, has laid himself open a little. A merchant, after a year's successful business, after deducting ex- penses, has a certain amount of profit. This profit usually represents the price for his labor. So in like manner the amount paid for ordinary labor represents so much profit to the laborer. It is not quite clear how INIr. Doolittle makes his honey cost 15 cts. Ills crop being sold, at a charge of $5.00 per day for his labor, he has $405 in pocket — all this made off the bees. This we regard as largely profit, although it would appear, from what Mr. Doolittle says, there is no money in comb-honey production for him. But Mr. Doolittle did. or does, as he has said at oth- er times, all or nearly all the work himself, hiring no laboi'. Much of the preparatoiw work which he does himself at $5.00 per day could be done just as well by a girl or woman at 75 cts. or $1.00 per day; foi' instance, folding sections, putting in starters, tilling hives - crates with sections, scraping sections aftei' being filled, and much other work, could be done by cheap help. If his time is worth to him $5.00 per day it would put more money in his pocket to devote it entirely to expert work, leaving the non- expert work to chea)) help. This would save him $4.00 per day foi- much of the work, and a dollar sav(^d is a dollar earned. Now with regard to the work in the apiary. We have no trouble in getting good apiarists — those who can do any thing among bees, such as producing a high grade of queens, or produc- ing honey, for from $1..50 to $2.00 per day. and they will do it just as well as we. providing we supervise or superintend the \\'oik. The, cost of doing certain kinds of labor should not he regulated by what irc can do it for, but by what we can hire it done for, and yet have it done as well. If Mr. Taylor can hire his work among the bees done for $1.07 per day. under his direc- tion, while he can earn by his profession from ten to twenty dollars i)er day. it is to his inter- est to do so. We can hardly see why. then, he ought to figure labor in his apiary at ten or more dollars per day, when, in fact, lie can get it done for $1.07 per day. A farmer once said, who valued his labor at $2.(X) per day, that he couldn't make any thing raising crops because they cost him to raise them all he got for them. If he received cash to cover cost accoi'ding to his way of thinking, the fallacy of this argument is shown by the fact that he pockets $2.00 for every day he worked on the crops just as soon as he received the cash. From these and othei- considerations we can not see how Mr. Doolittle's honey costs him 15 cts. per pound. He doesn't produce honey or raise queens and sell at cost. He is. as we all know, a successful bee-keeper; and when he charges himself $5.00 per day for labor, and gets that much in return, he is getting good pay. or. if you please, profit. The fact that he has a beautiful and comfortable home, and something IS'. IV (!LKANIN«iS IN HKK CUl/rURE. 1;.>1 luid up l)('sid(>s for a ruiiiy day, as lie lias told us, proves tliis. li is iniito possible that Mr. Taylor tnay liaxf lisrurrd the prirc of labor and the I'ost of ooioiiies in lleddoii liivi'S too low; and it is possible that he has not allowed enouffh for the cost of ineideiitals. We would not. ho\\ev(>r, lifjiire "fioiii!; to conventions" in fh(( cost of prodiicint: honey, for this is the *' fun ■' part of l)ee- keeping. Keadinji i)e(>-j()iir- uals and bee-hooUs is usually to be done at otld hours in theevenintr. and this really should not ligure very laifrely in the cost. It will be seen, however, that Mi'. Hilton |)Ut the cost even lower than did Mi. Tayloi". He; is 11 careful and practical bee-keeper, and (tno who has made money witli bees. We are jilad to jrive his article right here. have luade no aci'ouiil of tpuMuis sold, nuclei, full colonies, etc, Whil(! tlu^se come from the sixty colonies spring count, it is another ac- count whicli pays for all these and l(^avi)inion. be satisfactorily settled. Could I have made this report four years ago. when my average for eight years had l)een 75 lbs.. 1 could have shown the minimum cost in this locality. Hut the past four years have re- duced my average for a pei'iod of twelve years to Tid lbs. per colony. In making this report I shall mass the twelve years" effort into a single report; and while this (my home yard) has va- ried from ;{.■> to !»() colonies. I lind th(> average has been sixty, or tlie Total iiuniber for twelve years 720 Pounds of Money produced 36,0C0 « 'asli receipts *.">,200 COST OF PRODUCTION. Value of apiary *3,600 Interest on same at 8 per cent 288 Cost of manipulation 36il 4!),(.0.l sect ions at ^..iO 14D ;»0 Il)s. foundation at 55c 165 3illK) slii|ii)iiig-cases at 8c 240 Total i-ost of i)roducl ion .. )i;ll<)3.00 Cost cttcr than half the country butti'f. I should not be surprised if that were so. that many Chicago merchants advertise. •• We sell butterine." Hut much or all of the popular suspicion as to the purity of honey is due to its inferiority; and that a high standard of excellence would sooner or later remove that impression, we feel sure. He has handled con- siderable of my honey, labeled with my name and addiess. and he says that, after a ti'ial. his customers cease to (luestion its purity. The above reminds me tluit a lady acquaintance, who has been living in Chicago for a few years, was back on a visit last summer, and (•aim^ to me for some lion(>y. While h(^re she told nw she could hardly get any kind of honey there but extracted, and that was hard to get pure. I expressed my doubt as to its impurity as po- litely as I could ; but she insisted that she had iKiught some she km'w had been adulterated, because it was not good — it did not taste like honey. Then I told her it was probably honey that had been injured some way after it was extracted: that, to care for honey properly, is a very choice matter, and that I feared many who produce considerable of it were quite ignorant on that point. 1 admitted to Mr. ii., the grocer, that honey, if ill cared for. would deterioi'ate until it would ijrobabl>- become inferior to the spurious article. Of course. I argued with Mr. H. that an ex- tractor in operation would pro\-e a great edu- cator; but I had to own myself convinced, that, to a great extent, what \h\ .said was doubtless true; and I take the aliove method of introduc- ing the subject here. Is it not true, that a great deal of very (loor honey is produced and mar- keted when it need not be so? I know an intel- ligent bee-keepei' who said he kept his honey tightly bunged up in a barrel in the cellar, and thought it kept very well. This honey he after- ward shipped to market. I would not risk 123 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Fkb. If,. storing mine tlius. I never tried exactly that expedient: but some yeai-s ago I filled some waxed kegs with honey, bunged them closely, and left them on the ground for awhile— how long I do not now remembei'. At anothei' time I had a stone jar full, into which I think a little water leaked: if not that, it was not sufficiently rip(Mied when it was extracted. In both cases the honey became fiat in flavor from a loss of its I'ichness, and at the same time acquii'ed a sharp, acid taste. To allow honey to absorb a little foreign dami)ness, especially if it is after- ward exposed to even a moderate summer tem- perature, or to exti'act it while yet I'ank and watery, will always have that effect upon it. Hence honey can not be safely kept in a cellar — I doubt whether even in a cemented one. un- less it is so sealed as to be proof against air and moisture. But if it is stored in a warm dry room it will steadily improve in body and richness. This second or third rate honey may do for use in curing tol^acco. but not generally for table use; and it is very easy and natural for the consumer, ignorant of the nature and differ- ent qualities of honey, to conclude that such is adulterated. I once sampled some honey in a store, nicely granulated, that I would not give one cent a pound for. Now. I submit, is there not a great deal of ig- norance or carelessness on tlie part of large producers in caring for honey, or even down- right dishonesty on the part of some in putting such honey on the market? And is not the abundance of such an inferior article, to a con- siderable extent, the ground of the prevalent belief that honey is largely a bogus commodity? I incline to think, from the evidence I have ob- tained, that bee-keepers are themselves to a gi'eat extent responsible for the state of things which they so much deplore. PARTNERS IN THE II0NP:Y-HUSINESS. I saw in Mr. B.'s store some beautiful white honey in one-pound sections, put vip in nice pasteboard cartons, bearing the name and ad- dress of some Smitli. from somewhere in Ver- mont. He got it from a house in Indianapolis, and. freight charges included, it cost him a little over 15 cts. per pound. I wonder if it did not go through a commission house in New York, or some place else. I thought. " How many people made a little money out of that little lot of honey— a part of their living, if you please! " Of course, the gi'ocer gets a little him- self. Then the lailroads between Indianapolis and Springfield got a little: the firm at the former city got a little: the railroads from Ver- mont got a little, the maker and printer of the cartons got a little, the manufacturer of the sections got a little, the foundation-maker got a little, and it may be a firm in New York and another railroad got a little. What a stir a little honey or a little hog can make in the business world ! A wonderful fabric, this coun- try— this world of ours! Query: How much did Smith get? Geo. F. Robbins. Mechanicsburg. 111., Jan. 25. BICYCLE OR TEAM. E. FHANfR S.\YS A lUCYC'LE WOUI-DN'T DO FOR HIM. Ernest R. Root tries to make us think that the bicycle is the cheapest thing to be used, in vis- iting out-apiaries. Well, for him perhaps it is. It depends altogether on why you are going to make the visit. If you have local help at the apiary to do most of the work, and yon are just going to call to see how things are running, or are going to get a few ([ueens to take home to fill orders, or .something of that kind, then the bicycle is all right. But I can not see how it would do for me, or any of our large bee- keepers. We always have too much to take along. We usually make our first trips around the last of March or first of Api-il — an inspection visit: then we carry a keg of liouey, l.V) lbs., and fifty 3-lb. feeders. I don't know that we shall want to feed, but we want the feed and feeders along, and must take the team. After this first trip around we make two or three more trips, before the extracting season com- mences, to see that all is right, clip queens, etc.. and always take our keg of feed along. When white clover blossoms enough so the betis are making a living, then we take along the ex- tractor and some help, so we can take out every drop of honey there is in the hives so it will not be mixed with the white honey. We must have a team. Then when honey-gathering is in full blast, and we expect to take out 2000 lbs. of honey per day. we have to go with two teams — one team to haul the honey, and the other one to haul the help. etc. We have two horses of our own. and hire two more at the livery. Dur- ing the extracting season we have all the wag- ons we want of our own. We are also working a little farm of twenty acres, and have to have one team. DO THE BEES OF THE LARGE BEE-KEEPERS USE UP THE BEES OF THE SMALLER ONES? The small bee-keepers are apt to think that their bees stand a poor chance when there is a large apiary near them. When I first began to keep bees around about Platteville there were a great many farmers who had each a few colo- nies of bees, and some of them as many as 100 stands. Now there are but few wiio try to keep bees at all. How often I hear complaints about my bees like this I They say. " France's bees have robbed all my bees — stole all the honey, and killed all the bees. I can not keep bees any more. France gets them all." We have had poor seasons, and bees not properly cared for have starved out. But the blame all falls on my bees. In one sense, peihaps my bees have done some of the nu'schief, inas- much as they have picked up the honey pretty close. Rut did not their few stand just as good a chance as my many? Of course, they did. Well, what is the nnitttM' then? It is all in knowing how to take care of the bees. Can we expect a man to prosper in any busine.ss unless he knows how to run that business? A great deal depends upon small details— little things that appear to be of no consequence. It is a small thing to look into a hive and see whether there is feed to last through the win- ter. ■' Why." h(! says. "I simply took off the honey that was stored on top in the boxes, and the bees have all the hive full below:" when, if he had looked carefully thiough the iiive, he would have found that he had taken off' about all the honey they had in those boxes; then the bees die for want of feed. Then he blames an- other man's bees for his loss, when it was his own ignorance. In wintering our bees outdoors, what shall we put over them — a cushion or a honey-board sealed down tight? This is a question that I am asked to answer through Gleanings. I suppose that you are aware that we winter all of our bees out of doors — at present between .500 and <)(X) colonies. We have wintered outdoors most of the time for thirty years, and have had very good success. We have tried a great many plans to insui'(^ the safety of the bees. We now use a hou(>y-board over the bees — that is, a board made of %-iiieh pine, cleated at both ends to prevent warping, and large enough to cover the colony tight and let the bees seal it down with ISSCJ tiLKANINMiS IN ItKK ( I'l/riKK. 1:33 prtipolis. \Vi" (1(1 all Ilial is to lie doiic Idilln' Ix't'S by the middir of Sc|U('rnliri-. i ticii li-l itic b('t>s seal I lir Ixiard duw ii liLrlil. and don't hirak till' si-aiint; anain until tiic lii>t of April, and then only to stM- if all is rijriil. I don't want a pjvrtii'lc of ail' to pa^s np tlii'onirh tin- l)i'cs diir- uiS tilt' wintiT: jiivi' tlicin some vent at the (MitraniM'. hut none on lop. WIumi tlir lioncy- lioard is on ami scaled down. plai'<' a cushion, ."i Of 1) ini'hi's deep, over the honi-y-hoa rd, or' lill tlio top ohainbcr with straw. This top rovcrintj lu'lps to retain the heat. I'nt your hand under this eoverin£r in winter, and the honey-hoard feels warm in fact, warm enonijli to melt snow in the C()ldest weather. W'e have tried pultiniic a six-incli chatl cushion on the i)ees below the honey-board; but that won't do. as the cliafT in the cnsliion becomes wr>t. and the bees dw indie l>ad and conii' out weak in spriiif;;. I believe that the l)ees" instinct to .seal u|) all cracks and openinijs in ihc lii\(' is correct — at least, as far as the ioi) of the hive is concerned, for ()Utd(Jor wintering. When you put bees indoors to win- ter, you iri\(' them an unnatiu'iil i)lac(^ to i)ass tiie winter, and they may i'e(piii-e difi'erent treatment. I have no doubt thai they do. In fad. I never learned to winter bees successfully in the cellar: but having, of ni'cessity. to win- ter on summer stands. I have studied and ex- perimented a gr'eat deal on how to winter out- doors, and [ think we have the thins now down to a safe point. Use a large deep hive. If the i... frames use two stories, have the u|)per story tilled with good honey. Put on a tight honey- board early enough to get it sealed down, with straw or other good packing above the board. (Jive them a good wlndbi'eak. and then let them alone until spi'ihg. A (piadruple hive is better than a singl(> hive. K Fisaxce. Piaileville. Wis.. Jan. '.'."i. |Wliy. friend Fiance, wc are afr;iid you did not read our essay very carefully. We did n(jt recommend the bicycle for every one — only for the bee-keeper who runs one or two out-apia- ries. In the spring, wlien we go out on the bicycle, we give the stores by alternating comlis. liy a little intelligent forethought, many tilings can be so arranged as to make it unneceiSsary to carry things on the wheel, even though it were practical. At the request of several friends I have presented the essay as it was read at the convention.] BICYCLES VERSUS HORSES FOR OUT-APIARY TRIPS. AN KSS.VV BY K. K. 1500T. I{KAI> .\T TIIK MK III- GAX .STATE CONVENTION. One of the obstacles in the way of establish- ing out-apiaries is the expense' necessary to make the trips to these yards. That expense usually involves the keeping of a horse and buggy: and when it is further incn'ased by bad roads for six months in the year (during which time the capital invested in' the horse, buggy, harns. etc.. is lying idle, to say notliing of tlii' ilaily labor* it becomes (piite a serious obstacle indeed. I have had experience in the horse- business, as some of yon may know. I know •what it is to have almost impassible roads for six or seven months in the year, during which a horse can not be dri\en either for business or pleasure. I know what it is during this time to clean the stable, doctor a horse for mud-fever, for a month or six weeks: I have experi«'nced the lively sensation of being kicked clear across the barn, and then on my back, panting for breath, scarcely knowing wh«'ther I had a w hole bone (If not. I ha\(' iieen inn away witJi a couple of limes, and know how cxliilarating it is to feel that your life is hanging on a thread. I know what it is to have horses get into bee scrapes, having had one horse killed in one such, as you may remember- a noble animal for which I was olVered *17."i that very day. I know something of the cost of keeping buggies horses, stables, etc.. in repair. After having had this experii^ice, my ardor in tlie horse- business has gradually waned. I must make trips to out-apiaries; and to walk to tliein would be too slow; and to use one of my father's horses— well, they were always busy cultivat- ing, or something of the sort, in the garden. As soon as I sold my last high-ljyer I forth- with tiought me a high-grade Safety Victor bicycle; and most of you know the rest. After having ridden it several hundred miles among the bee-keepers of the Fasi. I found it indeed a iiKtst serviceable horse for making trips t(j our out-yards. On arrival at the yard I could leave it leaning against the teiicc^ and not be in mor- tal terror that the thing would be stung by a bee. and cut up some awful caper. I am no expert rider, but 1 found that I could make trips to our ont-apiary. on an average, seven miles, in about three-quarters of an hour! When I tried to do something real smart. I rode ten miles, bought an apiary of so colonies, returned home, all inside of iwo hours. As it took me about ;i() minutes to complete the bar- gain, the total time on the road of :.'0 miles was a little ov(!r an honr and a half. IJut the roads were good. On other occasions I have made .SO miles in three hours; 4.") miles in live hours. The latter distancj' was made over the hills of York State. Now. this, no doubt, may look like a big yarn to some of the uninitiated bicycle- riders; but I am stating absolute facts. I do not give these figuivs to boast, but simply to show what an average man has done with a machine after a little i}ractice. Now then: It will be seen that the bicycle is a great time- saver in making trips to out-apiaries. No horse —at least very few— would undertake to make such time. "But." yon say. "such rates of speed must be a severe strain upon the consti- tution of the rider." Experience in my case proves that it is not. but, on the contrary, it proves to be a wonderful tonic to the constitu- tion. The muscles of the leg develop wonder- fully. But how is it, yon may ask. that a man can travel so much faster tlian the average horse'.' The cushioned tires, ball bearings, and the gearing, give him an immense advantage over his dumb friend. Perhaps some young bee-keeper will say, " I would have a bicycle if I thought I could "ride it." It, is no trick at all to balance one. Almost any one can be taught to ride them in half an hour's time. Even our fricuid W. Z.. I am told, masterc^d the machine in twenty minutes; but in order to make speed and cover distance, it takes a little time to develop the muscles, and learn a few nice points in guiding, " But," you ask. "doesn't riding seven miles to an out-apiary make you very tired— in fact, weary — too much so to do a day's work'?" Strange as it may seem, it does not. Riding is one sort of exercise, and working over the hives is another. A different .set of muscles in either case is called into action. Most of the care of our out-apiary last summer devolved upon the writer personally. I have taken a trip down in tlic morning, worked all day, and come back in the evening, tired, perhaijs. a little, but no more so than any one (>lse who has done a full day's work. At other times, when I have had a spare hour or two. I would mount the wheel, run down to the apiary, diagnose the hives, and give such attention as might be needed to this 124 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Feb. 15. or that colony, thmi return, after about two hours' work. Now, the point I am getting at is this: A bicycle can be purchased for less than the price of an average good horse. The repair might be fifteen cents a year; oil for lubricating the healings, perhaps another fifteen cents. Outside of that there is no other expense. Place this balance-sheet over against that for the expense of a hoise, barn, hay. labor, i-epairs, etc. Now see how your account will stand. Well, a young man can make his trips to his out-yards, on the wheel — yes. make nine-tenths of his trips in that way. How about hauling the bees home? As a general thing, a farmer in the vicinity, with his double team, can be hired to do the work foi' you— that is, hauling— for a crate of honey or a small consideration in money. He can also be hired to haul home your crop of honey, and bring hack all the sup- plies that you may need. With a little fore- thought, all these things can be carried in a few trips. In the spring, for hauling the bees to the out-apiaries, if the services of a farmei' are not available at that time, a livery may be hired at about two dollars a day. Ten dollars ought to cover all the expense of hauling for at least one yard, and possibly two. Even if it were twenty, this would be a great deal cheaper than taking care of a horse for one year, to say nothing of the other expense, first cost, interest on the money, and other risks. If you are a bee-keeper and also a farmer, then the horse would be more serviceable. But the point I would urge, in a nutshell, is this: That a young man in a locality where the roads are not sandy, can manage a systetn of two or three yards cheaper with a good bicycle, sup- plemented by the aid of a farmer or liveryman, than he could to keep a horse, buggy, and all the other paraphernalia connected with the horse-business. I have tried the scheme for one year, and I think I know something of what I am tarlking about. In conclusion, let me add that I do not advise the use of a bicycle for elderly men. [The above we had not intended to imblish in our own journal: but as there has been some inquiry as to what we had to say on that subject. we give it in answer thereto.] THE HIBERNATION OF THE HONEY-BEE. TKITE HIBKliNATION EXI'LAINKI) l!V Ml!. I'. II. EIAVOOD. Mr. S. Corneil, of Lindsey, Ontario. Canada, writes us that Mr. Doolittle's article on hiber- nation, page 4."). is somewhat misleading, and hoped we might see our way clear to i)iiblish an article by P. H. EI\\ood, in the Canaduui Bee Journal, page "iSl, 188(). This article, he says, was a '"settler" when the subject was up for discussion several years ago. No one ever at- tempted to answer it. We have looked up the article in (luestioii: and as it seems to cover the subject so thoroughly we are glad to make the accompanying <'\tract from it: What is hibfriiMtinnV Marsludl Hall sa.\s. "Slei-p and liiberiiatioii are similar peiiodical piu'iionicna leading' tu similar results, and (liftViinji' only in de- cree." As Dr. Hall is piobably tlic liijihcst author- ity we liave on the subject, and as his di'linition has been accepted 1)> all invcstijiatois, it would scfin to l)e well foi' smattcifis in st-ieiH'c to look u)) the standard definition and accept it. lallier tliaii to coin another which shall be accurate oidy iu niea- surinK the want of knowledjre of its author. The Germans recognize liil)ernation as a i)ecidiarly deep sleep, and their name for it is winter sleep (See Uur- Uiw't^ Winter Schlaf, livrlln). Do honey-bet's hibei- natt', or is the ([Uiel of winter onl>' a sleep, or has it passed l)eyond sleep into hibernation':' Di'. Edward Smith says a man in deep sleep expired i.'y g-raius of carbonic acid jier minute: on the t readwlieel, 43.36 grains ]iev minute. A waking hedgehog yielded SO.S times more carbonic acid than one in a state of hi- bernation. Tliuswe have a ratio between sleep and waking of 1 to 10, nearly; between hibernation (not piofound) and waking, "l to 20.5. If, instead of the treadwheel, we take walking at three miles per liour rZn grains carbonic acid per minute), which ex- ertion would coriesiHuid more neaily witli thatof the hedgehog, we have a ratio less than 1 to 6. Car- penter says of the liee: " When breeding, the evolu- tit)n of heat and consinnjition of o.\> gen takes place- at least twenty times as rapidly as when in a state of repose." Tlus is the same ratio that exists be- tween the hedgehog's hibernation and waking. But, diopping these comparisons as illogical, we- may note the number of inspirations and the amount of food taken during the winter, which jiroves conclusi\ely that, in its winter repose, tlie honey-bee luis passed far beyond the jihysiological limits of sleep into hibernation. You will notice hy the definition, that, where sleep ends, hibernation begins — there is no "((uiescence" between. The daily summer sleep of the bat and dormouse is a true hibernation. Dr. Hall says, "Tlie (juantity of respiration is inversely as the degree of irritability of the muscular tiber.tlie former being marked by the quantity of oxygen consumed in a given time ascertained by the imeumatometer. the latter by the force of galvanism necessary to demonstrate its existence." The cajiability of |iassing into a state of hibernati(m depends upon the capability of tak- ing on an incieased muscidar irritaliility. Were the respiration diminished without the increased mus- cular irritability, deatli would take place from the torpoi- of slow asphyxia; and were the respiration increased without the diminution of the irritaliility, the animal would die from over-stimulation, as in those suddenly aroused from the state of hiberna- tion." As such tiitilng causes as walking- over the floor, touching the oijei'atiiig-table, etc., are sviflH- cient to excite respiration, hibernating animals adopt various means of securing themselves from disturbance; and when the temperature approach- es ."iO ° tliej' seek out their hibernacles in trees, caves, and burrows in the earth. It was foimd that hibernating bats died when subjected to the motion of ;i stage-coach foracou|ile of days. The same treatmeiU would \nidoubtedly seriously injure a hibernating swai-m of bees. It was that close ol)- si'rver, Mr. L. C. Root, who first called my attention to the injurious conse<|uences of the needless dis- turbance of liees dining their winter sleep. And ever}' farmer boy knows how unwholesome it is to be suddeidy aroused from a deep sleep to immedi- ately participate in the active diUies of the day. How comforting to the iisi)ig generation that the doctors now say the process of awakening should tie a gradual one ! Hibernation differs widely in different animals. While pt)s.sessing- the same general characteristics, yet in no two is it exactly alike: and we must 7U)t exiH'ct the honey-bee. which differs so much from every thing else of the animal kind, to conform in every particular to the already observed conditions of hibernation. In some animals, hibernation is- very profound: in others, not. I have already giv- en an illustration of the latter. A Inljernating- bat, in a i)neumatometer. consumed but one seventy- second part as nuich oxygen as one awake. The bat may be said to belong to the former class. In some animals, before the period of hibernation a lai'ge amount of fat is stored in the body. Tins iiy- dro-ca\bonaccous dejiosit sei-ves as a store of lieat and force during that i>eriod. In this class of pro- founil hibei-nators, the total loss of weight is some- times 40 per cent, or fully as nuu'h as usually .sus- tained in starvation. Another class of hiliernating- animals stoi-e their chief supply of food outside of the l)od>, and awake atinter\als to i>aitake of it. The marmot, liedgehog. squirrels, flornuce, etc., be- long- to this class. To this class w(> must assign the honey-bee, the honey being the stored suijply of heat and force. Some of this class liave a partial depenfl(>nce upon the fat of the bod>. but it is not- asseited that this is the case with tlie honey-liee. Somi' lu'e-pldlosophers, howevei', maintain that bees Ue) t on a short allowance through t lu' fall and su])- lilied later for winter, do not usually come thiough so well. Tliere is also a small school of physiologists who assert that all cai'bonaceous food must first be convei'ted into adipose tissue before it can be use- ful foi- the production of heat and foi-ce. Tlus ap- IS'.fJ (;M':\XIN(iS IN liKE CULTURE. I '-^5 plies M/ii.i/y.l/ 11, n tu the ll.)iu\ of I he \ivln>y. in ;i Iciiipci-it iiii- v:i- rxiii)..' fi-Diii foily-tlvc to llf(.\ tioKi»"i's, iiwiiltcs In (Ml :i1 inlciMils of two of tlii'i'f iliix s. do- ln'iidln.ir upon this slisflil ilillcicncc In tt-nipriii- tmt'. 'riu> (loitiiouso. w liicli sonicl hncs hiliciiiiitcs in lu'c - lii\ t>s. :i\v;iki'> (l:iil\ in nioilcrntr Icin- p('i"iIiiros. Dr. Hci'NCS s!i\s. "Lower li'nipoi;it me lie>rin> at the surface of the liody and >;r;nlinill.\ ap- piomdie-. I lie (•enter." This central part, as Dr. Hall, Spallan/i, and others haxc proven, remains peiniaiienil\ at a hiaher tetnpeiiil mo. In hibeina- lioii.as at other times, a swarm or cluster of bees iniist he taken as a unit . Mealing this in mind, it is. as we should e.vpect.that I he center of a hihei- naiiiiy cliislei i> formed of a higher lemperaliire than the oiii>ide, as Doolittle. Tinker. ;iiid others have noted. Most bee-keepers lunc not iced, on sud- denl.\(li\idni!.'- .a cluslci' of bees in cold we.il her, that the outside bees are --omewhat let liarj;ie, while those in^^idc .-ire livel.x' and apt to tl.v out and stiiis; while if an.\ of t hes'e half-awaUc "oulsde bees ll.\ t hcv appear not to haxc control of t heir movements, and fall to the fiiound. The heat of reptiles is from four to tifleeu de- jrrees F. above the heat of their medium, while the heat of individual insects is from I wo to ten de- irrees more Ihan that of tho air. Therefore it can not he said that reptiles or solitary insects hilx'i- iiate as w.-irm-blooded mammalia do. The same ma.\ besaidofthe Individual bee. If is oid.\ when aji- jrrejrated in clusters Ihal a hisrh Hiul independent temperature is niiintainel. Hibernation must not he c'lmt'ouiided wit h torpidity. The Amrrk-o)! E)t- fj/ffiiycdirt sa\s: "The torpor produced by extreme « old is ver.\' (lilferent from true hibernation." And .•ifrain. In another edition. ■ Ext feme cold will arouse a hibi'i-natinjr animal from its lethaifiy, and speed- ily kill it." We all know that cold arouses bees. These, then, appear to be some of the leadinji' chac- :icteiistics of liibernation: An activit.v similar to but less than in sleep, with diminished respiration, but i'lcreased muscular irritaliilit y; lower temper- ature, lowest at the surface of t he !> id.\, diminished need of foo 1. and. when stored outside of the bod.\-. partaken of only at inter\als of awakeninj;-. loss of vohiiitary in ilioii. but continuance of involuntar.x' motion. As bees p )ssess .so mai.vof the <'onditions of liibernation. it seems i-easonable to cnaeliide that they hibernate. * * * P. H. Elwcjod. [The artielo, shows mncli painstaking care in its pi-ei)aration. and. wiiliout doiiht. thi' state- mi'iils are correct, fiom a scieiiiKic point of view. Hibernation — at least with the bce- keepers on this side of tiie line — was pretty well worn out yeai's ajro in discussion: but we, trust there will be no objection on the part of our readers to our jjiviii!^ wiiat is both iiiten>sting and valuable. We pi'(>siiine Mr. Doolittle meant the same thing, even if he did not state it (|uile as scientifically.] THE WINTER PROBLEM IN BEE-KEEPING. MOHTAI.ITV OF BKKS FOH TlIK I. .VST FKW VKARS: WHO FIKST OHIGINATKI) TIIK IDK,\ OF \ SKALKD COVEK? .SI'ACK U.VDKI! FRAMKS IN WI.VTEKING; VAI,L'.\KI,K FACTS HY a. U. ITKRCK. THK AUTHOK OF Til?; NEW IJOOK O.N WINTEKING. Mr. E. R. Riiiit: — In your review of tlu' above hook, page '.).'.-.'.( Jr. E.\N I N'<;s for IS'.d. you make one criticism which I think iieinis n reply on my part, which 1 do. not with the design of [irovok- ing discussion, but simply to arrive, if possible. Ht the actual facts of the case. The criticism 1 refer to is as follows: "Tlie author has evidently placed the per- *;eiitage of loss beyond what itn^ally is. Twenty- live per cent would be nearer correct: and. among intelligent bee-keepers, ten jier cent." When I first commenced tin; study in a con- secutive manner — of the stib.ject of bee-moitali- ly in winter. I endeavored to learn something positive in i-egard to the aiiproximate average loss among bee-keepers; but 1 soon found that I he i|Uesiioii was a most, intricate one. ami thiit no .solution could be reached wiiicli would al once commend itself to the bee-keeping fra- leriiity. The reason for iirriviiig at this con- clusion may be formulated as follows: (/. 'I'here are no Stat istics. State or National, in regard to the bee-kee|)ing industry worthy of the name. /). lOveii the reports of bee-keei'ers, as given in the periodicals(agriciiltiiral and apicultiiral), w hen taken as a wiioie are found to lie utterly \alueless when scriitini/ed closely and compar- ed with pie\ious reports made by thi' same per- son. In order to illustrate this assertion, let us take a suppo.sed case, whicii may be verified by any ow who wislit^s to lie informed on the sub- ject in (lui'stion. IjCt us siiitpose tluit .Mr. ]{. is an intclligeni bee-keei)er wlio has Kio colonies whicli were placed in winter (|iiai'ters in good condition. About the lirst or middle of Aiiril. Mr. B. writes to (ii.E.vNiNiis, giving his experi- ence during the winter, and saying that his loss has been. say. only ."> per cent, which is un- doubtedly true. liiit in tht; September and October following. Mr. H. wi'ites again to (;i,E.\NIN(iS. tells of the prosp(>ct of the honey crop in his neighborhood, gives liis experi(Mic(> and opinion in regard to .some of thi^ metliods or diniccs used in honey production, and closes by reporting his yield at. say, ;iO(X) lbs. from In col- onies. xprUiij roinit. Now. Mr. B.'s two reports, when takeii together, show that :.'0 colonies have mysteriously disappeared. It may be that Mr. B. is a breeder of queens, or that the :3() col- onies were sold. I have no doubt that many of tiie reports given could beexiilained in this way. There is no iiiiestion. however, that v.-ry many —in fact, the great majority, of the reports given in the press are misleading in this partic- ular regard— no figures being given of total loss —only that which is apparent at the opening of spring. Now, I do not wish to l)e understiiod as re- llecting upon the honor of the men wlio from time to time give their experience through the press. I believe they aim to give the facts as they understand them; but. owing to the i)rac- tice of reporting losses as soon as tlu; bees com- mence to fly, they virtually ignore the subject of sprinij niorttility. and yet the loss during the winter inonths is a mere bagatelle compared with that occurring during the months of March. Ajiril. and i)art of May if the latter hapjieiis to l)e a cold month. It is only w hen the sveather becomes settled, giving continuous- ly warm days and nights, that the effects of de- fective mc^thodsof wintering are fully apparent. Again, there is another reason why reports of bee-keepers are. to a certain extent, unieliiible as data upon which to base an opinion of the percentage of loss. Bee-keepers have just about as much hiunan nature in thidr comiiosition as any other class of people. The " prominent bee-keeper" of a community is looked upon as an oracle in all matters relating to bees, and usually he does not exert himself to lower this public estimate, but. rather, enhances it by giving greattir [jrom- inence to his success than to his failuivs. He; may not do this intentionally, but the result is thesaine nevertheless: he is judged to be u/ii- fnnnhj successful — a conclusion whicli the facts, if known, would not wanant. I have found it exceedingly difficult to get figures from some bee-kt epers as to their aver- age annual loss of colonies. Tliere is no difil- dence in giving information in regard to yield of honey, or incresise in colonies; but when the subject" of loss is broached, there is a disposi- tion to dispose of it as of no matter. 126 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Feb. 15. Several years ago I was considerably amused by a conversation I had on the cars with a bee- keeper from Illinois. I was deeply interested in the subject of wintering bees, and the talk very soon drifted into this channel. 1 was soon given to undci'stand that my fellow-traveler knew (?) all about bees, if nota little more than all. From his standpoint the wintering ques- tion was of no particular importance — was more the result ot ignorance than an unsolved mys- tery: he had no trouble in wintering bees, and did not see why other bee-keepers should. See- ing that loquacity was his weakness I content- ed myself with listening, only now and then asking a question at a favorable opportunity. I learned a great deal from this man — so much that I could not mentally digest it: and when I asked him to explain, instead of doing so he suddenly became comparatively dumb, and, at the first opportunity, retired to another car. Now. this man was as well posted on bee-keep- ing as the average: but he was keeping bees from year to year, apparently ignorant of the fact that a large percentage of his colonies died every wiutei' and spring, simply from want of proper care. I know this to be the fact, because, in reply to my interjected questions, he gave me the following information: a. He had about T.') colonies: 5 years before, he had 60. /). He very seldom sold bees — no buyers. ';. He never "' took uj)bees," that is, destroyed them. d. He usually doubled his number of colonies each year. e. He seldom lost in wintf-ring more than two or three colonies — quite a trivial matter. The average reader can readily sec tlie point. When I commenced to devote attention to the subject in question I supposed that 2.5 per cent was a fair estimate of the average loss of colo- nies in the Northern Stat<>s; but after a careful comparison of repoits given in the bee-periodi- cals, and from my knowledge of the usual rate of loss in my neighborhood. 1 am constrained to believe that the figures given in " The Winter Problem " are not in excess of the facts. It is true, that there are some apiarists who winter with very small loss; thei'e are also seasons when this loss is comparatively small in some localities; but in a decade this does not cut down the figures to a very great extent. PRIORITY OF DISCOVERY. Mr. Massie. of West Virginia, in Gi.kanings of Jan. 15. page 52, is rather disposed to claim the honor of being the first to advocate letting the bees seal the covers for winter. Very well ! I do not claim any discovery in that direction, for I know from personal knowledge that the idea is at least 25 yeai'S old, and I I'ather think it is as old as bee-keeping. When tiie Lang- stroth hive was first introduced in Wisconsin, the main objections urged against it were, that it was too shallow for the bees to winter well: and that the top. being loose, more or less of the warm air from the colony would escape. The objections were met, by those interested, by the argument that the loose cover could be secui-ely sealed by the bees after the honey sea- son was over, and that the hive might! with but little labor or expense, have an additional covering of hay or straw. There are hundreds of bee-keepers who have for the past ten or fifteen years kept bees on this plan. Neither do I claim to have first discovered the method of wintering in cases as described in my book, though I first used it during the winter of 1882. The plan is a very simi)le and ra- tional one. and is only an improvement on the old method of covering with hay or straw. A careful perusal of my book, "Winter Problem." will show that the seiting-forth of new methods or d(nices was not the object in view; in fact, this is just what I wish to avoid. What I have aimed to do is to explain trliy bees perish in winter, and theicby show what co7i- (7if)VnKs are essential and vital to healthv bee- life. There is a wide difference between knowing' 7io»' a thing should be done and (c/ii/ it should be done. The foinx'i' knowledge is acquired by experience — is empirical: the latter can be gained only by an investigation into the work- ing of the laws gov<'rning the subject under consideration — is scientific. Empirical knowl- edge may often be acquii'ed simply by the use of sight — and memory: but scientific knowl- edge can be obtained only by a study of the re- lation of cause to effect. Let me illusti'ate the difference when ai)plied to some of th<' opera- tions of bee-keeping. I have noticed of late that several of our prominent bee-keepeis recommend the use of a rim under the hive in order to have an empty space about two inches deep— this, of course^ only during the winter. I believe Mi'. Hutch- inson has, in one of his articles on wintering, said that colonies prepared in this way seemed to do better than those placed directly on the bottom-board, but frankly admits that he is unable to explain why this is the case. Dr. C. C. Miller, also, in "Stray Straws."' Feb. 1. gives a quotation from the British BeeJournal. favoring the use of the space below the frames. If I remember aright, this plan was first pro- posed by W. F. Clarke, of Canada, about the time that he introduced his " hibernation theory.'" and, as soon as I found it convenient, 1 tested the plan thoroughly in the following manner: Ten colonies were wintered on their summer stands, prepared as usual, the hive resting on the bottom-board, and ten were placed with an empty hive — frames removed— under each one. These twenty colonies averaged nearly equal strength in honey stores and bees. When winter set in I noticed that, during every sunny day after a cold snap, the bees in those hives I'esting on the bottom-board would be busy carrying out dead bees. The colonies ovei' the empty hivi's did not. of course, need to do this, and this gave me the opportunity to -see that many more bees perished from the hives prepared in the usual manner than from those having the under air-space. All experi- ments made in this mannei' confirmed the claim made for this method of wintering: and had I been satisfied to let the matter rest at this point it would have been positive evidence to me that an air-space under each hive was an absolute necessity. But this was the how of the matter, not the tvhy. The placing of the empty hive under the several colonies was sim- ply following a suggestion which had been proposed by another person: the explanation of the phenomenon was quite another mattei-. The first fact that attracted my attention was, that the gi-eatest loss of bees from the hives lacking the air-space occurred in the strongest colonies, judging trt)m the appear- ance of the cluster at the; bottom. This was rather remarkable, and the reader might ex- plain it by saying that these colonies contained the largest percentage of old bees; but this was evidently not so; toi' it is not likely that all the coloniesso constituted would be found in one class. Again, another fact was presented: The loss was greatest in those hives where the bee- clustei' touched the hottom-hoard. I have not time to set forth all the methods adopted to solve the question, so I will explain and set forth the conclusion reached. isod (Jl-KAMNCS IN HKK ( TI/IM-RK. 1:27 Of alMlii' liivr walls, the lupllum islhi' ciihicsl, ami its icmiH'ralmc iipproximaU's tliat of tlif oxtcriuil air; tlit'iffoic. w licii tln> wcatiuT is very riiiil. say Kl to 15 hi-low /.no ( l'\). iiiili'ss the lii\>' is well prolct'lcd. tin- hccs toiiclnii^ tliisi'old siirfai-f w ill lu'citinc I'liillcd. and tliis loss will oi-riir to tlu> i-oioiiy at every colt! inter- val until, by its losses, it. is enabled to clnsier \v<>ll up anions th(> eoinhs and away from tlie deatli-dealinii liottont-hoaiii. This explains. I thin!;, w liai iiee-kecpiMs have sieneiaily ciaiin- ed. that hees winter better on deep ilian on shallow frames; and yet I do not think that an air-spaei' below the hive is absolutely essential: for if the top of a hive is kept warm as 1 iiave described in '■ Winter rrobliMii." tlie bees will naturally cluster aw ay from the colder bottom: at all events, no rim would be needed exc(>[)t under those hives in which the bees clustered iti such a manner as to toucli. or be (luite close to. the bottom. When 1 lirst commenced to kec^p bees the winterinir s entered into a real prac- tical discussion of this particular part of the sub.ject; and. jiidfrinfr from some of the ques- tions proposed in tlii' (juery column of the Aincrhitn Bee Joiinuil nui\ (;i,kamx<;s. I sur- mise that the beginner now fails to tind com- fort in the bee-keeping text-books of to-day oi' he would not ask such a question as. " Wlutt ix the iiroiici tonpenttiirc fur (I relUir containing 5() colonies.'" for he would know that a proper answer to such a question requir<'S a knowledge of all the conditions involved in his particular case. The same temperature will not do for a damp cellar as for a dry one: and where the colonies are in warm, well-sealed hives, the air must be kept cooler than when they are in loose- toj) hives. It is for this reason that some bee- ke(>pers keep their bee-cellars at (luite a high temperature, while for my part I pay no atten- tion to low temperature as long as water in the cellar will not freeze: in fact. I regard a ther- mometer in a bee-cellar as of just about as much real utility as four legs to a wheelbariow . IJIairstown, la.. Feb. 3. (J. R. Pif:HCK. [It is to be regretted tliat we have not more accurate statistics upon which to roly: but from those which have appeared in Gleanings in the last three or foui' years, tlie percentage of bee mortality, as nearly as we can ascertain. was lower than what you put it. Still, these statistics may have been very misleading.] SEALED COVERS FOR WINTER. akha.\«k.mf:nt of iiiviis i\ (iuoi i- I have not been a bee-keeper very long. I am following the advice of the A 15 (' book, to ""go slowly and carefully." After transferring a colony from a box liive I set the hive bottom up. and found it was so thoroughly glued over inside tliat it would hold water as well as a copper kettle. This made me skeptical atioiit absorbents over a colony of bi'cs. It is not their nature to thus prepare for winter. I have seen hundreds of bees in autumn gatliering gum from gum-trees, and carrying it on thiMr legs Ukc pollen, to the hive, but I have nevei' yet Seen them gatliei-ing foiest-leaves.swam[)-nioss. or even straw, and carrying it to their home as a protection from winter stoi'ms. Now-, your idea of sealed covers over tin; frames is right: that is the way the bees would have it: and if you can not put on the board in time for the bees to glue it. why not paint the under side with a solution of beeswax and propolis, and \N a\ I he <'dg('S w ell. I Inn |iui on all I he packing you desiri'. lo keep the moisture and cold from gelling lo the hiveV There has been a Kie;'l deal siiid in (ii.KA.N- iNiis lately aboni the arraiigemeni of hives for convenience in handling in summer, and much is also said alioni difTerent methods of packing for winter. I will give you my plan: and if you think it wort h a place you are welcome lo it. :l 1 1 h I arrange my liiv(>s on a paltern of Heddon's hive-stand, placing four in a group, as you will see by the diagram. Fig. 1 is placed for using the smoker in the left hand: Fig. 2 for using llu^ smoker in the right hand. If I want to look into hive c 1 sit down on '/. lay tools on a. puff smoke in at entrance o with left hand, take otf tlie cover with the right hand: lay it on /*, then 1 am ready for business. In Fig. :.' the smoker is held in the right hand, and the work done with the left. For packing for wintei' I take a box made of any cheap lumber, thai will answer, 3}.} feet square, and about 14 inches deep: remove the hives from their stand; set the box on. and then place the hives in the box, in the saine po- sition as before, with entrances in the sarnie place. Of course, four entrance's aiM^ cut in the box to fit the hive-entrances. I then put in packing to suit ray notion. Next winter I shall thoroughly paint boards with beeswax and piopolis. and seal down tight on the frames be- fore putting in the packing. M. M. Rick. Dickeyville. Ind. [We have grouped hives as you describe; but the objection to it is that the bees are flying in all directions. The S. E. Miller plan, which W(' recommend, see page 922. 1891. allows an alley- way for the bees for bee-flight, and an alleyway for'the apiarist.] CLOSED-END FRAMES. C. I". DADANT KEI'IJES. Friend Ernest: — Allow me to correct a state- ment made by Mrs. Axtell. in the Feb. 1st num- ber of Gleanings, pase 97. saying that I never saw Mr. Axtell handle the closed-end frame. Mrs. Axtell is not to blame for the mistake made, for the reason that she was not present. The aiiiary where 1 saw Mr. Axtell handle the closed-end frame was that of K. A. Hanchet. Burlington. Iowa. May 8. 1878. You see that it dates back (piite a finv days, and it is not to be wondered that friend Axtell has forgotten all about it. As it was the first time that I had seen others than ourselves handle tlie closed-end frame, it made some impression on my mind. Some of oui' friends will perha]js wonder howl can so well remember the dale. It is because this happened during tlie meeting of tlie West- ern Illinois and Eastern Iowa Bee-Keepers' As- .sociation. a very nice meeting, at which we first met Mr. Newman and many others. Mr. Axtell aniong them, though I believe we had met Mr. Axtell befori-; and I find the date in the old Arnericdn Bee Journal. We were the guests of Mr. Hanchet: and at the dinner-hour a swarm came out and was hived. My remembrance is. that the r ventilation, so I thought this would settle the question. I said I put a swarm in every year. Well, tliere were never any bees living in it on the 1st of January. Tiiey generally died a little after the first cold spell, always leaving lots of honey, none of the queens over two years old. 1 have had blacks, hybrids, and Italians in it. but they all died. About the 1st of December I took a look at my bee-yard to see whether any tops had blown off. I found the bees in this jar dead, and combs very moldy. I cleaned it out and got four Mason quart jars of strained hon- ey. Last fall this was one of the finest swarms. It had a queen one year old. Nov. 1st 1 had llf> swarms. They are all O. K. up to date. Jan. 9, except the jar. Why is it '.' I give my hives no protection whatever; but this jar was packed in bran. Of course. I shall try again and keep trying. In no year did the bees starve. They always had plenty of honey. J. F. Long. Scott Center. Mo.. .Jan. '.i. [We are surpi'ised that the bees should have died as soon as they did. and the experiment was apparently a failure. It was J. A. Green, who once wrote about wintering bees in a large wide-mouth liottle, and here he gives some- thing furthei' on the subject. UPWARD VENTILATION AND MOISTURE ABSORBENTS IN WINTERING. interesting suggestions from J. A. (iUEEN. When I first wrote on this subject, nine years ago, there seemed to be an almost universal belief that, to winter bees successfully, there must be a porous covering to the hive, with absorbing material above. The object of this, we were told, was to prevent the moisture gen- erated by the bees from being deposited on the combs and inside of the hive in the shape of frost and ice. The current of air thus permitted to circulate through the hive, passing out at the top, carried with it the moisture. Under some circumstances this vapor-laden aii' passed out of the hive without depositing much of its moisture, in which case little immediate harm was done. Very often, though, the moisture was condensed in the jiacking material, some- times making it quite wet, which was injurious, beyond doubt. The effects of this more or less pronounced draft through the hive, together with the wet packing, were most plainly seen in the spring, if the colony survived until then. The heat necessary for brood -rearing was kept up with difficulty, and colonies built up slowly. Strong colonies, of course, suffered least. Having observed these things. I decided that the system of ventilation that had b(»en found best for human residences was also best for bee- hives; namely, that the air to be I'emoved should be taken out at the bottom of the room instead of at the top. I accordingly made my hives as tight as possible at the top, and left the entrance large enough so that the moisture- laden air might easily find an exit there. The I'esult justified my expectations, and since then "upward ventilation" and "' absorbents" have been things I have carefully avoided. .In a footnote to one of my earlier articles, the experiment you refer toon page '.)53 was pro- posed. Although I never wintered bees in a glass bottle, I did winter several colonies in tin cans and in other ways, by which I made sure that no particle of moisture could escape from the hives except at the entrance. These tests were entirely satisfactory, as all the bees so treated wintered excellently. They were never reported, because, by the time they were con- cluded, interest in the matter had largely died out, and other things occupied the bee-keeping mind. Since that time the current of opinion has been slowly,;changing. until now I tliink the majority of advanced bee-keepers would say that it is better to have the top of the hive sealed perfectly tight. Your experiments with hives having sheets of glass sealed tight to the top are interesting, because by them you can see that hives tight at the top and properly protected remain dry inside. I once had a I SUV (;i,i:anin(;s in hkk rri/iTUE. !•.".» colony of l>tM>s in a Ih)\ lii\i' witli a tihiss side, and for over a rnonlli of tl\<' t-oldcsl winter wcatliiT tlioy wen- close to tlif Rlass. wliit-li remained |icrfi'ctly clear, so tlial I conld see ttuMii at any time hy renun infi tin" wooden slide over the tilass. I nsed to look at tlieni often, as I was anxious to learn tiie idTeet on tlieni of distnrlianee in cold weatlier. Tliey would read- ily resjunui to a tap on tlw sjlass, hnt paid no attention to tlie passing of trains only a few r»)ds away. Kven heavy ehaiKes of dynamite, used ill hlasting oidy a lumdred feet asvay. i)ro- dui-ed only a nioin(>ntary tlutter of tlieir winjTS. and. in spite of all tlu^ tlistnrbance they were subjei'ted to. they wintered well. It is true, that there are some very sneeessfnl bee-Ueepers wlio think a certain ainonnt of upward veniilalion is necessary. I think that all of these use very larfje hives." ami carry on a system that elves them very strons colonies for winter. Sncli colonies are well adapted to re- sist the bad effects of upward ventilation, which is almost a necessity wlien such hives are used. A colony of bees can ea.'ily keep a small win- tering apartment warm and dry. especially if no heat is allowed to escaiie at the top of the hive. Hut a large hive can not be kept warm. The ntoisture-laden air. instead of passing out at the entrance before it condenses, wandei's off into the cold corners, and there deposits its moisture in the sliape of frost. This, with very large and especially very tall hives, is unavoid- able e\c<'pt by allowing a current of air to jjass out at th(^ top of the hive. In this, as in so many other things. dilTerent systems require different methods of management. I think a very large majority of practical Ix'O-keepers will agree that a small hive, tightly .sealed at the top, is best for winter, and especially so for spring. Those who are interested in looking up what hiis been said on the subject will find articles by me on pages 42. S8. and 3.=)!t, of (Jlkanino.s for ISSfi. Tlie matter was brought up several vears before, but was not discussed much until 1880. A COKUKCTIOX. In my article on first page of Jan. 1.5th tli.EAX- iNGs. the word •• luidesirable ■■ (second column, right margin) should have been "indisputable." The cliange of words, you see. makes a material change in tlie meaning. It is iudiNp}it(t})lc that tile Si lling value of comb honey depends prin- cipally uiion its appearance. This iiunj also b(> vndcNirahle: but that is not what I meant to say. Of course, in selling iioney the kind and qnfKiiiR uliinwr. Out o'ei' llie vast priiii-le, prjiised .•^o niucli in souk. Says I. "I do lulU've 111 have to lide and ride for her. 'I'oKet lie\onilIlie sini'llili^'- of t li.-it lilaek CliirilKo Rivl'i-.' A female in a cliair ahead had a bottit; to her nose; Says 1. "Madam. It's a heudMihe your havliiK.^1 s'|)ose." "• She I'iz rltrht up. (ui'iied i-ound with hand upon" her liver. .\iiil snee/.ed and hawked and spit, and snapped, '■ Cliirajjro Kiver." ItAMULP;!? S REVKlilK OX THK TH.XIN. I was right in the middle of the next stanza wlien the ticket- jjuncher came along and so distracted my attention that the burst poem lias never returned. My elbow neighbor in the next reclining chair was a young man. posted on prairie matters, and gave me much information upon that subject. The shades of night put a stop to viewing the cotmtry, and we tilted our chairs back into the lajjs of those in the rear of us. and sought repose. My young friend had to get off the train about 2 o'clock at Cobble Hol- low, somewhere in Missouri, so I kept awake on purpose to wake him up: so you may know- that I felt outraged and d(^frauded when he awoke himself ten minutes before it was time. Another young man came in and occupied his vacant chaii-: but I wasted but little time upon him. turned my face to the window, and slept. Early in the morning Kansas City was enter- ed, and an hour given for us to work out our salvation upon th<^ delectable viands found in a railroad restaurant. I became ({uite well ae- (piainted with my li'aveling comi)anion during this hour, and, [jicking up a diiinimei- who was going our \Nay. we three had a very jileasant day of it all through Kansas. The'length of this State will lie n^alized when it is crossed: also the distance from the Missouri River to the Rocky .Mountains. All day and all night we rapidly sjied our way wiistward. Tli<^ inag- nilicent wiieat-tields of Central Kansas were really for the i-eaper. ami the crop was never befoie so bountiful. All night it was Kansas soil we were upon. Away to the north the darkness of the night was broken by the tlash- ing of lightning: a fearful storm was raging away over the distant jirairie— not a mountain or hill to bi'eak the view. The electric dis|)lay low down upon the horizon, and as far east and west as the eye could scan, presented a .scene not soon to bi' forgotten. Morning dawned, and still upon Kansas soil: but the distant Rockies begin U) apiiear; tin; liiK^ is [lassed into Colorado, and before noon the city of Denver is entered. Our stop is too short to let us see 130 (ILEANINGvS IN BEE CULTURE. Fkb. 15. much of the city, and we are off again, passing in sight of Pike's Peak, through Pueblo, where we see the first adobe houses and the Mexicans: througli the Royal (Jorge and tliose lofty moun- tains we never liic of looking at. It was in these mountains that my new acquaintances left me: and for a time I felt lonely. Night again shut down upon the scenery, and. this being the third night on the rails. I slept quite sotindly. In the morning 1 looked out upon the most desolate country imaginable — not a living thing in sight: not even a bush or a green spear of grass to enliven the red soil or the mounds and distant cliffs. One station passed was named Solitude, and rightly, for there was not a house or living being in sight. A stake and a cross-board with the name was all. It was on this day's ride that I cultivated the acquaintance of a cowboy. He had been all the way to Grand Junction to attend a caravan. Approaching the Great Salt Lake Valley the road follows the winding canyon and water- couise. This watiM'-course can be traced for miles by the narrow fringe of green on either bank, consisting of eucalyptus- trees and farm products: all outside this narrow fringe is dry and barren. The residences along this route are nearly all of the most primitive character; and I remarked to ray new friend that people seemed to live in almost any thing, from a good house to a hole In the ground. "Yes," said he. "and some haven't even the hole in the ground." Just before entering the valley I saw the first Utah apiary. The hives were strung along in an irregular row. with stones on the covers. I wanted to get my Ilawkeye to wink at it. but the train was in too great a hurry, and it was soon out of sight. After entering the vall<>y. many thriving and pretty towns are passed: but Provo was the first having the real bustle and bootn so readily noticed in the West. The train was full of smiling talkative people in holiday attire. My cowboy friend left me at a previous station, and now a sturdy Milesian, who had lived in Utah 20 years, was discoursing to me about the great advantages of Utah, and especially of Provo. as a place in which to make one's life-abode. His remarks were strongly emphasized by wildly swinging his arm out of the car window, pointing out the variety of fruit-orchards, the enormous growth of alfalfa. and the general prosperity seen on every hand. I expected to see his arm irreparably damaged by coming in contact with a telegraph-pole: but he luckily escaped. His loud remarks called a young man to our vicinity, who wanted to sell real estate in Provo, the coming metropolis of the great interior basin. Arrival at Salt Lake City closed the importunities of these friends. vSalt Lake City has had such a reputation in the history of our country that I resolved to spend one day in this center of Mormondom. In the morning I sought the residence of Mr. John C. Swaner, and was disappointed when informed that he was some miles away manag- ing a large apiary. I found the name of another person who kept bees, and sought the street and number, and was led out of the city where I could look all creation in the face. This was my first experience with the magnificent dis- tances found in the West, and of which I shall have more to say when I get further. I devoted the rest of the day to looking ov<'r the business portion of Salt Lake City, and really fell in love with the pliic(\ The clear cold mountain water, purling like a mild brook down each street, has a special charm to it: and then the wealth of the water in producing so much vegetation for the sustenance of a large population, where, but com para tivi'ly a few years ago. thtu'e was nothing but barren sand-;. A visit to the center of Mormon worship was my next desire. The magnificent temple is not yet completed. The Tabernacle, now used for worship, and several other buildings, are all within a high adobe-wall inclosure, and it is termed Temple Square, from which point all streets are numbered. There is nothing ornamental about the ex- terior of the Tabernacle; in fact, its roof looks like an immense turtle. The interior is. how- ever, noted for its elegance, its seating capacity (over 10,000), its wonderful organ, and its acous- tic properties. A whisper, a rubbing-together of the hands, the dropping of a pin tipon the altar-rail, can be heard in the most remote por- tion of the immense room. It was while per- ambulating around the Temple Square that the Rambler struck another friend. We discoursed pleasantly on all we saw, and then started down the street to see the beautiful house Brigham Young built for his favorite wife. My friend knew just where it was, and he was a wonderfully pleasant talker, this man from Denver. We had walked about a block when my friend said he must have a cigar, and step- ped off the sidewalk into a littie cigar-store, offering to treat; but when I declined he pro- ceeded to light his own, and while doing so his eye caught several specimens of gold and silver ore on the show-case; and. being a mining man from Denver, he was immediately interested. "Oh, yesi" said the man behind the case; "that's Utah ore. and here in the case are watches made from it; and in order to adver- tise our Utah mines and factory, we give any one a chance to draw an envelope from this box, upon the payment of S^l.OO. But." said he, " you two are strangers: just draw for fun, and see what you get."' The Rambler is always ready for fun in a quiet way, so I drew an envelope that entitled me to a gold watch. The envelopes were put back in such a mannei' that we could see the one I drew, and my Denver friend said he could draw the same one again, and bet -^r.'O he could, and put up the money, and drew a watch. I suppose it was my turn to bet next; but up to this very point 1 had iu)t a suspicion as to the .jiriTKU : nature of the men; but it came all of a sudden, and I exclaimed in a loud voice, "Bunco, by Jupiter!" My friends protested their inno- cence, but I suddenly left them to their own cogitations. In all the large cities of the East I had been on the alert for such fellows, and had frequent- ly met them; but I was vexed to think that. 1 8<.f,' (;i-KAN'IN(;s IN HKK C'lTl/rHUK. i:n a\v;i\ Ikti' in Salt Lal<<' City. I sliduhi Im' su romplcti'ly slccird into a hmu'o-room. That cviMiiiii: I iiui'snni my way atraiii toward Califoniia. I Icai'iii'd fioiii Mf. Swancr. that, in I'tali. a tiiodilii-alion of llic Aini'iicaii liivc is used. I'lotiis art' used over ilif fr'amt's, ami iinicli care has to he (>\('rfiscd in w inlciinii. I'tali is a prcat frnit-ronntry. and many aiii- arios arc found in tin' oivliaids. Frnit tMiltnic and lioiu'y iii'iMliu-tion liius ijo iiand in liand. as iIm'v slioiiid. Ram}U,i:i;. ANTS. PLANTS. AND BEES. ( 1 mors WAYS 1\ NATl'lM': S KfONoNn . The following, sent ns by Mr. 1*. 11. i!aldt>n- sporgcr. our eorivspondcMit. in llic Holy Land, is a translation niado by him ffom a German peri- odical. It contains so many points of interest, well authenticated, that we believe our readers will be pleased and benefited by its perusal. It is a well-known fact, that plants offer to bees, butterflies, and Mies, the delicate nectar. In return, the insects unconsciously fertilize the flowers by carrying the pollen from one loan- other, liut very often the in.sects. forg(>tting their duty, instead of creeping into the flowers simi)ly cut open the flowei- outside the corolla, where the ncctai' is deposited, thus carrying away the sweet without touching ttie anthers, and so omit the fertilization. TIk; bumble-bee finds it a good deal easier to cut open the tube of a red-clover blossom than to creep into the bottom of the llower about -'h of an inch deep. Darwin found alnu)st every liowei- of a kind of heather. ErUtu tctnilix, cut open in tliis way, and the hon^y carried off. But this way of robbing, contrary to nature's design, is very tiring too. as is repfuted l)y I'rof. Magnus, who observed bees on the lion's -mouths {Antirrhi- niiin iiKijix. L.) trying the experiment, but they could not hold tlieir position long on account of the evenness. They stopped only a few seconds and had to fly further, while otherwise they would stay a miniiU^ or two inside the flower, and by degi'ees they found plenty inside, and would again try to cut open the jdant. <2uite a number of tropical plants have a special pre- ventive system against such culprits. Accord- ing to Dr. Kurck. of the Botanical Garden in Buitenzorg. .lava, many |)lants have ant-guards against these robbers. Plants and ants an; on friendly terms, as is known by divers kinds of South American trees wiiich have numbers of protecting ants at their disposal, and they are fed liberally, and are ready to tight the leaf-cut- ting ants. They do their business very thor- oughly. According to Dr. Burck's observa- tions, the ant -guard systfni is enlarged in a very peculiar way. The entici'ment by which these pli'uts gather the ant-guards around them consi^is in the .secretion of hoiK-y outside the fk)wer at the corolla, just at the point where the danger is apparent: consequently there are already some busy ants licking this seeretion. The honey-glands, where this is secreted, ar(^ called the outer nuptial nectaries, to distinguish them from the inner ones, as they are not meant for fertilization. As soon as a bee observes the ant-guards on thr'outsid(! it enters the flower in the natural way. Should it venture among the ants, it would be immediately laid hold of by its anteniue and legs, and it would be "done " with her. Besides this, it is seen that flr)wers with- out this guard, as the Fnujraui oxyphylki, of xhe LogunUtcetr order. pliylltt.;iud tried Fr. littinitlis in the same fash- ion, had to give up at oiu-f^ and entei' the flower on account of the ant -guards, though the thre(' kinds of Fniijnvii resemble each other in shape, size, and color. Several such plants even pro- vide' their protectors with lodging, in shape of a recurved ear-shaped booth. alTording shelter to these ants. \'ery often they also furnish these soldiers with ammunition — bread giowing out at the flowers, having an albuminous and nu- tritious substance. Thiiiiliiriiid iinnuUflord more liberally feeds (|uite a nutnl)er of ants the year roiuid with such aliments: con.sequently the carpenter bee nc^ver approach(!S tiie outside of these flowers, but is obliged to look out for its business, and take the natural way. I'lt. .). Bai.dk.vsi'khkkk. .latTa. Svria. .Ian.. IS'.iri. MANAGEMENT OF BEES IN TEXAS. now I,, stachelhausex does it. On page SSCi of last year's Gi,eanin(}.s, Mr. A. ('. Brown, of Smithtield, Texas, asks for infor- mation how to double his 4.5 colonies; and the answer of E. R. is just what we should expect from a bee-keeper with experience in theNorth- ern States. With my experience in bee-keeping in Texas I would advise as follows: Keep your colonic^s in the one-story hive, and let them swarm as they please. If you get small after-swarms, put two or three of them together in one hive. In a good year you will get as much honey, or more, from the swarms 'J>i/7the parent colonies, than you would do if the old colonies had not swarmed out at all. If th(? s[)ring is not favorable your bees will not, swarm much, and then it is better if you do not increase at all. Do not divide or make artificial swarms in any othei' way. To the new swarms you give no comb foundation, but starters of foundation about on(! inch wide. securely fasten- ed to the comb-guides. Do not fuss with stim- ulativf^ feeding, spreading brood, etc.: it does not pay in Texas. Of course, you have to feed your colonies, if they are short of stores and no honey is coming in: fjut. so far as I know, the bees will gat hei' i^ollen in the spring anywhere in Texas. If the main honey-flow comm(!nces, do not fail to give i)lenty of room to every colo- ny in an upper story; and now I would recom- mend full sheets of foundation in wired frames. I have to explain to other bi-e-keepers why I recommend this way, so entirely difTei-ent from the rules generally adopted in the Northern Stales. K. R. says, very correctly, that it is not the large number of colonies that brings the Ijrofit. but the rousing heavy colonies; but it is certain that two such strong colonies can do more than a single one. In most localities in Texas W(! have a moderate honey -flow fi'om early spring till the end of May, and then com- mences our main honey-flow fiom horsemint. The bees swaiin ^^ix f)r eight weeks before the horsemint is in bloom, so it is in good time foi- the swarm as well as for the old colony to gi'ow to a rousing big colony. .Just before swarming time the hive is full of l)ees; and if swarming Is previMited in any way, the number of bees In this hive will increase very little if anv. So it 132 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Fkb. 15. is plain that, in similar ciroiimstanct'S, it is mon- profitable to increase the colonies than to pre- vent swarming. True, \v<' have some bad hon- ej' years, and the last three years in succession were such in my locality. This is the reason I did not recommend artificial increase. If the spring is so unfavorable that the colonies do not build up very fast, and consequently do not swarm, we should damage our colonies by arti- ficial swarming. These swarms would be in a poor, starving condition; and if the horsemint will give some honey, swarm and parent colony are not strong enough to give any surplus. We may be glad if they store enough honey to pull through summer, fall, and winter. If thi- colo- ny remains undivided it will give more or less honey in even a bad year. It takes an experi- enced bee-keeper, who is acquainted with his locality, to decide when artificial swarming shall be practiced and wlu-n not. I recommended the giving of starters to new swarms only. After many experiments with combs and full sheets of foundation I settled on this practice, and recommended it for many years in the ApiciiUurist when all the other bee-keepers of the United States used and abused foundation. The reason, and my ideas about wax-secretion. 1 will give in another issue. MY MAX,\GEMEXT. This, at swarming time, is the same. I work for extracted honey, and use large hives to make use of all the laying capacity of any queen; but neverthel(>ss, my bees swarm. In the home yard I take the natural swarms. In out-apiaries I make artificial swarms if the spring is favorable. If the spring is so unfavor- able that the bees do not store any new honey, but use up some of the old stores, it may happen that a sudden honey-flow may cause my colo- nies in the out-apiaries to swarm, and I should lose ♦hem. To prevent this I set one of my shallow cases with full sheets of foundation un- der every hive (in the out-apiary), and one of the brood-cases without queen on top over an excluder. This previ'nts swarming for at least two weeks; and if the conditions change I can make artificial swarms of them just as well. When the horsemint-flow is over, and all the honey extracted, and I do not wish to increase the number of colonies. I reunite. This is done very easily. I set the first hive with comb, brood, bees, and queen, on a new stand, and the secoiid one on top of it. without any ceremony. I let the bees decide which queen they want. The old bees will My hack to the old stand, and, finding no hive there, will unite with some neighboring colony. If some of them are not accepted it is no loss for me. They would die before winter, and there is nothing more for them to do this year. According to my obser- vation, very few are lost this way, but are usu- ally accepted. Both colonies losing their home, the old bees are not inclined to bile or fight. They unite peaceably, and I do not rememb(M' that one of these colonies became queenless. I call this a short cut. Thus I have a great force of bees in the main honey-flow, and few bees when tliey use up their stores. I let the bees build up to a strong colony, and, if possible, to even two strong colonies, and have only one col- ony all the rest of the year. Bui 1 like to have this one colony strong all the time, because a weak colony in the fall will not be stronger in spring, and a weak colony in spring does not grow fast enough in even a good year; w hih; a good colony with a good (lueen will be a rous- ing one in a very short time without any fuss- ing, such as spreading the brood, stimulative feeding, etc., and this is another sliort cut. L. Stachei,hausf:.v. Selma. Texas. .Ian. :i(). IStf.'. Ud/es- Conversazione. THE APPEARANCE OF HONEY IN STORE WINDOWS. MISS WII.SO.V MAKES A GOOD St GGESTION. I fe(^l very much aggrieved, and my special grievence is with commission men this time. 1 wonder why they don't make their honey look a little more attractive. In passing down South Water Street, Chicago, I saw very little, if any, honey chat looked very tempting. Perhaps i don't know very much about the cii'cumstances, and it may be they were making the vei'y best display they could with what they had on hand. It is very easy to find fault. However. I know that one house might Iiave done b(>tlei'. for they had some very nice honey upstairs, while the display in the window was very pooV. The I'oom upstaii's was dark, and the htmey could be seen only by scratching a match, or by the use of a lamp. The reason given for not having a better display downstairs was, that they were expecting a very much nicer lot of honey in a few days, and were waiting for that. It may be that it was a very inopportune time to "visit. Perhaps they were all waiting, expecting something nicer. I hope so. I'm sure. I hope they got it. too. and made their windows look so nice with it that people passing felt they wanted some of that honey right away. I know that comnussion men have a great many obstacles to contend with, and not the least of tliese is a lack of room. With much of the honey seen, the fault was not with the commis- sion men, as no amount of painstaking on their part could have made it look attractive. I only wondered if it was the best they had on hand. If so, the trouble was with the producers, and they were to blame for sending it to market in such sliape. and ought not to complain if they did not get a good price for it. as much of it could not have gone any higher than fourth grade by either the Chicago or the Albany grad- ing. To be sure, some sections in some of the cases might have passed for first grade, if they had not been mixed with the others. Some cases shown were mostly nice, white honey, but sev- eral sections containing a good deal of pollen had been put in. There were other cases con- taining sections of beautiful white comb and honey, but a few of the sections were soiled, and a few containing honey-dew had been put in. Now, the commission man was not to blame if he did not get a good price for that honey. Putting the bad in with the good did not bring the bad up to a higher grade, but did bring the good down to a lower grade, and the producer has no right to expect the commission man to assort his honey for him. putting it in the grade where it belongs. He must do that for himself, or be willing to take the lower price his honey will bring on account of the shape in which it is put up. I must say my fingers fairly ached to have some good honey with which to arrange some of those windows, to make them look attractive. When we are getting our honey ready for mar- ket, we take a great deal of pains to pile it up to look nice just for our own gratification, al- though it is going to stay there only a few days, and its looking nice will make no difference in the price to us. This year we piled the cases all around the sides of the honey-room, glass side facing us. and. when ready to ship, we had a room completely walled with honey; and unless you have tried it you have no idea how nice it looked. Of course, commission men have not the same chance, as they haven't sufficient IS'X' (^MOANINIJS IN 1U-:K Cl'I/PlTRE. 133 nKiin: Imt i-nuldii"! i li(\ di it? MaiTiiiro, 111. niiic'thinsj towiud Mm MA W II, SON. Heads of Grain FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. SOME NOTES ON WINTERING. ETC. WISK IIINIS KKOM MK 1 woiiili'i' iiow till' friciulsiil ilic lloiiicor the IIohi'v-Im'cs, aiul also oihci's of our in'c-kccijinii frii'iuis, iiiaiia;;!' to kvf\\ liwir bees in llic i-cjlar oool (Mioiiiili this svaiiii Dt'ct'inbcr woaiiicr. \Vi' Ikivo R':* foloiiifs in our ccllaf. '.'0 x :.'() f(>ot. nn- dt'i- our house, and no tire above, cxecpt at one ooriii'r. Thi'v arc lliitiiiiz: out (|uiti' a yooil deal. We inishl open one or morf windows w hii-h we piastiM'fd lip. cxpi'i'liiiff a I'oid winter: iMit Mr. Axtt'li thi'iUs if h(> docs open tlicni he will have tlicin to plaster up again in a day or two. 'i'h(>y now have one window and a marked for the W(>aker ones, and ar(> put in the center of tlic cellar. Hut surely If this great waste of bees goes on all winter as it has thus far. t lie colonies can't be very strong by spring unless they rear brood in the cellar; and yet. unless there were a good many bees per colony. 1 don't sec how they kcej) the waimtli of the cellar to 4'.' and even to 4('. and 4S. At 4:.' they don't Hit much. I.,ast night it was above M for the first time. I don't know but it would have been better to put in fewer colonies. We have a large entrance by raising u]) the front hoard an inch or so: and this winter and last we have left out the chaff', with the honey-board on top of the lices turned ovci- from what it was in the summer when on top of the surplus. I look for a great loss of bees this winter, both in oiir apiary and throughout the West. Tlierc seems to be no royal road to prevent bees from swarming. The devices all cost too much to come into general use. and will be par- tial failures: but out of this agitation some- thing will assuredly grow. Except for the loss of time to the bees I would rather a few would swarm than to tit swarm-catchers to eacli hive and have to remove them again in the fall, and no swarms issue. For my part, I think where the greatest fail- ure in be(!-keeping is. is in not getting the colo- nies strong enough to swarm, and the fault is away back the fall before. We always get a good crop of lioney when we get lots of swarms: and if we could only do with our bees as well as we know how, they would pay us better. Tell the lady who lost so many of her chick- ens from cholera to k'cc]) copperas in their drinking-vessel — about a lablr'spoonfiil to a pail of water — and give them i)li'iuy of shai'ij gi'avel. If they do not have any. pound up broken crock- ery and feed them. Also burn corn and feed them n< '-harcoal. A few chickens will keep heallUN without much care: l)ul when oueut- tempts to raise a large nunil)er they need a great deal more care to keei) them healthy. An ounce of prevention is belter than a poiind of cure among poultry. Mrs. L. C. Axtem.. Roscville. Ills.. iV'c. I'.i. 18!tl. CONVENTION NOTICES. The 9th Sfiui aiiiiuul ine<.tiii;.' ni the Susquehanna Co. liee- keepers will be at Biillard's Hotel, in Brooklyn, on Thnis- (lay. Majr R. at 10 a.m., at which time tlie officers tor the ensuinp year will be elei-ted. -All are cordially inyjted. H M.Seei.f.y. Sec. Harford. Pa. The Cortland Union Bee-keepers' Asfoeiation will hold it> annual meeting in the W C. T. U rooms. Cortland, on Tues.. Feb. !«. Allinviu-d. M. H. F.ilKBA.NKs. Sec. Homer. X. Y. FOITI, KKOOT) R.VOl.NO IN .NPiimASKA; .\N KAK- NMOST Afl'i:AI, KOU ACTIO.N TO ST.W rrs i'KO(iKK.s,s. 1 send you by this mail a jMice list sent to inc. Look on |)agcs !!() and 31. \\)\\ said at the .\1- t)any comention you thought, foul brood was diininisliing. If the oi)eratioiis of some of the l)ec-kccpers of Nebraska are a fair sample of the country, then I beg to dilTci' with you. Here is a i)rice list published here. otVering to take bees in exchange for sui)|)lies, jtroliaijly to l)c used in tilling orders. Here is a section of coun- try that I believe it would be haid to find one a|)iary in that is free from foul i)rood. I hon- estly do not liclieve there is one. Here is a littli' city where there were rotten combs thrown out in the street last summer. This is a n^gular hotbed of (ilth and corruption as far as lices are concerned. I find it impo.ssibl(% on account of diseased robber-bees of neighbor- ing bee-keepers, to keep my bees d were made that way. and I was obliged to discard them on that account. I then made them with straight edges, when I had no trouble as long as they were kept close together; but I could devise no way to accomplish this except by a follower at the sides; and as my hives did not admit of any contraction, I did not experiment with them. The Hoffman frame, or any other closed-end frame, must be held firmly ♦ogether to pi'event the bees from propolizing the joints. 1 do not believe it can be accomplished in any other 134 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Feu. ir>. way. I found iliat the least separation would start them: and then, if they were not repeat- edly scraped, they would soon be so that I could not get all the frames into the hive. Now just a word as to that tin rabbet that you illustrate in the same issue of Gleanings. That is a good thing. That is the only common- sense tin rabbet that I have ever seen: but. hold! it is identical in every way with the one that I devised some three years since, and failed to get you intei'ested enough in to make me a supply for my hives when I was making them all over new. If I could have got you to make them for me then I would now have all of my 130 hives fitted with them. I can not but think that you might save us bee-keepers many dollars if you pursued a different course than you do sometimes. It would certainly save us much trouble and anxiety. I do not know that I understand how your new top- bar is intended to be at the ends: but I found that it was necessary to have a bee- space at the end of the bar to prevent the end from being fastened to the hive. 'This also al- lows the frames to be moved endwise in putting them together, and shoving the bees out of the way. (iKo. A. Wai.i:ath. Norwood, N. Y., Jan 21. [That is what we want, friend Walrath — tes- timony for and against the Vingof the end- bar. We saw its great advantage in so many places in York State, and were assured on every side that propolis did not make any serious trouble, that we did not regard it as an experi- ment or an unwise move in putting the V on the end-bars. Perhaps youi- frames were not made right, or were not V"d properly: but there are many friends of the Hoffman fi'ame who have given theii' testimony on the other side. We should like to hear from Mr. Hoffman him- self. Practical bee-keepers would not tolerate at the end of the top-bar any more space than just enough to allow easy handling.] hiv(!S very little after some three weeks of con- finement. I sincerely wish I was as sure of having solved the wintering problem at this date as Ernest and his friends seem to be in the picture, page (iO. S. A. Utley. Mt. Washington. Mo.. Jan. 28. OXK OF NATURE'S BEE-IIIVES IN CAIJFORNIA. I have a remnant from one of nature's bee- hives, brought in from the ranch of Mr. Louis Walker. Mr. W. had been burning mustard- stalks on a side hill near his house. After it had burned off', one of his helpers noticed honey and beeswax running over the ground: and upon investigation it was found to come from what was left of the shell of a pumpkin. Near- ly three years ago Mr. W. had pumpkins on this side hill. Many of them were of large size. It appears that a gopher or squirrel had eaten a hole into this pumpkin. at(^ up the contents, leaving the shell, which dried in good shape for the bees to inhabit. Since that time the mus- tard had grown up and hidden all from view. I have taken two immense swarms from badger-holes the past season. These are the few of the many odd places that swarms occupy in this section. M. H. Menih.eson. Ventura, Cal., Jan. 2.5. [The curious places that absconding swarms select as their future abiding-places, and the further fact that they seem to thrive, only proves what a wonderful bee-country Califor- nia is. The old statement of Quinby or Gallup, that bees will do as well in a nail-keg as in the best constructed hive, seem to be verified in California.] OOOI) winteking. My 110 colonies seem to be in fine condition after our cold snap. Every one was alive a day or two ago. I am wintering outdoors, packed in chaff. Nearly all of their stores are sugar syrup, with a little honey-dew. The bees spotted their Notes of Travel FROM A. I. ROOT. J((«. 2.— As we approaciied the line between Oregon and California we saw acres and acres of the most beautiful, thrifty-looking fruit-trees of various kinds, and the moss that has hereto- fore disfigured them to have mostly, if notquite. given way. What does it mean, such quantities of apples on the ground undei' the trees, red. yel- low, and white, and the trees have been so full there is not room on the ground, without piling them on each otlieiV I judge we have passed thousands of bushels, seemingly in good condi- tion. At the depots, boys are offering most hedutlful apples at a very low price, so I .judge there must be a glut in the market in this lo- cality. We are on the mountain-tops, and the snow is over the tops of the fences. _Fo((r locomotives are pulling th(^ train, and gangs of men are shoveling oft' the snow. In some places it is drifted up to the eaves of the hou.se. and gi'eat channels ai'e cut so as to get out and in. Not two hours ago it was as mild as May down in the valleys; but now we see gi'eat icicles, as large as a man's body, hanging from the eaves. At half-past 2 p. m. Mt. Shasta first came in sight from our elevation on the mountain-tops. It aid not at first seem much difterent from nor mucli largi'i' than nuiuy other p<'aks. only that it was. at least the upper part of it. of snowy whiteness. No speck of timber, vegetation, or rock, marred its waxy whiteness. Again, it has for an hour been almost constantly in sight, first on one side of the car and then on the other, as we wind about in our descent toward its foot. This distinguishes a high mountain from other peaks — its perpetual snow, and the fashion of looking just about the same, even while you travel to or from it, for hours. It now occurs to me I have said but little about the mountains as yet. When I first visited friend March's he told me that, right over his front gate, was a beautiful large mountain, to be seen only on a clear day. It seemed to me for several days that, if a mountain was there. I ought to see it: but not until a clear briglit day did old Mt. Bakei'show itself. Then it loomed \ip in all its icy brightness until one was lost in awe and wonder. Friend M. says he does not believe any human being has ever reached the top. although one or more have lost their lives in the attempt. The trouble is, that it is always covered with ice, and in summer the sun melts caverns in this ice. with only a shell over the top. that often breaks through, precipi- tating the explorer into crevices from which he may never get out. From the same point of view we see two pretty smaller mountains. These are the Twin Sisters, and they are clear up in British America. All these are between (•)0 and 70 miles distant. From Portland we see Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helen, when the day is clear. The former is a rugged peak, and over 11.000 feet high, and last July a party was sent to its summit to burn red lights on the eve of the Fourth. By starting several days ahead they made the ascent, and gave an exhibition of fire-works that could be seen for a hundred miles. St. Helen is not quite 10,000 feet, but it is the most symmetrical mountain, probably, in IS'.IJ (W.KANINCS IN I5I0K cri/irUK. 1 x, tlif world. At liisi ^iKllt il sfi'iiicti lo iiic llial some huttiT-womaii must have taken licr paildlt'. ami. by tlcNtroiis strokes, rasliioiied a tliiim of lieaii'ty. Ml. Slia^ta is oii(> of the lii^rliest |M aks in the I'niteii Siati-s. Iiejni: 11.11'.' feet. Tlie railfoads afe veiy aeeoiiimodatiiifi in nimiinfj tlie roail almost tip to ti>e foot of llie monntain. The drifting snow can lie plainly seen with tin- naked eye. ami the elond of snow- that is lieinu eonstantly whirled over the sum- mit mnst he sinni'thinsi like a half or a (iiiaiter of a inih' long. 1 took three koilak views of Shasta: hvit pliotography ean not do a rail innuntaiii jnstiee. One fails to reeogni/.e the distaiu-es and enormons height. A monntain two or three miles high might he estimated at less tlian a quarter as inm-h. J(ni.4, ISH'J. — YesttM'day w as an .'venlfnl (hiy to me. The deep snows on the mountain threw the train behind, so that I was eompelled to travel on .Sunday until m-arly noon. While speaking of the deep snow I am reminded that a fellow-traveler explaiiu'd how they clear the traek. Thev have an imnn-nse maehine. pro- pelltHJ by steam, that might t)e likened to a huge earpet-sweeper. It takes up the snow while it is vet light, just after it falls, and throws it over In- the side of the track. When il has lin- islied the job. the snow lies in a beautiful tegu- lar slope, exactly so far from the track, and this .slone is at such an angle that it doo^s not often sliiie or cave in. In coming in to San Francisco we crossed two ferries. The first took the whole train, entire, without even dividing it: and I was told this ferryboat is the largest oik^ in the world. The whole lieavy train, locomotive and all. did not sink the great floating monster even one inch, so far as I could see. The second terry that landed us in the city, by a system of gates and portiMs. took all on the train and nobody (>lse. It was a beautiful morning, and the crowds all around me were dressed in their best, but noth- ing seemed to indicate that any one thought that it was GdiI's: holy day. I felt uneasy, and my conscience troubled nie. As it neai-ed church time I began to fear 1 should miss the morning service, and it seemed as if I could hardly stand it. T had selected from th(^ various advertis- ments a temperance hotel, and so I pushed past all the hackmen. telling them I was going to stop at the () House. Finally one of them said, •' Oh, yesi then I am your man (exactly." As I got into his wretched vehicle I thought it strange a temjierance institution should send out such a rig and man: and when he liegan threading the lowest part of the city I l)ecame uneasy; but he explained it by saying th(! direct route to their place wascut up by laying a cable car-track, and that they were temporarily obliged to go quite a piiM-e around, and tinally he dn)pped me before a low-lived whisky-shop. The office of the hotel was in said shop. "My dear sir. you told me you belonged to the O House. How does this come?"' and I pointed to the sign oyer the good, kindly-looking pastor. Dear rc^ad- er, if a stranger happt'iis into your church are you mire he will get such a welcome? Why, it made me feel at home, and happy at once. How good their faces looked, contrasted with thos(! of the crowd I had met on th(! ferry 1 We liad an excc^Uent sermon: but the best part of it was near the close, something lik(i this, " Dear brothers and sislefs. I am extremely happy to tell you that my appi'al a week ago brought a contribution tliat i)aid tii) every last cent of our debt, so we can start out this new- year with our church and every tiling about it paid for."' Many of the members siioke broken English, showing they wore of dilTerent nationalities, and. in fact, the church was in a part of the town where it could not well be otherwise; but notwitlistanding this they w-ere clean and pure men and women. "• washed in the blood of the Ijamb," and made lit for the communion of saints. The contrast between them and the rough, blaspheming, and drinking crowd, was indeed wonderful. I was urged on all sides to stay to Sunday-school, and, in fact, by a perfect drove of children, chattering and prattling around the church (ioor and steps, toward the close of the sermon, until the janitor had to look out several timi's and motion to them to keep still. I was happy and joyous then; but little did I dream of a new happiness just then right before me. Let us go back a little. I have l^efore mentioned that Mrs. Root is rather backward and diffident about going out in the world among people. When I started on this trip, our entreaties were all in vain to get her to come. It made her sick to travel, and she could not sleep nights: and, besides, she did not care for new countries and scenery as much as I did. So we reluctantly gave it up. By •• we '" I mean myself and the children. When I had a relapse of the fever, how-ever, she said she must come to mc;; and, in fact, she could hardly wait until I could direct her how to come. Finally she wired me that she had started on Wednesday, the 30th of December. You may be sure that I did not forget her in my prayers "during these four days. During the fe- verish, sleepless nights I had just passed, my mind was almost constantly drawn toward her. I dreamed of her nights, and while on the streets during the day. If any figure in the least resembled her. it set my heart to beating at once. Some of mv yonngi-r readers may smile at this. All right. I am glad to have, you smile, and I liojii' the older ones will smile. Yes; and n^Jiilc you smile, take that dear hand in yours that has worked for you so faithfully, and tell her that brother Root is not theo?i7jy man who has a heart that beats young again as he .sees the dear form or hears her footstep. More than thirty years ago I had a sort of boy- ish notion that I could not be liapiiy without her. Since then I have seen her work untiring- ly in molding and fashioning the mind and soul of each little new comer that (Jod sent into our household. I didn't know lier thirty years ago, but I do know her know. While I was sick, and thousands of miles awav from home, memory ]3« GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Fkk. 15. went over it all. step by step. As soon as she started I began to pray that she might not be made sick by so much travel. 1 prayed, and then worried for fear she migltt get sick and have to wire me or Ernest. I kept thinking she might get thi'oiigh on that eventful Sun- day : but experienced travelers and railroad men told me it was impossible before Monday. and so 1 was going to all the churches and Sun- day-schools, to pass the time until I might look for her. Let me now go back again to that Fourth Congregational church in San P"'rancisco. In- stead of staying at Sunday-school I thought I would just go over to the place we had arrang- ed for our meeting. " Right there is Hill Street," said the con- ductor of the street-car; '"and if you will walk up on this side you will soon come to No. 20." I looked at the numbers, and walked along. Sure enough, here is No. 30, and somebody is just closing the door. As I rang the bell a gen- tleman opened the door, and, with a smile, said: " And this is Mr. Root, I believe." His next words seemed to stun me. I could not take in his meaning until he repeated them. He said : " Your wife has just arrived.'" " You surely do not mean she is here now. in this house f '" " Yes, I do: and she is right in that room." I saw that the door was ajar. The fever had made me nervous. I pushed open the door, and there she stood — not used up and woi'u out with travel, but looking unusually well, happy, and just a ti'ifle saucy. My prayers were all ans- wered— yes, 7norc than answered, and, as usual, I \\2if. astonished. " O thou of little faith! \pherefore didst thou doubt?" The night before she started she had been awake a good deal; but after she really got on the way she slept soundly every night; yes. and she enjoyed the scenery on the way as she nev- er enjoyed any thing before. As she did not leave the Pullman car for three days and four nights, the inmates got pretty well acquainted, and she says she never before met so many good and kind people in her life. I give all this in detail, for I feel sure that others may have the same mistaken notions in regard to ti'avel at the present day. There are many advantages in having your wife with you in traveling. In fact, Mrs. Root ha> saved expense in many ways. When we came to Los Angeles a hotel- keeper wanted S14.0() for just a room, without any meals, for one week I Sue declared we would not stay there a single night: and she very soon found the pretty room, where I am writing now, for only ^4.50 per week. It is nice- ly furnished (in fact, better than the one at the hotel), of good size, gas and other conveniences, near the business part of the city, and has a very pretty bay-window reaching out over the street. We can see up street or down, and street-cars are all around us, going for miles in any direction. We can get our meals at a choice of more than fifty restaurants: and there is scarcely an article of food to be had in the world that is not to be found here. There are so many nice dishes served for only five cents each, that, if one wishes to use economy, he can live very cheaply. Our meals usually cost us 30 or 40 cents for J>oth of us; and a few days ago we got every thing we wanted, and the bill was on]y tJt'entji- five cents for both. The gro- cers, bakers, and restaui'ants have such a great nuiltitude of things, in the most convenient form, that, with the help of a little coal-oil stove, a good meal can be quickly prepared, for only a few cents. Many restaurants make a great specialty of fifteen -cent meals. You get almost any kind of nn^at or fish, including plen- ty of potatoes, bread and butter, and a large cup of good coffee, foi- the 15 cents. Fruits of all kinds known are in wonderful abundance, and are also very cheap. As neither of us car- ries a trunk, we can leave our baggage at the depot until we look up a furnished room to suit us, both in location and quality. Some of you may think it not much style to travel in this way. We don't care for styli' very much, and some of the finest people who travel do just this way. In fact, a lady in the Pullman car told me about it, and gave us the address of parties having nice furnished rooms to let. As my sickness had thrown me back on my appointments we missed many points around San Francisco. In fact, we were obliged to start off Monday so as to be in time at the convention in Los Angeles. I mention this that the friends around San Francisco may not think we passed them by intentionally. Our kind friends, Mr. Bostwick, father and sons, did us very great •service in showing us around the city. You should have seen Mrs. Root open her eyes as she saw the beautiful yards with their strange new forms of vegetation. Mr. Frank Bostwick seemed to be a privileged character in China- town, and he even went so far as to get tis a pass into a Joss house during some great feast or event. We saw the idol, and the temple and worshipei's. Their ceremonies and incantations, and the wonderful and varied apparatus, are wonderfully complicated. One would think, from their motions, that they were performing complicated problems and computations in as- tronomy or mathematics, while the real fact is there is no more sense in it than in the ravings and jargon of a maniac in some asylum. We saw Chinese, both women and children. If the latter could be educated, as we educate every other race, there would be some hope. Aban- doning their queue means abandoning their re- ligion, and there is no real hope for them until they do that. There are a few business men who have done that, and in Los Angeles we have a converted Chinese who is a minister of the gospel. I am sure it is all wrong to have so many men and almost /lo uornen. with any race of peoole. It seems to me there should be some law against it. I do not mean by this to tread on the toes of any of my bachelor friends. We made one very interesting excursion to a beautiful park, where we saw seals climbing out of the ocean and clamliering up on the rocks. These are not the fur-bearing seals, but are much like them. Their bark sounds like that from a lot of dogs, and one can hear them frolic half a mile away. Between San Francisco and Los Angeles we did not see much of particular interest until we came to the Mojave (pronounced Mo-/ir(/i-vay) Desert. In many places vegetation is almost entirely lacking, and only the sandy gravel covers the boundless waste; and at noonday, even in the month of January, the glare and glitter of the sun's rays seemed oppressive. I am told that, in the summer time, it has been as hot as 11(1° in the shade. I began to look for the bones of animals that had perished, and soon found plenty of them, even in plain sight along the railroad track; and befon^ long not only the bones were visible, but their partially de- cayed bodies. The air is so dry that no at- tempt is luade to bury them, for they soon dry up, giving oft' little or no offensive smell. Not far away is the far-famed Death Valley, where not only horses and cattle, but even hu- man beings, have died in such numbers that skeletons are said to be in plain sight every- where. In former times a superstition sur- rounded this place; but now travelers well pro- vided for and well attended go through it safe- IS'.f.' t;M;.\MN(;s in kkio culturio. 1:57 ly. 'riir Ileal is iMosi iniciisf: ami as it Mrs Itiw. ituTc is very little air. 'I'liis alone would l)e eiioiifili to indiiee fevers ami ileliriiim; Imi add to that the fad tliat the water toumi there is so alUaliiie. ami oiiaincd wilii iniiieials, iJial it is almost poisoitous. is it, any wondei- tiiat aii- iiuais and men liecome ofazed and so insane they nevi'i- lind tlieir way out? On the edtres of tiio Mojave IV'seit ai'e some vei y tine bee- ranches: and tile fifeat iieat diiriiifj the honey season is tiionaht to assist in iiiviiifj a lai'fi*' honey-llow w hen tliey do not gel it in othef lo ealilies. Mis. IJoot. was veiy anxious to see a mifaiie in the ileseiM. IM'etty soon I showed her a lake of water, witii the sage brush and i)usn- es relleoted in it. "Oh! but that ix a lake!" she replied, almost as soon as 1 pointed it out. I told her to wait until we rai> u\) nearer to it and she would sei! it disappear: Imt when we got w liere the lak<' should have been. she. •" woman -like." was very miu'h inelined to stick to ln'r lirst nosition, and totleelare that tin- railway had turned and gone away from it. I luentioii this lo show you how rail is a mirage. At San Francisco there was plenty of rain; but w hen we neared the desert the weather was very dry, and it is still dry here at Los .Vngeles. We arehaving. in fact, the most beautiful sum- mer weather here, riglit in the midst of .Janua- ry. Ow iiig to my sickness I was obliged lo give up many points I inteiuled to visit, and, in fact, it was only by pushing ahead as fast as possi- ble tliat we succeeded in getting here the day of the convention. I think I never attended a convention before wiiere therc^ was a better feeling among all present than at this one on the tjth and Ttli of .January. In fact, nothing came up during any of the sessions that savored in the least of any sort of discord. Many of the bee-keepers brought their wives, and Mrs. Root soon found herself among the best of friends. As soon as we were up and dressed on our first morning in IjOS Angeles I was in a great hurry to have Mrs. Root see the strange new vegeta- tion of this semi-tropical land. It was a treat to see her look, and to hear her (exclamations of wonder as we passed some of the tine dooryards. The palms and pahnettcjs. perhaps, attracted the most attention. A beautiful park m/ar the First Congregational church furnished no end of w-onderful plants and trees. After the con- vention our gooil friend Woodljerry took us on a drive through the mountain -|iasses from (ilen- dale to Pasadena, on one route, and back again on another one. Mrs. Root asked me at night whether there were any more places in Califor- nia so beautiful. A few days after. w<^ visited Ventura, and with a livery team we drov(i 20 miles up into the Malilija (pronounced Mah-til- c-hah) Canyon. There is a particular spot near the hot springs that affected me so ijowerfully that I watched her anxiously to .see whether it would be the same with her. When I had triced to tell her about it, away back in Ohio. sIk; said she appall von; and. t,o add to the illnsldii that ii must be an enchant- ed land, the sprini; lliat biibliles foi I h at your feet is tin I Ik il to drink. We went, a mile furtlH^r up tile rugged canyon on foot, and found an apiary of several hundred colonies. Its owner stays there only in the summer time; in fact, he uses it for a summer residence, and moves l)ack into town when the hoiu^y season is over. While friend \Vilkin and I walked up to the apiary, the wonuwi-folks took a liath in the rud(^ tent right in the bed cjf the creek. The sun was getting low and the air chilly, bnt 1 felt I could not go back until I loo had taken a bath. I told tiK'in 1 could be ready to step into the carriage in ten or twelve minuies. The tent looked open, and 1 feared I should take cold: but when I closed the curtain partially I foumi it pretty wafin, for the hot air i)oured out of every crack. How delicious and soothing the water seemed! It is .so highly cliarged with chemicals that one can hardly keep hi-; body under — it buoys him up like the salt water of the ocean. Afie'r I had got ch^ar under, all but my nose, mouth, and eyes. I enjoyed it so much that I decided they would have to wait in the cari'iage five or six minutes more. So much clambering about and traveling had made my toes quite dirty. Now, don't be in a hurry to say that I am not n(>at in my habits, l^or I did it on purpo.se. 1 told .Mrs. Root I wanted to test the cleansing pro[)erties of this water, without soap, and that slie must let my feet stay so till we got to the hot springs. Well, I watched the chemicals at work, for the water is so clear that you can see in it for a foot or two, almost as well as through air. Sure enough, without a bit of rubbing, the dirt faded away right before my eyes, until my toes were as pink and clean as a baby's, and so it was with my whole body. I held my head under the spout, and rubbed it until the scalp was cleaner than any barber's shampoo ever made it. The horses and inmates of the carriage were impatient, and I hustled on my clothes, having been in the tent 18 min- utes. I tried to give the proprietor his usual half-dollar; but he said my notice of the spring three years ago had made him many times my debtor; and wlien I talked to him about green- hou.ses and incubators with the surplus water, he told me water and the grounds were all at my service, free of cost, whenever I might choose to come and utilize it. I was prepared to hear Mrs. Root say many times that the mountain roads of the canyon were unsafe for even a ijood driver; and I knew% too. that she considered me a poor one, so I let the team "out" gradually; and as they wanted to go home, we W(Mit up and down with a rush, now within an inch of the sharp granite rocks on one side, and about as near a sharp precipice on the other, dodging boulders, and ever and anon plunging into the mountain-torrent as we cross- ed the stream from one side to the other. I do not know when I have enjoyed any thing more than that mountain-drive: and wiien we got home, just as the last glimiise of the twilight was fading, she wiiispered that she had more faith in her husband than shi'i' was iuumIv cnislicd oul of .•xisti'm-f. ami possihlc pain, in anotlu'i' instant. We (In not sec that we ucff incnnsisiciit Willi iiiir piDlVssiiins or tlir iclincd smsc of liuinam' tiratnii'nt of oni' ilnnili animals of tiic nirscni day. Hy tin- way. tin- wiitiM' for t.li(( 'Irihunc docs not sitrn lil.s nam*'. I)nt liidcs in liis attuck under tln-i'ditoiial ■" we." If In- scofi'S anybody, li't him si-ofc tlic junior editor. If a lU) worse cliarue is ever entered against him. lie will he happy. .MSril'ICl.M. ('.') IIOXKY-COMH \T I. .VST. On page KK? (»f our last, issm> we stated edito- rially that thiM'e were rumors abroad to the etieot that another chai) was about to place on the market artiticial lioney-comh tilled with •rliK'ose; and now samijjes are out. This morn- intr. as we eame into the otTiee. one of the clerks lianded \is a box and a letter, and added, w ith a laconic smile. " Here goes yonr tlionsand dollars as a reward for artilicial honey-coml)." As the information struck ns from a pecuniary point of view . wt' were inti'rested at once. Mi'fore we tell you about the comb, we present you the letter accomi)anyins the mysterious box. .lust read: K.\NSAsCiTV, Feb. 1, 1893. A I Rixit,- De:tr Si/:— I send you this day iiei- expce.ss. chaij^es prepaid, sample or tlie artificial comb. One side is re:idy for the liees to fill mill cap over, and tlie other side "is tilled with pure lioiiey and capped over, so yon see tliat I lie TliinK can lie done, antl is done. My Idea is not so mucli to make artificial coml) lion- ey, a> to siipplj' the l)ee-keepers witli artificial honey-conil) so as to enalile tlieiii to produce just six times more than they are now doing'; as some .say that it takes T lbs. of honey t(j produce 1 U). of wax. This making comljs is no exi)erinient, but a fact, and they can l3e produced very eheai>. Tliis sam- ple is some of tlie very fliNt turni'd out; and l:)y a lit- tle more work and pains it can be produced so near like wliat the bees make that you can not tell them apart. I expect to hiivv mj' patent-papers in a few (lays; and if you wish to manufacture tlie comti under a i-oyalty, I sliould lie glad to figure with you. as I shall devote this month to several concerns— l)igr ones like your own — making' ari-aiigemeiits to maimfacture under a royalty. This is a great in- vention, and a long-needed want .soon supplied. Now the liee-keepers will rejoice, and tlie piiiiiic will rejoice, liecause they can get all the hone} they want; and no doubt 1 shall receive the reward b.\ return mail, of a New York exchange for ?1(1(J0, as pulilished 1)\- you. 1 also send you a samjileof brood coml). Witii best wishes 1 am Yours triilv. T Of all the Imngling attem|)ts made to imitate artiticial honey-comb, this is the worst. A piece of this imitation was inserted in an ordinary pound section. We puslied the comb out (or. rather, cake of wax with holes in it) and weigh- ed it. By a little calculation we found that it would take iibont 8 ounces of wax to hold a pound of honey (a stnall fraction of an ounce of imtiinti comb will hold a pound of honey): in other words, it would take lo cents' worth of wax made into this imitation'?) to hold a pound of honey, and the very best coml) honey whole- sales at from ]:.' to 1.') cents. But this \:, cents" worth of wax does not include the cost of man- nfactur(? and of royalties, and for these two items we must add at least .5 cents more. This makes 20 cents' worth of bogus honey-comb to hold a pound of honey: and yet Mr. T says it can be made very rheni). But. hold a minute: The sides of the "cells, instead of being 2I7; of an inch thick, as in the natural comb, are about ^. We are bee-keeper enough to know that the bees would probably repudiate any such imitation. We have tested very much better samples of so-called artificial comb, hut the bees lltterlv refused til I'ecogni/e them. While the iuljacent combs were tilled with honey and brood, the artiticial thing was left entirefy un- touched. In the mvsterioiis box was anoihei- sample of comb that contaim-d honey. One side of the comb, we sii iiiniftc. was intended to represent artiticial capping. The side was perfectly flat, without corrugations or indentations, and re- sembled very closely the side of an iiniiolished marble slab more or less soiled with smoke and dirt. We showed it to a number of the ein- ployi'S, but they could hardly believe that any one meant that for capped comb honey. The manufacturer of tlie adulterated product above is evidently not a very skilled bee-keeper, for he proposes to supply them with an article that ■■ tcill ciKthh lliciii to iinxlucc just xi.r times more tluDt tlicy (ire nnic tluiiKj." Even if the comb could be made an exact duplicate of the natural article, this statement could not possi- bly be true. After making due allowance for the fact that the sample was among the first made, we are not in the least afraid of losing our thousand dollars, i'erhaps it would be well to slate right here that our otl'er covered comb honey manu- factured by appropriate machinery— that is, making the comb, tilling it with glucose. ;ind capping it over, lint the candidate, in order to be eligibh^ to the prize, must make his artilicial stufT so iierfect that it would be mistake;!! foi' the genuine article. If the sample .sent is the acme of perfection, no doubt, if the senior editor were heie. he would increase the ofTer to$20(X): but we piesume that, of course, Mi'. T means the last as a joke. It may appear to some that we are a little hard on Mr. T : but we wish it clearly understood how far shoit his artificial comb comes of the genuine pioduct. The genei'al public would not rejoice. Just imagine the pater familkis sitting down at the table, taking a bite of the stnflf, and, for every ounce of honey that he swallows, spitting out half an ounce of wax! Bee-keepers, so far fi'om rejoicing, would only laugh in I'idicule at such a crude attempt. "Does Mr. T suppo.se that con- sumeis would eat this down as pni'e comb honey? and does he suppose that they would knowingly eat bogus comb honey? We can assiu'e oui' friend that there is no nianufactui'ei' of supplies who would for a mo- ment considei' the advisability of manufactur- ing such stuff. W(! would advis(> him to place samples of it in the hives, and .see how quickly the hecs' will "doctor" them, and that will for ever convince him, if what we have said is not sufficient, that they ai'e exceedingly fastidious as to the kind of honey -comb they have; in the hive. They will accept the midrib, or embossed wax sheets! or. as we bee-keepers term it,/otas artificial lioney-comb, or even natural cotubs, would have to go at a high rate of freight: and even if the artificial product could be manufactur(>d so as to be iicceptable to the bees, bee-keepeis could not alTord to use it, on account of fieight rates. When it is remem- bei'ed that foundation, in the height of the sea- son, will be drawn out by the bees insid<> of 24 hours, it will be leadily seen that bee-keepers have no need of foundation with full-depth walls, as it were. Another thing, even if the artificial comb could be made, it would have to Ije sold for ivlutt it is. or else be under the'ban of the law. If our friend has not already secured a patent, we would suggest to him the wisdoin of consulting two or three bee-keepers before he wastes his money. We would name, for in- stance, E. M. Uayhurst, of Kansas City. 1-K) GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Feh. 15. Special Notices. HOFFMAN-FRAiME END-BAKS. We are having a number of inquiries for the prices of the Hoffruan-frame end-hars alone. We furnish the frames complete in the flat at $1.70 per 100; *15.00 per 1000; the end-t)ars alone for .50c per 100 ; $4.50 per 1000 pieces ; top-bars alone at 60c per 100; $.5.00 per 1000. CABBAGE-PLANTS, FEBRUARY, 1893. We have a limited stock of extra nice cold-frame cabbape-plants that we ai'e ready to sliip now. Va- riety, Jersey Wakefield. See our seed catalogue for 1893. We can guarantee safe arrival at any post- oflfice in tlie United States or Canada; but do not throw your plants away if most of the leaves ap- pear yellow and the roots quite dry. Put the plants in a pail of water, which you should take into the field with you; takeout one plant at a time; put It into freahiy worked soil, pack the fine earth closely around the rnuts. not the stalk; draw a handful of soft earth an)und- the plants, over the .soil you packed down around the roots. Do not water unless very dry; do not hoe until after a rain or until tlie plant has commenced to send out new leaves, and you need lose st-arcely a single plant out of the average one hundred sent you. Colonies, Nuclei, H Queens. ss 1892. re 3 Qi O Address S. D. McLean, ^ Box 190, Columbia, Tenn. CO -n o Early Queens from Texas. From my choice 3 or .5 banded stock. My bees are very gentle, good workers, and beautiful. Safe ar- rival and saiisfact'on guaranteed. One untested queen, March and April, $1.50; May, $1.00; later, 75c. Orders booked now ; money sent when queens are wanted. Send for pric-e list. 4a J. D. Civens, Lisbon, Tex. Pleaso mention this paper. Bee-Hives ^ Sections A specialty. Foundation, Smokers, etc., in stock. Send lor new list. free. 4tfdb "W. D. SOPER. Jackson, Mich. I I II responding to this advertisement mention CtLeanings. Oak Hill Poultry Farm.Troy, Pa, FINE PLYMOUTH ROCKS. Orders for eggs at $1.5) per 13 booked now for spring delivery. One-tliird off on all orders before April 15 thiit mention this paper. 75 For S A L E IVIoneyl Honey! Bees! 75 Colonies ol Italijin Bees, in ten-frame Root's Simplicity liives. Everything in tirst-class ordif. This "Daisy" apiary is situated under the large live oaks, on the lianks of the waters of Eagle Lake, in Colorado County, Texas. Plenty of wa- ter, fish, and hoiicy. Dovetailed "hives on hand for this spring's swarming. 4-5d J. H. MULLIN & SON. Oakland, Tex., Jan'y 25. Mention tins pai)er. SAVE MONEY — Send to J. P. H. Brown, Augus- ta, Georgia, for his price list of .supplies. Hives and foundation at wholesale rates. 4tfdb IMPORTED ITAIilAN QUEENS, $3.50, June l.st. Order now. 4tfd W. C. FRAZIER, Atlantic, Iowa. i Bees For Sale Cheap! 118 Colonies in L. frame hives, at Cliillicotlie. Mo. For particidars address 3tfdb J. .1. TUCKER, Nevada. Mo. l-12db Please mention this paper. WILL EXCHANGE foundation for wax or cash. Also make wax into foundation, when sent to me, at the lowest price in the world. Send for sam- ples and prices to Jaool WoUersheim, Saukauna, Wis. V OLINS GUI TAR SI MANDOLIKS ■f.-tptjiniinji to Lius aa\frti.^e]iienl infiilion 32 pages— $1.00 a year— Sample Free. The oldest, largest and cheapest Weekly bee-paper THOMAS G. NEWIVIAN & SON, CHICAGO. ILI* -TTi A T? T TT 30LDE1T, UNTESTED aUEEKS. $1.00. '**''***^'*J * LAEOE, FINE, GENTLE, AND BRED for l)ii>iness. Ready about March ™0. Dealers send for prices. Fine tested, -^.,50 to ^S^.dO. A few breed- ers, Italian or Golden, $3 to *.5. 3tfdb J. B. CASE, Port Orange, Vol. Co., Fla. Please mention this paper. NO. 1 Sections only ^.00 per M. 20-page price list free. J. M. Kinzie, Rochester, Oakland Co.. Mich. ANTE1>.— To send you my catalogue of Queens, Bees, and Supplies, cheap. 4tfdh Chas. H. Thies, Steeleville, HI. VT AVTOIMCATZC CO»ZB FOUrrDATIOBT naiZiLS. 2-7dl) —made bv— W. C. PELHAM, Maysville, Kentucky. Plfuse mention tlii>- pijifr. SECTIONS. $2.5U to $3.50 per M. Bee-Hives and Fix- tures clieup. NOVELTY CO., 6tfdb Rock Falls, Illinois. t^Iii i-fspoiiilim,' to this ailvi-Tii^errn-rit nienluiM (ii,K.\.\iv'^s Western Bee-Keepers' Supply House Root'? Coode can be had at Pes Moint!- I fewa, at Root's Prices. " The largest supply business Ik the Weat. Established 1886 Itovetailed Hives, Seo- laons, Foundation, Ex- tractors, Smokers VeilS; Crates, Feeders, Clover ' Seeds, etc. Imported Italian Queens. Queens and^ Bees Sample copy of our Bee Journal. "The West- ' em Bee - Keeper." and Latest Catalogue mailed Free to Bee-keepers. , JOSEFS ITTSSWAITSEB. DES UOIITES. lOWi. ^"In responding to this advertisement mention Gleanings. Bee -Keepers' ^^ Supplies. We are prepared to furnish bee-keepers witli sup- j plies promptly and at lowest rates. Estimates gladly ! furnished, and c<)ries))iiiidciice sdlicitcd. Our goods I are all first -class in quality and w (prkmaiiship. Cat- nlogue soil free. Kefereni-e, First National Bank, Sterling, HI. Address ]-24db V%'M. McCLNE & €0., Sterliniu;, Illfnols. t^In responding to this riilvdlisi'Miiiit mention (iLKANlNGS, IWJ (JI.KANINCS IN HKE rUI/IM'K, ()iir->tr;iin i>l' I TALIANS li.ixr tciiclu'd till- lop. Tlicy iiit" MIMMKHS wli.ii ydii Want i)(>fs for lioiifx. t,)iu' ir more. 5 jjer cent (lis- couiit. Mtike morH\ oideis pa\able at Clifton. 3tfdb COLWIOZ 4 COLWICK, NOESE. BOSttUE CO., TEZAS. $4 or $5 Will buy ONK HIVE ..k ITALIAN iJEES AN'i) QUEEN. Simplicity Hive and Frame or HofTniaii Closed-End Fraiiii' and Hive. JOHN A. THORNTON, ^''"^ Lima, Illinois. Please mention this paper. M ■■ Hi Jf\ 350 Colonies [ J i i 11 1.000,000 Sections, ■K Hi ^B ^^ Foundation, &c. ■^B B^ W^ —^^ Jr-r" Send for price list. m m m I mj e. t. flanagan, ■V ■■ ■■ ^^ BELLEVILLE, lyin responding to this! advei-ti.-enient mention Gi.ea.ninhs ELEVEN YEARS WITHOUT A PARALLEL, AND THE STAND- ARD IN EVERY CIVILIZED COUNTRY. Bingham & Hetherington Patent Uncapping-Knife, Standard Size. Bingham's Patent Smokers, Six Sizes and Prices. Doctor Smoker, 3X in., postpaid ...$3.00 Conqueror " 3 " " ... 1.75 Large " 2% " " ... 1.5(1 Extra (wide shield) 3 " " ... 1.35 Plain (narrow " )2 " " ... 100 Little Wonder. IX " " ■• 65 Uncapping Knife 115 Sent promptly on receipt of price. To sell again, send for dozen and half-dozen rates. Milledgeville, 111., March 8, 1890. Sirs: — Smokers received to-day. and count cor- rectly. Am ready for orders. If others feel as 1 do your trade will boom. Truly, F. A. Snell. Vermillion, S. Dak., Feb. 17, 1890. Sirs:— 1 consider your smokers the best made for any purpose. 1 have had 15 years' experience with 300 ot 400 swarms of bees, and know whereof I speak. Very truly^ R. A. MORGAN. Sarahsville. Ohio, March 13, 1890. Sirs:— The smoker 1 have has done good service since 1883. Yours truly, Daniel, Brothers. Send for descriptive circular and testimonials to Itfdb BuraBAU Ss HxTHESiHaTOir, Alsronia, Mich. t^In respondlnti to this a A: SONS, Sole Mannfactureis. Sprout Brook, Mont. Co.. N. Y.D C:^"Iii respondine to tliis advertisement mention Ri.FiKTMf:« g.j,! ROOT'S GOODS FOR THE EAST. Bee-Keepers of the East should D83r In JVl inCl ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ established at Syracuse an ESStCm BrBllCh where our Bee-keepers' Supplies arc kept for sale, and prompt sliipnuMit. Voii can savn time and freight by ordering from our Eastern Branch. Wr have engaged Mr. F. A. Sal- isbury to take charge of this business, and he will treat you well. He will be pleased to send you a list of goods ke[)t in stock. Adchess all orders. EASTERN BRANCH, F. A. SALISBURY, Agent, Syracuse, N. Y. IS9'2 CI.KAMNCJS IN iUOH cn/rURE. 147 Everybody^ Admihs. Other 5 eeds ^-b^Fqually^^Reliable Sesi Annual Free, - write For ih NDW! A.Vf. LIVINGSTON'S SOliSj 80X273, COLUMBU5> OH ID. ^*ln respomiintr to this advertisement mention Gleanings. CANADA BEE KEEPERS Will s;i\i' mimt-y liy |iiirch;i>inK' supplies from T. Fliillil>s \ Co.. i)rilli;i, Ontario, wlio iiiaiiufnctiire all stylos of Hives. Soctions. Flames. Foundation, Extractoi-s. and Smokei-s. Also insiny new tiling's not handled 1)>' other dealefs. Send for catalog'ue and samples oi' foundation, free. T. PHILLIPS & CO., ORILUA, ONTARIO. CAN. 3-5d I'lease mention this paper. Chicago Bee-Keepers" Supply Co.. Are Mi;':fic:a:ers of and Wholesale aai Retail Dealers in BEE-HIVES, HONEY SECTIONS, FOUNDATION, .V.NIi liKSKR-VL SIITI.Ip;.-; KOI! MEE KEEI'EKS. Wiitr lor lir.nhir with siiefial prires. Afrents wanted. Office 68 &. 70 So. Canal St., TOPEKA CHICAGO, ILL. KANSAS. 4trtil> b'lea-'e mention tliis paper. LOCATIOIT Isahijr piuiif, in .siiiiplying' goods; ours g'ives j'on low freight i-ates. As we sf>ll low. von should have mr ciri-iilar of -up|ili( 1-ISdl) I.J. STRINGHAM, 92 BARCLAY ST., N. Y. Please iiieiiiion this pjiper. ALSIKE. Now is the time to sow, and rhiring- the next two months. We have a g-ood suppl.v of choice seed at the following prices, which are low for the i^re.sent condition of the market: 1 11)., postpaid. 8tc; 3 11)s. fortl.t.O. 1 II). with other {roods. •ZT^v; 4 lbs. for II.IKI. 1 peck (15 Ibs.i. *:.'.so: y„ bushel. .t.").tO. 1 bushel, II(l..")ii: ;.' bushels. fin.Oll. Bag included in ever\' case. A. I. ROOT, Medina, O. Honey - Extractoi^. Square Glass Honey-Jat»s, Tin Buckets, Bee-hives. Jloney-Seetions, &c., &e. Peffeetion Cold-Blast Smokefs. APPLY TO -v.^..^.^^^^.^>.^v^ CHAS. F. IVIUTH & SON, Cinelnnatl, O. SendlO-ct. stamp for "Practical Hints to Bee-keepers." Please mention this paper. 30oc*To«90ooor»>r*:o_» • -..•*: 1WIQU J'^i'ry reader of this paiMV QTrilQ TTIOn to try luy HiiiM-rior, tcHtcd uLLUu. I (.lie r the fellowiiiK ••ST.\U COl.l.Kt 'IK )N" mr'tWO DniES. (topuy i.ost:i(-'i .pacliiiiK, 1 le.) w.\ti;k.»ii:i.<»ns. ■ II) Varirli. s i-,.iMpii:-iiiL,' .\M, , 111. lir-T>l.,;niii-ts\v.-cti standi ,♦ l>.-.--t til ciiltivali.ii .\ SHIM Hi c' 1- h lei'tioll l>l'tll,-lM.i,| ii;i.ON.s. , inVarlities. .\ >.Tati(l iissiirtineiit t el' )iiii^t (lilicious niiisk-iiieleiis. ; VIK^KTAIII.t: I'KAC'II. -*^ Tliis hcatitifiil veiretalilc = liist iiitro- (liiciil by nie. is exa-t ciilor, sliaiH'. and ) ! iior- moiish pi'0(liii-ti\i-. and « .11 l'f*|>^ EVERGREEN NURSERIES, EVERGREEN, WIS. t^rin responding to this advertisement mention Oi.kantng.s. QUEENS I : DRONES I : Send for price list of Italian (,»u«ens. Drones, Hives, Smokers, Foundation, etc. Finest breeding queen, after March 1. $4.00. Tested, |2.('0; 3 for $.5.00. Untested, in April, $1.00; ti for $.5.00, or $9.(iii per doz- en by mail. Safe arrival guaranteed. Orders for Queens booked for 20 days or more, 5 per cent dis- count. Make money orders i)ayable at Clifton. 3tfdb COLWIGE & OOLWIOE, NOKSE. BOSaHE CO.. TE^JAS. k ?riii responding' to this advertisement mention GLEANINGS. HARTFORD, WIS., Manufactures Apiarian Supplies of Every Description. Catalogue Free to All. Send Your Address. 3tfdl) Please mention this paper. $4 or $5 Will buy ONE HIVE of ITALIAN BEES AND QUEEN. Simplicity Hive and Frame or Hoffiuan ('lo.^e(l-Eiid Fianie and Hive. JOHN A. THORNTON, ^"'"^ Lima, Illinois. Please mention this paper Pnill TRV <'lioice Fowls and Eggs for sale at UUU I n I . all times. Finely illustrated circu- lar free. fiEEK BROS.. St. Marys, Mo. 21tfdb 148 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mar. 1. Contents of this Number. Alsike 165 Apjai-y on Platform 162 Apiary, Hoffman's l')2 Bees Cutting Combs 170 Bounty Discussed 159 California Association 169 Clover. Alsike 165 Corey. J. G 171 Covers, Sealed, Advantage 168 Doolittle's Method 170 Editor in California 171 Flowei-s. Wax 166 Foundation for Br. Cham'r.l69 Glucosingin Chicago 163 Grading, Albany 1.54 Grading. Dr. Miller on 1S6 Grading. The Chicago 157 Hi vers, .\utomatic 16* Mnmim— Th.at Honej'moon. 168 Maniim Meditating 168 Ohio Convention 165 Piiplar Honey, Grading it.. 170 Pi otection. Outdoor 168 Punics. Temper of 162 Oueen Restriction 16t Queens to .\ustr.alia. First. .160 Rambler in Cilifornia 161 Tinker on Hotfman Frame. 169 Ventilating Our Homes 167 Virgin Queens. Trade in . . .163 Wax Flowers 166 Zinc, Propolizing 1C9 Black and Hybrid Queens For Sale. Black queens by return mail, 30c: liydrids. 50, as long as I have tliem. Stamps taken; one-cent pre- ferred. Jennie Atchley, Floyd, Hunt Co., Texas. IQQ9 ROOT'S Dovetailed Hive IQQO I|l9b at Ills prices. Circular free. IQ9C Itfd Geo. W. Cook, Spring- Hill, Kan. $5 FIVE DOLLARS $5 ^i&e^u weeJcB BULBS, and SMALL FRUITS, of pleasure. Roses, Carnal ions. Lilies. Gladiolii, Tuberoses, Fine Frencli Cannas, Small Fruits, etc. theodoke: je:imnin(;k, o-8d P. O. Box 69. Port Chester, N. V. Please mention this paper. Shamrock Pumpkin. Best for pies. Seed saved from specimens weigli- i ing .5U lbs. or over. Hesli 4 inches tliick. Can get seed nowliere else. Sure winner at fairs. 'Zr> cents ! per pkt. B. Leghorn Eags from prize-winning I coop at State Fair; ~,t cts. per 13; H \wr :.'fi. .5d | C. M. GOODSPEED, P. M., Shamrock, N. Y. Please mention Glrani.nos. lURRAH FOR THE GRAY CARNIOLANS! Bee-keepers, if you want a race of bees that will just pile in tlie honey, get the gray (only pure) Car- , niolans. P'or instance, here is a report of one of j our apiaries of 50 colonies for tlie season of 1891 : i Honey crop, 7000 lbs. Yield of best colony, aSO lbs. Increase by natural swarming, 15 ci>lonies. For furtlier information write for circular and price list. F. A. LocKH.-VRT & Co., Lake George, N. Y. Please mention this paper. .i-6d PiTT"r)r)T TT7n Langstrotli Bee-lnves, and ^1 r r I jl Tj^ every thing needed in tlie KJ\^J 1. L AJj^i^hU. |^^.p y.^^.^^. 3o.,,.,„.^ catalogue ^^^■iB^^^i^ free. " BUSY BEES." a pamphlet telling how to manage then}, 10 cents in Stamps. WALTER S. POUDER, .^-l-'db 175 E. Walnut St., Indianapolis. Ind. tyin responding to tliis advertisement mention GLEANINGa Wholesale and Retail Manufacturer andLealerin BEE-KEEPERS' SUPPLIES. ONE-PIECE SECTIONS A SPECIALTY. AS GOOD AS THE BEST. Send for catalogue. W. E. SMITH, .5tfdb SuccesKiir to Smith A Sinitli, Kenton, Hardin Co.. Ohio. In writing advertisers please mention this paper. OAK HILl. POULTBV FABM, TBOY, PA. FINE PLYMOUTH ROCKS. Orders for eggs at 11.50 per 13 booked now for spring delivery. One-third off on all orders before April 15 that mention this paper. The Best IVIade, SECTION Handiest, QIIDITD and Cheapest oUrLK In the Country. ALSO THE BEST DOVETAILED HIVES. SEC- TION-BOXES, COMB FOUNDATION, ETC. — SEND TO THE— Largest Supply Factory in Massachusetts, for Free Price List that will interest all Bee-Keepers. Address DUDLEY BOX CO.. or F. M. TAINTOE. Manager, Greenfield, Mass. Please mention this paper r^HAFF HIVES. SINGLE- ^^ WALLED HIVES, AND HIVE-PRDTECTORS for fL.oO 1 will ship you a complete s:iini>le of the three, with tlie (lilticult parts nailed, and all crated, to be shipped as sec- ond-class freight. Write for pi-ice list. p GEO. H. KIRKPATRICK. Union City, Ind. Please mention this paper. HEADQUARTERS FOR ALBINO AND ITALIAN QUEENS ANA BEES for 1892. We never had such a large stock of sujierior uueens and bees as we have at present, and sliall do oui' utmost to give satisfaction Also manufactur- ers and dealers in Bee-Hives, Sections. Comb Foun- dation, Notice's Honey-Extractor, and all apiarian .supplies. Address S. VAL.ENTI1NE, 5-^ Ha^erstown, Wash. Co.^ md. Please mention this paper. CAA Colonies of Sees Devot- ^'VV ed to Queen-Rearing. Write for piices on large (luantitics. TWO MILLION SNOW - WHITE SECTIONS, Write for prices on large ipiaiitities. Send for our 24-Page Catalogue of Dovetailed Hives. Smokers, Extractors, Etc. LEAHY M'F'Gr CO., Higginsville, Missouri. Please mention this pajfor. Stfdb Bees For Sa.le- COLONIES, NUCLEI, AND QUEENS. at living rates. Send for t-irciilar and price list to 1^^^ C. C. VAUGHN & CO., W\^ Columbia, Tenn. In writingjto advertisers please mention this paper, .i-lildb APIARIST WANTEU.— I want a man to run a small apiary. Time not spent with bees to be devoted to gardening and general chore work. Will pay $2J.00amon1h and board, or $35.00 a month without I)oard, to the api>licant who will furnish good references as to chaiacter, etc. Stead.v em- ployment tlie year loiind will be given the right sort of man. JAIUES HOIEROCKS, 5d Hyde Park, Dutchess Co., N. Y. FflR ^Al F Seventy -Ave colonies of bees In run OnL.ti Simplicity hives. Price 14 a colo- ny. Address W.m. G. Griffiths, .5d Chew, opp. Sliarpneck St., Germantown, Pa. \H'.t (iMOAMNds IN iu:k (I'l/n lao. H9 Hof^Er Column. CITY MARKETS. AlillANY. //(iHn/-— 'I'Ik' i"i:irlvi'I iirfsonts no in-w fi'iitiiri'. We hiivi' rt'i-chi'd M mitnijiM' of sni;ill coii- sifrnnu'iits >inro oiif l;isi icporl ; liiit llu- (Icimind foi- i-omb lioiu'v I'oiiliniifs vfvy slow. Ivxtiactcd is ill iH'ttor (It'iiiiliHi. :iiul slock on tlu' niiirl,S.. BeiWiix.\\\ fair demand at 36@27. M. H. Hunt, Feb. 19. Bell Branch, Mich. Kansas City.— Hojiej/- — Demand poor, with larg'e .supply of comb. We quote: Comb, Mb., fancy, im\a'\ dark, 8@9. Extracted, white. 7; dark, .5@6. Beeswax, none on the market, light demand. Feb. 2ti. Ha.mblin & Bearss, 514 Walnut St., Kansas City, Mo. Chicago.— Ho/iey.— Our market is more active than it has been of late on eouib honey; but prices are no higher. Best lines lniiiK l.')(®16; dark and off grades, uncertain in price. Kxtracted selling- freely, at6@7@H, according- to kind and quality. R. A. BUKXETT, Feb. 19. 161 So. Water St., Chicag-o, 111. BoSTOX.—HoHey.— We quote: White comb honey, Mb., 14@15; no 2-lb. on hand. Extracted, 6@7. Market well supplied, demand fair. Feb. 20. Blake & Ripley, Boston, Mass. Cincinnati. — Honey. — Trade is quiet. Choice comb honey bring-s 14@16 in a jobbing- way. Ex- tract<'d, 5@S on arrival. Becsivax. demand g-ood at 28@25 for g-ood tn choice yellow on arrival. Chas. F. Muth, Feb. 23. Cincinnati, Ohio. For Sale. — California 2-lb. secticjii comb honey at 13<" per lb. Wis. and Mich. Mb. section candied comb lioney at lie per lb. If you want honey of anv description, write us. S. T. Fish & Co., 4-.5-<5d 189 So. Water St., Chicago, 111. Wants or Exchange Department. WANTED.— A man capable of luniiing- an api- ary of a hundred colonies foi- comb noney *>n shares, in one (jf the best localities, and has all modern fixtures. E. L. Westcott, Smith's Ba-sin, Wash. Co. N. Y. WANTED. To i-xchange for Italian bees, complete set last edition American Cyclopedia, half Tur- key, in pel feet condition, 22 volumes, ci)sl $7 a vol. Audre.ssCi;i)Ai( (iiioVE Farm. North Madis Ind. II/ANTKD. Position as apiarist. Have had cun- Vl siderable experience in raising- queens and producing- e\t !-a<-ted honey. Have good habits, and am 4S years old. Am willing to work in any part of the U. S. N. F. Case, Gleiisdale, Lewis Co., N. Y, WANTED.— To exchange !}^{5.00 saw-table. Stover's lde.-il feed-mill and hoise-|iowei- combined, and a lot of job t.\pe. Want supplies and honey. 2tfdl) O. II. Hyatt, Slienando;ili, Page Co., la. WANTED.— To exchange, red raspberry and black- Vt berry plants for pure Italian (pieens. oi- eggs from pure ptmltry. K. I{. .Miller, 4-5d Garden City. C^iss Co., Mo. WANTl'il).— For 1892, as learners, two young men, brisk, honest, and temperate. Can back in- struction by 35 years of active experience in apiarj'. 4-S-6 S. I. Freeborn, Richland Centre, Wis. W 'ANTED.— To exchange for si rawberiy-plaiits, raspberry oiany small(fiuil. the F.clipse berry- box machines at 4^7.(1(1; full descriplinii sent on ap- plication. Spealc (piick. A.M. Murray, (Josheii, Ind. WANTED.— To exchange apiary of 75 colonies, with eveiy thing needed In the business, for laud or other innpeity or oilers. Several \'aluable town lots in live railroad town; no bi.'tter location for bees in Iowa oi- Wis(;onsin. Correspondence in- vited. 5-6d B. F. Little, Brush <'ieek, Iowa. UTANTED.-To trade a large lot of Heddon hives, IT nicely made and good as new; some with combs complete for honey, now oi- after crop of '92. Write for particulars. Address D. S. Hall, gtfdb South Cabot, Vt. WILL exchange lot .50 x 143 feet, well located, in Larned City, for high-grade bicycle, typewi-iter, Barnes foot-power machinery, or nursery stock. A. H. Duff, Larned, Kansas. WANTED.— To exchange a special Columbia bicy- cle, 48 in., Pope M'fg Co.. Mass., with bell and tool-l)ag; cost $125. Will trade for Italian bees. 5d H. P. Kettering, Greensburg, Pa. WILL exchange P. Rock eggs and fowls. White Holland eggs and toms, Pekin duck and Tou- louse geese eggs for bees, improved hives, nursery stock or otters. C. H. Wallace, Homer, 111. 5d WANTED.— To exchange Graham's shorthand text-books for sections or foundation. 5d W. A. Campbell, Sum;ich, Ga. WANTED. — To exchange correspondence with par- ties living in Tenn., Ky., and Mo., who deal in thoroughbred sheep. H. C. Duty, Walnut Hill. Ark. 11/ ANTED.— A good enei-getic business man of ex- VV perience, who can put in $1000 to $20U0, to take hold of, and introduce a patent machine foi- making berry-boxes; a splendid chance. J. F. Adams. .5d ■ Van Buren, Ark. TANTED.— One or more pairs of ferrets. Will ex- change choice Pekin ducks t)r pay cash. 5d Address Chas. McCi.ave, New London, Ohio. W riTANTED.— A position in an apiary. South pre- VV ferred. Ample experience; references good. 5d WiLMER W. McNeil, Wheelersburg, Ohio. Il/ANTED.— A Christian young man who has had' Vl some exiH-rieiice in care of bees, to work in garden and orchard. State experience, and wages wanted. J. H. Evans, Lewiston, Idalio. 5-6d WAN'1"'ED.— A bee-keeper to work in our apiary. A young man who understands queen-rearing preferred. Address at once, giving references, ex- pectations, etc. P. L. ViALLON Mf'g Co., Bayou Goiila, La. WANTED.— To exchange 80 acres of good timber land for bees. Land close to a railroad, to a good sawmill, and close to a good village. State what kind of a iiive bees are in. Bert Handy, 5-6d Richland Center, Wis. .•^NTED.— Situation in an apiary, a single young- man of four years t'xperience. 4-5d A. (',. FuHRMAN, Pleasant Home. Ohio. WANTED.— To exchange 60 straight brood-coml)s in L. frames at 12 cents each for supplies in fiat. E. D. Barton, Ea.st Hampton, Mid. Co., Ct. ANTED.— A man to handle my bees the c-oming .season. Fii. more Cole, Lima. O. 4tfdb W fiat W 150 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mai;. 1. REVIECU In most cases gives, at the liead of eacli ai-ticle, a neat, half-tone portrait of the autlior. Beg-iiiiiing- witli the Mar. No., it will also give a sliort biog-raiJh- ical sketeli of each writer amh'ss loo well known to need it) when histirst article appears. If you would like to sfc i>ort raits of aliont a dozen of the Keview's contril)iitors,send ten cents for the last three issues. The Reviiw is Sl.UOa year; the book, "Advanced Hee Cultuie," ."lO cents; both for $1.25. New suliscribers for 1892 get the Dec, 1891, No. free. W. Z. HUTCHINSON, FuNT. Mich. tyin responding to this advertisement mention Gleanings. ^CORD BOOKS Show tliat requeeniug-, early in the spring-, colonies having- ()}d wurn-out queens, miyre than douhlen the yield nf xiivyiIus. and tends to G. B. LEWIS CO., WATERTOWN, WIS. PREVENT SWARMING. r 38-page KESTKICTOR book. How b I'O A to avoid swarms, Ijrace-combs, and losses I ■ WW! in -winter. How to get bees into sections in one hour; and rear queens in full colonies, etc., same old fl.xtures. C. W. Dayton, Clinton, Wis. 24-23db Please mention this paper EAKI-Y QIJEEITS, ■tTROrn our branch Apiary in Texas, which is • three miles from anv otlier bees, and none but the best FIVE - BANOED Goldeu Italian Queeii!i> used to rear Queens and Drones. Our bees are the gentlest, best wor-kers, and most beau- tiful bees known. Safe arrival and eutiro satis- faction guaranteed, one Warranted Queen, March and April, $1.35; 6 for $6.00. If you want the best, send for our circular at once. 1-^dh S. F. <& I. TREGO, SwEDONA, III. In writing to advertisers please mention this paper. BEE^mVEST^ECTMONSTET^ We make the best g-oods and sell them cheap. Our Sections are far the best oq the market. Our Works turn out the most goods of any facto- rj' in the world. , ., . ^ ^, Our goods are known as the best throughout the United States and Europe. , • , w Write lor free, illustrated catalofiue and price list. Please mention this paper. WLy 654r Colonies of ItalisLiis Are wintering well. and. as usual, I will sell a lim- ited number of them to reduce stock to the requu-ed number. Eacli hive shipped to my customeis will contain a full prosperous colony of llalian bees, with a last year's tested queen, on eight Hoffman frames of brood and honey. As my main object in handling bees is honey, we raise all our queens in full colonies from cells built under the swarming- impulse, using the choicest and most profitable stock to breed from. i « ^ i i* t Safe arrival guaranteed in ISIay and first half of June. Foi- terms please address I make a specialty of contract orders for queens 'of tlie Leather-back strain of Italians. Queens ready to ship 1st to 10th of March. A. F. BROWN, HUNTINGTON, PUTNAM CO., FLA. 4-5d Agent Soutliern Expi-ess Co. £^ln responuiritr to this advertisement mention Gleantngs. RETAIL — .\ND— WHOLESALE. 3-8db JULIUS HOFFMAN, CANAJOHARIE, N. Y. t^In respondini.' to lliis .^dveiTi-H Good Queens Cheap. 300 tested Italian queens, raised last season, for sale at %l; SiO per doz. A few hybrids at 25c each. They will be shipped about June I5th to 2.5th, or later if desired. Have order booked now and send money when jou want them. My bees have been KRtJD FttR RVSINKss. and tliese are bar- g-alns. Nuclei and full colonies at very low rates. Send 25c for sample liy mail of THE UTILITY BEE-ESCAPE. leap. It cleans e can make it. Itfdb Thoroughly tested, practical and them out and they stay out. Any i Get a sample and make yi)ur own. J. A. anEEU, Day-boxa., 111. |^"In responding to this advertisement mention Gleanings TiVV SUPPLIES i VI 1 i 1 Everytlilng used in the Apiary. H^ ^J^BlA Greatest variety and larg:ei«t stock in the West. New cataloj;-. 54 illustrated jtages, free to bee-keepers. B. KEETOHMEE. BED OAZ, IOWA. In writing advertisers please meiltiou this paper. FnilNHATinN ^^^ SECTIONS are my UU raUH I lUll Specialties. No. 1 V-groove Sections at ^.00 per thousand. Special prices to dealers. Send for free price list of every thing needed in tlie apiary. 2tfdb M. H. HUNT, Bell Branch, Midi. C^In resnondinij to this ailvtTii.-eimiit mentii'ii ({lkanings. FOR ^Al F For May delivery, Italian and Hv- riili OnUt,! i,j.ifi Bees in light shipping-case's, s I>. flames. Price, for Italians. *+.(iU; hybrids, $3.00 each, free on hoard cars here. I uuaraiitee safe de- livery. A. ^V. O.^KIIIMKK, 5-8dl) Ceiiterville, ITIirh. Ci^ln respoiulintr to this advertisement mention Gleamngs. I ONE STAR APIARY. It.ai.ian Qorens. Un- ^ tested, but warranted in April, May, June, July, $1 each ; i)er V2 doz. *5; per doz. $8. Te.sted after May 1, W.50; pel- doz., *15.00. M<)iu>y orders payable at Ft. Worth, Tex. Book orders now. • " 5-7cl W. A. ( AKTra£:L,L. Crowley, Tex. Send for I'rlrf I.i.ft to R. B. HARBAUGH, Bfnniif'r anil Ifentcr in Ht-e- lin'pf-r.s' Supplies. Breeder of Italian and Carniolan Bees and Queens, Light and Dark Colored Ferrets. ii.'tth anrl (htf/ fits., - - - St. ,Toseph, Mo, tS*Iii responding to this advert i.seiiicMt mention Gleanings. Porter's Spring Bee-Escape. We guarantee it to be the best escape known, and far superioi- to all others. If, on trial of tvoia one to a doz- en, you df) not find them so, or if they do not prove sat- isfactory in every way, return them liy mail witliin 90 days after receipt, and we will refund ytmr money. PRICES:— Each, by mail, postpaid, with full direc- tions, 20i,-; per dozen, $2.25. Send for circular and testi- monials. Supply dealeis, send for wholesale prices. lOtfdb R. c£ £■. C. PORTER, LEWiSTOWN, ILL. CSriii respiiiuting to this advertisement mention Gleanings *^ri»5' ^)0UKHA\zy • DELVOTI •To-'Bele.^ ,. •andHoNEV- •AND HOME.- -^ •INTE-i^EST^ medby^^It^OoT' \©) r^EDINAOHlO Vol. XX. MARCH 1, 1892. No. 5. STR/ir Straws FROM DR. C. C. MILLER. Thk iiiJiP has paid its coniplinionts to both editors of the B. B. ./". IIoAV MiTfii doos it cost yon to raise a pound of lioney".' Tliat's tlio question. Ci.iriMNG (;r?:KXs. in reply to a queiy in ^t. 11. J., showed 14 in fa\'or and '.» against. CAinsoi.ir-.xfii) treatment for bee-|)aralysis is excellent, says .1. li. IJaniage in A. B. J. ExPKXSivK iiiVKS are advised against in li. D. J. How would the Dovetailed suit'.' I'm o.v thk fi:xck on the bounty question, looking for u good place to alight on the other side. Full sheets of foundation in sections are preferred bv 10 out of ".*:! repjiers to queries in .1. B. ./. Hoxi:v-i)Kw is worked into vinegar by \V. 1'. Odendahl f^. B. ./.). and priim* white vinegar it is making. The wrxn.MiLL at Medina had a delected look, and the gi'eenhouse seemed very "lonely without A. I. A wHLspEK conies that railroad rates to the convention at Washington next fall will be sur- prisingly low. Let's go. SfKATf-HEs in horses, a correspond(>nt in Tlir Stockmtiii says, can be easily cured by bathing with thick sour buttermilk. "HoXEY fKEAMs" and '■ Honey Scotch ■■ seem to be two items of confectionery on the British market that ai'e made from genuine honey. Cost of phodicixg honey was discuss(!d at the Colorado State Convention. Porter said 4c per lb.: Aikin and Rauchfuss s. and Adams 103^. E. BAKTJiUM, D. J)., in B. B.J.. warns against low hives, on account of backacln^ from stoop- ing. Sit down, doctor, sit down, and take it comfortably. (Jkavukahds were in the majority at the Ohio State Bee -keepers' Convention. Never saw so large a proportion in a gathering of bee- keepei-s. The C. B. J. thinks the Ontario conv(!ntion would have Vjeen better if there had been more bee-talk in it. Bee-talk is a good thing in a bee convention. P>)rxi)ATiox-MiLi-s making 4}^ cells to tiie inch, they told me at Medina, were ordered— nine of them. I think— from Russia. I wonder if Ru.^sian "swear words" won't be overtaxed next fall. The British goveknmkxt makes an appro- jtriation through which county councils provide lectures and technical instruction in bee-keep- ing, (iood for the Britishers! The Wliite Mountain Ap(V(;t.v^ suggests that "some bee-keeper living in or neai' Cliicago open a boarding-house for bee-keepers during the World's Fail- in 1S'.)3." M.X'i' is the sunniest month bee-keepers have in England, and yet in that month the sun does not shine half the time it is above the horizon. We might swap them somt; of our "scorchers." Editor Newman looks a good deal as if a train of cars had run over him. But the grip hasn't taken all the grit out of him. Just say "adulteration" to him. and you'll find he's not dead yet. Pkof. .1. L. BuDi) recommends sowing or- chards with Japan buckwheat about the first of July. Makes largei, cleaner, liealthier trees than the usual cultivation, and the fruit more abundant and uniform in size. Ax almanac is very handy in a family to keei) track of the days of the month: but if you subscribe for the "old reliable" ^-ImeciMnt Bee Jonvtuil it will keep you straight as to the day of the week. Never misses. Dox't teli- what per cent you lost in winter- ing till your bees are past all danger of si)ring dwindling. I can winter 1()() per cent every winter by taking out of the cellar in January, but I wouldn't have many left in June. I don't know what those Frenchnu'u are hinting at on jjage 110. I know the Dadants have " no swarming to speak of." and I think if I should run for extracted honey I wouldn't have a tithe of the trouble with swarming I do with comb honey. When a max gets uj) in a convention and be- gins. " I am only a learner, but I wanted to ask the best way to do'' so and so, you may look out for a plan of his own that he'll tight for as away ahead of any other, and nine times out of ten it's either old or worthless. The RifiHT TKMi'EUATiTHE for cellai's. Fve al- ways said, each oik; must find out for himself, as cellars diffei' so. I don't know of any better way yi't: but if they keep on fooling with wet and dry bulb thermometers they may yet give us some rule of universal application. Have vou ordered yoiw supplies for the season yet? You can tell just about as well now as any time how many sections you'll want, unless you wait till the bees are storing, and you may have trouble in getting them in time then. Better be in time, and have enough too. Yes. be sure to have a little //tore than you want, for there's no harm in having something left over tor the next season. 152 (rLEANlN(;.S IN HEE CULTURE. Mak. 1. Hutchinson has a new pic Ui re of me. taken in the enjoyment of good health. His pictures ai-e ail right now, and are a very pleasant fea- ture of his journal. As I look at the one of E. Taylor, it seems as if he were just about to make some droll remark, ending up with liis inimitable drawl. Getting poli.en out of combs. Jlere's a good way from Doolittle in :s the size of the entrance to suit the operator. The first hive on the left shows an olilong enti'ance at the bottom; but this hive was made by anotlu'r, and was taken on a debt. The followers ii.sed at the sides of the frames are ha If -inch stuff. A strip is nailed to the bottom ed^re and one at the top. The latter rests upon the rabbets as do the frames. These fcrilowers reach to within about '•s inch of the bottom, and are •'.< inch narrow at both sides. A thin saw-kerf is cut into both edges at the sides for live or six inch's from the top end. Into each of these a piece of thin rubber pack- iiis is fastened extending out % inch. Now the followers are close-litting at the sides for four or live inches only. When colonies are to be drawn toout-apiaries, or vice verna. the operation is very rapid. The bottoms are fast: the frames are propolized enough to hold in a spring wagon; the wire cloth ends of the buttons or circular slides are quickly .set in position: u piece of sacking, a tritle larger than the hive, is laid on. and the cap pri'ssed down over it. Drive up th(? wagon and set the hives on. Mr. Hoffman's man can and has hitched tlie team. and prepared, loaded, and roped. :.'8 hives in 150 minute.s, i-eady to driv(M)tl'. Who can equal this? The ventila- tor in the end of the hive now answers a splen- did purjiose. The bees have full range, and some cluslei- in the open space where plenty of air is supijlied. The cap and rim on the hive make it impossible to cut otl' a supply of air be- tween tiie hives whii(! on the wagon. The hole in the end of the hive also makes it convenient to rear an extra queen or divide the colony early, thus economizing warmth. A division- boai'd for this purpose is made exactly like the followers, except that the rubber strips extend around both sides and the bottom. The bees are thus effectually separated. When a nucleus is cut off from the main colony, the hive is turned partially around, so that the stream of bees coming from the tield is divided. A little ob.servaticn will show wh(!ther this is properly accomplished. The cap ^or cover) of th(? hive is simply a rim two or three inches deep, covered with boards, over which a sheet of iron is placed, the edges of which extend down over, and are tacked to the sides of the cap. Extracted surplus honey is obtained as fol- lows: One follower is removed, and ten frames occupy the hive. Tin; sjiace between the fol- lower left in and the end of the hive is 3^ or X inch. Over the frames and edgi; of the follower a sheet of heavy enamid cloth is placed. On this a bottomless hive is put. Frames of comb for surplus are placed in the upper hive, begin- ning at the end near the follower. The only access the bees have is below and at the sides of th(! follower. The queen seldom gets into this up- per story, and the bees work up very satisfac- toril.T. Every eight or nine days, when honey is coming, tliesr hives are ovei'haiiled. 'I'lie top story is remoNcd. 'I'he three first frames ari- i'\amined. If the hives are well fillid with bees, and iliesr fi-aines contain brood, one. two, or iliri'c are renioved. the lin-s paitiallv shaken off and replaced with empty combs. All fram(\s containing honey are taken from the iijiper story, and enijity combs substituted. These are put in racks, and go home to be e\t-racted. \Vheii eight frames of brood are I'cady they are set into an empty hive. A strong colony is moved a short distance, and this hive placc^d so that part of tln^ bees go into it. The operation is repeated througliout the yard. None of the frames in the lower hive are moved, except the first three. Mr. H. says if they are handled, bees are more apt to swarm. This was new to us. A strong colony containing a select queen is made queenless. The combs ai'e examined, to be sure that no capped queen -cells are present. In eight or nine days the process described above is repeated, except that the eight frames of brood in empty hive are generally placed on the stands occupied by the tiew colonies madt; eight or nine; days before. This is done to weaken them, so that a luitching queen shall not be molested. Th(> colonies made- on the previous occasion are overhauled, and all queen-cells destroyed. Before the work of thi; day is over, a lot of cells are cut from the hive of choice brood made (jueenless at the; former visit, and one is set between two combs of each of the queenless hives. If necessary the frames are separated a little, and the cells pressed in a trifle. At the next visit, if the cells appear to have hatched, no examination is then made. About a dozen thin twigs from apple or similar trees are securely tied together. With this the bees are removed from the combs. No wing or brush is used. If the queen ever gets into the upper (or sur- plus) story she is shaken down in front of the hive, and the brood treated like the rest. Mr. Hoffman said, " I wonder how many of the readers of (Ji-f;axixgs remember to use grass in the entrances to prevent robbing." We replied. '• How many of them use similar en- trances, and can successfully employ grass for that purpose ?"' The process is as follows: Before a hive is opened, a handful of grass is stuffed loosely into the entrance. This ob- structs the bees that belong in the hive and in- creases the guard; at the same time, the rob- bers are not able to dart in unchallenged. No attention is paid to the grass. It gradually dries and shrinks, and the bees carry it away. We said, '" Mr. Hoffman, if you hadn't a hive in the world, and could start all over, what size frame would you adoiit?" He answered, "I would make no change unless I made the frames one inch shallower. This I would do, if at all. only because 14-inch boards are not easi- ly obtained, and are rather expensive." Mr. Hollman's family consist of four girls and two boys. His good sense is demonstrated in that, when the children are young, they are taught only German. As they grow older. Eng- lish comes as a matter of necessity. The love of music is inborn. The youngest, a girl only two years old, unconsciously hummed a popu- lar air, to our great satisfaction. Mr. IT. says his boys do not '" take to bees," hence he will give them practical lessons in organ-building. A dozen are to be manufac- tured, and the boys are to assist. Modesty prevents Mr. H. from stating the facts; but, aside from his management of 600 or 800 colonies, he does a good deal of other work, and has a revenue of several liundred a year, exclusive of the income from his bees. Canajoharie, N. Y. J. H. Nkli.is. 154 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Ma\{. 1. fYou have givPii inanv valuablo points, friend N in regard to our modest friend Mr. Hoffman Tiiid his methods of \vorl< in tli<^ ai)iai'y. For the hi ^t fifteen years he has been working quietly in tliis way. while tlie ontside world knew little or nothing of hiin. much less that he had a brood-frame that now seems to be taking the apiarian world by storm. . ., ^ . When we visited Mr. Hoffman we failed to observe that he had his hives arranged in pairs- yet manv intelligent bee-keepers are be- o-inning to think it economy lo put hives either fn pairs or groups. In Mr. Hoffman's method of arranging hives, the entrances all point toward each other: and the bees, as it were, in their flight are focused toward one spot; and that spot is in the center of a group of four hives We have never tried exactly this ar- rangement, but something similar to it. At nresent we rather prefer the plan we advocated on page 922. Dec. 1, and 959. Dec. 1.5, of having the bees occupy one alleyway for their flight, while the other would be comparatively tree tor the apiarist. Ar;ii„.. Mr. Hoffman is a good deal like Dr. Millei — he wants a good substantial cleat with which to nick up his hive. We can readily understand how one who has become thoroughly accus- tomed to the cleats would not readily be satis- fied with handholes made with a wabbling saw We who have always been accustomed to handholes find no particular inconvenience in lifting hives by them to the wagon, or tor any other general handling. When we visited INIr. Hoffman we were par- ticularly interested in his kind of entrances. This together with several other things we saw'^about the place, convinced us that he was pre-eminently a bee-keeper who used short (Mifi '■ These entrance - holes can be very uuicklv closed: and they have, besides certain other advantages. If bee-k;eepers could be con- tent to use hives with tight bottoms, perhaps these entrances would be preferable to a Ion" slot: but there are advantages in long narrow entrances not possessed by 114-inch holes The former, the mice can not get thron'o-h- and where frames are shallow, like the Langstroth. the long narrow entrance is better, because it gives more alighting room for the bees when coming in laden with lioney. On nage 737. S(>pt. l.''>th issue, last year's vol- ume, you will remcmbrr that two of us pre - naredand loaded 57 hiv(>s m an hour and a halt. At the time, we made, this statement to prove that bees could be handled on Hoffman traraes rapidly, and that hives containing such trames could be quickly loaded on to the wagon for moving. We thought we w(M-e doing pretty big things? and so did' our friend A. .\. Draper, of Upper Alton. 111. On page 4(;H ot th- A>ncnmn Bee Jnurnnl, Oct. S. he cha leng.-d th.- state- ment But it seems that Mr. Hoffman s man prepared and loaded 28 in 30 minutes alone, and this would be .5() hives in one hour. We two loaded only .57 in an hour and a halt, l^rom this it would appear that Mr. Hoffman s man did the work in about two-lhirds the time that tiro of us did. According to the way in which we worked, one of us would have loaded .0. hives in three hours; but Mr. Hoffman s man would have loaded .5(5 hives in one hour. Ihis will be a poser for friend Draper. I our teat seemed difficult of accomplishment, what must he say of the apiarist of Canajoharie.' After all \he credit is not due to him but to his em- oloVer Mr..Iulius Hoffnum. And this shows Suite conclusively how Mr. H.. with his appli- ances, manages his apiaries with the minimum of labor and expense, and how he would make money when others would lose. There are two other points to whicli we should call attention: That handling frames or disturbing the brood-nest is liable to increase the desire for swarming. If any of our readers liave made observations on this point we should be glad to hear from them. Another point is the use of grass in stopping robbing. Dr. Miller has used the same scheme, especially when working with out-apiaries. The entrances may he plugged tightly with grass, and. in a couple of hoiirs after the rob- bers have given up and (luit their nonsense, the grass will have wilted, and opened the entrances automatically, although the apiarist may be miles away.] THE ALBANY GRADING. MM. ELWOOD EXPLAINS IT. In a recent issue of Gleanings the editor calls attention to the fact that, in the markings for the Italian bee, the numbers do not foot up an even hundred. As I remember, the missing ten should be added to wintering, making it twenty-five, and' the whole scale substantially the same as Mr. Knickerbocker put it in his essay. The only change made was five taken from color and added to honey-gathering and comb- building qualities. In future it may be thought best to divide the last-mentioned points and give each one a separate marking. Bee-keepers do not object to handsome bees, but they do object to having this accomplished by in-and- in breeding to the exclusion of the far more important qualities. The original report was hurriedly corrected in pencil: and although Mr. Hutchinson prides himself on being skillful in decii)heriug hieroglyphics, it is perhaps not strange that he failed on this. Probably for the same reason the report on grading honey was not given correctly. The report says. "Honey shall be graded in two grades,'" and then proceeds to name four regular grades. It should read. ■■ White honey shall be graded in two grades.'" The description of the third grade is also defective. The comph^te report should read as follows: White honey sliall be graded in two g-rades: The first to 1)6 known in the trade as " fancy," or " fancy wliite," and to be marked " A." It sliall be composed of well-flUed sections of ligl it-colored lioiK'ys. Out" f ;ice of eacli section sliall he i)erfect ill ;iii"i)e;ii-:iiice. I'uUy sealed, except tlio line of cells toLicliiiiK the wood. The other side of the section shall eiliiei' be jiei'fect in color and sealing-, or near- ly so. Tlie second grade shall be known in the trade as "fair to good white," and be marked "C," and shall be packed to meet tlie requirements of those desbing a good lioney, but who care little for out- side appeiiraiK-e. It shall be composed of honey thrown out of the first grade, irregular and travel- stained combs, sections not perfectly filled, hut yet lia\'ing but little unsealed honey. The third grade shall be known as "'mixed honey," and shall be composed of white honey ciiii'tiy, mixed with inferior hone,y, including l)u<-k- wheat and fall Howers, and shall be marked '- M." We advise thatconilis so l)adly stained as In ha\-e tlie color of salfron be thrown into this grade. tUickwheat honej' shall be packed by itself and be marked " 15." Those bee-keepers sending to market boxes known as "pieces" shall put upon them a private mark of their own. This should also apply to lioney- (lew, and aiij' other kind not falling into regnhir grades. This report was made with the knowledge that bee-keepers usually stencil their honey with their full address, thus giving the State and locality in which the honey is produced, whicli is important in judging of quality. While the first and second grades are composed of light-colored honeys it is, of course, expected that the lightest colored will go into the first 1S'.»-' (;i.HANiN(;s IN nvA-: t ri/ruKK. ir)5 firadf. ami the (hirkrsi nl iln' litjlii litnirys iiiio the si'niiul. (Irt'at cuvr sliould he taki'ii tlial mixed iioiii-ys. i)f honeys of too to do: and no one with niui-li exjierieiu-e is lookiiifi forshoit. explicit inlesthat will coverall cases. It is somethinfj that can not he done hy lamp- liffht. and veiy seldom, indeed, hy pfoxy. The committet- ihousht liest to use the letter ■■ A ■■ on tifsi sfad«'. " A " has l)een nsed l'oi- many years (fifteen) for the liist ^rade: and as it is "the (ii-st letter of tlie alphabet, nothiiifj cag fro ahead of it. Should some amhilions inclivid- nal use it donhle. it would express less rather than more. For the second srade. "C.'" the old mark for clover or white honey, was chosen rath- er than '■ H." which has always been the mark for bnckwheat honey. To have chantred these letters would have caused confusion: and. be- sides, the lettering would have been in nowise descriptive. Then, again, if the letters had been taken in regular al|)habetical order (A. H. CD), it would imply that the quality followed in the same order, making it little l(>ss objec- tionable than the numerals 1. 2. 3. 4. It would also place buckwheat honey tliird in (|uality. whereas it stan line of cells, and cause il to leak badly. When these cells are unsealed the bees usually remove the honey liefore t.lie sect ion is remo\'ed from the hive. In I heir third grade go such sections as are l«!ss than three-fourths filled with lioney. and these nuiy be partly or w holly inisealed at that. Such sections ougiil to be lei'l at lutme. as the gener- al marketing of these can not fail to injuria the market. When they are sliip|)e(l. let the pro- ducer place on them his private mark, and nev- er fonirt to add his full luime and residence. The same may lie said of si'ctions containing cliiniks of tiee-bread. The man who buys one of these last will not want any more lioiu^y for some time. Three grades of each kind of honev is more tjuin the market will bear. NVhiti- clover, al- sike. alfalfa. Iiasswood. poplar, sourwood, lo- cust, blue tlii>tle. white sage, blue sage, su- mac, buckwheat, goldenrod, and a do/.en other kinds multiplied by three, would strike terror to the heart of the dealer. Had Mr. Haldridge's complete draft been adopted it would have re- duced the qualities to ten or twelve, and. in justice to Mr. 1!.. ought td ha\c been done, so as to have nuide sense of the remaiiider. Some of our committee rather favored anoth- er grade of white honey; but th(> honey-mer- chants present vigorously protested against having so many grades, as it would only bring confusion. It was thought by the majority that light honey would bring more in two grades. If in three grades the first (a small (luantitv) would bring more: but.tbe second (a much larger {piantity) would bring less, as it woiiUI luit be as nice. p]ven if so small a quan- tity were taken fi'om it as to make no [lercepti- ble dinVrence in quality, the knowledge that this was not the best would weaken jirices. The third (or mixedi grade will take all honey not light enough to go into the second grade, ex- cept buckwheat, which, as before stated, must be packed by itself. I notice that our secretary (W. Z. H.) says in the report, that "• these rules were not the sen- timent of the majority of the members of the convention." I had supposed the duties of the secretary weri> clerical, and that any opinions he wished to have appear in the printed report would first have to be pronounced before the convention. It is hariily fair that a state- ment of this kind should appear in our an- nual report, as the facts in the case will not warrant the assertion. A large part of the honey sent to eastern markets, particularly to New York, is graded l)y substantially these same rules, with somewhat different letterings, and they are the result of many years' experi- ence in iiuirkeiing honey. The unifnrtTi satis- faction given hy this system of grading does not make it perfect, but there is no doubt that, after discussion in a full convention, made uf) so largely of east<'rn men. the report would have been adopt<'il with no radical change. Starkville. N. Y. 1'. H. Ei.wood. 7'o }tc ((illtilllicd. [!^'rhai)S we shall have to own up that we here at the Home of the Honey-bees took the original drafts of the comtnittee on grading the Italian bee. and sent copies of the same to the editors of the Bcc - keeiierK' Review and Atnericnn Bee Jintrmd. and therefore we shall have to shoulder the inaccuracies of the, report on grading and accept the correction. Mr. Elwdocfs article throws much light upon the Albany grading: and as h<' explains it we have bul'little fault to find with it. Unlike some of the other gradiiigs. it is not baM'd upon theory, hut upon fifteen years" experience, of the largest bee-keepers in the world, together lod GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mak. 1. with that of the largest honey-merchanls. The fact that it is accepted in the East, and been practically in vogue all these tifteen years, is much in its favor. We feel compelled to ac- knowledge that any system of grading that calls for a large variety of classes will fail of adoption. It must be something simple and [jractical. Buckwheat honey is not called an inferior article in the East. As we have before stated, we reiterate again— there are thousands of con- sumers who consider this the only nice honey. Our travels and sojourns in the East among the consumers and bee-keepei's. and our conversa- tions with boarders at hotels, pi'ove this beyond question. It is a mistake to place other dark lioneys along with buckwheat; and any at- tempt to do this will be rejected by bee-keepei;s, honey-mei'chants, and consumers in the East. In the West there are several tine grades of honey, such as heart's-ease and fireweed (or epilobium) that have a cream color of capping, but are regarded as first-class honey. All fine honeys of the East are either white or the color of buckwheat; and considering th(>se two dif- ferences in localities, it begins to seem to us now that it would be impossible to adopt one system of grading that would be accepted by the bee-keepers of both East and West, and therefore two systems will be the natural result. There is nothing impracticable in this; for when bee-keepers wish to ?end honey to a dis- tant market, they can say that their honey is gi'aded either by the Eastern or Westei'n sched- ule and the b,uyer can consult either schedule, to see what he Is buying, or about to buy, and be governed accordingly. We know that rail- loads make a distinction as to locality, and they have therefore what they call their Eastern and Western classification in freight, and why not two schedules for honey ? As this is to be a sort of symposium on grad- ing we have thought best to reprint the sched- ule of grading recommended by J. A. Green, as it is referred to several times by Di'. IMiller in the article immediately following.] EXTRA SELECT. LiKlit - colored lioiiey, of good flavor; combs straight, well built out, of even thickness, and near- ly uniform weight, attached to tlie section on all sides; hU cells sealed, with white cappings, and with both comb and sections uusoiled by travel- stain or otherwise. " A " GRADE. lyight - colored honey, of good flavor; combs straight and well built out, with caiipiiigs wliite. or liut sHglitly unilier-eolored; one face of cacli comb perffct in appearance, fully sealed, e.\i-ept the line of cells toucliiiig the wood. The other side shall lie I)erfect in color and sealing, or nearly so, and sec- tion not badly soiled. "C" GRADE. Honey of good quality. In this grade shall be placed all irregular c-ombs, or those cimtaining pol- len, and all in which the capping is dark or consid- erably soiled. Sections must be nearly flUed, with few or no unsealed cells. "m" grade. la this grade shall be placed all lioiiey of inferior quality, all combs containing much pollen, or liadly travel-stained, or otherwise objectionable. Section's must 1)6 at least three-fourths full, with one side well sealed. GRADING HONEY. DR. MILLEK DISCl'SSKS THE DIFFEKENT Gli.\l)ES. When the subject of grading honey came up at Chicago I felt we had struck a topic of live interest; and although the system there adopt- ed did not seem to me one likely to go into gen- eral use, still it was a start: and. a start once made, the matter was not likely to rest until it grew into what was good and practicable, if such a conclusion is possible; for it can not well be denied that there are real difficulties to over- come on account of the great diversity in honey in difterenl parts of the country; In proof of the difficulty of arriving at any system that shall be satisfactory to all. it is only necessary to recall the action at Chicago: and. indeed, I think, from the report, that much the same thing was repeated at Albany. At Chicago an intelligent and honest committee utteiiy failed to come to any satisfactory agreement, although continued from session to session. Then in general session an agreement was reached only by each one being willing to yield much, with the feeling that any thing was better than not to make a start at all. I suspect that any thing like a satisfactory system will be reached, if reached at all. only by a great deal of discussion: and it will be well that such discussion go on now without waiting for any convention to meet next fall or winter. So far, I think good has been done. We have now the Chicago system, the .Albany system, and that of J. A. Green, each one im- proving, at least in some respects, on what had gone before. Now, I suppose you will be asking tue what my system is. Frankly, I haven't any. Dr. Mason reported at Chicago that no two of the committee could agree. 1 believe that it was admitted that one meiuber of the committee had no difficulty in coming to an agreement but for the stubbornness of the other five. Well, Tm worse than the Chicago committee, for I can't even agree with myself. But it may do some good to examine somewhat the merits and demerits of the two later systems. You know it is a good deal easier to talk about what others have done than to say what ought to be done yourself. Flavor is not mentioned in the Albany grad- ing; but Mr. Green requires good flavor in his two highest grades. I suppose, although I do not know, that the same is required in the third (or C) grade, as it says, " Honey of good quali- ty." Indeed, if there is any difference Mr. Green's C grade must be better in quality than the previous grades, for we can hardly have "good quality"" without "good flavor." al- though we might have good flavor without good quality if the honey were too thin. Friend Green says, "It is undesirable* that the selling value of comb honey depends more upon its appearance than any other one quality.""' Entirely right. Almost any bee-keeper, for his own eating, would prefer a honey of best flavor, and rich in texture, even if the cappings were qtiite dark, to one of poorer flavor. Years ago I undertook the education of a grocer in Chica- go. He said his customers wanted very white combs. I told hiiu that honey was better to be left in the hives till the bees had thoroughly ripened it. and the darker shadt- of the comb was only a proof that tho honey inside was bet- ter. I continued for some time to leave the combs on the hive, to be more fully ripened, determined that his customers should have what I knew was the best, and he continued to buy of somebody else. I have concluded that education in that line is a matter of very slow growth, and that it must be left prettv much to itself. Sometimes we must deal with what l-s, rather than with what (intjht Ui he. However undesir- able it may be "that the selling value of comb honey depend more upon its appearance than upon any other quality," I think the simple *Mr. Green wrote indigputnble. " undesirable " be- ing a typographical error. See last issue. — Ed. l"^'.l'.' (U.KAXIXCS IN nVA<: ClM/rilRK. l.V fan miiaiiis thai it il'ifs do tluil very thiiiK: and in any attiMnpt lo I'stablisli a system of pra<1in»r. it will not do to leave out of eonsidei'- ation tlie demands of i-iislomei's. The day may come « Inn aiipeiiianee will he of less eonse- queiK'c than llaxor; and when it does einne. pradJMK must he rhanijed to meet changed conditions. At present the consumer do(>s not asli any thin;; fni'thef tiian as to the appntr- •/jjrt'of the article; and. w luMher we liUe it or not. we must pay some at ten lion to his demands. It is possible, however, that, the {traders a1. Alliany did not alloixether ijjnore t h(> nutttcr of flavor, hut i-onsidereii that there was no iioney of iifjlit color delicient in flavor. There is a difTi'rence in the flavor of white honeys: hut. if I am not mistaken, any of it is good enough in flavor to l«^ taU'en by tlie consumer at tiie liigli- esl piice. providing it is all right in looks. Slraight eoml)S are demanded in fricmd Green's two best grades, but nothing was said about sti'aight combs at .Mbany. The less cum- bfM'some the wording in cts. Possibly there may i)e something in this that I either do not now think of or do not know about : but just as it appears to me at present, it s<'enis hardly necessary to demand straight combs. (Jreen's A grade de- mands white cai)pings; but that is evidently meant for o\w sid(\ as afterward one side is allowed to be "nearly p<'rfect in color." The Albany .\ grade says nothing about white cap- pings: hut as perfect color is demanded, I sup- pose it amounts to the same. There are other points worthy of notice, but I ntust defer mention till next issue. Marengo. 111. C. ('. Mili.kh. [If we understand Dr. Miller correctly, he rather leans toward the Alljany grading, and will probably do so more yet after reading Mr. Elwood's article.) GRADING COMB HONEY. CIIICAGO 6KAIHX«i .\ND .MI.SS CKITICT.SM Ci:iTICISF,I). In ( Jr.KAXi.vos for Dec. 1.5. 1891. Miss Emma Wilsr)!! writes about some of the woik done at the Chicago convention, and attemi)ts to give from memory the instructions for grading comb honey, as adopted by the convention, and then criticises thr' same. That any one should at- tempt to give such instructions from memory, was and is a gri-at siu-prise to me. and especial- ly when the aitparent [jurpose was for passing criticisms upon them. As might have been expected, the instructions as adopted by the eonvi'Ution are not. in some impoi'tant respects, the instructions as given fiom memory by Miss Wilson: and as they have become ijulilic" prop- erty, and are to he " picked to pieces." it seems to me that (Jr.ioANTXOs ought to find room to give them precisely as adopted, so that all of its readers may see for themselves what they are. I expected (ii-KANixos would have done so before this, or I should have made this request some time ago. Miss Wilson .says that the instructions for both the first grade and s(?cond grade require that each section shall be "perfectly filled :'" whereas the words •'well filled " are used in- stead in the rules adopted, which makes quite a difference. She says each section in the .sec- ond grade may have" as many as three cells of pollen, whereas the word "pollen" or "bee- bread '" does not appear In any of thi- instruc- tions adopted. This was oiK^ of the essentials that should havi' been attended to. as wcdl as both combs and wood l)eing .s7/f//it?j/ soihid by Ira\'el-siain. propolis, or oiherwise. Personally I should not ol),ject, to these modi Meat ions l)eing incorporated in the rules for the second grade; still. I dini't l)eliev(! it is for the best, that any bee-keeper be encouraged to produci^ comb honey with moic or less pollen in it, nor to have the comb and wood soiled even slightly by Iravel-stain or ol herwise. Miss Wilson says there wei'e Society voted to adopt the forefjroinfr rules as a whole, and to request the Secretary to i^resent tliemtothe North American Bee-keepers' Associa- tion, at its next meelinj.'', at Albany, for (;on.sidera- tion, i-evision, and adoption. Following the above rules, Mr. Baldridge had a note, whii-li read as ffillows: Nntr, —The color of the Iioney to l)e known as lifrht. medium, and dark; the crates to be unsoiled; l^ut if otherwise, the honey in such crates to be classed in the next grade below tlie one indicated in the instructions. 158 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mau. 1. FOUKTH GKAUE. All crates tilled with lioney ni)t described in anj" of the foieg-oing- grades. While the Cliicago committer' agreed to disa- gi'ee. it should h(> observed that tlie committee on grading ai Albany agreed to a unit, and that the schedule, when pi-eseuted in conven- tion, was adopted as a whole. In all these dis- cussions we must not forget the beaiingof local- ity, and its relation to the markets.] A. E. MANTJM AND HIS NEIGHBOR. HOAV HE SUCC?;EDED in MAXAGIXG FIVE API- ARIES ALONE. A ring of the bell brings Mrs. M. to the door. " Good- morning, Mrs. Manum: is Mr. M. at home '?" "Yes. sir. Will you walk in, Mr. McGee?" "Hello, Manum I what is the matter with you ? Have you got the blues, or are you study- ing up some new invention? You seem to be in such deep meditation that I know there is a cause for it. I am sure something useful to bee-keepers or to farmers will come out of this deep study. I hope I am not intruding." MANIM ME1)[TATIX(;. "OhI no, Charles — no Intrusion whatever. I am only too glad to see you. And right now I ought to give you a Scotch blessing for not be- ing more neighborly. But I suppose you are very busy, like the rest of us. preparing for an- other season's campaign." " Yes, Mannni. I am doing a little in that line, though I am not driving business as yet." " Well, neither am I, as I do not expect the coming season to be a very good one for honey, owing to the fact that it is the off year for bass- wood; and the open winter we are liaving I fear will injure the clovers. However, I am putting up 20,000 sections so as to be ready to catch whatever may come." " What effect do you think the ice-.^torm we have just had will have on the honey crop?" "Well, Charles. I fear the terrible "sleet, with which the trees are still loaded, will cause much damage to the fi'uit-buds as well as rasp- berries and other shrubs, which I fear will les- sen the bloom another year at least a half: hence we can expect but very little if any sur- plus next season. But notwithstanding the outlook is unfavoi-able, I propose to be ready to take a fair crop of honey." " You finally did not attend the North Ameri- can convention at Albany, as you intended, did you, Manum ?" " No, Charles; owing to sickness and company T was obliged to remain at home, much to my legret. and I think it a shame that more of our Vermont bee-keepers did not attend. Really. I thought a goodly number would be in atten- dance. But we must all make up our minds to meet in Washington next fall." " Now. Manum. what were you meditating upon when I came in?" "Well. Charles. I will tell you. Within the last two months I have received a number of letters from b(>e-keepers. asl^ing me to give them my methods, in detail, of management the past season, without help: and not a few have requested that I give it in book form: therefore, as you came in I was thinking the matter over, whetiier it would be advisable for me to do so or not. There are so many bee- books befoi'e the public already that I rather liesitate about making the attempt. And. again, I can not w rite out my method of management foi' tln^ season through to each sepaiati' individual who asks for it, as I have something else to do be- sides writing; and were I to do so it would take all mv time." ■■ Well. Manum. what are your conclusions regarding the book, and why don't you give your methods in Gleanings?" ■• There it is. Charles— that is just what I was meditating upon. On the one hand, were I to attempt to give my methods in Gleanings I fear the editor would cut it down so much that It would spoil the whole thing — or. at least, its usefulness — for the reason that thei'e are so imtjnj little things that are worthy of mention. and, in fact, so very tieecssin-y to the successful mainigement of out-apiaries — without help — that, to leave them out. would spoil all; and to publish (tU as I should wish to give it. I fear, would discourage if not disgust the editor. And. again, were I to give my methods in book form I in cheap pamphlet form) I fear the expense wtRild be much more than the receipts: and. furthermore. I am hardly prepared to publish a book, as I am conducting some experiments which will require another season to develop: and if these experiments prove satisfactory, as 1 hope they will. I shall want to incorporate them in whatever I might give tt) the public. Hence I have concluded to defer the book busi- ness until another year at least, and in the mean time give a synopsis of my method, in Gleanings.'' •• I have wanted for a long titnetoask you. Manum, how you succeeded last season in managing five apijiries alone; and wliether re- moving the queens before swarming was a suc- cess, and just how you did it." •• Well, there it is. Charles. Like all the oth- ers you want me to give you the whole method of management from May to September; and were I to do so in detail it would take all day, and may be all night, and then you would not i'emember a half I would tell you, especially some of the tine points tliat would seem of no great consequence, but which are really of ISifJ (JLKAMXiiS IN UHK ( I'l/mnO. 150 KH'al iinpnit;iiicc. I will, luiwcvcr, answer ytinr (jin'stidiis in pail. and will from time to iiini' irivf yon nunc. I'Mi'st. von asl< how I sm-- ft'ctifii in my miinaiicnifni of several apiaries alone. I answer, t liat the aitempl was a suc- cess. Ihonjih but liltle llesh icmaiin'd on niy bones ai the close of the season, lint I am pleased to say that I have rejrained •.'() jhs. of the lost llesh. l''rom the live apiaries I secured 7 tons of coinl) honey in sei-tions. and l'.'(H) ll)s. of extracti'd. 'I'his w as all sei-nreil and lianh^d home wiihimt helj), lu'sjdes cabins and mailiiiK ■.'S'J queens, and writing- well. I don't Unow how many lett<>rs. From these live apiaries the queens were removed as soon as esrgs were found in queen-cells, and in from I'J to IS days virjjin (pieens were Efiven iliese (pieenless colo- nies. This I do by running them in the sec- tions that are usually on at this season. I will give yon mor(> when yon call aj^ain. (Jood- ilav." " A. E. Mamm. IJristol. Vt.. Feb. l.'i {To he continued.) [We are very glad that our correspondent has resumed the iise of his pen again, and w(^ hope he will not wast(» any time in the book-business. That department of bee-literature is already overdone. He will reach a, far greater number of readiM's through the bee-periodicals, and we trust he will favor us with the items of his ex- perience during the jjast summer. Detailsl these are just the very things be '-keepers are clamoring for. Too much of our beo-literature is made up of g(>neralities. We once said to Dr. Miller thai one valuable feature of his " Year .\mong the Hees" was that he told all about the liiUc thinijs that are so necessary to know. We are not at all afraid that our busy friend Mi-. Manum will give too many details— the more the better. Now. instead of writing iiersonal letters to so many individuals we trust he will tell his experience through the columns of Gle.\n'ixos. and thus save himself a great deal of time, and do a vast amount of good besides.] A BOUNTY NOT DESIRABLE. ANOTHEK PHASE OF THE SI BJE( T. As the discussion of " bounty or no bounty"" is ou. allow me to say just a few words on the negative side of the question. It seems there are three points to consider: First, if the gov- ernment gives a bounty on sugar, shonid we not also have a bounty on honey? Most as- suredly we ought: for any one who has studied the sui)ject at all knows that sugar does com- pete with honey to HO)nc extent. Second, is it right and projx'r for the government to give a V)ounty on sugar, honey, or any thing els<;? I say no. The functions of government do not include the right to tax the great mass of its citizens for the benelit of a favored few. The principle underlying tin; whoh; system of boun- ties is wrong in the alistract. Dr. .Miller argues, with I 'ope. that "' whatever is. is riglit."" To many persons this kind of reasoning savors strongly of that of the Middle Ages, when monarchs claimed that every thing tliey did was right because a king i-onl'dn't do wrong, evr-n if he tried. Again. Dr. .M. says lie isn't politician enough to know whether the giving of the sugar bounty was a righteous act or not. riease ask him if he has forgotten that, "for an intelligent and studious people, a re- publican form of government is the best in the world: for an ignyrant or indifferent, the woist:"" and "it is the first duty of every Amer- ican citizen to study and understand economic government. Lastly, is the bounty on honey desirable if light ■.' I don't believe it is, because, though it^ would pill some extra money into the bee-keejj- I'l's" pockets at lirst. within a few years a niiilti- liide of honey-producers would ari.se and over- stock the market, causing the bottom to drop out of already low prices. R. ('. Ewi.vci, .Jit. Libertv. Mo.. I'"eb. 10. BOUNTY ON HONEY. XOT DESIH.^ni.K IK .\or KltillT. in discussing this question on page so. Dr. Miller"s logic all rests on a good many iffi: and if the lirst if is displaced, his whole fabric of logic comes tumbling to the ground, as others of like character do. Tlie fact that we have a law that (jives two cent,s a pound to tlios(! who make .■)()() pounds of sugar or over, does not prov<' that the law is right. But I suppose that Dr. Miller could give no other r"'0()f of its jus- tice excejit that " whatever is. is right.'" The righteousness of it hds lieen (luestioned. | do not believe that our law-making power has yet advanced so far that it is infalliiile. I know that it once authorized and protected slavery. I know that it has legalized, and in some places does now legalize, gambling: and I know that it does to-day. in the gn^ater portion of our country, and in every Christian nati(m, legalize and take its shaie of the piotits in that crown- ing shame of civilization, the drink -traffic. Therefore the simple fact that a law. has been enacted is not conclusive evidence that the principle recognized by it is just. But we are not left in uncertainty on the point under dis- cussion by the courts, for we have many deci- sions by them, and, so far as I know, they are all to the effect that taxation for the purjiose of giving bounties (excepting bounties for ilu' de- struction of wild and ferocious animals, and mischievous vermin, and the like) is not legiti- mate, and soiue of them characterize it as rob- bery. The State of Pennsylvania (and probably others) has prohibited it in its constitution": and no town, village, or city, can l(>gally levy a tax to give a bounty to any individual or cor- poration for the purpose of encouraging or car- rying on any kind of manufactming or other business. The principle is plain and simple, as laid down by the courts, that the goveinmewit can not take /»y money by taxation, and cjive to some one else. It can tax me for the neces- sary expenses of the governnient only. Now, it is a fact that two wrongs can not make one right: and if a bounty on sugar is wi;ong in principle, and results "in a special injury to the lioney-prodiicer by com|)etiIiou (which it does not), it will not make it right to I'liact another law on a wrong pi'inciijle by pay- ing a bounty on honey. But the only wav to make it right would be to undo the lirst wrong by repealing the sugar bounty. But is it the bounty ou sugar that makes it cheap? I think not. It v'dff t((hin(i off tlie tariff. On any arti- cle that we do not produce enough of, for hoiue consumi)tion, a duty \\ill inevitably increase the pi'ice. and the removal of it will reduce the price, as is proved by the removal of tln^ duty on sugar: and the bounty has no efTect what- ever. exce[)t to stimulate home production. I have dwelt entirely on the (piestion of the justice of the proposed law, because I think, with Dr. Miller, that, if it is not right, it is not desirable; and the only thing in the article of ('. F. Thomas that I can not indorse is the in- timation that, although he would consider a bounty on honey a fraud on soinehody, yet. as it would benelit liiin, he would not object very strongly to it for that reason. Let us be just 160 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mai;. 1. as willing to do justice to others as we are to have justice done ourselves, and then we shall have that most satisfying of all things, a clear conscience. Volney Whitk. Findlev's Lake. N. Y., Feb. 10. QUEENS BY MAIL TO AUSTRALIA, 11.500 MILES AWAY. A BIT OF IIISrORV. Perhaps the readers of Gleanings would be interested in a brief history of mailing (lueens. before any thing is said regarding the title of this article. The first queen ever sent by mail was sent out by C. J. Robinson, of New York. I believe, he sending the same to Rev. L. L. Langstroth in the early sixties. Froiu this sprang the sending of queens through the mail, although most queens were sent by express previous to the seventies. About ISTo. mailing queens became quite common: but for them to reach their destination in good order, at that time, where shipped more than lOOu miles, was the exception rather than the rule. During the early eighties this part of our business had so advanced that nearly all were successrul in sending queens to all but the more remote parts of the United States and Canada. At that time I had no trouble in having nearly every queen go alive, except when sent to the more remote parts of Texas. California. Oregon, and the Northwest Territory of Canada. I can well remember the losses we had in trying for tliesc places, especially in Southern Texas, where the queens had to endure fi'om two to six days of staging in the hot sun, confined in a close mail- bag, on the last end of the route, when their vitality was W(>ll-nigh exhausted by the rough usage they must previously endure. I also remember what a feeling of relief came ovcm- me when, through the Good candy and a modi- fication of our cages. I had no longei' any trou- ble in having (lueens ri'acli these moi'e remott^ parts in safety. Having accomplished this I next tried sending a queen across the Atlantic Ocean, to Scotland, a distance of about H.")()l) miles, which went safely. This was in August, 1883, an account of which will be found on page 599 of Gleanings for that year. Mr. Cameron, to whom this queen was sent, thought this was th(^ first queen that ever crossed the Atlantic Ocean by mail, and so wrote; but I believe later facts reveal that the honor of sending the first queen across the ocean belongs to Frank Ben- ton, he sending them from the Old World over here. Since 188.3 I iiave sent several queens to the British Isles and the West Indies, having little more trouble in sending to these countries than in sending to the more remote parts of our own country. In August, 1884. 1 mailed a queen to New Zealand, the same reaching there just alive, as is given on page :24 of Gleanings" for 188.">. The next trial proved a failure, as this last queen was 7r.' days oi route, I knowing nothing at that time regarding the running time of the steamers which ply between here and that country. After 1885 I made no effort to mail queens a greater distance than 4000 miles, till the present season, during which I have mailed 1,') to Australia. HOW SEND? By "how send?" I mean, shall tliey go hy letter postage, or what is termed first-class nuit- tei-, when sending queens to foreign countries, or shall they go as samples of merclKiu(lis(>. or by sample iM)st? Page 7".' of Gi,i;ANiN(is for 1891. and also page 970, tells us to put on letter postage when sending queens to New Zealand or Australia, or. in other words, send them as first-class matter. If friend Root will read his third paragraph in second column on page 72 (that part of it which is taken from the Postal Guide) over again I think he will see that he made a mistake. As I read the Postal Guide and also his quotation, to all the countries mentioned pi'evious to Australia, queens go as samples of merchandise, or as fourth-class mat- tei'. hence are not subject to letter postage, which he says we should put on. Wherever I speak of the Postal Guide in this article I mean the January edition. 1891, as. so far, the edition for 1892 has not reached us. Australia has since then gone into the Universal Postal Union, which affects the postage on letters to that country: but, if I am right, the postage on samples of merchandise remains unchanged. Page 849 of the Guide, in speaking of proliit)ited articles, to (tU foreign countries, mentions in the list ■■ live or dead animals or insects." which, of course, includes bees. But to this there are certain exceptions, and one of these exceptions is the one alluded to by friend Root on page 72, wher<^ (jueen-bees can be sent to certain coun- tries in cages .5x2xl>2 inches. I also note that "other articles * * * may be transmitted in the mails to foreign countries * * * and ex- changeable in the mails with said countries when inclosed in the form prescribed for such articles in domestic mails." Now. as queen- bees can go to the Hawaiian Kingdom (Sand- wich Islands) as samples of merchandise; and as the same steamers which carry the mails from San Francisco. Cal.. to this kingdom go on through to New Zealand and Australia, I take it for granted that "when inclosed in the form prescribed for sucli (trtU'les in domestic mails." queen-bees can go right through to Australia as samples uf merchandise, or by sample post, if they can go tlirough at all. Now. if lam right in this matter, the size of cage (5x2xU._, ) has nothing to do with queens to Australia; foi- if they are allowed to go there at all they will go in any cage that would be allowed in our domestic mails, and the dimen- sions or limit in size to such cages has never yet be(Mi fixed, that I am aware of. Taking this view of the mattei-, I acted accordingly, and have the satisfaction of knowing that queens by parcel post at four cents postage for each four ounces or fraction thereof reached their destination in better condition than when sent as first-class matter, as a part of the l."> were sent. Before closing this part of the article. I wish to say that, when we come down to strict right. I don't think that bees are really lawful in the mails to Australia, and hope that some effort will be made through the Bee-keepers' Union or otherwise so tliat it may. in the nea- future, be lawful to so send them, not only to Austra- lia, but to all parts of the woi-ld. for. evidently, the infusing of new blood into our apiaries every few years is to be of gi'eat advantage to all. " G. M. DooLiTTi.E. Borodino. X. Y. To he (■(iiithiiictl. [Our reasons for putting lettei' postage on packages of queen-bees addressed to New Zea- land and Australia are found in the following extracts from Postal Guide, .lanuarv. 1892, page 905: Queen-bees, ill wooden boxes not exceeding' .5x2x 1'/^ inches in sizi\ closed witli a wiie screen protect- ed hy a niovahle wooden lid, may be sent to the Ai'yentine Ueiiuhli<\ Belfriuni. Huljiaiia, Cliili, Co- lombia, Confio. tlie Dutcli West Indies, the Danisli West Indies, Kg-ypt, Guatemala. Haytl, Sandwicli Islands, tlie Republic of Honduras, India (Biitish), Italy, Liberia, Mexico, tlie Netlierl mds, East Indies, Pariig'uay, Portug:al and the Portuguese Colonies. Koumania, Siani. Spain, and Swilzeiland. as samples isTLlKE. 101 vf imrchandixi-: uiid to Aiistiin. HiiiiRiii\. I'niiicc. i\va.\ and Sweden, pio- vided piistaKe I hereon is Ai//;?/ prepaid al I he letter rate: vi/... 5 i-enl> per 'i o/- oi fraelionof i o/.. No provision has been made for tlie exchange 1)\ mail of samples like those above referred to. witli any foreijrn eounlries .ir/ic/- ///km thiiKi- herein iiamid. Italies afe oiii-s: and, as we tiiulerstandil.il makes it unlawful lu send (|iii'ens at sainple rates to New Zealand atid Aiisii-alia. The Post- al IJiiide says fiirtiiof. page '.lOti: It is for-hidden to send b) miil: Articles other than letters whieli are not piepaid at least partiv. or which do not fitltilt Uir coitdil i have no difeot perniissiou to send nueeiis to Austfalia. and it might be coiisidei-ed uiilawfiil. We will see what can be done in the way of liavitig Austi-alia and New Zealand iiK-rtided in ihe countries named.] RAMBLE NO. 54. IN TUE GOLDIO-V .STATI-:. In tin' Sdi-ratnciito VitUcy. — After leaving Utah and the e.\tensiv(> white salt plains noitii of Salt Lake City, we encounter nitich the same kind of barren plaitis we found on Ihe east of Utah, except that here is a stunted growth of sage bushe*, and the soil is whit" with alkali. It was a hot day, and a little air from an o])en window would have beeti refreshing: but any one having the temerity to rais(i a window tlie least would soon feel the etTectsof the tire pun- gent dust. All night and half a day in dust was enough to endure, and it was with pleasure we noticed more thriving towns, and thernsh- ing waters again brought vigor to vegetation. We follow the course of the Truckee Kiver for a lotig distance, climbing u[) the Siei'ras, pass- ing the noted Donner Lake, surrounded by lofty mountains, and looking v<'ry pictures(iue as we look down upon it from the mountain-side. Tt is in this region that we |)ass through 40 miles of snow-sheds, and at last night closes down ^3 I'oCKFCT-r I.KANKKS. tipon US jtist as we reach tht; very stimmit of the Sierras. At two o'clock in the morning we were arotised atiil told that our long journey was at ill! end.iind that wf were iti Sticramenbt. The rest of the night, and until a late hour iti the tuortiitig. we rested sweetly iu the Western Ibdel. They lieic expect iOastcrti I ra\'e|ers will come, dust -coveted atid weary. an.\cept the pocket-cleaiief. preferring to have; liis pock<;ts liltbv with w hat little lucre he had left. Jt.VMHI.KK I1KI,1'IXG TO GATin;ii (A NTAI.Oll'E.S IN CAMFOKNIA. Having a kinsman in the city, at the head of the l*ioneer Box Co.. we were soon installed into his household, and were also .soon busy at work in the factory running a band-saw, and making 5-lb. grape-baskets. This occupation continued about three months. The Rambler was then turned loose among the California bee-keepers. And now, my friends, I wish to say to you who have followed our wanderings in the past, that, when these Rambles comtuenced. we had not the lemotest idea of ever seeing far-away Califortiia: and now being in the (Jolden State we shall not try to predict where next our feet shall wander. California bee culture has beeti mtich written about: but as we hav<' bei'ii into the highways and byways of California, into some of its Can- yons and tipon its rugged motiutains, and lived for a time in the lonely htit, perliaps we have leceived some impressiotis that aie new, even to the readers of (li.EAMNGs: atid if. with (nil- photos, an occasional cartoon is thrown in, we trust the staid readers will grant their pardon. It is a sort of chronic habit we iTave. If any one is thinking of coming to this State to en- uage in bee culture these rambles will try to set the bee-keeping of California forth just as it is. and then yon can take your choice. The bees lirst shipped to Califoi'tiia were lo- cated in the Sacramento Valley. It was here that Harbison won a good share of his fame as a bee-keeper. But now the Eastern man is surprised to tind but few largti apiaries in this portion of the State. In Sacramento City theie are a few small apiaries: and Mr. Lewis, living in the city, has an apiary of over 100 colonies out in the country. The most extensive bee- keeper in the county is 'Sir. Adam Warner,!:.' miles down the river: and learning that he had over :.'()0 colonies, and was (piite a successful 162 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. MXK. 1. honey-producer, we availpd ourselfof the first opportunity to call upon him. To get the 13 miles we followed the sinuous course of the Sacramento River for 20 miles on one of those boats that have a large paddle-wheel in the rear. In early limes the river was noted for its purity; but liow it lias a very dirty and even muddy appearance. This is caused by hy- draulic mining on the American. Feather, and other of its tributaries. The lands on both sides of the river ai'e subject to oveiflow in the rainy season, and it is held in its course by levees. Arriving in Clarksburg about 2 p. m.. we soon found Mr. Warners residence, and found him and his ten-year-old daughter gathering musk- melons, or cantaloupes, as they call them here. and they grow with wondeiful vigor and pro- ductiveness. We could easily see that Mr. W. was in some anxiety about getting the canta- loupes picked before dark, so the Rambler got on his lot row evei'y time, and helped tinish the job. Mr. Warnei' is a sturdy German, and has been upon his present I'anch for 20 years. He has substantial farm - buildings, and his barn is large and much like an Eastern one. which is not often seen in this country. His honey- house was the largest and best we have seen in California. It is mounted on posts, the lower ends resting in a pan of tar to exclude ants, and it is effectual in operation. Mr. W. uses the old-style Harbison hive exclusively, and raises comb honey. There was no apiary in sight of the house, and we were informed they were out in the tules (pronounced tH-lesi. Tules are very large rushes that have a luxuriant growth upon these low lands. We found the home apiary out about 80 rods fiom the house, and it was the most novel apiary we ever saw. The hives were mounted upon platforms over eight feet in height, wide enough for two rows of hives, and an alley between them, with stairs at the end. Some 2.5 or 3.5 hives were mounted on these platforms, and Mr. W. had several apia- ries all mounted in the same way. The reason for this high elevation is because of the annual peared to me as little better than an old-time box hive. Mr. W. was pleased with the hive, however, because he could so easily move it from place to place and carry it up those steep stall's. His hives were all made to take the old-style two-pound Harbison section: but the markets calling for the one-pound section it was with regret he had substituted them. This using a shallow crate left two inches of space above, which the bees made haste to fill also. To prevent this, Mr. W. had two-inch plank sawed just the size to slip in on the top of the crates. When asked why he did not knock off the cover and put on a rim. and put on two crates of sections, he said it would cost too much. We could see but little difference be- tween the cost of the necessary shallow rim and the plank while there was a certainty of getting good I'eturns from the space occupied by the plank. Mr. W. emi)loys no one to attend to his out- apiaries: and to prevent swarming he practices division, paying no attention to which part has the queen. But in spite of the division many swarms absconded, and a church was pointed out that had four swarms in as many spires. A schoolhouse had several, and many dwellings were also pestered with bees in many places. During the past season Mr. W. obtained only a light crop of honey: but taking a series of years he has found honey-production profitable, even here in these low lands, and has found n ready market in Sacramento. There is much fruit near his apiaries — alfalfa, clover, and hundreds of kinds of wild flowers. We enjoyed true German hospitality for the night, and returned to Sacramento by four-horse stage the next morning, through a country devoted to fruit and wheat raising. Rambi.ek. PUNIC BEES; TKEIK TEMPER. BY IIAI-LAMSHIKE BKF-KEErKK. In y Punic A CAI-IFOnXIA ATIAIiY l.X A IJEGION SUB-JIXT TO INUN DATION. give ive- overfiow of this tule land. The photo wc is a portion of the home apiary near some oak trees. This was our first view of the Harbison hive, and it was with much curiosity we examined it. The rear-opening door, tlie nearly square frames resting in mortises at three corners, and room above for only one crate of .sections, ap- our Nov. 1st issue you say. respecting the _bees, that they will sting like othei' bees, though it has been claimed that they won"t. If you will please look up my descriptions of these bees I don't tliink you will find any words of 7Jii?u' that can be construed to mean or imply that they are stiiKjIess. or can not sting: in fact, when they have the swarming fever on tiiey are eavily provoked into stinging, but not more so than any oth- er race under the same influence: and, nior(M)ver. they are more easily kept under control at this time by means of smoke or carbolic acid. As soon as I saw that the idea was being spread about, that they coiihl not sfiiiij, I pub- lished an article on the subject in the JdiiiiKil of HortioiltKrc for .\ug. 20th last, and I am surprised you have not copied what 1 say on the matter. TEMPER OF PUMC'S. While not for a moment goiiisr so far as to say they can not sting. I do say they are the tamest and gentlest bees I have ever seen, and this includes every race that has ever reached America: putting their stings out is no evi- dence that they are ready to use them: more- over, when they do sting it is the least painful of any. while Syrians are the most painful: and. hiriher than this. I have not seen nor heard of a cross-tempered stock of Injhiid Punic bees. When going to the heather last August I nailed labels on .50 hives of Punics. VIK(ilN (QUEENS. You have pcM'sistcutly tabrKjcd tlicsf. saying th»n" could not he safely sent a distaiicc aiitl then safi'ly inirodui'cd. For three yeais I have been sending out very hirtre numbers all ov(>r the Hiitish Ish>s: and when' the instructitjns I sent wei'e followed, not one failure litis reNiilled. How fai' I atn boastinsi can be judged liy the fact tluit every virgin (|ueen I sent to America the past season, that landed alive, was safely introduced: and though Dr. Miller and Mr. Newman lost them sulise(juenth . in a nuinner unaccountable to me. that fact, itiat. though they were sir days ohl irhen in(iUe<1. and at least one mated and got to laying, should be proof that buying and selling vii'gin queens is a solved problem: anyhow, it is here, and I guess that friend Pratt has fdund it so too. What is now \\ante fiillow>.: Tukc llircc oi- mote coiiihs wil h some food in, l)iit no k/cki/i d brood of ejrtrs. :ind put them ilia lii\c; then shiike iiiln t licse coinlis the liees oH Iwo coiiihs a( lc,i>l, from ;i Kood stroiiji' slock, liikiiifi' r;iie that the ipieeii is liol anionfr llicni. Now iciiioxe tliis slroiif stock lo a fresh Nt.'iiid. ami set 1 his new one in its phice. wiiich will receive most of llie tlyiiiff bees iijso. I do not :i(l\isc iisiiij; any of tlie combs fi'oiii the strong slock, on jic<-ountof the risk of jfcttinR one wil h :iii ftij! or iwo in it. ^'oii ina.\ prepare :i colonj- for tiie queens in other ways as loiifr as no (lucen oi' means of rearing one is lefl; bill I tind I he above I III' most convenient and salisl'acioiy wa>()f any. 'I'lie l)ees must lie (pieeii- less, and iiave no means of rearing- ont;. forty hours al leasl. or you will fail to introduce tlie queens wi- aic seiidiiif;' \()n. As soon as ydu receive the iiueens drop Ilieml)e- tween the combs anioiiff the bees a/Yo- diuA, alone. On no account must tlie,\- bo cajred. scented, or daubed with honey. In two days, sealed l)rood may be Kiveii tliein; but unseak'd "bi-ood or < gjrs must not l)e triven tliem until the quiH'ns bi'^in to lay. or tiiey will be almost certainly " balled" at tlie en- trance on retui'inng- fi-om tlie l)ridal ti'ip. It is no doubt the method used by Dr. Miller with success, on the (pleens which he received from Hallamshiri! Bee-kee[)er.] MORE GLUCOSING. BVHOX WAI.KKK TEI.I..S AX AI..\K.\ll.NO STOIJV From the comments made on the article of Mr. Tweed, page 32, Jan. 1. I see that you. in common with several othei- editors of papers devoted to our pursuit, ard inclined to discredit the testimony given by Mr. T. As I had al- ready I'epeatedly given evidence on this point at length, when this subject was ttp for discus- sion last year in the EevlcH'. and also in the Ainericdu Bee Jour nnl. I have hesitated to say any thing fnrtbei' until others had had their say. As you evidei.'.iy have not accepted tlie state- ments made byniy.self at the time referred to as true, perhaps it is hardly worth while to re- peat them now. I will simply say here, that, aftei' spending several months on the Chicago market, I fully agree with Mr. T.'s vicnvs. There are in this city alone about a dozen establishments who put up glucose honey for sale. Among them are three of the largest wholesale grocery houses in the country, one of which, whose salesman has charge of that dei)artmeiit. in- formed me they sold last year :i(M).(HM) llis. of honey. You can judge of the charactei' of the goods sent out w hen I tell you that they deliver at till' doors of retail groceries, in any part of the city, these goods in glass packages holding over tliree-fourths of a pound of the mixture, at 87'.j cts. per dozen in single-dozen lots. I know what I am talking about svhen I say that a large majority of the grocer> of this city han- dl(^ such goods, and that not one grociM' in a hundred keeps pure extracterl lioney for sale, or can be induced to buy such at a price not much higher than he is jiaying for tlie adulterated goods. All hough tiie past season has been such a poor oiii' for Western bee-keepei's. the city markets are overstocked with extracted honey at present low prices. We may will ask." What will the result be when there is a full crojj to market".'" 'I'here is no doubt in my mind that, had we siu'li a law as you suggest, with proper provisions for its enforcement, the demand for extracted honey for table use and for medicinal purposes would be tiiifold greater than it now is in city markets, and prices would h(! much 164 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mar. I. more satisfactory. The question of the hour is, " Shall bee-keepers bend every energy to the production of honey so clieaply that glucose mixers can't undersell us (glucose is now worth less than 2 cts. pel- lb. in car lots), or shall we devote a portion of th.SE OF SOME UP" THE NEW DEVIf E- BOtTNTIKS. I have noticed for a while back a book adver- tised in Gi.EANiXGs that tells all about '• Queen Restriction." I sent for it. and have given it a pretty thorough examination. The gi'eat ques- tion of the honey problem of the day is."how to produce more honey at less cost." The idea is advanced by quite a number of prominent apia- rists, that this end can lie attained by either restricting or altogether i<'moving the queen, thereby preventing swarming. I remember reading an article in the Rcj'/cir of June. 1891, from Mr. Aikin. of Colorado, who, while living in Iowa. I think, practiced the removal of queens at the beginning of the honey season, and allowing the colonies to I'ear another queen, by which method claiming to increase his hon- ey product very largely, and also preventing swarms. For increase he gave the best old queens a frame or two of brood and allowed them to build up. Now. this is an intf'resting question, not only to myself but to many of th(> bee-keepers of this county, and, I think, to the fraternity every- where. P^or this reason I wish to discuss the claims advanced for queen lestriction, and will leave the queen-removal plan to be discussed by Ml'. Aikin and others who have tested it. In the pamphlet before me on this subject, the author claims for his restrictor (which con- tines by queen-excluding zinc the queen to one or more frames. He seems to think four frames about the right number), that, by its use, he can get a much larger yield with much less labor than by the plan of removal. He com- ments to a considerabhi extent upon the back- breaking process of removing (jueens and cut- ting out queen-cells. We are all well aware of this fact, and I have never found any more dis- agreeable job, during the hot days of June, than that very thing. Hut the average bee- man expects work, and lots of it, so we must offset the work by the cost of the restrictor. For a four-frame restrictor the price is (59 cents each, or ^(J.TO for 10. It stiikes me that, in a large apiary, that would be quite expensive. Now. on the other side, take the labor on ten hives. By my plan ojf j'emoving (|ueens I want only ten minutes to each colony, and fifteen minutes for cutting out cells. Of this plan I juay wiite further before the honey season. However, we will allow thirty minutes, so as to give plenty of time for each operation. That gives one hour for each colony, to I'emove queens and cut out cells. At $2.(X) per day the cost foi' the ten hives is just •■?2.()0 for ten houi's' work. I>ut I claim that the young (jueens rais- ed by this method would be enough b(!tter to nu)re than compensate for the day's work. Am I not right? I do not desin^ to disparage the (pieen-restrict- or. I nn^ si7n|)l\' counting the cost, and that must l)e done, in order to solve the problem. I may also slate, in behalf of this method, tluu the author advises wide frames and sec- tions in the lower story in connection with the restrictor. I have never tried getting honey fiom the lower story, but we have lots of men who have tried it. Let them tell us something about it. I hope this will provoke a general discussion all along the line upon this qu(>stion, as I am sui'e that it is an important one. and I for one want to weigh the evidence before the season opens. After woi king-time conies we can operate on a more matured basis. AITOMATIC SWARM-HIVERS. In these we have another " restrictoi;"' and while they may eventually be perfected so as to fill the bill, which does not seem to be the case yet. still the question of cost must be consider- ed. In the most of these devices it is necessary to provide an extra hive, whether it will be utilized or not. which of itself is quite an ex- pense, and. to my mind, an unnecessary one; for if we are to produce the most honey at least cost we must avoid swarming except for desira- ble increase. The device itself, also, is too much expense to be used in an extensive apiary when there is so mttch uncertainty as to whether many swarms will issue or not: there- fore, in summing up I must incline to the belief that dequeening has the floor. BOUNTY. And now. as if there were not enough trouble- some things to perplex the bee-keeper, up pops an entirely new idea. I want to say that I am opposed to bounties. If the government had given sugar industries and capitalists a bonus and a stipulated sum for the first 10(),(XX) lbs. pi-oduced, and then stopped at that, and at the same time limited the time to five years or less, then the matter would have been disposed of in a comparatively short time, and prices would have become settled, and experimenters and in- vestors would liave been aiuply remiuierated for advancing the industries of the company. Hut as it is. the thing may go on indefinitely, and finally become a bone of contention between the political parties, and then — God have mercy on usi Another thing about "boosting" up any particular business or pursuit, is, that it is apt to cause prejudice in the minds of consum- ers and therel)y defeat the object aimed at. Bee-keepers generally depend upon a local mar- ket, which renders them a mark of displeasure on the part of those not benefited, which would not be so much shared by their more distant colleagues, the sugar-producers. We as honey- pi'oducers would better bend our energies to have the sugai' bounty ari'anged as mentioned than to try to otf'set it by anothei' bounty on honey. S. A. Dyke. Pomeroy, O.. Feb. 8. [It seems to us that our coirespoudent has been too liberal with his time in hunting up queens. We have on several occasions in about two years, opened up. found the queen, and done such other work as clipping wings and tearing down queen-cells, at the rate of about forty hives in two houi'S. Some of these colonies were two-story. We did not examine all the brood surface, but went thi'ough the hive pretty thoroughly— a thing we like to do once or twice; during the season. This would allow only thre(Mninutes i)er hive; and yet we do not tiiink we particularly hurried to get through the work. But. as we have before ex- plained, we can, a good share of the time, diag- nose the colony with little or no frame manipu- lation. We rather hesitate to speak about the cost of queen-restrictors. t)ecause it might appear that we were interested in pushing the sale of our own articles; and we will only add that the ob- ject of queen restriction, advocated by C. W. 18i« r,i.EANiN(i.s IN HER cii/nin-: U>-i Dayloii. is iiriiiiaiily, as we iiiidtMslaiul it, to control iimu'ft'ssary lii-ood-rt'ariiin out of sea- son, ami thus prrvciit a laiiri" f(iii'<'of consiinuMs at a tiinr of >iar\\lifh tlific is no liom-y to lie Sallicft'd. .Itist iiow far it will prevent swarnt- intf we are not alile to sa\ .] THE OHIO STATE CONVENTION. DI!. MII.I.KH S KKI'OIM OI" The Ohio Siai(> eoiiNiMition at ('iiu'lMuali. Fell. ID- rj. was (lilTei-ent eniuiirh from the prexi- ons nieetinjj: of tin' same sdeit'ty. so far as mem- bers in attendance were concerned, to have been a meeting in a difTerent State. Hiit Ohio is a good-sized State, and Cincinnati is at the sonthc rn extrcinity. The meeting was not un- wieldy on account of great numbers, hut there was no lack of interest from beginning to end. Some matters came in for more discussion sometimes than they i)robably would havi' had if the veteians had been out in fuliiM' force. 1 hadn't seen the i)r(^sident. C. V. Muth. for several years, and was sur[)rised not to lind him older looking. Oni" Thinij that undoubtedly helps to keep iiim young is the f.ict that he has a son so competent to take his father's place in business matters, and this allows the father less anxiety and more outdoors. At one of the sessions of the conx'eutiou (lus came in to speak to his father about something, in a w hisper: and as he did so. standing behind his father's chair, he stooped forward and put his hand on his father's sluiulder and partly about liis neck in that easy, good-natured way that said more plainly than woi-ds. '• \\'e're old cronies, and fully undei-stand each otliei." It did me good clear through. That same long geared (ierman. ('. F. Muth, is a tlioroughly wi^ll-iiostcd bee-keeper, and you can not hear him take up any topic in bee- keeping without being lilntion. I will mention some of the points that seemed of special interest. It, was asseitcd that, when bees woik on asters, a sour smell is readily di.scernible. even at some distance from tho hivfis. somethinff like tlie smell of old sour milk. Rev. L. Johnson said aster honey was all right till fi-oans to Cincinnati, and ?r),5i) for a barrel of extiacted honey. The ditTcrence between the two. if it had any elVect on the rate of freight at all. should lie in favor of the honey, for hon- ey is a little heavier for the same bulk, and, if granulated, not so likely to leak. Comparing the ditferent kinds of comb honey as to toughness of comb. Mi'. Muth said linden comb is vei-y tender, hence liable to be brok(Mi in shipment: clover not so tender, and alfalfa very lough. A bee-keeper had shipped honey to Mr. Muth in a glucose-barrel, the barrel showing what it had previously contained; and this barrel, being seen at his place of iiusiness, had secured for him a little free advertising in the newspapeis, for which he was not anxious. Mora?.— Don't ship honey in any thing that I()()];s like adulteration. At this convention I had occasion again to notice the importance of having outside condi- tions all right at a convention. The meetings were held in a hall having the very coniiuon fault of being too large, making it very difficult to hear some of the things said, even if all were perfectly still, and the difficulty was further in- cri-ased by the hall facing on one of the princi- pal streets with its constant rumble and lattle. On the second evening the session was held in a comparatively small inside room, frotu which the noise of the street could not be heard. The contrast made a very favorable iiupresslon in favor of the smaller room. C. C. Mii.i.kr. Marengo. 111.. Feb. :.'.'.. Ud/es' Conversazione. ALSIKE CLOVER. IIS V.VI.IK. AND HOW TO HAISK VV . Th<' value of alsike to the bee-keeiier makes it worth his while to extend its culture in every way possible. In inducing his farmer neigh- bors to grow it he not only benefits himself but also his neighliors as well. Few appreciate its value. Riglitly managed it may be made to yield three products— honey, hay, and seed, which, in a little tuore than a year, are equal in value to the land on which it grows. With suitable; soii. and in compi'tent haiuis. ten bushels of s<'ed to the acre is a possibh' yield, which, at the pi<'-ent prices. .^T-TiO to Sii.tK). will pui-chase an acre of good farming land al- most anywhere. There are. besides, the hay and honey. WIkmi the cultivation of alsike is recomtnend- ed to farmers, one or more of the following ob- jections ari- usually offered: 1. It does not germinate well: :.'. It does not produce a paying crop of seed: 3. It does not produce as much hay as i-ed clover: 4. The hay is of inferior . By early .June the clover-field should be a sheet of vivid green, with no earth visible. Later, tlie pink and white lilossorns appear, borne at the ends of llie main stalk and brancli- es. 'I'his is the bloom which will furnish the largest and best i)art of thi' seed crop. Keep watch of them, for they soon disappear under a set of somcnvhat smaller blossoms, which in turn give way to another, the bloom continuing several weeks. During this time tiie bee does double duty in imi)roving the yield of seed by cross-fertilization and in gatiiering the nectar with which the florets are abundantly stored. Mr. M., realizing the value of its labors, pur- chased ten colonies, and feels that they paid for themselves in the first season by increasing the yield of clover seed, to say nothing of their gath- ering .300 lbs. of the finest honey in the world. Had he been an experienced bee-keeper, instead of the beginner that he was, the honey crop would have been twice as great. A week or more of bloom passed before the boxes were put on at all. To go back to those first clover-blossoms — they will have become a rich brown in color, and nediiji dry. Now is the time to cut it. Just here is where a day's delay means partial ifnot total failure. Waiting for the later and inferior heads to ripen, the earlier and more valuable ones, becoming entirely dry. burst their pods and scatter the seed upon the ground. When cut at the proper stage, a large part of the foliage is green and tender, and, with the immature heads, furnishes a hay equal if not superior to that from the fii'st growth of red clover. After it is cut. moisture does not injure al- sike as readily as it does other hay. To avoid scattering the seed, the liay should be handled as little as possible during the curing, and then only when there is moisture enough in the at- mosphere to keep the stems pliable — never in the heat of the day. This is the second point of extreme importance. Drawing should be done during the earlier part of the day. after the dew is off, and again in the latter part of the afternoon. Subsequent operations need no comment until the seed is ready for the clean- ing process. In order to command the highest price in the market, the seed must be perfectly clean: but as it is so much smaller than any other seed which a fanner handles, the fanning- mill requires finer screens than those ordinarily used, and the blast controlled so that seed is not blown off in the chaff. Though it requires skill and a good machine to perfectly clean seed without waste, caie and ingenuity will often accomplish the desired result with slight expense, and add many dollars to the value of the crop. The first seeding may lie allowed to remain on the ground during the third and fourth sea- sons, and possibly fair crops may be had; but. on the whole, it is probably better to turn it under after the first cutting, and use the ground for some other crop— potatoes for instance. Tlie past season was an exceedingly poor one for clover in this locality; but alsike yielded double the amount of seed obtained from red clover when the latter was worth the cutting. Many did not cut it at all. P'lint. Mich.. FVb. l.'i. Emit.v E. Wkst. WAX FLOWERS. MKS. AXTELL TEI.I.S HOW TO MAKK THKM. As bee-keepers are the producers of wax. it is very befitting that their homes be adorned with wax flowers, which imitate the natural flower more nearly than any thing else. Often, when I have been making flowers, some one would come in, not noticing the material and tools, and remark. •• What pretty flowers I "" I would hand them to them, and tell them lo smell of them, \\hich they would do. thinking they were natural flowers; but the smell of the wax would reveal tlnur nature. To make a large wreath, a glass the size of 32x "24, three packages of single white wax sheets, one of double-strength white for pond-lily, one of red. one of green, one of yellow, and one of or- IS'.r.' (:m:.\nin(;s in mkk (ri/rnRH H)7 ;inKi'. will hi' rt'tiniri'd. Tho \\ a\ cosis ahoiu 1'.".. I't^. \)vr paoUajrc of l:.' sheets, ami thai anr. Two littli" idund-headed tools to mold tlie petals into sliape will he needed, one of the lieads about as larsre as a hazelnut, and the oth- er the size of a liickoryinit. with handles two inches or so lonir. one sharp-pointed, anil the other rountlinii: also a hunch or two of red and yellow stamens for the center of the flowers. Sometimes those can he found in old artificial flowers in the house. Strips of yellow wax. fringed linely. will answer for many flowi'rs. You will also need live cents" worth of powder- ed mica (called also diamond dust) : one cent's worth of coarse wire, ahout twice as stiti' as broom wire: one cent's worth of broom wire, and tlie same of Prussian blue; English car- niino. a dime's worth: four or five leaf-molds, sucli as a rose-l(>af. a small ivy-leaf, suitable for making a white cross, and some larger leaves, as camelia. pond-lily, and maple. The room to work in should be warm, so the wax will not break— rather more than comfort- ably warm in winter weather, choosing days to work w hen the wind is not blowiiig. Take natural or artificial flowers and pick to pieces, and cut patterns from them. Hav(i an- other flower, as nearly like it as possible, to pat- tern after, or fashion them after flowers in paintings. After one has made a wreath, using some colored v%ax. then he might learn To paint and tint tlie wax instead of using one solid col- or, as I think flowers thus made ar(> more natu- ral and delicate in color than when of one solid color, which is doiK! by ruljhing the paints on the under side of the white wax petals, or on the center <'nd of each petal, leaving the points white, or just tinted. Do not get any paint or bloom upon the base of the petals, or they will not stick to the stem.s. Colors can be shaded by mixing more or less of tlie arrowroot bloom with the (laint. If the bloom is used, the diamond pieces of yellow beeswax: then proceed to mold the petals. Lay one by one in the palm of tin; hand. and. with the point of the molder. curl the small ones. The larger ones should be molded with the head of tlie molder. The cen- ter petals should curl toward the center, and the others made to curl gradually outward un- til the last leaves curl toward the stem. For half-blown buds, make the same as a rose, only more closed, and leave out the sta- mens. i'"or a closed bud. put wax upon a loop- ed stem and a few oetals closed. I'ut iiroiind the buds some green leaves iMit like the letter \'. and rubbed lengthwise wilh a molder so as to curl over the bud. Press smoothly around the stem. .Now put on gi'een wax eiiougli to make a bud-sliajied base for the buds, and pifss and roll until neatly finished. A little natural green moss stuck on adds to its beauty. .loin all to- gether, adding green leaves and one autumn leaf, and cover the stem with strips of green wax. <'oi)y from nature as much as jiossible. Canirlia and buds are made the same as the rose, but cut the petals nearly as large again, and as many more. Use camelia stamens, or a little white wax fringed, and dijiped in carmine.- l'"or dahlia, maki' a. heading as large as a small acorn, on stiff wiic. with a little yellow or pea-green fringe in the center. I'ut on twen- ty fine petals, twenty a size larger, and forty still larger. Both sides of the petals curl up and around, and touch at top. Press flat at the point where stuck to the stem. A little red paint on the fringes, and rubbed on the under side of the tips of each petal of a white or a yel- low dahlia, is pretty: or. rub the paint on the point where it sticks to the st(>m. sliowing .just a shade of color in the dahlia when finished, leaving the points of the petals white. For fuchsia, take a piece of wire five inches long. Cover it with green wax: bend it down a little; loop, and stick on a little heading of green or yellow wax: then six long stamens. on<' in the center a little longer than the rest: or. use fuchsia-centers, then cut four small white petals hollow' in the center, with the small molder; stick them to the stem standing up, showing three-fourths of an inch of the sta- mens. If possible, have a real flower, or the picture of one. to look at. Now cut six long petals: roll lengthwise with the small molder to curl th(>m hack. Lay a little fold in each petal where it touches the stem, to give room for all the petals, and to make them strong. The long and small petals should be of ditterent colors; as, purple for the center, or standing petals, and scarlet for outside; or pink for center, and white for outside. Bridal wreatl) is made very much as is ilie fuchsia. It should be of white or lemon color. Leave out the small petals in the center, adding long and drooping stamens. In the next issue will be directions for mak- ing fruit-lilossoms etc., and for framing the wreaths when done. Miis. L. C. Axtki-l. Roseville. 111. VENTILATING OUR HOMES. now I»H. (. C. MII.r.EI! "HAISKS TIIp; WIND. Some time ago the subject of having our homes comfortably heated and at the same time w<'ll ventilated was discussed in (Ji,k.\xix6s. It seemed a sormnvhat difficult problem to solve — to do this for any thing like a inoflerate sum. Dr. Miller has considered the matter of pure air of so much importance that w(; have always used the o|)en-grate Franklin stove, and on no account would lie think of having a base-burn- er, as he could not tolerate the bad air. Would you believcutV This winter he has a mnv base-burjier. and we have taken an im- mense amount of comforM with it too. Hut this stove, tiie Howe ventilator, is radically different from the ordinary base-iuirner in the matter of jiure air. It takes the place of three stoves — heats the sitting-room, dining-room, and an up- stairs bedroom, and could be made to heat more if necessary. It is very easily taken care of. It simply neids to be tilled uii and the ashes 168 GLEANlNlrS IN BEE CULTURE. Mar. 1. taken out pvery morning, and it's all right till the next morning. It is so much cleaner than the Franklin, or Low-down, as it was impossible to keep things free from dust witli that, dust as often as you miglul But the best of all is ihc pure air. The air in the house is as good as that outdoors, and no headache in it. as with the ordinary base-burn- er. There is a cold-air pipe passing through the cellar wall (it may pass through a cellar window) and up through the floor, directly un- der the stove and into the stove. Theie is a current of fresh outdooi' air passing constantly through lliis cold-air pipe into the stove: and, being heated by its passage through the stove, it comes out into the room as warm air. Of course, this fresh aii- does not go into the tire, as in that case there would be smoke and gas In the room. It passers up through outside cham- bers something like the dead-air space in a double-walled hive. There is also an arrange- ment at the lower part of the stove to cany off the foul air. One need only to look at the rich dark-gi'een foliage of our house-plants, that look almost if not quite as luxurious as if grow- ing outdoors, to know that the air is pure. Next to the pure air is the saving of labor. Be- fore we got our new stove we had a lai'ge wood- stove in the dining-room, and a small coal-stove in the room upstairs. Now they are lioth taken down. Think of tiie amount of work saved in not having to run those' two stoves, to say nothing of the dirt and dust they would cause, wliich is no small item! Folding-doors between the .sitting-room and dining-rootn make it eas- ier to heat the latter. The room upstaii'S is heated by means of a hot-air pipe passing through the ceiling, terminating in a small reg- ister. This room i-^ wtii-mer than it was with the small stove. The aii- tiiat comes out of this register is not aii- that has already biien used in the room below, but is fresh air that has come directly from outdoors, merelv lieated in its passage thi'ough the stove. The stove, set up ready to light, costs just an even fifty dollars. We think that, in two win- ters, that amount will be saved in fuel, to say nothing about what is gained in health and comfort. E>rMA Wilsox. Marengo, 111. Heads of Grain FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. PROTECTION V?:KSUS NO PROTECTION FOR OITT- DOORS. The question of wintei' protection can not be emphasized too sti'ong. Not having the pleas- ure of a cellar, my bees winter on tlieir summcM' stands. With good windbreaks both north and west, the loss for sevei-al winters (with the mild winters too) has been small indeed. The ten- frame Simplicity hives have the upper story tilled with heaves. These are in tine condition, and have hardly any traces of dianiiea. The one-story Simplicity (eight-frame) hives are placed inside of goods-boxes, with leaves around and above the hives. These aj-e going through the winter in excellent shape. A few are left on summer stands without any protection what- ever. Th(>.se are eight- fi'ame one-stoiy Simplic- ity hives. These aiv having a rough time of it. The diairhea has overtaken them, and death is certain. Colonies well protected are doing well in spite of " bug-juice " for winter stores. For me to meet a cold winter successfully I would have plenty of bees hatched in .August and Septem- ber, little or no pollen, bees put on eight-frames, plenty of good honey — not "' bug-j\iice '" — six to ten inches of leaves all around the hive, ex- cept the fronts and l)ottoms. and the entrance open full width. With this arrangement no fears need be enteitained because of a .severe winter. .7. F. Michael. German. O., Jan. 2n. [You have given us good pi'oof of the value of pi'otection. Our expeiience so far confirms it. For us. colonies in a cold winter outdoors un- protected won't live until Januaiy.] ADVANTAGE OF SEALED COVER AND WIDE ENTRANCE FOR WINTERING. As the question of absoibents over the brood- chamber is now being agitated I will add my mite. Some four years ago I wrot(> the senior editoi'of Cleanings, that, from observation of the effort of bees. I was led to believe an air- light covering better than a porous one, and that, acting on that idea. I had utilized the leath- er from our family cariiage. cutting it to tit neat- ly and applying it eaily. directly on the frames, and letting the bees jnopolize all air-holes. This with three hives. They came thiough well, and built up early. A fair-sized chaff' cushion was placed over llie leaiher. He replied that the leather was loious. He might lu.ve thought differently had he seen it. The following au- tumn 1 ventured on seven with leather for cov- ering, and o\('r this a close-fitting >< thick white-pine lioaid. and ovt r all several newspa- pers, and du tin in the canvas u^ed during the season. This was in the lattei' part of Ociolier. Of couise. in all cases I us( d chaff' over all. 1 now aim to have all hives as near air-tight, ex- cept beneath, as I can. Without being tedious 1 will say. lo-s none thus far: but the great ad- vantage I claim for the method is. early brood- ing and no spring dwindling. ]SIy top-bar has a passageway for the bees, and I thereby avoid the use of a boney-boai'd. W. S. Ad.xms. Guys. Md.. I-Vb. U. MANUM EXPLAINS AHOLT THAT HONEYMOON. Friend Rixjt:— You may say to our Canadian friend. Mr. F. .). Miller (page 104), and otheis. that A. E. Manum has not fully recovered from his " honeymoon season." and hopes he never will, trusting that said "• honeymoon " will con- tinue to shine in hei' fullest splendoi'. Nevei'- thelt'ss, Mr. Editor, 1 will endeavor, in a very few days, to respond, through (tI.eanings. to the many calls from our friends. I have been so busy since last May with the bees, house-re- pairing, and entertaining visitors, to say nothing of the '■ new queen," that the readers of Glean- ings have necessarily been neglected. Thank- ing them all for their confidence and kind woi-ds. I remain Yours truly, ^ A. E. Manum. COLORADO: SNOW TILL VOU CAN'T REST. I once more find time to send in a few lines from this part of the moral vineyard. It is win- ter— winter in good shape — snow till you can't rest, if I must use the expression — any way. snow all over every thing — liill, mountain, and valley. The largest snow of the season fell on the 4th of this month. If snow is a sign of a good honey year, this has the appearance of be- ing one of unprecedented greatness, for we have iiad more snow than we had last year. The past season would have been a good one but for the heavy rains that came just as the lioney- flow was coming on. I have been keeping the snow away from the front of my Inves. The last time I was out I was wondering to myself how many of the brother bee-keepers were at- 18it'J (;m:amn(;s in iuok ciii/ruiiE. 16Q t4'ii(iiiiC ii> till' saiiH' hnsim's> I was. Wlim I siTapfd tlic snow away, liow they l)ii//.f(l. just as if tlicy wen- ff\m\ lliat I was attfiidiii}; In tlirin. and tiu'y wantid \o let mt' Uiitiw it. In looUinR over (!i,i;amN(js I sec a fxrcat deal is said aliiMil fiinihininji lice li;m.\ hf.k-kkki'Kks. Through the inlluence of I'l'of. A. .). Cook, California hec^-keepers may .join the .State Asso- ciation hy simply sentling .">() cts. to the Secre- tary. J. li. Martin. Riverside, Cal. All the read- ers of Cii.K.wiNiis know him as the •" Karnbler." California can noL support a bee-jouinal, but we can have a large State association, and I would urge every reader of CxLk.vxixgs in thi' State to send M cts. and bcconn' a inembei'. Even if you can not attend the conventions \()ii can vole by proxy, and will receive! the printed matter sent to members. The dues are only .")0 cl^. per anniuu. and it 's worth that to be in touch with the leading bee-keepers of the Stale. Fillmore Cal. .1. F. McIntyhk. [The following is a clipping which friend Mc- Intyre sent along, which will speak for itself:] OUOANIZATIO.N OF A CAMKOHNIA ST.\TE ASSOriA- TIO.N -ELECTION OF OFFICERS. The bee-keepers assembled ajjain yesterday niorn- injr at 9::5il o'clock, and proceeded to organize a State :iss(iciation, to be known as tiie Calirornia State Bee-keepers* Associal ion. The following officers were elected: President, J. F. Mi'Iiiijre, of Fillmore; vice-presidwits, L. T. Rowley, of Ix)s Angeles County ; F. H. Hunt, of San Bernardino Comity, and J. A. Odell. of San Dietfo County ; secretary .1. H. Mariin, of Rivei-side ; treasuVei'. G. W. Brodbeck, of Los Angeles. Tlu' E.vecutive Committee will consist of the offi- cers of the a.ssociation, and Messrs. Allen Barnett, of Wliitiier. and J. W. Sti'oug. The association starts out with a rnembersliip of forty-three, besides three honorary members. Prof. C'ook and .Mr. and .Mi's. A. I. Koot. The next meeting will lie held in Los Angeles, at a date to be Ii.\ed b.v the E.xeciuive Committee. An oppoitunitj' was given the gentlenu'ii to become members of the Bee- keepers' Union, and thirteen joined. In the afternoon Pr-of. Cook gave a most enter- taining talk on the anatom.\- of the l)ee. The pro- fessor is a fascinating si)eak(i'. having been all his life a close student of nature. He has studied care- fully all the various cream ri's of the animal king- dom, and unhesitatingly ))ronounces the lioiu;y-l)ee the most wonderful of them all. After listeniiig to his interesting address yesterday it was not al all difficult to see how he has so satisfactorily tilled a chair in the Michigan Agricultural College for years il devi'loped the fact that there was more satisfaciioii in bee-kei;ping than merely that of dollars and cents. This exanuning so closely into nature makes nien purer; and the further he delves into her secrets, the closer is he drawn to all lier c reatures. After an interesting atldress by .^Ir. Root the asso- ciation adjourned. WHAT Di:. TINKEK THINKS OF TIIK NKW HOFF- MAN FKAMK. Fiienil Root:— I believe you Medina folks are upon the right track in sticking to the L. frame, and not advocating a closed-end frame. As you now have it. it is simply a li.xing and spacing device to keep the L. frames in place. TIIK NO.N-HlIRB-fOMH FKAMKS. lOiiiesi is light on frames. I put (ni ".'(Ki lltjll- maiis last year, and they are the best: also UK) •s X 1 ^ lop- bar frames, and had no burr-combs. Mt. fMeasant, Te.x. G. VV. J{ristijnk, M.D. IMF, r();.oi{Ai)() ST.VTK hi<:i:-kkp:i*kks' associ- ATIO.N. .\. 1. Koot was with us when we organized, and helped to make our meeting a succx^ss. We shall miss him at our next meeting; but we can rejoice to know that our loss will be (j prici-; and I never put in foundation withoni wii ins. What use is there in saving a iitth' expense and failing to accom- plish one of the objects of using foundation — viz.. to prevent dione coml)? It can not be too thin for sections. J. F. Van Pkttkn. Linn. Kan.. Jan. 27. THP: M KIXI.KY BIM.. on ADUI/rKHATEI) IIOXKV ANI> I.OW-I'inCKD HONKV. It is al?nost impossible to sell honey not sTict- ly firstclass. TheMcIvinley bill has done us in- calculable injury; and if something is not done soon to right the wi'ong flone ns. prolitable bee keeping will be a thing of the past. Why are not steps t!ilppers* [^^n- ion to lay the matter befoie tlie proper commit- tee of Congress? Emu. .1. Kaxtki!. Nauvoo. TIL. Feb. 1. [While the low price of sugar, as provided for in the McKinli'V l)ill. may have some effect on the price of honey, it is only slight in compari- son with the way some packing-honsos are [jut- ting up glucosed honey and calling it the pure article. It is quite useless to attribute all un- pleasant business phenomona to the McKinley bill: but against these adultcriited goods on the market, bee-keepers must i-ise and do some- thing. We were quite di-;inclined to believe there was any such di-repntable business going on: but facts coming in are opening our eyes somewhat. See editoi'i;il comments elsewhere]. Whenever it is a little warm, the bees come out of every hive and mark all over the ends of them as they do in spring, and a large lot of them fall on the snow and die. and I am afraid that] am going to lose them. What shall I do to prevent the slanshtei- of my bees? I have thought sometimes! wonld put a wire screen ovei' the enti'ance. but have been fearful to do so. My hives all stand on the noi'th side of my house, but all face tlie south. Although thev are somewhat shaded with trees and vines.rthe sun warms them quite readilv. Kent, O., Feb. '?. H. W. Doncasteh. [Bees are quite apt to fly out and die as you describe. We think nothing serious will come of it unless your hix'es have bad or poorly ripen- ed stores. If the entrances aii' slnided tlie bees wonld he less liable to tlv out. Whatever youdo. don't shut tlu> bees in ] SUf'CKSS WITH nOOI.ITTT.K 8 MKTHoO OF I!KAK- ING gUKK.NS. We can not se(> how any one can fail to raise queens iiy Dool it tie's plan. We have had a poor vear. and yet we have never tried a colony and failed. We have always raised some cells (on an average nine), and w(^ considered that good. We think the b(-e-keepers owe brotlier Doolittle a vote of thanks for what he has given to the bee-keeping world: and lie does it in a good way. not claiming all the credit himself. That is what I like about it. Buffalo. Jan. IT. McKini.ky i<: Co. WHY THEV CUT DOWN THE CO.MBS. What is the cau-^e of the bees cutting tlie comlis in tlie surplus chamber in queen-excluders for extratcting? What remedy? S. F. Mii.i N. Manchester, hid., Feb. 3. [We can suggest no cause unless you spaced your combs closer than I'V or closer your custom. The (lueen-excliiders could no influence on the matter.] dowir using is the /EH. have than have IX WHAT CI.-\SS OF THE AI.BAXV GliADINO WOULD SOUTHERN POI'L.VK OR Tri.IP HOKEY fOME ? I see from the reports of the convention re- cently held at Albany, that there was adopted a standard of grading honey: and fi'om the way I understand the matter. I think our class of honey is left out. Our lioney is mostly from the poplar, or tulip: is of good flavor, and am- ber in color. We have some honey-dew, but we don't put it on the market. If I have not mis- construed the meaning of the report adopted. I could not tell what class to put my honey in. I should like to have a little more light on the subject. L. B. Tot.an. Kerr vi lie. Tenn., Feb. 8. HOW LOXG M.\Y A COLONY LIVE? The folks here tell me there is a swarm of bees'near here that has never swarmed, to their knowledge. Can you tell me the reason why they do not? How long will as warm of bees live? L. Oz.MUN. PeEU, Wash.. Jan. l.>. [A colony of bees may exist for fifty years or longer. In garrets tliey have been known to live for many years without swarming. But it should be understood that the individual bees and queens live no longer than the average — the continuance of the colony depending upon the infusion of new blood. 1 TWO I'OOI! SEASONS. BUT NOT DISCOURAGED. I am largely dependent on my bees for an in- come. We have had two flat failures in succes- sion— no honey last year, and only two or three pounds per colony the year before, and a heavy feed-bill to foot: but I am not discouraged, and I think I score a point when I say that we need to keep posted more now than ever. Monroe. la.. Jan. 12. J. A. Mash. GOOD WINTERINO. My bees had a tine flight to-day. They bring in a good deal of pollen. They have "a good supijly of food — no winter loss. They wintered outdoors in my own hives. Many of my hives have no frames in the lower or brood story. I have a movable rack in the top of the lower story, with spaced joists to fasten strips. O'Quiiin, Texas. Feb. 2. J. C. Melcher. A GOOD YIELD FOR INI)L\X^ TERRITORY. My crop of honey for 1891 was ,3().5o lbs. from ;t2 colonies, spring count: ;{loO lbs. of comb hon- ey, and .50U lbs. extracted, from unfinished sec- tions. I increased to 10.5 colonies — an average of 70 lbs. per colony. .My best hive yielded 1.57 lbs., all comb honey. This crop of honey brought me a little over $.500. M. Herman. ' Berwyn, Ind. Ter., Jan. 25. a good INVESTMENT. I have had only two years of experience in bee culture, and it has been both a pleasure and profit. I began two years ago svith four hives, which cost me ten dollars. They gave me 200 lbs. of nice comb honey, worth j<20.00. My in- crea.se was two swarms. I could see a net profit in the small purchase of .*15.0(), so last spring I bought iiuite a lot of colonies which yielded as well as the first. 1 now have in- creased my stock to 1(14 hives. W. M. Scruggs. Tracy City, Tenn., Jan. 1, 1892. SOME HEAVY SHIPMENTS OF HONEY. Mr. E. R. Root: — Your father desired me to send you a statement of the amount of honey ISifJ <;i,i:anin(;s ix hkk (Ti/itiik. in >lii|)lif(l !)>• I year. We sliip- |M'il l.">:.7tHl llis. cxtiaclcd liorii'V. IS'.t.'.MO iicl : TS.iMHi Ills, cuiiili hdiicy. ".'u.iiii'.' iM't: ci^^lit car- loatls: two went lo Nrw >'imI<. the icsi to Clii- (•airo. .1. A. K. IiaiNi;. IMiiriiix. Aii/.oiia. l-i'li. 1">. Notes of Travel FROM A. I. ROOT. .\M«>N(. nil. i;i;k-ki;ki'i:i!s in tiik .mointai.ns. As uc wiTi' stamiiii'i on tlu' i>oroh at friend Moivim'.s. taikiiisr about it. wiiat should friend M. set' l)ut an oeean sleaniei? Slie was to leave at luilf-pasl ten. and so we liad to luistje. I was told tlie Methodist minister and wife wanted to meet me. even if for only a very few niiiuites. so we hail a lilile talk: bin 1 hardly felt satis- lied, ami it seemed they didn't ei llier, for they came after us down to tiie wharf. Friend Mer- cer and his wife had consented to go too, and we four got the minister and his wife on board, sent back word to their friends, and took them witli us. just as tliey were. Tiie Ivev. Mr. Pet- tinger. of Ventura, has a strange history. When he was a young man. during the days of the re- bellion, lie. with about twenty others, captured a train in the South, and attempted to run it iiii into our lines. So many freight and other kinds of trains were in the way. however, that they got only al)out a hundred miles. They were ta- ken, and eight of their number wei-e put to death at once. The remaining twelve or foui- tpen, with death right before them, went down on their knees and made their peace with (Jod as best they could under such circuinstanci<. At, this crisis our government interfered ami succeeded in stopping the executions, and friend P. linally made his escape. Well, how did all this " death-bed repentance'' turn out? I am very glad to say that the most of them lived good pure Christian lives ever after: and friend P.. after that experience, gave his life to tlir ministry. Now. please don't scoff or langli ai this, any of you. These twenty or more youn- men had volunteered to give their lives in tin- .service of their country. Nay, more: like tln' man who undertook to blow up the iron-clad gunboat bidonging to the South, they volun- teered a task that was almost sure death. They were men of no ordinary courage and bravery. Such men. when they dropped on their knees together, and said. " Lord, have mercy on me a sinner," meant, as a rule, w hat they said, deal h or no death, and so it turned out. I wondi i how often they remcmljer that solemn and kh- fiil little prayer-meeting. Do they sometinn - have a reunion and talk it over? Very like] \ this printed page will meet the eye of one or more of them, for (ri.EAXiNGS i.s now read fui - ther and wider than many of us know. If I am correct, every one of that fourteen knelt and prayed. Von. my friend, have probably, at some time in your life, promised (Jod. in a simi- lar way. to be(/oor7and trite. Have you kept that promise? Well, that boat-ride to Santa Barbara was one long to be remembered. P'or the first time we saw pelicans in their native state. They were so wild, however, it was only by the aid of a glass that we could get a view of their strange ■'dinner-basket.'" as some one called it — the ap- pendage, or sack, that hangs from the under side o'f the bill. The bird is about as large as a good -sized goose, with long wide-spreading wings. We also saw the wonderful marine plant called kelp, or giant seaweed. The root is something like a great onion; and the trunk. wiih its bushy foliage, is like a great tree. As it grows in water Iroin l:J to :.'() feet deep, it is a plant of no small dimensions. As it reaches the surface, long branches, or leaf-stems, extend out in iveiy diieciion. some of lliein almost or (luiie :.'() feet long. Thuseaidi plain covers an immense surface. Sometimes the foliage is of a beautiful lich red. not unlike the colors of au- tumn leaves. The mayor id' Santa Uarbaia was very sick with the grip, and our time was too limited to reach any (jf the oiln r liee-fi lends, so uc visited the old museum there, ami took the cars back. This miiM'iim is still kept up, and veritable •■ monks "" of olden time have i^ in charge. The most of them niMther s(>e any one of thi' outside world, nor are they to be seen. Vi-^itoi-s ai'e permitted to go into one small room, iiiid they can also go into the church. Some of tlie old paintings in the church are very line, and ])rob- ably (|uite valuable. They would be very help- ful in oui- modi'iii Sunday-schools andl'.ible- teaching. and perhaps they are used in some similar way— we hope so. I do hope, however, that the idea that any human being can be a bettei' C'hrislian by being kept out of sight, and away from humanity, may soon be unknown in any clime. ■• I pra.v not that thou snonldest take th(!in out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." .1. (.. ( ■•\:l.\. Our older readers will ivmember the story of tiie cold-blast smoker, and the part that friend Corey, of Santa Paula, had to do with it. We stayed with him over night, and he gav(! us many valuable facts in regard to the introduc- tion of Italian bi'cs into California. In l.S.V.) he paid SIOO for a single colony, and then carried them on foot one humlred miles, and walked on snow-shoes to do it. He made a light case, to hold .iust combs enough to take bees and stores (only :«) lbs.), and strapped it on his back. As he had been employed by an express coin[)a- nil GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mar. 1. ny to carry pxpivss in this way. he was. as it were, trained foi' the job. Vi-ry likely a bee- keepers enthiisias^ni helped him to carry out his scheme. His bees lived, and he sold enough of the increase, the first season, to amount to .S600. He tried to buy bees of Mr. Harbison, to get a start, hut Mr. II. wanted .?1.5fl per colony. Before we find fault with these prices, we must remember what it cost to gel bees, before there were any I'ailroads. Of course, bee-keepers had a bonanza for a while, raising queens, and in- creasing, for they could do it almost every month in the year, if they wanted to. Santa Paula is the oil city of Ventura County. The oil comes from the mountains in pipes, and Is here refined. As a consequence they have im- mense tanks and quite extensive buildings, with the necessary refining machinery. They have just commenced the manufacture of printing- ink, from lampblack and oil, both made from the products of the refineries. Here I for the first time saw a gas-engine, run by gasoline. A certain amount of gas, generated from gasoline, is exploded inside the cylinder, and this gives the power. A small engine was running a ma- chine-shop and other machinery. No governor was used, more than a very heavy fly-wheel, to equalize the force given out by each explosion. ^ From Fillmore station we reach the bee-ranch of friend Mclntyre. that has been recently il- lustrated and described on these pages. It re- minded me again and again of T. B. Terry, while I looked over the ranch and talked with our enterprising friend. Like Terry, and like H. A. March, he pays for everything as he goes along: and if he can't pay for it. he doesn't have it. He owes nobody, and has something ahead to enable him to grasp good chances when they come his way. Many of the bee- men of California can not have their bees and their families in the same place, and this is in- deed a serious drawback. The best places for bees are away back in the mountains, where there are no schools foi' the children, and where their wives are so far from neighbors and from society It is not pleasant for them. Friend M., however, got his ground before the fruit-men: and if they do come into his neighborhood, they can not very well presume to drive him out. Besides, he is a fruit-man himself, and he has orange-trees that he estimates will give him $10 per tree in fruit this year. He also raises young orange-trees. These, when budded, bring from .50 cents to $l.,iO each. Three years ago I was absolutely astonished at the prices paid for these trees: and although thousands upon thou- sands have been raised, the price for good trees remains much the same. It is the old story over again. Friend M. gets wonderful results from only a small part of an acre of seedling orange-trees. His neighbors, seeing how he is making money at it, try to do the same thing themselves, but they have bad luck — the trees die, etc. You see, he prepares the ground so thoroughly, and watches the trees so closely, they can't die. The great mass of humanity vnll not pay the price (in diligence and atten- tion) of success. Reader, are jyoK letting prop- erty go to waste in just this way? ISIay be your wife or your mother can point out just where it is. I saw th<> little water-motor that does their washing, and which is to carry the honey- extractor the coming season. Then friend M. took us up into the canyon, where the oil-wells are located that furnish a part of the oil for the pi])e-line that leads to Santa Paula. The wells in California are mostly located up in the moun- tains, and the oil comes from a peculiar oil- bearing rock. While the quantity is not equal to the wells of the East, it is found nearer the surface, few of the wells being more than ,500 to 600 feet deep. We found a single engine pump- ing four wells, and one engineer looking after all. This engiue gives a vibration to something like an old-fashioned horsepower. Each arm works a wire leading to one of the distant wells. Each well has two wires: and these two wires, one and then the other, pulling alternately, work a walking-beam that does the pumping. The tools for drilling are exactly like those used in the East; and. in fact, I found both men and tools had been brought from Pennsyl- vania. They seemed (|uite glad to meet visit- ors, and quite willing to talk: and I do not wonder that they sometimes get lonely away up among these rocky fastnes.ses. We next went away up into another canyon to a wild, fearful- looking place called the Devil's Gate. Rocks, all the way from the size of an egg up to a fair- sized meeting-house, were so thick in the bed of tlu^ mountain stream that it was really fright- ful climbing up among them. Lest we might indulge in reckless leaping from one to the oth- er, friend M. showed where a man slipped and fell, a few years ago. and lost his life. As no one could find his friends or relatives, nor even his luime. for that matter, he was buried on a little bank beneath a bi'anching live-oak. The stones, big and little, liave been tumbled and rolled by the water for so many ages that most of them are beautifully rounded and polished; hence it is all the more risky clambering among them. In places the water comes down so steep that it is really a succession of rapids. The water of these mountain streams is usually beautifully clear, pure, and cool: and although I indulge again and again in copious draughts, it never harms me so long as 1 am exercising in the mountains. Mrs. Root followed as long as her strength held out. and then she rested " un- der the shadow of a rock '" until we came back; but, (lidn't we do justice to Mrs. Mclntyre's good bread, and table /«?( of good things when we got back 1 After dinner our host took us over to see his neighbor, "Tommy Irondale.'' His name is Arundel; but the bee-men think the former is easier to remember and pronounce, and, possi- bly, a little more stylish. Friend A., as some of you may remember, has solved tlie problem of being with his wife and children by locating his apiary away up in the mountains where no fruit-men will be likely to want to locate. He has nuide a road up through the canyon, at his own expense, that is so winding (both up and down as well as sidewise) that Mrs. Root said, just before Mr. Mclntyre crossed the stream with his horse and buggy the eleventh time: " If Mr. Irondale had asked me to become his wife, with a view of living away up here, I think I should have said ' no" very decidedly." Now, shedid not expect me tell this, of course; but when we all got around the breakfast-table it occurred to me that it was too good to keep, and so I told it, even if Mr. A. and Mrs. Root did look a good deal confused. Well, it helped us all to become acquainted, any way; and when I announced at dinner, that, after Mrs. Jloot had seen the wondei'ful view of the valley from the fields above the house, she had chang- ed her mind, and concluded she would not have said "'no" after all, she accused me of willful and deliberate false statements. Now. she cer- tainly did say she "wouldn't mind living up tliere verxj much, after all;" and I am going to leave it to the I'eaders of Gleanings to say whether it doesn't amount to the same thing. Friend A. has certainly a very pretty farm up there in the mountain-tops, and his horses seem to have learned the knack of moving great loads either up or down very steep places. Tlie children (five in number) certainly do have a long way to go to school; but, my dear friend, look about you and see if the greatest men have IS'.fJ (;i,iv\.\iN«;s IN HKK I ri/pri;K in not. as a )»/(. lived out in ilic (■oiiiilrv several miles fniiii si'luml. I \\ anted lo aild. v\tx\\\ here, ihal / lived iwo miles and a half iVuni the sclioollunise; hiil Mrs. Kool dee lures /(lo.v/ /»(/.si- tirclii thai I must not say a wurd iihctiit it. You see. sin- is ■•sort of "" looking after me sini'e I liave l>een siek. Mrs. Koot and 1 deeided that Mrs. Melntyre madi' about the/«.s7 bread in the world: l)iit aftei' we i-limbed the mountains, and went lip the eanyoii to the falls, we bcfrmi to think that Mrs. .Vruiulel was fully her e(Hial: and when I be^an lo try to express it, her hus- band, in ills own iiuaint. oomie way, said: •■ Lives there a man with soul so dead Who never to himself hath s;iid. This is luy own. my dear wife's bread'.'"" I suppose most, of you know that the b(H>-meii of our land are. as a rule, a little brislitei", more sni-alu'ad. and more respet-talile than theaver- atre men of other callinirs: but of late I am impressed with the fael that bee-keeiiers" irircs are i-apable of standing riKhl up side by side with thi'ir husbands. I picsume it has becMi tlui ease for somi' time back: but. like many (Ulu^r things, we luidn't found it (Uit. Friend .Meln- lyre placed us in position at the falls. " took hold of tlu> crank"' hims(>lf. and in due tinu! I hojje to present you with a Kodak view of the whole thing. Hy the way. friend M. told his wife he would be back that night: but it got so awful dark before his i)atient horse had got us there up tin' mountain, he decided to stay for supper. After supi)er the luoon came up: but there was so much visiting to do that lie did not get away: and when he carried us back to the station next day it was afternoon. Mrs. Root was worried for fear that his wife would be uneasy. We got a pleasant letter a day or two after, in which he said his wife didn't wor- ry a bit. for she gave him the credit of " having sense enough to take care of himself." — l-'rom Fillmore we went to Piru Station. 1 wanted to take Mrs. Root up the Piru Valley, for two reasons: First. I wanted to have her see my good fi'iends the Reasoners: and I wanted, also, to drive through David Cook's ranch of 1.3.0(X) acres. I didn't know any one in Pirn, and there wasn't a liv(>ry-stable there. I told Mrs. Root to sit down in the shade; and I would hunt up a vehicle. The station agent said he thought I could get one of a Siiaiiiard just over the way. I went to his house, hut the young lady I found there only smihid, and signilied that she could not talk our language. I thought if she could ■sinilc ill English she could cei'tainly talk it a little: but I had to giv(! it up. Then I found her father: but he couldn't talk English either, so he called his boy to act as interpreter. It was real fun for me to hear the boy's plain, clear English translation of the musical and some- what romantic Spanish. The .Spanish jieople have always been interesting to me, aiul they were doubly so that day. I got the directions, or at least thought I did. and started off. Pret- ty soon something else; interesting took my at- tention, ami I lost my way. Did you neviM' no- tice how vveii-d and strange things look when you are lost'.' Well, they look doubly so in Cal- ifornia. I finally got into a very pretty garden, and found a luan cultivating, t told him what I wanted, and lie soon rigged me out. Then we talked something like this: •■ My friend. I am an entire stranger here, and how do you know 1 won't run off with your horse and l)uggy?'" He didn't say much, but I thought he looked as if my question was certainly a reasonable one. It just then occurred to m(! that it was g<'ttiiig late, and Mrs. Root must be wondering where I was. Just then I espied sonu; bee-hives jiiled up against a barn. "If that mail over there is a bt^e-keeper I think he has heard id me and can convince you that 1 am whom I claiiii lo i)e A. I. Root, of Ohio." You ought to have .seen the look of pleasure as he came up to me and put out his hand. "Mr. Root, it is a great pleasure tometosee one whom I have often longed to see, but cer- tainly never expected to see al my own home." ■■ \Vhy, how should you. who an- not a, bee- keeper, know of me".' " "OhI our pastor. Mr. Petlinger. loaned me a lot of your journals." " Mr. P(>ttingerl oh! that reminds nie he told me I must be sun^ to hunt up a man in Piru who raises strawberries all winter. Does he live anywhere near you'.' " " Yes, sir. and 1 am the man; and as you will need to hurry if you go to Mr. Reasoner's and back b(;fore train time, I will gc^t your horse ready. While I am doing so, go right out there; and help yourself to the berries. If you im- prove th(> time you can get back here at six, and we will give you and your wife some straw- berrii's and cream for supper." Did you ever! W^e have the Bible promise that " all things shall work together for good to those that love God," and it does seem as if it had been verified over and over since I have been away from home. I do not mean to boast — you know I do not; but it does seem as if my poor feeble exhortations had been blessed, oh so iniu'li more than any one could have any right to expect! P'riendPettinger took Glkan- iN(;s when lu; k(>pt no bees, because it taught righti'ousness as well as bees; and for the same; reason he loaned them to one of his flock who loved God and loved flowers as well as straw- berries. And here, right before my eyes, was the fruit of it. I at(; a good many berrii^s. and til' n remembered her. and hastily gathered a few in my hands to surprise her. You can't think how delicious they were after ray long tramp that hot, dusty (January) day. I put the berries on the seat, and drove out into the main I'oad. Then I looked for the depot, but none was in sight. A railroad depot is certain- ly a big thing to lose; but it was certainly gone, and my wife with it: the suii was declining, too. and we liad six miles to drive (up a moun- tain canyon jiart of the way) and back again. In despaii' I appealed to some schoolboys, and they told me which way to drive. How could I ever have gotten so far without knowing it'.' When I gave Mrs. Root the berries sIk; said she watch(;d me across the lields until I vanished away off in the distance. It really seemed too bad to say " how do you do'.' " and "good -by "' in almost the same bre^ath to such iiic(> people as Mr. Reasone)-'s; but there was no ludp for it. Mrs. Root was very anxious to know the name of our good to tempt him he said. " Get thee behind me. Sa- tan," and he stuck to it, even though it cost him something like a couple of thousand. He was a Jtero when it came to '-conscience or money;" but a little pinch of tobacco is a stumbling- block. IS'.i'.' liLKAMMis IN i>i:i; ri l/n KK. 175 Id the iiuiltitvi«le of cou^st■lo^^^ I here is safety.— Pr. 11: U. At lust ai'couiits Mr. jiiul Mrs. A. I. Root wore in Nfw Orleans, and cxprcti'd to visit Florida. Tii(\v tliinU it will he inipD^siijlc for tlicin to go to Cuba. At Xfw Orleans Mr. ivoot had one or two slifilit attacks of chills: hiii we hope the trouble will not be permanent. A i..\1{(;k amount of correspondenee which we are unable to print furnishes i)lenty of evi- dence to show that sealed covers, no upward ventilation, and large entrances, are essentials for successful outdoor wiiuvriug. Few if any argue for absorbents and upward ventilation. TIk' fact that the straws all blow the same way is suggestive. _________ It has been rumored, though we are unable to get hold of the exact information, that n cer- tain Canadian association of bee-keepeisdeclar- ed that the Porter bee-escape was objectionable in that it tore the wings of liie bees. We can hardly see how this is possible, but yet we should like information, either from the ("anadi- ans or any one else in a position to know. A FKW days ago a letter came to hand, bring- ing the sad intelligence of the death of Mr. Earle Clickinger. the well-know- commission merchant of Columbus. As, no doubt, many bee-keepers have sent him consignments of honey, we are requested to announce that all his affairs will l)e satisfactorily settled as soon as possible. Mr. Clickinger died quite suddenly when away from home on a business-trip. As evidence of the way tix(>d frames are be- ing seli'cted. our sui)erintendent, Mr. Warner, informs us that we are now turning out 500() Hoffman frames every day. This rate has been maintained ever since the first of .January. I'rior to that we were making 3(XXJ a day. and the demand seems to be increasing. At present, fixed frames are outselling the loose ones ten to one. This shows that bee-keepers who have tested the fixed frames for a year or so back like them. Jx'ST as we received notice of the discontinu- ance of friend Andreu's enterprising sheet. V(j1. I. No. 1 oi El C(jliiteneni Espanol ('Hie 8iiani>li Apiary) comes to our table, published by En- rique de Mercad(>r-Bellocli. at Barcelona. Spain. It has It) pages the size of these, very nicely printed. As indicative of the hold that modern apiculture has already obtained on the minds of the .Spanish people, we (inote the following: Bees sliould be kept only in modern or li-inu' hives— the only ones wliidi, ;iccoi'dinfr to our mind, sliouki be employed in tlie pnjduetion of lioiicy. The appearance of this journal is a sign in the right direction, and we are glad to [dace it on our list of valued exchanges. Wk had a very pleasant visit from Dr. C. C. Miller. On the day of his arrival, Feb. )2, we were just recovering from a severe attack of earache and grip, and foi'tunately he came just in time to heli) us out in our editorial work just as the last forms of the Feburary numbcir wen; nearly ready to go to press. He "was very much plea.sed and interested in som«! of the new de- velopemiits at the Home of the Hoiuiy-bees. and especially admired the principle of the Cowan eMiaclor. While here he suggested a new wrinkle, lie showed how we conld make ibis machine iilnict Imllt shit's of llir fiunhs ii'illniiil slopiiiiKj the c.rlniilin- \H>. not even so much as reveising the crank. If he was awk- ward with the Daisy foundalion-fasteiier (see Sira\\s. this issue), he was vei'v expci't in ma- nipulating the Cowan reversible extractor on the new idea. He was the first to discover it . so far as we know, and we will let him tell how it is done, himself. A qfi';i<;N-i{i!K,i';i)i^:K asks our advice as to whether it will pay him to advertise tested (J ueens at .*!.:.'.■) and untested at ^l.fKi. It is im- possible to answer this (juestion by yes or no. as the success oi- failure of such advertising de- pends upon several conditions. The queen- breeder who advertises (pieeiis must advertise continuously in order that the bee-keeping i)ub- lic may become familiar with his name: and he must do exactly as he agrees. Of all things most ruinous to a queen-breeder's business, it is to take the cash for an order, and tliiMi send a qui'en a month or even longer after the queen is ordered. Wlnui a bee-keejjer incloses casli for a (|n(>en during the later spring ami early summer months, he lias a good right to expect her to be sent by return mail. When a man suddenly discovers a hive is quears an article from Emerson E. Hasty. Said article raises a question as to whether we may not. in i)Oor seasons, when natural sources fail us, feed sugar syrup to our bees to ])roduce comb honey; and while Mr. "Hasty does not for a moment advise selling such honey as |)ure clover or pure basswood. he thinks that, (/ sugar-fed comb honey can be produced at a profit, and sold for what it is— that is, cane- sugar honey, there is no si)ecial harm done. So far we agree with Mr. Hasty. But the great trouble is, not all the world is as conscientious and honest as is our friend from Richards. Ohio. If such were the case there would be no danger inraisingthequestion. But. unfortunately, there are bad men in the world who might take the knowledge gained by Mr. Hasty 's article and make a bad use of it. And, again, if bee-keepers were to buy sugar syru]), stating that they were to use it to feed for comb honey, the newspapers would pretty likely get hold of it and herald forth that bee-keepers wei-e making a general practice of this sort of thing, and were selling it for i)ure comb honey, even if the bee-keeper in- tended to sell it for cane-sugar comb honey. It is a good maxim to avoid the appearance of evil, so long as we have nothing definite to prove that sugar-cane comb honey can be i)ro- duced at a profit, and we somewhat question it.* It is not always best to have truth come out. For instance, it might be argued that it would be very unwise for any ])eriodical to iniblish how to make dynamite" bombs, giving all the necessary details for their manufacture. If the people of the world were all honest, no harm would result from the publication of such mat- ter; liut. unfortunately, again, there are evil men who miglit. with the knowledge thus so easily obtained, do great mischief. While we are compelled to believe the publi- cation of the article relative to sugar-cane comb honey was a mistake, we do not for a moment question th(^ motives or intentions, either of Mr. Hasty or our friend the editor. Mr. Hutch- inson. In fact, «o one can question the inten- tions of either; and perhaps, under the circum- stances, the less said abo\ititthe better. The article may do more harm since it api)ears in a first-class, neatly printed and well-edited bee- journal — one that does honor and crcMlit to oui' bee-literature, and because the writer, Mr. Has- ty, stands high as a contributor and correspon- * Mr. A. F. Unterkircher (see pag-e 101, Gt.eanings for '86> in feeding' l):ick to pidduce CDnib honey, out of 3500 lbs. so fed received only 1-'5U lbs. of fed comb honey. At tliis rate, .sugar-fed conil) lioney would not pay at 11 cts. per lb. dent— oue whose writings are invariably spiced with good humor and wit. For instance, right before us is a letter from a subscriber, who, hav- ing read Mr. Hasty's article, proposes in all se- riousness to feed his bees cane sugar to secure comb honey, as the natural sources liave failed him for several years. He does not say whether he will sell it for what it is or for strictly bee-comb honey. This same writer says further, that heretofore he regarded the practice as unproHtable; but if it can be made to |)ay, as hinted by Mr. Hasty, he is going to " make " that kind of honey. This man is hon- est enough to admit it: but are there not some others who would produce the cane-sugar honey and keep still about it '? ADULTERATING EXTR.A^CTEI) HONEY, AND TO WHAT p:xtent the practice exists. For some weeks back we have been investi- gating to what extent extracted honey is being adulterated on the markets: and while we were loth to believe at first that it was done to any appreciable extent, we are compelled to ac- knowledge, from the evidence in hand, that there is probably at least some of it done by a few disreputable packing-houses: but we have no reason to suppose that it is practiced to the extent of " hundreds of tons," as first announc- ed. The shameful thing about it is, that one or two wholesale grocery establishments (see Baldridge's article elsewhere) are oiTerlng two lines of goods — one adulterated and the other pure. The traveling salesman will offer to the trade adulterated honey, put up in glass pack- ages, at a price considerably below what the same package can be supplied filled with the pure article, and the groceryman is given his choice. They both look equally showy, and both taste well, and some grocerymen will buy the adulterated because it is cheaper, and sell it for '■ strictly pure." Fortunately this barefaced dishonesty is not practiced to any great extent, because the traveling men themselves "give the whole thing away." There is anothi'r class of mixers who sell only adulterated goods, and yet label them " Strictly Pure Clover Honey." We have samples of the latter goods sent us. and the glucose flavor is unmistakable and prominent, and Dr. Miller; who was with us agrees. The packages in question were made up of jelly-tumblers and bottles. Each package contained a small piece of genuine broken-comb honey, and around it is poured a glucose mixture. By way of paren- thesis right here, it may be well to warn the pub- lic against buying jars of honey (?) containing a piece of comb in it. The latter is probably only a snare and a delusion, and is intended to give the package the appearance of honesty. We do not believe there is a single bee-keeper who puts up broken-comb honey in this style — that is. w(^ n)ean pure honey without any glucose adulteiation: and we would warn consumers against buying hon(\v (".*) containing a piece of comb labelled with the name of some big city packing-house. Now, (tleaninos docs not propose to stand idly by and do nothing about it. Just at pres- ent it is not pertinent or wise to make known our plans. Bui before we get through we will try hard to make some one squirm. Now, it may pei-haps seem a little unwise to come out with the knowledge that extracted honey may be adulterated. Heretofore we had not believed (and the evidence at hand was not sufficient to convince us) that extracted honey could be adulterated at a profit. If it is adul- terated, and it surely is to some extent, it is un- wise to keep still and let it go on, for that would only give license to evil men. and allow the evil to spread. IS'.''.' (;i,i;.\MN(;s in hi:i: ciM^'rriiE. 177 Special Notices. PKAVINK, Oil M AMMIITH, CI.OVKH SKED. Till' piico of iliis s«>c(l li:is lu'cii on llic iipwar«>s RatlitT lioiu'v fidiii I his vuiifly most rciidi- Iv. Wo havo soint' (•lioici- src repiital ion. If yon are iidi'iested in e.vaiiiininfi' the neat and tasty priee list of these tools, we shall l)e ph a.sed 1o mail you one. inclosinj,'' oiii- s|)eeial nel-piioe sheet oUerinf;' the tools at eon- siderabh h--s than list priees. Mailed fret on re- '«'si. ■ BEESW.W W.VXTED. Tiie mai-ket in beeswax has toned up (piitea little, so that wet'an oiler, till further noiii'C. »7 c per lb. I'iusli. 30 e in trade, for averajic wax dt.'livered here. He sure to put your name and addri^ss In oi' on the packaiL'-e when you send us wax. for we ai-e daily re- eeivin«r it ; i\\'h\ unless von are careful to liiark your bo.x it jrive^ considerable annoyanei'. We have "bad two orlhi-ee such caseslately. Ourselling- price will be 32 cents for averajre, a5 for .selected. No eliaiig'e to note in the price of comb foundation. SWKET Cr.OVEK— .MEf.ILOTUS AL,B.\. Since tin- appearance of the artieli- on this variety of clover .found on pajiX' 91. the wi'iter has received numerous imniiries in regard to seed, and writes re- c; 3 lbs. for ^^l.iO. I{> fi'eighl or express, at your i'Xi)ense, I lb., 2.-. c; 4 lbs, 1^1.0 1; 1 peck, «2.S,I; >^ bushel, *5.4(); 1 bushel, *l0.5n; 2 bushels or over, *10.Cfl per buslie . IJags included in such ease. MAIT.E SUOAR AND SVRll'. The niaple-siig;ir season is here, and the woods arc; aglow with I he tiles of the sugar-camp. The toiliTS in this industry are wending their way from tree to tree, gathering nature's sweet, and reducing it to those delicious sweetsthatsur|)ass honey itself. Ohio is the home of the niiiple, and our Slate has laws so strict that it makesit a seriovis mat ler to aflulterate the products of the maple-sugar eamp; and llio.se within the State who are found daring enough for this nefarious business are few and far between, if. iiifleed, they exist at all. As a conseiiuence. ( )hio s.\iup ami sugar have a national reputation for purity, and, as a further consequence, our s;des have greatly increased the i)ast year. The sugar bounty does not ai)ply to niai)le syrup, and to sugar it is in such shape as to be of no benefit to the or- dinary prodiKH'r. A nice article of syrup brings ju.st as much now since the reduction in inice of other sugars as bt'fore. and there is not much chaiigi' in the price of maple sugar. Tliese piodiicls have a market of their own. just as much as honey, and a fancy article will bring just as good a price in one as in the other. There are man.y thousands of gallons of syrup produced within a radius of 20 miles of Medina, be- sides large quantities of sugar. To help these pro- ducers we have for jcars been the medium for find- ing a market for a large part of tlieir product. The first run is just coming to market as this goes to press; and in from one to three weeks we shall, no doubt, be alile to supply all demands at the follow- insf prices: Choice s.vrup in 1-ga lion cans, $1.20 iter gallon; 10 gallons, $10 51; 20 gallons or more, SI. 00 per gallon, w"ll i)iirked, and (klivered on board cars here. Ma- ple sugar we offer in three grades: No. 1, extra, at 9c per U).; No. 2, good, at 8c; and No. 3, fair, at 7c I)er lb. In 5ll-lb. lots, >^c jier lb. less. In barrel lots of about 3uO lbs.. Ic jier lb. less. Sugar is in cakes of from 2 to 10 lbs. each, mostly 4 to 6 lbs. in a cake. We lm\At Sugar-Bush BV IPI^OI^- ^A^. J. COOI^, AUTHOR OF THE HKh-li EHfKR'S GUIDE, lyjIHJOl'S /A'- SKCTS OF MICHIGAN, HTC. The name of the author is enough of itself to rec- cmmeud any book to almost any people; but this one on Maple Sugar is written in Prof. Cook's hap- piest style. It is -« PROFUSELY •* ILLUSTRATED.fr- And all the diflicult points in regard to making the very best quality of Maple Syrup and Maple Su- gar are very fully explained. All recent inven- tions in apparatus, and methods of making this delicious product of the farm, are fully described. I»It.IC3:EIi 33 C:«».j loyAXail.38 C7ts. A. I. ROOT, MEDINA, O, Ulllili sell m.v Barne«» Foot-Poiver Saw for •' $15 cash in advance. Saw in fair running or- der. Attachmente, 1 cut-off saw 6 in. in diameter; 1 rip, 7 in.. oii(> (5. one 4: one grooving. 4-in. ; 1 emery wheel. 4 in.; 1 cutter-head, X in. .5d .lONAS E. HERSKBEKGER, Grantsville. Garrett Co.. Md. U2 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mai: 1. Oinstrain of ITALIANS have reached tlie top. They are HUMMERS when you want bees for honey. Queens bred for business. Make airjing-ements to order now, to be delivered when wanted. BEE SUPPLfEA AT WHOLESALE AND RETAIL. For further information about bee- fl.vtures, send for circular. JNO. NEBEL A SON. 4tfdb High Hii.i,, Mo. Please mention this paper. POSITIVELY by retuin mail I will ship war- ranted jnirely mated Italian queens at fl each; testid, $1.5 I; "select tested, yellow to the tip, $:i. I jiuarantee salisfaction, and refer you to A. I. Root, \V. Z. Hutchinson, I). A. Jones, oi- my thou- sands oi eustomeis. \V. H. LAWS, Lavaca, Seb. Co., Ark. lyin responding to this advertisement mention ULitAMNUb Send for our new price list of Bee supplies and Fruit pack- ag'es. A liber- al discount al- lowed on win- ter orders. Ad- dress BERLIN FRUIT BOX CO., Berlin Heights Erie Co., Ohio. l-6db l^"ln responding to tins aavertlsement mention CtLKaninoh TEXAS. Queens by return mail .-i specialty. Untested, Marcli, April, and May, $1.00 each; six, $5.00; after, 'i'5ceach; six, 14.20, or $8.00 per dozen. Discount on larger orders. Contracts made to furnish certain number weekly. The above are the three-banded Italians. I also breed the five-banded strains at above price except tested, of which I will have none till April 15th. A few fine breeder.s, eitlier race, *5.00. I have changed my postottice from Farmersville, Texas, to Floyd. Money-order office, Greenville. JENNIE ATCHLEY. Itfdb Floyd, Hunt Co., Texas. |^"ln responding to this advei-tiseTiiont mnntion ULEAXTNGa. My Catalogue of APIARIAN SUPPLIES for 1892 is free : My Pamphlet, "HOW I PRODUCE COMB HONEY," by Mail. 5 cts. GEO. E. HILTON, Fremont. Mich. Please mention GLEANINGS. -MSdb ST. JOE. 2v£0. We have the latest hive out, and the onlv full stock of suiiplies. Write E. T. ABBOTT. 4tfdb ^BBST OX7 SARTXI-I^ ELEVEN YEARS WITHOUT A PARALLEL, AND THE STAND- ARD IN EVERY i.'IVlLIZED COUNTRY. Bingham &. Hetherington Patent Uncapping-Knife, Standard Size. Bingham's Patent Smokers, Six Sizes and Prices. Doctor Smoker, 33^ in. postpaid . . .S2.tK) Conqueror " 3 " . . 1.75 Large - 2^ " . . 1.50 Extra (wide shield) 2 " .. 1.25 Plain (nariow •' } 2 .. 100 Little Wonder. \X " .. 65 [Jneapping Knife ..115 is Sent promptly on receipt of price. To sell again, send for dozen and half-dozen rates. Milledgeville, 111 , March 8, 1890. Sirs:— Smokers received to-day. and count cor- rectly. Am ready for orders. If others feel as I do vour trade will boom. Truly, F. A. Snell,. Vermillion, S. Dak., Feb. 17, 1890. Stks:— I consider your smokers the best made for any purpose. I have had 15 \ ears' experience with ■30(1 or 4it0 swarms of bees, and know whereof I speak. Very truly^ R A Morgan. Sarahsvdle. Ohio. March 12. 1890. SiHS: — The smoker I have has done good service since 1883. Yours truly, D.a.niel Brothers. Sond for descriptive circular and testimonials to Itfdb BiKOHAU & HsTBEsmsTOH. Abronia, Mich. APRAY YOUR FRUIT TREES I VINES & Wormy Fruit and Leaf Blight of Apples, Pean, Cherriea, CVPCI ClftD 8PRATIN* Grape and Potato Rot, Plam Oorenlis preTcnted by neing lAULLOIUii OUTFITS. PERFECT FRUIT ALWAYS SELLS AT GOOD PRICES. Oatalosne show, ing all injnrionB insects to Frnits mailed free TiOTge stenk of Fruit Trees. Vines, and Berry Plants at Bottom I'riceH. Addresa WM. STAUL, Quincy, Ills. f#"lii re>t)onaing to tlii.s atlv leiit Biention GLEANINaa. ROOT'S GOODS FOR THE EAST. Bee-Keepers of the East should DC8r In JyI i no '^^^*^^'^*^^®^'^*^^'^^^<^*^sy^"*^"s®^" E3 stern Drsnch where our IJce-keepei-s' Supplies are kept for sale, and prompt shipment. You can save time and freight by ordering from our Eastern Branch. We have engaged Mr. F. A. Sal- isbury to take charge of this business, and he will treat you well. He will be pleased to send you a list of goods kept in stock. Add less all orders, EASTERN BRANCH, F. A. SALISBURY, Agent, Syracuse, N. Y. Me£ ti^LEANlNGS IN HHE CULTURE. TREES and PLANTS that thrive in Northern climates, as well as for Southern. Why not buy direct at half the price usually paid to Tree ajjents ? Lovett's Guide to Horticulture is issued, of course, with the object of selling goods, but we also bear in mind that the public will not be satisfied to have us blow our QUEEN. Simplicity Hive and Frame or Hoffman Closed-End Framt; and Hivo. JOHN A. THORNTON, *■'*"' Lima, Illinois. Please mHntlon this paper. I-OCATIOlSr I» a bijr jtx/Dif. in supply ing' jrood.s; ours g:i\os you low frcifflit rates. As we sell low, you sliould have our circuhii' of siipiilies. l-18dh I. J.STRINGHAM, 92 BARCLAY ST., N. Y. I'leiisp mention tliis paper. ALSIKE. Now is tlie time to sow, and riuriiitr the ne.x't two months. We have a jToofl supply of choice seed at the following- pi-ices, which are low for the present condition of tlu^ market: 1 lb., postjiaid, .nr; '.i ll.s. f<.r •'fl.OO. 1 lb. with other froods. li.ic; 4 lbs. for ■'fl.(KI. 1 peck (].") lbs. I. *;.'.«); ;4 bushel, $0.40. 1 bushel. 110.5(1; ^' bushels, lau.Oi. Bag included in every case. A. I. ROOT, Medina, O. Everybody Admihs. 0ther5eeds^^Equallyi^Reliable •Seed Annual free, -- wriie For ih NOW! A. Af/. LIVINGSTON'S SONSj t9*In respondintr to this advertisement mention GleaNINos. TEXAS. Queens by return mall a specialty. I'ntested, March, April, and May, fl.OO each; six, $,5.00; after, VSceaeh; six, $4.30, or $8.00 per dozen. Discount on larjfer orders. Contracts made to furnish ceitain number weekly. The above are tlie tliree-l)arided Italians. I also breed the five banded sti'ains at above price except tested, of which T will have none till April l.'ith. A few tine breeders, either race, *.5.00. 1 luive chantred my postoffice from Farmersville, Texas, to P'loj d. Money-order office, Greenville. JENNIE ATCHLEY. Itfdb Flovd. Hunt Co., Texas. tyin responding to this advertisement mention OJLkaninos. J. C. SIJLYLES, HARTFORD, WIS., Manufactures Apiarian Supplies of Every Description. Catauogue Free to All. Send Your Address. 3tfdb t'lease mention this paper. Honey ^ E:>^ttTaGtoi^. Square Glass Honey-Jans, Tin Buckets, Bee-hives. Honey-Seetions, &e., &e. Perfection Cold-Blast Snookers. APPLY TO ^^^ v^^-^^■^.r^.^ CHflS. F. jnVTH & SON, Cincinnati, O. Send lOct. stamp for "Practical Hints to Bee keepers.'' Please mention this paper. Wholesale and Retail Manuiacturer and Dealer m BEE-KEEPERS' SUPPLIES. ONE-PIECE SECTIONS A SPECIALTY, AS GOOD AS THE BEST. Send foi- catalop-ue. W. E. SMITH, 5tfdl) Sncce.ti.sdr to Smith A Smith, Kenton, Hardin Co., Ohio. In wiiting advertisers please mention this paper Bee-Hives ^ Sections A specialty. Foundation, Sniokeis, etc.. In .stock. Send for new list, free. 4tfdb W. D. SOPER, Jackson, Mich. Choice Fowls and Egg-s for sale at all times. Finely illustrated circu- lar free. GEEK BKO? St. Marys. Mo. 31tfdb POULTRY. GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Ma£. 16. Contents of this Number. Absorbents v. Sealed Gov's. 198 After-swarms 207 Alum for Snakebites 206 Antonv Bumpke's Scrape... 200 Boiint V, Elw.iud on 197 Cases, Outside Winter 2J6 liistani-e, Fi.xed, A Bad 2(13 ExcUiders, Propolized 207 Kxtractor, Goold 191 Koul Brood Not in Nebr'ka.205 (ij-artinp Honey. Miller 189 Hiver, Pratt's 199 Uniiey, ,\rtifirial 212 H.mt'v. Evaiii. rating ...206.207 Hnniv, l'i.i>(.n 205 Honey. Cost of 184—189 Honey, (irailing 191 Honey from Sugar 202 Honey-dew in Cellar 303 Manum Running 5 .\piariesl88 Mountain Laurel 206 Moving to a Ne . Place 212 Old Mission 212 Onion, Prizetaker 20."> Paralysis, Bee 201 Planting for Bees 203 Queens Dying 2fi6 Queens, Mating Habits of.. .193 Rambler in Sacramento. ..196 Salt for Foul Brood 19.i Spraying Trees 192 Wax Secretion 202 Wilson's Peak 207 Wings, Injury to 207 CIHCULAKS RECEIVED. Catalogues have lately been receivelic:itions that have accumulated for the past few months. If any who lia\ e already written foi- one do not receive itwith- iii the ne.\t ten days, drop us a postal, with another request. We have no change in price to note, our prices being the same as last year, and given in con- densed form on page 51 of our catalogue. We shall be pleased to mail the special list to any on applica- tion. MAPLE SUGAR AND SYRUP. Since the appearance of the notice of sugar and syrup in last number we have received a good many orders, especially for .sugar. We have also had a spell of winter weather, so that very little sugar lias been brought in yet by the producers, although we have syrup enough oftered to meet all demands. We hope very soon to have plenty of sugar for all ordei-s. In former years we have always had a sur- plus, and see no reason wliy we should not have enough for all demands this year. As we have three grades of sugar, and syrup is offered us in about iis great variety, we have decided to offer you two grades of this. No, 1 gilt-edge will be $1.30 per gal- lon; 10 gal., $10.50. No. 2, good quality, $1.00 per gallon; 10 gal., $8.50. What we list here as No. 3 good is liked by some fully as well as the gilt-edge, ;ind bj' some even better. It is a good ordinary run of syrup, and we can supply you all you want at above figures. NEW HA51MOND TYPEWRITER FOB $60.00. We have a new Hammond typewriter that has not done two full days' "work, that we offer for sixty dollars. It has the " Universal " keyboard, same ai-- rangement as the Remington. We got the machine expecting to use it in our office because of .some superior polntsthatitpossessesover other machines. We found on trial, however, that, although the ar- rangement of the keys is the same, the touch of them is so different that a Remington operator could not write successfully on the Hammond without learning over again. The Remington and other similar macliines have the staccato (or piano) finger movement, while the Hammond has the legato (or organ) movement. The Hammond seems to be preferred by clergymen and other pro- fessional men who do not use it continuously as we do in a business office. Dr. Miller and G. M. Doo- little both use and prefer the Hammond, and would no doubt tell you that the above offer is a bargain. A GOOD TIME COMING. As a rule I do not like to hear people gi-umble; but there is one kind of grumbling that I am watch- ing and waiting for— yes, I am hungering to hear a little of it. When it comes I expect it to be some- thing along in this line: "What has got into these farming people V They are getting so thej' charge a body just wliat they have a mind to, and they know we can not help ourselves. Clover seed that used to be three or tour dollars a bushel is now eight and ten; and these bee-keepers that raise alsike want even more. The yellow onion-sets are $7.00 a busliel at wholesale. Wheat and Hour are going up con- stantly, and nobody knows what things are coming to." Well, friends, I have not heard anybody„say just tliat; but in looking o%'er a price list dated March 15* of seeds, etc., 1 thought it looked' some- thing like it. There has been, as you know, a ten- dency to run away from the farms, and crowd into town; and I fully expect that tliese people who like real progressive farming are going to have a good time after a little. So don't you be in a hurry to desert the farm where vou are now doing even tolerably well. A. I. R. CLOVER SEED. Two weeks ago we announced an advance In the price of pea vine or mammoth clover seed from $6.00 to $7, iiO per bushel. It has .since gone up at such a rate that it is worth to-day fully as mucli tis alsike, which we are selling at $10.50, or two bushels for $20.00. Common red or medium clover is al.so the same price. This ought to stimulate the demand for alsike seed, because it does not require more than half as many pounds of .seed to the acre as of the large clovers, because tlie seed is so fine. You can see from the article on page 165 of last issue that it is fully as valuable for hay, as well as for a paying seed crop. We have a good supply of choice seed at prices last n;iiiied. We <-an not fill orders alter this date for i)ea\ iue at less than the price of alsike, unless the market subsides again. You may be sure we will give you the best price we can, con- sistent with the market as it lules at the time jjour order comes. Some few are so unreasonable as to insist that we fill orders at the catalogue price printed some time ago, no matter where the mai"- ket goes or wliat we have to pay. As a rule, these are the people who do not watch the market and In- form themselves of what is going on. When^.the market is so unsteady as it has been on clover for the past two or three montlis, there is no printed 18W GLEANIN(JS IN IlEE CULTURE. jii-loo li^t iliat i-;in kwp puce wil li It; iiiid we dis- riiu'tly stalo that piii-cs ai'i> subjivt to cliaiiKi' wllli- mit iiolioc. A> wi' liavc a KiMxl supply of iilsike wo I'uii iiiaiiitaiii prfscni prico. DKOLINK IN THE PUICES OK G.VHUKN SEEDS. Ill flxiiiK llu> pricos oil our soods wi- do not wish to 1)0 1h>1ow otlior n'liabU' svodsiiuMi, neitlicr do wi' wisli to 1)0 al)o\'o thorn. Wlioii wo kh'w a tliio stock Willi iniioli pains and caro, wo at onco consult otl'i rs from various rolialilo sources, and tlx our pricos ac- oordin>rly. If wo discovor lator that sonio roliablo )rrowor lias (j-ivon a bolter prico, of coiiist' W(> nnisl adopt tlio saiiH" piico, whotlior wo inako or lose in iho oporalion. Tlu'rot'ort' wi' niako tlio following chan>ro8 in our catalojiuo for IS!':.'. In takinf4' thoso pricos, ])loa.so romoiiibor tlio.\ aw tifrurod so close that, whoii soeds are wanted l)\ mail, you must add 1 ci'iit |)or ouiico; Sc iior half-pound, or (tc por pound, to cover postajro and packing. Peas and beans by the pint and (|uari must alsi) have 8c por pint and I'lc i>or <|uart added. On corn, aiid l~c per quart. NEW PUiiEs ON (..\ki>i;n seeds. Heiid(M-soii"s bush lima bean. Qt., 4l)c; pock, l-I.T"). Kidney wax bean. Pint, 15c; peck, 11,50. Extra earl.v Jersey pole lima beans, Qt,, 30c; pk., 12 ■ 5 kinjr of the Garden lima, Qt., aic; peck, $2.25. Heiidei-son's Earlv Summer cabbajre. Oz., 20c; lb., $2.2;). Pottler's Brunswick. O/,., 2lV: lb.. *2,00. Larg-o Red Drumhead. Oz.,2Je; lb., $2.25. Dwarf Golden Heart celery. Oz., 15c; lb., $1.75. Corn, Corey's Extra Early; Slioepeg; Lato Mam- moth, and Gold Coin will all be sold at tbe uniform price of H |)int, 5c; qt., l-5c; peck, 75; bushel, $2.75. Lettuce. Grand Kapids. ()/.. 20c; lb.. $2.25. Muskmelons, Emerald. Oz.. lUc; lb.. 75. Miller's Cream, same as ab(we. Onions, Silverskin, or white Portugal. Oz.. 25c; lb., $:}.00. Yellow Globe Danvers. Oz.,20c; lb., $2.00; 5 lbs., $1.75 peril). White Victoria. Oz . 25c; lb.. $3.00. Parsnip. Improved Guernsey. I,b.. -tOc; 10 lbs., *;^.()0. Peas, Alaska. Peck. $1..50; bushel. $5.00. American Wonder. Peck, $1.75; bushel, *«.(KI. Stratatrom. Qt..2.5c; peck. $1.75. ••Sandwich Island oyster-i)laiit. Oz., 10c; lb., $1.2.5. .Squash, (iiaiit Summer Crookm-ck. Oz., 10c; lb., 65. Hubbard squash. ()/.., 10c; lb., 6.5. Tomato. Golden Queen. Oz., ;iOc; lb., $2..50. Iirnotum. Oz.,25c; lb., $2.60. Dwarf Champion. Oz., 20c; lb., $2..50. Turnip. Broadstone. Oz., Ulc; lb., 8iic. Those who have iiurchased since the tirsl of .hiii- iiary, and who have paid enough more than the above ttfrures to make it worth while to call our at- tention to the fact, can have a rebate correspond- ing' to the above, when they make it known. Prices of other seeds will bo as in our seed catalog'ue. which is read.v to mail on application. As usual, there are liable to be sudden chang-es, without no- tice. As an illustration: Almost every .seedsman in the I'nited States has sold out on the Prizt-taker onion, thei-efore the i>iice has gone up 80 tiiat it would 1)0 impossible for us to hold to our printed price list wore it not for the fact that our boys got the prico pretty well ui) to start with— $6,00 per lb. .lust now the very best tiguro that can be obtained of William Henry Manlo. the originator, even on lO.T-lb. lots, is $5.00. Thus you .see why a soodsnian must add. "All prices are subject to sudden ad- vances without notice." The rapid Huct uations on clover seed within a few days (see mention ol.se- wheret is a vivid illustration of this. Therefore do not g(!t cross and()itll your seedsman names liecauso he scjnietimes finds e\erybodj- sold out to such an extent that he absolutely cun not adhere to his printed price list. COLD-FRAME « ABBACE-PLANTS. We have three or foui' thousand of these that we slnjuld be glad to dispose of at once, as the room they occupy is wanted for other purposes. Of cf)urse. they are the Jersey Wakefield. Ho/^Er Column. STANLEY EXTKACTORS. We desire to notify those in want of these ma- chines tliat we are now the manufacturers, having bought out the stock and good will from E. R. New- romb, and the control of the patent from G. W. Stanley. We have a good stock of machines read.v lor prompt shipment. CITY MARKETS. Detroit. //((jie(/.—Con)l) honey is selling very slowly. Stocks rather low. Host bringing 13. E.\- traotod, 7®s. Bicswax, llrmor at at 2«('«-27. M. II. Hunt. Miif- '•'• Bell lir.inch. Midi. Cincinnati. Ho»icjy.— No change in the market since our hist. Demand is slow. Extracted lioney brings ."(^^^< on arrival. Comb honey sells at 14@l"6 for liosi white in a jobbing wav. liicxuHU-.' There is a fair ilemand for this, at ,2;^@25. for good to choice yellow on arrival. (Has. F. Muth. Mar. 0. Cincinnati, Ohio. Saint Louis.— Honey.— Market very quiet in comb, atunchaiigod prices. Some inquiry for extracted at 5 J,, in barrels: 6Vi@7 in cans. Beeswax, prime, 27. Mil''- !'• D. G. TiJTT Gro. Co., St. Louis. Mo. Kansas City.— Honej/.— The market for all kinds of honey is very slow. The supply is large, demand light. We quote: No. 1 white, Mb., 14@15; No. 2. i:i@14; No. 1 amber, Mb., 10@12; No. 2, dark, H@W. Extracted, white, 7; amber, 6@6i4; dark, .5@5X. Beenwax. '£i@:ili. Mar. ft. ('LEMONS. Mason & Co.. Kansas C^it.v, Mo. Boston.— H()»6{/.— We quote you our li\). Ex- tracted, light, 7(ai8; dark, 6(a),7. Beeswax, '2h. ft-7d B. T. Baldwin, Marion. Ind. 'OR S.I1.E.— A No. 3 Novice E.vtractor. used only once. Price $ti.OO. Freight paid. C. C. GRIFFIN, Olean, N. Y. (iLEANlNGS IN BEE CULTURE. m 28-pag-e RESTRICTOR book. How ■ I* A A to avoid swarms, brace-combs, and losses I ■ 1*1? ■ in winter. How to get bees into sections inoneliour; and rear queens in full colonies, etc., same old fixtures. C. W. Dayton, Clinton, Wis. £4-23db Please mention this paper. EAKI-Y QTJEEITS, FROm our branch Apiary in Texas, whicli is three miles from any other bees, and none but the best FIVE - HANDED Golden Italian Oueens used to rear Queens and Drones. Our bees are the gentlest, best workers, and most beau- tiful bees known. Safe arrival and entire satis- faction guaranteed, one Warranted Queen, Mai-ch and April, $1.25; 6 for $6.00. If you want the best, send for our circular at onee. l-,J4aD S. F. <* /. TREGO, SwEDONA, III. In writing to advertisers please mention this paper. BEE^^HIVESrSECflOIMS, ETC. We make the best goods and sell them cheap. Our Sections are far the best on the market Our Works turn out the most goods of any f acto- ^^OuV goods are known as the best throughout the United States and Europe. .:,„,4^„net Write for free, illustrated catalogue and price list. G. B. LEWIS CO., WATERTOWN, WIS. Please mention this paper. Itt'db THH BEE-KEEPEHS' f^EVIEOl IS f Progre.ssive and I'lactifHl ; I Fearless and Truthful ; 1 Unbiased and Independent ; [Entei-prising and Illustrated; And filled with IDEAS fr(mi cover to cover. Send 10 cts. for three back numbers and see if this is not a truthful advertisement; or. better still, send $1.00 and receive the Review one year. W. Z. HUTCHINSON, Flint. Mich. tyin responding to this advertisement mention Glkaninqs, DOVETAILED HIVES AND IXALIAN QUEENS. INLy 654 Colonies of ItsLlistns Ai-e wintering well, and, as usual, I will sell a lim- ited numbei- of them to reduce stock to the requirecl number. Each hive shipped to my customers mil contain a full prosperous colony of Itahan bees, with a la-st year's tested queen, on eight Hoftman frames of brood and honey. As my main object in handling bees is honey, we raise all our queens in full colonies from cells built under the swarming impulse, using the choicest and most profitable stock to breed from. , . ,, i « * i n. f Safe arrival guaranteed m May and first iialt ot June. For terms please address Send for price list of Italian Queens, Drones, Hives, Smokers, Foundation, etc. Finest breeding queen, after March 1, $4.00. Tested. $2.00; 3 for $.5.00. Untested, in April, $1.00; 6 for $5.00, or $9.00 per doz- en by mail. Safe arrival guaranteed. Orders for Queens booked for 20 days or more, 5 per cent dis- count. Make money orders payable at Clifton. 3tfdb COLWIOK & OOLWICK, NOKSE. BOSaUE CO., TEZAS. iT^lii responding' to this advertisement mention Glkaninos. 3-8db JULIUS HOFFMAN, RECORD BOOKS SliDW that recniei iiing, early in the s|>riiig, coloides liaving old WDrn-out queens, niori' than douhlen the yield iif surplus, and tends to PREVENT SWARMING. I make a specialty of contrart orders fur queens of the Leather-back strain of Italians. Queens ready to ship 1st to lOtli of Maich. A. F. BROWN, HUNTINGTON, PUTNAM CO., FLA. -t-ijd Agent Southern E.xpre.ss Co. ^?"In responuiiiK In this advertisement mention OLEAimias. tsriii respondinyr to this adveitis Good Queens Cheap. 300 tested Italian queens, laised last season, for sale at $1; $10 per doz. A few hybrids at 35c each. They will be shipped about June 15th to a.-ith, or later if desired. Have order booked now and send money when you want them. My bees liave been KRi^D J'^itH liVSINJiftS. and these are bar- gains. Nuclei and full colonies at very low rates. Send 35c for sample by mail of THE UTILITY BEE-ESCAPE. Thoroughlv tested, practical and cheap. It cleans them out and they stay out. .\ny one can make it. Get a sample and make your own. 4ttdb J. IL. GREEIT, Day-boa, 111. twin responding to this advertisement mention Gi-eaninqs- CANAJOEAEIE. H. T. T> U U SUPPLIES RETAIL — AND— WHOLESALE. 1 VI 1 11 Everytliiug used in the Apiary. ^^ MiJA^ Greatest variety and largest stock in the West. New catalog, 54 illustrated pages, free to bee-keepers. E. KEETOHMEE, EED OAE, IOWA. In writing advertisers please mention this paper. FnilNnATinN ^^"^ sections are my UUnUHIlUn specialties. No. 1 V-groove Sections at $;^.00 per tln)usand. Special prices to dealers. Send for free price list of every thing needed in the apiary. Stfdb M. H. HUNT. Bell Branch, Mich. t^"In respondinir to tliis adviici^fineiit mention (tLKanINOS. Send for I'rire JAnt to R. E. HARBAUGH, Sfnnuf'r ami Dealer in Bee- Keepers' Sajiplles. Breeder of Italian and Carniolan Bees and Queens, Light and Dark Colored Ferrets. S.'ith and Clay Sts., - - - st. .Toseph, Jtlo. I^"ln responding to tliis adverti.-^ement mention Glbaninos. Porter's Spring Bee-Escape. We guarantee it to be the best escape known, and far superior to all otliers. If, on trial of from one to a doz- en you do not find them so, or if they do not prove sat- isfactory in every way, return them by mail within 90 days after receipt, and we will refund your money. PRICES:— Each, by mail, postpaid, with full direc- tions 20c; per dozen, $3.35. Send for circular and testi- monials. Supply dealers, send for wholesale prices. lOtfdb R. (£ E. C. PORTER, LBWISTOWN. ILL. tS'"!" res|)oti(linK to this advertisement mention Gi.kanin • DELVOTELD-- •To-Be-E.^-.- •ANdHoNEY- ♦ANDHOMEL- •INTELFlESr^ IP-^perYeai^^ \g) Medina Ohio Vol. XX. MARCH 15, 1892. No. 6. 57'/?>?r Straws FROM DR. C. C. MILLER. I'm OFF THK FKXCK with both feet, standing up straight for no bounty. A WAIT, conn's from Minnesota, that tout cal- i'lpiilars arc destroying hasswood bloom. Mrs. Axtem, says in P. li. K. that "• it takos i)rains to care for boes."' .lust listen to horl Mica in stoves will soon become dim if you burn any thing but hard coal. No wood, paper, or soft coal. Thk C. B. J. thinivs it high time something were done about a bee-l<(-epcrs' convention at the World's Fail'. Adui.tekatiox exists. I'lentyofit. No use to blink the matter. Fight is "the word. No make-believe tight, either. Rkmemukk that bees consume six times as much honey in April as in December; and if you don't look out some will starve. Editoi; Cooi'eu. of the Bev -keepers' Mtuja- zine. is doing missionary work, trying to get people to plant tlower-seeds. Success to him. The Ont.^rk) J}ee-keepers' Association sends free to each member this year a copy of the C B. ./., th(^ same being a good paper. Aktifici.m, hoxev is made in (iermanyso good that scieuli lie men say it can't be d<'tected. Hut the bee-men say it tastes like burnt sugar. Am.ev has 32 colonies in the hous<>-apiary, with the view of g(!tting them strong earlier in the season. In May Api. he'll tell how it works. (roosEREKiiiKs. as houey-plauts. are recom- mended to be planted in fence-corners. evei-y- where. eveu in waste places, by F. Huck. in />ei/f.sr/(c [inker. Coi,oH.\i)() beats Michigan. L. Brock, at Colorado State convention, said it cost \% cents per pound to produce comb honey. Now. wh(j ■can do it for I'.j '? Mhs. Mii.ton Cone {Apl.) says a flock (jf J'e- kin ducks allowed the range of their apiary al- most depopulated the hives; but she raised 700 <;hickens all right. I SAW a hook about patents, on Ernest's desk. Has he so far departed from the way in whicli he was brought up as to be contemplating the getting-out of a patent? .May be he intends to patent sealed covers. J. U. \\.K\A. denies the soft impeachment that he advocat(v-i a ^s bee-space. I thought it seem- ed a pretty tight squeeze; but there it was. in cold print, on page 784. C. B. .1. Did the ('. B. J. printei- man monkey with those ligures ? I didn't I5ELIEVE (I. K. Hubbard was hard- hearted enough to keej) that boy standing al- ways working at his section press. The picture now shows him sitting down. U. Guiu.KH iRevieiv) thinks it probable that, the older the larva, the older the nnrse-bee that feeds it, a larva of one or two days being fed by a nurse not more than live days old; a nurse nine days old preparing a suitable diet for larVfV of four or live days. The PiJociKEssivE Bek-keepeh gets a raking from one of its patrons for using type so large that it •• is first- reader type, tit only for children to read." Yes; but, friend Urban, you don't know what a comfort to spectacled eyes is that same large type, so beautifully printed on nice paper. Fd GIVE quite a littl(^ to have friends Doolil- tle and Taylor shut in a room together to argue out the cost of honey— kept there till they agreed— and they would agree if they had time enough— and then have a phonograph report the whole thing. We'd get some valuable l)oints. The C. B. ./. calls the N. A. B. K. A. a stock company, and doubts "if a meeting of stock- holders will be as interesting as a convention of members.'' Say; if Fve been fooled into this thing, and we're not to have a convention of members any more, Fm going to get out and join the O. B. K. A.— if tliey'll let me. Outdoor wintering was a success with the; foiu' colonies I packed in the winter of 18t)0. I left out 12 last winter to try in winter cases. Failing to get cas(!s in time, I concluded to leave the 12 out without protection. I wanted to find out how th(;y would winter in that condition. I found out. .lust 100 per cent of them died dead. The name N. A. B. K. A. has too much al- phabet in it. R. McKnight, in C. B. J., short- ens it to N. a. I{. a. That's sensible, especially as '■ Jiee-keepers " is really only one word, and there is no initial K. Wouldn't it be sufficient- ly distinctive to call it. for short, '"North American Association.'' and use the initials • N. A. A."? QuiGEEY had bees in hives with flat covers. "After a light snow," he says' " the snow had melt(!d over the cluster on all of them, showing just where they had clnstc^red, while the snow on the covers of empty hives had not begun to melt. Don't you think from the above that some heat (>scapes through a ,"< hoard '.'" Y(>s. and it shows that packing ocer the lioard would be an imijrovement. " I IT.WE business relations with some 7;i so- cieties, and hav(! become iiersonally acquainted with more than 'VH)0 bee-keepers. Among the ;{000 I do not know of one drinker." So said Mr. ]84 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mar. 15. Glalow, in the Centralverein of Gormany. I think it has been noticeable that, in every body of tx'o-keepers I have ever seen, they were an exceptionally clean set of men. Mr. Glatow thinks bee-keeping helps to make them so. The laying of qitep;ns. the German writer Gerstung contends, is not continuous, but peri- odic, about 7 periods of 22 days each in a season; 10 or 17 days of laying, followed by 5 to 7 days of rest, makes the period of 2:3 days. I should have said eggs can be found any day in my hives: but if Gerstung is right, there ought to be a day or two every three weeks when there is not an egg in the hive. Let's watch, this summer. Thin sections, not more than l^-i thick, have the following strong points claimed in their fa- vor by the C. B. J.: Capped sooner than thick ones: whiter, because less time in hive: looks clearer when you lookthrongh the sections; hon- ey thicker; ships better; sells better. All right, friend Jones. I'll change to any thickness you say. if you get the rest to agree; but don't, please don't ask us to change from 4^4 for the Revicii\ says. "'In this age. grab-games of one kind and another get away with more than half of all we earn." But according to the three per.sons named above, it is not "' grab- games" which is doing this, but '" net profit" is to take nearly the whole. I wish it distinctly understood, that Doolittle believes that the labor of liands and brdins is just as much cost in producing honey as is the money spent in buying hives, crates, sections, or any of the other cash outlays; also that the labor of hands and brains is just as much cost in overseeing the apiary as it is cost in producing manufac- tured articles or in running anv other business of the country, where $1000, ISOOO, $10,000, or J!20.000 is often paid an efficient overseer. Yet, with Mr. Hilton all of this overseeing, and with Mr. Root all of his "supervising or superin- tending," is to go in as protit. When I was a boy at school, a classmate and myself were called the dullest scholars in the whole school. Doolittle finally went at bee-keeping, and the classmate as a salesman on the road. The classmate receives S2000 a year salary; but. ac- cording to Taylor, Doolittle should cost only other dimensions, jnst as we've settled on that ^45 f^f^^^ ^^^eks in the year (and that right at for a standard. ^ ^l^g time when the agricultural world pays the A COKKESPONDENT, referring to the editor's highest wages), that he may count all that he statement that he can get bee-work done for receives more than that as protit. If this is *1.50 to ?<2.00 per day. thinks emphasis should right, this classmate should call all he receives be placed on the qualifying clause, " providing over $1.07 a day. i)rotit. In a recent paper I see uie supervise or superihtoid the work." I don't that a certain company had employed a cer- see that there's anything particularly out of tain person to superintend their business at a balance in that correspondent's head. If you salary of >!18.(XX) a yeai'. Now. shall this man. had a number of hands and hired a superinten- dent, wouldn't you charge up the superinten- dent's time in expenses? And shouldn't you charge for your own superintending? Chemicai, analysis made by the U. S. Gov- ernment chemists, has in some cases decided that honey was adulterated, or " aijparently adulterated," which was known to be pure. Perhaps this is the explanation, which I get from the German: In polarization, honey turns to the left, cane sugar to the right. But honey- dew turns to the right also: and as even the finest samples of honey are likely to have just a little honey-dew in them, polarization would show "apparent" adulteration where there was none. Honey fok grip is going the rounds of the German dailies. Take daily a teaspoonful of honey and let it dissolve slowly on the tongue, as a prevcMitive. the formic acid killing the ba- cillus that attacks the mucus membrane of the throat. Honey dissolved in water and drawn into the nostrils hastens a cure. The Deutsche Imker adds that, besides being pure, the honey must not have been heated, for that dispels the formic acid. That's all right for a German ba- cillus; but do you suppose a wide-awake Illi- nois bacillus would give in for a little thing like that? COST OF COMB HONEY. AGAIN. DOOLITTLi: ItEPMES. The main part of my mission in this world is to stand for (rod, for the right, and for liuimtii- ity. Feeling this to be the case, and feeling tliat you, Mr. Editor, and Messrs. Taylor and Hilton, are wrong on this matter of the cost of comb honey, I crave the privilege of being heard again on this subject in Gi-eanings. The position you three take savors much of the ideas advocated by the hard-tisted and hard- hearU^d of this world, that a few should receive a Uirge shares of this world's goods, while the average person should work for a^aere pittiince. B. Taylor, in his noble article in the Febnuiry according to Hilton. Root, and Taylor, count all he receives above *].07 to S:.'.0O per day as profit? He cost the firm that amount (*18,(XX)). Would it have been any less cost had the pro- prietor taken that place and received thei=18.000 himself? No! 110! noI Let us be reasonable. If Mr. Hilton oversees his workmen and his apiary he is entitled to the worth of his intelli- g(mt brains, and that worth is cost, just as nuich as any part of the matter, and he is just as much entitled to good pay as is my classmate or the overseer mentioned above. These things are not profit, and it is not right to have it put before the world in that light. Again, when we speak about how much it costs to produce comb honey, we mean the cost with the (tver- (ige bee-keeper, if we would be fair, and not the cost with those who have exceptionally good facilities for its production cheaply. A man and his son once cut a bee-tree. They were gone fi'oni home two hours, and obtained 150 pounds of honey. This lioni'v cost only about ':; of a cent, a pound. Would it be right for me to say. "Tills is what it costs to produce a pound of comb honey"? I fancy I hear a tit- tering all along the line; and yet this is only on a level with Bro. Hilton's figures. What "has been done by one, others can do. In looking over "beedom," we find the average man keej)- ing one yard of bees, and this, in the majority of cases, gives the best results. To the care of these bees he devotes all of his energies, except the work usually done in the garden and his small i)1ace. If he were a belter nuin he could do more, but he can not be changed: besides, it takes a pretty fair sort of num to do tliis. This man could get. in some manufacturing town, from two to three dollars a day, and board him- self. Say he could get $(100 a year; then, as a bee-keeper, he is a six-hundred-dollai' man. and that is a part of the cost of producing his crop of honey. To claim otherwise is unworthy of the intelligence of an American citizen. If my classmate had gone into bee-keeping he would be a two-thousand-dollar man. and if he could not get that out of the bees he would go on the road again: and I see no logic that can make any net profit to him out of his bees till they m^ tihKANlNCS IN itKi: cui/ruKi':. 18.1 piiy him moii' tliiiii tlu' S.'lHK), besides and above the other neeessary exjieiises. (."an you. friend Root? If lliis is so— and 1 ran see notliinjr else —then I have a rijjhl lo tin- *.">.(Hi a day as tiie cost of my labor in (be bee-yai'd. if I I'an seeuic tliat mneli. I liave no objeciions to friend Roofs sayinji 1 am " siMling j^ood pay "' (thonph but a irilie eonipareii with what sonn- ai'X). as he does in his footnotes: hut when he sa\ s, "oi-. if you please, prolil," 1 don"l please, for tliat woidd l)e sayinjr that 1 was not worth as nuich to tiie world as my eipially dull elassmate, whom the world considers wortli nearly twenty peroent more than that. Of eourse. our six- hundred-dollar bee-keeper raises something on ids place, has his jjarden. and has his house- reiil: but it is usually as eheaj) to live in a hired iiouse as to kei'p one in repair, eounting interest on moin-y. W'liat he raises on his place is more than otlset. with the majority in the country, by its disadvantasies. such as the lack of best schools, best churches, and social privileges. Add ^i'M) a year to Hilton's orTaylor's estimate. and their showing will be very different, and very much nearer the truth. We -dve.ov xlnmliJ he. "talking of what (tctiKilhj ?.s. not what might be under the nn)st favorable or ideal conditions. A man running a supply business, a farm, or some other Inisiness. may sometimes get his honey cheaper, especially if he allows his other business to pay him the salary he is entitled to; but such would not be a correct and proper showing. I might mention other things which no one has taken into account so far. such as that, when the bee-keeper dies and his business is sold out. it decreases in value from :>0 to 7.5 per cent, while the average bee-keeper runs his business less than twenty years; change of sur- plus arrangements, etc., caused by continual improvement, long before they are worn out; buying (jueen -excluders, bee -escapes, drone- traps, and all of the many things necessary to keep up with th(^ times, which would make the interest nearer twenty per cent than the eight which Uro. Hilton allows. Much more might be said along this cost side, but T forbear. All know that the bee-keepers of our land are not getting rich, as far as dollars and cents are con- cerned: and it seems tome lo be a wrong idea to make such a great cry of pratit where there is so "little wool." (i. M. Doolitti.e. Borodino, X. Y. [Now. friend Doolittle, don't you think you are a leetle " hard-hearted " in intimating that our position •" savors of the hard-listed"? We agree with nearly all you say, and. it seems to us, you would hardly have ijroduced some of these self-evident arguments if yoti had taken in the i/7)o/c/orr-e of what we three said. Let us throw aside the term where we, split, profit and rust, and look at it this w ay: You are making a good living if you can get §5.00 per day out of the bees; so are Taylor and Hilton. The fact is, we are in reality on the same platform, only we didn't know it, or perhaps won't admit it. Dr. Millers article which follows makes this plain.] COST OF COMB HONEY. Dooi.n ri.i; s w a^es vs. tavlou Don't expect me to settle the "question. 1 don't know enough. Hut when three men. pos- sessed of as much intelligence as friends Tay- lor, Doolittle. and Hilton are so wide apart in tiieir conclusions, it is worth while to imiuire into the inatter and see whether it is not possi- ble to bring about a reconciliation. I have contidence in the honesty of the thre** men; and w hen they give difTerent answers to the same question, it must be they are looking from dif- ferent points of view. 1 wish wi' had from each of iJiem a statement as to what each means by prujit. Perhaps all thre<' w^ould agr<'e that prolit is the diderr'nce between cost and selling price; but they may not iill mean the same tiling by this. When it comes todelining ro.sA. I suspect they are using the word with different meanings. Doolittle says of Taylor, "■ Is not his time wortli just as much in the ai)iary as it is in the senate or anywhere else?"" May be. and may tje not. If "Mr. Taylor can get ^10 ner day for his tiine at the l)ar or in legislativi' halls, it does not fol- low that it is worth th<> same ev(!iyvvhere else. I can get a man to saw wood for ?^1.")0 per day. If the Hon. R. L. weri; to saw my wood. I shouldn"t like to pay him •■?]() a day for it. nor SI. 50. No. I wouhin't Ix- willing to jiay him §1.07. I doift think he's worth it. Hut I inight be very glad to i)ay him !?."> an hour if 1 needed his valuable advice on sotiie legal ])oint. So I don't believe Mr. Doolittle is right if In; wants us to believe that tiie same man"s time is woi'th the same amount w herevei- it is placed. I don't believe he meant to have us think so. A somewhat troublesome friend at my elbow stoutly insists that Doolittle is right. s"he says that, if he can make •«10 <'very day at his pro- fession, and I want him to stop a day to saw- wood for me. I ought not to expect him to do it for less than §10 — a putting of the case that I can not well refute. But I don't see that I'm getting ahead any at reconciling Doolittle's S5 a day with Taylor's ?!1.07. I tliink friend Taylor's position is some- thing like this: If I can get a man to do my work at •~?1.07 per day. then I ought to figure •■JLO? as the cost of labor, whether I do the work myself or get some one else to do it. Of course, when I coine to sell my honey I expect to get more than it has cost me, else where is there any profit in the business? And 1 am (Mititled to a prolit on the score of the skill and knowl- edge I have used in directing the lalior? If I interpret friend Doolittle correctly, he would say: "" It te(iuires skilled labor to work at bees; and during the busy season I would not be willing to work for another person for less than ^5 per day. neither do 1 think I could hire anyone of equal ability for a less amount. It seems quite clear, therefore, that, ^n per day is a fair amount to figure, in estimating the cost of honey." Now. when you get down to bedrock is there any real difference in the views of the two men ? To compare their real views more fairly, this (luestion might be, jjut to them: At what l)rice will you contract to sell all the honey you raise for the next thr(?e or five years? I doubt whether you would find them so very far apart in their answers. However they may talk to each other about the cost, when they come to sell the product, each one wants pay for the same thing, and probably about the same amount of i)ay. Taylor w ants pay for the labor and also for the skill; and Doolittle wants pay for his skilled labor. Where's the difference ? Mr. Doolitth; estimates that (")(KK) lbs. of honey cost .■>'.K)U. oi- 1.") cts. jier pound, and conseiniently there is no prolit in it when sold at 15 cts. per pound. .Mr. Taylor estimates that (')(M) ])onnds cost ?=:{75; therefore when sold at 15 cts. per pound there is a |)rotit of •s5:,'5. But, mark you. Mr. Taylor makes no charge for skill, and'Mr. Doolittle does — that is. he charges for skilled labor, which is skill and labor. I think the editor gives the key to the situa- tion when he says, on page 130, "When he charges himself ?5 per day for labor, and gets im GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mak. is. that much in return, he is getting good pay; or. if you please, profit." Tliat's it. pay or profit. It's a difference of names. Mi'. Doolittle gets his pay for his sli,eu. [You are quite right, doctor, and we are glad to have you explain it. The whole thing, as we understand it. in a nutshell, is this: Mr. Doolittle figures his profit, or pay. in the amount he charges himself or his apiary for his labor. Mr. Taylor figures in the actual cost of hired labor: and whatever he makes over and above expenses in the production of a crop of honey makes up his profit, and is therefore the pay for his skill in supervising. After all. the two cor- respondents mean about the same, only they look at it from difl(!rent standpoints. What one calls "' cost," the other divides into cost and profit. We can not help believe, however, but Mr. Taylor's use of terms is correct. Here is another well-written article from^Ir. Taylor.] ECONOMY IN HONEY PRODUCTION. TIIK COST OK A I'OUND OF HONEY : K. I,. TAV r,OR HEPT.IKS. In Gleanings of Feb. ]5th. and also in the AmerkuDi Bee Journal of Feb. IStli. I notice that Mr. Doolittle vigorously attacks my ad- dress on the above topic, delivered Dec. 31st last, at the meeting of the Michigan State Bee- keepers' Association; and being impressed with the surpassing importance of the subject. I am constrained to examine as briefly as 1 may, con- sistently with clearness, the objections he raises to the position I there took, and I shall first n^fer to his argumrnt in the Ainericati Bee Journal. Our critic there cites my partial indorsement of his figures, made four years ago. where I stated he. had overlooked the losses in winter and from disease. It is only necessary to reply that I am four years older than 1 was then. I trust I know more. Besides, I have found and use a hive that very greatly reduces the neces- sary amount of labor re(|nired in the apiary: and as to winter losses, 1 think I have learned how to reduce them to almost nothing. And then, if it were any sin to grow, it would come with ill grace from him to taunt me with it; for let him compare the. statement he made four years ago of the items which go to make up the cost of the production of honey with the one he makes in Gi,e.\nings now. Of course, he made each of them carefully and conscien- tiously, according to the light he had at the time. Then he put the time necessary to care for 100 colonies at 313 days; now he puts 81 days, including the time required for the perus- al of apicultural books and journals, and for attending bee-keepers' conventions as the time necessary for the care of 150 colonies I Then he put the interest and taxes, and the wear and tear on plant and hives of 1(X) colonies. at$(>4; now he puts them at $M) on those of 150 col- onies! Now he insists on all owing the apiarist ?5.00perday; then he allowed him but §1.25! So we are in the same skiff'. If not dead we are all moving. What should most concern us is, are we moving in the right direction? Of course, this growing knowledge greatly reduces the cost of the production of honey; but I have never shed tears over the reduction of the cost of any thing useful to humanity. If to assume that attitude '• belittles our pursuit," so much the worse for our pursuit; but I feel very sure it can not prevent our rising to the "stature of God's freemen." whatever may be meant by that sonorous phrase. Cotton cloth which once cost .50 cents per yard can now be produced for 5 cents; and if I show that it can be mad(^ for the latter sum, I can not see very clearly how I thereby sink below " the stature of God's freemen," nor why to do so would be " an open insult to (nery cotton manufacturer in the land," nor why the finger of scorn should therefore be pointed at me with the exclama- tion, "Shame on such reasoningl'" It must now be evident from this that our critic does not at this point discuss the matter in hand. What he argues is, that a high price for one's labor, or a large income, adds to one's dignity, and exalts one's manhood; but I am inclined to think he is wrong even in that. For myself I should not estimate a man by the gold he possesses, by his hourly income, nor by the price he puts on his labor. For divers reasons I prefer to work in the vineyard, the orchard, and the apiary, even at §1.25 per dav, than fol- low the law at §10.(KJ per day: and Dr. Miller refused the offer of a large salary to engage in an occupation which was not entirely congenial, for the sake of outdoor home life, and work among the bees, where, many years, he accepts less than §1.25 per day with thanks. "A man's a man for a' that." I f(>el quit(^ unwilling to accept the doctrine that Astor is a belter man iiecause he receives §lt).38 per minute: indeed. 1 greatly doubt if he is so good: and if one should undertake to argue to the contrary. 1 should feel "'shame on such reasoning," even if a feeling of delicacy forbade its exi)ression. No. I can easily conceive of circumstances wherein I would gladly accept an offer of §45 from Mr. Doolittle for six week.s' work, nor would I fr(>l that I had thereby de- graded myself, nor could 1 maki^ snch an offer, made in good faith, a reason for angi-r. Tlie rank is but the j?uiiiea"s stamp — The man's the jrowd for a' that. After all. the point in my address which is so furiously attacked is a vei-y simple one— the cost of a man's labor for six weeks. One who desires to consider squarely the very question will find little place for rhetorical pyrotech- nics; and if our critic harbors that desire lie may settle it with the greatest ease; but it will not do to mistake for the true question an- other which is quite foreign to the matter; viz., the value of the time of the owner of the apiary. W^hat a basis upon which to calculate the cost of the production of honey! Prof. Cook's time, we will sav, is worth §10 per day; A. I. Roofs. §12, and Mr. Doolittle's, §15. Will ISU'J (il.KANINUS IN HKE CULTURE. 1S7 it (Id t(i say. tliiM'i'foro. that I'rdl'. t'ook can i)ro- r the f^rcal mass of Ijcc-kccncrs is wortli ()nl> aliont #=!. ".'."> jx'r dav. one i-oiild not fail to sec tiiat Mr. Doolittlf niiist inevitably he distanced in so nne(|uai a race. |{iii it is not so. and we may still expect to see him come out aheaii. How does tlie lionaii/a farmer, whose lime is worth •i'.V) [)erday.or the gn'iit lawyer wliose time is worth $I(H) per day. calculate the cost of the w h(>at that is produced on his farm? Why. they would liprnre with the other ex- penses tiie amount neci'ssary to hire the labor required to piiniuce the crop; and if either chose to drive team on the farm foi- a week or a month, he would not be so unjust to his wheat crof) as to charire it with ^.V) or ^l(K) a day for driving! K^am. We ousilit, in like manner, to be fair with our honey cro[). If Mr. Dooliltle can get the work i)f the apiary done at i?l. :.',"> [)or (lay (we don't work here on Sunday), he ought not to be heard to impose his own labor upon it and chariie therefor SI.") per day. I have had no trouble in getting it done at a ligure consid- erably less tiian Sl.L'.'i. Turn now to the figures in the criticism in Gleaxixhs. It is putting it mildly to say that, when I examined them, 1 was .somewhat sur- prised. We find yoked together Heddon hives and Doolittle wagesi How could they get to- gether in the same apiary ? or has he adopted that excellent hive? Is Mr. Doolittle calculat- ing the cost of honey production in his own apiary, or in some apiary where the Heddon hive is known to be used ? It is rather startling, too, to find tliat. because tlie apiarist has stud- ied the apiarian books and journals, and at- tended the bee-keepers' conventions, and be- conii- tliereby skilled, and his time valuable, he allows him S.").(X) a day for his work, and then turns around and allows him So.CKJ a day for the time spent in reading the books and journals and attending the conventions! and that, not stopping ther(i, he goes on, allowing him the cost of the books and journals and of attending the con-ventionsi I have been much in and out of law offices, and it is evident they are no place to learn how to make charges. Mr. Doolittle does not attack my figures for cost of plant, except that he takes the hives out of that category; but for what reason, I fail to .see. I put colonies of bees, hives and all, at ?.5.{X1, which is more than the wholesale market price will warrant. Hut granting his point for th(! time, he lives where money commaniis a high rate, or else he is unfortunate in the cost of his Heddon hives, to make tin; double Inter- est. 30 cents, on each. Here th(>y cost less than Sl.tiO each; and as they will last fifty years, with little repair. I could not conscientiously charge double interest, even on that; but, of course, I do not allow common mechanics So.OO per day, nor machinery in like proportion, Ilowever, I see no reason why hiv(!s should be separated from the plant and made an extra charge. It is possible he intends these hives for swarms. If that be so, then of course the apia- ry should have credit for the swarms, which would make a further very material reduction in the cost of the honey crop. Freights and commissions will, of course, vary. These charges here for moving the crop in question, (HM) pounds, from my apiary to the railway, one mile, thence to Chicago, nearly 'M) miles, with commission for selling, would amount to ?•)."). .50; adding cartage in Chicago, say ^r^..^, makes ?;()8— just my figures which are attacked. ItisdiHicult to imagine where our critic would ship his honey so as to nearly double these tigui'es (his figures an; ?!;.'.>), unless hi- allows all railroad men *.").(H) ]„'r day too. .Seventy dollars foi' sugar! and. besides, ,?r).(K) i)er day for feeding it! At the end of the last season (a veiy poor one) many of my hiv(\s had from 50 to do pounds of honey, exclusiv(! of bees and frame.s. It is evidently unsafe to write about what does not come under onci's own pi'i-sonal observation, or else pcM'haps Mr. Doolitlle's Heddon hi ves operate differently. I do not now feed much sugar for winter stones, though last fall I might have madt^ ^\'>0 by ex- tracting and feeding sugar, in which case the ?70 would go on the other side of tin; account. Mi. Doolittle intimates that- this attempt to show that the cost of the production of honciy may be reduced, or " this lowering the standard of our calling,'" as he puts it, is made to show to the world a larger net ijiolit. No. he fails to catch th(^ gist of my address. As he says, the average yield has h(!en decreasing for the last twelve years; and. judging from his statement, it is decreasing more rapidly here than in New York, as it is four years at least since we have had an average of 40 pounds. With these facts in mind 1 undertook to open the question as to the actual necessary cost per pound at different averages to lead to the determination, as near as might be. of the point where all gain ceases, that we might know when we must still further reduce the cost or quit the business, I think my figures are still too high for the great ma- jority of bee-keepers. I am still convinced that it is a laudable thing to strive to reduce the cost of production, and to demonstrate how that may be don{\ MARCH 1. By i6.50 sections witii foundation unused 14 02 ^,^, ^. , , T, •' What did you do with the old queens re- $103 40 moved ? " Now, at the low price of ?.02.52 per pound for "' They were used to fill orders for such: and my honey, it balances the account with my when all orders were filled I used the surplus to bees, and still leaves me 47 lbs. of No. 1 wax. start nuclei with, by taking a comb of brood and an increase from 35 to .58 colonies to count with adhering bees, with the queen; also as a factor in reducing the cost still lower. I shaking the bees from another comb with paid out not one dollar for labor, and used of them in order to have plenty of young bees re - my own time only what I could conveniently main with the queen; and to this were added spare without neglect of other interests— sim- two or three empty combs and one containing a ply used odd moments, and time that would little honey. These nuclei were started in full- have been l(>ss pleasantly and healthfully spent sized hives, and from time to time I would give had I not occupied it with the bees; hence I them a comb of hatching brood, and by fall have made no allowance for work in the cost, they were as strong as any I had. Some days I I also have allowed nothing for commission, for would have more orders than I could remove that is not one of the factors in production, and queens. In that case I would take queens from should no more be (estimated as a part of the these nuclei to make up the deficiency, and in cost than should the profit or commission of the two or three days I gave these nuclei well- retailer, advanced queen-cells, so that by fall I found I Now, I do not wish to present this as a fair had very few of the old queens left." estimate of cost from the standpoint of a spe- •• Why not give those nuclei virgin queens in- cialist, and of one who has 150 colonies, and stead of cells ?" has only his bees as a means of livelihood, and '• Because, Charles, they would not accept a expects to put in his whole time on that num- virgin queen so readily, having been queenless ber, and do nothing else. But it is a fair one so short a time; and to keep them queenless the from the standpoint of thousands situated as I proper length of time for them to accept of one am, who take up bee culture, and consider the would be a loss of time. Better give such a time spent with the bees as offset by the exer- laying queen. They will be more readily ac- cise and satisfaction derived from them only as cepted than a virgin.'' a pleasure, or as a means of ])utting in spare "Then why not give queen-cells to those colo- time that would otherwise be wasted, expecting nies where the queens were removed, and save the bees to assist in placing the financial affairs all the bother of running hatcheries ?" of the family on a more suiistantial basis; and, " Because, if a cell is given a full colony that further, it is one that inlii feres very seriously has brood in all stages, from the egg to hatcliing with the estimates and wislies of the specialist bees, there is more danger of their swarming in honey production, as it will almost invaria- out when the young queen goes out to mate, bly break up any idea of his home market prov- than when a virgin is given them. Of course, ing a profitable one. Mr. Doolittle's estimate, the virgin is not given until all brood is .so far however, appears to be an especially exagger- advanced that a que(>n can not be reared from ated one; and he might, to his items of ex- such brood. But even if a cell, instead of a pense, "bee-papers and books, S5; atteiKling virgin queen, be given at this time, they will conventions, $20; time spent in reading papers likely swarm; at least that has been my experi- and books, and attending conventions at $5 per ence, when they would not when a hatched day," with equal propriety add time spent in queen is run in, at least not until after the nervous and restless tossing in bed when unable combs have been refilled with brood. Again, to enter the realms of Morpheus, on account of by introducing virgin queens we have the ad- some unsolved problem in apiculture, at the vantage of selecting, as it is not always the IHW (JLIOANINC.S IN HEE CULTURE. lM(t luiijcst ami iiii'csi i-clls tliai jjivc us tlic t)t'st (lUtu'iis; liciu-c I alwavs prefer to fiive a iiiieen \s lieiiexer 1 eaii, rat liei' tliaii a cell, tof tlieii I know wital I am doiii^." " Were you usually sui'eesst'ul in iul I'odueiii;^ virgin (lueens?" " Yes, quite sm'0(>ssful. .\t leasi 'X, per cent were aeeepled at lirst trial.'" •• Do you lliiiil< you got as much lioney where queens were removed as you would were tliey run the ohi way ■.'"' "I think not. providing then> had heeii a good experienciHJ |)ersoii at each apiary. However. I liiinl< 1 realized as much profit from my bees as I should to iia\t' h'wod help to run them the old way. There are advantages and disadvantage's in both methods." ■• How did the crop from your live apiaries compare with that of tlie other two run the old way ?■' •■ They averaged better than did the other two apiaries: but I believe, could I have man- aged the two apiaries myself, I could have made a better average with them than the five where the (lueeiis were removed (but. Charles, don't tell Fred or Henry of thi.s — please don't).'' •■ Was there any swarming in the five apiaries after the hcmey season '.'"' '• Yes, to some extent. I think that probably six per cent of the young (lueeiis swarmed wfiile buckwheat was in bloom. Thi-se, of course, were the lirst introduced; and. liaving filled their liives with brood, and honey coming in at a moderate rate, they swarmed out." '• Of course, you were not there to hive such swarms or care for the parent colony: hence, was it not an injury to them ?" •' No: I was not there to hive the bees. They went to the woods: and as to the injury to the old stock. 1 think that, in most cases, it was no detriment to them, as I visited the apiaries once a week: and wherever I found that a swarm had issued I fixed them up with a laying queen." •• How old a virgin (pKien is it safe to intro- duce?" " I am not positive about that point. I am conducting sonje experiments regarding this matter. 1 think, however, that the best results will be attained by introducing virgin queens before they are eight days old. 1 think when they are two to five days old is the better time; but last S(!ason. in stmie of my yards I was obliged to use some (pieens older than eiglit days to save an extra trip: in fact. I have in- troduced some that were lifteen days old; but I found such old ones were not always reliable when accepted, and I fancied such were more apt to b<> followed out by a swarm wiien they left the liive to mate: and in two or three cases such queens proved to be drone-layers; and on the other hand, soiik^ of the best queens I luive (apparently so last fall) are those that were in- troduced at from ten to fifteen days old; yet I would not advise any one to use such. When shipping virgin queens I always send those that are i)ut two or three days old." ■■ While the colonies were qu(;enless. did they not store up large quantities of pollen, to the fietriment of the colonies later on ".'" " Yes; the bees gathered pollen right along, and it seemed to me at tirst they would pack the c(jmbs full; and, in fact, some of them were pnaty well lilled; but as tlie greater part of ray colonies were requeen<'d. and the qu(;ens laying before basswood blossomed, and as but very little pollen is gathrjred during its bloom, and as the young queens wiT'e laying so profusely. th(! pollen was consumed to a great extent in brood - rearing before another pollen harvest came on." " Do you not have some colonies that have an excess of pollen at the close of basswood '.'" ■' Yes, oftentimes. In tliiit, case I remove such (■oml)s jis are well lilled, and divide them among my nuclei that I am working up for winter, this being my only metljod of increase witii this management." "Do you think the bees work as well in sec- tions wliile they are qiieenless?" " No. Charles, not as a rule. Some colonies do; but many do not. The majority of them store the greater part of tiieir hoiKsy in the t)rood- combs, from which young l)ees hatch out. They are sure to keep such combs full; but with strong colonies, wlieii there is a good flow of honey, work seems to progress as w<'ll in the sections as where they hav(^ a laying queen, be- cause they .so .soon get the brood-combs full. The great rush for the sections, however, comes right after tlie young (lueen commences to lay. Then all tlu^ uncapped lion(\v is carried from the brood-combs to the sections. This is when I get the greater part of my gilt-edge honey, as th(! sections are filled and capped over very quickly.'' " Do you think your bees are in as good con- dition for winter, by your method of removing the queens ".'" " Yes, I do, and, if any thing, in better condi- tion, owing to the fact that, with young prolific queens given them in midsummer, tliey rear a large amount of brood before winter sets in." " Do you find it necessary to feed back as much for winter stores by this method as when swarming is allowed?" '• No. I do not: because they, being queenless for several days during the height of clover bloom, are apt to cap over quite a little in the brood-combs, which, of course, remains there for winter's use." A. E. Manum. Bristol. Vt. [You have suggested some very valuable points, inasmuch as they help to clear up some of the difficulties regarding colonies from which queens have been removed to prevent swarming during the honey-flow. We are aware of the fact that many who have tried the unqueening of colonies have found it to be a failure; but as long as such men as Manum. Ehvood. and oth- ers are successful, it is a great mistake to give the plan only one trial on a few colonies, and then give it up in disgust. The possibilities in this line are too great to be lost. Mr. Manum, we presume, could give us some very valuable points on the minimum cost of a pound of comb honey, and some of the short cuts he has sug- gested go a long way toward solving the prob- lem. It does not lower our calling, as has been argued, to produce comb honey for less money per ]jound. If we could secure 20 cts. a pound for coirb honey at wholsale, then we might go on and produce honey in the old-fashioned way. It is impracticable to raise; tlu; price, but there is a great deal of hope that we can reduce the cost, and facts and tigur(>s in this and the last issue are not wanting to show it. J MORE ABOUT GRADING HONEY. I)]{. .M1I,I-EK ( ONTINIKS THK .sUB.IKCT. The requirements of the first grade of honey, as adopted at Chicago, were so exacting that very many thought there could be very little first-grade honey. .J. A. (ireiiii's highi'St grade is open to the same objection, and is also open to the objection that it multiplies grades, and too great a number might make trouble about marketing. For years I have sold the bulk of 190 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mak. 15. my honey as first class, and have had no fault found with it. I have nevor selected out any to sell that could pass in friend Green's highest grade, and 1 don't think a fourth of it could pass muster, if a tenth could. I suspect a good many others would have the same feeling of rebellion that I experienced against a system of grading that would lower the grade of my honey so that L who had prided myself on rais- ing almost entirely honey of the highest grade, should be obliged hereafter to confess that only a small part of my crop could come up to tlie mark. On thinking a good deal about it, however, I must say that my prejudices are beginning to melt away. It's a good deal as one looks at it. If you allow me to say that I raise mostly honey of the first grade, aiid out of that select a part of the verv choicest to sell at a little higher price, then it doesn't look so bad tome. .Inst this very thing is allowed by the way friend Green puts it. His highest grade is simply a selection out of the highest Albany grade, and is not so very different from the Chicago basis, only the latter has the unfortunate feature of so naming it that the great bulk of honey must be second grade or worse. The Review says, very justly, that the Al- bany system is too wordy. "Rules for grading ought to be very concise, yet very carefully worded." I suspect it will be a very difficult thing to so word a set of lules that there will be no danger of misnnderstaniling, and that no two persons can take a ditlerent meaning from them. But any approach toward this will be an improvement over the present condition of affairs. Looking at the market quotations as given in the Honey Column of Gleanings for Jan. 1.5, I find the first classification separates honey into "white'' and "dark;" the second, "best comb;" then in succession we have "fancy white"' and "dark;" "comb honey;" "white" and "dark;" "fancy white" and "other grades;" "comb;" "white" and "dark." It will be seen that the main grading is into " white" and "dark." Now, suppose I look at a quotation and see that I can get 16 cts. for white comb. Just on the face of it I can get 16 cts. for any thing that can properly be called white honey; but if I ship I may find an actual range of 3 or 4 cents according to quality; and as matters now stand it would be a v(>ry hard thing to agree in writing just how much my honey would bring, without a great deal of cor- respondence. I mention these things to show how important it is to have something very definite, and to show, further, that at present we have no system, and very much need one. The A grade of the Albany system requires that "one face of each section shall be perfect in appearance." I like that idea of "one side;" for when the section com(>s to its final use— on the table— only one side can be seen; and if the honey on the under side tastes all right it makes very little difference how it looks. There may be some difficulty as to exact agreement in all cases as to what is meant by " ^^ei'/ect appear- ance;" but I hardly see how the wording could be bettered. As to the other side of the section being "perfect in color and sealing, or nearly so," it does seem to me that "nearly .so" is un- necessarily vague. It might sound like hair- splitting to name the greatest number of un- sealed cells that should be allowed; but I suspect that, if you were to take five men at random, and ask them how many cells might be unsealed to make a face "nearly" sealed, you would get about five different answers. . . . . . I just stopped long enough to try the experiment on three persons (all that I could easily get at), asking each one separately, with the result that one said a section "nearly seal- ed " miglit have "seven cells unsealed;" anoth- er said "seven or eight." and the third said "eight or ten." I must say that I am surprised that they are so nearly together: but I have some doubt whether there would be so close an agreement if they had never worked together at sorting honey. But even in this case, the range from "seven" to "ten" is enough to make trouble. Would it not be better to be definite and give the exact maximum number of unsealed cells to be allowed ? As to coloi'. per- haps there is nothing better than "nearly .so." The second Albany grade is to have "but lit- tle unsealed honey." How much more does that allow unsealed than the first, which is "nearly " sealed. The third Albany grade contains white mixed with inferior, including buckwheat and fall flowers. Does that mean that buckwheat and fall flowers unmixed ai'e included in the thiixl grade, or that buckwheat and fall flowers are included in the inferior honeys that may be mixed with white? It would hardly seem to mean that these two kinds unmixed belong in this grade, for. immediately afterward, buck- wheat is put in a separate class by itself. On the other hand, if these two kinds be allowed in the third grade only when mixed with white, then fall flowers, pure and simple, have no place in any grade. There's trouble somewhere. Possibly there may be some of the readers of Gleanings as ignorant as myself; so, Mr. Ed- itor, will you please tell me what is meant by "boxes known as 'pieces' "? and why put a "private" mark on them? Let me now give just a little further glance at friend Green's system. I like the man so well that I should expect something good from him; but no faults should be passed by un- challenged. I have already noticed the fact that the first three gi'ades all make the same demand as to quality, and that throws every thing not of good flavor into the " M " grade. Possibly this is all right; but there is such a disagreement in tast<'S as to what is "good fla- vor"' that it may not be wise to bring them in unnecessarily. Moreover, as the public taste now stands you may formulate all the rules you please, and the whitest honey will bring the highest price without being tasted. Still fur- ther, is not every white honey good enough in flavor to snit the general consumer? The genei'al spirit of his "A" grade is much the same as the Albany, and is quite satisfac- tory. But would you allow a single cell of pol- len to throw a section into the "C" grade, if it were perfect in every other respect? By the way. Albany says not a word about pollen. In the "C grade, "sections must be nearly filled, with few or no unsealed cells." In that, the words "nearly" and "few" are indefinite. Couldn't a little arithmetic come in tliere? Again, at the close of the "M" grade "well sealed " is indefinite. In the extra select, if I understand it rightly, a single unsealed cell, in the line of cells touch- ing the wood, rules a section out. Isn't that a little too exacting? If a section wcie i)i'rfect in all other respects, and a little projiolls care- fully scraped off the wood left a slight discolor- ation, would you throw it out of the "extra select"? I hope it will not be understood that I have any intention of treating with disrespect the efforts already made toward establishing a standard. Far from it. I am very gi-ateful for what has been done, and am free to admit that 1 am not able to get up a scheme of grading satisfactory to myself. You may then ask, if I can not tell what ought to be done, what use there is in my talking about it. Let me illus- trate. Emma has been doing some very nice (;i.K.\NIN(;s IN HKK CULTURE. 101 work td-tiay |iiiiiiliiiK in oils. Sin- li;is hem very filatl to have iiic [)oint out ticlVi-ts for licr to rcmcily. alt lioiiirli, if I wim'c to take tiic l)riisli into my own iiainl. and attempt to makt> a pirtnre of a bet- on a llnwcr, a hilu'l inifilu ''•' nt'itlcii on cai'h tiMii.stinitnisli tlif lire from liif llovvcr. After further (iisenssion, lintlinir out more fully the views of others, it is posNJhle 1 may know enon>ih to formulate whal 1 think would suit me. in whieli case I .shall not hesi- tate to try mv ham! at it. ('. C. Mii.i.kk. xMareuiio. 111. [Hoxes known as pieces'.' — Mr. KUvood ex- plained this on page 1."'."). Maich 1st iss\u>.] THE GRADING OF COMB HONEY. The Chicago convention gave no instructions how to mark the several grades of honey, hnt siiould have done so, perlia[)s. I sc(^ no obj<'c- tion to the use of letters in case liiey are taken in rotation. I don't like the idea of skipping around in the alijliabet; for instance, from A, H. C. to M. Why not use I) for ^1 ? Can any one give a valid icason '.' In case wi' use letters, why not use them in such a way that consumers can understand their meaning as well as pro- ducers and dealers? The letter A is good enough for first grade, or for the best grade, unless it might be better, all things considered, to use the double A A; then the singh; A might be used for second grade: 15 for third grade, and C for fourth grade, which, in my opinion, are grades enough. M. M. Hai.dkidgk. St. Charles, 111., Feb., LS'.t:.'. .1. A. (iUKKN ( HtTt('isi:i) sTii.i, i-iKTi I i:i;. Friend Creen says in Cii,KANi.\(is. |)age It. " I must say that I am not at all satislied with either of the systems of grading conil) honey that have been proposed. That adopted at the Northwestern convention was rather too exact- ing in some of its reiiuirenients. and. in some ri'spects. was incomi)lete." He then giv(>s in- structions for grading coml) honey as adopted by him.self, which, it seems to mo. are opcMi to the same criticisms he bestows u|)on the system adopted in Chicago. He says that honey in the best and second best grades should be" light- colored "■ and of "good llavor." Now. this mal- lei'of •■ color" and "Havoi'" was duly consider- ed in Chicago: and it was thought best, when all things were taken into consideration, to omit them both. To include "flavor" would make heaps of trouble to both dealers and bee- keepers. For instance, "light-colored" honey may be white clover. sw(>et clover, basswood. willow, the sages of California, etc. Now, the flavors of these different kinds of lioney are so unlike each other, and so peculiar, that what wduld suit one consumer would not suit an- other. There are i)lenty of people who dislike exceedingly the flavor of basswood (linden) honey. Now. suppose the retailer buys a quan- lity of basswood honey, warranted by the in- structions as laid down l)y friend (Jreen to be of "good flavor." and he sells the same to con- snmi'rs who ha])pen to live where basswood honey is unknown, and they so dislike its flavor as to find fault with it. The retailer would then be (jiiite apt to comi»lain to the w holesaler. and he in turn to the producer, and the objec- lional)le feature would have to be adjusted in some way. and chiefly at the expense or loss of ihe bee-keepei-. The same may Ix? said in re- gard to some of the other kinds of light-colored honey. The only safe way for both producers and consumei-s to pursue, it seems to me. is to let llavor alone and give no heed to it in grad- ing comb honey. Let the eye alone detei'mine the gradi' to which any honey in the comb be- longs. The sight is by no means .so apt to get people, into tronl)le in regard to honey as the taste. The idea that only honey of "'light color" can be of the best grade is preposterou.s. for there are many consumers who prefer dark honey, or of amber color. Much depends upon one's taste, and what market it is. Then why make any ado about color in grading honey. provided it be. in each crate, of one color, or " uniform in color.'" as [lei- tiie Chicago instruc- tions'.' This enables the, dealer to gel any color of honey h(^ prefers for his market, wlietli- er it be dark, medium, or of light color; also of any grade. I see no good reason why any one should worry about the color so long as'con- ."umers can have their choice. GRADING HONEY. AND rHK.N MM. OHEEN CKITICISE,'^ HIS f UITICS. I hopi' the discussion of this subject may be continued until w-e arrive at some sort of under- standing as to what is desirable. If \vv can agree on only a few essentials, I have faith that we may yet be able to nnite on somi^ system, even though it may not be entirely satisfactory to all or to any. In the tir.st place, how many grades shall we, have'.' I will readily admit that those systems which keep color and general appearance or condition distinct, such as those of Mr. Bal- dridge, iMr. Frazier. or Mr. Mandelbauni. as given in the Review, are more philosophical, more systematically exact, than one in which they are considered together. The trouble is. they are too elahoiate and complex for actual use. at least until the business of selling honey has attained a higher development than it has at present. Any system which divides honey of good quality into more than four grades is un- wieldy, and will break down in piactice. Some object to th(i establishment of a super- tine grade of honey — a grade that shall be bet- ter than the great bulk of nice honey. Ills probable that there are some localities where it would be impossible to produce the honey de- manded for the "Extra select " grade. There are many more bee-keepers who nev<'r can pro- (Ince such honey until they improve their meth- ods. iJut the fact r(>mains. that there are some bee-keepers who can produce this (!xtra nice honey, and some of them get an extra price for it too. It is right that they should. It is pos- sible, considering the small quantity of such honey, that it would not be advisable to place it on the general marked to be sold on commis- sion: but such honey will be produced, and the producer will receive his icward. As Mr. Elwood says, it is impossible to ex- press on paper all the variations which must be taken into account in grading honey. In writ- ing out my system it was my intention rather to describe a ty|)ical section of each grade than to lay (low n unyielding i-ules. A section that is particularly idee in s(»me respects may be I)ermitted to be slightlv defective in others. Thus I often place in the high(!st grade a sec- tion having some ccdls unsealed. But they must be of the line of cells touching the wood, and must contain no honey. The ".V" grade contains, as a rule, only white honey: but a slight discoloration of the bottom of one side of a comb is not sufficient to throw it out, provided it is up to the standard in other respects. For a section to have the comb unattached at the bottom is a .serious defect. This may not mi GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mak. 15. detract much from the appearance, but it ren- ders it much more liable to be broken. This increased liability to breakage is not only dur- ing shipment, but perhaps more during the handling it receives after it reaches the hands of the retailer and consumer. At this time it is very undesirable that it sliould be packed up- side down as often advised. The section is lift- ed by the bottom, which, unless there are at- tachments of comb to strengthen it, is apt to come loose, letting the section drop. I have seen many a section smashed in just this way. I have produced many hundreds of pounds of honey, on the sections of which the closest ex- amination could scarcely detect the slightest stain of propolis. Mr. Elwood is taking too re- stricted a view when he says that the honey- boxes are not usually seen by the purchaser or consumer. Although in many places the gro- cer takes the majority of his orders by telephone or at the home of the consumer, most gi'oceries are still ordered by the consumer within the grocery. If it were not so, it would be much worse for the honey-market, for it is a well- known fact that many people never buy honey unless they see it or have it brought to theii' notice. The successful seller of honey keeps it prominently in sight, often taking it from the case and stacking it up on counters and in show windows, and a soiled section detracts much from its attractiveness. Personally I entirely agree with Mr. Elwood in regard to sections not full of honey. Such sections I generally give away or use for feed- ing. I mentioned them in my fourth grade, simply because I knew that such honey is sold by many bee-keepers, and I wished to have the system complete. Dr. Miller takes me up on the difference be- tween the meanings of " flavor" and "quality." What I meant was, that the two higher grades should be of good flavor and quality, and the next grade the same, though I would admit to it honey not quite so good as would be needed for the better grades. You see, doctor, it's only because I'm not handy in the use of the English language, as you have somewhere ex- pressed it, that it happened so. Perhaps it would be best to use the words " of good quali- ty " for all of the first three grades. I think it well to have this condition, because I once had some honey sent me from Missouri that was beautiful to look at. but with a flavor that made it almost uneatable to me. Straight combs should be graded higher than crooked or uneven ones, because they look bet- ter, and consequently sell better, are not so easily injured, and are more convenient to sell. Dayton, 111., Mar. 8. J. A. Green. SPRAYING FRUIT-TREES. r. H. KLWOOt) KECONSIDEKS THE EFFKC'T OF AllSKNITES ON BEES AND LARV.E. The discussion in Albany on spraying fruit- trees while in bloom has called fortii criticism. Some think that State Entomologist Lintner (as if we could tell how far a bug-man would jump) ought not to have been permitted to make such stat(>ments before the convention. But which, may I be permitted to ask, would have been the better place for Dr. Lintner to express his opinions — before a meeting of fruit- growers, such as he usually addresses, who would fall in with his id(>as. or before a conven- tion of bee-keepers who would and did contro- vert them ? Evidently the doctor had nearly made up his mind to advise spraying during bloom, and undoubtedly would have done so had there been no evidence against it. When he left the convention he was fully satisfied that it would be best to recommend, as hereto- fore, no spraying until after blossoming. Nev- ertheless, the doctor wished more conclusive testimony. He thought Mr. Smith's bees may have died from other causes, or from poison ad- ministered in some other way. He asked that a committee be appointed to bring the matter before some of our experiment stations, par- ticularly the Rhode Island station, which has a department devoted to apiculture, so that we might have full and complete tests. He thought the result of such experiments would be accepted as authoritativ(>. Prof. Lintner is not to be blained for the position he takes; for if you will turn to April 1.5th Gleanings, 1891. you will learn that the late Mr. Ashby, a very reliable, intelligent man, believed, after testing the matter somewhat, that Paris- green solu- tions or mixtures of the standard strength do not injure the mature bee. And I notice by the last Arnerlcan Bee Journal that Mr. Smith himself calls for experiments that will be satis- factory; and well he may, for he discloses the fact that his bees were probably i)oisoned by a solution of Paris green of four times the recom- mended strength, or four times as strong as can be applied to the apple without injury to the foliage. There are a number of points on which we need light. For instance, we want some scientific men to visit oi'chards at the time of spraying, and test the strength of the solutions as actually applied to the trees. There are good r(iasons for believing that the poison ap- plied from near the bottom of th<' barrel is often much stronger than that applied earlier. Paris green is much heavier than the liquid into which it is usually put; and unless the agitat- ing appai'atus works perfectly, the above I'esult will appear, so that this factor would have to be taken into consideration. Or the solution may be applied of the standard strength, and a drying day may so evaporate the water as to leave it very strong. This sometimes injures the foliage. It would be well to know how it affects the bees. In combination with lime the arsenites (London purple and Paris green) may be applied of greater strength without injury to foliage (see Bulletin No. 3.') of Cornell Ex- periment Station). Gillette, of the Iowa Ex- periment Station, says, " London purple can be used at least eight or ten time-; as strong with- out injury to foliage, if applied in common Bordeaux mixture instead of water." As yet, however, the Bordeaux mixture can not be thrown into the tops of tall trees. Again, the arsenites ai'e of various degrees of solubility in water. Pure Paris green is called insoluble, but it is not. London purpl(>, is more soluble. Over 150 per cent of the arsenic in the London purple used at the Cornell station was soluble in water. It would be well to know which usu- ally kills the bees — the part soluble in water or the solid particles. The ditference in solu- bility of the poison may perhaps explain why Prof. Cook's bees wei-e poisoned when Mr. Ash- by"s were not, with mixtures reported the same. Mr. Ashl)y thought the honey-bee in gathering nectar is able to reject the minute particles of foi'eign matter. Our best authorities, however, do not agree with him. If Mr. Ashby was not right, then the size of the particles of undis- solved poison, no matter how weak the mixture, becomes important, as it will take a very small grain of arsenic to poison a bee. Taking weight only into consideration, it will require only a millionth part as much to poison a worker-bee as an average-sized man. In the case of Mr. Smith's bees, the brood is reported to have been poisoned quite as extensively as th(^ mature bees. Dr. Lintner asked the convention if this great loss of brood could be accounted for by IS*,!-.' GLEANINGS IN HKE CUI/rURE. 193 tlicii' Ix'iiiir ffd nnili;ri'sti'(l iiollcii troiii llic sprayi^d irccs. as cxijlaiiit'tl by I'rof. t'()ol<. 'Tlic writci' aiiswcfcci liim llial ilic nollcn led the worker larvio was always partially diffcslcd in the sioiiiacii of ilic iims(>-i»t'(>s. Si-rrctary Da- daiil piompily I'orn'ctt'd (V) liiin by sayiiiR liiat. after tin- foiiitii day. the larva' ar(> fed uii- chaiiiri'd (•!• midijit'sicd ixiljcii. and tiuM-cfori' that thi- loss niiirlit be so ai'i-onnti-d for. I'lof. ('ool< and Dadant arc inistakrn in tiicir statc- MH'iiis and tcai'liinirs, for it is a w<'ll-('slal)lishrd fai't tiial (lie worker larva' do nol rci-civo nn- digosied pollen at any period. I ref<'r to this snbjeet a2;ain b(>cunse of its inipoitanee. If the larva- wi-re fed pollen Jnst gathei'ed from the poisoned trees, the explanation would be easy, bnring the tiist three days the larva' receive nothing but digested food: and after that tin; same with honey added. If worker l)rood is poisoned at all by pollen it is by [)ollen tliati has been as far as the second stomach of the nnrse- bees. If poisoned l)y honey fed to larva' over three days old. our authorities would hav<' us understand that such honey has been no further than the tirsl stomach. In the human stomach, arsenic does not poison for .some time, and we should expect not only e(iual Imt much greater immunity from poison in the honey-sac of the bee. since it is undo\ibtedly trui'. as Cheshire says, that true digestion does not com- mence here. Thus it is possible for bees to carry a deadly poison into the hive, and either feed it to their young or ileijosit it in the cells. A few years ago one oi more of our leading entomologists falsely accu.sed the bees of punc- turing grapes, and recommended the free use of poison. As no limit was given as to the strength of the poison to be administered, such advice was fraught with danger to th(i human family. Truly the time has come for putting more restrictions on the public use of poisons. The writer asked Dr. Lintner why he thought. if arsenical poisons of a certain strength so readily kill noxious insects, that they will not injure bees. He re[)lied that, in the case of the the codling moth, as well as with some other insects, llu; etlort \\as to kill the newly hatched larv;e and nol the mature insects, and fortius purpose a very weak poison would be as effect- ive as a very much strongei' one for full-grown insects. Now. within the bee -hive we have just as young larv;e that may be poi.soned; and in the absence of further knowledge we may assume that a poison strong enough to kill the newly hatched ap|)le-worm will likewise kill the newly hatched bee-worm, or larva. Thus, if the doctoi-"s own statements ai'C admitted, we have sul'ticient |)roof to condemn the practice of spraying during bloom, for the vi-ry weak ar- senite tliat passes safely through the Hrst stom- ach of the tield-woiker. or safely through the second stomach of the nurse-bee, will surely kill the tender larva \\ hen it reachc^s it. We hav(! accepted the statcnnents of our western friends, that tin? brood in Mr. Smith's hives was poisoned, as nndoubtr-dly it was. but we have no conclusive proof of it. Tin- brood, in the absence of the nuituic bees to feed and pro- tect it. w(juld have perished, and lieeti dragged out in the satue way. We need to know wiial part pollen has in this poisoning, whet her it has any or evei'v part. We also need to know how- strong an arsenite the blossoms of fruit-trees will bear: for it may be that tlu^ blossoms are so much more tenrler than the foliage that it will be impossii)le to spray them with any thing strojig enough to kill even the most tender in- sect. There is plenty of material here for experi- ment: and the point is not, have we any thing to [)rove. but have we any one to prove it ? The I'liited .States have a young man in their em- l»h)y. located at the Michigan Agricultural College, and caring for its apiary of seventy or eight y colonies. It is not to be expected tJiat. alli'i' loitking after this number of st(»cks. he will have much time for experiment. Tiie government has also an able man (Frank Hen- ton) at \Vashington: but all the bees they fur- nish him for experimental purposes are «om<^ spet'imens |)reserved in ak-ohol. Dr. LintiK^r referred us to i\hode Island, the smallest StaUf in the I'liion. as the' one most likely to aid us. This brings us to the question, " What ought the States and general government to do for apiculture?" _j _ P. II. Ki.woon. Starkville. N. Y. [Our correspondent has indeed suggested some [joints on which we need more light, We ntost heartily commend Mr. .1. H. Larrabee, of the Michigan .Vgricultui'aJ College. He has all the facilities at hand, and we believe he could furnish us some valuable data. This is a case where science and practice go hand in hand; and at what better place can these things be de- termined than at an experiment station, under the auspices of the State or national govern- mentVi HOW THE BREEDING OF OUR BEES IS EF- FECTED BY THE MATING HABITS OF QUEENS. .V XOX-SWAHMI.VO STKAIN OF BEp;S: .SHALL WK GET IT ? Every apiarist recognizes the necessity for good ([ueens. Those reared under conditions where sulticient heat and food are absent are not wanted, txood, healthy, perfectly develop- ed queens are longer-lived as well as more pro- lific. Thus when we breed and mate a queen- bee, we determine the character of a colony for a number of years. Besides desiring to breed the queens large and healthy, we wish to ijreserve certain qualities present in the ancestors. In the dii-ection of color we have succeeded some- what: but have we made any progress toward |)reserving the valuable traits of i)erfect winter- ing, honey-gathering, and non-swarming? The Albany convention, without doubt, rec- ognized the fact that we have made litth^ or no progress in the breeding of non-swarming bees, as, in the scale of points that is adoi)ted for judging the Italian bee, there is no mention made of the trait of non-swarming. W. F. Clarke, in his essay read at the same convention, was of the opinion that swarming is not a normal condition. I'res. Elwood be- lieved that th(!re was a difference in strains (iKjt I aces) of bees upon this point. The opin- ions held by both these gentlemen show that there is a belief lurking among apiai'ists that there is something in it. Though non-swarm- ing strains of bees are often boomed fora while, we do not remember that they were ever a suc- cess. We of America are too anxious for the dollar of to-day to work patiently for a series of years to attain any degree of success with non- swarming he(!S. It is desirable that th(^ queens of a whole apiary, and perhaps for miles around, be bred with this in view, and drones as well as queens selected. Let us now consider why we have not suc- ceeded better in our lireeding efforts toward this end. The methods of queen -rearing in vogue in most apiaries are against any results ever being attained. Nearly all queens are reared from swarming cells, and the colonies tliatdontjt swarm do not survive. I believe that nine-tenths of all tlie (jiieens in the land are bred under the swarming fever, and this 194 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mak. 15. has been kept up for generations uncounted. These tendencies, having thus existed, have become one with the instinct of the bee. Can we even doubt that they were implanted there at the creation to be for ever the means of pre- serving and extending the species ? The swarm- ing fever is not present, we know, except as de- veloped by external causes. But have not the natural laws of selection weeded out those colo- nies swarming under adverse circumstances, till, as before, swarming under certain outside conditions has become coexistent with the nat- ural instinct? The possibility of partially overcoming this tendency is not disputed. All who have tested the Carniolan bees acknowl- edge that they are great swarmers. Black bees do not, I am sure, swarm as much as Italians. Oh, yes! ''there is a difference in strains of bees." Now, does not the existence of this dif- ference prove that it is possible to breed out somewhat this habit of swarming? We have non -sitting strains of poultry; some breeds of sheep nearly always produce twins; and so it is, that, wherever an attempt has been made to breed with this end in view, progress has been made. The greatest obstacle in the path of the apia- rist desiring to breed carefully is the mating habits of the queen-bee. Whirling away on the wings of the wind, she seeks a suitor per- haps far from home, and the breeder hopes she has mated with a drone of a certain colony — perhaps knows she has mated with a yellow drone in localities whei-e none but yellow bees are kei)t. The rest is generally all guesswork. The drone-trap can be made to control the flight of drones in an apiary; but great care and labor are necessary; and even then one does not know that a certain queen is mated with drones of a certain colony. From facts and incidents recounted often in our bee-papers, we (ind that the queen seems to prefer to mate with a drone from a distance. I have often found it so in my own experience. Cari-ying out the Dzierzon theory of partheno- genesis we see that the drone is the son of its mother only, and may have quite different characteristics from the worker-bee of the same colony. To become acquainted with the drone and his character we must go back to the grand- mother and her colony. This fact is worth re- mem bleor even possible, to attain success. I should hope to devote my- self most earnestly to making its success an a"s- sui'ed fact. As there is, without doubt, much more to be learned about the mating of the queen, we may, by a more careful study, discover something that will shed light upon the subject, and open a way to success. I should be glad to receive and arrange reports of such observations, and present the results to bee-keepei-s, and will try to learn something new in this direction myself. Should control of reproduction ever be secur- ed, all these points in breeding, toward which we are striving, would become easy, and real im- provement in the races of bees would be made; honey would be cheaper, and adulteration less. But who can tell the train of results that would follow? J. H. Larkaber. Agricultural College, Mich. THE GOOLD REVEESIBLE HONEY- EXTRACTOR. A NEW KEVEKSIBI-E AUTOMATIC TRACTOR. IIONKY-EX- Herewith is an illustration of a reversible honey-extractor made and patented by E. L. Goold & Co., Brantford, Ontario. It can be made either as a two- frame or four-frame ma- chine. For a two-frame Langstroth a can 233i inches in diameter is required; for a four-frame the diameter must be 37 inches. The baskets GOOLI) S NEW ];i:VEI!SlHI>E EXTRACTOR. holding tlie combs have attached to them aa eye thiough which a rod passes. Joining the upper and lower arm upon tills rod the basket swings from side to side. There is. therefore, no loose hinge which can be thrown out of place. The method of reversing is by means of a rod running from the center of the can and center-shaft to basket, turning up and running in a groove shown in the basket lying outside of the can in the illustration. The end turned up has a snuill roller on it, which lessens fric- tion. This is the part that does the reversing. The baskets are reversed as the motion is re- versed, and the process with the two or four frames, as the case may be. must be simultane- ous. This machine took the first prize at the Toi'onto industrial exhibition last fall for thn liest and most practical invention not hereto- ixti-j (II.KAMXIJS IN KKI-: (, LJI/rilUK. l'.>r, fore shown at. tliat cxliihiiicin. 'riuTc wcif live inventions com pctiiij;. \l. I". lioi.TKiniANN. linmtfoni, Ontario, tan. |Tlu' iMit and description above does not niaits. Ueversinf; the ciaiiU reverses the center sllaf^ wiiich in Inin revolves tlie k'vers a little way. ami this causes the pocki'ts to be swunfi around. I'eriiaps the iilea will lie understood a little better by the enf?raving which we made some monllis afro, of their tiist machine, only that the levers, in that case, were placed above the baskets, whereas they are now put under so as to be out of the way of the combs. The peculiar feature claimed for this extractor is. that the comb- pockets when at rest are out of the way of any supporting arms for putting in and removing combs: and although our friend Mr. HolK-rmann does not say so. we presume the manufai-lurei- also dispenses with the chains. We U'Sted one of their extractors; Init. for some reason, we were not able to maki- it work satisfactorily — at least, not as well as the Stan- ley in actual service in extracting. We have since been informed that the manufacturers, E. L. Goold it Co.. Brantford. f)nt.. have over- come some of the defects encountered in their first machines.] FOUL BROOD AND THE SALT CURE. W. I.. COGGSHAI.I, KXIM..\1.\S III.MSi;i,F. f)n page 84 Mr. M. M. Haldridge asks for my metluKl of administering salt for foul' brood. Mr. JJaldridge need not have said that he was no novice, as I have always recocni/.ed him as an able and practical bee-keeper. :for there is but little printed in the journals that has not been read by me in the last 25 y(>ars. although 1 am not quite 40 years old yet. I notice the <'ditf)r threw cold water on the tlieorv that salt or brine would cun; foul brood; l)ut I thought that the editor and I'lof. Cook had tried it sci- entilii-ally. so 1 said no more about it. 1 had tried it only in an experimental way four or live times with as many colonies, and it was ef- fectual every time. 1 used it only twice, at intervals of ten days or two weeks, and each colony i-ame out all right no more brood died. Let me say riirht lieie that it might not have been foul brood. \>'ell. if it was not, then 1 am out of the race. What is the cause of foul brood or diseased brood? A great many say chilled brood is the lirst cause. Well, a man can not be a bee-keiq)- er without being a little theoretical. My theory is, starvation, the bees not IxMug able to get out in the spring and get what honev the young bees require to live on. This will cause dis- eased brood every time, and I have cured it ircnj time, and it has never done me any harm. Now for the cure (with me at least). Take a pail of soft lukewarm water, and dissolve what salt you can in it by stirring it ten minutes. It will not do any harm if it is strong enough to k(>ep pork in. Take the combs out of the hives that are atfected (I use the hrushl)ioom that I us(> to brush the bees off when I extract, made of tine broom corn). I sprinkle the combs, bees, brood, and all. lightly. It will not hurt the brood at all. Once a week is often enough in extreme cases. In the meantime leave a chunk of salt as large as a hen's egg in fiont of each hive in the apiary. Be sure to put it right up close to the eniiance, where it will dissolve, and the bees will get it. I usually keep a nail-keg or a barrel tilled with sawdust, under the eaves of the bee-house. Put on a wide board, with salt in the top. It acts as a leach, and the dust holds the moisture. If it does not rain often, thiow in a pailful of water, and you will have less trouble with the bees bothering your neighbors. Now. brother bee-keepers, do not forget the above, and you will have less trouble. The easiest way to get along with trouble is not to get in. I will tell you how I get rid of or cure another trouble that some of the bee- k(iepers have had ni removing the queen. They attribute the trou- ble to the (jueen, when it is not she at all. I refer to the brood not being capped up, and they sometimes hatch out without being cap- ped. The cause is, that there are not enough young bees to cap over the brood. Remove two frames of brooil, and rejjlace them with two fi'ames of hatching brood from another colony. I will admit, that removing the queen will ac- complish it: therefore by the time you get an- other queen in there will be enough young bees hatched to ca|) over the remainder. If you should i)ut the old queen into a strong colony you would generally lind her a hustler; hence you condemn the old (lueen when it is not she at all — or, at least, that is inv experience. West Croton. N. Y. \\ . L. CoGGSHAI.r,. Feb. 1.5. [We can not believe, friend C. that you had real foul brood. If it will not yield to strong antiseptics, as we have tried repeatedly, it is unlikely that it would to a mild antiseptic like salt. We have seen many forms of chilled brood that resembled, in every particular, foul brood, and yet this would always go off at the approach of warm weather. Now. if we had salted these; combs we might have supposed that we had foul brood, and that salt cured it. In dealing with foul brood it is dangerous to experiment with unknown or partially tested remedies. As we have before exijlained. chilled biood or dead brood may be a favorabh; medi- um for the lodfjment (if the germs already 196 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mak. 15. floating in tiic air; but they can in no case give rise to their growth. All scientific authorities, as well as practical experience in the apiary, vouch for this. We give our friend W. L. Coggshall the credit of being one of the brightest and most success- ful bee-keepers of York State, yet we fear he has been misled in his ob.servations respecting foul brood. It has been quite conclusively proven that the disease can not start without germs. He is quite correct in regard to bare- headed brood.] RAMBLE NO. 55. IN NAPA VATXEY: A Tf:XI)EKFOOT S HLUXDERK AND MISTAKES IN CALIFORNIA. John Chinaman is something of a factor' on this coast. There ai'e several thousand in Sac- ramento, and a visit, to Chinatown is always a place of interest. We seem to be suddenly transported to a diiferent clime, where we find people with an entirely different dress, lan- guage, and ways of doing business. The ('hi- nese have almost complete control of the laun- dry business. Many are also employed as servants in private families, and many work on ranches, or rent ground for gardening purposes, at which they are adepts, not only at produc- ing, but also in marketing, and their wagons are seen on the streets at all hours of the day. If they can not afford a wagon, a hand -cart is employed. They are very faithful, and not quarrelsome. But in our first experience with a Chinaman we found an exception. Our cousin's wife employed a Chinaman to cut the grass on the little lawn in front of the house for four bits (.50 cts.). When he had cut about two- thirds of it he struck for higher wages, and ME MUf'HEE TIKEl). wanted four bits more before he would finish the job. His actions while he fiourished his sickle frightened the ladies. ;ind the Raiubler Wcis called around to regulate the Chinaman. But, no; he still fiourished his sickle, and shouted. "Melican man makee Chinaman workee too muchce. Me lelhow muchee tired. Me blely empty; tne muchee hungly: me workee no more for fou)' l)its; me fightee Melic.m wo- man, Melican man." Our regulation was a failure except to prevent an attack upon the Melican woman. He was paid the four bits, and he went off muttering about Melican wo- man. Melican tenderfootee no sabe (understand) poor Chinaman. The Rambler procured a sickle and soon finished the job. Chinamen, though adepts to learn American trades, have, fortunately, not taken to bee- keeping. About the extent of their work in this line is to put up boxes and catch abscond- ing swarms, and sell them to some apiarist for from four to six bits. If they were expert bee- keepers we are not sure but they would mo- nopolize the business in this State. Being recognized as a tenderfoot by a China- man, a kind old lady, many years a resident of California, sought to pour oil on our wounded feelings by giving me lessons in Califoi'nia cus- toms. "Whyl laws-a-mel" said she, ''me and my old man made no end of blunders when we first came here. The first grocer's bill we received had 'spuds* charged to us in several places. Says I, "William, I never ordered a spud — not one. Why, a spud is a sort of a round blunt stick to transplant beets with. The idee of putting spuds on a grocer's bill! it's outrageous. That grocer is a barefaced cheat;' and 1 got so excited that I posted right oft' to the grocer's, fully determined to give him a piece of ray mind. I sailed through the door kinder lofty, and, says I. 'You sell spuds, do you'.'" 'Yes, m'am,' he says, kinder pert; 'will you have another sack — some fresh ones just in'?' 'Spudsl' says I: 'spuds! Why.' says I. -them's taters.' 'Why. yes.' said he. 'that's what tenderfeet call them', but they are spuds here.' I jest went right home a humbler and wiser person, and me'n William wouldn't have said a blamed word after that, if we'd been charged with beau-poles and a whole picket fence on our bills. "And then I made another wretched mistake. I called upon a neighboring lady. I thought she appeared very sad. Finally she said her husband was in the corral; and, says I. just as sympathizing as I could, "Poor man! what did he steal?' Steal!' said she, with flashing eyes. 'Why. yes,' said I; 'ain't a corral a jail'." Her anger changed to laughter. Said she. 'Anybody'd know you're a tenderfoot. A cor- ral is where we herd our horses and cattle.' • Well,' says I. 'why can't they call it a cowyard then, and not rack the dictionary for hard names'.'" I felt much humbled, and William made no end of fun of me; and when he discov- ered that I lay awake half of the night resolv- ing things, he said I would get to be as bad as the woman (I guess it was a man) who was so humble she had to wake uj) in the night to rest her face." After this series of lessons I went forth again with renewed confidence and rambled to Napa Valley, which is well over in the Coast Range of mountains, about 70 miles west of Sacra- tnento. Again orchards of various kinds of fruits, and extensive vineyards, were encountered in the valley, while the hilltops were brown and dry. Raisin vineyards were quite numerous, and trays about two feet square were distributed between the rows, upon which the grapes were drying; after the sun had performed its work, the grapes wer(> put into boxes and piled one on the other for the sweating process, after which they were sorted and layered into boxes ready for market. The products of many vineyards are used for wine-making, and the grapes were being •■ packed in '' from the mountains. The ternt pack is used here altogether for the word '• carry." " Pack in that board," '-pack a swarm of bees from the canyon." etc.. are often heard. As nearly all articles in early days were packed on mules, and are now in remote places, this teriri is therefore still used. Loads of fruit and other materials were met that would make a 18StL' (;iJ';anl\(;s in bkk culture. I'.tT whole oasltM'ii family rmi (niiiloors and fall ovit ih(> front pate lo sec'. Kiitiit horses altat-hcd to a lui;ie w airon; in the tear, anotlief wajion at- taelieti ealleil a trail wanon: \val)t)linfi aloM}^. drawn liy two chains, and diieetly l)eliind t he rear wlieel. is the liloeker, IS inelies lonitt. and nearly a foot square. Tiie break-lever runs np /i LOADS OF CALIFORNIA HOXKY GOING TO MAKKKT. over six feet, to which a rope and small tackle- block is attached, and with which the driver can exert a powerful pressure on the wheels: and on some mountain roads it is also necessary to chain the trail-wagon wheels. The idea of using a trail wagon and all the teams ahead is to save the labor and expense of another driver. Expert driv(!rs are i)aid over ?10() per month. Some of these wagon trains were loaded with loose grapes, and these were thrown out with a pitchfork, upon arrival at the winery. Loads of honey and loads of bees are packed down the same wav. and merchandise drawn back. -"^"^< 4 y^^^m \VK CAME TO A STANDSTIM>. In Napa City I procured a livery lig, and went out toward the mountains, according to directions, to find Mrs. J. 1). Enas. This was ray first experience in hunting uj) a residence in the country in C"alifornia. and it was some- what educative. One of the liveryman's direc- tions was, to inquire of any one. for everybody knew Mrs. 10. My tirsi iiKpiiry was wheic two ways met. and I congratnlated" myself that one of the aforesaid leainstcrs was so near. Hnt in answer to my (|Mestioii. the following lucid in- formation was given. '• No sabe English. Yoti sabe Spanish V Three teamsters in succession gaveal)out the same answ-ers. Two residences w«!re called upon, but the families had just moved in, and I movi'd out and on up the moun- tain until the way became S(j wild, pictiiri'stiue, and preci|)itous that my hois(! concluded he would stop. We counseled a while on the situ- ation, and. concluding that no widow woman with promising sons and daughters would live in that ])lace. we tiu'iied aTound: and, after some more triltulation with an Italian, also a "No sabe" man, I found the residence of Mrs. Enas. up through what some term the chapperal on the side of the mountain. Mr. Enas came from Ncnv York to this moun- tain home, several years ago. seeking a health- ful abode. Mr. Enas' name was familiar to the readers of the A^ncrivjin Bee JouDutl, and I think (Jlkanings. several years ago, as a con- tributor to its columns. ITe had here at one lime ov(M' JOO swarms of bees, produced hoiu>y. reared (lueens. and i)urchased an engine and machinery for the manufacture of hives and sections. Hut before he could do much at the latter business he was called to a higlier nialm. After his death, his wife and daughters, with commendable enterprise, manufactured founda- tion, and dealt in supi)li(^s. and ari' \\ell known to the bee-k(>cp('rs of Calif(jrnia. They liave but few swarms of bees now: but I was assui'ed that this region was excellent for the produc- tion of honey. This is not a sage locality, and there are not many apiaries in this valley. The Rambler visited Nlrs. E. with a view io pur- chasing the aforesaid machinery; but a change of plans sent me to a diflferent" portion of the State. I had no use for machinery, and I be- lieve it is yet for sale. After a very pleasant hour, with something less than a dozen charming ladies, good time was made down the mountain. I silently pass- ed the swarthy Spaniard, and soon upon the streets of Napa City strode the Rami!lf.k. THAT BOUNTY. A CLEAR, CONCISE STATEMENT OF THE CASE, , FROM TIIE PRESIDENT OF THE N. A. I!. K. A. In the discussion of the question whether the government ought to give a bounty to prodiu;ers of honey as well as t(j producers of home-made sugar, in order that we may compete with Cu- ban or South American honey- producers, the fact seems to have been almost lost sight of that foreign honey is iu»t admitted free, as in the case of sirgar. There has b<>en a s|)ecilic duty of 20 cts. ])er gallon on honey imported, since 18()4. This is equal to about one and two- thirds cents per pouiul. If honey had been put on the free list, then might we be jjardoned for d'-manding a bounty. If we are not sulticiently protected now against Cuban honey, it seems to me the proper tiling to do is to ask that the tar- iff be increa.sed. It has been said, that comb honey did not need any bounty. If that is true, and if it is also true that our only important compi'titors in the production of extracted hon- ey are the West Indies and South America, which honey I suppose does not enter into com- petition with our i)est Northern or California extracted for tablt^ use, it seems to me that we should end(!avor to put on th*^ market such an ai'ticle as will recommend itself to th(! consum- er as superior to table syrups. If it be argued that honey can not compete with sugar at the 198 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Maij. 15. low price of the latter, I reply that it is true, and that honey never will compete with sugar, even at the same price, only to a limited de- gree. Bakers and inanufactui'ers might use more if cheaper, and to a certain extent honey might take the place of syrups: but if we de- pend on realizing the millenium of our hopes in our generation, that is, the time when honey shall be a staple article in every family, and brought home from the grocery as regularly as sugar, we shall be disappointed. There is no use to deny the fact that honey is a luxury. It isn't used in one family in a hun- dred to the extent that sugar is. It can not take the place of sugar in the culinaiy art as practiced in our time. We must not sell it at the price of sugar. A fine article of honey can no more be compared with sugar than the best home-made butter with oleomai'garine. People want butter because they like it best, because it is more healthful, and because they detest a fraud. Oleo doesn't supply the place of good butter. The comparison is not strictly true, but people buy honey because it fills a want not supplied by sugar. If we produce genuine '"gilt- edged " honey, and can get it before the people in perfect condition, they will not ask that it be sold for the price of sugar. The consumption of sugar in this country is so much greater than the home supply, that it was public policy to admit it free. Then to prevent the extinguish- ment of the cane-sugar industry, which is con- fined to a comiiarativcly small area in the South, and to encourage the beet-sugar indus- try, which is yet ill its infancy, a bounty of :.* cts. per pound is given by tlie government for all home-made sugar of a certain standard. As a honey-producing country we are not in the same condition. We produce honey nearly ev- erywhere in all this immense heritage, biit we do not yet produce enough to supply the people if it could be properly distributed. Our only competitor in comb honey is Canada, and we have not thought it necessary to put a tariff on that. I presume they find a better inarket at home and in the mother country for their sur- plus. The question, then, narrows down to this: Do we need a bounty, other than what we now have in the protective tariff on extracted hon- ey? I doubt it, but yet am willing to listen to arguments in favor of an increase. Forest City, Iowa. S^ugrne Skcoh. [We stated in our last issue that we would have to declare the discussion on bounties at an end; but the foregoing, coming from the source it does, and covering the whnl(> matter of boun- ties so fairly and well, very littingly closes up the discussion, and we are glad therefore to publish it.] ABSORBENTS, NOT SEALED COVERS. DADANT FUUNISHES SOME (U)OI) AH(U:- MENTS FOR THE P'OICMEi;. Friend Ernest:— As I notice by your editoi'lal that you arc becoming satislicd in your mind that scaled air-tight covers and no absorbents are necessary foi' successful wintering. I beg leave to giv(^ you our experience on the snb.1ect. In the winter of IsTS we hud very long pro- tracted cold weather, lasting some six weeks, without a day warm enough for the bees lo Hy. At that time we had been making chaff' hives. one story, with chaff' cushion over the bi'ood- chamber, and we had some 80 colonies locatisd in this way. scattered in two or three of oui' dift'erent apiaries, the rest of our bees being in Langstroth-Quinby hive that we use. We then believed in a warm, air-tight covering over the brood-chamber. We used oilcloths over the frames, and leaves in the cap, wher- ever no chaff' cushion was used. It happened that a number of our oilcloths were rather worn, and had holes in them gnaw- ed by the bees, while others were new; but all these cloths were otherwise air-tight, having been covered with propolis, and glued light by the bees as customary. Now for the result. When a warm day came we found that all the hives that had air-tight cloths without holes were in a pitiful condition, the thick frost hav- ing thawed, and wet the bees so that most of them looked as though they had been in a bath. They would crasvl out and die. In a few days the hives were empty and dity. Wherever the cloths had holes the moisture had ascended in- to the chaff' or leaves, and the bees were dry. Those hives which had the worst cloth covers were the driest. It was so uniform, that, after oijeuing a number of hives, we could tell before raising the cloth what would be the condition of the bees. Remember, this was in a season when all the hives, without exception, were suffering from diarrhea, and when a number of colonies had died outright from starvation, be- ing unable to reach the honey placed on the side of the cluster. But we were shown plainly, that, when the combs were closely covered with absorbing material that allowed the moisture to pass out without losing the heat, the ultitnate result was a clean hive, dry combs, and healthi- er bees. True, you will find plenty of seasons when a tight covering will do no harm : and it is an accepted rule among old bee-keepers that a hive which shows running water at the en- trance during a middling cold day is sure to be healthy. In this case the condensation is not in great amount: it is only in the corneis. away from the cluster, and the least rise in tempera- true allows it to melt and pass out. But let a very hard, protracted winter come, the frost which has formed in the corners gains steadily till it reaches the entire top of tlie hive; the dead bees obstruct the floor and prevent the draining of what does thaw. Then in milder days when the temperature is still too cold for a flight, the thawing frost wets a i)art of the bees, makes them restless, and the colony is doomed if thi' weather turns cold again. Per- haps we are mistaken in our conclusions : per- haps there are other things to be taken into consideration ; hut we have passed through several other winters since the date mentioned — those of 1880 and 1884. and we have only strengthened our belief by all the remarks that we have made. E\en in such a winter as the present, there are people whose bees suff'er from this very cause, wet combs, and always in instances where the ceiling is air and water tight. Facts are stubborn things, for ihej overthrow some of the best constructed argu- ments. Now allow me to quote an autlioi-ity to whom we all go back occasionally, ami « ho was ac- knowledged one of the most careful observersin his time — father ].,angstroth. Ill March, IS.Vi, 1 lost some of my best colonics un- der the followinjr ci re ii instances: Tlic winter had been intensely cold, and the hives, liavinjf no up- ward ventilation. wen- tilled with fiost, and. in somtv inst;inccs, the ice on thuir g-lass sides was nearly a (luai'lcr of ;in inch thick. A few days of mild WL'athei-. in wliich the frost Iwg'an to thaw, were fol- lowed liy a it'iniierat ure below zero, accompanied b.v furious winds; and in many of tlie hives, the bees which weie still wet from tlie thaw were frozen togetlun* in an almost solid mass. We are often wiser than our elders, and so were we on this subject : for although we had read the abo\e passage we were not convinced ISlf,' (;i.i:amn(js in liEi-: culture IIK* of its iiiiporiiuu'i' till w r hoiiulit our t'xpci'ioiu't' by ;u'tiial, losst>s. 'riicsc arc the fui-ts tliat I wuh about to jiivc you last l)cr(Miil)rf. face to fact' in yoiif apiary, w lien I was iiiici'iiiptcd liy thai iiiiscrabic pliotosirapiici-. IMcasi- lion'i make up your mi ml that 1 am u ronsi till \vc have aiiollici- hard winter, and you try my way. comparalivdy with yours on a lariic scale. Hard wintcis arc oftcncr found in the bcc-l. [Facts arc stubborn things, and wc must yd wait and compare results. While nearly all ihe t<>stiint)ny is in favor of s(>uled covin's as against absorbents, iicrhapswc had better go slow. W(> are still open to conviction (>ither way.] PRATTS SELF-HIVER. AN IMPIiOVKMKNT OVEK AI-I, OTIIKIiS. I am one of those bee-koepers who believe that the matter of swarming will be solved through some controlling d(>vice. such as an automatic hiver. The most serious drawliack ill working a large number of colonies for cf)mb honey in several different yards is the inability to control swarming. It has long been my be- lief, that, when a large numbi-r of colonii^s arc; worked in outyards. it would b(^ more prolitable to throw the working foi-ce of three strong col- onics into one hive provided with plenty of storage room and ventilation, so a< to de- crease the amount of labor and confine the swarming fever to one-thii'd of the colonies, instead of allowing it to pfevail throughout the I'K.VTT S SWARM-HIVKli. entire yard. I \vill not attempt to explain a method of procedure along this channel, but will confine myself to the text, and endeavor to show the readCrs iiow I have successfully con- trftlled swarming in my own and another yard. Since ISSit I have been experimenting with automatic swarm-Iiiving devic<'S. and 1 have at last contrived a plan which I shall guarantee to work with perfect satisfaction in the hands of any bee-keeper. My device is patented, but I trust that will not prejudice the readers of Gi,KAM.N(;s against it. The great trouble with all the swarmers yet brought out is tntppi.nti the 'lucen (inut]/ from t/tc ottranoc. to whicli the bees have been ac- customed to work through. Mr. Dibbern's mf)dification f)f the Alley swarmer will work about as he says it will. I have tried that plan, and would have adojded it, with Mr. Alley's consent, had I not disc(nei(?d a surer one. It is a seri(jus drawback' to havi' one hive rest upon another, besides the amount of machinery reijuired to tit all sizes and stvles of hives found in any ordinary yard, to say nothing of tin- close adjustment necessary, and tin' expense and bother of so many parts. Bv referring to th(^ engraving you will readily •**• how my swarm-hiving device is attached to one of Mr. Root's Dovetailed hives for illustra- tion. The hive to reci'ive the swarm is placed in front of the colony exiH'cted to swarm. The front ends of both bottom -boards are abutted so as to form a continuous passag(^ from the swarming colony through the new hive. A little l)lock is |)lace(l into \h(\ open si)ace be- tween the two hives, ^o that the b(!(!S can not escai)e from that way. Ky covering this space with wire screen, tiie ventilation of the hives will i)e suHicient for the strongest colonies. With this ari'angement the bees are forced to go and come through the ui'W hive with their honey and pollen. A triangular zinc bee-escape is now placed on the bottom -board inside the new hive, with its open base close iip against the entrance to th(^ colony expected to swafm. This escape is nuide of peii'orated zinc, and has a hole at its apex for the queen to escape througli. The outside entrance to the new hive is covered with an ordinary excluder, so that the queen can not escape from within the new- hive aftei' she passes the zinc escape. When the swarm issues, the bees rush [)ell- mell through the zinc escai)e and empty hive into the air. The queen, on linding she can not get through the zinc at the entrance, will pass down the escape, and is led through tin; hole in the apex, when she will (juickly enter the n(nv hive, where she will be elfectually trapped. All the exits to the new hive being covered with excluding zinc, the queen is mad(^ a pris- oner inside the new hive: and as soon as the bees that have swarmed into the air miss thciir queen, hack they will come to the old entrance, as their instinct dictates, thus autoiuatically hiving themselves in. the n(nv hive. A few of the older bees will work back into the parent hive, but the bulk of the swarm will remain with the queen. If empty frames have been inserted they will start at once to build comb and set up housekeeping in the new hive. If left in this position eight or ten days, a large number of young bees that liave hatched from the parent colony will work out into the new hive. If the supers were shifted on to the new- hive, a con.-id. rable (juantity of honey would be carried there. The bee-keeper now has the option of increa.se or not. for there arv 13 days before more swarming, which gives him a chance to manipulate theoldcolonyashese.es lit. If he desires increase he can S(!t the new swarm back on tlie old stand and place the old colony on a new stand, afiei- shaking the bees ott one or two combs to give the swarm sulh- cient strengtli to store box honey. If he does not desire increase it will do no harm to alio w- tlie hives to stand as they are a f(nv days, when he can either cut out all the cells or place the old hive on to|) of tlu' new one. with a bee- escape or zinc honf^y- hoard between, or leave them luitil a day or two before the young queens hatch, when he can shake off all the bees and |)lace the extra combs around on other h i ves. The device will need very little if any atten- tion. The principle employ! d. 1 believe, is the correct one: i. e.. trapping the queen inside the new hivt>. and causing the bees to join her by the entrance they have so long been accustom- ed to going in and out of during their work daily. I need not say that tlie [irinciple is a iresv one, and bound t(j work perfectly when properly arr'anged. I shall endeavor to make the contrivance as light as possible, so as to be safely and cheaply sent in the mails. F.everly, Mass. .Feb. '.i. K. L. Phait. [We have all along been a little doubtful of the titility of automatic swariners; but when Mr. I*rait"d to us the pi'inciple of his swarnu^r by which the bees are automatically 3t)0 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mar. 1.1. caught in a hive, tlie entrance to which they have long been accustomed, we were interested at once. It is not wise to be certain of any thing we have never tried; but we believe this is a little ahead of. and cheaper than, all the others. Of all otiier automatic swarmers, the bees are obliged to go with the queen to a strange en- trance and a strange hive, and it is owing to this, fact that so few bees rcDKiln in the new lodgings pi'ovided for them. J A BEE-KEEPER IN BAD LUCK. A LAUGHABLE INCIDENT. A German bee- journal, BUvtter fur Blenen- zucJit, has the following story which has been translated into the Fi'ench Reviie, and is good enough, I think, to have an English setting. 0. C. MiLLEK. At the apicultural exposition at "B., Antony Bumke became the happy possessor of an Ital- ian queen. How he admired it with its eyes of gold and its abdomen of yellow and black rings! In order to take it to his hive, he made a box like a Swedish match-box, only, instead of a wooden cover, he used a cover of paper pierced full of little holes. With the queen he impris- oned four workers. "She'll not be so lonesome," said this sensible young man. What tine things he promised himself with the progeny of this queen, and with what joy he felt the little box in his trousers pocket! But he must, before taking the train for home, send a telegram to his betrothed and his future mother-in-law. whom he expects to greet for a few moments, as the train passes the second station. Time presses, the train is about to start. The engine whistles. Antony makes rapid strides across the platform, and jumps into the tirst coach he comes to, the coaches being still of the ancient pattern that contain only a few passengers, these few being locked in by the guard, like so many prisoners. In liis headlong liaste he scumbles over the extended legs of an old gentleman, and his head strikes forcibly against the sharp knees of a precise- looking spinster, whose fright is expressed by loud cries. With a thousand apologies he suc- ceeds in seating himself, when he overhears the hardly suppressed remai'k, " The fellow is drunk," a remark which only deepens the blushes of the bashful young man. He seeks, by his tranquility and upright bear- ing, to efface this unjust opinion, but. unfor- tunately, he feels a strong tickling on his right leg. Furtively. Antony feels over the affected part, and in so doing brushes against his next neiglibor, a big, Jewish butcher's wife. " Don't let that happen again." she snapped out. Antony reddened to the ears anew: but the next instant, with a wild look, he sprang into the air. " You ought to be ashamed of yourself, to come among decent people in your i)resent con- dition." said th(^ old gentleman with threat- ening looks. "Such things ought not to be tolerated. It's an outrage!" he growled from his corner. At this moment Antony feels anew a violent stinging. Summoning all iiis courages he brave- ly plunges his hand into lus pocket. Mercy! he is not mistaken: the box was broken, and the cover crushed at the time of his fall when entering the coach, and there is no trace of either queen or workers. And now that sting in two places! Antony utters a savage cry and leaps anew into the air. " Mercy on us! He's going ciazy," says the butcher's wife. « ■'Conductor! Conductor! let us out. There's a madman here," cry all the passengers. Antony Bumke emits piercing yells. "In the name of heaven! he's going into a furious delirium!" says the spinster. "Silence! silence!" commands the old gentle- man. Then turning to Antony he savs, " What's the matter'? Tell us." "I can't stand it any longer." cries Antony, " they are gone — every one of them ! they sting — I am stung already! Leave the coach! It is very important that I should be left alone. Otherwise you may all be stung." "He is mad! An escaped madman! Conduc- tor!" cry all the passengers, beside themselves. The conductoi' appears at the window. " Pres- ently, ladies and gentlemen; the train is just going to stop. What! An escaped lunatic? The matter shall be looked into immediately." The engine shrieks — station N. Full of af- fright they all precipitate themselves from the coach: and the station-master, informed by the conductor, slowly approaches; and when the passengers are all out Iput Antony he carefully closes the door, posts himself before the open window, and commences his examination. " So this is an escape. You acknowledge it?" "Without doubt — certainly: they've all es- caped," declares Antony, very much agitated. "All ?'' says the station-master. " How many of them were there?'' "Five," says Antony, groaning: "four work- ers— their loss wasn't much — but the queen is gone too." "What? A queen? What was she like?" said the station-master in a bantering tone. "Oh! she had eyes of gold, and the back part of her body was covered with rings of yellow and black." "Beautiful queen!" said the station-master, laughing. "And what were the others like?" ■' Why, just like all workers. One bee is just like another.'' " Come, now. keep your thoughts together, young man, and don't go to getting bees in y(mr head again," said the station-master severely. "I haven't them in my head.'' said Antony, groaning, " but in — " "And where then ?" said the station-master, laughing, "In my — in my — pants!" This last word Antony whispered in the ear of his interlocutor. "I had a hole in my pocket — they slipped through it.'' "Whatslippf^ through?" asked the confused station-master. " Why. the queen and the four workers." "Ha! ha! ha! a queen and four workmen in his — ha! ha! ha!'' laughed the station-master. "Come, be quiet. What are vou crving about .still?" "Oh! oh!" cried Antony; "1 can't stand it any longer." The bell rings. Laughing as he goes, the station-master directs iiis steps to the telegraph operator to give orders to the next station con- cerning "the lunatic.'' The train is in motion. Antony is alone. He can no longer stand those stings. Rapidly tak- ing his determination, he takes off his panta- loons and approaches the window. Three bees gaily soar aloft into the air, but two stick tight- ly to the pantaloons. However, they must be got off, and Antony shakes his pantaloons out of the window. "A pleasant journey to you, miserable queen." said he dolorously, when, at that instant, whiz! went the express train by on the other track. It seemed to the poor fel- low, more dead than alive, that his head was torn away, but it was only his pantaloons that 18.1? (U.EANINCS IN HEK CLU/rriiK. •.'01 tln' I'Xinrss iiaiii liati cariifii ;i\\a\ iriinu|iliaiit- ly. and foi' siooii. Aiitiiiiy l>iiiiili('iviiii,\ to inairiug a cloak." Tile second oHicer tak(>s olf his cloak and puts it on .Antony. A struggle ensues, and the mis- erable youth succeeds in jumiiing out of the coacli. 'I'he otb'cef seizes him; lie teai's away, and the cloak I'emains in the hands of the olti- eei-s. A cry e.scap<>s from two mouths, flush- ing witli shame, liis intended turns away her head: tlie futufe niothei--in-law is tufiied into a jiillar of salt. Kefor(> their eyes Antfmy is again seized by his piu'secutors. and shut in with tlieiu in a chaiitable closed carriage. Hy mail the thing ought to have been ex- plained away at a later date. But Antony l{unik<' never had any further desire to try new races of liees. nor to attend bee-sliows. ;ind equally he never revisited his enaraorata. for she wrote liim that she had no desire to marry a sans-culotte. All. yes: he was a bee-keeper in bad luck. THE BEE PARALYSIS. A (;ki:minai. 1>ISE.\SK. AND now HV .VNTI.SKPTICS. TO mjE IT .Judging from the reports found in the apicul- lural magazines, we may believe that this dis- ease wascjuite general throughout the country during the summer of 1891. Practically the same symptoms are described by correspon- dents as they have written from different local- ities. The points have been as follows: First. the (|ucens have ai)peared healthy, and there has been no diminution of egg-laying. Second, the usual attention to liiood-rearing upon the part of thi' colony has been observed. Third, even greater fecundity upon the part of the queen, and greater alacrity among the brood- rearers have been noticed, presumably because the colony was stimulated to greater activity in nrdi'r that the I'equisite number of bees might be kejit up, in view of the untimely death of many of those new ly hatched. Fourth, till' death-stricken y(juiig l)ees have had the black and yellow colors very distinctly marked, anfl a peculiar gloss which is quite unnatural, and have also failed to possess the hairy and plum[) appearance found in a healthy young bee. l-'iftb. they died in large numbei-s, vei'v few within but mostly at th*; entrances, or just in front of the hive. Sixth, there was univer- sally a peculiar, sour, decaying animal odor, otTensive as one opened a hive or brought one of those dead bees to the nostril. Seventh, they gatliered honey as exijeditiously and well as ever, storing more in the surplus sections than usual, seeming to have a fear to put it in the brood -chamber, and, at the close of the season, after brood -rearing ceased, were found to be in poor condition, perhajis having to be fed. Tliese ai'e the statements that have been made from time to time in (Ilkamnos and oth- er papers (luring the past year. We observed and tabulated them, for we had the disease t,o look after among our own bees, and were de- sirous of infoiiiiation, and anxious to impart what might ite reliable to our fellows in the craft. Tiiey agree with our own experiiMice during the past season. W(> had two colonies with this clearly delined and unmistakable malady. We cured one at once by putting all the bees lemporaiily intf) another hive, and im- mersing eveiy frame in a warm weak solution of Lewis" conci'Ulrated lye. ha\'iiig washed lirst the interior of the hivi'with the same, rinsing all off well with warm water, and wiping and drying iu the house. This killed every egg and unsealed larva, but, as far as wi' were able to discern, the capped brood was unharmed. The proportions we used, and the processes, were as follows: Three ordinary [tails of water, as warm as the haiid would bear, were put into a tub. and thr(M> l(>vel teaspoonfuls of the lye, which we previously dissolved in a pint of cold water, and then added. We did the task as quickly as jiossible. and had all the bees back in the liive within two hours. The (lucen began at once to lay in the renovated coml)s, and the colony thrived thenceforth, going into winter (piarters in fine condition. To make this rejKirt good to date for the lieiielit of otliei- experitnenters and all our fraternity of bee- lovers, w(> have just been to the cellar and investigated this colony, and find them to-day (Feb. 1) in prime order, the ((ueen still living and full of life. I'erhaps we should say tnat we never noticed any ill effects from the lye-killed larv;e. They were all disi)osed of by the bees themselves, except a few that we picked out with a small two-tined fork. After reading about the salt cure, recom- mended by some apiculturists, we tried it upon the other infected colony by simply putting a layer of salt upon the entrance, so that the liees had to crawl over it to get into the hive, or when making tlieir exit. We think that this test was made too late for us to be sure of its effect, but will say that the disease gradually abated until \\ e thought it was cured. Upofi two or three occasions we carefully looked for the queen of this latter colony; but, failing to find her. we supposed she was dead, and put the colony in the cellar with the expectation of getting a new queen in the spring. But recent- ly, to our surprise and gratification, we found her, apparently well and full of vigor. In lioili these cases the indications warrant the supposition that the disease does not affect either tlu' usefulness or the life of the queens. Moreover, from tlie look of a colony of bees, we have been unable to discern any clew to tln^ ori- gin of this dread disease, every ordinary sign of pi'os|)erity b(ung visible exc(!pt the strange d 'al li-losses. From the chemically purifying and disinfecting character of lye, as well as salt, W(! seem to be juslilied in sup[)osiiig it to be a liacterial fatality, if their use has proven bene- ficial. Undoubtedly the lye solution above spoken of would kill every particle of even cappi'd brood in a liive. if the frames were left long in it. oi' were put back into the hive not having been well rinsed off', i-'urlhei'. lye is one of the strongest of germicides, and, as in hu- man bacterial diseases, the remedy will kill both patient and germs unless administered with caution. The processes above enumerated would also prove very tedious for an <>xtensive apiarist. For this reason we hope it maybe verified that common salt alone is a specific, since the maliuial is always easy of access, and quickly and simply used, causing no labor to the bee- keeper. iKi time, delays, or losses to the bees. If it should prove that salt, either solid or in liquid, is only a jjalliative and not a spe- 202 (CLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mar. 1:"). cific, we should incline to the belief that bee- keepers can not do better for the coming season, or until something less laborious is discovered, than to use the lye solution here recommended. Hut on the ground of the g(M'micidal qualifica- tions of lye, we will venture to say that other chemicals known to have the same effect upon bacteria and parasitc^s. such as camphor, thy- mol, creosote, carbolic acid. tar. etc., will cure bee paralysis if proper solutions of them are ap- plied to hives and frames, and all thoroughly cleansed before being given again to the bees. We believe this to be a germ fatality. If oppor- tunity offers the coming season, vv*^ shall try some of these, as well as make ounself more certain as to the curative properties of salt. Meanwhile we feel sure of the lye solution, and can recommend it until something better is found. Rev. T. C. Potter. Cedar Falls, Iowa, Feb. 3. THE HASTY SUGAR-HONEY MATTER. WII.I. NOT THE DISCIT.SSION OF ADULTERATION BE EQUALLY HARMFUL? Friend Ernest:—! wish to thank you for the very fair manner in which you criticise the course of the Review in admitting the Hasty article on the feeding of sugar to produce comb honey. Surely, nothing could be fairer than your treatment of the subject: but. with your permission, I should like to call attention to what seems like an inconsistency in your course. In the very same issue you publish an article from Mr. Byron Walker, in which he states that glucose can be bought for only two cents a pound, and explains the ease with which honey adulterated with it can be sold. Have you no fears that dishonest people will be led into adul- teration by thus ('X|)lainiug how easily the mat- ter may be accomplished? You may say that you nu^.ntion the practice only to condemn. True. But condemnation does not deter dishonest men from doing wrong. If anybody can do any thing to sto]) adulteration, I am with him hand and gIov(^ (I am glad to see you intimate that yon are going to do something): but to be criticised for giving an article explaining how a man might honestly make a profit out of his bees in a poor season, criticised because dishonest men might deceive people by th(^ same method, and then have my critic turn about and publish an article showing the ease and profit with which honey may be adultei'at(id, seems — well, how does it seem ? I am glad to see, Ernest, that you have .so far advanced in this subject that you have had en- ter your mind the idea of : "Will it pay?" lam al-so glad to see that you so stoutly maintain that, while Bro. Hasty and myself may be lack- ing in good judgment, we are honest. But the Hasty article lias been published; it is beyond recall: the cat is out of the bag; there is no use of attempting to crowd her back in; in other words, let us lay aside all prejudice and pre- conceived notions upon the subject. So far thei-e has been simply "holy horror" at the ideas advanced by friend Hasty. No one has seemed to give the matter a sober second thought. We are .'^o largely creatures of educa- tion, that, when any one brings up sometliing contrary to our established views and methods, we are shocked. In the Dark Ages men were tortui'ed and bui-ned at the stake because they were heretics. The very idi^as that were then here.sy are now popular. This may be a strong illustration, but I think it a fair one. The time may come (mind, I don't say \t will) when su- gar-honey will be an article of commerce. I am willing to admit that the world is not yet ready for it, but the time nuiy come. \Vhen it was first proposed to use foundation in surplus hon- ey, what a hue and cry there was raised against iti "It was not the natural comb;" "it filled the consumer's mouth with wax;" " it would riilii the honey market." It proved to be the "foundation" upon which rested successful comb-honey production. Hence, I say. don't be loo hasty in your judgment upon new ideas. Flint, Mich., Mar. .5. W. Z. Hutchinson. [It is a great pleasure to deal in discussion with such a fair and candid man as our brother- editor Mr. Hutchinson. Well, about that By- ron Walker article. It may be that we have been doing just what we had been condemuing in another; but it occurs to us that there is a distinction between the Byron Walker article and that of Mr. Hasty. The former calls at- tention to a practice that is already in exist- encc. and we gave publicity to it for the pur- pose of letting bee-keepers know the real facts in order that they might unitedly combat the evil. The Hasty article proposed something that was not yet in existence, and which at most was a matter of experiment; that is, it was exceedingly doubtful as to whether the prac- tice could be mad(> to pay. While the article of Mr. Hasty might do damage, the probabilities are that it will not. Bee-keepers are too honest to make a bad use of it. even if feasible, and wo have more tlian once had occasion to refer to the fact that our industry is made up. as a gen- eral rule, of .square men. Dr. Miller has a Straw in this issue which points in the same direction.] WAX SECRETION. .MR. FRANCE ARGUES THAT THE OI-I) BEES AN» NOT THE YOUNG DO THE MOST OF IT. I wish to make a few remarks about some re- plies of Mr. Doolittle and Mr. Hasty in regard to an article of mine in the Oct. 1st Gleanings, about wax .«ecretion. etc. Mr. D. remarks that I say that I hived a fair-sized swarm. It was just that, and luithing moie — at any rate, it came from a hive of 16 L. frames. My home yard is all in L.-frame hives, S frames to each .set. I work them during the extracting season three stories high; but this swarm came out bi^ fore I got the thifd set of combs on. There was not over a peck measure full of bees to start with: and a three-story L. hive with 8 frames in a set is not so very large a place for a peck of bees in hot weather. It is only four combs more than a two-story ten-frame hive. But. be that as it may, 4.5 days would come around just as soon for a large swarm as for a small oue. As for the young bees secreting all the wax, I am satisfied that it is a mistaken notion. I believe that bees will secrete wax as long as they live; in fact, I am of the opinion that the old secrete more wax than the young ones. In the first place, in order to secrete wax the bees have to stay at home with their sacs full of honey, that wax secretion may go on. Now. in all animated nature is it the old or young that lie around idle? Yo\nig children, and all young living things are apt to get out as early as they can. and exercise themselves; and would a yoiuig bee be contented to stay in the house during its yonth and do housework ? I can not believe it. I believe they go out as soon as they are able to do so. They want to go out and se«^ the world— it's natural. On the other hand, the old bees, like other old folks, would be more in- clined to stay at home and do the housework. I simply throw these thoughts out as a sugges- tion. Who will prove me wrong? 1892 iii.KANiNtJs IN MiOK ri:i/riM{|':. ••():$ As for Mr. ll;isty"s icnuirUs, they otivcr abniit tho sanit> K'">"i" can. and let (Mich one i)rovo for liimself any point that he or she is interest- ed in. We have :.'(» acres of land. shai>ed about like a brick. Now, as far as possible from tlie bee-yard, and from each other, as I can, I in- tend to i)lace two or three hives to experiment with. Let others who can, try for themselves, if they are interested in such matters. I'latteville, Wis.. ,Ian. -.'8. E. Fhance. Ud/es' Conversazione. I'LANTING ISKKUI- VS. HAD AVEED.S FOK BEE.«. If I were a man, and owned a farm. I think I would plant for bees if I had as many as .50 or 100 colonies. Mr. Axtell says it does not pay; but I believe it would pay — not so much in the amount of surplus stond from such flowers, but in the good it would do the colonies in keeping them thrifty and built up between the honey- harvests. 1 would give a little time to it eacli year, and see to it that it was done right. If I owned a larg(- farm, and had plenty of ground to spare, I would set apart an acre or more for such purpose; but if I could thoroughly till what I had I would utilize the waste lands, the fence-corners, and next to the hedges. I would not send a hand out and have high-priced seed scattered along the roadsides, in the stiff sods, nor along tlie fences that are already overgrown witli weeds, as I should not expect it would thus pay: but I would take the spade and hoe, and clean out the fence-corners, and plant such seeds as an; tried and do well in each locality — such bee-plants as will hold their own after be- ing planted— perennials that will blos.som each year at a time when the clovers or other farm crops are not in blossom. I would hoe out the useless weeds close to the hedges or fences, where tin y can not be cultivated for farm cioits. I would plant such seeds as catnip, Simpson plant, hoarhound. pleurisy-root, sweet clover, etc. How much better to grow such plants than so many useless weeds that yield no hon- ey, and are a nuisance to the faiinerl I would have a regular string of flowers all around my farm, and near the cross- fences besides. Some argue that weeds thus grown would not be good for the fence or hedge: but they could not b(! worse than useless weeds or the grasses that grow in the cultivated fields next to the fences, that animals can not reach to eat off. I would not sow bee-|)lants along the fences of neigh- bors who would object to such plants, or who annually mow down the weeds in front of their premises. There are many neighbors who are so accommodating as to aid a brother i)(>e-keep- er by giving (•onsent tn iiaving > honey-plants that are not such noxious weetisi I can advise, but I can not i)ractice the above, though I b<'lievo it would i)ay largely, both to bee-keepers and to th(> farmers. I.Af K OF VENTILATION FOK CEI-I.AR WINTER- INO ; IIONEY-OEW, AND IT.S EFFECTS IN THE CEI,I-AK. In (ii.EANiNos. page n3, yon print my article about our bees being so uiunisy. We did have to take (Jilt another cellar window that was plastered uj), and it was surprising how soon they (piieted down. We can see no ditference in the number of dead bet^s swept up in front of the hives wintering on honey-dew, and those wintering on sugar syrup. The bees are more quiet than they were the fore part of the winter, but they throw out twice the dead bees they have some other winters: but they show no signs of dysentry on the fronts of their hives. I was looking this morning, and saw no hives thus speckled. Those winten^d out of doors have had several good flights during the winter. Mr. Tilly, who has 30 colonies, and winters outdoors, says that there are but few dead bees in front of his hives, and his bees flew as if they were strong, a few days since. Mks. L. C. Axteij,. Roseville, III., Feb. 20. [We are rapidly coming to the conclusion that bees need more ventilation in the cellar than many supijose. We notice that there is less flying out in proitortion to the number of colonies when there is a small number in the cellar than when there are many. High temper- ature may have some effect; but. usually, high temperature is accompanied by a lack of circu- lation in the air. and hence the result is impure air, and restlessness on the jjart of the bees.] A KIND OF FIXED-DISTANCE HIVE THAT IS NOT OF THE KIOIIT S On the morning of Feb. 27. 1892. I opened my eyes in a pleasant room in the hospitable home of J. \V. Day. the author of the hook on tomato culture in the South. Brother Day soon came in with an armful of long pine kindling, and proceeded to build such a nice big fire in the spacious fireplace that I commenced a remon- strance at the waste of so much nice fuel, solely for me to dress by. But he I'eplied he liad more than he wanted or could get rid of; and, to tell the truth, he has pine timber by the /i(/?i(7ref7 (teres. Breakfast for a family of eight children was, like the fuel, in great (iljiindaiice and of excellent (iKdlitij. I never ale any canned peaches before equal to friend Day's: and when I found he had 400 acres of young peach-trees, I felt in a hurry to get out to see them as well as the tomatoes. In coming into Crystal Springs the day before, I noted the long canvas-covered cold-frames that began to dot the fields with their long strips of white, even when we were miles away from Crystal Springs. The exceed- ing wiiiteness of the cloth is explained by the fact that a great part of them are covered with /(e(r white cloth, for it is only since friend Day's venture has proved a success that almost every one around him has decided to go into it more or less. It is exactly like the lettuce business around friend Davis' at Grand Rapids. Mich. Well, we are having a great lot of pictures made, illustrating this new industry: but as they will make my description too late for this season I am going to tell you in advance how to make a cloth cold-frame to protect tomato and other plants aftcM- they are transplanted the first time from the seed-bed. The cloth, which is rather thick stout cotton, is used in the place of glass; but as there was quite a frost on the morning I have described, the beds had all been covered the night before with pine straw and forest-leaves spread evenly over the canvas cover. Friend Day has over a mile in length, altogether, of these beds, and each one is douhle width, taking cloth 2^i yards wide on each side. Such frames hav(^ i)een in use moie or less for some yeai's back in diffei'ent localities: but. if I am correct, friend D. first used the pole to roll the cloth on. I saw one of his men roll up the canvas alone, on a bed l')(> feet hnnj. I need not tell yon of the iinmensc saving of time and strfugtli. compared with handling glazed sash. It is ti'ue. cloth does not give the protection nor the lieat that sash does; but by taking a little more; time one can start seeds of even tomatoi'S and egg and iirpper plants under cloth. Friend Day has perhaps a liundred glazed sash in use. side by side with glass, so he knows all about it. All the heat used in start- ing the seeds, in Ihc vicinity of Crystal Springs, is obtained by fines under gi-ound,"and Imrning woofl. A simple trench, or two trenches, are dug in the ground, and the seed-bed made over tiiem. Of course, tlie trench is made on an in- cline, one foot ri.se in 2(J feet length. The trench is covered with brick, flat stones, or large tile may be used. Pine wood furnishes the heat: and after firing all day. the ground gets so hot (and retains the heat) that your plants are secure fiom harm diu'iugeven the coldest night, without any firing during the night-time. Where the liriug is done, the opening may be Hi inches across; but it is gradiuilly contracted until it reaches tlie bottom of the chimney, when it is only about 8 inches across. The chimney is only a square wooden box. say 8 x 10 inches inside, and 8 or lu feet long. Such a tlue will give heat for a bed 40 or .50 feet long. The earth over the flue is 2 feet deep at the furiKicc end. but only (i inches deep at the rltlmiiey end. In making the flue, if you arch over with brick, use something similar to a nail-keg to arch over on, sliding it along as you proceed. You can use glass oi' cloth over this lied as you choose. Of course, glass will give more heat from the sun. and will keep out more frost; but if you commence a little earlier you can get just as good plants by using cloth. I saw plants raised under glass and under cloth, and the latter were every bit as good. Of course, you will have to take more pains in covering the cloth with leaves oi' straw during very cold spells. Cloth frames have more slant than glass usually does, for the cloth cover is expected to cany ofi' all the rain. One of the strong points in friend Day's management is to keep the ground dry. I could hardly believe he was right until I saw beauti- ful plants in all stages that had never been watered KANIN(;s IN HKE CULTURE. ill the rokl-tramc. iiluuii .'. iiiclics !i|iarl. 'I'liis is iloiic with u marUfi- wliicli looUs liivc liic licail of a I'Dininon raUc. only it is ."> feci loiiji. ami tlu' Irt'tli arc ."> iiiclu's apart. Wlicu llic plants an- as laiK<' as tlicy should \u\ a hntolicr- kiiifc is run hctwct'ii the rows, so as to cutout square soils, as it wimc. a plant Ix-iiiK in thi' ctMitcr of cai-h sod. Hut 1 will tell you more about this liitt'r on. 1 havo told enough so you can go at work at once making cloth cold- frames for any of your crops. They will solve the i)rol)leiu as to how we may most cheaply save our valuahle early crojis from frost. Vou can use them foi' early aspaiagus. calihage- plants. celery-plants, egg-plants, catilillower, or any kind of plants that may l)e \vant(Hl; and in many localities they will pay well for early potatoes, wax beans, early be(>ts, etc. I can not learn that they have i)eeii used for forcing strawberries, but tlun- would surely i)ro\(' a perfect remedy for frost in the spring: and after frost is over tliey are just tlu^ thing for melons, cucumbers, etc. In fact, tln^y have- been a good deal used for this pur{)ose. Wh(>n they are located in the middle of the tield for to- matoes and such cro|)s. the whole thing is takf^n apart and moved up by liie fence until the next year. Enougli tomatcu'S are loft where it stood to get a small advanci' crop of extra early. Now. this is not conjecture and theory, but it is an account of a great industry that has been going on and dev(>loping lor years; and I am sure it will interest and profit hundreds of our readers, north, south, <'ast, and west. The book, with illustrations, will be issued during the coming season. THE PHl/.KTAKEH .\XI) SI'AXISII KING ONION. Are these two one and the same thing? Quite a few leadingseedsmen. including Johnson & Stokes, who first introduced the .Spanish King, declare they are the same, while others, includ- ing William Henry INIaule. say they are not. One friend writes us that the i'rizetaker is a siraw-ct)lored (Jiiion apijroachiiig red. while the Spanish King (or Yellow liocca) is a yellow one. By the way. how much difference is there be- tween straw color and yellow ? I think, friends, that, no matter where you get yottr seed, or whether you buy .Spanish King or Prizetaker, you will find in every field a few onions of red and white both, as well as yellow. I am inclin- ed to think they are sports. Whether these sports can be bred out or not is a ([uestion. You will also lind similar spurts in regard to shape. If the seed is carefully raised from birge yellow round onions, so firm and hard they liave kept over vvinter all right, there will lie a chance of breeding out these snorts, and there is a big opening for some enterprising seedsman, or any- body else, who will take the i)ains to do this. If there is a man among our readers who can truthfully say he raised the seed himself, from selected onions, during the season of W.v.:, he can get a big price for his carefully bred selected seed in the spring of ]S(t3. Our friend March gave me some important facts in regard to ibis raattel I) .-eed-raising. It is not at all dillicull to get extra nice seed: but it takes more care and patience than most people are willing to give, especially after they have got a big busi- ness established. We have some onions saved. and are going to plant them ourselve.s. Who else will help? Our experiment stations are doing a good work in this very line : and. if 1 am correct, our Ohio station have decided they could see no essential difference betwetMi the Prizetaker and the Spanish King, although they did decide that the seed purchased from sonic ry disease. To our nn'inljer- ship Mr. Todd has often been invited, but will not unite with us. preferring to stand aloof and growl. If it is true, as he says, that rotten combs were thrown in the streets of tiiecity last summer, instead of picking them up and carrying tlu'in home, and using them in his own hives, as he admitted to me In; did do the summer i)revious, why did he not re|)ort the case to our county bee-inspector, who has been worKing ca,refully but etT(>ctualIy to prevent that kind of work, and is stamping out the dis- ease wherever he finds it ? RefeiTing to the catalogue, we supi)0se he has reference to that of S. C. Oorham. a supply- dealer of York. We printed tliat catalogue: and before that offer was jiiade. Mr. (Jorham said to us: " If he got bees in exchange he could use them in his own apiary: and as to supply- ing his customers, to my certain knowledge he has arrangements for buying to fill orders where there Ix no foul brood." Mr. Oorham is an old bee-keeper, and a man of principle and honor, and we do not think he would sell any thing to cu.stomers from his own yard or this vicinity, knowing that foul brood ex'isted here, and his customers need have no fears; and for one who had little if any knowledge of bees, and never kept any himself until the last two years, and who never goes far from home, or never attends the meetings of bee-keepers, either at home or in the State, to make the broad assertion he does in the published article is unjust and injurious to those who are trying to do the very thing he complains of not being done, but does not hel|) to do. I hope you will give this as prominent a place as you did Mr. Todd's article, as I think he tries to create a false im])r<\ssion of things here, and injure the trade of those engaged in business here, but which lie does not ixttronize. L. D. Stilson, Ed. Neb. Beekeeper- York. Neb.. Feb. 22. [We are glad to give place to the abovts as we would not willingly do an injustice to the bee-keepers of Nebraska. We hav(! no doubt that Mr. Stilson, as editor of the NeJrranlui Bee-heei>er (an excellent bee-paper, by the way), is in a position to know the facts.] I'oisoNots honey; is the .stoky in tmk a nc OK HEE CUI/niRE A MYTH? In the interest of obstacle ought to be ii years I have been satis thing as " poison Ian have ev(U' seen writte very much to me as story," related in A H ( ens many ix-ople who ; it: and that a gorge plenty of nuished bee effects described can r reasons for this opinloi honey -production, (^very •moved: and for several lied that there is no such rel honey." All that I n on the subj(>ct looked if it weri^ the "soldier . remodeled. Honey sick- ire not accumstomed to of honey (and jierhaps s) sliould have had the cadily be imagined. My I seem tome conclusive. 206 (JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mak. 15. There are thousands of acres of poison laurel (Kalmia latlfolia) here, and yet this is a poor honey section. During its bloom the honey- flow is light. No honey here is known to beany thing but healthful. In five years' residence and bee-keeping I have nevei', in a single instance, seen a bee working upon poison laurel: and, most conclusive of all, the plant makes, as if aware of its poisonous chai'actei', pi'ovision for its own fertilization. As shown in a cross-sec- tion of the flower, it issaucer-shaped,\vith little pits, or depressions, on the; side to retain the end of each stamen with its anthers until the pollen in the latter is ripe. I su])i)ose in tln' bud the bloom is so folded as to guide the stamen c in theii' growth into the pits (I ; and as the corol- la unfolds, these become sprung, as a bow. When the pollen is fully I'ijjen- ed the anthers burst, the stamens are sudden- ly released, and this miniature and beautiful catapult raises (juite a dust for several inches around. I have assist- ed this result often, and it is certainly a beau- tiful evidence of design in nature. I should take that soldier story out of thi; A B C. oi' put this by the side of it. Chas. T. Sweet. Swanton. Md.. Feb. Kl. [Gently, friend S. Please remember that ma- correspondent J.(!rammer. whose letter appears in the A B C.Jwas a veiitable physician residing in Halifax in 1875. He may be there yet for aught I know. During the years that have passed since 1875 we have had considerable cor- respondence on the subject: but the letter in the ABC book secMns to cover the whoh' ground so fully we thought it not l)est to put in any more testimony. During my travels I met sev- eral times the mountain laurel, and inquired about poison honey. The evidence seems to be that it either yields honey only occasionally, like many other i)lants. or that the honey is not always poisonous. But a great many instances are on record of honey thai atifected |)eople in much the same way as described in the A B C book. Before we consent to put your letter be- side the on(! in the A B C book, we shonkl like to hear from others who ha\'e had experience with poison honey. The letters need not neces- sarily be for pi'inl. for most bee- keepers would feel a little delicate about advertising the fact that honey from their locality was even sorne- timcK poisonous.] A. I. K. ALUM FOIt S.N'AKE-BITES. 1 saw in Gi.eamnos, some time la^^t year, that some one recommen(l(>d alum for sn;ike- bites. In your cotnmeiits yon seemed to doubt it, and said that the bite would probably have got well itself. You also stated that, so mucii alum would be injurious. I have lived in S()uth\\esl Texas (where there ai'e tnore rattlesnakes than in any other place I ever h(>ai'd of) foi' 31^ years. I have had numy cases of sniik(>-bite, both with man and beast. I use nothing but alum, and I never lost u, (Mse. I cured one man after h(( was insensible. If I can giv(f a patient tin; alum as .soon as he is bitten, the place will not swell. You must be;ir in mind that alum, being an antidote foi- snake-bite, can do no harm of itself until the jxiison is dveirome. I luive never seen nor heard of any bad effects. If this should save .soiiu' jx-rson's or animal's life I shall be well paid for writing it. .Taponica, Tex.. Feb. .'5. .Iohn Vinixg. BIO results fkom two colonies. In Southern Kansas bees have wintered finely. To date there have been almost no losses at all. We have had a favorable winter for them here. Bees that were out in the yard have been flying a little nearly every week this winter. To-day, Feb. 26, the bees have been carrying in pollen, reminding us that soon we are to see our young bees in the air. Oui- climate in the latter part of the summer is too dry for bees to do their best, yet it pays to handle bees even here. Bee- keeping is not my business — I am a minister — and yet two years ago I made ?.50.U0 from two colonies; and last year, a poor year, I made S35 from two colonies. Our honey here comes most- ly from the sumac. I am now crowding my bees and will expect them to come into the honey harvest under " a full head of steam." Yates Center, Kan.. Feb. 2(). N. V. Moohe. evai'ouatino honey by steam. I have just read J. A. Green's article, page 88, and wish to inquire whether anybody has ever tried evaporating honey by steam. I can't see why it would not work "just splendid '' to run the raw honey through an evaporatoi' with a transverse curi'ent over a steam-chest. I once evaporated some in a tin can on a cook-stove, and it "took the cake" ovei- any thing that I had that Sf^ason, and riunained liijuid (if that is the correct word, but it was \ eiy thick) until the latter pan of the winter. But evaporating in that way lakes too much time, and requires too constant watching for fear of scorching. With an evai)orator. such as sugg(>st(^d above, a constant stri-am could be run in at one end from a faucet, and th(^ lu^at would be uniform, so that a uniform article could be turned out without danger of scorching. What do you think of it? Centerville, la., Feb. 9. (J. B. Rei'Logle. [Mr. Thos. Wm. Cowan, of the British Bee JoHvadl. constructed an ap|)aratus for evaporat- ing honey by means of hot watrr: and ihe ap- paratus is illustrated and describetl in the ABC of Bee Culture, under " ExlracU'd Honey." Hot water would be better than steam, because the latter would be liable to scorch or overheat the honey.] OUTSIDE WINTER CASES. AVITH DEAD-AIR SPACE,. A SUCCESS. Long before I ever read any thing about bees,, since 1880, I was convinced that bees should be wintered outdoors in nnpainted hives, with covers sealed down tight, and that the hives should be protected from the weather by out- side cases. I have never found the necessity of any packing between those hives when the out- side case is air-tight. This sealed cover was impracticable with the Simplicity and chaff hive. Since 18S2 I hav(> been using a hive as made and used by Henry Alley, nnpainted. with a cover which always was sealed down in the fall, and I can say that these hives win- tered bees each winter since, and never lost an v. .1. T. Fletcher. Olai'ion, Pa., Feb. 20. WHY DO <,>t'EENS DIE IN THE SI'ULNCi? I waul to ask th(> following question through (iLK.VNLN'Gs : What is the cause of so many young and pi'olilic (pieens being lost b(>fore the honey-tiow in the spring and after thi^ flow in the fall ? We have nevtM' seen any discussion in any of the bee j(»urnals as to the cause of so much fatality of qinums at the above periods. We can readily guess why there are more (iu<'enless colonies discovered in the spring than in th(^ fall: viz., because persons do not examine their l)ees in the fall closely in this respect, con- is«rj liLIOAN'lNdS 1\ HKi: Clll/riKH. •H)7 sciiin'Mtlv niiiny of tln' siniii!; i,i>i;n. l^.-iniM-svillc. ().. Mar. 1. [Of course, tlic rigors of winter must have sonic clTcct upon tlic vitality of lu'cs and queens ;iliins die more In the s[)rin}r than at other times.] i!i:i;s" \viN(.s NOT iN.ii'KKi) itv iii:K-i;\«Ai'Ks. Keferrinj; to liie editorial in ti>e last, issue of (Ji.K.\NiN(is. mentioninji tlie I'orter escape. p(>r- mil us to say tiiat tlie ohjeciioii tiieiciii rumor- ed to have been urii«'d ajiainsl its use is, to our minds. al)suid. The spriiijjs used in it are smooth on the edges, and everywhere els(>. and it is not possible for them to injure tlie wings of tiie bees. From tlie lett(>rs. etc.. inclosi d here- with, whicli we should like you to read and re- turn, and others w Inch we lunc. we can not tiiink that any I'anadiaii association of hoa- keepers evei' took such ai'tion. Of the more than 5000 escapes sold last year, with the privilege of returning and getting money back after three niontiis" trial, if not satisfactory in every way. not one was returned, nor was a word of com- plaint received from any one; buying them. licwistown. 111.. Mar.".i. R. i^ E. C. Puiitkh. [We have read the letters from the Canadians reinrred to. They all speak highly of the suc- ■cess of the l*ortei- escape.] IXIHANA I5EP:-KEE1'ERS. The name? and postoflfices of those who have represented the industry at the county and dis- trict fairs, and those who ai'e thinking of mak- ing an exhibit at the World's Fair, are wanted by a committee, appointed by the Indiana State Hee-keepers" Association. The names are want- ed, to be submitted to the proper authorities who will assign the proper space, give needed information. I'tc. It is hoped that Indiana bee- keepers will take a lively interest in the work, as we have the resources, and there is no reason W'hy we can not make as good a showing as other States. Please send names to Walter S. i'ouder, 17.") East Walnut St.. Indianapolis. Ind. i E. H. COLMXS. Committee ' R. S. Russei.i., { W. .S. POUDEK. MOUK I'HOI'OI.IZEI) (;UKEN-EXCI-UT)EK.S. You ask if any one has been troubled with bees propolizing the perforated zinc. I have had them propolize the zinc, and I have had them to till up "(-inch auger-holes t)ored in the top of some bo.\ hives tiiat I used. If I could ■ovei'come that difficulty 1 would put queen-e.x- ■cluders on all my hives. L. A. Duoga.n. Cuthbert. Ga., Mar. 7. EXTRACTING HONEY HY STEAM. ETf . Will Mr. Osbnrn please tell us how one man •can handle a cart containing 80 combs of hon- ey ? From 'M) to 40 are as many as I can handh;. They average something over 7 lbs..conse(iueiit- ly his 80 combs would weigh 5i)0 lbs. or more. With an ordinary cart, such work is impossible. Oamma. Mo.. Feb. lit. Tiios. .\. Andehso.n. I have ?,'.! colonies at present, ami the leather- colored Italians take the leafl in hoiu^y-produc- tlon. W. R. Clover. Clinton. Ind.. Feb. 0. [The fact is. as we have often repciated, the leather-colored Italians are br<;d for business and not for yellow bands. Your experience agrees with that of many others.] lUKVKN 1 l.Nti Al 1 Kl{ SW AU.MS A I, A DADANT. .\s you wanted to hear from those that re- tuineil after-swarms (t la Dadant. I will say they geiM'rally come out again, some as often as "thre(^ dilTei'ent times. Hut after I took to caging the (|ueen out. of the aftcr-swai'iii three or four days before 1 let her loose with them. 1 had no more troulile with aflcr-sw arms. Ilees seem to have wintered well so far. I have not lost any up to dale. Marshtield, Mo.. Mar. 1. .1. I). WiirrTExm-i: the ascent. I did not think much a.iuiut it : but as there were several places in that vicinity where we were to call, I took the matter under consideration. On Fri- day, the 3:3d of January, our good friends Fair and \Vm. Stevenson met us at the depot, and, with the aid of friends Kirk and Abbott (presi- dent of the Southern California Association), we were shown over the magnificent new residence of Prof. Lowe, who obtained such a celebrity during our recent war by his wonderful balloon ascensions — Prof. Lowe the aeronaut we used to call him. I think he made about 300 ascensions in all. in the service of the government. From the observatory on the summit of the mansion, we got, by means of a glass, a plain view of the trail, and also a glimpse of the observatory on the summit of the Peak. After finding the spot with the glass we could just define it with the naked eye: but it was a mere speck, about like the head of a pin, and it glistened in the sun like a miniature tin cup. From this time on I began to g(;t the Wilson's Peak fever. Some- body said it was two miles to the top; othens said it was four: and finally some one who had been up said it was seven miles. The livery- stable men said, however, iiine miles, and want- ed $^3.00 for a horse and saddle to go up and back. Now. I knew from sad experience that It tires me and uses m<' up much more to ride a horse than to go on foot — that is. while I have been out of practice for so many years. I in- quired whether anybody had ever gone up on foot. A few had done it. I was told, and friend Fai'r said he had gone part way once, and he said he thought he could go the whole way. W(^ went to dinner, but I kept every now and then turning my eye t(j the dull gray mountain as It lay against the northern sky. Friend Farr's folks gave us an extra nice dinner, and I excused myself for eating so much by saying we rnujht try to asci-nd the mountain. .Mr. Farr said if we tried it we must start right after din- ner; but w-e first had to take Mrs. Root over to friend Stevenson's, and we, liad troubh; in find- ing when; he lived. Then, although the ba.se of the mountain seemed only about half a mile away, it proved to be seven miles. Again, the ground that looked (?o(r/i hill toward the moun- tain was rukiilly up hill. Furthermore, before w(! rt^ached tlu; foot the road was stojjped by a broken bridge, and so we started to go the rest of the way on foot. It was only a little piece, any way; but the further we walked, the fur- ther and rougher the road seemed, until we were on the brink of a cliff tliat looked next to Impassable. While we stood, like Christian in Pilgrim's Progress, sonu; one hailed us from be- •.'08 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mar. 1.5. low. It was friend Stevenson with the buggy. He had found the right road, and was calling us to come out of briers and locks. and get in and ride to the 7-e(i/ foot of the trail. He made me think of Evang(>list in the same book I have mentioned. We really wei'e a couple of tired and discouraged pilgrims. I fear, and we were very glad to abandon our dangerous road and get" back into the buggy. We certainly had learned to appreciate a smooth path and a reg- ular traveled road. It was fully three o'clock when he bade us good-by. and we started off. He was to keep the horse and buggy over night, and come back for us at eleven the next day. If we backed out we were to get home some time in the night as best we could. Please let me digress a little here. As my story is to bear a good deal on this matter of health as well as endurance. I want you to bear with me when I tell you of my physical condi- tion at this time. I was scarcely through with the nervous chills. Only a few days before, my strength would often give out suddenly when I had walked less than a mile. My overcoat and fur cap were worn constantly, indoors and out, when everybody else, almost, was in summer clothing: in fact, I had at the time a cold in my head and right ear. Add to this a bou'ct com- plaint that had annoyed me for nearly two weeks, and you will have a picture of the man who proposed to walk nine miles on a stretch. up a mountain. Mrs. Root and the other wo- men-folks declared I must take my overcoat, and that my companion must carry it strapped over his shoulders. However. I threw it back into the buggy, and our only baggage was half a pound of crackers and a nickel's worth of cheese. I was full of excitement, and I rather thought I should hold out. In tive minutes we were up so high that the horse and buggy seem- ed like a kitten and a baby-cart. We called down to the earth below, and told friend S. to bring Mrs. Root in the morning, and come rath- er early, so that she could climb up a mile or so. to meet us on our return trip. Then we called again to have the Kodak brought also. Then up we went. The trail is nicely graded, one foot in ten, and just wide enough for a horse. Before we get down to business in climbing, however, I wish to say just a woi'd more in the health matter. Friend Fan- advised me to take a good big drink of watei'. for none was to be had on the trail again until we were nearly half way up. I did not drink (nil/, however. I'lease bear with me if I tell you frankly why. I knew if I took a drink, even a small one, I should very soon have to stop on account of my bowel trou- ble, not only once, but may be several times. I have been more or le.ss troubled in this way all my life. Oh how I have envied people who could at any time drink all the water they wanted I From the valley below, the trail seems to run along the mountain-side almost without any very short crooks or tui'ns: but when right there you an- surprised to Mud al- most every rod of the mountain-side cut with canyons made by the water in its course down, and the trail is therefore in and out and ai'ound sharp rocky curves and into sharp grooves, so you are first in the sun and then out of it, in sishtof the valley and out of sight of it, until the path becomes an ever changing labyrinth. 'rii(> accompanying picture gives a glimpse of this.* The horse and buggy soon became a mere speck down below our feet, and it was only by carefully scanning the thin thread that repre- * Our gt)()d friend Raniblei'. on page 197, gives us another very good glimpse of a inountaui trail, only his trail is wide enough for a wagon as well as horse. sented the roadway that we could see it at all. About this time the grandeur and sublimity of the landscape spread out before us began to be almost entrancing. I have often tried to think what the earth below must look like to a bal- loonist, and here it was before lue. The moun- tain, that had seemed so gradual in its ascent, when viewed from the valley before, now seem- ed to be almost straight down, over the edge of the trail: and it was so in reality, for a stone kicked from the path went crashing and re- bounding until it almost frightened one to think of the immense distance. Before we had gone a mile I felt amply repaid for all our trouble: and every rod we made, further on, showed some new unfolding of beauty. First the trail took one side of the mountain and then another; sometimes it turned abruptly so your right hand was against the mountain, when it had before been toward the valley. Up, up, up we went. The points that had at first seemed so grand were now a mile below, and seemed almost on a level with the valley, while away up above us we could see glimpses of the trail we were des- tined to tread. The easy ascent was but play to one whose heart was in it, as was mine, and my enthusiasm rose as our pathway did in its windings among the rocky precipices. A pret- ty white house near an orange-grove stood near the beginning of the trail. Every time we came round so as to bring it in sight we noted how it grew less and less. When half a mile up it seemed too small foi' folks to live in: next time it looked like two pieces of shingles, one laid across the other. You see. the house had an L to it. Next time it was about like two pieces of a honey-section, and at last a mere white speck without shape. The orange-trees looked like rows of cabbages, and finally the whole orchard was only a speck of green. Higher and higher! If one felt dizzy a while ago. how should he feel now. at this immense height, with the clouds below him".* Finally I began to think I could take a good drink without any danger of harm, for I was perspiring a little all over, and the red blood was tingling to ray very fingers' ends. We watched foi- the water-trough: but we were so busy talking and looking off into the valley we did not know we had passed it until we were half a mile above it. The sun seemed pretty hot, and we were not sorry when the trail changed to the north side, where trees and bushes cut off the sun as well as the view. Then I began to discover 1 was getting tired. We ate some of our ci'aekers and cheese, and for a time I felt stronger: but before we had reached the half-way point I thought I was used up. We had been on the trail just two hours. I rested: but when we got up again I was so stiff and sore I really felt worse. I man- aged to go a little more than half way, when I spoke to fri(>nd Farr as follows: " I luaii be able to hold out until six o'clock: but until seven, never." What should I do? It was four miles down and four miles up to any stopping-place. We watched for water, but saw no sign of any. and it would soon be dark. Could we ever tread on this narrow path, so close to such fearful depths, in the night-time? Just about then I must have got what Ernest would call my "second wind." My comi'ade had just asked if I had any matches. Neither of us had thought of such a thing: but here I was. without an over- coat, and wet with perspiration. He finally fished a broken " lucifer" from one pocket, and our hopes hung on this. I remember thinking 1 would go a little further, and pi-etty soon I didn't feel so tired, and started up a brisker walk: then we came out of the pine-trees, and around on that side of the mountain toward the plain again. The picture referred to tells 1 Si fj r.l.KANlNCJS IN HKK CLIIvTURE. VO'.t I'INE-TKKi; I'OINT, NKAI! TlIK SU.M.MIT Ol MT. W1I.>()X. 210 GI^EANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mai;. 16. 18f>e (n.KANiNcs IN HKK I ri/ruKi':. Ml pxist(Mice in a way tliat brotight strength once more to my tired limbs. Los Angeles was the queen of them all, and then and there she might iccfi be called the "queen" of the cartJily angels. Imagine a thousand twinkling stars, and each star a sun, and the whole of them beneath your feet, and you have it. Pasadena led off as next in radi- ance, and the rest followed. We were now go- ing steadily ro'ind the mountain, and I felt sure that the Mountain Hotel must soon come in sight. Hy the dim light of the stars we saw a sliovel and pick in the trail, up against the bank. They were left, doubtless, by some work- man repairing the roadway, and so \u'. couldn't be fcry far away. I have always loved a shov- el and pick; but I never saw any tools look so good before. At length, a little in advance, and above our heads, a light met oui- view that brought from each of us a loud shout of rf^joic- ing. The cut explains it, but you must imagine all the summer tents out of the way, so only the one with th*; shingle roof I'and the stovepipe sticking out of the topj nimains. Our shout was answered by a brisk one from within; and. wasn't there a rejoicing! While the roof is shingles, the sides and doors are cloth. Cloth is cheaper than glass, and lighter to carry u\) tlie mountain. With a bright lamp in.side. " (amp Wilson '' looked very attractive in the night. I was so weary I made for a chair near the great cook-stove; but friend Farr was most anxious about '" water." Remember, wo two had not had a drop for our parched tongues in all that four hours, and up grade eight miles. It was soft spring water, from the summit of the mountain, almost. IHO feet still higher up. I drank cupful after cupful; and when sujiper was ready I drank two large cups of coffee, and ate — shall I tell it all"? Well. I ate a great lot of pork and beans, ever so many chunks of !D MISSION OF SANTA BARBARA, ETC. As a rule, our good people here have made very few mistakes in my absence; and even in my fearfully bad writing on Notes of Travel I notice only two places that need correction. On page 135, toward the bottom of the second col- umn, we find this sentence: " I dreamed of her nights, and while on the streets during the day. If any figure in the least resembled," etc. It is true, that your humble servant has a very vivid imagination, but I fear he never yet got to dreaming on the streets in the daytime; therefore, wlien you read the above, please im- agine it punctuated as follows: "I dreamed of her nights: and while on the streets during the day, if any figure in the least resembled." etc. In our last issue, page 171. near the top of the second column, read "Old Mission " instead of •'Old Museum." In fact, the Old Mission would be a rather bad place for a museum, for no one of the outside world has for years been permit- ted to take even the smallest glimpse within that sacred walled garden. A. I. R. HO.ME AGAIN. We reached Medina March .5: and after meet- ing so many bee-keepers who had seen hard times on account of short crops, etc., you may be sure I felt a little surprised to see the Home of the Honey-bees booming in every depart- ment. Some way or other the boys had started up a bigger trade than we ever had before at this season of the year, and they had contrived so many short cuts in business that I have been rubbing my eyes, and staring around ever since. I hope the kind friends in Florida will overlook the fact that we gave them the '' go-by " for the present. We saw so much in California, Arizo- na, New Mexico, etc., that we really felt as if we hadn't any enthusiasm left for any more wonderful things until we reached home and rested up a little. I had planned writing a great lot of letters to the kind friends who made our visit so i)leasant; but. somehow, many things need my attention just now. Shorthand wiMters and typewriters are crowded to their utmost, and some sick besides, and so I fear that some of you will hav^e to accept the good will for the deed. I want to tell you, however, that Sue and I talk of you by day and dream of you by night. But when she said, while we were in New Orleans, tluit she would rather see home again just then, than all else that this wide world has to offer, I uttered a devout amen, and we made a " bee-line" for the dear old spot. As I dictate this I can see from the window the men across the way filling the hot- beds and cold-irames with seeds and plants, and we are just going to have a lovely garden, even if I didn't get on hand till March was al- most a fourth gone. A. I. R. '■PUIXING UP stakes" and GOING TO NEW HONEV -FIELDS WITHOUT PROPER IN- VESTIGATION; THE FOLLY OF SUCH A COURSE. A FEW days ago a lettei' came from a corres- pondent who was influenced some time ago by a highly colored account that appeared in our columns in r(>gard to an alfalfa-field, and was greatly disappointed and chagrined by moving to that much-lauded country, to find that it would have been fai better for him if he had stayed where he was. This same correspondent stated further that he sold his home, leased his other property for a term of years, and was compelled to accept his new quarters at a great disadvantage to himself. The climate was in- sufl'erably hot. and not congenial to his health. It is the height of folly, and a serious piece of business, to go to a new field without thorough investigation. A correspondent who has given a glowing account of some new field nuxy be perfectly conscientious and honest in his state- ments: but he may be completely blinded with enthusiasm, and such things are possible. Any one who contemplates selling off his property and moving to a new field should first write to the postmaster for the names of old residents who may be in position to give him the infor- mation desired. He might then go himself, without his family, and look over the field, if the results of his inquiries so far justify it. Being on the ground himself, he is then in position to decide, without the enormous ex- pense of moving his whole family or selling all the property he has at home at a sacrifice. As editor of Gleanings we take the utmost pre- caution in having only fair, unbiased accounts of these new fields enter our columns. W^e should, manifestly, not be doing our duty if we inserted none of these accounts, for journals are intended to disseminate information; and the only thing is for editors and readers alike to go slow. 1 MlfJ t;M:ANix»;s ix ijkk cri/i'iiiK ;ji3 now iiii: i;i.K-. AKi: \vi\ti:i{1N(; at iiii; iiomk OK rilK llONKV-UKKS. Lkttkhs tliiit. an> coniiiiji in cvciy day s('<>iii tosliowtliat l)cti-<> w intcrins colonics outdoors in various t'onditions— some of tlicin w itli scaled covers, sonii' Willi atisorhinii ciishi(nis. in large ehafl' hives, in the small one-story chatV hives, and still others in one-story siiigle-walled hives, witli an outside winter protectiiisi-case. It is a little funny, hut the colonies are all wintering: (•(lually well. Those in the large chafl' hives are doing no hetler than those in the single- walled hives with protecting cases, with only a dead-air space, so called, hetween the two walls. It is funnier still, hut the colonies hav- ing iibsorhing cushions, and those having sealed covers, so far as we can examine the latter, are wintering just about aliUe. ]{ut this does not necessarily prove that absorbing cushions are equal to sealed covers. Our winter has been re- niar.Uably cold and dry. Hut wail until we get a mild muggy winter, with tlie ground reeking with dampness, accompanied by frequent rains. It is then that the sealed covers would assert their superiority. Strangi' as it may appear, we have lost more colonies outtloors during semi-mild winters than during winters that were severi^ly cold. W(> have wintered the bees nicely so far. and it only remains to be seen how well w(> shall xjtrimj them. ■'Oil. yes I"' some one will ask: '"why didn't you try wintering colonies outdoors in single- walled hives, along with the others, without any protection ? Perhaps they would have wintei-ed eciually well with the rt^st." Oh, nol We tried that expeiiment last win- ter on .")() colonies, and lost them all. Those having protection ((?/ wintered. We thought it was useless to throw away any more colonies by trying them without protection. It does not pay. CO.ST OF PRODUCING HONEY; GRADING HONEY. Vxui and intelligent discussion, without acri- mony, as we believe we have in this issue, brings out many valuable points. While some of the debaters, if we may call them such, have a/>/»((rc/t/?i/ stepped beyond the bounds of broth- erly kindness in their riqjlies. yet we are very sure there is no ill feeling: and if theii' words were uttered in convention they would be light- ed up by many a comical twinkle of good na- tiHv. Quite by accident, the discussion in this issue as it appears on the first pages is handled by the giants in our pursuit— some of the first writers in all beedom. I'nfortunately it is a little lopsided, leaving .Mr. Doolitlle all alone. We desire to have all disi-ussion. so far as it may appear in (;i,k.\.\in(;s. well and evenly balanced: and although Mr. Doolittle is on I'otiier side of the fence to what we are, we have just learned that one of the " giants" in York State favors .Mr. Dooliitle's sidi' of the discus- sion, and we have therefore asked him to write an article for our next issne. We think we shall then have to declare the discussion for the present at an end: and in the meantime it would be pertinent for bee-keepers, who are in position to do so, to keep carc-ful account, so far as ihi-y are able, of what it costs them to produce their crop of honey for the ensuing year. The discussion that we have already had on the subject will give plenty of material on which to work. Tile subji^ct of grading honey seems to have received already its fair share of attention: and while there may be some points that will pass unnoticed we think best to declare this discussion at an end for the present. The whole subject has been discussed thoroughly and in- telligently, and the only thing that remains now is for a national Ixuiy of bee-keei)ers to agi'ee upon and recommend a system or systems ofgi'ading. li looks now as if it would i)e im- possible for all bee-keepers to agii'e upon any one sciiedule. As we intimated in our last is- sue, we may be obliged to have two and pos- sibly three systems of classification. In this (^vent the bee-keepcMS of t he Kast will have to formulate a set of rules that will be acceptable to them: so also, in a similar way. the bee- keepers of the Mississippi Valley and Tacilic Coast. It may appear that we, are disposed to cut olf discussions prematurely; but it is better to do so a little too soon than to let them go on issue after issue until everybody is tired and disgusted. There is [ilenty of other pabulum in tlie field yet, and we do not wish to wear out any one topic until it is threadbare, and thus defeat the object of real discussion. m<;tting bees starve. While in California I found several apiaries where the bees were starving. One apiary be- longed to quite a young bee-keeper in his A H C class. As he wanted more bees, he had been raising queens and making artificial swarms the fall before, until he had his colonies up to 200 or 300 in number. As the bees fly almost every day in the year in that locality, he rather thought they were getting enough. Hut just before new honey should begin to come in In- lost — how many colonies do yon suppose, by starvation? Well, pretty nearly a hundred. Then when he went to feeding, either he did not feed enough or they got to robbing, until he was getting pretty nearly discouraged. Less than a mile away I visited another very pretty apiary where every thing was tidy and neat, and even a shade was made over the whole apiary, of stakes, poles, and brush. This shade is a necessity in hot climates, to keep the combs from melting down. They wished me to see whether foul brood was in their apiary or not. Well, I did not find foul brood, but I did find bees down on their backs, and giving their last kicks because of starvation. I told my good friend that, if he would give his bees a good big feed, and get them up into tlirifty shape, 1 thought his foul brood would all dis- apijear. xs'ow, this brother has been investing money in queens that produce^r''e-/*f(M(7c(7 hces. and he wanted me to look at some of them. 1 told him I would much rather help him get sotne feedei's. and feed every colony that needed it, before another half-hour had gone by. An- other friend told me that his bees were all right in Deci-mber, but he hadn't looked at them since. This was in .March. Now, it may do for a veti'ian Xo let his bees alone from Decem- ber till March: but where the weather is so warm that bees are flying almost every day. I think we had better look them over often, and be sure thai they don't starve, or even come pretty nair starving, .lust think of the labor and pains required to make artificial swarms, getting <'ach one with a good (pieen. the bees taught to ijrotect their hive, and brood-rearing set going so as to give th(;m sufficient force to live through the winter— and after tliis. kicking it all over by a little lack of attention! Some- times it needs only half a pound of honey to fetch them through: and if any of you are let- ting your bees starve while you are sending away for queens that produce five-banded bees, I hope yon will turn over and do better. Uncle Amos may come arotind when you don't expect it. and tell it right out before all the world. Moral. — lie i<\ire your bees are not starving. A. I. R. 214 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mar. 15. Ourstriiin of ITALIANS liave reached the top. Tliey are HUMMERS when jou want l)ees for honei'. Queen.s hied for business. Make arrangreraents to order now, to be delivered wIkmi wanted. BEE SUPPLTE^ AT WHOLESALE AND RICTAIL. For further inforraatit)n about bee- flxtures, send for clrrular. JNO. NEBEL & SON. . 4tfdb High Hti.l, Mo. Please mention this paper. My Catalogue of APIARIAN SUPPLIES for 1892 is free ; My Pamphlet, '-HOW I PRODUCE COMB HONEY," by Mail, 5 cts. GEO. E. HILTON. Fremont, Mich. Please mention (Cleanings. 2-13db Send for our new price list of Bee supplies and Fruit pack- ages. A liber- al discount al- lowed on win- ter orders. Ad- dress BERLIN FRUIT BOX CO., Berlin Heights Erie Co., Ohio. l-6db tS^ln responding lu mis advertisement mention Glkaning* POSITIVELY by return mail I will ship war- ranted purely mated Italian queens at $1 each; tested, ll.5iJ; select tested, yellow to the tip, 12. Tii-rantee salisfaction, and refer you to A. I. Root, W. Z. Hutchinson, D. A. Jones, or mj' thou- sands of customers. 4tfdb VV. H. LAWS, Lavaca, Seb. Co., Ark. -^BEST OIT EARTH-f^ ELEVEN YEARS WITHOUT A PARALLEL, AND THE STAND- ARD IN EVERY CIVILIZED COUNTRY. Bingham &. Hetherington Patent Uncapping-Knife, Standard Size. Bingham's Patent Smokers, Six Sizes and Doctor Smoker, 3)^ in. Conqueror " 3 " Larjre " 2V4 " Exira (wide shield) 2 " Plain marrow " )2 " Little Wonder, 1%, " Uncapping Knife Sent promptly on rece Prices. postpaid .. $3.00 L75 1.50 1.35 100 65 . 115 ipt of price . To sell again, send for dozen and half-dozen rates. Milledgeville, 111., March 8, 1890. Sirs: — Smokers received to-day, and count cor- rectly. Am ready for orders. If others feel as I do your trade will boom. Truly, F. A. Snell. Vermillion, S. Dak.. Feb. 17, 1890. SiKS: — I consider your smokers the best made for any purpose. I have had 15 years' experience with 300 or 400 swarms of bees, and know whereof I speak. Very truly^ R. A. Morgan. Sarahsville, Ohio, March 12,1890. Sirs: — The smoker 1 have has done good service since 1883. Yours truly, Daniel Brothers. Send for descriptive circular and testimonials to 4tfdb Bi»aHAii & HETBEsmaTOiT, Abronia, Mich. Qyin respondintf to tills advertifenient meiiiiim uikamnx*. Dovetailed Hives, Simplicity Hives, SECTIONS. EXTRACTORS. ETC. A FULL LINE OF BEE-KEEPERS' SUPPLIES. 60-PAGE CATALOGUE. Itfdb J. M- Jenkins, Wetumpka, Alabama. t^Iii respond injr to tlils artvevti.^eiiiein iiifiitidii Cii,K.i APRAY IB FRUIT TREES I VINES d Wonny Frattud Leaf Bli«litof Applet, FMit, OhenrtM, CVPCI ClAD BPRATXR* Grape and Potato Bol nam OnreaUs premtedbyBfliaK CAuCLOlUll OCTFITM. PERFECT FRUIT ALWAYS SELLS AT GOOD PRICES. Omtalori« sbov. lug an tniorioaBiiiseetB to Fmits mailed free. Uarge stack «f Pmit Trees^ Vines* and Berry rianta at Bottom Prices. Address WAI. KTAHLi« Quincy, Ills. HTln respondiiiif t') lii. illoll ULKANINOa. ROOT'S GOODS FOR THE EAST. Bee-Keepers of the East should Bcdr In jVlind ^^^^^^^^^^^^'^^^^'^^^^^^^y**^"^®^" Es stern Dr3nch where our Bee-keepei-s' Supplies are kept for sale, and prompt shipment. You can save time and freight by ordering from our Eastern Branch. We have engaged Mr. F. A. Sal- isbury to take charge of this business, and he will treat you well. lie will be pleased to send you a list of goods kept in stock. Address all orders, EASTERN BRANCH, F. A. SALISBURY, Agent, Syracuse, N. Y. 1893 (JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. :.'15 ITEI.L voii what. .lotics, Lcverliiu llroM. sell tlM> licst K'ootis mikI at tlic lciw(".l piicc of any mw I'vi- \' siiiick vol. The lai>f(-st" and Ix'st I'liuippi'il Bee - Hive Factory Ml tfic W .-t. I'll,- l)(.\ctail«(l lli\r :in.l New ll.illinan M>lf - spa •inj.'- I'raiiH' a spci'ialtN. E\cis lliiiiff iix'd l>\' inactiral bi'i'-kccpcis at whdlcsalf and rt't.iil. Si-iid fur their fict" llhistialcd Prico List, and save iiumcv. Supply Ut'alcf.s, st-tid for ihiir \\ linlcsaU' I-ist. Addivs.s Z^^VZIRIXTC BROS., litfdb ^nrio-ba., Cass Co., Zo'^^a,. h*le«se mention this paper. Cheapest Yet.K^ k- k- ,) - SWAKMS of hfCN. inixstlv hvl)rida, a Z') ffw bhicks. All in tin-' A. I. Root t\vo-stor\ cliatt' hi^■(■s; plenty of honey, ^tronv' swai-ms, and «ipU'ndid workers. >'."). IHI per stand. Have 9lI seetion frames full of section ho.xes, with foundation, Itldnk, more than one-half drawn out; ."lO etnpty flames all thrown in at the abo\e price. For p.articiilai s call on or address L. 0. NELSON, Cherokee, lowa.t^ t» i» Please mention tills papei\ PHILOS AUTOMATIC SECTION FORMER AND GLUER. IT DOES BOTH AT THE SAME OPERA- TION. ALL YOr HAVE TO DO IS TO TURN THE CRANK, AND THE SEC- TKiNS ARE ROLLED OUT BY THE WHOLE- SALE. ANY CHILD CAN DO IT. PRICE ONLY *;^.iio. Addi-ess E. W. Philo. Halfmoon. N. Y. KTln re.sfKjndlnft to this advertisement mention Glkakinos. FOR SALE. For May delivery, Italian and Hy- brid Bees in lijrlit sliippinjsr-ca-ses, '^ L. frames. Price, for Italians, -fl.tHi; hybrids, 13.00 each, free on board cars hi-ic. 1 }rMarantee safe de- livery. A. W. O.IUUNUK, •VSflh €eiitervl]le, mich. r^Iii res|>ondln(f to thl« advertisement mention Gleanings, PERSONS tUANTINO APIAf^IAH SUPPLiIES Woiilil do well to send lf> \V. E. Ci,ahk. Oriskany, Oneida Co., N. Y. Send for illustrated price list. Dealers .should send foi- Deal- ers' list for Sinokei-s. t7*In respondlne; to this advertisement mention QLEAKU>ns. Strawberry Wonders! BOYNTON I'li^li. I.- '•! i ■■■ I., til.. .Ml-.-. ERT SEEDLINC-li:«u* .MU'rts to tli.- acre Al 111.' (Iiii. \ :< i:\p.rnniiitul Slalion. in malted rows. The l)i'^l Slnppuiir and Selling Berries ever produceil. BOYNTON 5"«' per dozen; *J.i"i per ItKI. ERT SEEDLING 2^'<- peril. )zen; «l.'i> per KMi, pi.M- |i ii.l l.v Mini .Ms.. .I.->sie, Keiiliii'kv. and 2."i other varle 11. 'S. t».. 1I1--I arc til,. l.CNl. Als.i TRUE BELGIAN HARES CHEAP. Address K. li( )()M lluWEK, (iallupville. .\ V. C*s^ii respominit' t.. i.iis a.lv.iii iim m ni Foreifrn and doniesi ic. Crude an on to purchase of US, as we have again ))nrchased thi' very latest inii)roved mills, ami shall send none hut th'.' best found.-ition. We will allow 1,5'T discount until April 10th on all oi-ders. Send stami) for free samples. Address C W. PHELPS & CO , 6-lltlh 74 Pktitt St., Bin(;h.amton. N. Y. rflii respond ini_' 1.1 111 s .idv.-i 1 1 .i... m iiMiiiitin Hi.KANlMi.s. FOIR SALiE^ 20 Acres li-.iiid in Kerkley «"o., \V. Va., 5 .mie« \V»-i!.t of .Tlar- tlnsbiir^, I oiiuty Seat ol Berkle.y. The followinfr varieties of fruit upon it in full hearing- are, r.5 apple-trees, 130 graiievines. 20 cherry- trees. Biiildiiiffs in frood and substantial conditioii. Dwelllnf<-house, smoke-liouse. corn-cril), stable, and spriiig--house, with a never-failing' si)rin}i- of |)ure water. Good location for bees or ijiieeniearing'. Price I.^OJ.00. Address IVIliL. THATtHKR, 6-7d MHrUiisbiirg-. Berkley Ci>., \V. Va. Please mention this pajiur. 150 STRAWBERRY- PLANTS, Si.\ choice varieties b\niail. prepaid for $1.00. The Secrels ol' «u< iei«!» in ilie Oroiwiiig «»1' Small FruitH, and cataloffue of varieties describ- ing- abovi' collection Free bv mail. 6-7d I. A. WOOLL, Elsie, Midi. Please mention this paper. CELLING OUT Our entire stock of Italian bees, *^ all in chaff hives: .$.").0II per swarm with hive in- cluded. Hives and furniture for sale at half price. Call in per.son, or send cash. Send letter to JARVIS T. MARBLE. 24 New Boston Road, Fall River, Mass. ^'OK SAEiE.— The apiary of Solomon Vroomaii, * deceased, consisting- of 107 colonies, iind all nec- essary aii|>liances. For manv vears the apiarv of John H. Martin. Han ford, Wasiiington Co., N. Y. Address F. S. KLDREDtJK, No. Adams, No. II No. Church St. Berkshire Co., Mass. 6-78d Please mention this paper. I DO NOT ADVERTISE a sijccialty. I)ut eveiv thing found in api.\I(V. 15er W.1X wanted. C. E. LIKENS, K-Td 19 N. :^d St., Phlladelpliia, Pa. FOR SALE — WARRANTED PURE-imED PU- NIC QCEENS. No others near. Queens de- livei-ed in .June. Price :f2. nil each ; one-fourth off on all orders with cash before April l.i. Safe airival g-uitranteed. Alfalfa .seed l)y mail, '-iin- pei- lb. Fr.\NK M. How Alii), Bo.\ :].% Gardiii i Hy. Kansas. 6-7d KED CAP and BL/\<'K iTIINORC'A EGGS FOR HATCHING. FOR SALE BY 6tidb E. P. Aldridge, Franklin, Ohio. FOR S.\LE.—\Vell-eqiii Plied ajiiary in g-ood lo- cation (Del. Co., N. Y'.). Address John S. C.\llbi(e.\th, Monticello, N. Y. 316 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mar. is. Wants or Exchange Department. Notices will be inserted uinler this head at one half our usu- al rates. All advertisements intended for this department must not exceed Ave lines, and vou must say you want your adv't in this department, or we will not be responsible tor er- rors. You can have the notice as many lines as you please; but all over five lines will cost you according to our regular rates. This department is intended only for bona-tide ex- changes. Exchanges for cash or for price lists, or notices of- fering articles for sale, can not be inserted under this head. For such our regular rates of W cts. a line will be charged, and they vriU be put with the regular advertisements. We can not be respon.>-ibTe for dissatisfaction arising from these "swaps." WANTED.— To trade a large lot of Heddon hives, nicely made and g-ood as new; some with combs complete for honey, now or after crop of '93. Write for particulars. Address D. S. Hall,, 2tfdb South Cabot, Vt. WANTED.— To exclianpe apiary of 7.5 colonies, with every tiling needed in the business, for land or other property or offers. Several valuable town lots in live railroad t^iwn; no better location for bees in I-9db White Mountain Apiarist, Groverton, N. H. WANTED.— To exchange bees or bee-supplies for pine lumber. Speak quick. Address 6d C. F. IThl, Millersburg, Ohio. WANTED.— To exchange Odell typewriter for printing-press or offers. P. M., Rush River, Minn. WANTED.— To exchange a new foot-power saw for bees Viv the pound. W. S. Wright, Hd " Battle Creek, Mich. WANTED.— A practical experienced bee-keeper to take cliarge of an apiary at Fort Collins, Col. Steady employment for any length of time to the right man. State experience and wages wanted, fid Address Walt. L. Hawley, c-o Col. Springs Gardens, Colorado Springs, Col. WANTED.— To exchange eggs for hatching for dry-bone mill, small foundation mill, or thin foundation. My stock of Light Brahmas. White P. Rocks, and Golden Wyandottes is as good as the best. D. F. Lasuibr, Hooper, N. Y. 6d Solid GOU1D Around the queen centers our future success in apiculture. A poor queen, like a poor hoi-se, will die on our hands when most needed. Color in either case is immaterial, being simply a matter of choice— my choice is the G. M. Doolittle strain of Italians which is not only the prettiest, but is also far in advance of all other strains, imported Ital- ians not excepted. I am the owner of the best qvieens ever produced by Mr. Doolittle; and shall govern myself accord- ing to Natui'e's best way of rearing queens. Listen to what Mr. Dnolittle says: "During the |)ast sixteen years, these bees have been l)red with great pains regarding their honey-gathering (juaU- ties, my average production of comb honey from each colony for that time having been about 80 lbs. each year, while single colonies have given us as high as 298 to 3u9 pounds." My capacity is about 30(i nuclei, while my rates are as follows: Virgin queen, 40 cts.; untested, $1.00; tested, .f2.00; select tested, $3.00; .select tested breed- ing queen, $4.00. Special Offer. A select te.sted breeding queen will lie given the one ordering the greatest number of queens during the mtmth of Mar., Apr., May, (jr .Tune. Orders may be booked now, and the. pay sent wlien the queens are ready, tid W V. MoRBHOUaii, Lafayette, Ind. ^9*In responding to this advertisement mention GLBANDfoa EARLY QUEENS and BEES FROM THE SOUTH. 1 untested (ineen. Ajiril, $1.00; May. Sl.CO ;i •• •• " 2.75; •• 3.50 1 tested " •■ 3.00; " 1..50 ;i " " " 5.(J0; " 4.00 Best Select Tested for breeding, $3.00. Two-frame nuclei, with any queen. $1.50 each e.xtra. Safe arrival guaranteed. Special rates to dealCiS. W. J. ELLISON, M»d Catchall, Sumter Co., S. C. Please mention this paper G. W. Phelps & Go's FoundationTactory. SEE ADVBBIISEMENT IN ANOTHEE COLUMN. 6-lldb 74 Petitt St.. Binghamton, N. Y. BEE-HIVKS and Supplies. Send f(n' catalogue free. Addi'ess SAITK'ELi JOI^ES, Highland Park College, Des Moines, Iowa. 6-7d / WILL SELL a setting of 13 eggs. Barred Plvmouth Rock chickens, for $1.00. DAIMIEL. KI<:i»iHLIi\E, 6d Bi*ad»>ba%v, York C'o., Neb. Black and Hybrid Queens For Saie. T have 50 good hybrids and black queens for sal* at 25c each, readv for immediate delivery. 6-7d W. H. Heastman, Cltra, Marion Co., Florida. Lsue CLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURB. •il7 Great Crash in Prices! Fmni 10 to-:.") ■ discount from fornior prices. My 40-piin-i> oatalojriK' for IWf-* jrives rea- sons. I offt'i- a iifW - style ilia II hive at one-lialf the o<»st of oiluT stylis, and ju'>t a-- jriHHl. This hive. i-aii be taken apart ' almost instantly. l>arlvcd lip ill small space. It can lie used oil any iiive (see cut). Don't fail to 5ii't my 32f^f^Lf Finely illustrated, practical, and oi'igi- rjV-»V^r\ nal. Price .50 cents, jiostpaid. An il- ^— ^^ lustrated circular free, giving particu- lars about the book, and prir'es of pure-i)red fowls and eggs for sale bj- the author. 4tfdb H. B. CEER, Nashville, Tenn. "Ill responding to this advertisement mention Oleamngs. /\ POULTRY Maple Syrup For Sale in i-Gallon Cans. lean. -f 1, 10; .5. .f. 5.0,1; 11), :f9.5ii; :i() or more. Oil cts. e^ch, bo.ved and delivered, F. (). B. Satisfaction tfuaranteed. F. W. DEAN, New Milford, Pa. 6-7d ANTED.— To send you my catalogue of Queens, Bees, and Supplies, (;heap. 4tfdb Chas. H. Thies, Steeleville, 111. TV Bee -pCeepef s' Supplies. We are the only coMconi in Soiithcrii f'alHoi- nia wild make a SPECIALTY OF BEE -KEEPERS' MATERIAL. Agents for the white l)jt,.ss\vood l-lli. suctions. Send for catalogue and prict^ list. OCEANSIDE MILL CO., Oceanside, CaL lyin respniiilitiu' tn thlsndvi" metit mention (JI,ean1Ns and Queens. White and Brown Leghorn Chickens, and White and Brown Fen-ets. N. A. KNAPP, Kochester, lioratn Co., Obto. Please mention this paper. ITALIAN QUEENS. Untested, $1; 6 for i|.5. Tested, $1,511; 6 for *7. Special terms for Large orders. H. FIT7. HART, 6lfdb Avery, Iberia Parisli, i>a. lyPlease mention Glkaninob. MINNESOTA AHEAD, WHY? Because in conseiiiieiice of her pine forests.lumber is cheap. Tliat'stlie reason Eikel sells hives cheaper than anyone else in Ainerlci. Only think, single- story hives from 3.5c up; two-story hives f rom TUc up. Other supplies cheap. Send for catalogue, etfdb F. C. EHKEL., Le 8ueur, Minii. Please mention this paper. ^EES BY THE POUND, ITALIAN aUEENS. ALOO A SELECT LINE OF BEE-KEEPERS' SUPPLIES Send for price List to Olivee Fostee, Mt. Vernon, Linn Co., Iowa. 6tfdb Please mention this paper .FOR SALE_CHEAF. 90 HIVES OF ITALIAN BEES. Address E. S. lli:BBEL.L, Torrington, LltclitleldiCo., Conn. ^OR SAIiE.— Fifteen colonies of Italianized ■■ bees, at $5 per colony. Mrs. N. Makks, Newbuig.Ohlo. G. W. Phelps & Go's Foundation Factory. see adveetisement in another column. 74 Petitt St. HiiiKhamton, N. Y. OV ^VV V\\\A05 Murray £-Hei55."':^o^^h';|"° VIOLINS GUITARS MANDOLIKS Foundstion Wholesale and Retail. „ / free samples. Special prices fo dealers on Foui iples. Sped Free price list of everything needed in ilie apiary. price Btfdb M. If you would like to .see how nice foundation can be made, send for Foundation and Sections, etc. (Near Detroit.) H. HUNT. Bell Branch, Mich. }18 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Mar. !.'». TAKE NOTICE ! 'Bee - Keepers' ^ Supplies. Z Dlacinc- vour orders for SUPPLIES, write * i £ BEFORE placing your orders for SUPPLIES, write for prices on One-Piece Basswood Sections, Bee- Hives, Shipping'-Crates, Frames. Foundation, Smo- kers, etc. PAGE & KEITH, 14trdb New London, Wis. Please mention this paper. SECTIONS. $!£.50 to $3.50 per .^I. Bee'Hives aud Fix- tures clieai*. NOVELTY CO., Ktfdb Rock Falls, Illinois. t^Iii ii- tills ailvii u-i-riK-iii iiit-nr ii.n (Ji.kamncs Early Queens from Texas. From my c-lioicc 3 or .5 Ijanded stock. My bees are very gentle, good workers, and beautiful. Safe ar- rival and satisfaction guaranteed. One untested gueeu, March and April, $1.5(1; May, $1.00; later, 75c. Oj'ders booked now; money sent when queens are wanted. Send for price list. 4a J. D. Civens, Lisbon, Tex. Please mention this paper. CAA Colonies of Bees Devot- ^W ed to Queen-Rearing. Write for piices on hii'ge (luantities. TWO MILLION SNOW - WHITE SECTIONS. Write for i)rices nn huge (luaiitities. Send for our 24-Page Catalogue of Dovetailed Hives, Smokers, Extractors, Etc. LEAHY M'F'Cr CO., Higginsville, Missouri. Please mention this pajier. .'itfdb Bees For Sa.le. COLONIES, NUCLEI, AND QUEENS, at living rates. Send for circular and livice list to C. C. VAUGHN Si CO., V~^ Columbia. Tenn. In writing to advertisers please mention this p^per. .VlOdb ▼inPORTED ITAI.I.4N QITEENS, $3.50, " June 1st. Order now. 4tfd W. C. FKAZIEK, Atlantic. Iowa. HURRAH FOR THE GRAY CARNIOLANS ! Bee-keepers, if you want a race of bees that will just pile in tlie honey, get the gray (only pure) Car- niolans. For instance, here is a report of one of our apiaries of 50 colonies for tlie season of 1891 : Honey crop, 70(10 lbs. Yield of best colony, a-30 lbs. Increase by natural sw.-irniiiig, 15 colonies. For further Information write lor circular and price list. F. A. LocKHAUT & Co., Lake George. N. Y. Please mention this paper. .'i fid QTTDDT TT?C! Langstroth Bee-blvcs, and i^ I I r I il Tj^ eveiy tiling needed in the ''■-'^' ^ I I J L UkJ. tj^,^, ^..^j.^ . 3,i.,,.,g.j. catalogue ■i^^^^^^i^" free. - BUSY BEES," a book telling lidw to irianage them. 10 cents in stamps. WALTER S. POUDER, .5-13dli 175 E, Walnut St., Indianarous, Ind. tSrin respondlnij to this adv. itisement mention (ii.EANINHS. THi AMERICAN BlEJOM L 32 pages— $1.00 a \ oar— Sample Free. The oldest, largest audcLcapest Weekly bee-paper THOMAS G. NEWMAN & SON, CHICAGO. ILL. We are prejiaied to furnish bee-keepers with sun- plies promptly and at lowest rates. Estimates gladtj- furnished, and coriespondence solicited. Our goods are all flrst-class in quality and workmanship. Cat- nlugue sent free. Reference, First National Bank, Sterling, 111'. Address l-24db wan. iTiccuNE & CO., sterling, Illinois. I^"ln respondlntr to tliiK ,1,1' . 'li .rn. m mention Ri.EANlNQa G. W. Phelps & Go's Foundation Factory. SEE ADVEETISEMENT IN ANOTHER COLUMN. 74 Petitt St., IJinghamton. N. Y. SAVE OTONEY.— Send to J. P. H. Brown, Augus- ta, Georgia, for his price list of supplies. Hives and foundation at wholesale rates. 4tfdb ITglK QOEEVS FOB SILL The llnest honey-gatherers in the land. Tested, $1.,50 each. Select tested, $2.00 each. Unte.sted, $1.00 each, or $9.00 per doz. Queens ready to ship by April first. I gruarantee safe arrival and satisfaction, by mail. Orders booked now and pay when you want queens. J. W. TAYLOR. 4tfdb Ozan, Ark " .1. iis|>oMilintr to Iliis aN V^EX\CO, HAS The finest system of irrigating canals on the continent ; Over 30,000 acres of choice farm- ing and fruit lands ; Water enough to irrigate half a million acres ; A climate equal in every respect, and superior in some respects, to that of Southern California ; Good schools, churches, railway & telegraph facilities, "good society; Lands for sale at $25 an aCre on 10 years' time, interest at six per cent, this price including perpetual water right ; No drouths, no floods, no bliz- zards, no fogs, no cyclones, no hail storms, no thunder storms, no hot winds, no northers, no winter rains, no grasshoppers, no malaria, no ep- idemic diseases, no prairie fires, no snakes, no sunstrokes. Send for maps and illustrated "pamphlets, giving full jiarticnlars. Pecos Irrigation and Improvement Co., EDDY, NEW MEXICO. ^^n responding to this advertltiejiient mention Uukaninos Early Queens from Texas. From mv choice 3 or 5 banded stock. My bees are very gentle, good workers, and beautiful. Safe ar- rival and satisfaction guaranteed. One untested queen, March and April. 11.5(1; May. fl.Wl; later, 75c. Orders bCKjked now ; money sent when queens .are wanted. Send for price list. 4a J. D. Civens, Lisbon, Tex. Please mention this paper. TEXAS. Queens l)y rutui-ii mail a specialty. Unt<'s1(>(l. March. April, and May, fl.OO each; si.x. $5.00; after, iTiceach; si.v, $4.20. or $H.(IO per do/.en. Discount on larjri'i' nrdei's. Conti'acls niiidc to furnish certiiin number weekly. The ahove iiie llu' three-banded Italians. I also breed thi' ilvt- b.-inded strains at above price e.xcept tested, of which 1 will have none till April l.')tli. A few line bleeders, either race, *5.00. I have chiinved iii\ postolJice from Fariner.s%ille, Te.xas, to Kln\(l. .Mcmcy-oi'der office, Green\ille. JENNIE ATCHLEY. Itfdb Floyd. Hunt Co., Texas. Wholesale and Retail Manufacturer and Dealer in BEE-KEEPERS' SUPPLIES. ONE-PIECE SECTIONS A SPECIALTY. AS GOOD AS THE BEST. Send f(n- catah>itrne. W. E.lSMITH, 5tfdb Succe»»(>r t<)'^,Smith 00 Miles 2^)2 Kanililer in San Francisco. .236 Section-former, Philo's 212 Starters, l.')0O an Hour. ..'i'i3 Strawberries in fio Days 249 Straws, Comments on 242 Stringer, Tommy 24.'j Tobacco Column 2iK) Wires. To Imbed 241 World's Fair. Space in 2.')4 Specml Notices. greiner's second edition of the new onion CULTURE. This is just at hand, and contains 15 more pages than the old edition, and pretty much all that is new in the matter up to date. The autlior has liind- ly put several extracts from Gle.\nings in liis new edition. The price is tlie same as before— 30 cts. per copy, or 3.5 if sent by mail. We have a limited num- ber of the first edition, wliich we will offer for 20 cts., or 25 by mail. The latter contains alltlie directions that are really imi)ortant for raising onions on the new plan. CLOVER SEED. Wlien our last issue was printed the market on peavine and medium clover was about at its heiglit. It has since declined somewliat, so that we are now able to offer peavine at $8.00 per busliel; flS.iiO for 3 bu.shels; H 20 for ^ busliel; $3.25 per peck; 18c per lb., bag included. We still have a good supply of alsike seed at the same prices as liereto fore— $20.00 for 2 bushels; i;i0..5O per Inishel; $5.-l:0 per }i bushel; $2.80 per peck; 30c per lb., and at this price it is cheaper to sow than the large clover at above price; that is, for the same money you can seed more acres. MAPLE SUGAR AND SYRUP. We have had a splendid trade in these products so far. We have been obliged to delay some orders for second-grade sugar, as the most of that brouglit in was of the very be.st quality. With the exception of two or three orders for second grade we have been able to supply orders promptly; and if any of our readers still want either sugar or syrup we can furnish it promptly as follows: No. 1. Best maple sugar, 9c per lb. No. 2. Good maple sugar, 8c per lb. Half a cent less in 50-lb. lots; Ic less in barrel lots of 300 lbs. Choice maple syrup, $1.00 per gallon; $8..50 for 10 gallons; 80c per gallon In 20-gallon lots or more, all in gallon cans. PAINT FOR BEE-HIVES. After much experimentation, and a careful study into the paint question, we offer a mixed paint pre- pared csin'cially for bee-hi\es. It will in)t chalk or Make off. and wc gnaraiitec it to be free from adul- teiants. such as whiting, barytes, lime, and other sulistitutcs that do not add to the enduring quali- ties of t he paint. Our paint is made of strictly pure lean impos-sible, even if he had put his full weight (200 lbs.) on top of the spade; but by putting only one edge in the clay, leaving one edge cleai-, he managed it easily, and the dirt dropped from his spade without a bit of trouble; whereas, by the old plan the clay would stick to the spade st> as to have to be cleared off' with a trowel almost every time. Tlie book explains all of this by draw- ings so plain that anj- one will " catch on " in an in- stant. Why, since I liave learned how to do it as friend Chamberlain does, I find it just fun to dig in the hardest ground, and the labor isn't .severe and exhausting either. This one item, it seems to me, ought to he worth many times the cost of the book; but aside from this the book considers everything pertaining to tile-draining, brought up to the pres- ent date, including all recent improvements. Price 40 cents by mail, postpaid. Hastings' Lightning Bee-Escape. Send for sample of Hastings' "Lightning " Bee Escape, and you will be convinced that it is the best and most practical escape yet produced. It will clear the supers in a short .space of time (2 to 4 hours), and it is impossible for the bees to clog the passage, as they can not return. Each escape guar- anteed as represented. Price, by mail, each, $0.20; by mail, per doz.. $2.25. Full directions with each escape. Electrotypes furnished free for dealers' catalogues. Write for discount. 7-12db M. E. HASTINGS, New York Mills, Oneida Co., N. Y. Bee-Keeper's Supplies. Hives, Honey -Cases, Sections, and Frames. We are the only concern in Southern Califor- nia who make a SPECIALTY OF BEE-KEEPERS' MATERIAL. Agents^for the white basswood^l-lb. sections. Send for catalogue and price list."CZl fi-13db Oceanside Mill Cc'.Oceanside, Cal. ISK (;i.HAMN(iS IN BEE CULT UllE. Ho/^Ey Column. CITY AfARKETS. PouTi-AM). Jhiiini. Tin r(> is V(i.\ litllo cliaiiKi' to noto sini't' oil !• last. Slofks arc \oVy lijrlit, but llu> • li'iniiiKi is also i'orr<-S|>oruliii>rl.\ li>rlit. Fan<'.\' wliitf foml) mijrlit. however, Ix- foiriMl a I'oiit a pound liitrluM' iliaii n-jrular iiuoiatioiis. 'Plic wcatlioi- for liasi Mioiitli has liccn all that apiaiists coulti (Icsirc. rh(> hills art' covcrcii with wild llowcis, and the al- mond and peach trees are in full bloom. Prii'es roiuaiii as follows: White .•omb, 1-lh.. 15; 2 1b.. 14; liKlit ambir. 1-lb.. i:i: :Mbs.. 12. While o.vtracted. 7; llKhl amber, ti^. Bt««l('((X, 25. Mar. 12. Lew, Si'iKGii & Co.. Portland, Or. MiNNEAiMH.is. -H«/i^!/— i^'iIM'l.v livlit. There are very few lots of fancy white cloxer on the market. There Is a larjre quantify of daik honey of lioth comb and e.xtracted. Fanc\- white clo\-er, in 1-lb. sections, 16@17; choice. i:«?iil5: dark. ItW/ 12; dark, broken, bad ordei-. 5@7. E.xtracted. dark, 7; lijihl, 8®9. Bicsiviix. not wanted at any price. Mar. 14. .1 A. SnE.\ &('().. 14 & 1»> Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis, Minn. S.\x Kkancisco. — Honej/. — Trade very quiet; stry tine not very larjfe. Quote: Choice 1 lb. sections, 15@16; common. 12@13. Extracted, white, barrels, 7; keifs, 7'/!; iiails, 7j^@8. B^&sira.r, wanted. 2.3(5>25. Mar. 21. A. V. Hisuor, Milwaukee, Wl.s. Cincinnati. HoJiejy.— No chang-e since our last. Demand is fair for extracted, at '>@ii on arriviil. There is a fair demand, and a good supply of comb honey at 13@16 for best white in the 301)1)1111^ way. Beeswax is in g-ood demand, at 2;^@25. for good to choice yellow on arrival. Chas. F. Muth, Mar. 21. (Jincinnati, Ohio. Chicago.— Hiy»iej/.— Demand fail- for season, and stock of honey is not larKe; should there cornea brisk turn it would clean up the market. Choice white brings 15c, and fani'v Ui; dark to black is not salable at any certain fiRure. Extracted. 6@7C'1'-H, a<;cordintr to tlie body and tlaxor. Bw.HWdX. 27. K. .\. lU'RNET'r, Mar. 21. 161 So. Water St., Chicago, 111. Detroit.— Honei/.— Comb honev is dull and lower. It now sells at WmtVi for while; daik grades al- most unsalal)le. ICxIracled. 7@K; not much in sight. BcfHwax. in fail- demand, 2(lf;/27. Mar. 21. M. II. HiiNr. Bell Branch, Mich. Saint Louis. H<)7irj/. IiKiuiries forstrained were frequent, and business more satisfactory. No • luotable change in values. Bcemrnx, prime. 27X. Mar. 21. 1). (i. TuiT Gko. Co.. St. Jjouis, Mo. Boston.— Hojicj/.— We (lUote yoti our honej-mar- ket as being well supplied, fair demand. Oni-- pound combs selling at i:5@>15; no 2-ll)s. on liand. Extracted honey, 7@7>^. Beeswax, none. Mar. 26. Blakk & Ripley. Boston, Ma.ss. Thousand pounds choice, iight^wlored, extracted honey at 7c per lb. Bykon Walker, Capac, Mich. For Sale.- 20 lbs. extracted clover honey, in new buckets, for $2. By the barrel cheaj). 6-7d B. T. Baldwin, Marion, Ind. The Best A/lade, SECTION Handiest, qiiditd and Cheapest oUrLK In the Country. ALSO THE BEST DOVETAILED HIVES, SEC- TION-BOXES, COMB FOUNDATION, ETC. SKNI) TO THE Largest Supply Factory in Massachusetts, for Free Price List that will interest all Bee-Keepers. Address DUDLEY BOX CO., or F. M. TAINTOR. Manager, Greenfield, Mass. ^Fln responding to this advertisement mention Gleanings. ITALIAN QtfEENS. (Mt-'ens reared and tested in the fall of '91, $1.50 each. Safe arrival guaranteed. Misses S. Si M. Basites, Fiketon, Ohio. 7-8-9d Kansas City.— Honey.— Demand poor, with a large supply of comb. We quote: Comb, 1-lb., fancy, 12<^i:}; dark, m,f). Extract»-d, white, 7; dark, ^6. Be^Hwax, none on the market. Mar. 21. Hamblin & Beakss, 514 Walnut St., Kansas City, Mo. TESTED ITALIAN QUEENS. Bred for business and general good qualities, of la.st year's raising, $1.00 each; $10.00 per doz. Hy- brids, 25 cts. each. 7-8d T. W. LIVINGSTON, Dalton, Whittleld Co., Ga. irilili SELIi a few stocks of Pure Italians in g-ood L. hives, on 7 frames, at $5.00 each. C. G. FENN. Washing-ton, Conn. I Our catalogue of Italian, Punic and Golden ("arniiilan (,)u(!ens. OurSt'lf. Swarrn-hiver is the only one that has I ever hived a swarm of bees. H. ALLEY, Wenhani, Mass. FREE 7d One of our.i-banded i-ed-clo\'er queens^-' 100 ll)s. of clover honev in poor seasons. Send for descriptive circular free. LEININGKK BKOS., 7tfdb Ft. Jennings. Ohio. Italian Bees and Queens For Sale. I'ntesli-d qiieeiis. ■fl.lKI; toted. tl..')(l. lices, $1.(10 per lb. (Colony. 1-5.00. Also barred Plymoutli Rock eggs for sitting, $1.(M) per i;!. 7-16dh .MRS. A. A. SIMPSON, Swarts, Pa. For Sale, 15 Hives of Bees, In double-walled hives on tin L. frame. 7tfdb A. POWERS, Brittain. Summit Co., Ohio. 226 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. April 1. m 28-page RESTRICTOR book. How r I* A O to avoid swarms, brace-comlj-s, and losses ■ ' '*'" in winter. How to get bees into sections in one hour; and rear queens in full colonies, etc., same old fixtures. C. W. Dayton, Clinton, Wis. 24-23db Please mention this paper. CALIFORNIA HEADeUARTERS for SMens! Pi-ices $1.00 and upward. Also headquarters for foundation. Send ft)r price list. 5d l.UTHE:R&HORTOIN,Reenieiit mention Sleaningh. DOVETAILED ""fAi'5?»0UEEMS. Send ft)r price list of Italian Queens, Drones, Hives, Smokers, Foundation, etc. Finest breeding queen, after March 1, $4.00. Tested, $2.00; 3 for $5.00. Untested, in April, $1.00; 6 for $5.00, or $9.00 per doz- en by mail. Safe arrival guaranteed. Orders for Queens booked for 20 days or more, 5 per cent dis- count. Make money orders payable at Clifton. 3tfdb COLWIOK & COLWICK, NOESE. BOSaUE CO., TEXAS. 1 ^lii respoiKllntr to this adveitisement mention Olbaninos, RETAIL — AND— WHOLESALE. T>UU SUPPLIES i #11 11 Everytliing; used in the Apiary. ^^ M,Am^ Greatest variety and largest stock in the West. New catalog, 54 illustrated pages, free to bee-keepers. E. KEETOHMEE. EED OAZ, IOWA. In writing advertisers please mention this paper. ELMER HUTCHIJ^'SOJ^' Has moved to N'assah, Tdscola Co., Mich. He can furnish untested queens in April and May, raised from one of liis Golden Italian .5-banded (pieens, that took FIRST I'KEMiUM at the Detroit E.\position the last two years, for $1.15 each, or 6 for $5.00. Oi^ ders will be filled for me in April and May by a queen-breeder in t he South, wlio has one of my best lireeding queens. Orders promptly filled and .safe j:«^!ii i-espondiiii.' In lhis;i(K arrival guaranteed. at Vassar. Make money orders payable 7-lCdb Porter's Spring Bee-Escape. We guarantee it to be the best escape known, and far superior to all others. If, on trial of fi-om one to a doz- en, you d(j not find them so, oi' if they do not prove sat- isfactory ill (^very way, return tlieni by mail within 90 days aftei- receipt, and we will refund your money. PRICES:— Each, by mail, po.stpaid, with full direc- tions, 30c ; per dozen, $2.25. Send for circular and testi- monials. Supply dealers, send for wholesale prices. lOtfdb R. (£ E. C. PORTER, LEWISTOWN, ILL. IL^lii nspoiidint? to this advertisement mention Gleanings. 'Journal:^' • DELVoTEL •To-B •andHoN-. . •andhomel- <^ $1?5perYeai^ \§) r^EDINAOHlO Vol. XX. APRIL 1, 1892. No. 7. Stray Straws FROM DR. C. C. MILLER. Kkkp savket, no niattor how warm the dis- cussion. Metai. combs again. This lime tiicy are in- vented in (Germany. Emma says tliat l)oolittle"s as near right as any. if he /.s ail alone. Emma's a girl of pretty good judgment. Good nature seems to be one of the promi- nent features that characterize the discussions of bee-keepers nowadays. Do BEES SLEEP? The CentraUbUitt thinks they have no need of sleep, at least not in sum- mer. I wouldn't be a bee. The winter has not been very severe in Northern Illinois. Hasn't gone down as low as some winters by nearly :.'()°. The standaru frame of the British (14x83^ inches) has lli) square inches of surface; the French, 186; and the Simplicity, 161 square inches. February was warm enough so I kept cellar door open day and night for a week. But the middle of March shows S to 13° above zero, morning after morning. Cost of hoxev is hardly worth more discus- sion. So long as tlu; matter is viewed from distinctly separate standpoints, there never can be any agreement. I dii>x"t want the .senior editor to get back north before danger of spring dwindling was over. Still, it seems good to have his signature A. I. R.e'I throughout Gleanings. "We ARE KAPiDLV coming to the conclusion that bees need more ventilation in the cellar than many suppose."— Foot-no culture. In proof of this assertion, notice the misdi- rection of the efforts of these two efificient men. Mr. Larrabee's time has b('en so fully occupied with the care and manual labor of the large Michigan College apiary as to leave him but very little time orenergy for experimental work. Mr. Benton. I .judge, has a desk in some dark corner of the Division of Entomology, and he has no bees nor other facilities for practical work. He has had enough light and time al- lowed him. howcNcr, to jjicpare a bulletin, to be sent to farmers and others making inquiries as to how they shall connnence bee-keeping. Now, we do not need this kind of work at all, for we have plenty of handbooks and journals devoted to A B C instruction. What we need is advanced work — work that private individ- uals can not perform because of expense, or lack of time oi' facilities for doing it. We do not care to have the government make any efforts to increase the number of bee-keepers until after it shall have made successful efforts to enlarge the markets for their products. We liardly think that, in the fostering care the govei'nment extended to the cotton, iron, and other manufacturers, it ever became necessary to issue bulletins describing the best course for beginners to pursue in engaging in these occu- pations. The government can and should help us by making original investigation on the uses of honey in the arts and manufactures, and by collecting and disseminating information already known to the few, on these points; also by investigations as to the healthfulness of honey, by compaiing its digestibility with that of cane-sugar syrup and other sugar and heat producing foods. The various diseases of bees, particularly the pest of foul brood, should be investigated, and methods of treatment dissem- inated. The Canadian govei'nment has a foul- l)iood inspector, and also grants pecuniary aid to its national society for their efforts in pro- moting advanced bee culture. Some parts of our country are said to be as badly afflicted with this contagious disease as is Caiuida; but we get no help, although it is expected that the Bureau of Aninuil Industiy, a division of the Department of Agriculture, in charge of the diseases of domestic animals, etc.. will call for an appropriation of (me million dollars from the present congress. The important part the honey-bee performs in the fertilization of flowers should be so fully in- vestigated as to make the results authoritative, and the report spread broadcast aimmg farmers and frult-growei'S. Bee-keepers now suffer seri- ous loss from the prejudices of these classes who should be our strongest friends and supporters. A number of disputed as well as a number of undiscovered functions in the physiology of the honey-bee should be definitely established. It may be said that these do not concern the ordi- nary bee-keejjer. Not so: for I have recent- ly had occasion in practical bee-keeping to re- fer to several of the most obscure. An experi- ment apiaiT- conducted by so practical and sixillful a beekeeper as Frank Benton, ought also to establish many useful (joints in practi- cal bee-keeping. The different races of bees could be tested, and trustworthy reports made as to their merits, without compelling a multi- tude of be<'-keepers to investof their hard earn- ings in making what are usually very imper- fect tesis. The trial of the so-called I'unic bee by the bee-keepers of this country will probably cost thousands of dollars. Mr. Benton, with a few swarms of bees at his command, quite like- ly could have decided on their worthlessness at an exiK'use of less than twenty-five dollars. A statement has recently gone forth from one of our most distinguished State entomologists. Dr. Lintner. that it woidd be desirable for the destruction of certain insects that fruit-trees be sprayed witli arsenical mixtures while still in blooin, and that he refrained from advising spraying at this time only because of the assertion of bee- keepers that it poisoned their bees. The proof of this poisoning, while conclu- sive with bee-keepers, was not wholly so with Dr. Lintner (it is feared it will not be with fruit-growers), and he asked that conclusive experiments be made during tiie coming spring. As the danger is imminent, and concei'us the bee-keepers of many States, it w(juld seem very appropriate that these experiments be conduct- ed at Washington, and the i-esults put into the IS'.fJ (iI-KANlN'(;s IX 15HH CUI/ri'KK. 229 liiiiiils of Iriiii-iiiowfis. .so iluil.if \\»' tiiul it lU'CfSsary to ;;o into court, w r may have proof tliat tlicM' imliiiH'ly sprayers had know Icdti'' >'f tln' criuic llicy wcic (.•omiiiiUiiiK. llisiu)t iiiv purpose to disiMiss l\w merits of our system of governmental assistance; bnt it seems to me tliat, since oiIkm- indnstries are reared anii fattened at the >rovernment crib at our expense, we miglil no\s- receive hack a small percentage of the taxes levied on us for tlie maintenance of our olderand stouter hrotli- ers. Apiculturi> is now a section in the Divi- sit)n of Kntomolofiy; so at one time was orni- tholoRy; so w as sili<-raisiiiolli have been raised to independent divisions. I leave it to any iutelli-ient man whether our |)ursuit is not of more im port a nc(> lluiii either or lutth of these divisions. 1 should be glad to t\)rtify my posi- tion with statistics, but. unfortuiuitely, we have none. The census enumerator informed me that he had no place on his l)lanks for hon- 4'y. The least that we can ask is, that the suc- tion of apiculture be raised to an independent division, and that it be put under the supervi- sion of some practical l)ee-keeper like Henton. ofsulficient scientilic and executive ability to perform the dutii>s of the ot'lici'. I want to i*mphasize the fact that wc shall have nothing satisfactorily done until the work is in charge of a bee-keeper. To ask an entomologist to superint^'ud this work is like putting a lawyer in charge of a hospital, with a corps of physi- cians doing his bidding. A lirst-class experi- ment apiary should be established at Wasliing- ton. Larrai)ee. or some other good man, should be called in as an assistant: and a chemist, botanist, and other help should be at the ser- vice of the superintendent at all times. Hulle- tins should be issued to bee-keepers, giving re- sults of work done, and also giving crop reports, gathered with a thoroughness and exactness impossible with the private enterprise now col- lecting them. Lastly, congress should remem- ber the blow they dealt us when they removed the duty on cane sugar, the chief competitor of honey, and provide liberal means for carrying on this apicultural experiment station in the most thorough manner possible. The State of New York expends about S:i:3,(X30 yearly on farmers" institutes; t*;4U,000 on experi- ment stations, and .?9~\0U(J on the dairy commis- sion. Hee- keepers help pay for all this, but get no benefit. In justice the .State ought to appropriate at least a thousand dollars to be expended under the direction of practical bee- keepers in holding one or more bee-keepers' in- stitutes or conventions, and for other necessary work in advanced bee culture. Other States should do liktiwise. Illinois has already set the example. Our country is so large that it is dif- ficult to maintain a national organization. With State aid this could be made a delegated body, with the traveling expenses of delegates paid. P. H. El\vooi>. Starkville. N. V. [Mr. Elwood ha.s so thoroughly and ably cov- ered the subject above, that we have but littk; to add. We heartily indor.se what he says, and hope the article will be widely copied, not only in the bee-journals, but in the agricultural pa- pers also. Silk culture, in point of magnitude and importance, is small in comparison with that of bee culture. IJut perhaps tiie only rea- son why we have not risen to greater recogni- tion at the hands of the government is because bee-keepers have not taken tiie pains to proper- ly present their needs. Let's see. Mr. Ehv(M>d, Mr. Ilershei.ser. and Capt. J. E. Hetherington were appoint^'d by the N. A. JJ. K. A. at the meeting in Albany to look after these matters. We are glad that they are already at work. (ii.i';.\.N'iNos will gladly assist in anyway she can. 1 THE VALUE OF DRAWN-OUT COMBS ; WHEN AND HOW TO SECURE THEM. .\ MOST VAI,rAl?l,K ,\KTK'I-K ON TIIK AI'I.\ iust"8 bkst f'AiTrAi,; HY r. a. hatch. The best thing a bee-keeper can have in the spring, is plenty of hives full of t)ees; and tlie next liest thing is jili'iity of good combs to go with them. The dill'erence between :.'0 good colonies in as many empty hives (no combs), and 10 good colonies in 10 hives full of drawn- out combs, is not so much as some might think; how much do i/o(( think'.' Lvery be.e-i)ook has its chapter on increase of colonies; l)ut how many have a chapter on increase of combs? Yet we can but give it second place in impor- tance to the bee-master. True, if you have bees enough, in time you will get the combs; but to get them at the least expen.se of bee- force, which is our capital stock, and in the shortest time, is the object of this article. If we lose the use of our bees in lioney-gathering because all their force is used up in comb-mak- ing, we have lost the use of our capital for that season; and. if a hard winter follow, it may be for the next year too; so lime becomes an important consideration. 1 remember one year in which, during basswood bloom, good colonies filled an extracting-super in two days chock full, and yet the flow continued. Having only one set of combs for each colony, the bees were forced to spend almost time enough to till an- other set of combs before the honey already gathered would do to extract. In this instance, one set of combs w as almost as good as a colony of bees. This was an unusual year, but I have found that a surplus of empty combs in the spring is a grand thing to have, if we do not get them by the bees dying to make a surplus. How many combs are profitable ? After care- ful thought and observation I have fixed on three extra hives full for each colony, spring count, as just about the right number. These, with what foundation can be used advanta- geously during the season, ought, with good management, to insure every bee opportunity to do its very best, and not hang out around the entrance as a sign there is no room within. HOW TO USE TIIEM. At the risk of getting the cart before the horse, and telling how to use the combs before the way of getting them lias been told, we will say right here that one set of combs is to be used for increase and two for surplus storage; not that we mean that each swarm is to be hived on a full set of combs, but one .set is to be judiciously used for the lienefit of the swarms or increase of bees; but to tell just how these are used w'ould require an explanation of my entires method of increase of colonies, and would make this article too long. The other two sets of combs are to be used as extracting supers for tin; strongest colonies on the tiering-up plan. COMB FOtNDATION. I regard coml) foundation as an advance in bee culture second only to the movable-frame hive in importance, and it is to this we must look mainly for our new combs. But to get the most advantage from it. car(! and judicious management are required. I have seen in- stances where foundation had been us(!d .so as to be almost if not quite a damage to the i)ees. But I have noticed that the ones who used most foundation are, as a rule, the successful ones. 230 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. April 1. HOW TO USE IT. In full sheets, always. If you have but ten sheets it is better to put nine in frames so as to fill them, and cut the other sheet into half-inch starters for the rest of your frames, than to di- vide the lot into quarter or half sheets. If this be done you are sure to get perfect combs as far as the foundation goes: and, remember, a comb once finished is good for all time so far as we are concerned. They are the foundation of your business, part of your capital stock, and let them be just as perfect as you can get. If the foundation is cut into strips to quarter or half fill the frames, the chances are. that, as soon as the bees get below the starter, di-one comb will be built, and this is just what you want to avoid as much as possible; for I have noticed that. be just as careful as we can. and keep out all drone com*bs as a whole, thei-e is sure to' be enough in the hive. Either by the mice gnaw- ing the combs, holes left from cutting out queen-cells, or some way, it gets there. TWO WAYS ONLY TO GET COMBS. 1. Having the bees build them: 2. Using foundation and having them drawn out. The ilifficulty with the first is in getting too many imperfect combs, either crooked or too mucii drone comb, and it is too slow. I fully believe that, up to a certain amount, say five or six combs, bees in a reasonably strong colony will make them entire witli as little lo^sof force as in any other way. I b -lieve with Dr. Miller, that a certain amount of wax is secreted any way. whether we save it or not: and if I were sure of always having vigorous young queens in all my swarms I would hive them all on empty frames only, for I am sure we lose bee force right there: but the loss is more than off- set on the other hand by the imperfect combs and the annoyance of righting them. So. practi- cally, we are reduced to the method of increase of combs: i. e.. foundation. WHEN TO PUT IN FOUNDATION. Not loo early in the season, nsually not befoi-e swarming commences. A certain amount of heat, at least 1(X»°. I think, is necessary to make the wax soft enough for bees to work out into combs: and up to June 1st to 10th the tempera- ture of the hive is not high enough for wax- working — first, on account of the weather out- side: and. second, on account of lack of num- bers in the hive to maintain the required heat. Another reason why it must not be put into the hive too early is. that be<'S will not work on it but to a very limited extent before honey is coming in. True, some years we get honey from fruit-bloom and dandelions so as to give the bees quite a start: but this would better he used to fill the combs you already have with ijroo'l. to push things later on when clover is in bloom. HOW MUCH AT ONCK. Do not make the mistake of putting too much foundation in a colony at once. I went to see a bee-keeper last summer, and found plenty of his strongest colonies with eight full frames of foundation over them, while other colonies not quite as strong had none, and were really suf- fering for lack of room. What was his duty in this case? First, take out four frames of comb from the colonies having no foundation, giving these to tiie colony having eight frames of foun- dation, and giving the four fiames of foun- dation (displaced) to the one losing the frames of comb, then all will be merrily at work, not having so big a job as t(» become discouraged: and the result is,' eight frames of comb in less than half the time he would have had them if all left in one place, and he has saved all this time for the bees, which means more honey, and therefore more money. As a rule, not over two frames should be given to a colony at once, and not that if there are not bees enough to cover them entirely. WHERE TO PUT IT. Moderately strong colonies seem to draw out and finish up combs better than very weak or very strong ones: therefore of ten given colonies, if five were medium and five strong. I would take combs from the medium, substituting foundation and giving the combs to the strong, with, say, one frame each of foundation, for I have found that a colony strong in bees will drawout oneortwoframesof foundation ateach time of extracting, at little if any loss of honey: and before I got all the combs I wanted, I made it a rule to give them at least one frame. Weak colonies should be made to draw out combs for the use of the strong ones. The few bees they have are compelled to remain at home to care for the brood, and maintain the heat of the hive, so they can be kept busy working for their more prosperous brethren, or perhaps sisters would be more appropriate. Always put foundation between frames of comb if possible, and near the center of the hive, if the colony will bear to be spread that much. FALL HONEY AND COMBS. The honey we nsually get after basswood is dark, and brings but a small price in market: hence, this is one of the best times to crowd the l)ees in drawing out and finishing up combs, to be ready for the white honey the next year. If you can so manage that you have turned all this dark honey into wax. you have done well and increased your capital at the smallest pos- sible expense. But here is a point of advantage few bee-keepi rs have taken, for a sale of foun- dation in August or September is very rare, and yet I have found it one of the best times to ge combs. In closing I should like to emphasize three points mentioned as seeming to be of greatest importance of any: 1. Full sheets always: 2. Not putting too much in a hive at once: 3. Turning buckwheat or late honey into combs. ItViEifa Wi«*lVInr S C. A. HaTCH. Ithaca, Wis.* Mar. 3. [Mr. H.'s remarks smack strongly of experi- ence: and so many things in it corroborate some of our own experiments during the past sninmer that we fed like putting the whole ar- ticle in Italics. It should be borne in mind, that Mr. Hatcn's hints have a special reference to the pi'oducer of extracted honey: and to such a one. drawn-out empty combs are his best stock in trade. Some of these things we have known of before; but it is necessary to have good things pounded again and again into our heads until we condescend to tiy them.] PRODUCING EXTRACTED HONEY. REQUISITES for: COST PER POUND OF EX- TRACTED IH)NEY. I am asked to answer the following questions: '• What are the requisites for producing ex- traoted honey?" "What kind of packages do you use in shipping and retailing the same?" " How do you dispose of the most of your honey crot ? " Now, friends, I don't know that I can handle this first question to suit all places. It covers a great deal of territory. Locations will vary somewhat, but the first and most important requisite is an abundance of honey-producing flowers from early spring until late in the fall. Here in the North, if I could have it to suit me. 18<)2 (il.KAXINHiS IX I5EK CULTURE. 331 I sliould want t«> loratc wlicrc ilwiv wcrt' hiijjc (luantitics of friiil-l)lossoms— apjilcs. pcai'lu's, peal's, plums. t>tc. -followcii hv I'cd raspberries, jjiKiseheii ies. aiiil oilier small fiiiils. ami these siieeeeiled hy tlandejioiis ami pleiily of white elover and i'asswood. 'I'hen should follow plenty -of fall lloweis hiu-kwheat. soldeniod. iiearl'sease. smarlweed. asters, etc. If we can not have all of these ijouil tlowers in plenty, get as many as possible. Of course, in the South thi> honey-bearing llowcrs will he dilTerent. Kvery eoiintry has itsouii (lowers. Hut honey- llowei-s we must have, or we shall gel no honey. The more llowcrs there are. the better. The next important item is plenty of bees to gather the honey. What kind of bees is best ? Now. to tell the truth. I don't Unow. I com- menced with the blacks, and 1 must say they are hard to beat. I have tried several strains of Italians, some of which have done pretty fair work. Hut I think the hybrids are better workers than the pure Italians. 1 am now try- ing the (."arniolans — the dark-colored ones. They have done tirst-rate for me the last two years. In fact, tliey liaxc done the best of any iuM'S that I have. My home yard of 1(X) colonies consists of Carniolans. Now. after wo have got in the right location. and have the bees, we must have an apiarist that knows how to handle the business; and. in my opinion, to secure the best results, tlu^ apiarist should ow'n the bees; or, in other words, the owner should know all about the business. He or she may hire the most of the work done by others, but the owner should oversee every thing. Very much depends upon very sinall details. Every thing that is to be use5 when the honey-flow comes should be pro- vided before the time it will be wanted. Have every thing ready— hives, extractors, and all other tools; also packages for the honey crop, and a place to store the honey. We have our packages now on hand to liold our next crop. We may not get a crop, but we must be ready, n we don't use the barrels this year, we may next. iSee to it that the bees are in first-class condition in the fall. Plenty of honey means good strong colonies in spring. A man. to be successful with bees, must have a liking for the work, so much so that he will pick up every thing on the bee business, and read it. Not that he is expected to follow all that he reads, but he may get a good deal from another's mis- takes. I doubt wh(»tlier any of us knows all there is to be learned about the business, so we must study and think, and act according to our best judgment. If we have more bees than we can work alone, hire help. ^Ve hire young uien and boys. A boy twelve to fifteen years old can do first-rate work extracting honey, if he has some experienced liand to tell him just what to do. One good hand that iias worked with the bees two years can take charge of two green boys and "get good results from iheir labor. Our extracting season lasts about four to six weeks. We give a green boy twelve to fifteen years old S8.00 a month the first year. If he proves to be a good hand, next year we give him about •*2.0() more per month. If he stays with us. we keep raising his wages up to ?=.".*0.00. Another important item in producing extracir ed honey is to have plenty of extra empty combs, so when the honey-llow comes we can tier up and give the bees plenty of room to store lioney. We work our L. hives three stories high during the homy season. In the fall we take off one set and store them away until wanted the next year. In this latitude I take them off in October, and pack them away in the third stories, piled one on the other in ourcomb- njom. If they were taken away from the bees much sooner than October, tlie motlis would tiestroy them, unl(^ss we smoked them with sul- phur. Combs packed away in a tight room w biM-e they will frec/.e hard are safe from tiie mollis, i liave kepi them all summer witli no siirns of worms alxmi, ihem. For shippiug extracted honey w a good guess on. In imo our honey cost us a dollar a [)ound; in 1801 we got 3U,(K)0 lbs., and sold at .->, ti. 7. and some at 8 cts. The crop gave us a living for the year, and about five hundred dollars ovei'. What it cost a pound, I don't know; but I am sure it did not cost as much as we sold it for. The way we are fixed I can not get at the cost ex- actly. We have 20 acres of land to work, and often we get through with the bees, and get home before night; then we set all of our honey-boys at work on the place, hoeing and cultivating, killing weeds, etc. I think it would be very doubtful whether any one could tell just what a crop of honey costs. I am sure that no one can make a statement that would do for every year on the same location; then, again, locations differ much, and management would make a large difference. There is as much dif- ference in bee-keepers as there is in other folks. If I write an article on any subject I want at least to satisfy myself that what I have to say is practical. Mr. Doolittle tries to make the cost of comb honey as big as he can. When he charges up S.5.00 a day for his time, going to con- ventions, price of bee-papers, and time of reading the same, etc., why does he charge it all to the production of comb honey? If I am not mis- taken, his queen-traffic brings him more money tiian his honey. Why doesn't he divide some of tho.se expenses with his (lueen-tradiB? It is all guesswork. He doesn't know. I don't know and who does? E. France. ' Platteville, W'is.. March 7. EXTRACTED HONEY. WHAT IN.JfRES ITS SALES ; SHIFTLESSNE8S OF BEE-KEEPERS, ETC. On page 131 for Feb. 1.5, Mr. Geo. F. Robbins relates the observations and experience of his grocer whodeals in honey. Thegrocer said that there would be nothing in offering premiums at fairs for honey extracted on the ground, see- ing honey -extractors in operation, and tnat the way in which liquid honev was obtained would do nothing to remove the generallv ijrevailing opinion tluit extracted honey is manufactured or adulterated. This is far from a reasonable conclusion to warrant belief. To see and to understand is to believe. All manner of people are convinced in this way. Within two miles of our place there is a city of 1(5,000 people; and as there is a pretty driveway from the city through our place, many people stop with "the man who keeps the fire-bugs,'' for honey. We 232 (CLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Apkii. 1. always show these city folks the extractor, explaining how nscd; and if there is honey to extract, some is thrown out. that they may see the /low. Some remark, " We have often heard of this way of taking honey, but had little or no faith in the story; but one must believe when he sees." These people become our best customers. When the grocer stated to Mr. R. that " the only way to get the confidence of the people is to produce and put on the market honey of first- class quality." he was preaching logical doc- trine. Here the man displays knowledge gain- ed by experience. He is not the only person who has learued this lesson. The wise profit by this experience: but foolish, short-sighted men go on from year to year producing and put- ting on the market honey of an inferior qual- ity, made so by lack of experience, want of judgment, or thoughtlessness. At one time the honey is extracted while thin, only in the con- dition of rank-flavored nectar, and often, in this state, no effort to place ii where it might be improved by evaporation. Again, it is stored in shaded or damp looms wheic both comb and extracted honey rapidly deteriorate. Who has not seen beautiful while combs gradually tak- ing on that watery, unsightly — yes, sickly ap- pearance? Honey left to the care of the" bees never gets so, unless the hives are located in a damp, shaded place. Extracted honey that is thin from any cause should never be stored in any other than shal- low, open-mouthed vessels, then kept in a warm, dry, well-ventilated place; and the same theory holds good with comb honey. No doubt the majority of bee-keepers take great pains to excel in the matter of producing and placing on the market honey of a first-class quality; but it is a fact, deplorable and injuri- ous as it is. that many who are engaged in producing honey are careless and indifferent as to the quality of their product. The injury this class are doing to the industry is very great. It may sound harsh, but I must say they are a nuisance to the fraternity. As we buy from producers and dealers in hon- ey each season not less than lOO.OOn lbs. for our retail trade, we get some sorry experience. I'll give a sample or two. A party wrote us last fall that he conld ship us 20 barrels of pure orange-bloom honey, mailing at the time a sample of it. When received, four barrels of the lot was about all palmetto honey, dark and ill flavored. Again, samples of mesquite honey of best quality were sent; and to this party an order was given; but a few cans of this lot was alfalfa, of the meanest kind. Other orders were sent to the same parties, but more and more alfalfa was put in each lot, the last being entirely alfalfa, dark and strong in flavor, and by no means " fit to set before a king." Another lot received from a producer had been extracted in the nectar state, and then stored in cans reeking with the fumes of kero- sene oil. This stufl' may do to feed bees, but not to sell for table use, if a regard for one's reputation is thought of. It is surprising how many there are who. for the sake of a little temporary gain, violate with impunity the princi])les of honor and fairness, forgetting that their betrayal of trust must eventually fall upon their own heads with crushing weight. ADULTEUATKD HONEY. As we sell honey in every town and city with- in quite a distance of us, we see much of the honey-markets. AVithin the last two years many city packing -houses have gone into the business of putting honey in tumblers and bottles. Some of this we find to be good pure honey; but for the most part it is a glucos« mixture surrounding a small piece of comb honey. Does this honey, or stuff, detract any from our sales of choice honey? We think not; in fact, we are of the opinion that we sell more honey because of this adulterated stuff. We call on a family to see whether they will buy honey. The question is asked, "Is it the strained honey?" .Answering, we say, "Yes, we have either liquid or comb." "Well." they say, "we don't want strained honey. We got some of it at the store, and that's a fraud." Now, we give them a sample vial of just what we will bring them. Then to see them lift the frown, and say. "Ohl that's different: that is bee honey. If you bring us that kind you can depend on us for good customers." Our reply is, "Yes; if. when delivered, you do not find it equally fine as the sample, you need not give us your money." In this way we add another to our list of thousands of permanent customers who will buy no honey put up by packing-houses. But, Mr. Editor. I would not discourage your efforts to bring to justice these robbei's who are engaged in the nefarious scheme of l)ottling glucose with the lie "Pure Honey" pasted on the packages. J. A. Buchanan. Holliday's Cove. W. Va.. March 8. QUEENS BY MAIL TO AUSTRALIA. 11,600 MILES AWAY. In my last article I said that, according to my opinion, the size of the cage (5x:3xl3^) as given in the Postal Guide should not be specially con- sidered when sending queens to Australia, as there was no law governing the matter regard- ing queen-bees to that place, other than having the packages they were sent in conform to what would be allowed in our domestic mails. Why I looked this matter up so closely was, that I am not just pleased with tlie " Root- Benton " cage, for the reason that the candy-hole is lia- ble to become clogged with dead bees, which reason the editor speaksof on page 72 of Glean- ings for IS'.tl. Should this cage happen to so go on board of the steamer that the candy end is downward (whicli would bi' its tendency every time, thai end of the cage Ix'ing much the heaviei'), the result would be. that, should there happen to be any dead bees in the cage, they would fall down into the candy-hole, thus vir- tually cutting the bees oft' from their food, caus- ing them to starve. I have evidence that this was the cause of the death of some that I sent, as those reporting to me speak of two of these cages as coming with "every bee dead, all bright and clean, with little of the candy eaten, and many bees wedged into the candy apart- ment." This difficulty confronted me when sending to New Zealand in 1884, so I fixed the cages then used (2x2x53^) with a large candy-hole in either end, and the apartment for the bees in the mid- dle. This gave the bees a chance to feed from either end of the cage. This old cage was all right on this score, but, to my notion, it confin- ed the bees too much in a heai) during the ex- treme heat they mustendure in ])assing through the torrid zone; so in shipping this year I tried to overcome this difficulty. Accordingly a part of the queens were sent in the Root- Benton cage, a part in a cage a^^x^i'JixX, having ten holes bored in the same, with partitions through- out, so the bees could spread out all over the cage, except that part filled with candy; or, when' 1S<)-J (;Li<:ANiNt;8 in hee culture. 23? colli. i-lustiM- lip as oompiirl as ilicy ploasc. Aii- otlitT part wt'io sent ill cast's T'aXSx'.., Iiavinn Iwi'lvc holes in tlu>in. with partitions anaiiK«'alen. This eagre was also provided with more thoroiijih ventilation than any of the others. amount used as a whole caire. while th(> extreme clear through, wire cloth side of it. so that thp liees could come out in this part of the case. and. by fanning their wings, cause a circulation of air throughout the whole cage, similar to tlie way they ventilate their hives from the entrance. lod ventilation lieing seven holes, to the in the Root-Renton end hole was tiored being put on either DOOLITTLE'S FOREKiN MAIMXfi-CAGES. I havft been more i)articular in describing this latter cage, as all the cages of this descrip- tion sent proved a success, the bees and queens arriving in fine condition in Australia after a voyage of 11.5()(J miles, and a continement of from 37 to 40 days. The candy used in all of the cages was the Good candy. The candy- holes in all were coated with paral'tine by pour- ing the same in them, when at a very high temperature. I like this better than putting on with a brush, for in this way the paralitine is forced into the wood to the deptli of one-six- teenth of an inch or more, so there is no chance for the moisture in the candy to escape. Over the candy I placed a piece of thin comb founda- tion, pressing it into the wood all around, so tliat this candy apartment would hold water like a pail. Nine of the lifteen ()ueeiis were sent to S. A. I{radley, Deiihani Court. New South Wales; three to .las. McFarlane. iiynd- liurst, Victoi'ia; two to A. Walker, liedland Ray. Queensland, and one to R. .1. Cribh. {Bris- bane. (.Queensland. i{oth of those, to Mr. W. went alive, and were in tlat cages. Mr. W. says that, of four others received from the Ihiited Slates, all were dead exce|)t four work- ers in o\u: cage. TIh' one to Mr. ('ribb was in a flat cage, and that went through in line condi- tion. Of till' three sent to .Mr. McFarlane, two were in the Root-]?(Uiton cages and one in tlie flat cage. The oim in the tlat cage went alive, tiie two in the Ivoot-Ri'titon both dead. Of the nine sent to Mr. Rradley. threes were in the Rootl'.enton cage and six in the flat cages. Of these, one in the Root- Renton cage went alive and four in the flat cages. Six of the fifteen (jueens went on tlie October stinimer. four out of the six arriving dead; while of the nine sent on tlie August and September steamers, seven went alive. Mr. Mcl'\ writes that those sent him were evidently sutlot-ated. and must have been in a closer mail-bag or in a hotter part of the ship than those sent him by Mr. Root, ac- cording to their appearance: while Mr. B. says, in speaking of my last shipment to him, "A circus and menagerie came in the same vessel with the queens, and all mail matter was crowded into all sorts of out-of-the-way places, which did not give the queens the usual chance of living." Understanding this state of affairs, it is a little suggestive that the four in the Root-Renton cages all died, while the two in the flat cages went alive. As Mr. Rradley seems to be a close observer, I think some re- marks of his on the different cages will be of interest. Speaking of the half-inch cage he says: "This cage seems to come as near per- fection as possible, the bees and queens in the same being as lively as if they had been con- fined only a few days." Of the seven-eighths cage he says: " It is very good, but would be better, I think, if the air-holes were a little larger, so as to allow freer ventilation." Of the Root-Renton cage he says: "The objections to this cage are, first, in having only one means of access to the stores. In one of these cages the queen was dead in the food compartment, and the hole behind her was blocked with bees. Second, owing to its block form it packs too well, or too closely with other articles. If the sides were fluted, and air-holes punched in the fiutings it would be better." WIRE CLOTH. Mr. R. further says: "I should like to call your attention to the green wire cloth used on some of the cages. The queen and bees in these cages were literally covered with a tine green dust, and it was not until several days after in- troduction that the qu<'ens were chsaned from it — in one case, not for two weeks; and in try- ing to get it otT from the (lueen. the Ijees remov- ed every particle of " fuzz" from her back and shoulders, leaving her as shiny as glass. Those with tlie black wire cloth were perfectly clean." PROOF OF VALUE. When I started these queens for Australia I had some misgivings about their being of any value to those who purchased them, fearing their long journey, confinement, and the neces- sary abuse to which thi'y must be subjected, would injure them. Rnt it would seem that these misgivings were groundless, in part at least, for Mr. \Valker writes that the two sent him"sliowed no half work and half play, or half brood and half honey in one comb, for they 334 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. April 1. proceeded to fill up the combs to their very corners, and top-bars with brood." Mr. Brad- ley says nothing as to the laying qualities of those received: but it would seera that he went rightto breeding from them, and gives the point which I consider of greater value than the pro- lificness of the individual queens, which have been subjected to such great abuse as they must be in going so far, and the o/ie poi?it above all others which is to the interest of all apiarists. He says, in speaking, of the young queens: "Their queen-daughters are vei'y even layers, and very prolific. They fill the brood-frames from side to side and from top to bottom, and their worker progeny leave nothing to be desired in the way of work. On the whole we are more than satisfied with the resultof our enterprise." This proves the position I have taken in the past. that, through a direct cross, comes the greatest energv and activity in our pets. Borodino. N.' Y., Mar. 5. G. M. Dooi.ittle. [We are glad that our friend Mr. Doolittle has taken hold of this matter in the careful, painstaking way so characteristic of his meth- ods of work. There is no doubt, in point of theory and fact, that his flat cages are better than the block cages we used with such good results last season. The latter has done mar- velously well: but where there was an oppor- tunity for comparison it was evident that the flat cage was the better. We have examined all the cages carefully; and while our correspon- dent seems to favor style No. 1, we rather in- cline toward No. 2. as shown in the engraving, because it is stronger and of better proportion. This latter has the very desirable feature of having candy at both ends; and, besides, it seems to us that it can be made equal in point of ventilation to the still flatter cage No. 1. This, as nearly as we can i-emember, before we submitted it to our engravers for reproduction, seemed to be frail, and not one we would dare to trust to the vicissitudes of a long journey. The reason we decided on the block form in the first place was. because the postal regulations stipulated that kind of cage: but if the " powers that be" will permit these flat cages to pass through the mails (and they did in Mr. Doolit- tle's case) they (No. 1 or 2) will be the ones to adopt.] COBS AND KERNELS. INTERESTING FACTS AND OBSEKVATIONS BY F. GREINEB. 1. From the standpoint of the comb-honey producer I have never found it profitable to prac- tice dequeening for the purpose of increasing the honey crop, except in connection with the renewal of the queen; and in that case I should rather consider it a remedy for curing or pre- venting the swarming fever. It requires very good judgment in anticipating the honey sea- son, in having the young queens commence lay- ing just at the right time, etc. One may easily fail. 2. It seems to be the desire of all colonies of bees in normal condition to breed many drones at a certain time of the year. Gratify this de- sire, and a state of contentedness and general harmony is established, without which no colo- ny may be expected to do its utmost. Now, while some of our noted bee-keepers, Baron von Berlepsch at the head, liave theorized that drone comb is out of its place in the brood- chamber, many of us havi' noticed colonies almost overrunning with drones, outstripping others that were practically without them; and I believe it best to allow each colony a liberal amount of drone comb; perhaps half an L. frame full may not be too much. 3. I believe the majority of our comb-honey producers, and also the manufacturers of comb foundation, are in favor of using light founda- tion (full sheets) in sections, and it may be poor policy to opi)Ose its use; but should we not in the first place consider the wishes of the con- sumer? To judge others by myself. I should say they do not want it. I do not like to chew the disagreeable backbone, for even the liglitest brand is not entirely woi-ked out. May we not injure the honey-trade by the use of foundation in sections except for starters? 4. It is not so much the good quality of the section as it is the quality of the honey, the color, finish, texture, and flavor of the honey the section is filled with, that pleases the con- sumer most. 5. They seem to be periodical, these discus- sions of "Italians versus Blacks." From time to time they have made an appearance, and also again of late. I have always been greatly in favor of the black bees, particularly because their product is so much better as to looks, and sometimes I have been quite uncharitable toward those booming the yellow race. Well, now, after an experience of over 1.5 years with both races I am still undecided in the matter. I think that, if the management requires to hunt out queens often, then the pure Italian bee takes the preference. 6. To find a black queen in a powerful colony is not (»ften an easy task. Many times every comb has to come out of the hive; the remain- ing bees must be examined critically, perhaps dumped out into a sheet; and I am not sure but that sifting the entire drove through a sieve of queen-excluding metal may yet prove the quickest way to attain the desired result. 7. My colonies of pure Italian bloods do more propolizing than either hybrids, blacks, or Car- niolans. They store a greater amount of pollen, also more honey in the brood-chamber. 8. On page 15.5 Mr. Ehvood expresses almost exactly my ideas of grading comb honey. Un- doubtedly he is right in saying, "Unsealed, partly filled sections, and such containing bee- bread.* should be kept at home." Some years we have a good many sections which, although all built out and sealed, are yet light in weight; the combs are not full thickness. No objection could be raised to shipping such; but they would better be crated by themselves, as it is desirable to have all sections contained in a crate as near alike in weight as is possible. 9. The Porter escape is perhaps ahead for use on the hives; but on a whole stack of supers the four-point Dibbern escape gives better satisfac- tion. The light tailing in through the center hole attracts the bees, and causes them to come out much quicker. Robbers will seldom ob- struct the passage at the points, but will hover on the screen just above the center hole. I used to think that the most natural escape, the one which would facilitate the exit of the bees most, was the old Reese cone-escape. In this, however, I was mistaken: for. after a while, the returning and the robber bees, also young bees from within, begin to cluster at the apex of the cone, and hinder the escape of the bees. 10. Removing the full super from hives in out-apiaries— many times, I practice the old method of driving bees down with smoke, lift- ing up the super quickly, brushing ott' what bees are on the bottom, then stacking up from 10 to 12 supers on top of an escape-board, also placing one on the top of the stack, and await * In all my experience I have come across but one person fond ot bee-bread, wlio actually preferred honey containing a liberal amount of it. 18t« GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 235 results. For this piirpdst' no cscapi" si'cms to work any lit-ttcr than a coinhination of tlic four- point nihhcrn and t.lic later Rccso (sucii as I mail yon to-iiayl. To still more facilitatt' tin- worU. I nrovitic a rase near the rcnlrr part of thcstai'K with a v iiolc at each side, plai'iiitr a wirc-i'loth I'oni' over cai'h. It will not he lontr bffori' I'vcry brc w ill have h'ft the su|)rrs. 11. Many of us liavo bo<'n siico(>ssfnl in win- tcriiifi in chatT liivi's by jiiving iipward viMitila- tion ihronjih a thick idiatV nishion: and it sccnis to nic we onfilit to jzo very slow in chang- ing our nii'thod. The ohjcH-tion of cushit)ns getting wot and cold docs not hold true so far as I iiave obsorv(>d. Only the upper part of tiie cushion gathers iiioistun^ and l)ccoiii(\s wet : all the rest remains dry and warm. ]iy raising or removing the roof on a fair day. litis ccMidensed moisture can (>asily be made to disapi)ear. Wlien upward ventilation is given I think it is best to close up tlt'e entrance to within two inches: when not. giving full entrance is per- haps the better. A board stood up leaning against the liiv<^ in front of enti'ance, to break tlie force of tlie w ind. also to shield against the rays of tiie sun. is of advantage. \2. I wish to speak of a bee-cellar with a ccnxentcd floor, which a friend of mine in this viciidty tises with good success. Two we(>ks ago the l.'iu colonies therein were in line sha[)e, apparently, only a few dead bees being on the Hoor. A few years ago this same cellar had 10 or 12 inches of water in it nearly all winter: still the bees came out all right in the spring. 13. If a colony of bees arrives at its inaxiinum strenctli any length of time before the honey- tlow commences, it will not do nearly as well as some other colony just getting there as the sea- son liegins. This is i)articularly the case with such as have oklei- ()ueens. 14. Machines foi- ftdding sections will not be the desideratum with me until, by a happy combination with the foundation-fastener, the starters can be also fastened in by the same operation. If I can not save time, nor do the work better by using a machine, why use it? 1.1. Dr. Miller says, in Feb. 1st (ti.kaxings: •■ liut is it true, that bees do not become field- workers till If) days old? I have seen bees ;") days old carrying' pollen." Then Dr. M. does not accept the sixteen-day theory, does he? I am pretty sure that, under normal conditions, bees do not become field-workers until Ki days old. What they may do under other conditions I have not observed. The A B C tells us. •■ Bees become lield-workers when two weeks old, sometimes when but one."" Prof. Cook is unde- cided: he gives the age as two weeks, but thinks that, under abnormal conditions, they may go into the fields when one week old. James Heddon teaclies. " Bees become active workers in gatheiing honey whiMi from 4 to 8 days old." According to (i. M. I)., this is not the case until they are u; days old. Why so much indecision and differences in opinion, when the facts may I'a-ily be ascertained? A few experiments thoroughly carried on woidd tell tlie story. \'ogel t-onducted an experiment of this kind some 1.") yars ago. He arrived a1 the same con- clusion ii. M. D. did. The experiment of V'ogel is so far all llie more interesting, as he formed his experimental colony by the use of brood- combs co!itaining only sealed and liaLciiing brood, so no old hees could possil)ly be in the hive. By tlie experiment. Vogel learned in the first place that bees iKsed no education or train- ing to perform the funi'tions which are per- formed inside of a hive of bees. Tlu^ faculty is born in them for nursing the brood, building comb. etc. Fui'ther. he observed that no bee left the hive for any piniiose until the sixth day from the lime (d' the lii-st br'i- emerging from the cell. On that day. In the afternoon, a few came out for a |)lays|)ell; after this the hivi^ became perfectly ipiiet. The next day in the afternoon, more bees came out for a playspell. and so on. more and more every t'()nseculi\e day. but al- ways becomintr (|uiev after the playspell: not a bee went foraging until the sixteenth day in tiie afternoon, after the usual playspell, then just a few bees were seen to return w ith their I)ollen-i)askets load(>d. From this time on, the colony liecanie more and more active. Some time during the coiu'se of the experiment the colony was depriveil of its combs and jjrovision: still, iiot one bee would go out in search of food, although the day was fair, and nature furnish- ed both pollen and honey. The bees were near- ly exhausted when their provisioned combs were returned to them, and they were thus saved from starvation. Since Vogel is one of tlie best authorities of the present day. I have no reason to doubt his statements: still, there may be others who have not the faith in liim, considering what other authorities claim, and I would suggest that a number of our ablest men conduct such experiments as they may think best. I wish I could induce Dr. Miller, Mr. Green, the man- ager of the National Expi-riment, I{ee-station, and some others to take this matter in hand. Of cours(\ that would not hinder some of us dabblers from experimenting along this line. It would indeed be funnv if we did not settle this thing definitely by the time the International meets next fall. " F. GREfNER. Naples. N. Y.. March 12. OBJECTIONS TO THE USE OF HONEY. A m:\vsi' aim: It ( i.ii'i'ixG i-'rom dr. j. m. kki,- !.()(;«. IX JiKO.VRD TO THE USE OF HONEY AS food: an If.I,rSTRATI(>N OF THE WAY IN WHICH GREAT MEN SO.METIMES .MISEEAD. The following, from Dr. Kellogg, is clipped from a newspaper, and sent us by one of our correspondents: Honey, in its best estate, is not a pure sweet, and conseiiiiently is open to greater objections than , free sugar. " The bLn's uie not very nice in their haljits, and gatlier tlieir store in all sorts of pliiccs, sometimes lioveriiif? ovei- that which is very loath- some and unclean. In gMthering the nectar from floweis, the bee rubs off ninri! or less of the pollen and carries it home with Inm and dejiosits it with tiie honey. If t he ])olleii happens to be poisonous, tlie honey is jioisoned. At Trebizond, Turkey, poi- sonous tlowers abound so tliat the honey at that point is always i)oisonous. Further, tlie bee always l)Uts in a certain quantity of poison from the i«)l- soii-bag, formic acid, to preserve the honey. If the bees are very much disturbed while at their work, they inject an unusual amount of this formic acid into their product, and so the honey becomes "rank." A person who eats "rank" honey will be taken sick, and likely break out with a rash similar to iiettleiash, formic; acid being the poison in both instances. These facts liave all been determined l).\ scientitic invest ig'ations. We have great respect for Dr. Kellogg; but. like other great men, he has made some bad blunders. And. by the way. " big doctors," it seems to me, are too apt to make positive asser- tions in regard to things a little outside of their field, that are only mere conjecture. His ex- pression. " Bees are not very nice in their hab- its,"" may be true in a narrow sense;, but the statement is mostly misleading as it stands, as any one conversant with honey-bees knows. Again, he says, "If the pollen hapjiens to be lioisonous, the honey is poisoned."' This re- minds us of the fearful blunder made by the 236 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. ApRn. 1. health commissioners of New York city last season in condemning grapes. They did see a little poison on the sterns of the grapes, very likely: but in order to do any harm, a man would need to eatr/fo» of (ir a pes at a meal, stems and all: and even then it is doubtful whether the quantity of poison he received would prove fatal. The honey at Trebizond. Turkey, is "always poisonous," is it? Perhaps we can find out something more about that. If there is anybody who reads Gleanings who has ever been near that locality, I would kindly ask him to give the address of some proper pei-son. and have the matter investigat- ed. Such a newspaper statement would be damaging to the "real-estate prospects" of that locality. We would respectfully call the attention of the Sublime Porte of Turkey to the above slanderous statements in regard to his dominion. Another thing, does the honey-bee always put formic acid in the honey? Prof. Cook, will you please stand up and tell us about these things that come within your domain? Some writer in some of the journals, if I am correct, once suggested that the operation of extracting honey stirs the bees up to such an extent that they inject beesting poison into the honey, and this is vvhy extracted honey is more likely to make people sick than comb honey. The writer was probably working for comb honey, and felt anxious that the great public should give comb honey the preference — i. e.. pay a bigger price for it. Then, again, " The person who eats rank honey will be tak- en sick." This is another of the positive asser- tions: and yet we have readers of Gleanings who eat raw honey about as friend Terry and I eat strawberries, and it does not make them sick " worth a cent." The rest of the sentence would indicate that, whenever any of you break out with a rash, all you have to do is to think back when you last ate some honey. Dr. Kellogg, you are a whole team when you go for tobacco, cigarettes. Dr. Wilford Hall, etc., but when you are writing about honey, please recog- nize that it is 7(0t a terrible curse to humanity that needs stamping out by such vigorous state- ments.] A. I. R. RAMBLE NO. 56. IN SAN FKANCISCO. After a few hours' ride from Napa City we arrive at Vallejo(VaUeo)on the San Pablo Bay. A little to the east is Benicia, where a United States arsenal and soldiers' barracks are locat- ed, and where, also, will be found one of those immense ferryboats that will take a whole train of cars. Just across the bay we come to Port Costa, where we find immense warehouses stored with wheat, ready for shipment. San Pablo Bay is but a continuation of the bay of San Francisco, and we now follow the shores of the bays for 20 miles, and soon arrive in the city of Oakland. Although Oakland is noted as being called the Brooklyn of San Francisco, it is a thoroughgoing business placed and has the motley and lively makeup seen in all westei'n towns. It was here I saw, the first time after many months, faces that were famil- iar for many years in my native town. A young doctor had located here only a few months pre- viously, and. among otlu^r household goods. had brought along his father-in-law and moth- er-in-law. and we all had a sort of jubilee. After answering innumerable questions about home affairs we quieted down for the night. The next day I was off for San Francisco. It is about five miles across the bay, and the railroad piers run out some distance into the bay. The immense ferryboats are loaded everj morning and evening with from one to two thousand people going from their homes in one to their business in the other. Oakland being a more desirable place of residence than San Francisco. At the ferry way I met an old-time friend who had followed the high seas for many years in the United States navy, and had finally got settled down to punching ferry-tickets. 1 pre- sented ray ticket, but held on to prevent the punching. He looked at me witli an angry frown, and was about to utter hot words of rebuke. Said I, '" George, do you know me?" and. though 2(i years had elapsed since we had met. he knew me. and so arranged his ticket business that he spent a day showing me San Francisco. The narrow point of land ui)on which San Francisco is located, as shown upon the map. is fully ten miles in width: and if Rome was built upon seven hills, this city is built upon seven times seven. The surface is very uneven, and in some portions back of the city it rises to the dignity of mountains. The chief means of lo- comotion is by cable railroad, and it seems that any other railroad would be a failure here on account of the very steep gradients to overcome. San Francisco has probably the most hetero- genous population of any city on this continent. It has its Italian. Portuguese, Chinese, and other quarters of distinctive nationalities. The most noticeable is the Chinese, for they bring and retain all of their national characteristics and dress. The senior editor of Gi,?:anings remark- ed about seeing his first Chinese woman in Portland, and noticed her head, but did not seem to notice her feet. The Chinese women that come to this country are not of the class that have those very small feet, but they wear the regular Chinese shoe, and it is a mystery how they stand on them. Nearly all Chinese wear the wooden-soled shoe: but the woman's shoe differs in being raoi'e rounding on the bot- tom. As they waddle along, the sole of the shoe looks like a rocker, and you expect to see the wearer pitch one way or the other. I sup- pose the shoe was invented by Confucius, and the people have had a long time in which to learn its peculiarities. The prettiest sight, and one that always draws attention, is the little Chinaman of four or five summers. He is usually decked out in bright green and yellow, or other hues, with decorated shoes, and is evidently proud of his fantastic appearance. The fogs roll up over San Francisco nearlj every morning, but they do not get across the bay to Oakland. The nights are cool, and a great portion of the year it is desirable to live on the sunny side of the house. There are, consequently, but few shade-trees on the streets of this city. Tiie visitor will scarcely fail to notice the healthy and robust appearance of the women of this city, and even their faces of good rosy color and beauty. A point of never-failing interest is to visit the Cliff House and the Seal Rocks. We run out by rail past the historical (Tolden Gate, and the grand Pacific Ocean is before us. We had viewed the old Atlantic from many points, and it was with a feeling of satisfaction that we were permitted to look out from this far side of the continent upon the Pacific, and see the breakers roll in upon the sandy beach. The Seal Rocks are .so named from the num- ber of seals, or sea-lions, that congregate there. They bellow and quarrel as the waves dash over them, and one very large one. named Gen. Butler, seems to rule the roost. Sutro Heights and Sutro Park are open to the public, and it is truly a beautiful place. The Golden Gate \s\y2 (JLKANINCS IN HKK CULTURK. .237 I'luk t'xtoiids from the i.'ily down to tlit> ocean, u disiaiii't' of livt> niili-s. Wo walked back through tilt" park; aiui. wliilc tlie far cud of it near tlit> ocean is yet nniniproved, the city end is a veritat^le jiaradise; and when it is all coni- nleted it will he the grandest park in the world. Hilt space will not allow me to dwell further upon th(> many intereslintr features of this city. My friend the next morninij went, to the punch- ing of tickets, and. with a letter of introdnc- tioM. I sought Mr. Weston, the maimfacliirer of fruit boxes and baskets of all sorts and sizes. My object in looirienc(> with woods of all kinds gave value to liis advice. For tin- manufacture of baskets tli(> material is shaved into sjilints fiom ''s to ~ inches in uidth, and of varying degrees of thickness. The macliine for making these splints is very simple. The spi'uce plank to be shaved is clamped to a strong bench: a (hit plane is operated by a strong lever that projects through the floor, to which motion is given from machinery below; a strong rope connects plane and lever, and. with a man to adjust the plane at every sweep of the lever, the plank is soon reduced to ma- terial for baskets. Wishing to test a few shavings for sections, the plane was set to an eighth of an inch, and several strips were ratiidly taken off, and the grain was not badly broken. I found, however. SAX FKANCISrO M.\CHIXK FOK MAKING BAS- KET-.SPLINTS. Ihe following obstacles to the use of spruce: To plane easily or at all. the timber must be green or wet. just as it comes from the rafts that have been floated here from On'gon. When seasoned there is a hard bonelike tilm which is hard for a saw to cut unless frefjuent filings are resorted to. It is also more britt Ic than basswood when dry. and more liable to break at the corners. The price of selected timber is $.H0 to $35 per 1(XX). which puts it on the shelf as compared with basswood. Other woods have been rec- ommended, such as Cottonwood, which has only a small strip of white in a tree, and it is diffi- cult to select it. Cedar and eucalyptus have also been recommended: but their strong odor is an objection. Sugar- i)ine would probably make a good section; but even that, wIumi we select the best, is nearly the same price as spruce. Redwood is a fine wood, but the color, if not the price, is an objection. I gave up the pursuit, for I believe thife is nothing on this coast or any other that can compete with bass- wood in all ijualities for a one-piece section. Mr. Weston tried tf) use these splints for sec- tions by bending and lapping one side; but they got out of shape, and looked simply ridiculous by the side of the straight and trim basswood. Several parties have ordered machinery for ihis purpose, but it stands idle and is for sale. IJeo-liives and shi|)ping-crates are made by several parties here, and this can be dont^ here as well as in the lOast; but still, thousands of hives come from east of tin- Rockies evt^-y sea- sou. The last genthMiian I saw in relation to the supply business was Mr. Wm. Styan, of San Mateo, about ~'() miles out from San Francisco. San Mateo is a lovely town w hen^ iiumy wealthy San Franciscans reside in beautiful iH'sidences surrounded by shaded pleasure- grounds, and beatitilied with trees, shrubs, and /*'«>2, A ];UCAI.FYTUS APIAItY. many-hued flowers, nearly all new to the East- ern man. Mr. Styan is a sturdy Englishman, has been in the Fiiited States about nine years, and nearly all the time in California. He has an apiary of over 30 colonies, and is rearing golden Italian queens, and deals in supplies. Mr. Styan has much other business; and. his son having recently secured other lucrative business in the city, he was obliged to suspend the publication of the Calif ornin Bee-keeper for the tini(^ being, but proposes to start it again in the near future. We traveled the shady walks of San Mateo a while, during which Mr. S. pointed out bees at work on the small white blossom of the oucalyptus-tree. I was informed by Mr. S. that this honey is much sought after on account of its medicinal quali- ties. The blossoms are very fragrant, and It is a healthful tree to have around. Mr. Styan's apiary has the eucalyptus for a background. In San Mateo are several educational institu- tions, and. on the whole, it seems to be a desir- able place in which to resid(\ Between San Mateo and San Francisco, gar- dening is extensively engaged in. The side hills are neatly terraced, and water drawn up by scores of windmills to irrigate and make TKRKACING, AND IHKKiATINfJ BY WINOMII.I.8 productive all the long year round what other- wis(> would Ije a liarren hillside. ~^ After my return to Frisco I felt a strong desire to test the merits of ocean travel; and upon the steamship Queen, bound for Southern Califor- nia, will next be found the Rambi.kk. 338* GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Aran, 1. [Yes. friend R.. I did notice particularly the wooden shoe worn by the Chinese women, and their peculiar walk ; and Mrs. Root and I both admired the Chinese juveniles. They are by all odds the cutest and prettiest members of the Chinese family ; and how in the world these Chinamen can stay here in our country without their liitle ones, to say nothing of their wives, is beyond my comprehension. I saw some little fellows carrying in wood, and doing other chores about the house, and they seemed to be as deft and handy, almost, as the grown-up ones. It seems we went over about the same ground, and we were especially interested in Sutro Park and Sutro Heights, and the seals. You call them •'sea-lions.'' Well, it seemed to me that some of those big fellows were something more than large seals.— It seems to me your machine for making basket-splints is a rather primitive one. Can they not get better tools from some of our Eastern manufacturers? Your investigations in regard to material for making sections just about agree with our own here.— In regard to the Calif oniia Bee-keejjer: I do not know that it is our business to stir up discord ; but it oc- curs to me that Mr. Sty an and his son, when they found that they had too much else to do to keep the Bee-keeper going, should have refund- ed the money for which no equivalent had been rendered. I mention this because I heard con- siderable complaint along this line; and if the matter is not fixed up, people are going to be a little slow hereaftei' in subscribing for new bee- papers.] A. I. R. THE PORTEK BEE-ESCAPE. A GOOD TESTIMONIAI, FOR IT: BEES' WINGS NOT TOKN BY IT. In response to your request concerning the Porter spring bee-escape tearing bees' wings, I wish to say that bees' wings are not injured in the least in passing through the escape. Al- though I have used these escapes ever since their invention, and having no occasion to mis- trust any injury to the bees in any way, upon reading your editorial I made further investiga- tion. Having a few springs, such as are used in the Porter escape, I tried cutting or tearing bees' wings with one of these springs, and found it almost impossible to mutilate the wings, even when holding them between the thumb and finger of one hand, and ui)tuni. oi- base of comb fouiidatidii hrfoi-e sloiin^;- tlic lioncy in the comb, and what effect vaiioiis thicknesses of foun- dation liave upon the tliiclinessof tiase tinally left by the bees." Tlie object of tliis was to see if heavy grades of foundation would leave an undue amount of wax in tlie comb, making it unph'asant to the consumer, and injuritig the sale of comb lioiiey ; or if it might be drawn out into cell walls l)y the liees. The foundation was supplied free of all cliarges to the ones agreeing to conduct tlie experiments. There were three grades sent out, being 6 feet to the pcmnd, 10 feet to the pound, and 12 feet to the pound, known as medium bi'ood, thin surplus, and extra thin surplus. The sections were marked ac- cordingly before (Hitting into the hive, and instruc- tions given to iilace all over center of brood-cham- ber to give all an alike favtnaiile position or other- wise for drawing t)ut and buildirg on the founda- tion. Owing to the very unfavorable honey season generally, some were unable to get the foundation drawn out at all. Tliese we hojie to secure next season. In testing for sections wliich had tlie thin- nest base, the three samples were taken without looking at tlie number of feet per |>ound marked on wood, and by looking through base of section and taking a piece of each comb in moutli, tlie order of tliickne.ss was found, and in almost every instance the order was the same as when the foundation was placed in tlie sections. In no case was tlie least difficulty experienced in discovering that the foun- dation 6 feet to the pound was the heavier— the base and also the wall was heavy; and the feeling, when eaten with honey in the mouth, decidedly unpleas- ant. In No. 8 exiierinient a heavy honey-flow was secured artificially, by putting a feeder on top of the hive, holding about 1.5 pounds, and the bees built the comb out very quickly. In this lot. when the honey was extracted and the wax was cold, the cell wall built on by the bees was broken away, and underneath the foundation was found in almost if not exactlj' the same condition as when put in the sections. Tiie general results tend to show tliat comb foundation in .sections is not thinned by bees as is generall.v supjMised. Twenty-four applied for material, out of which the following number re- ported, as follows: BY WHOM CONDUCTED. POSTOFFICE. 1 Dr. Geo. Duncan* lEiiibro, Ont. Lij CLKANINCS IN lUOK ( T LTl'IUO. ':{'.» rrs oil lliis side. Dr. Miller', llic Dadaiits, aiul soiiK' DtliiMS w liost' iiiuiii's we (1(1 not now recall. have decided that tlie " exti'a tliiii " is no hettei'. nor a.-i Rood, as what is caMed"(hin surplus." When the niattei' came up for discussion, we believe the ohjectioii to tile exti'a thin was. that the bee?, would, on acconni of its e\irenie ly liL'lit wciyrlil. sometimes ^naw it.| EMPTY COMBS AND OLD FOUNDATION IN SECTIONS. ''' foundation. I have known for years that freshly made foundation is better than that which has been exposed to the air for some time, but I never saw tlie differ- ence so strikingly shown as in an experiment last summer. On account of lack of help. many supers were just as they had been left the preceding summer, the sections containing full sheets of foundation untouched by the bees. Wishing to tiy a new make of sections, two or three rows of the old sections w'en^ r(^ni(Tved from each of a number of supers, and replaced with the new ones coiitaining fresh foundation. Onlv a moderate aniounti of honey was lieing gathered, and but few c(jloni(^s were making aii\ iMiigress in the supers, so that I was sur- prised, a con|)le of weeks later, to lind most of those new sections liiilll out and tinished, wliih; in some cases th(> old foundation, right along- side in the same su|)e|-s. hiid not been touched. If. ill tesijiiir iiijs matter, full sheets of fresh foundation were always compareil with drawn combs, I think the unprotitalileness of tin; lat- ter would seldom lie ((tiestioiKHl. Uiit there is a serious difliculty in the way here. It is not always [lossible for the bee-keeper, esiiecially if he counts his colonies by tlu; hundred, to use only fresh foundation. He must prepare many of his sii|)ers in advance of the honey-harvest, and is always liable to have some of them left ovei- unused. If he does not do t his he must be able to count on an abundance of reliable help during the honey season, or he is liable to serious loss. On the contrary, I am convinced that he may lose heavily by using old hard foundation. Hetwcicn the two horns of the dilemma I hai'dly know which to choose. What I have decided on for the present is this: All drawn-out combs, except enough of tiu^ best to put two or thre(^ in (^acli super, used at the beginning of the season, shall be cut out and melted: all sh(H>ts of foundation that have be- come bleached orprojiolized shall he remelted, and at least one-third of the sections in each super shall be tilled with fresh foundation. Hy "fresh foundation" I mean that which has been expos(;d to the air as little as possible, and has not been put into the sections more than two or three w(;eks in advance of the time it is ni^eded on the hives. Possibly it might not de- teriorate very much by being in the sections a couple of months: but that which has been kept over from one season to another, exposed to the air, is certainly very far inferior to fresh foundation. This is especially the case when it has been on the hives some time and has been varnished over with iiropolis by the bees. I consider that foundation best which has come most recently from thiMJipping-tank and rolling-mill; but that which has been papered and tightly boxed, so that it is not exposed to the air. will keep a long time with but little injury. J. A. (JitKiox. Dayton. 111., March 4. PREVENTING INCREASE WHEN THE FIRST SWARM ISSUES. .J. F. M'INTY-KE EXI'LAINS MOKK FlIXY the SE- CRET OF THE DADANT XGN-SWARMING PI-AX. In Chas. Dadant it Son's article on prevent- ing increase. |jag(! 541. IS'.il, they ri^vealed a secret not found in the books: at least, I have just looked through ten bei^-books. Dadant's included, and did not (ind it in any of them. They all agree that, as a rule, the first svvartn issues when tin; first qii(!eii-c(dls are s(!al(!d, un- less prevented tiy foul weather. Now. (ivery bee-keeper shoiilrJ know that there are several other conditions which will make a colony postpone swarming until the second crisis, that is, when the tirst cells an^ r(;ady to hatch, and one of the most powerful is a large hive con- taining plenty of empty combs. If I understand Dadant's system they put a super full of empty combs on their extra huiie brood -chain hers be- fore the bees commence to build queen-cells, or 240 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Ai'Kii, L get the swarming fever; this prevents most of the colonies from getting the fever, and the few that start queen-cells do not swarm nntil the first cells are ready to hatch. In that article they say, " If we return the swarm 48 hours after swarming, the queen-cells have been de- stroyed by the young queen, and the bees get rid of her or the old one when the swarm is return- ed." This shows that they mean the first swarm, and that their bees do not. as a rule, swarm until the first young queens are ready to hatch. They probably would not have any swarms if it were not for this crisis; the bees seem reluctant to kill the young queens, for, as a rule, the old (lueen is feeble, or they would not have started the cells, so they yield to the impulse and swarm. If the weather hai)i)ens to be unfavorable at this time, one of the young queens will often hatch, and kill the old queen, when the swai'm will issue with a virgin. I had 109 first swarms this season, and out of that number 4'.i killed the old queen and swarnK^d with a virgin; 40 swarmed with the old queen when the first cells were ready to hatch, and 20 according to rule, near the time that the young queens are sealed over. I am afraid that bee-keepers having small hives will be seriously disappointed in trying Mr. Dadant's plan of i)reventing increase, be- cause, as a rule, bees in small hives do swarm on the sealing of the first qi'ieen-cells. I feel very sure that the success of the plan depends on having a large hive filled with emi)ty combs, or, rather, the super filled with emiity combs. You may put it down in the books, that a colony having a large amount of empty comb in their hive will not, as a rule, swarm until the first queen-cells are ready to hatch ; and that such colonies, when they do swarm, are very easily discouraged from swarming again. The exigen- cy of the case forces them out against their bet- ter judgment ; and when this exigency is re- moved by one (jueen hatching and killing the others, the bees are contented to remain. Fillmore, Cal.. Feb. 24. .!. K. McIntvkk. [Friend M.. I entirely agree with you in the position you lake; and since you mention it. I feel pretty sure that a large hive like the one used by the Dadants would have very much to do in keeping down the swarming fever; but I am afraid, my good friend, when you looked over those ten bee-iiooks you did not look very carefully— that is. if the secret you speak of is the matter of giving a larger amount of room and empty combs. In the A B C. under the head of " Prevention of Swarming by the Use of the Extractor," you will tind particular em- phasis placed on this point. See also Dadant's book, paragraphs 461 and 4.")9. I am glad, how- ever, that you have called attention to it. for perhaps it has nowhere been stated^with suffi- cient clearness. Putting on a whole'super filled with empty combs, just before the bees get the swarming fever, will surely do very much to hinder swarming. For many years I have watched and experimented, with a view of get- ting at the real cause of swarming: and when they really get the fever, it is oftentimes a pretty hard matter to stop them. I remember of once seeing some motions among the bees in a hive I had just opened, that seemed to indi- cate they were getting ready to swarm. I hastily lifted the combs, and stood them up against the grapevine trellises, so as to scatter them several feet apart. If I am correct. I had got them so placed that no two combs were together, and yet these be(>s started the swarm - ing-note, and commenced rising from one comb and then another; and finally all that could fly left their combs and united in the aii'. So I concluded that, when bees had once made their arrangements, and got the real swarming fever, it was not an easy matter to hold them back.] A. I. R. ECLIPSE FOUNDATION-ROLLER. HOW .1. M. HAMHAUGH FASTENS HIS FOUNDA- TION TO THE TOP-BAK. AND IMKEr>S THE WIHE. Well, well: It does really seem strange to me that so simple a little device as the " Eclipse foundation-roller" should have remained so long in obscurity, and its merits so little known in the bee-world. It is certainly very simple, and yet it is perfection in the direction for which it was designed. Necessity is said to be the mother of invention, and it was after being thoroughly disgusted with all the methods known to us for putting foundation securely and rapidly in frames that led to the discovery of the rollei-: and now I am bound, in justice to a former friend and partner, by the name of Stone, to give him credit for the first invention of this practical little device. The original is still in my possession, a picture of which I here- with submit. FIG. 1.— stone's ORIGINAL ROLLER FASTE.NER. Mr. Stone left the State and embarked in other pursuits shortly after this; and while the roller of our present device is practically the same as that of the original. I have materially changed the shape of the handle and the mode of adjusting the roller to the proper depth on tlie brood-frame. We found the roller a grand improvement, and with a little practice we could put the foundation starters in very rapidly. It was about this time in our experience that we became somewhat familiar with the meth- ods of the Dadants; and having adverse experi- ence with the use of starters in brood-frames we began to pave our way for the use of full sheets of foundation in brood-frames: and this, of course, called for wired frames. We accept- ed them as authority upon the subject of wir- ing, and commenced wiring in accoi'dance with their method, and as illustrated in Gleanings for Jan. 1.5. The roller, as illustrated on the same page. 50. I presume was devised for bevel- edged top-bars, which must be differently con- structed from the ones we use in our work. We cut all our top-bars X inch square, as will be seen by our illustration. FKi. 2.— HAMI5AIGH S IMBEDDKK .\M) ROLLER FASTENER. We soon discovered that the roller of itself was of but little value to us in putting in full sheets of fonndaliou without some device to imbed the wii-e into the se'ptum of the founda- tion. Here, again, necessity became the mother of invention; and while fi'iend Uadant has re- fused to lecognize our device as of any practi- cal utility. I want to brand him as a French- man. I have never used any thing else, neither have I had cause to wish for any thing better IS'.tL' (Jl.liANIJSKJS IN HEK (."ULTUKE. :J41 in inv t'litir ' (' \|)( ri( IK-f ill l)Ct -k(H H'iiiR. and I liuvo tllDUS till Is <.t I'OI ll)S Ml II S( t(i-(i av in whioh till" w ire vv; IS mlic (l(l< (1 SV nil our (i CVU'C, uiul I ( ii'fv liim to liiii 1 a 11 ;iw III tlici ■ I'OII t in a liaiuiic at an anisic, as in cut No. :{. Tiie licail is tiled off. and a Rfooxc set in the point running liMigtlnvisc witlt tlie luindle. It is oprrated by setting the groove in the iiointi-d instriiinent over tlie w ir,- fiirtiiest from tlie operator, as in eiit No. 4. and. with a slight (iressiire. pull toward yon. and tliiis press tlie wire into the loiiiidation tho depth required. Our friend Mr. Dadant, I helicne. claims that it tears the i-ells of th«^ foiindation too much. I certainly think he has not given it a praclical test. I know that, while the grooved wire may make a slightly wider track than the spiir- whoel or Carlin tool, it matters hut little to the bees, as it is soon draw n o\'er. and the wire is buried as perfectly and securely with the work of the wii-e-imbeddCr as that of either of th<^ more e\p<'nsive tools. Later years we have attacheil the w ii'e-imbedder to the corner of the foiindalioii-idller (see cut No. :.'). which is an improvement over the old method, inasmucli as it saves so much extra handling of tools while doing the work of putting in foundation, etc. The only advantage thai we can si^e in the spur wheel is. that the wire may adhere a little tirmer to the foundation while the frames are being handled; but we have had no trouble from that source with our method, except when we have transported combs in wagous to out- apiaries: and where this is required we now take our tools and foundation along and put the foundation in aftei' arriving at the yard. As regards our mode of wiring frames, I believe it to be the most economical; and where care is taken to wire the frames properly, and the wire is drawn sufficiently tense to sing, there can be no belter method adopted. HOW Tt) MAKE THE PLATFORM. Our method of using the roller and wire- imbedder is as follows: Should yon be using the -IMHEDDING THE WIKKS. Standard Langstroth frame, dress up an inch pine board, 22 in. long by 12 in. wide. Nail cross-pieces 12 in. long by 2 inches wide and I inch thick across each end. as seen in engraving No..'). This is for the purpose of preventing tlie board from curling. Now dress down a piece of sheeting, the dimensions of half the thickness of the frame. Should voiir frames be "m in. thick this pii'ce should be ,",; of an inch, and cut so thai, w lieu your hrood-rrame is laid upon the platform, t he piece should ht, inside of the frame, l)ut not too ligiit. (iive \ of an inch play all around. Now place your fi'ame in the center of the platform, and put the ,v, [liece inside of the frame, and nail it to the plalforin with inch w ire nails, or .'i jteniiy line. FIG. :>. — IMISEDDINO-HOAHI). Now raise the frame from the bottom side, leaving tlie top-bar down, as in cut No. ('>. Now tack a strip at each end. as can also he seen in the cut, to hold the frame from sliding, and you are ready for business. See cut No. ~y. HOW TO PUT THE FOUNDATION IN THE FliAME.S. Place a brood-frame on the platform, top-bar down. See cut No. <>. Now place your sheet of foundation on the platform, and slide the edge a little past the center of the lower side of the top-h:<>- With your thumb, press the wax into FIG. (). — IMBKDDING FOUNDATION TO TOP-BAR. the wood at the center and ends; now bring light strokes back and forth, increasing the pressure as the wax adheres to the wood: until you know it to be sufficiently stayed. Now bring your frame down ov(>r the close-titting I'R-inch raise, as in cut No. 4, and place the groove of the wire-imbedder on the wire at the opposite end of the frame (see cuti. and, with proper pressure, pull to you, and you can soon give the wire proper depth in the foundation. Of cour.se, practice makes perfect; but, my woid for it, you can .soon do your work neatly and rapidly; in fact, it is real fun, when you once get up to the business. The roller-mill lie* (Is dipping in water occasionally. Spring, III. ,1. M. Hamhaugh. (While we may be under lasting obligation to \our [lartner, Air. Stone, we are under equal ohli<.'ation to you for improving and making public so good and useful a device. " Yours, as you say. is adapted for fastening foundation to the top-bars, the under side of which is flat, while ours is niadi! for the molded comb-guide frames. And now about that wire-imbedder. At first we w(>i'e Inclined to agree with our mutual friend the Frenciiman; however, be- fore passing an opinion wt^ decided to make 242 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. April 1. such a tool and try it. Upon trying it wp were greatly disappointed— not because it dylti't work, but because it worked so well. It will imbed the wires very rapidly; and one pleasant feature of it is. that the grooved nail does not run off from the wire as some of the spur- wheels do occasionally. It has, however, one objection: and, as your friend Mr. Dadant states, it tears the cells of the foundation a lit- tle too much. But all of this, we presume, will be readily fixed by the bees when honey is com- ing in at a good rate. But sometimes the bees are disposed to gnaw around the wires, and the grooving or creasing of the nail might make them more disposed to gnaw. We therefore be- lieve that the spur-wheel, such as is recom- mended by the Dadants. will generally be i)ref- erable because the win^s are imbedded so nicely that it is almost impossible to detect the track of the wheel: and whiieyour implement has the element of cheapness and simplicity to their fnll- est extent, the spur-wheels cost but little more, and, we believe, would give more satisfactory results.] PKILO'S AUTOMATIC SECTION FORMER AND GLTJER COMBINED. A XEAV MACHINE BY K. W. PHILO. For quite a number of years past, perhaps ten or more. I have felt the need of a machine for doing more rapid work in putting together and gluing sections, during which time I have made several devices for accomplishing this work, but have never been fully satisfied with any of them until I had completed and thoroughly tested the one we place before you in the accom- panying cut. Although I have made two other machines in the pas t year that would do the same work, they were much too expen- sive to come into general use with the average bee- keeper. My aim for the past year has been for a ma- chine that would do the whole work without any hand work.- except fill- ing the machine up with section strips and turning the crank. Every man. woman, and child knows how to turn a crank, and that is all *""i-ding and gluing sections that is required to "^ ''"^ wholesale. operate the machine: and when that is done, out comes the section, all glued, folded, and pressed together — one eveiy two seconds, or thirty every minute, by turning the crank mod- erately. To give you an idea of the amount of power required, my boy Ernest R.. four years old, can operate the machine nicely. When the crank is raised to the highest point, the slanting board at the back of the machine is pushed in. and there are two little horizontal sticks fastened to the end of the board that pushes the bottom one of thi' section stiips out over the block to be folded. The folding block then comes down folding tli<' first joint, as you will see in the cut. The upper part of tlie little claws comes down on top of the section, caus- ing the lower ends to turn in, bringing the ends of the sections together. The whole block and all. which is held up by a spring, goes down until the section is forced together in the V groove at the bottom. The two little blocks in the V groove are to make the ends of the sec- tions come right, so they will go together easily: and while the section is being pressed together the gluer comes up out of the glue and puts some glue right in the V groove, and on the end of the section where it is dovetailed. E. W. Piiilo. Half Moon, N. Y.. Feb. 2U. [We have not seen the machine yet. and con- sequently are unable to judge personally of its workings. Mr. I'hilo is quite a genius in "•"mak- ing things,"' and we have no doubt it will do all he says it will. We should like to have re- ports from those who have tried it.] "STRAWS" FROM CALIFORNIA, COMMENTS ON STItAWS AND OTHEH THINGS IN GLEANINGS. Say, doctor, don't you think the big New York bee-men alluded to in Stray Straws of Feb. 1 are very practical, sensible fellows in not reporting their crops'? The fact that they are the big bee- men of New York strongly tends to prove they are likely to have good reasons for so acting. Apply your suggestion as to giving legal control of their territory to other busi- nesses, and see where it leads. Can you give any good reasons applicable in case of the bee- men which may not be just as equitably used by others who may wish to keep away compe- tition? Conflicting advice.— Another straw in same bundle says. "A. I. Root better come home and see to those boys." and then one of "those boys "is advised in the next lot of Straws to "keep A. I. down in Florida and Cuba till set- tled warm weather.'" Second thoughts are often best, doctoi'. So the Hon. II. L. Taylor has no regular med- ical education. Forewarned is forearmed: but if the health of the weather is not what it should be it will probably not wish to be tinker- ed up by a miller, so will save the dollar. And now you are "beginning to get mad." Uon't do it. doctor, but try a quart of that drink mentioned on page 8. which J. A. Green does not seem to understand. LetJ. A. make it. then he won"t ask what the yeast is for. It"s splendid for acting on the biain. T. V. .lessup deserves sympathy in his ef- forts to obtain subscribers to Gleaninss. Who- ever Uncle A. I. may be, he is awfully behind times if he does not subscribe. Let us iiope this may reach his eye: and next time he is asked to subscribe, let him hand over his dollar like a man. Mr. Rambler, the picture of your meeting with the socialists in Chicago is highly inter- esting. How did you manage to get into Riv- eiside? They are very particular about pre- venting the entrance of insect pests there, and have officers appointed to destroy all such. You'd better see them. And. Mr. R., what lazy men they are in Indiana to let the women do the hard work of pitching the hay on the wag- on, while the men ride and gently arrange iti Miss Wilson deserves thanks for her explicit instructions for nuiking candy. When she starts in to explain a matter, she manages to ctmvey a clear idea of what she has in her own mind. Many folks can not do so (that includes me). What a blessing that that spring Mr. Root depended on to get his toes clean was able to maintain its reputation for detergent qualities! KSIC (;i.i;.\M.\(is IN HKH cui/riJiM'j. :.'43 Hut tluTc is a limii. cvcii lu ihr pnwns of dui- I'iiliforiiia sprinjis. so don"! try tlicm ino far. Mr. Root, i)l( sundries hclonij to what Mr. Doolittlt' terms '"thi' fun" pari our " itrofcssion." and I'm ;ioini; to sec wiiat licronics of them Ix-foic comniitlin;; any iudit to tli(> tender eare of an editor. 1 don't take mueii st(K'l< in editors: they (h)n"l tn>at me well. tiikk. 24?) bo«»s. This fuiiniliit ion, Imili out' and two vt'iirs olil. will he ooinpan-il with new ami frrsli i'oim- datioii. TIk' oxti'iit ol' injury (l(>n(> by nsiiifj tliis old foiiMiiation will hi' csiiinatt'd hy a com- parison of tile amount anil urutic of iioiwy |iro- diUM>d. Of roiiisc. these experiments will depend largely upon the season for the value of their results, whii-li in a good season would he very ditTerent from the results diiriiifi such a season as last year. They each would in their place be valuable. It would lie very interestin;^ ami valuable to compare the results to be obtained duriiiii various seasons and in vai'ious hn-alities. and w ill) various races and stfains of bees. With this end in view I have made arrange- miMits with one of our wr||-|pers in various localities. I should lil<(> one i)i'rson in the East, one in the lower Ohio River \'alley: on(\say.in Nebraska. and one in \Vi^consin or Minnesota, and per- haps one in the irrigaled ie<;ion of the West, to signify their willins ai'<' poisoned thereby, o course; laws should be made protecting the bees. I believe that fruit-men are coming to consider their own interests in the; matter of spraying. I''ew or no entomologists recommend spi-aying diirinsr bloom, and friiit-mi'ii here in Michigan, with whom I have talked, are heartily in accord with the desires of bee-men on this point. Spray- ing before bloom may be desirable : but bees would not, I think, be injured by such spraying. It would be interesting to know what insects Prof. Lintner would combat bi-st liy s[)raying with arsenites during th(; bloom of the common fruits. With regard to the strength of the mix- ture of arsenites most desirable for spraying, experiments have been made at various State stations: and a gentleman who sits beside me as I write, and who has had considerable experi- ence along this very line, says he believes there is no danger of injuring the germs of the fruit when the arsenites are of the commonly advised strength, if applied at any time. As Mr. El- wood says, there "is here room for experi- ment." .1. H. Laishabee. Agricultural College, Mich. [In the above. Mr. Larrabee shows that he is th(> right man in the right place. In another column we publish the experiment made by the Ontario Agricultural College and Experi- ment Union. On page 2.39, J. A. Green gives some suggestions that bear directly on the line of experiments proposed above; and on page 228, Mr. Elwood suggests some practical fields for practical e.xperimentation.] HELEN KELLER AND TOMMY STRINGER. THE .M.^SSACJUiSETTS SCHOOL F<.>R THE IST.IXD. BY A. I. ROOT. On my return home I was informed that the sum of .¥124.(i.") had beeii collected from the read- ers of Geeanixgs, and forwarded to Tommy Stringer. Doubtless these contributors and the readers of (Ji.EANiX(is in general will b(» pleased to learn something of the work that is being done tlK^re; and in order to give a fair glimpse of these I will make some extracts from the H)ili annual '-eiiort of the Perkins institution. I presume copies of this rep(»rt can be obtained by writing to the Massachii.setts ScIhkiI for the HIind. at l{sii-ian. The little giy\ ex- amined the sti-aii^er tirst. by passing her hands ov^er the soles (jf lii.s feet, tlien smelling' of her hands; then toucliinjf him in various places in like 24ti GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. AlMilL 1. maimer. Finally slie turned from liiin to tlie doc- tor wlu)ni she luid met in town, and, after a similar Inspection, she opened lier mouth and touched with her linger the cavity left by tlie tooth lie had ex- tracted. Slie seemed to judgre the size of per.sions ty the length of their feet; t)ut slie measured children by their liei^lit from feet to head, and chose for playmates those nearest her in size. She made known her wants by sig-iis, and it was necessaiy to give her a sign but once. When siie came in con- tact with something beyond her comprehension slie would make a great ettort to talk, uttering such sounds as hah, ah, hah ! and once, about a j'ear after her loss of hearing, she spoke the word mri as plain- ly as she used to speak it. Such was Willie Kobin when her mother brought her to the kindcrg-arten, Dec. 20, 189U. She possesses great physical streng'th. and a will that is equally strong. At first, liaving no language with which to express her feelings, if she were luged to do something- against her will, she re.sorted to primitive means of ex'iiression, and wovild strike and kick and even bite. On a few occasions, when in a passi(jn, it has been very ditfieult to control her. The following tells us of her progress just eleven days afterward: On Dec. 31, Willie's lessons began. Three words were selected,— /(Ih. hat, and /iHf/,— and, provided with the corresponding obj(M-ts, Miss Thayer seated herself beside her little pupil, and begun work in real ernest. She gave Willie a small fan, allowed her to examine It and use it, then made the letters f-cv-n in the child's hand. She gave her another fan, again spelling the word, and, after showing her several, of different styles, and spelling the word each time, she took a hat and repeated the lesson with that object. After a little wliile Willie grew mischievous, and hid In hci' .-iiirdn the hand in which her teacher had spelled tliese words to her. In the gymnastic class she did not in the least un- derstand the exercises, and was somewhat trouble- some; but when, in tlii' afternoon, she received her first lesson in kindergarten occu|»ations, she did much better. With the help of her teaclier slie wove a mat with splints, and then began to string- alternately a cube and a ball. This she liked so much that she was unwilling to leave it when the bell rang for recess. The lessons upon these three words were repeated day after day, and she was taught to fashion the objects witli iiaper and witii clay. Januarys, her teacher gave her a lump of clay, spelled h-a-t in lier hand, and by signs indicated her wish that Willie should make one. She repeated the spelling several times, and then left the child to herself, and await- ed the re.sult. To her surprise and delight, her little pupil produced a liat. Yet slie could not be sure that it was not by a iiappy accident that the child had hit upon the right oliject. She wished to test her. The day before, Willie had made first a hat and then a fan, and Miss Thayer had already seen that she was inclined to repeat things in theexact order in which they were first learned. Tt) test her knowledge of the word, therefore, she again called for a hat, and again the little girl modeled a hat. Then her teachei- spelled f-a-n, and Willie made this, also, after a little hesitation. She was asked to make it again, Init, having made two hats, she seemed inclined to make two fans. Januarj' 7, her teacher's diary records that she spelled the three words. January 9, she was given a lesson in the actual use of language. She dressed herself for a walk, except hi>r hat, which her teacher had init out of her reach, so that she might ask for it in finger speech. This she did not seem inclined lo do, and even sought to avoid it by pretending to be sick, by wanting water and other things; but her teacher persevered, and at last, finding tliat her pretenses were of no avail, she yielded, and tried to spell hat. The next day she was observed spelling the word in her own hand. Jan- uaiy 12, she was taught the words bread and watrr, and she was again seen spelling words in her hand. In less than two weeks from her first lesson this little girl was bi-ginning to lalk to herself by the maiuuil aliihabet. The next gives us some idea of the questions that naturally came into her little mind when she began to discover that she could make in- quiries and get answers. Is it not touching? Willie manifests so -strong an inclination to talk that her teacher has already t:iuglit her to articu- late a number of woids, sucli as mamma, ma)i, mill, mot), arm. Turn. Her voice is so natural that it is difficult to believe that she can not hear. In some way she caught the idea that we talk into iieople's ears; so one day she put her mouth close to the ear of her teacher, and said mamma! She was delighted when she found that Miss Thayer heard what she said, and put her own ear close to her teacher's mouth, that she might speak into it. She asked if Tom could liear. Her teacher told her thai neither she nor Toni could liear.— that when slie was a little baby she was very sick, and that made her deaf and blind. Many ijuestions fnllowi'd. She asked about Edith and Helen, Dora, Katie, and several other cliildren who bad lieen her companions, and was told that Helen, Edith, and Tom were blind and deaf like herself, and that Dora and Katie were blind, l)ut they could hear. She was interested in wliat she was told, and probably understood it. Doubtless it is weli that slie has learned the fact so eaily. and will have amijle time to become familiar with it liefore slie is able to realize its significance. We now come to Tommy Stringer. On the 8th day of April Tommy was brought to the kindergarten by the nurse who had taken care of liim at the hospital. He was then four years and nine months old, in good health, and physically well developed. Mentally, however, his sickness, its re- sults and his subsequent environment had retai-ded Ills growth, and left him a pretty child, with liaby face and manners. At every friendly touch he would turn with arms outstretched to encircle the neck of any stranger. He showed no preferences among persons, and would go to one as readily as to another. He walked but little, and, if left to him- self, would drop upon the fioor and l)egin to creep. He inunifestt'd a happy disposition, his face was generally lighied by a gentle, placid smile, and in his whole appearance he was a remarkablj' .sweet and winning child. He had no signs to express his wants e.xcept those of early infanc.v. He would cry lustily if deprived of something he wanted, and struggle vigorously I o go in the direction he wisli- ed. In creeping he iisuallj went liac-kward, -prob- ablj- because he li;id learned by ex)>erieiice that his feet suttered less than his head in encountering ob- stacles-. His favorite plaything was a bunch of keys, and with this he would amuse himself for a long time. His attendant in the hospital was a night nurse, and Tommy had been accustomed to sleep much during the day and to be wakeful at night. The fii-st efforts at the kindergarten were directed toward reversing this habit, and it was not long be- fore lie slept at tlie usual hours of healthy child- hood. A special teacher was provided for him, and the same methods have been employed as with the other children, but as yet he has not learned tlie iifime of any object. Day afti-r day he passivelj al- lows liis fingers to be put in position to spell the name of some object which is shown to him, but he makes no attempt to form the letters foi- himself, and they are evidently meaningless to him. He has given up creeping, and now walks i)erfectly well; he examines olijects with som(> skill, and there seems no lack of intellig-ence in the little fellow. As yet, however, it is only passive, and we all await with eager interest the awakening of the dormant mental powers. The following, from our little friend Helen Keller, whom we feel somewhat acquainted with by this time, tells us in regard to Tommy's progress a little later: South Boston, M.a.ss., Dec. 2it. 1891. 3/;/ Dcm- Mr. Bo(»f.-— The money that you sent for Tommy came on Christmas daj', and I thank you for all that has been done, through y(nir paper, for my little friend Tommy. 1 saw him Christmas, and I do not belie^■e there was a haiipier liltle boy in all tlie land than "baby Tom." He was sitting on the Hoor, in the midst of what seemed to be a wil- derness of blocks, stutt'ed animals, steam-engines, and all sorts of toys. He .•ipi)eared to like the blocks best. He has learned to weave [japer very nicely, and to heli> himself in many ways. But he does not learn language quickly. He can sjiell bread, hotit, and miiij. and he knows that they are the names for the olijects. but lie does not like to ask for the things with his fingers. Teacher says lie does not see the necessity for words yet. He is like a little bab.\-. just beginning to notice things. is.i:.' GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. •Ml IMiMsc Iliaiik the kind propU 111 'rcimiiiN s t'linii. aiill;tr^ liiiw. Iii> (-xpt'iiscs fur ihii'i' \c.ir-. \N III) liavi' ooiitiiluitt'fl ■111 I lial «(• have riv'li- !llinii>( ciiDimli l<> |>a\ Suifh thfv will ail lie jrlatl to lu'Ki- I lii-~ >ri»i(l lu'w^ ! It will iiiake llirir tiwii lives lifttcr ami liaiipicr In think that llicj have liclpcd 1(1 lik'ss anil lirijriilcii a lillic cliild's lifo. M.i.\ llic New Year richly fiilllll all Ihc ffood wisho tiial iii\ heart hdlds for xoii, and all wlio liiur hclpi'tl \mi. AllVcl ioiiatel.\ joins, Hklkn Kki^i.ku. Now, fiiiMuls. is it iitit tiuc tliat wr all feel lia|ipit'f for JiaviiifKioiic this little fur Tommy? Is tlieie one amoii-i lis who does not feel that it has lieeii a jrood investment".' "He that giv«ali (o the jioor leiuh'tii to the Lord." A wondeifiil and cheerinu; fact comes in right here. These poor deaf. dumb, and l)lind ciiil- dren have a remail fnliowiiig additional in i"egard to Willie Kohin: Meaiiwliile she had made the ai'ipiaintance of Kdith 'I'lionias. From tlielii>l Willie seemed >tron)L!- ly attracted to her, and wli.ii. on the i:itli of.Janu- aVy, Kdith went to tlie kindcijiarteii fKrt HIVE. are obvious. Th(! wood costs from one-half to one-fourth as much as Ih" tin. It is wanner— that is, wood will not conduct away the heat as will strips of metal running parallel through the heart of the cluster. Again, the surface of the tin is smooth, and bees can not readily run up and down upon it. They will lh(u-efore se- lect the surface of the clean, nice, white cap- pings of the comb honey; and thus the latter, receiving from two-thirds to three-fourths of all the travel of the bees, is what is appropriately called " travel-stained " Now, by using wood- en separators the bees will crawl upon the wood as readily as upon the cappings of the comb; and this must necessarily reduce to a corresponding amount the tracks of the bees on the comb lioney. By increasing the width of the wood separa- tors, we secure another and very important ad- vantage. D, Figs. 1, 3. show a wooden separator that is 4}., inches wide. It is wide enough to cover from top to bottom the entire upright edges of the sections as well as the edges of the bottom slat C in Fig. 1. It should be retneiu- bered that ordinary separators are only ?>}:, inches wide, and consequently there is -'linch Recent Developments. By e. r. Root. our latest impkovkd dovetailed hive. What a pleasure it is to have nice accurate engravinis— those that siiow every detail ex- actly a.•^ 11 is in the original! We recently look some i)hotographs of the Dovetailed hive and its parts, with (^very thing arranged to show them up to the best advantage; and how well our engravers succeeded in reproducing the re- sult is shown in the accomjianying figures. _ __,^_ _ With the exception of one item, the separator ~' ~ ~ D. no radical change has been made in the hive f''- -'—dovetailed srpEK with section- except what we have already illustrated in re- holdi^hs. i.\ii'I!ovi;d wo(>di:.\ sei'.\kat- gardtothe Ilofl'man frames and the new im- "i^- koi.i.owkk .vnd wi<:doe. proved tin rabbets. These have been so iiniver- on the upright edges (and about as much of sally accepted as improvements that no one has the horizontaJ edgesiof every .section that is objected, even if it were a change. The latest left i^xpos.'d; and. w.nse than all. these expo.sed change IS not one that will make any serious edges are the best place for the liees to chink in inconvenience with hives already in use. but propolis; and the result is, a considerable in- r.'4S GLEANINGS IN BEE CULT a RE. Al'KII, 1. crease in the labor of scraping after the crop is removed from the hives. Our wooden separat- ors for the Dovetailed hive, cover the entire upright edges of the sections, as well as the horizontal edges not scored out in the sections and bottom slats C, in Fig. 1, where they come in contact. With these wide separators be- tween each row of sections, keying up closes up the interstices so that the actual scraping of the section, after the crop is finally secured, is a mere bagatelle beside the scraping of sections that have been tilled in the old-style ci'ates with narrow separators and no keying up. Our method of keying up is illustrated very accurately in Fig. 2. (t is the wedge; F, thr fol- lower. The wedge, strictly speaking, is not cu- neiform, or tapering. It is simply a stick about 12 inches long, ^ thick, ?,( wide. To key up, the follower is placed back of the last row of sec- tions. The wedge is then inserted the narrow- est way, between the super side and follower. It is then twisted so that the space between the follower and super .sides is increased the widest way of the wedge, so that we now have % inch instead of i^. The end of the wedge slicking up is then turned down out of the way. The surplus arrangement is then so thoroughly keyed up that it may be turned upside down, yes, in- verted, if thought advisable, when the sections are half full. There is another feature that perhaps you may not have noticed: and that is, that, when the crop is coming in slowly, the outside rows of sections may be alternated to the center, and the center to the outside, in order to ?ecur© more even comb-buil3ing and the filling-out of sections. As to whether this wide slotted -out wood .sep- arator is new or not, is not important: but it is important to know whether it is practicable, and whether or not it is a labor-saver in the final scraping of the sections. Such an arrange- ment scarcely needs to be tested to demonstrate its merits. Any bee-keeper having a pi'actical eye will at once recognize it. and two ends, scant % inch thick, and two little sticks I4 inch thick, in lieu of T tins for the sections to rest on. Four of these section-cases will just go in a Dovetailed super, as shown in the acconipanjing engraving, and by the use of two supers liei'ing up can be praciiced. FIG. 3— 1>. SUKPI.US CASK. This resembles somewhat the old farmer's honey-box: and although it, is now nearly rele- gated to the past, yet thi-re is a demand for something on the style of the old case that will take ordinary sections. During the past eight or ten years we have filled orders, especially from California and the West, for an arrange- ment very similar to the 1). section-case; and the fact that such a demand does not die out shows there is a legitimate call that must be supplied. When Mr. F. Danzenbaker, of Wash- ington, D. C, was here two years ago he was very enthusiastic over a device of this sort; and while here he introduced what we have for short called the D. section-case. It contains six iK-inch sections, one end of which is glassed as shown. Each case is 4Vo \t''oX]2 inches, out- side measure. It will hold either six sections 1% inches wide, without separators, or seven 7-to- foot secions with .small wood separators or with- out separators, follower and wedge. The case in- cludes two sides, toj) and bottom, \ inch thick: FIG. 4 — SHOWIXG HOW THE D. SECTION-CASE 18 USED OX THE DOVETAILED HIVE. There are a good many small bee-keepers and farmers who, having only a few hives, desire to transfer the honey directly from the hives to the market. No. they don't even care to scrape the sections. They want a light little case that is both a surplus aiTangement and a retailing- case— something that can be placed directly on the market among retail grocers, and that will sell for about SI.OO. Of course, large honey- producers would prefer the section-holder sur- plus arrangement we have illustrated. But here is something that will just suit farmers. When the cases are full, if no separators are used, they can tell, without opening the hives any further than raising the super as shown in Fig. 4. just what the bees are doing. To put on the market, all they have to do is to nail on the cover and bottom. Of course, the sections may be stained somewhat with propolis: but the farmer bee-keepers do not care, becau.se they S(^ll honey to people whom thc^y know — that is, right in iheirown vicinity. High-pressure Gardening. I hardly need tell you there has been some pretty severe winter weather along through the middle and latter part of March. Our friends here in Medina say they saved a part of the winter expressly for me. so I need not miss it entirely, (iven if t was gone from the middle of November till the middle of March. In our locality it has doiK^ little haiiti unless to hot- beds and cold-frames not properly prepared. The fruit does not seem to be injured. Not so in the South, however. See the following, from the peach and tomato district of Mississippi: Friend Root:— The freeze struck us hard, «wre; most of tlie peiu'hes went up. Some vaiieties not bloomed out well, escaped. The tomato l)usiiiess suffered a preat h)ss liere Aliout one-fifth were l)it; hut ill most cases, wliere double beds run east and west tlie nt)rth side got it, even throuffli three or four inches of straw; but no plants were lo.st in beds runnirifT north and south. .T. W. Day. Crystal Springs, Miss., March 21. I suppose we may say to friend Day, that the 1892 GLEANlNliS IN HEB CULTURE. 24; > prioos will he IukIkt in (•(insciiiicnro. and thiit those wlio iliT net a iMii|) by faith fill hard labor will fft't a fjood it'warti for their i»ains. Tlie dainafjt' to early peaehes, however, is ^roiny: to be a rather sad ealaniitv. OMON-SKTS — WHAT THKV (trOIlT TO Tlie v'tiods linve Uvvw riM-civod in >fo<'d LIKE, )i(ler. all fully lip to my expectations, exfept the otiiciii-sets. They are noi (piitt' what iliey oiiRlit to be. No oiiio'n-set ou>rlit to be moie I lian H incli in (liaiiieler, and I have sorted 14 peeks out of one bushel that are aluuit one inch and o\cr. Now, I will warrant all of these to run up a sied-stciii, and perhaps a frood many more: still, ainon^r the smaller lot this oUKht not to \)v so. But that is not all. They are uiixeii with some ri'd onion. Tlu-se red ones might l>e as >rood as the yellow, but they don't look so wlieii put ui> in bundles, .-iiid 1 f(>ar they will not sell so well. There is also a K'reat diflereiiee in the two hag's (1 got two half-bushel bags). I would willingly jrive fl.nti more for the one than for the other, heeause it contains at least one-third more small onions than the other. There is no question but they have been p»it up very eaielessly; and 1 am sure that, if A. I. Koot <'ould only have them under his spy-gljisses for one niiiuite he would be read>' to fret hold of Se- nior's shirt-sleeve and say, "Look here, old fellow, you iiiiiat do better than "that, or else you will ruin my reputation for sendinjir out first-class goods only." Now. I don't want \iiu to give me a rebate because they were not ipiite what thej' ought to have l)een. I only take tlie libi'rty to call your at- tention to it. because I think you don't know any thing about it. Jui-ius Johannsen. Port Clinton, O., March :.*1. Well done, friend J. Even if you have found some fault, you iiave given us some good point- «>rs that I know by experience are valuable. I have become so disgusted with sets producing onions with a .seed-stem, and then splitting up into two or three poor bulbs, tliat I have several times thought I wouldn't have any thing more to do w'ith sets. As you are right, doubtless, we shall know how to remedy at least some of this trouble in tlie future. Peter Henderson and some others advertise tliat their sets are put through a sieve, permitting nothing to go through larger than i^ of an inch. We notice you put it j'i inch. One thing is certain — a bushel of onion-sets under '.j inch will produce a great many more onions than the bigger ones. Tho.se sent you were put up in my absence; but we will try to make it up to you. even if you are so good-natured you don't want any rebate. I agree with you. also, in regard to mixing red and yellow onion-sets together. Some dealers claim that it does not make any difference; but it looks to me like slipshod work. At the very high prices sets are now bringing, they certainly ought to be up to the standard you map out; and, to tell the truth, raising onion-.sets is a business. To produce good ones, you want seed that is right; then you need .soil that is right, and somebody to boss it who knows by experi- ence how it should be done. There are a great many things in this world that are not as they should be; in fact, I see so many things that are wrong, almost every day of my life, that I almo-t iliink sometimes I am liard toplea.se; but 1 do love to .^ee things A No. 1; and where complaints are made in the good-natured strain in which you make them, friend J., it seems to rae we ought all of us to try a little harder to do better. STRAWBKIJIUKS— HOW TO (JKT A CHOP IN Ci) DAYS FItOM TltK TI.MK OF I'I>ANTI.\0. When I'eter Henderson announced that, in his opinion, the cheapest way to grow straw- berries was to have them occupy the ground only one season, there was quite a little stir about it. Since then one of the seed catalogues that adveitised the (iandy strawberry sent it out under the name of the "First Season,'' ad- vertising tliat the plants would bear a crop the same season they are put out. Well, as the (Jandy fruits so very late they probably do bear a few berrii's. 1 am going to tell you of a plan whereby you can get at least a pretty good i-iop, and not have iliem occupy the groiitid more, than t)l) days. 'I'he hint of it was given me at the Inter-.Slate Agricultural and llorlicullural ("onvention held in .lackson. Miss. The sjjcak- er mentioned a certain Held of strawberries, and gave the amount of land, and the number of iiuails. and it was enormous; and lie remarked that this result was obtained by selec^ting only such iilants as had extra strong, very promising ciowns: and he said, furtluutnoi'e. that some of the ])iants. when put out. had not only blos- soms but small green berrii's. As the ground was veiy rich, however, it took right hold and gi'ew. and gave tlie wondeifui result meniion- ed. Now. with the transplanting-tubes 1 have had good strong plants send out runners in ."30 days after tln'y were planted as I have men- tioned. I hav(! not. liowevei-. as yet tiled tak- ing up plants w bile in bloom; but 1 am making preparations to do it this season. The right kind of ground can be found just after some first crop has been removed in th(> spring, say spinach that has winten-d over, winter (jiiions, etc. Now, as soon as t his ground can be spared, give it a heavy dressing with old wcil-rotted manure; work it up tine and di^ep, and. if ])os- sible, let the early seeds germinate. When they get near the surface, or just begin to show, rake the ground very thoi'oughly so as to kill every weed. This will get us a big step ahead in the matter of keeping weeds off from the crop. Now, with these transplanting-tubes select very strong, vigorous plants while in bloom. Take some of them with small green beri'ies on if you choose. I am sure these can be moved with scarcely a setback. Take them where the plants are already too much crowded, and the bed where they are taken from will yield fully as much as before, and certainly give you larg- er ones. Fill the holes that are made in said bed with very lich compost. Now set the plants removed on your nicely prepared mellow ground. Keep the surface raked so as to keep weeds from starting; and if you can afford the trouble, I would keep the runners oft'; possibly the crop may be a little later in consequence of the transplanting. But this often gives a better price, you know. Still another thing: To avoid tramping on this soft, rich, mellow earth, I would set them in plant-beds six feet wide. In this way you can do all of the weeding and gathering without setting a foot between the Elants. These plant-beds may be your ordinary ot-beds or cold-frames, where the crop has been removed. If a frost should threaten, it is an easy matter to protect them with sash or cloth. The latter can be used as friend Day uses it on tomatoes, and I do believe it will pay to raise a limited quantity of strawberries in beds covered with cloth. The danger from frost would thus be fiiit of the question; and by having protection during cold nights they would certainly be considerably ahead of the main crop out in the tield. Terry, in the strawberry book, says that plants in the matted row should not be nearei than six inches; but in our rich plant-beds that I have spokcm of I would have them about ten inches apart — this, of cours(>. depending upon how long the bed is to be allowed to bear. If more than one year, more distance will h(! need- ed, depending upon the variety; and for such close distances tlio runners must be kept off, and th<' plant not be allowed to make mon; plants. In cutting runners, or even in gather- ing the fruit, a plank may be put across the bed from one side to the otlier, if found advisable. 250 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. April 1. Notes of Travel FROM A. I. ROOT. Now, friends, lliore is a great moral here somewhere, if we can find it. At least one rea- son why we can not eat such food as other peo- ple do is because we do not have enough of the right kind of exercise. The summit of the mountain was still iU miles further up; but we two did not particularly "lianker" after any more mountain climbing th loose with the heel of my boot. My sore throat, chilly right side, bowel trouble, cold in my nostrils and right ear, had all van- ished in a way that seemed to me miraculous. Now, please don't think I am writing a puff in regard to the wonderful atmosphere of Wilson's IVak. Outdoor exei'cise and entliusiostn would do the same almost anywhere. Very likely tht- IS'.fJ (JLKANlXdS IN' HKH CULTUUIO. »lr.v almusplific of Soinlurn lalirniiiia lias soiiuMliiiiu i(» do w ill) it : ami may be tlic soiil- stirrinji sociktv lii'lpi d laiiicly In tfct up tin- vn- tliiisiiisin. While I write, a week lias passetl siiu'e that walk, and my appetite is still excel- lent, and 1 feel a dejifee of .stfentilli ami vifior 1 tiiink I never knew before in my life. In many iilaees the liiade of the mountain was sneh that one oould. if he tiied hard, cut acioss the trail and run up tlie hillside so as to feach the tiail at a point above. Of cotifse. this cuttiiiR cidsslols woulii he a fXfeat savins; of time and tiavel: hut the woik is so xciy fatit^n- injr. and so much hai'iler. that most jieople \n'r- fer to follow the beaten track, although ittakes thoiii longer : and, in fact, few people could sa\ ins nearly a mile of travel by what took him only a few niinut.es. As 1 had only (uie suit of cloihintr with me I did not diiic to' risk follow- ing! him: besides. smdi a liea(l!d for a holiday to get aciiuainted with •• rnele Amos." Accordingly when freind Karr announced that I was used up they volunteered to come after me; and by dint of ' hard sciam- TIIE PARTY COMING TO TlIK RESCUE. Stand it to climb verj' long, straight up the sides of the mountain. In coming down the moun- tain, however, there are many points wliere the boys had "slid down "" to some point in the trail below: and we made several crosscuts in this way that saved us quite a little travel. Where it was sandy and gravelly there was but little danger, even if you did fall, providing you did not tear your clotliing or cut your hands and face. Friend Fan- could not resist tlie temptation when he c;"ne to those crosscuts : and at one tinv he not only reached the trail below, but was under such rapid motion that he went past it and struck it still further down. bling such as none but a hoij can do, they met me coming down at a good rate along the beaten path, and soon passed the intelligence below thati was well and hearty. The first cut gives aglimpvSeof friend Stevenson, Mrs. Root ne.xt, then Mr. Stevenson's niece. Friend Farr brings up the rear. Your humble servant stood on the opposite side of the canyon, with the Kodak. The rocky cliffs above and below the pathway give one a very good idea of the mountain-side, and the task perfornu^d by the company who cut the trail. The next i)icture was taken near the foot. Mr. Stevenson and his niece come first; ufixt Mrs. Root, then friend Farr; lastly GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Apkii- 1. the three boys. Two of them climbed up above a clump of bushes as you will see. Friend Stevenson has the Kodak case. A moral lesson also comes in righ^, here. A little of ihe right kind of enthusiasm will en- able us to rise above temptation, in just the same way that we rise above physical weak- nesses. Dear reader, can you not look back to the time when you were in a low spiritual state or plane, and when yon wasted time in battling feebly against some low temptation that you now feel I'eally ashamed of ; —in fact, that you ought to have felt ashamed of all the while? Yoii may have wasted energy and strength in quarreling with a neighbor over some little tri- fle, when all your strength and energies were really needed 'in some wider and larger field- some place where vou could have lifted human- ity all around you. instead of having set a bad example to the poorest and humblest. Thej' that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up witJi wi^g^s as eagles; they shall run, and uot be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.— Isa. 40:31. In fact, it is with these low and earthly temptations as it is in climbing the mountains. When I once got above the plain, and looked abroad over this bright and beautiful world, I felt ashamed of being tired; and the inspiration of the grand view that opened out before me took away my weariness. When we pray for the influences of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we should be prepared to' rise above the little perplexities of every-day life. The words of my old favorite hymn come in just here: Know, my soul, thy Tuil salvation; Rise o'er sin and grief and care; Joy to find In every station Something still to do or bear. The last line of the hymn expresses it exact- ly. Instead of looking cross, and grumbling and complaining at our little trials and crosses, we want to get up high enough so we can step forward with a manly vigor : and while we draw into our lungs the beautiful invigorating air from heaven, feeling at the same time the blood forcing and tingling clear to our fingers" ends, we may also at the same time actually re- joice at the prospect of " something still to do or bear." I can not tell this, dear friends, as I should like to tell it; but I felt it that day, and I feel it yet. It is not my privilege to take you all by the hand and lead you with me along the trail up Wilson's Peak; but I exhort you to hold fast to the strong arm of the dear Savior, and let him lead you up, over and above the little trials, perplexities, and vexations of life, and along that pathway that goes ever upward as well as ever onward. Before I start '• down the mountain "let me digress again. This matter of physical health is of more importance to most of us than any thing else in the world, with one exception. While at Tropico friend Cole said I must meet a neighbor of his. near his apiary. When intro- duced, this neighbor said he knew me already, for he once had the bee-fever, took Glkamnos, and r(>ad the ABC book. He gave me the fol- lowing facts: His wife was nearly gone with consumption. He tried every favored locality, but she kept failing until In^ look her where she then was, at the foot of the mountains, near Los Angeles. The climate is dry. quite even in tempei'ature. and no frost. By working with her husband every day, outdoors among the plants and fruits, she was really building up; and although one lung was nearly or quite gone, the other was developing to more than its usual size, so as to do the work of both. They managed so her exercise was just enough every day, and not too much. I can not tell you all I saw from the top of the mountain. In fact, my story is too long alrea- dy. The extreme summit seems to be 0!i sever- al peaks; that is. there are several that seem to be almost of a height. All are covered with heavy pine and cedar timber. One tree near the summit is marked " 18 feet in circumference," and I can readily believe it true. The ocean seemed even nearer than the night before, and my companion named the different harbors all along the coast. It was all spread out before us like a map. almost from Santa Barbara to San Diego. I have inquired diligently for pho- tographs of the valley and ocean, but am told that no camera is equal to do justice to such an immense distance. The observatory belongs to the Smithsonian Institute, and a telescope is now in process of construction for Mt. Wilson (so I am told), larger than any other in the woi'ld. When I fii'st took a look at the observatory from the valley below, it seemed like a minia- ture pint cup — a microscopic pint cup, in fact; for, after the place had been pointed out to you, you could see, glistening in the sun, the merest something made of tin. Well, when we stood beside it, it was a great circular edifice, perhaps 24 feet across and 13 feet high, covered with tin. This edifice rested on a circular track so it could be revolved by means of appropriate machine- ry. As the telescope rested on this structure, it could be made to cover any point in the heav- ens. Of course, this was a rude and temporary arrangement. The new one, wltli the great big telescope, is to be a very different aflfair, as a matter of course. I went down with comparative ease, or at least it would have been so had I been duly prudent. We met Mrs. Root and her compan- ions about a mile from the foot; but I was so anxious to get a particular Kodak view that I went back almost half a mile. Did Mrs. Root get the fever as I did? This was a point I watched anxiously for. Yes. she enjoyed it almost as much I did, but she can not stand the hot sun as I can. She says, had she started quite early in the morning (say the break of day), she believes she could, under the stimulus of the wonderful scenery, have reach- ed the shade of the trees, and from there made the whole eight miles, and enjoyed it. As it was. she went up a mile and a half, and as much more down, without very much fatigue. After an excellent lunch furnished by our good friend Richardson and his kind niece, we start- ed up a canyon to see Eaton Falls. We were told it was only about a quarter of a mile up the canyon; but I think it must be a full mile of very hard walking— /n((r/i. harder than the ti'ail up the mountain, making over 13 miles, the day after my feat of going up the mountain. I finally became so sore and stiff', that, after I sat down to iT'St, friend Farr would playfully lift me to my feet, and then extend his arms, as if I were a child learning to walk. For about three days the muscles of my legs were very stiff' and sore; but after that I could walk three miles at a good rapid pace, without the least sign of fa- tigues and now I enjoy such a foot-walk more than I ever did before. CONVENTION NOTICES. The next meeting of the Fayette Co. Bee-keepers' Association win bv helrl in the City HaU at Washington C. H.. O., Wednes- day, Aiir. Kitli. 189>. rninmeniing ipiomptl.v at 10 am. Tile elec- tion (if otticiT.s. m riinn. ction witli :m iiitt-n-^tintr program, will he till- business ..f the ilav. In view of the fact that the Ohio State Bee-lveepers' .\ssociaticin will hold its next annual meeting at Washington C. H., during the winter of lb9:3. we be- speak a good attendance. " " *• — Bloomingburg, O. S. K. MoRRi.s.Sec. 18irj (JLKAMNliS IN liKK ("Ul/rUIlK. 253 ■ff'O/Ll^ -■^Jt PAGes7xI0 If any of vtui lack wImIoiii. l.-t him ask of CkkI. that trivcth to all moh iiiH-rally, and ii|l: and it ^liall ue ifiven lliin.— jAMK-i !:.'>. TiiK oHii-oi-s of the Ontario Hce-koepors' Asso- oiatiun an- as follows: ricsidciit, F. A. (Jcm- ini'll; Vic('-pn>si(ltMit. A. IMt'kotl; Tivasiircr, Siai'tiii Eniiiiii: SiH-rcIary. \V. ('oii-^c. The as- sociation is well oniocird. and we heartily wish it iiiiIhuiikIi'iI siil-ccss. cvimi though it has not st'cii lit to al>iliaU> again tiiis y'eai' with the North Ann'ricaii. Wk rcgivt to learn that 15ro. Newman, of the AxuricdU Bee JouriKil. has been quite unwell of late, as a result of the ix\]\). and tiuit it will he absolutely necessary foi' him to takt^ a va- cation of a month or six weeks. In tlie mean- time an old employe. .Mr. <'. ^V. York, will take cliarge of thi> journal. (ii.i'^.^xiXGs sincerely hopes that the much-needed nsst will restore him to Ileal til. SixcK our last issue. Mr. \V. O. Fx^ach. of I'oldwater. Out., the inventor of the foundation- fasliMier illustrated and dest-rilied on paffe 80.5. Oct. l.">. ISUl. has demonstrated to us personally that his fastener is a success— not only in fold- ing sections but in puttint.' in foundation, both operations being performed with one swing of a lever. The macliines, we understand, are to l)e made in this country by the \V. T. Falconer Manufacturing Co.. of Falconer. N. Y. While here. .Mr. L. told us that he could fold sections and fasten starters in tlie same at the rate of 1,")(X) an hour. Some time ago. when we stated that our girls, with the Daisy foundation-fas- tener, could put foundation in the sections at the rate of 1(X)() an hour, the statement was challenged as Ixdng pretty big. It seems we were not f)verstating. in view of .Mr. I^eacirs acliievement. because Mr. Leach can do both opei'ations at once^ Oi'K honey statistics for this year have hard- ly got under way. In the meantime, we request every siibsci'iber to send us a postal card, and on it answer these two questions: ]. W'luit per cent of your bees have wintered up to daU'V 2. How ut Ernest just now says that, if you don't want to do that, vou can have a rubber stamp made for only -M cts., with \dur name and addii'^--. If >-ou ari' loo i)usy to print it on your let lei-heads and envelopes, \ our li\e-year-old bo\drgirl will just like the Inn of ver, you had b so far at this date, March •.'(), not lost a single one out of a total of about \'>(). With the exception of two weak ones which we united, the rest were all strong and showed no signs of dysentery, and all seem- ed to be wintering about alike, and it did not seem to make very much difference w hetlier they had absorb! iilt cushions or sealetl covers. If anything, the difference is a little in favor of the sealed-cover hives, judging from those having glass tops. Another fact should be observed— that the sealed-cover colonies have had only about two inches of chaff or planer shavings, while the colonies with absorbing cushions liave had anywhere from six to ten inches of chaff. There is also another reason why our colonies are wintering so well. We have had contin- 2.U GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Apbii- 1. uously cold weathor. with scarcely a day for flight, since about the middle of December. March, instead of coming in like a lamb, as it usually does with us. and allowing brood-rear- ing to get well under way. and finally going out like a lion, chilling the brood and giving the bees a bad setback, t/iis year came in like a lion; and from present appearances it is going out like a lamb. The re.snll is, we discover no traces of brood-rearing, and colonies have not been obliged, therefore, to disperse their strength and heat by trying to cover brood. Our Mai'ch weather has been most favorable in that it was extremely cold— hanging around the zero-mark. AGAINST AKTIFICIAI, SUBSTITUTES FOK POL- LEX, SUCH AS MEAL. FOR STIMULATING BROOD-HEARING. Our apiarist asked us whether he should put out any artificial substitutes for pollen, such as meal. We replied that we should rather not, and he readily agreed. It is desirable to have early brood-rearing for the early honey crop, but it is bad to have it get well under way too early in the season, and then have it killed by a cold snap. With our present light we do not care to encourage brood-rearing before the advent of settled warm weather, and therefore pollen from natural sources, such as soft maples, comes in just about the right time. Times are changing. Two or three years ago self-spacing frames were iTOt considered practi- cal, and the I'eversing features of the latest hon- ey-extractors were regarded as just so much surplus machinery. But bee-keepers are think- ing differently now. Honey is being produced on larger scales, and better and more rajudly operated appliances are demanded; and these things come of necessity. While we welcome these improvements we should be careful not to chase after every "new fad." The following, fi'om the Auierlcdn Bee Jour- nal, gives iust the information that many are seeking: I see in tlie Home JouruaJ. pajre H.5, that space at tlie World's Fair must be appHed for on or l)cft)rt' July 1, 1893. I would sug-gest that you give plain directions as to wliom to apply, and the expense of space, in tlie American Bee Jnuriuil and Home Jour- nal, and oblige your Manv FKiENoe. The editor replies: Apply to Mr. W. I. Bucluuiaii, Kand-MeNally Building-, Chicago, 111. There is no charge for space. Until a superintendent is appointed for the Api- arian Department, nothing' definite can be arranged. ADILTERATEI) EXTRACTED HONEY, AGAIN. The adulterated-honey matter is not dropped by any manner of means. We are still col- lecting evidence, and an attorney's advice has been sought in one of the neighboring cities. When the right time comes we propose to make a move. We may not be able to accomplish much, but it will not be from lack of (>fTort on our part if we do fail. In the meantime it is to the interest of every honest bee-keeper to see that adulteration of honey is stopped right in his own vicinity. The State and local bee- keepers" societies are the proper ones to make the fight. What are our societies good for if they can't do something of this kind? But for good- ness' sake don't go and make a great furor and false alarm until you are morally certain that honey i.S' adulterated in your locality. Many of the mixers will be " scared " if you only let them know in a quiet way, that, as an organized body of bee-keepers, you propose to make an ejfort against them. If you can scare them into putting only pure honey on the market, you have accomplished your object without further warfare. This is no idle talk, for one firm with whom we have had correspon- dence relative to their adulterating honey, and what we proposed to do — well, we imagine are just a '■ leetle scared." The fact is, they know the law in thcii- State is pretty strict, and that we mean business. THE EDISON riloNOGRAPH. It is really true, dear friends, that one of these wonderful machines is already in our of- fice. In fact, I am just now dictating this, my first effort, with the machine. Well did our good friend Falconer say that it seemed like sitting down to one of tlie buzz-saws and talk- ing to the machine It is noontime in the factory, and the hands have just been round the instru- ment listening to some beautiful pieces of music which were kindly sent with the machine to us. When the announcement uf the piece is made it really seems as if we could be with the speaker as he stood before a sea of faces in some vast audience. He raises his voice, and. with the inspiration natural under such circumstances, he introduces the melody. Then we can see the band of musicians, each one taking up his instrnment to do his level best, and here we have it away back in Medina, with a crowd of listeners all around us listening to these soul- inspiring strains. One of the pieces is a whist- ling piece, and the happy melody of the whistler is so infectious as to get hold of each one of us. Some of the old. staid, gray-headed ones, almost seemed inclined to begin to swing their hats, and skip about. By the aid of a large black- horn the sound of the voices and instruments are plain enough so they may be heard all over the room. In fact, while we sit at our tasks several feet off from the instrument we can hear the melody of the pieces. I have so far occu- pied about half of one of the cylinders. After it is talked all over (or ivrlttoi all over, which- ever you would call it) it can be turned off by an appropriate machine, and then we can write it over again. Each cylinder is capable of be- ing turned off from 50 toiiO times. To hear fa- miliar voices uttered so lifelike and plainly from the instrument seems something even more wonderful than any of the tales of the Arabian Nights. But here it is a startling and tangible reality; and one holds his breath, as it were, while he stops to think what is coming next. Who knows but the time may be near at hand when the editor of Gleanings will be able to speak in his own natural voice to his 10,0(Xj readers? May God help us to make good use of the opportunities that lie about us during this 19th century. As I brush the dust from the cylinder and no- tice the indentations produced by my voice, it seems absolutely wonderful that liuman inge- nuity has been enabled to make use of these mi- croscopic indentations; and yet it is indeed true: for when, by a little modification of the instru- ment, it is made to speak back tome the words I have been speaking, they are even plainer than I ordinarily utter them; and even tue sound of my breathing has been faithfully recorded. The great value of the instrument in a busi- ness point of view is this: The business man may at night, whenever he has leisure, or when- ever he/ect.s like it, talk his messages that are to be made known to the world, to the machine; and after this, when it may be convenient an oj)- erator, not necessarily a shorthand writ(>r orone particularly skilled, may take the machine and simply transcribe what is spoken to him as plainly as his employer would speak to him if he were constantly by his side. Nay, he can make it speak it over and over as many times as he wishes, and he can then, at his own leisure, write up the letters. As the machine has .sinews of steel and brains of lightning it is not expect- IS'.f.' (;i-KANIN(;s IN UKK ( Il/IIKK. 255 cii tliiit it will «ct sirU : l>ui ilini' il siiiiuls at its i>(»st. (lay ami iii^iit. icady to tal.()(). will run llic iiiai'iiiiir TO lioiirs : and wlicii it is run liowii (or ciiiptiiMl I it (.-an tlit'U Im' r(|il(>uislic(l liy our dy- namo, and it is ready lor TO lioio's more. Tlic world si-aii'cly yet dreams what is fortlu-oming from storajje liatterics. 1 am told already that an eleetrie railway ear is heing run in tlie city of rieveland by aid of the storage battery. Tims these overhead wires that have been mak- ing so much trouble, and have been the cause of the loss of lives, are to be dispensed witii. Our storage battery weighs ■.'."> lbs., and occn|iies comparativelv" little spac. When the machine is to be used we lirst start the electro-motor run by the storage battery: llnMi when tlii' operator is" ready to si)eal<. lie sin\ply turns the lever liiat sets the recording point to work. .\. 1. !!. Tobacco Column. CONDITIONS VNDKR WHICH VTE GIVE SMOKERi: TO PBBSONS WHO STOP USING TOBACCO. Kirst. the candiiiate must be one of those who have Kiven up tobacco in consequence ot what )ie has seen and reaa in this department. Second, he promi.-es to pay for the smolier should he ever resume the use nf tobacco in any form, after receiving the smoker. Third, he nmst be a subscriber to Qlka.vixgs. Any subscriber may. however, have smokers sent to neifrhbors orpersonal acquaintances whom he has labored with on the matter of tobacco-using, providing he give us his pledge that, if the one who receives the smoker ever uses to- bacco again, he (the subscriber) will pay forthe .smoker. The one who receives the smoker in this case need not be a sub- scriber to Gl.KANlXGS, though we greatly prefer that he be one, becau.se we think he would be strengthened by reading the testimonials from time to time in regard to this matter. The full name and address of every one who makes the promise must be furnished for publication If yoii wish to add one more to your tobacco list, you may send me a smokor and I will live lip to the requirements. R. M. I^ewis. Omalia. Neb.. Oct. 17. IMease send a smoker to H. B. Itobinson. He says if you do he will not use any more tobac- co: if he does I will pay for the smoker. Tracy Creek. N. Y. Mrs H. B. Robinsox. Please forward to my addri'ss one smoker for Oeo. \V. Crist, who has (|uit the use of tobacco. partly through the iiiHiience of < i.KAMNiis. If he should relapse I will see that you are paid for the smoker. .loiix Xkwso.mk. Woodburn. la.. Oct. i-'il. often make myself sick. I d(»n"l knov. how the poor bees feel: but I gi\(' you ni> plequested me to pay you for the same. Morgan. Kv., Dec. r't;. Hknry C. Ci.em(j.\s. I have this day received a promise from Mr. Ed. Germane that he will discontinue the iiseof tobacco from this date. This promise is secured through the inlluence of Gekaxin^js, and by my persuasion. You will please send a sruoker to his address, which is Terre Haute. Tnd. In case this promise is broken I am security for payment of smoker. W. Shields. Terre Haute. Ind.. S(>pt. :.'".». I have been persuaded by what I have read in Gi.EAXiNfis. to (|iiit the use of tobacco. Please send me a smoker; and if I ever use to- bacco again I will pay for the smoker. Please send a smoker also to Charles Hodges, who has, through the influence of reading your Tobacco Column and Home Papers, in my Gleanings, concluded to quit the use of tobacco. Please send him a smoker ; and if he ever uses the weed again I will pav for the smoker. Annin Creek," Pa., Oct. 10. G. F. Tt'bbs, .Jr. I chewed tobacco from a boy until I was .stmie r.'.Tor 30, and tjuit, firmly convinced it wasclosely related to the whisky habit. I have smoked for over :.'.■) years. One year ago last January I tirmly decidi'd never to use the weed again, and havenot touched it. To many tobacco friends I would i)leaflingly say: Abandon the soul-de- stroying weed, and the money spent for the poisonous In.xury invest in literature for the family —our boys, our girls, and our neighbors. If I am entitled "to a smoker, please send one to mv address. W.m. H. Swigart. Di.xou. III.. Feb. -.in. Last .May we took a boy to raise. He is only 13 years old. and was in the habit of chewing obacco. and had been for four or five years. We shamed him about it. ami 1 told him that, if he would quit its use, Mr. Root would give him a smoker, and that we would give him a colony of bees, also a nice suit of clothes at Christmas. At first he thought he could not do without to- bacco: and his mother, a widow, told me I would have to let him u.se il. as sht; thought he could not quit. Finally, in .\iigust last, he made uj) his mind to quit, and has not tasted it since, sol gave him th(> bees and a suit of clothes; and now as he saw me writing to you he reminded me about the smokei-. If you think he is entitled to it you can send it. His name is Daniel Bis- .sell. "^If he uses tobacco again I will see that the smoker is paid for. R. J. Mathews. Rosedale, Miss., Feb. 1."). •i56 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Aprii> 1. A" Grade $40. ALLIANGE,GRANGE,LEAGUE FK a r^ A Members and thousands of other good ■ IVI mOmf\m men and true, patronized us so liberally last year that we were compelled to buy, build and increase our facilities until now we now have one of the LARGEST CARRIAGE and HARNESS FACTORIES IN THE WORLD. TheAlliauce Factory runs when others shut down or break up. •A" Grade $46. Send for our handsome, illus- trated Caialofjue, showing over loo different styles of Vehicles and Harness, and you will un- derstand why all this phenom- enal success and immense busi- ness. Wo actually give more ..v. for less monev than any Buggy or Harness factory in the world. All goods hand made and warranted for years. C^et our prices and compare them with your dealers. ALLIANCE CARRIA6EC0.CINCINNATI,0. ^ North Court St , opp. the Court House. "A" Grade $72.50. t;g"lii responding to tUls advertisement mention Olkanikgs. ITELL vou wliat, .lones, Iievering Bro!>>'. sell ilie best goods and at : the lowest price of any one I've \ struck yet. The largest and best 1 et> in ilie Qrofviog of SuihH FriiltM, and catalogue of varieties describ- ing aliove collection Free bv mail. 6-7d I. A. WOOLL, Elsie, Mich. I Please mention this paper. : MINNESOTA AHEAD, WHY? Because in consequence of liei' jiine forests lumber is cheap. That's the reason Erkel sells hives cheaper than anyone else iiiAmeiici. Only tliink, single- story hives from 350 up; two-stoi'y hives from 70c up. Other supplies cheap. Send for catalogue. 6tfdb F. C. ERKEL., Le Sueur, illlnu. ! Please mention this paper. SECTIONS^ $2. SO to $3.30 per xll. Bee-Hivet^ and Fix- tures cheap. NOVELTY CO., 6tfdb Rock Falls, Illinois. (II.KAMNOS IN UKK (Ti/rriM-: •-•57 HUBBARD BEE HIVE SECTION PRESS. If Villi waiK III litiiiillc liirs vany liy sitliii'^' (liixvii til il. luTo is lilt' liive. i nuiu's lixi'ii mill viiriiililiMiisiiiiicc I'liinliiiinl Ni> wrcncliiiif; m- iiryinjj; ur siTupiiif? ol coinlis lofTi'lluT. Miiiiy iluiusiiiiiis in iiso jjivirif; I'Xfclli'iii sdtisrnclioii. Live Agents make Spleodid Proflls. i^ '— ; I'.ar^f l'ii\-uiar ul 'Jo |iai;es \'ix-v- ]\u< SKCTION I'HKSS (I'at'ii is sold lit S2.50 liv iIr- leading siipjily dealers .\^k tluiii Inr it or send to me. A bov eiiii pnt logttluT 81IU to lODO sections tin hour and liave thiin true. I'.eiid see tiou around, put in press give i little push — 'tis done Will last it lil'e-time and is bound to please you Send for rav Circular ubiiut Hive. Press Foundation Fastener, Sectifnis. Foundation, Italian Queens. E.xtraetors, Veils. Honey (rales and <'ases. I've i*ie. It will interest you Or send 15 cents lor Practical Book for Hegiuuers — "First Principles in Bee Culture." 11th thousand jiist issued G. K. HUBBARD, 277 Harrison St., Fort Wayne, Ind. H 10 111 t^In respomling to this advertisement mention Gleanings, HEADQUARTERS FOR ALBINO AND ITALIAN QUEENS ANA BEES for 1892. Wo never had sucli a laijie stock of superior Queens and hees as we have at ju'esent, and shall do our utmost to give satisfaction Also manufactur- ers and dealei's in Bee-Hives, Sections. Comb Ft)Vin- datloii. Novice's Honey-Extractor, and all apiarian supplies. Address S. VALK1NTI^E, 6-7a Hagerstowii, Wutnli. Co., Md. Please mention this paper. LONE STAR APIARY. Italian Qukens. Un- tested, but warranted in A|)ril, Mav. June, July, $1 eaidi ; per Vi doz. J5 ; per di iz. $8. Tested after May 1, f 1.50; per doz., $1.5.110. Money orders payable at Ft. Worth. Tex. Book ordei's now. 5-7d \V. A. CAKTJnELI^, Crowley, Tex. $5 FIVE DOLLARS $5 ^•^iS.iTotfwe'eLs BULBS, and SMALL FRUITS, of pleasiire. Roses, (;arn:itions. Lilies, (iladiolii, Tuberases, Fine French ('annas, Small Fruits, etc. 5-7-9d THEODOKIC JIiIMNlNi, P. O. Box 69. Port Clieuter, N. V. Please mention this paper. CANADA BEE KEEPERS Will sa\"c money by [luiiliasinH- siipplirs from T. Pliilli|>s & Co.. Orillia, Ont;uio. who manufacture all styles of Hives, Sections. Frames, Foundation, Extractors, and Smokers. Also many new thing's not handled by other dealers. Send for catalogue and samples of foundation, free. T. PHILLIPS & CO., 3-od ORILLIA, ONTARIO. CAN. 1'lea.se mention this jiaper. /\ POULTRY book" Called "The Chicken Busi- ness, and How to Make it Pay." Tells all about it. Finely illustrated, practical, and origi- nal. Price oil cents, postpaid. An il- lustrated <-irciilar fice. giving |)aiticu- lais about the book, ami prices of iiuiebred fowls and uggs for sale by the aiilhor. 4tfdb H. B. CEER. NashviNe, Tenn. ' "Im responding to this advertisement mention CtLBANiKGS. VT ANTED.— To send you my catalogue of Queens. Bees, and Supplies, cheap. 4tfdb Chas. H. Thies. Steeleville, ni. Great Crash in Prices ! Iff* -^ ': ^s=s=?#^ *& I ^ ly. ■„.. :;i;*, || L 1 1 1 -.,1 From 10 to ;.';-) ■ discount from former prices. M.v ■iO-page catalogue for 1892 gives rea- sons. I offer a new - style chall hive at one-h;ilf the cost of other styles, and just as good. This hive can betaken apart almost instantly, and packed up in small space. It can be used on any hive (see cutl. Don't fail to get my 32d annual price list. I mean business, and am bound to sell as good as the best, and at equally low prices. Address WM. W. GARY. 6tfdb CoLERAiNE, Mass. Please mention this paper. FRIENDS, UmN. Jennie Atchky lias lately bought a lot of black and hybrid bees, and will sell you same by the (Kiund. at $l.:")(i; live or more pounds, $1.25. Qvieens out of same, .30 and .50c each. Safe arrival guaran- teed. E.vpress on a pound to St. Louis, 15 cts^. I can not give rates farther. JENNIE ATCHLEW 6-Td Floyd, Hunt Co., Texas. Please mention this paper. Too MOT ADVERTISE a specialtv, but every thing found in apiauy. Bees- wax wantt'd. <'. E. LrKENS. 6-Td 19 N. 2d St., Philadelphia, Pa. GOO'OS Murray £.Hei5s.'^':^o^^h';|^° VIOL NS GUITARS MANDOLIKS lyin responding: to this advertisement mention Oleakings. Maple Syrup For Sale in 1 -Gallon Cans. lean, *I. Ill; .5, ,^5. Oil; M. *9..">ii; 20 or more, 911 cts. each, boxed aiul delivered, F. O. B. Satisfaction guaranteed. F. W. DEAN, New Mil ford. Pa. 6-7d 358 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. April 1. Ourstrain of ITALIANS have reached tilt' top. Tliey ai-e HUMMEKS wlieii you want l)ees for honey. Queens bred for business. Make ariangements to oi-der now, to be delivered when wanted. BEE SUPPLIES AT WHOLESALE AND RETAIL. For further infdrmation about bee- fl.vtures, send for circular. JNO. NEBEL .t SON. itl'db High Hill. Mo. Please mention this paper. My Catalogue of APIARIAN SUPPLIES for 1892 is free; My Pamphlet, "HOW I PRODUCE COMB HONEY," by Mail. 5 cts. GEO. E. HILTON, Fremont, Mich. Please mention Glkanings. 2-13db ITALIAN QUEENS. Untested, $1; 6 for $5. Tested, $1.50; 6 for Wl. Special terms for large orders. H. FITZ HART, etfdb Avery, Iberia Parish, JLa. ly Please mention Gleanings. G. W. Phelps & Go's Foundation Factory. SEE ADVERTISEMENT IN ANOTHEE COLUMN. 6-lldb 74 Petitt St., Binghamton, iV. Y. BEE-HIVES and Supplies. Send for catalog-ue free. Address SAMl'Eli JONES, Higidand Park College, Des Moines, Iowa. 6-7d BE£S BY THE POUND, ITALIAN aUEENS, ALSO A SELECT LINE OF BEE-KEEPERS' SUPPLIES Send for price List to Olivee Fostes, Mt. Vernon, Linn Co. , Iowa. etfdb Please mention this paper ^BEST OIT EARTH-I*' ELEVEN YEARS WITHOUT A PARALLEL, AND THE STAND- ARD IN EVERY CIVILIZED COUNTRY. Bingham &, Hetherington Patent Uncapping-Knife, standard Size. Bingham's Patent Smokers, Six Sizes and Prices. Doctor Smoker, 3>^ in., postpaid Conqueror " 3 " " Large " 3H " Extra (wide shield) 2 " Plain (narrow " )3 " " Little Wonder, \% " Uncapping' Knife Sent promptly on receipt of price. To sell again, send for dozen and half-dozen rates. . $3.00 . 1.75 . 1.50 . 1.25 . 100 65 1.15 / Milledgeville, 111., March 8, 1890. Sirs:— Smokers received to-day, and count cor- rectly. Am ready for orders. If others feel as I do your trade will boom. Truly, F. A. Snell. Vermillion, S. Dak., Feb. 17, 1890. Sirs:— 1 consider your smokers the best made for any purpose. I have had 15 years' experience with 300 or 400 swarms of bees, and know whereof I speak. Very truly^ R. A. Morgan. Sarahsville, Ohio, March 13,1890. Sirs:— The smoker I have has done good service since 1883. Yours truly, Daniel Brothers. Send for descriptive circular and testimonials to Ttfdb BiKQBAU & HXTBEBIH3T0H, Abronia, Mich. ^P"ln re-sDondine to tills advertisement mention (ii.KAMNcis. Dovetailed Hives, Simplicity Hives, SECTIONS. EXTRACTORS, ETC. A FULL. LINE Of=^ BEE-KEEPERS' SUPPL/ ES. 60-PAGE CATALOGUE. Itfdb J. M. Jenkins, Wetumpka, Alabama. C^Iii respoiiiliiiK to tlils ad\ ition Gl.KANlNliS. PRAf louR FRUIT TREES I VINES Wormy Frmt and Leaf Blight of Apples, Pears. Cherries, CYpCI CinO SIM{.\AIXG OUTFITS. Gripe and Potato Rot, Plum Curculia prevented by using PERFECT FRUIT ALWAYS SELLS AT COO tTP R I CES . Catalogue she w- ing all injurious insects to Fruits mailed free. I-arge Ktock of Fruit Trees, Vines, and Berry IMauts at Bottom Prices. Address WIU. STAHL,, Quincir, Ills. 24 lOdb ltS"ln resDonding to this adveitiseiiunt mention GLEANINGS. ROOT'S GOODS FOR THE EAST. ~ Bee-Keepers of the East should BC3r In IVIind that we have established at Syracuse an E38tCrn BrdMCh where our Bee-keepers" Supplies are kept for sale, and prompt shipment. You can save time and freight by ordering from our Eastern IJranch. We have engaged Mr. F. A. Sal- isbury to take charge of this business, and he will treat you well. He will be pleased to send you a list of goods kept in stock. Address all orders, EASTERN BRANCH, F. A. SALISBURY, Agent, Syracuse, N. Y. 18«J (ILHAN'INciS IN lUOK CUI/n;RE. ;iri<) n d. FORNCROOK a3r-boxa., Zll. 0rin responding- to tlii» ■mI\ lion (il.KANINGS. Send far Pricf JAst to R. E. HARBAUGH. Manuf'r nml It)-nler iti Ut-f-Keep'-rn' Siiiiplies. Breeder of Italian and Carniolan Bees and Queens, Light and Dark Colored Ferrets. 2.^th and Clny fits., - - - st. tloHfpli, Mo SOLID COLD. He sat in his bee-.\ :ird at noond.-iy. He was lonely, jilum, and sad; The bees were buzzing about hlin, .\nd he wasswearitifr mad. .Not an ounce of siii'i)lus honej'. Not a dime in his pocket for biead But the black bees kept on buzzing;- About tlie old man's head. At hist, in (iespaii he shouted. •' I would that I were dead ! " Then came the sound of sweet He stood as in :i 1 ranee, 'I'he birds .sang, '•Buy the W. V. M. ITALIANS. And then of joy you will dance." Rates: Virgin (jueens. tOc; unte.steL" V ESTEACTOE Iree. -A.ldre.ss WK.WKK, Jj W 7S Tin: liKK JiAS, WarrenslHijr, Mo. TI ktLjd!!i>r.::ilk nKk .nll'k. .nil&ni. mttiir. jnlllliiiL .nlllk iXkn jnlllk mllik. iiCkj^kjl IS"In respondlntf to this advertl.senient mention U1.KANIN0& THE DEAD LINE N BICIC-KICKPINi; hanil. Head March and April — is at I "THE WINTER PROBLEM," and keep up with the tinu^s. Price 50 cts. G. R. PIERCE, Blairstown, Benton Co., Iowa. »^^rn respond 1 111.' to Iliis :ulveri i^du. in iiiriilioii (Ilkaninos. DR. J. W. CRENSHAW,^ Versailles, - Kentucky, Offers for Sale Untested Italian Queens at $1.0(1 each through Ma\ and June; after, 7.5c each. Safe arrival guaran- teed. Queens I'aised only from Imported mother. Drones only from selected and Icsted mothers. Also CELERY PLANTS from July U) Septeinbt;r. at $2.0(1 per M. 7-I8db I am Pushing Ahead ! And am so far in the lead that I challenge any one to show up superior bees to my best Five-Banded Golden Italians. Large, beautit'iil. gentle, and good honey- gatherers; the I'esults of 10 years' careful breeding. Try them. Satisfaction guaran- teed. Queens in May, $1.25 each; 6 for $6. After June 1. $1 each; 6 for $5. For full par- ticiilais. send for desiM-iptive cin-ular. CHAS. D. DUVALL, Spencerville, Md. Vtfdb ISriii responS oil farm rifflil and sample lilvc. Ajrciits w I- i t «' f I > r terms. JOHN CONSER. Seoalia. Mo. Reference First Natinnal Itaiik. ME. Printed in the highest style of the art, and embellished with magnificent Engravings. Sample FREE. Agents SVanted. CHICAGO, ILt- 1892. HEADQUARTERS IN THE SOUTH BEE - KEEPERS' SUPPLIES. Dovetailed hives in.Mie of Cypress hiint)ei' a spe- cialtj. at A. 1. Root s prices. Special fiiscoiint to 'balers. We ai-e so .irranged tliat-wecan now give special low freight rules. Karly 4-framo nuclei and Italian (|ueens. Saiisfactlon guaranteed on all liansiuMions. If you need any Bee- Hives, Frames, Sections, Foundation, etc., send for 14th annual catalogue. P. L. VIALLON M'FKi .CO., Bayou Goula, lia. OTTUMWA BEE^VE FACTORY. Bee-lS Queen-Cell Protectors will decjjjl ^ 'S do it, and you can RE- " QTJEEN your apiary durinjj tlie swarming season. Pi-o- nounced tiie Best by such men as Capt. J. E. Heth- ERiNGTON, Clierry Valley, .--^ N.Y.; P.H.ELWOOD,Stark- V ; -3 ville, N. Y., and others. _ Cell -Protectors, $3.(0 per " ' ^ ^ 100, or 12 for 60c. by mail. Cages. $5.00 per 100, 'or 12 for $1.00, by mail. Samples of both, with circular explaining, 2.5 cts. The cages are used for hatching queens in any hive, and are the Best Bee-Escai)e in use. Address N. D. WEST, Middleburgh, Schoharie Co., N. Y. Please mention this paper TAKE NOTICE! DEFORE placing your orders for SUPPLIES, writt " for prices on One-Piece Basswood Sections, Bee- Hives, Shipping-Crates, Frames, Foundation, Smo- kers, etc. PAGE & KEITH, 14tt'db New London, Wis. Plea.se mention this paper. J. C. SAYLES, HARTFORD, WIS., Manufactures Apiarian Supplies of Every Description. Catalogue Free to All. Send Your Address. Stfdb Please mention this paper. ^ — JVIuth's Honey ^ E:>^ttT^aGto^. Sqaave Glass l^oney-'Jans, Tin Buekets, Bee-hives. Honcy-Scctions, &e., &e. Pepfection Cold-Blast Smokers. APPLY TO •^^v^^^^.^^.^^^^v^^ CHAS. F. IVITJTH & SON, Cincinnati, O. SendlOct. stamp for "Practical Hints to Beekeepers Please mention this paper. Bees For Sa.le. COLONIES. NUCLEI, AND QUEENS, at living lates. Send for circular and jirire list t( ^i% C. C. VAUGHN Si CO., Columbia, Tenn. In writing to advertisers please mention this paper. 5-lOdb CAA Colonies of Bees Devot- ^W ed to Queen-Rearing. Write foi- prices on large (luantities. TWO MILLION SNOW - WHITE SECTIONS. Write for pi'iccs on large (juantities. Send for our 24-Page Catalogue of Dovetailed Hives, Smokers, Extractors, Etc. LEAHY MT'G CO., Higginsville, Missouri. Please mention this paper. ntfdli G. W. Phelps & Go's Foundation Factory. SEE ADVEETISEMEOT IN ANOTHER COLUMN. 74 Petitt St. Binghaiuton, N. Y. Bee - Keepers' * Supplies. We are prepared to furnish bee-keepers with sup- plies promptly and at lowest rates. Estimates gladly furnished, and correspondence solicited. Our goods are all flrst-elass in quality and workmanship. Cat- alogue sent free. Reference, First National Bank, Sterling, 111. Address 1-24db WM. .neCl'NE «k CO., Sterling, Illinois. I^ln respondinfr to thi< .1.' -i ii. • •,! iiM-i.tion (tLEAnwos G. W. Phelps & Go's Foundation Factory. SEE ADVEETISEUENT IN ANOTHEE OJt'UMN. 74 Petitt St., Binghamton, N. Y. SAVE MONEY.— Send to J. P. H. Brown, Augus- ta, Georgia, for his price list of supplies. Hives and foundation at wholesale rates. 4tfdb ITPrPEIIS FOB SBLE. Tlie finest honey-gatherers in the land. Tested, $1..50 each. Select tested, $2.00 each. Untested, $1,00 each, or $9.00 per doz. Queens ready to ship by April first. I guarantee safe arrival and satisfaction, by mail. Orders booked now and pay when you want queens. J. W. TAYLOR. «fdb Ozan, Ark. ' 111 respoMilint? to this advertisement mention Glkamnus. BEES 350 Colonies 1,000,000 Sections, Foundation, Sec. tS^Send for price list. E. T. FLANAGAN, BELLEVILLE, ILL. C^In responding to this advertisement mention Glkanikgsi. Hatch Chickens by Steam. LPROVED EXCELSIOR INCUBATOR ^Will do it. Thoiuuuids bx ■nooMsfal op«r> ' ation. Simple, Perfect and Self- Regulating, Lovrest-pnced flrat-claas Hatcher made. Guaranteed to hatch a laiver percentage of fertile eggB at less coet thiui any other. Send 6c. for Illas. CataloK. UKO. U. STAHL, «(uin*r, 111. f.«f 111 lesixjudintr to this advertisement mention GLKAUUJoa AUTOl^ATIC COniB FOUIVDATZOir AKIIiLS. 3-7db —MADE BY— "W. C. PELHAM, MaysviUe, Kentnoky. flease mention this paper. TT A. T3 T TT" SOLDEN, UNTESTED aUEENS. $1.00. ^^***^J-« * LAKQE, FINE, OENTLB. AND BBED for business. Ready about March :Jn. Dealers send for prices. Fine tested, raised last year, $1.50 to $3.00. A few breeders, Italian or Golden, $3 to $5. J. B. CASE, Port Orange, Vol. Co., Fla. Please mention this paper. Stfdb Western Bee-Keepers' Supply House Root's Goods san be had at Dee Moines Iowa, at Root's PfiCOS. The largest lupply businesi IntheWeit. Establlthed 1886 Doretailed Hires, Beo- tlonB, Foundation, Ex- tractors, Smokers, Veils , Orates, Fjeders, Clover ' 8 e e d 8, e t c. Imported Italian Queens. Queens and Bees Sample copy of our Bee Jourr.ai, "The WeSt> ' ern Bee - Keeper.' %nd Latest CatalOfiue ma)j;a Free to r::€-keepers. fOSSFE irfSEWAOTEB DE3 UOINES, lOWJL In writing to advertisers please mention this paper. Itfdb 1 Si»-.' (;Li:.\NiN(i.s IN iti-:!-; (Ti/ri'KK. ;m7 REMEMBER THAT IN THE Pecos Valley The Fruit Belt OF New Mexico, FARMERS COINED MONEY during the Summer of 'gi, and will do so every year. For instance : Thomas Stokes raised ii tons of sorghum (hay) on less than two acres of new ground, which prod- uct he sold at $15 a ton — C8Sh yield over $83 an acre. Julian Smith sold QVer $300 worth of garden products frOlTI half an acre of ground. 'W . W. Paul raised 211 bushels of oats on 2 1-5 acres of ground, sold at 70 cents a bushel — CdSh yield $67 an acre. John W. Poe cut 600 tons of al- falfa from no acres; value $15 a ton, $9,000. Cash yield per acre, $80. L. "W. Holt raised iii^ tons of sorghum on i': acres, and 450 tons of alfalfa on go acres. The alfalfa sold at $15 a ton— CBSh yield $112.50 an acre. We can give you plenty of simi- lar examples when you come here. Send for illustrated i)anii)hlets, ^iviii^- full ])arti{'ulars. Pecos Irrigation and Improvement Co., EDDY, NEW MEXICO. f^Va responding to this advertisement mention aLEAMiN6& LOCATIOIT Is a big point. Ill supplj'iiip troods; ours gives you low freig-ht rates. As we sell low, you should have our circular of supplies. l-18db I. J.STRINGHAM, 92 BARCLAY ST., N. Y. Please mention this poiiei . Il<-ji(!; Irililc. mil cslcd, ^.^.d;!; ilillci puiT iiialfd. tlii.iHl; dilln sclrcled, t» i.tid; dilto iiMpiirlcd, !};.'ill.(ill. Sriil per mail prepaid and vwai'- aiitt'cd .-(jraiiist lnss in tiaiisil or- iiil ludnri ion. If mil a[iprii\('d of aflir tiitil. :\\\ inenient mention GLEANINGS. Fdo not advertise aspecialt\, but e\'ii\ thing found in .\i'i.\i(v. Bees- waxM-anted. <'. E. LIKENS, 6-Td 19 N. 2d St., Philadelpbia, Pa. SFEAK QUICK 30 C^olwiiles of bhick bet'son Quinljy suspended frames, for sale, in light shipping-boxes. These bees have plentvof brood. No foul brood here. Price fH.35 per c()lonv; in or more. $3.00. CHAS. STEWART, 8-9d Saiiiiiioiisvlllr, Fulton Co., N. Y. tiTln responding to this advei-tisement mention ULEAN1N08. TT F^^T To order the best made goods. For Fine Sections, Foundation. Perforated Zinc. Queen Excluders, and the best hive for comb honev now before the public, order of Dr. Tinker. PRICES GKEATLV RE- DUCED. Address for catalogue De. G. L. Tiotee, New Philadelphia. 0. Please mention this paper. 268 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. April 15. Contents of this Number. A Ifalfa, When to"Cut £9:i Afiiary, Locating an 285 Bars. Closed-end 579 Blacks, A Plea for -Xt) Burr combs. To Prevent •Jen California Vegetation . . . £93 Canadian Imbroglio i98 Cloth overl'lant-beds 29? Colonies, Weight of 28:i Eaton Can.von 291 FTlectricity', Wiring by 297 Escape. Porter's, a Success .29J Feeder, Manum's 27.'> Frames Wired by Electr'ly.297 Florida, Tabulated lieport.28.i Honey, Cost of— Elwood 272 Hone.v, Grading 581 Honey„Poisonous 289 Kei-osene for Robbing ... 284 Onion Egyptian, etc... 296,297 Paint 287 Poultry-book, Geer's 298 Production. Cost of 282 Propolis, To J'revent 2X3 Uueens. Raising 284 Ram' ler,.on the Paeitic 276 San Diego 294 Self-hivers 280 .Spring Dwindling 278 S warmer, Pratt 281 Tallow vs. Propolis, etc 28:5 Vaseline vs. Burr-combs. . 28:5 Water Cure 298 Wings In.iurefi in Escapes.. 284 Writing for the ,Journals. . .27.'i Zinc.Propolizing 284 CONVENTION NOTICES. The (irst annuul meetinir of the Connecticut Bee-keepers' As- sociation will lie held at Hartford. May 12, commencing at 1(1:3(1 .*..M. All interested are invited. Mrs. W. E. Riley, .Sec. Waterbur.v, Ct. CIHCULAHS BECEIVED. We have recently received from the following parties their price lists of ajiiarian supiilies in general : O. Moseley. Peru. lud. W. E. Smith, Kentou.O. .V. E. Manum. Bristol, Vt. W. H. Laws, Lavaca. Ark. J. J. Bradner, Marion, Ind. A. L. Lindley, Joi'dan, Ind. Gus. Dittmer. Augusta, AVis. Oliver Fostei-, Mt. Vernon, la. J. R. Barnhard. Ottawa, Kan. L. L. Alspauph. Auburn, Neb. T. Phillips & Co.. Orillia, Out. N. D. West. Middleburgh. N. Y. C. F. Muth & Son. Cincinnati. (). W. H. Putnam. River Falls. Wis. Luther ,>t Horton. Redlands. Cal. Mrs. Oliver die Slieiburne, N Y. B. Davidson. I'xliridgf. (int., ("an. Gregoiy Bros. are only two or three thousand of them. COMB FOUNDATION. We should be pleased to send free samples of our foundation on application to prove that we are not behind an.\ of oui' competitors in the quality of the g-oods we send out, both in color and woikmanship. (Jompetent judges have acknowledged ours equal to Dadant's, which is the standard. SAWED SEPARATORS. The ordinary sliced wood separators have a ten- dency to curl considerably, and this is about the only real objection to them. As some prefer not to use them on account of this, we have been making- sawed wood separatois, about 14 to the inch, very straight and smooth, 3>< x 17 to 18 inches long, at 60 cts. per 100; fS.Oti per 1000. sawed slotted separators. We have not made any ALSIKE CLOVER SEED. It is not too late to sow alsike, and we still have a good supply of nice clean seed. As the sea.son is getting late and the market a little easier, we will make the price for the next 30 days as follows: 3 bushels, *18.00: 1 bushel. $9..50; X bushel, f4.00; 1 peck, t3..5ll; 1 lb.. 2(1 cts.; by mail. 30 cts. BUSINESS AT THIS DATE. We have our usual supply of orders for this sea- .son of the year, and, if any thing, they are larger. As we were prepared with a stock of all standard goods to draw on in addition to what we make from day to day, we are able t(j rush the goods off within a few days after receiving the orders. The invoice you receive from us shows the record on the upper left-hand corner, telling just how long the order is in our hands before being sliipped. We aim to make the time covered liy this recoi'd as short as possil)le. We liope to serve you with the same promptness through the season that we have been able to do so far. STANLEY AI'TO.MATIC REVERSING OR. H()NEV-EXTRAt:T- As announced in last number of Gleanings, we have leased from G. W. Stanley the right to make his automatic ex- tractor, and we bought from E. R. Newcomb his stock of materials and machines unsold. This stock consists of about twenty - five machines, two and four frame. To work it off quick, and give us a chance to put out machinesof our own make, we otter these machine.s as long as they last, atone-fourth off old prices. We will sell the two-frame macliines as they are for *9.00; lhe4-frame for $15.00. They are crated ready for shipment, with crank direct on the center-.shaft. We will attach our new horizontal gear, as shown on page 14 of our catalogue, for $3.00 each extra. THE PliANT BUSINESS AT THIS DATE. During the fore part of April we had several days of very nice weather — so much so that the gardener, and even the plants too, were about to be deluded into thinking that frost and snow for the season wei-e at an end. Since then, however, the weather has been cold, and the ground has been frozen up so it would almost beai- up a horse in the forenoon. Now, we are not complaining at this soit of thing, mind you, for it has been the means of keeping the fruit back so there is great probability that it will escape uninjured. But at the same time tlie weath- er has not been favorable for sending out str.iw- berries and other kinds of plants. While I write, the frost has let up, but it is snowing. Just as .soon as this is over we expect to rush off' every thing promptly. Even the cold-frame cabbages that have been frozen again and again for the last half of the winter could hardly stand the cutting nin-th winds. What few we had in the open gi-ound were prett.v much used up except the small central leaf. The prospect is, therefore, that the one who had his stuff well protected, or had good strong plants that could withstand the freezing and cutting winds, will get a big price for what he has to sell. TWO NEW BOOKS— HENS AND "RATS." The Rural New-Ynrher sends us two very pretty little industrial manuals. The first is entitled "The Business Ht>n." It was written by H. W. CoUiiig- wood. niaiiiiging editor of the Rural Neiv-Yarker, with special articles by more than a dozen of the prominent authorities on poultry. The price is 7.5 cts., in neat cloth binding; paper, 40 cts. The other book is on "rats. "—how to rid buildings and farms of rats and other pests of like character. The book is by "Picket." It is written in one of his happiest veins, and it Is very interesting reading aside from its valuable teachings. In fact, it seems to cover about every plan known for destroying, driving ISUL' c;I.KAMN(iS IN HKE CUI/rtlRE. litiii ;i\vii>, or fiMifiiiK out tlirx- fcMrful pests. 1 havo ofloii sail! il Is :i dispi-iii'c li> any iH'ijflilxii-lioixl or aiiv c'omnmiiitv to liavo rat-> aroiiiul doiiiv ilaniawro, > :iii(i I say so stl'll. Tin- lat-lmok is i>ril\ '-'d cts. Fori fitluT of tlii'in sfiid to the [{iiial PublisliiiiK Co.,. N»'w York; or. if iiioit' coincnieiit. .mui t-an Kt't 'li*' " rat-I)ook " of us for 18 cts. ; postpaid by mail. 'M. ONK-IMKCK SKCTIONS. \\f are now iiiakitijr oiio-i'i»'''i' sections at t lie rate of a million a niontli. In tlic live months from Aug:. 1st to. Ian. 1st We made aboul one anil tliree-i|iiarter I millions; in .huuiary and i-'eliruary. one and one- j quarter millions; and sinee t lie HtsI of Marrli we liave l)een t lirnin^j- tliem out at the rale of a mi II ion a month. We now liave in stoek ahont one and a half UMllioMS of all widtlis of the 4'.! inch seitii>n from KSi inclies up to :.' inclu's. We have also eiiouj-^h dry lumher in our yard to make alioiit three million • more. By t he time this is worked up the lumher we have con'tiacted. cut the jiasl winter, will he leady [ to bejrin on, and t his will make six or eitrlit million , more. The ipiality of t he sections is siipeiior to an.\ we ever sent out in former years, and. we believe, equal to any made, and sui)erior to most makes. \Vi> contracted to supjily one lartre dealer at a liiitih- ^ er price tli:iii he was ot1ere(l otliei- good sections for, because he decifled that ours would please his cus- tomers enouffh better to pay the ditterence in piice. We are also makiny- lower i)rii-es in lar^e lots to dealei's than we have been able to do heretofoie. We mention all these thintrs to sliow you how well | prepared we are tt) serve \ ou. Last year, and the | year liefore, oui' suppl.v of lumlH'r suitabh" for sec- tions was insufficient, and. as a conseijueiice, to fill orders at all we were compelled to send out some tliat were rather inferior for first {jrade. To many ; of our friends who received tliese g-oods we have al- j lowed a rebate, and to others who mentioned it in j theii- orders we have .sent an exti-i supi)ly of the { elioice sections we ai-e now turning out. If there i are any wild have not yet hud s;itisfaction we want txi hear from you so that we may have an opportu- , nit> toffive you satisfaction, and to give you see- i tions that can not l)e surpassed by any nianut'ac- i turer. ' Kind Words From Our Customers. I don't see how one who has had a taste (»f Glean- i.vfjs can expect to get a better feast. It's every thing to me. Gardening and Home talk and all are so social it seems as if I had you by the arm looking over my fruits, etc. Long may you live to cheer us, especially by the welcome address of the word " friend." (iod bless you. E. P. Churchill. Hallowell. Maine. HoNEr Column. I just unpacked the goods I received fiom you, and am more than jileased witli the same. The.y ar- lived in tlie best possible condition, and give good .sjitisfaction for the future. The workmanship of the hives is tlu- fl?iest I ever saw. My neighl)ors say they never saw wood so well made and aecuiate, as it is worked bj- automatic machinery. Voui- manner of i)acking is excellent, and answers well for long distances. The lot of medium foundation is first qualit}' in all respects. 'I'he freight on these goods was very low. The duty was rat hei- high. As long as I receive goods like these you can reckon on me ius a customer, tliough it is as fai- as 6(Hi miles from VOU. .)()S. UE.AI'DKV. St. Marc, Can., Feb. 7. FKO.MPT KILLING OF ORDKUS; THK K I M) ( IF .VDVEK- TISING THAT PAYS. I got two queens from ndu last summer, and they were tine ones. They were safely introduced. I like the Henton cage. 1 hav»; bought quite a good many queeus, but yours came the quickest of anj- I ha\e had yet. I (fid not have to go tothe olTice tlve or six times, as I have had to do before, foi- I had them in a few days. I shall know wheri' to get them after this. Fkancis Ohtt. Darling Road. O. N. T. [Knowing, as we do. that, when a customer ordeis a queon, he wants it at omre or his colony will suffer, we bend every enei-gy to send all queens by retui'n mail. How this is ai)preciated, many letteis at hand testify.! CITY MAlihHTS. MiNNEAi'OLis. -Ho/ifj/.— The lioney-markel is de- clining considoralily. 'I'liedemand is dinjiping oil', and fani-y wlute honey Is now being sold for Ific; choice. 14; dark, P@12. according to the (juality. .Mar. :.'8. .1. A. Shea & Co.", 14 & hi Hennepin Avi-.. Minneapolis. Minn. Alh.anv. H<)»I()/.- There is ((iiite .i large stock of comb honey on the m.aiket .\ et , and but ver,\' little detnand. Ivvtracled about all cleared out. 'Tliei-e is no established price on comb lione\ ; it sells at fi(aiO. Chas. McCuLLOcii & Co., Apr. 8. Albany, N. V. Cincinnati. //oney.—'J'here is a slow demand for comb honey, with a good supply on the market. Prices are nominal, at 12@I5 in tlie jobbing way. Birsivax is in good demand, at 2.5@27, for good to dioice yellow on anival. ('has. F. Muth, Apr. If. Cincinnati, Ohio. CHiC.\(io. — Hiiiify. — Honey - market now ((uiel. Sales of comb made in a small way; t hei-e is vei'y little tine comb on sale, witli prices of I.ic for best, to 16 for a fancy article. Extracted in steady de- mand, with stock very light. Beeswax, 27 for yellow. R. A. BUKNETT, Apr. 7. 161 So. Water St., Chicago, III. Boston.— Hoiu'!/.— We quote you our lione>-mar- ket as being well supplied, fair demand." <)n»- pound combs selling at 13@15; no 2-lbs. on hand. Extracted honey, 7@7X. Beeswax, none. Ajii . s. Blake & Ripley, Boston, Mass. New Youk.— Hoiiej/.— Not nuicli change in honev- market since last issue. There is a little deman"d for fancy 1-lb. sections, only fancy; but the market seems to be pretty well cleanetl up of the above grade of goods. We quote tlu' following: Fancy l-ll).. 12; 2-lb., 11; fair, 1-lb.. 9; 2-lb., S; buckwheat, 1-lb., 8; 2-11)., 7. Extracted. ti'/M't, for clover; .".(SuVA for buckwheat ; .southern, fiom 6.',@7.'c per gal. Beeswax, 27@29. Apr. 8. Chas. Israel & Bko., 110 Hudson St., New York. Kansas City.— Ho/(ej/.— Demand poor, wit h a large supply of comb. We quote: Comb, lib., fancy, 12(mi;}; dark, 8@9. Extracted, white, 7; dark, .')@ti. Beeswax, none on tlie market. Mar. 21. Hamblin & Bearss, 514 Walnut St., Kansas City, Mo. Saint Louis. Honey.—lnmiir'n-^^ forst rained were frequent, and business more satisfactory. No quotable change in values. Beeswax, piime. :i7/2. Apr. 8. D. G. TuTT Gko. Co., ^___ St. Loui.s, Mo. Kansas (itv. Homy. -- The demand for both comb and extract(>d (continues light. We rpiole: 1-lb. comb. No. 1, wliite, l.'KSiH; No. 2. white, llj@12; No. 1, amber, 12@13; No. 2. amber, >i@lil. Extracted, white, ti@i7; amber and dark, .')@.6. Bci'swux, :i'i(q'^ti. Apr. 9. Clkmon.s, Mason & Co., Kansas City, Mo. Detkoi'I'. Ho»ie(/.— Comb honey isdull and selling very slowly :it n(fil2i4. Not much on the market. Extract efl, 7(rt>. Beeswax, in lair demand, 27((n28. Apr. s. M. H. Hi'NT. Bell Branch, Mich. FOR SALE OR EXCHANGE. <)nelO-in. Rocjt's mill for brood-foundation, and 1 fj-in. mill for thin foundation in good oider, and at a bargain, as we do not keej) l)ees now. 7-12db T. A: B. VOt]^G, 145 ITIartiiiette St., LaSalle, III. Cirln rt-spoiidiin; to lliis adv.niMiiiini iiiiiitioii Cii.hA.M.Mi.-*. 270 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Apkil i-f). UIl Bee-leepe[s' 1-1 (3 -^- C FOR 1892 AND A FINE. TESTED, ITALIAN QUEEN, OF LAST YEAR'S REARING, FOR $1.75. EITHER ALONE, $1.00. FOR $2.00. THE REVIEW, THE QUEEN AND THE 50 CT. BOOK, "ADVANCED BEE CULTURE," WILL BE SENT. W. Z. HUTCHINSON. FLINT. MICH. P. S.— If not acqnaintpd with thf Rkvikw. send ten cents for three late but different issues SPECIflU IVIRTED iiueens reared under tlie swarming impulse in our Texas apiary, and mated to very yellow drones. Queens and fill uies from two of the best queens in Texas. All queens warranted purely mated. One nueen Apr., $l.-'5; 6 fm' $6.(10. May, one queen, $1,10; 6 for $5.50. Our 5- Banded Italians are the best workers, most gentle and lieantif ul bees. Safe ar- rival and entire !«atif»lac-tion Guaranteed, cu- rular free. S. P. & I. TREUO, Swedona, 111. In writing to advertisers please mention this paper. BEE^^Hh/EsTsECTIONS, ETC. We make the best goods and sell them cheap. Our Sections are far the best on the market. Our Works turn out the most goods of any facto- ry in the world. , , ^ ^, Our goods are known as the best throughout tlie United States and Europe. . • ,. . Write for free, illustrated catalogue and price list. G. B. LEWIS CO., WATERTOWN, WIS. Please mention this paper. Itfdb ]S;iv 654: Colonies of ItsLliaxis Are wintering well, and, as usual, I will sell a lim- ited number of them to reduce stock to the required number. Each hive shipped to my customers will contain a full prosperous colony of Italian bees, with a last year's tested queen, on eight Hoffman fi'ames of brood and honey. As my main object in handling bees is honey, we raise all our queens in full colonies from cells luiill under the swarming impulse, using the choicest and most profitable stock to breed from. , . ,., , «*,,<■ * Safe arrival gnaranteed in May and first halt ot June. For terms please address 3-8dlj JULIUS HOFFMAN, CANAJOHARIE, N. Y. (Sriu rcspondinir to tliis .LKA.MNG.S CARNIOLAN BEES AND QUEENS. Tiiey beat them all. Never iTTive'dvsenterv." AH queeiis reared from select im- ported'mothers. T'litestcd. .5nc; 13 foi' $5.00. Tested, $100; 12 for $10.00. t^elect tested. $1.5ii. Descriptive ciirular free. \. Li. IjINDIiKY, Jordan, Ind. «-18db DOVETAILED ""S?Ar.S» QUEENS. Send for price list of Italian Queens, Drone-s, Hiv&s, Smokers, Foundation, etc. Finest breeding queen, after March 1. $4.00. Tested, $2.(i0; 3 for $5.00. Untested, in April, $1.00; 6 for $5.00, or $9.00 per doz- en by mail. Safe arrival guaranteed. Orders for Queens booked for 20 days or more, 5 per cent dis- count. Make moiiej' orders i^avable at Clifton. 3tfdb COLWIOE t OOLWIOK, NOSSE. BOSQUE CO., TEZAS. .. friji responding- to this advertisement mention GLEANIMOS. RETAIL — AND— WHOLESALE. T>TjTU SUPPLIES I yi 1 11 Everjtlilng used in the Apiary. ^^ ^^^.M Greatest vai'iety and largetit stock in the West. New catalog. 54 illustrated pages, free to bee-keepers. B. KKETCHMEE, BED 0A£, IOWA. In writing advertisers please mention this paper. ELMER HUTCHIJVSOJf Has moved to Vassak, Tuscola Co., Mich. He can furnish untested (jneens in April and May, raisetl frt)m one of ids Golden Italian 5-banded (jueens, that took FIRST PREMIUM at the Detroit Expo.sition the last two years, for $1.15 each, or « for $6.00. Or- ders will be filled foi- me in April and May by a queen-breeder in the South, who has one of my best breeding (jueens. Orders promptly filled and .safe arrival goiaranteed. Make money orders payable at Vassar. 7-l(Jdb ~ POSITIVE Lf^ By return mail, beautiful young warranted Italian queens, at $1.00 eacli. Tested, $1..50. A .select tested yellow-to-the-tip breeder, $2.00. Satisfaction guai- anteed. W. H. LAWS, Lavaca, Ark. Htfdb ITALIAN QIJEENS. t,)ueens reared and tested in the fall of '.d, $l.."Oeach. Safe arrival guaranteed. Misses S. k M. Baenes, Piketon, Ohio. 7-s-nd Please mention this paper. One of our i5-banded red-clover queens? 100 lbs. of clover honey in poor seasons. Send for descriptive circular free. LEININGER BROS., Ttfdb Ft. Jennings, Oliio. FflR ^Al F ItO double-walled hi\-es, new, nail- run OnLUi ,.f| ,ip_ painted, set .sections and holder im-luded, f3.00 each; a great bargain. Order at once. One Novice honey -extractor. 8-9d S. A. Fisher, 31 Pembeiton Square, Boston, Mass. Porter's Spring Bee-Escape. We guarantee it to be the best escape known, and f.ii superi(n- to all others. If, on trial of from one to a doz- en you do not find them so, w if they do not prove sat- isfactory in every way, return them by mail within 90 days after receipt, and we will refund your monej PRICES:— Each, by mail, postpaid, with full direc- tions 20c; per dozen, $3.25. Send for circular and testi- monials. Supi>ly dealers, send for wholesale prices lOtfdb R. (£ E. C. PORTER, LEWISTOWN, ILL. (L^lii rcsptnidinK to this advertisement mentioit (iLEANiN -^ Jour • DELVoT •To'Be:_ _ •ANdHoNEV- , •ANDHOMEL- ■•< •lNTE.F^ESTsS Vol. XX. ^^perVeai^ \^ i-KooT- jinaOhiO APRIL 15, 1892. No. 8. Stray Straws FROM DR. C. C. MILLER. Is it a success for wir- Wcll. I never: nun Hkks comk out of cellar to-day. April lloU "^ KI.KI IHlf ITV inK".' Onion - plants h\ What next? I). A. .IoNi-;s"s name is ajiain at the masthead of tlie ('. B. J. Long may it slay thei-el I GOT A i.KTTKR fiom Medina written by a phonogra|)li. I conld read it as easy as any let- tPi-. Si.AN(i is something I don't use vei'y often: hnt yon will pafdon me for saying that tlie Daisy fonndation-fastenef is a (hilsij. (."AMKoiiMA is a gi-eat place forall gniinsand fiMiits: and if that on page :.'4:.' is a fair sample, they raises the best quality of "straw " there. TiiK Ainerifan Bee-keeper is doing missionary worl< by sending free copies of an article from Ihirtur's W'reklii on "• lietter country roads.'" A good move. PUKVKN TION OF AFTER-SWAIiMS IS tllUS Secur- ed by T. Heiss (A. B. J.): Next day after swarming, run in a virgin (jueen between the combs and sheMl destroy all cells. Now iHAT 1^ahi!Ai;kk has got out of his shell, let's !)(- sociable with him. I think he told me that only one man had responded to his re(4nest for subjects proper for experiment. R?;v. W. F. Cf.ahkk has reduced "the bad live" to the "'big four." but he doesn't say which one of the live has bf^en expelled. He talks real cross in the (\ B. J. about the other four. Vol- WANT A I'o.STAi, right away, friend Root, telling how m:iny colonies liave wintered. How am I to know without stirring them all up down cellar'.' 'I'bey are all quiet tliere this (ith of April. Dadant. referring to (rerstung's theory of tlie queen having periodic intermissions of "laying, says that, in constant examinations when en- gaged in ijueen-rearing. he has never obsc'rved any thing of the kind. (»i,i) sKfTioNs that are so dry as to break when being made up I have always thought were best treated by bi-ing left down cellar for some time. This spring I had to give up. that hot-water tn-atment is better. Onion-skts. friend Root says, need right seed, right soil, and all that sort of thing. " Wlien I was a hoy they just planted them so thick that they couldn't grow big and tiiat was all there was tp it. They were good sets, weren't they'? That's a cjood AHTin.K by .1. A. Buchanan, page -y.Vl: but isn't lie off when he thinks he s(Mls more honey on account of the adulterated stutf'.' And wliy should he wish " to bring to justice these robbers." the adulterators. If they are lielping his sales'? I always iTiofoiiT lOlwood knew a good deal, but that article on p. :.".'s shows he knows more than I thought he did. His head is espe- cially level when h(i says then^ will never be satisfactory work done in the government api- cultural department till it is independent, and in charge of a bei^- keeper. Tiii<; ^//ic/v'c(M( liee-heepcr sent inquiries to .5(X)() bee-keepers, asking the number and style of hives. I should have said that one hive in twenty might have i)een of box persuasion; but they make the startling statement, " We find that a very largi' majority of the hives used are of the old box style." Fkiknd Root, if you will look a little closer you'll see that Dr. Kellogg is all right on p. 235. He says that the bee rubs pollen off the flowers, " and carries it home with lihn." You see it's the he-bees lie is talking about. Now. yon just eat some of the pollrni a drone carries home with him. and see if it doesn't poison y(m. Too HAD my bees can't have a chanoe to work on tiie soft nuiples which are in full bloom since April 1; Imt it's too windy, cloudy, and rainy to set them out. although the thermome- ter has l)een ui) to 7r.*°. Hesides, it's not certain spring is here to stay, so the bees will just have to stay where they are. and roar if they want to. TiiosK HKi HKK-MKN of New York are all right and sensible, Mr. ralifornia-Man,' not to report their big crops. In reply to your other question, the reasons applicable to bee-men ni'e used by otheis. A man who has hor.ses, cows, or any other live stock except b<'es, secures con- trol of the tei-ritory on whidi they feed, and why sliouldn't liee-men ? To fiKK SK( Tio.NS that are so dry as to break when put together, leave tliem in the box and pour ijoiling water .so it will run down througli the whole box. Don't have your tea-kettle too full, and pour in a stream a lion t as large as a goose quill, moving slowly along the three lines of joints where they are to be broken. Don't get any w ater on the dovetails. I M.w sAV to friend (Jreiner. that, while I be- lieve young bees as a ruli' do not work in th(i field till If) days old, I knoir that the rule may be broken by circnmstanci's. I made the same experiment as Vogel, using only sealed and hatching brood, and at live (lays of age workers were carrying in pollen. Now. if t^^iise pressure made such a difference in this case, is it not possible that sufficient pressure often occurs to vary the rule more or less'.' 272 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. April 15. The American Bee-keeper gave due notice that its name was not to be squeezed down into the compass of three initials: but it takes so much inl\ to write tlie whole of it that the edit- or has begun to drop off the first eight letters himself, and he uses mei'ely initials for the names of other bee-journals. Say, A. B. K.. you'll not be so very mad if I initial yon after this, will you ? April 4 my bees were howling down cellar, with the thermometer 72" outdoors. Opened up doors at dark, and let a strong wind blow in all night. Bees quiet as mice in the morning, with thermometer in cellar at 50°. and stayed so, al- though door was open all day, letting in full daylight. Don't tell me bees need no ventila- tion in cellar. Mind you, they had been con- fined five months. Those who are anxious for fear the cells of old combs may become so diminished in diame- ter that the young bees hatched therefrom may not be of normal size, should remember that the chief part of the deposits left from cocoons are at the bottom of the cell: and as fast as these are left, the cell-walls are lengthened outward- ly, from which it will be seen that, at the mouth of the cell, the diameter must always be the same. THE POSSIBLE AND ACTUAL COST OF COMB HONEY. p. h. elwooi) cjuticises taylor's and hil- tox's estimates. and defends doolittle"s. Langstroth says it is an easy matter to make calculations on paper almost as flattering as an imaginary tour to the gold-mines of Australia or California. The following calculation of posfiihle profits from bee culture, taken from Lydserff's Treatise on liees. published in Eng- land in 1792, is a perfect gem of its kind: Suppose a swarm of l)ees at the first to cost Ids. 6d., and neither tliey nor the swarms to be taken, but to do well, and "swurra once every year— bees must be nanglity indeed if tliey dare to do otlier- wise!— what will be the pioduct for fourteen years, and what the profit If each liive is sold at 10s. 6d.V Yeai-. Hive^ Proliti- 1 1 0 s. 0 1 * 16 d. 0 2.. 2. . . . 4 ..... 1 * * .... 4300 0 0 14.. * 8192.. .. 0 N. B.— Deduct Ids. 6d., what the ttrst hive cost, and tlie remainder will be clear profit; sup[)osing- the .second swarms to pay for hives, labor, etc. The modesty with whicli this writer, who seems to have had as much faith in his bees as in the doctrine that "' figures can not lie,'" closes his calculation at the end of fourteen years, is truly refresliing. No beekeeper on such a royal road to wealth could ever find it in his heart to stop under twenty-one yeai'S. by wliich time his stock would have increased to more than a million, when, prolxihhj, he would be willing to close his bee-business by selling them for over two and three-quarter millions of dol- lars. the cost of honey, by the authoi; of •'blessed bees." During the hundred years since the above estimate of iiossiblc profits. I know of no one who has been able to make a more favorable showing tlian this except the author of "Tln^ Blessed Bees." After very careful figuring and verification of the same. John Allen (page 32) makes one colony increase in fourteen ycsars to over a third of a million. Oiu' Mr. Lydserff takes no account of honey, but derives all of his profits from the increa.'^e of stocks. Mr. Allen, on the contrary, gets over three-quarters of his profits from the sale of comb honey, leav- ing the multiplication of stocks, although more rapid than Mr. S., quite a secondary affair. In this centennial year, two more Michigan men — Messrs. Taylor and Hilton step to the front, and, in carefully prepared estimates on the cost of comb honey, so far lowei' Allen's cost of oro- ducing a pound of comb honey as to make it seem quite unnecessary to mention the profits derived fj'om the increase in stocks. Mr. Hilton does indeed incidentally speak of the sale of full colonies, but he makes light of it, and does not mention it in his itemized account. Taylor says nothing whatever aboTit it. as you might naturally expect fiom a lawyer and politician. Now. in an estimate of the possible reduction in cost, we can not consent to the omission of the smallest item from the account, even to matches and smokewood. In this respect the account of J. Allen is a model, for in it is found such very small items as paint-brush, putty, cord, postage-stamps, etc. As Mr. Hilton gives his report for twelve years, and mentions thirty- five as the smallest number kept, which must have been the first year, his increase by the comforting and carefully verified figures of the author of " The Blessed Bees" would amount to sonu'thing ovei' two millions of colonies. But it may be that Mi'. H. is not as well posted in this branch of his businesss as the college president ali'eady referred to. and that, indeed, he may be a full hundred years behind the times, and. like Mi\ Lydserff'. but doubles his stock yearly. Now, we can prove by a nuilti- tude of common bee-keepei's that this increase will bring as much if not more honey than a lighter one. This would give him an increase of only seventy-one thousand six hundred and some odd stocks, and we will genei'ously allow him all over the seventy thousand for winter losses (surely he can not have lost more than a hundred a year). If he has sold this increase as he intimates, undoubtedly you will agree with me in saying that, since we ai'e talking of cost in an apiary run primarily for comb honey, the amount received for them {i!!;:i50,0()()) should be applied to reducing the cost of the .W.OCX) lbs. of comb honey he has produced. This would make his honey cost consjdcM'ably less than the figures he names — in fact, quite a little less than nothing per' pound. Yon will not fail to observe that, the smaller the yield [ler colony, the greater the profit per pound, which is di- rectly contrary to the teachings of Mr. Taylor, who stoutly defiMids the now exiiloded dogma that, the greater the yield pei' colony, the great- er the profits per pound. In the foregoing estimate, no alhtwance is made for cost of hives, as it was supposed the honey casually obtained from the inci-ease would more than pay for them. But as we have called for exactness, it will be best to make a separate item for hives, which, how- ever, will make no difference in the net result unless it shall be to still fnrtlu'i' I'educe the cost of production. In an article by Mr. Taylor in last Glean- ings, just handed me. I notice he anticipates me in my corrections on increase, for he says: ■'It is possible he (Doolittle) intends these (the extra 1.50) hives for swarms. If that be so. then of course the apiary should have credit for the swarms, which would make a further very material reduction in the cost of the honey crop." , , As we are discussing possibilities, and as Mr. Taylor is dealing so largely in " futures," it may be well to call his attention to the Hasty- Hutchinson method of cheapening production CI.KANINCiS IN BEE CUI/rURE. ;iiui imiiiilaiiiiiiK llu- supply in poor soasoiis. This lui'tlKul is alsd cxpcftt'd to fiiniisli at all tiiiu'S a tiiK' appcariiii: protiurt fttr llif I'loclor Stool* Tower uradc ol coiiili lumcy. This will bo hoiH'v in iianio Diily. irhu-usc in icality. with liio ••boo-y"" taste atidod. but wholly lacUiMR tl\o lino tlavor ami delicate aroma of tiie llow(>rs. Some of till' most extensive packers of adnl- terated honey in the Ivist hav(> approached ns for l)ee- bread. This ijives ghicose a twangy taste, and causes many consumers to believe it gonnine honey. It is suggested that th(> author of this bi'e-gliicose scheme add. as an especial attraction to believers in the pollen theor\. the staiemiMit that it will t'nrnish them a desirable homo market for their bee-bread. Ijaslly, Mr. Taylor, when yon emliark on your voyage of discovery. do not fail to take with yon the Punic boo. It is now surmised that the remarkable success of .Fohn .Vllenwas caused by his haxing privately obtained the very lirst importation of the I'miies. The matter of increase will tluMi not be overlooked, for it will not be a secondary atTair. while for every other dosiralile [)ur|)ose under heaven these bees aie modestly claimed to oclipso all other varieties. DOOI.ITri.K-S FKillJKS SISTA INKD. .Inst now a" friend at my elbow"' calls at- tention to the fact that the editor wished me to take sid(>s with Doolittle. and therefore write, not on thi> lowest possible cost of jiroducing oomb lioney as already exemplilied by the twelve years" experience of Mi'. Hilton, or as to be exemplilied by the future experience of Mr. Taylor and others, but write on the actual cost with the average bee-keeper. This cost estab- lishes, or sliould largely establish, the market price. Of course. I am sorry I got on the wrong side, but I can climb over the fence as others have done. On reading over what I have already written, I judge I may be wrong in concluding that Mr. Hilton has sold mucli of that increase. If this be so. and he has them standing around in the woods waiting for customers to buy them, and un worked for the laclv of students, or even if he has had them worked oii shares where the hon- ey cost him a dollar a pound (see page 57. Jan- uary l.")th (;i.KANiN<.s). all of these items will have to appear in the account. If we charge up only tlie interest on their value. .*;3.")().(Kj(), and say nothing about that dollar-a-p(>und honey, we shall run u[) the cost of ijroduction to more than four times Dooliltle's figures. There must 1)0 S(jme important omission in his at-count which calls for a yearly prolit of 1 11 percent, or he would hardly be dropping his beir-business, as slated in last Revleir. to engage more exten- sively in the supply-business. Or is it true that we have been paying that much or more prolit on our hives, sections, crates, foundation, etc.? If so. how would it be to have now a discussion on the cost of >upplies'.' Mr. H."s account says nothing about cost of shop, honey-house, honey- extractor, wax-extractor, smokers, etc.. the cost, interest, and wear and tear of which for twelve years would amount to more than a thousand th (;i.KAXiN(;s. in w liicli this item is left out. As I understand. Mr. Thomas, in estimating profits in his hardware business, does not reckon in a salary for himst^lf asa part of the cost of conducting his business. Hut let me say to him, and to honey-producers who figure in the same shortsighted way. that, if a tax on net prolits were likely to hit them they would hustle around for a salary fully as lively as Doolittle, and probably make it quite as high. It seems to me that Mr. Doolittle has stated the case fairly in his last by saying that the average bee-keeper or bee-keepers on an av can not talk up prices, but we can easily talk *em down. The impression should not go abroad that the average bee- keeper realizes in sales double on the cost of his honey, for these are not the facts. If the middlemen think bee-keepers as a whole are making 100 per cent on their investments they are going to work a scheme to get a part of the per cent. No, let us clearly understand what are. facts and what are possibilities. If we pro- duce comb honey mnv at, say, 8 or lOc per pound (it never ought to cost 15c for the average sea- son) perhaps in the future if we look well to possibilities we may produce it for 5c per lb.] MANUM AND HIS NEIGHBOR. CONTINUED. "Manum, at what stage of advancement do you prefer to remove the queens?"' "Well. Charles, usually on the first discovery of eggs in the queen-cells. Last year I removed a few on the 28th of May. and by June 17th all were remov(>d. I sometimes take out queens from such as are full of Ijees and brood, even if there is no sign of swarming, in order to save hunting for the queens later on. The most tedious, tiresome work I have to do is hunting out queens in these full colonies. Where I have to work at it all day there is more work than pleasure in it." "I believe you experimented in caging the queens in the sections, and leaving them on the hive where the bees could have access to them, did you not?" " Yes: I tried it to some extent, but I can not give a favorable report yet. I want to try it another .season before I can decide. In some instances it worked successfully, while in many others it was a failure. I believe, liowevei', that the plan can be made a success if the queens are liberated at just the right tune; but I have not as yet discovered jiixt when the right time is." " What are the disadvantages to this plan, if there are any?" "In the first place, I believe it is an injury to the queens, when confined from 8 to \'.i days where they can not lay eggs. This sudden check from laying, which is contiary to theii' nature at this s(>ason. seems to be an injury from which they do not seem to recover, be- cause, when liberated and not rejected (which is often the case), they will lay eggs here and there all through the hive, and then swarm. But I find that, where they have been cased but 5 to 8 days, they behave much better; hence I am in hopes yet to mak(> this plan a success. Charles, there are so many things about this bee-business that I don't understand, that I begin to think I never shall know it all." •■ Did you think the bees worked any bet- ter where the queens were caged than where they were removed entirely?" "No; I could not see that they did." '"Then what would be the; advantages liy caging, over the removal of queens?" " Well, where one does not sell his yearling queens it saves introducing new ones, as these are already introduced; and I fancied where there was a laying queen present they were not as liable to start queen-cells as where no queen was i)resent; however, they did in some cases start cells fully as soon, and as many of them." "Now. Manum, what would you advise me to do, should I decide to run my two apiaries alone — to remove the queens entirely, or cage them?" IS'.f." (.i-KANiN(;s IN iu-;k ('llI/riI|{K. 275 ■• Well. Cluiilo. laUiiiLT all thing's lotiftlicr I WKuliI ailvist' yoii to riMuo\c Ilii- qiiciMis in pn-f- •Toiu't' to oaniiijr tliciu; liowt'vcf. yoii iniRlit cx- pcriiiii'iit ill cajriiiK a fi'sv. ]iy so doing you niijrlit (iiscovcr sonu' \(M> imiiorlaiil points wliii'll would lit' liciicliciai to oilier hcc-Urciicrs. It is not for one person to disi-ovcr or know all. We oiiii all help a little. Tliere is a larj^e lield of knowledge In nature lliatis yet nndisi-overed. with room (Miougli for all to work in. llenee let us all take a hand in the work and then roinpare notes." •■ \Vell. well. Mr. I'ox ! walk in. (."harles and I are liaviiiiT a oonveiuion all by ourselves." " Ves. 1 .see. Manuiii: and I am sorry I did not eome in sooner, riiarles living so near you he can stej) in and talk liees at any time; but I am so far away 1 have to be satistied with what I find in (.Ji.k.winus. I t-anie in. Manuin. to iisk if I LH)uld see your new feeder that I lii'ar so much about amonff hee-kee[)ers. and to ask if it gives you siitisfaciion." "(Hi! yes. Mr.-<'ox: you can see it. and here it is." " Why, Maiium. it is a dift'en^nt-looking thing from what I supposed it was. Wliyl it is a regular box. Won"t it leak?" "No. not if properly made — at least. I am not troubled with their leaking; as vou will see. they are thoroughly made." "You use them. I hear, for feeding back ex- tracted honey. How do you do it?" "There. Mr. Cox. you see they are just the width and length of my clamps; and by placing one on a clamp of sections you will see that it is so arranged that the bees can pass nj) from the sections into the feeder and back again, no matter how many tiers of sections are on the hive; just place the feeder on the top tier, and it will work like a charm." ■"How much does the feeder hold?" " Well, those made for my siz(! of claniiJ hold U) pounds of extracted honey. You know my clamps are only half size — in other words, it lakes two to cover the top of my brood-cham- ber; hence when I wish to hurry up matters I put on two feeders." ■'Charles, have you tried these feeders " Mr. Cox asked. '• Yes," said Charles. " I have 20 of them, and intend to make KJo more. They are the best feeder I ever saw. My man told me last fall that he wished I would give away all my old feeders and replace them with Manum's new kind. I have urged Manuin to have them pat- ented, but somehow he dot^sn't .seem to care for patents; whatever he invents he (jives to the public." Mr. Cox asked. " Now. Manum, there is anoth- er thing I want to ask you. What do you think of the Porter escape? Have you ever used them?" " No. I have never used them. Mr. Porter s<'nt me two last fall, but too late in the season to give them a trial, hence I can not s))eak from experience. But simjily seeing them convinces me that they are a good thing— yes, a perfect escape." " Now. Manum. why is it that we heard noth- ing from you through (tI,kanin'os for so long a time?" asks Mr. Cox. ••'I'he fact is. I have l)een \eiv busy since last May. as you must alreadv know. Hesidiis the care of all my bees I have had to look after and ship my crof) of honey. pn>par<' and feed the IxM's for winter, and, in addition to all this, 1 ha\e made extensive repairs on my house; and, furthermore. 1 felt it a duty to entertain the iinr iiuicti — a |)leasant duly, which, of course, I did not neglect. I hop<' now. however, to be able to talk to tiie readers of (Ii.K.VNt.NCi.s s has been wrought along the literary lines of our pursuit I Thirty years ago scarcely a dozen could be found who would even dan' to write on the subject of bees for publica- tion; but now we have hundreds who so write; and we find that the matter has a.ssumed such proportions that a whole number of one of the leading bee-papers (the Review) is devoted to the discussion ot the importance of" writing for the bee-journals." But I did not start out to tell who should or who should not write for the bee-papers; butofsomeof the things which a writer to such papers has to encounter by be- coming prominent in this respect. In that memorable issue of the Revieir alluded to above. Mr. Clark says. "Mr. Doolittle writes too much." and I Innc about come to that conclu- sion myself, and Iku'c pro|)os(> to tell the readers of Gleanings some of tlie things which have driven me to that conclusion. I have written to the extent of answering ev(^ry letter and pos- tal card that has ev<'r come to me so far; but just how long I shall keep it up. I do not know, for I have of late been im[)ressed with the idea, that, after keeping this thing up for fifteen years. I ought to have a vacation. Here are some of the things which have caused these thoughts to come to my mind: A person in Florida writes, "In a back num- ber of Gi-EANiNCis I saw an article from your Een about the different kinds of willows. As I ave embarked again in bee culture. I should like for you to send me cuttings of all the differ- ent kinds of willow in ymir vicinity. Please la- GLEANIISHJS IN BEE CULTURE. Al'KlI. 1" bf\ them nil nicely t^o I can tell them. We have only the swamp-wilhiw here. Inclosed I send three postal cards for postage, not having stamps on hand. If not enough for the postage. I will pay the remainder here. Your articles are a great help tome. Long live Gi-kanings." I heartily indorse the last sentence: but in order to indorse it long I must live myself. I am also glad to know that my articles help some along the rough and uneven way of api- culture; hut will these things and the three postal cards warrant me in tramping several miles for willow - cuttings, carefully labeling them, packing them securely, and taking them one mile to the postoffice? If not, will you, Mr. Editor, and the readers of (Cleanings, tell me what I shall d(»? Another writes: "In a late number of the American Riinil Home I see an article from your pen. on bees, which interested me very much. \Vill you please write me all about how to manage bees, how to build a bee-house, what kind (jf hives are liest. and how much prolit I can expect out of the business ? Please give full particulars in the matter." Clark says I write too much, yet here is a man who apparently doesn't think so. but wants me to write a book for his benefit, and present it to him in manuscript, without even inclosing a postal card to pay a small part of the postage. He little dreamed that, when I came to his let- ter, I had already been answering questions for an hour or more, or that there were from five to ten unanswered letters on my desk, with the hour of bedtime at hand, or that I was tired and nearly exhausted with the labors of the day. I want'to accommodate all, but must l)e excused from writing for any one the details of what he can procure through the papers and books pub- lished on bees. In this case I wrote him that lie would find all of his questions answered in such and such books, naming them: and if he wished to keep up with Ihe times he should take one or more of the different bee-papers, naming them also. As this reiiuired too much writing to go on a postal card, of course it re- tiuired an envelope, sheet of paper, and a two- cent stamp. It seems all should know about this envelope, paper, and postage, without be- ing told: yet not one in four who ask questions similar to the at)ove incloses a stamp. A stamp to them means very little: but to the one who has followed answering all such questions for fifteen years, it means a small fortune. Another says, " I wish to thank you for all of the good articles yim have given us in the bee- papers for many years. I always turn to your articles the first thing when I get any of the papers which you write for. being sure of a feast every time. I^ow. if you will grant me a favor you will lay me under renewed obligations to you for your kindness. On a separate sheet you will find some questions which I wish answered. If you can find time to answer these you will greatly oblige. Yours truly, ." By this time Mrs. D. has retired, but has not gone to sleep, so I call to her, telling her of the g«td words spoken above, and how glad I am that we could be the means of doing some good in the world. She replies by asking if I have lix)ked at the questions. " No, but I will." The "separate sheet" proves to be a whole sheet of foolscap paper written solid full of questi(ms, which begin: " 1. I think I have foul brood in my apiary. Will you receive a sample from me and tell me if it is such ? 2. How do you tell foul brood? Please describe It so mi- nutely that I can tell whether I have it or not; also tell me just how you would work to cure it." The :5d, 4th. and 5th questions are similar to the alK)ve. on foul brood. "0. How many colonies of bees do yo>i keep? 7. How do you manage them during swarming?" and so on down to the end of the sheet. What shall I do? I dip 7ny pen in a ditfertMit-colored ink from what the letter was written with, and right above every question give the very best answer I can in the space there is lietween the lines, directing to different books and articles as much as possible, in the mean time remember- ing how good old Elisha (iallup used to liear with me when I botiiered him in the same way. and trying to be glad to repay him by doing for some lirother or sister what he kindly did for me. In this way I keep on. and probably shall as long as questions are sent in. Being a littlt- worn to-day I felt as if a little knowledge of what a writer has to do might cause some to ease up a little (m these private questicms, and help others to know that the bee- writers do not all lie on " beds of roses." as well as to relieve ine a little by not keeping all of the good things to myself. G. M. Dooi.itti.k. Borodino. N. Y., Mar. K). [We thoroughly appreciate your situation, friend D. As editor of Gleanings it is one of our duties to answer questions. Those that are not of sufficient importance for publication are answered by letter. But unless your querist is kind enough to inclose you something, you will probably get no pecuniary returns for your pains and trouble. A concspondent certainly ought to inclose a stamp, or. better, a stamped ami addressed envelope, to bee-keejtersof whom they desire information: and where he calls for very full answers he ought, to ask his teacher, as it were, to send in his bill. As editor of Gleanings, however, we are prepared to an- swer all the questions, or at least ought to be. without even so much as a stamp or stamped envelope: and while our replies have to be very meager, often referring the querist to our A B C of Bee Culture, it is the best we can do. It is a little cui'ious why people will ask questions that are very thoroughly and well covered in nearly all the text-books. Every once in a while we are asked to give very full particulars as to when and how to transfer. There is not a general text-book on bee culture, however poor, but answers both of these questions fully. There are many others of a similar nature that we invariably refer to some page or paragraph in oui' A B C book. RAMBLE NO. 57. "OUT ON THE OCEAN S.\ILING." Wlieii on my day of life the iiigrlit is falliiij^'. And in tlie winds from unsuniu'd spaces hlowiiif:-. 1 hear fair voices out of darkness calling' My feet to patlis unknown. We can little imagine the size of acountiy until we commence to travel over its surface. Everybody knows that Texas is the largest State in the Union; but few people stop to think which is the next largest. It is Califor- nia, and it is noted for its magnificent distances. Its entire coast line is SKX) miles. From San Francisco to Los Angeles it is about 44() miles, and a journey by steamer gives the traveler two nights, or nearly 48 hours, on the ocean. My face was set toward Los Angeles, and a sea- voyage had been an experience I had often dreamed of, but never imagined I should have the privilege to make one, and especially on the Pacific. This was, then, an opportunity not to be slighted. The good steamship (Jueen left her wharf at San Francisco at 11 o'clock a. m. on Sunday, the 21st of October; and if all was noisy bustle mr: (;i-HANiN(;s IN moi; ci'i/riMiK. wlioii \v«> staiUHi. it was ([uict t'lioiiph for any Sunday when \vc left tli(> city; and if I liad any inisfiiv iiiiis alumi starting on tiiat day 1 had none aflcf 1 liad liccn out a frw lumrs. and only wisiifd tliat all of tiu>si' wlio wcic iahorin^ and in the pui-;nit of (jncstionabic aninscnK'nts on tilt' Sahliath wcio sailing out upon the oc(>an wlit'it' all is so quiet, sn ni-aud. and so soul- inspiiiiiii. As wi- passed through llii' (Joklcn (Jatf till' fot; was rolliiif; in from tlic ocean; and land, tlioujrli unite near on either side, cinild not be stMMi. Tli(» hoarse fog-horn on the steam- ship would blow ever> few moments, and an answer would come from another dee|)er-toned horn on some dangerous point on the shore. We soon experienceil a chanpe. however, and knew we were out upon the broad ocean, from the rise and fall of our shij) as she encounlfiied the regular ocean-swells. The fog rose after a few hours, and the steamer was out about 2."> miles from the shore, and kept about that dis- tance while between siojjping-ijoints. It was a pleasant sensation to stand i)n the highest deck at the stern of the vessel, and look forward and see the prow rise and fall as we went over the swells. The sea-gulls kept ns company. It is said they can tell when meals ai'e in progr(>ss from the savory smells that arise from the culi- nary department. However this may be, hun- dreds of them were always on hand to dive and S(iual)ble for the refus(> that was thrown over- board after every meal. A small amount of shipping is seen on this coast compared with the Atlantic. Many large cities in tiie East make an enormous coast trade; but their absence here, of course, dimin- islies the number of shijis; and from the barren wastes of treeless moiuitains all along the coast it will never reach great magnitude. Our state-rooms were well provided with all appliances neces,sary to aid a person to become seasick; but tlie sea was so even-tempered, so pacific, that none on board were thus afflicted. If there were any, they kept it very quietly to th«'niselves. Tiie long quiet hours of the day were passed by many in their state-rooms, reclining in their berths, "reading or sleeping, mostly the latter, for some people think they can sleep better in the day time when they don't want to than in the night when they do want to. This fancy, perhaps, holds good in other places as well as on shipboard. In the evening there was a gathering in the grand saloon. Some one leads on the organ, and several gospel hymns are sung; and. did you imagine it. my friends? those hymns are sung all across our land, under every condition of life, in the city and in the camp; and in the most uiie.Kpected places .some favorite air will be wafted to your ear. Who shall say the tiny seed is not taking root in the apparently l)arren ground ? After the songs. we listen to the fat and jolly captain who is entertaining a group of ladies by telling them that no one is seasick except those who are scared; that men are more liable to be seasick than ladies; that the average man"s hair would stand on end when the waves l)egin to roll. A sedate man in the corner wanted to know how a woman's hair could stand on end when it is always tied down. He said that, while it was perhaps a historical fact that a woman's hair never stood oji end. theri^ wc^re also men whose hair never became erect. He further said that no high waves or lions, nor even ghosts, could affect him. There was a prospect of some betting on the subject; but as no lions or ghosts were just then handy, that scheme was dropped. Someone then procei-ded to in- vestigate the man's head. when, lo and behold! the man was baldheaded. The laugh went merrily round: but the captain insisted that. though liald. a man could have the same sensa- tions, which, to all intents and purixtses, were tlie same as though he had the liair of a Sam- son. So the paradoxical (|Uestion is ojien for deliate: "("an a l)aldhea(led man liecome so freightcned as to make his hair stand on end?" "CANT MAKIO MV ll.VIH STAND ON f:Nl>." There are but few islands in sight until we near the port of Santa Barbara. About 2.5 miles out from this ()oint are the islands of Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and several smaller islands. Santa Cruz is the largest, and it has been sug- gested that this would be a good location upon which to breed a pure strain of bees, as the selection would receive no interference, the location being completely isolated. There are no bees upon these islands; and if the many fogs would not interfere, the plan may some time be tried. These islands are .something of a resort for pleasure-seekers, and on their shores are found seals and beautiful shells. San Pedro is the port for Los Angeles. Our vessel could not run up to the wharf, so several hours were spent in hoisting outa great amount of freight upon a lighter, and lighter and pas- sengers were towed to port by a small propeller. Twenty miles by rail, and I arrived in the beau- tiful city of Los Angeles. Having corresponded with Mr. Brodbeck, the secretary of the Southern California Bee-keep- ers' Association, 1 desired to become personally acquainted with him. and found him w<'aring his life away in the dry-goods establishment of Mr. Coulter. The next morning tlte Association met in the W. C. T. U. hall. This may be a late date to report the proceedings; but as they were very '" uneek." and were described by the, local press as a bamfuzzled crowd, a few words in relation thereto inay be admissible. Several of the leading bee-keepers desired to change the Southern into a Slate organization. The secretary, with the consent of a majority of the executive board, issued a call to that effect. The president, however, had a very fatherly interest in the old organization, and. soon after the mi'eting was called to order, it was evident he meant to light it out on that line, even if it occupied the entire time of the convention. After a long struggle a vote was' taken, and the State lost by one vote. The treasurer then took up the call issued by the secretary, clause by clause, and gave our genial friend particular (its. In the last clause of the call, the secretary stated that " Rambler" would be there; but as the constitution of the associ- ation was so narrow as to admit only those who had an ownership in bee.s, the treasurer becanie- so excited over this " Rambler" portion that lie figuratively slammed the door in the Rambler's face, and exclaimed that no Rambler should get into that convention as long as he had power to prevent it. The secretary and the Rambler kejit perfectly sweet; and when the IJI.h.AXLNCiS llv' BEE CULTURE. APHir. 15. gentleman — no. the treasurer, had exhausted himself and the subject, the convention pro- ceeded to the election of officers; and, remem- bering the hours of wrangling, the tables were NO liAMBLER AI.LOWKD IX IIKKK. nicely turned on the treasurer, and anotluM' man elected instead— Mr. Abbott, of I'asadena. The secretary was made happy by having his action indorsed by a unanimous re-election. The Rambler also felt as happy as a bright sun- flower. The ex-president tried to put in a few more remarks, but nearly every bee-keeper TABI-KS nHNKI* AT TIIK roX VKXTIOX. arose and buzzi^d so loud that his voice was drowned, and it looked as though a swarming- out mania had taken possession of them. Mr. Abbott, the new treasurer, took the chair, the buzzing ceased, and the swaini (of t)ee-keepers) alighted in their seats again. Conventions are suppo.sed to be held for mu- tual instruction, advancement, and the having of a fraternal era of good feeling: but this con- vention had so much wi'angle that but little time was left for mutual benefit, and many re- turned to their homes not satisfied with Ijhe results. The moral learned is, that associations are not formed for the benefit of any one person or clique, but for the many; and when their interests are ignored, there is always more or less music in the air. Quite a number of bee-keepers live in I.,os Angeles, and in that other charming town, Pasadena; but while their homes are in town their apiaries are miles out in the mountains, which are cn'er i)resent in this portion of Cali- fornia. There seems to be a sort of mutual under- standing, or an unwi'itten law. among bee- keepers in relation to the I'ights of location. Jf a person secui'es a piior right by establishing an apiary in a certain field, it is seldom that a man will crowd in whei'e he is not wanted, or where it will be a detriment to his own interests as well as to his neighbor^. Wishing to find an apiary in the sage district, I wandered due southeast fi'om Los Angeles; and until further notice the shades of night and the Hotel Temescal will hide the Ramki.ki:. SPRING DWINDLING. .lamks iieddox dkpides ix favor of oitdoor wtxtkrixg: hk prkfers outside wixter ca.ses, axi) whv; iiow his cases are MADE, ETC. The time is drawing near when we shall read from the pens of various bee-keepej-s the follow- ing: '■ My bees wintered pretty well, but I lost heavily by spring dwindling." Now. Mr. p]dit- or, I am not going to say any thing I haven't said before, nor offer any arguments that are new, except only as all arguments are new un- til they are answered. Immortal youth is one of the attributes of an argument which can not be answered. Neither am I going to suggest any methods that I haven't wi-itten for bee- papers long ago, and practiced even longer. Vour readers change, and it may be of value to some of your present subsciibers to know what methods I have found most successful in win- teriftg and springing an average of 5()0 colonies during the past l."> years in a locality where bee- diarrhea seems to be right at home nearly every winter. As I have before said, and feel that I know, the excreta of bee-diai'rhea is undigested pol- len: and pollen-eating'during cold and confine- ment is the cause of that malady, compared with which all other cau.ses of winter losses combined sink into insignificance. Again, I claim as heretofoiv that tlieiv is no such thing as spring dwindling among bees which are well wintered: that a normal colony of bees nevei' dwindles away to nothing in spring after the time comes when tlu^y can gath(>r pollen, and lly most of the time, unless the bees of such col- ony had intestinal inflammation when they crossed the line between winter and spring, as we term it. Confinement w ithout (extreme cold will produce the malady when the food is right for it; consequently, during all such winters as the one just past, and three or four preceding it, in Southern Michigan bees are safer proper- ly packed outdoors than in any special reposit- ory. Every winter I hav(> had them both ways, and have observed icsults in other apiaries round about. But now comes tlie question, "• How should bees be packed for outdoor wintering'.'" I have packed in so many dift'eient ways during tlie same and different winters, that I feel positive of the superiority of the one I am about to de- scribe: and tlie reason of this article at this datt> is because I have found that (^very colony wintered indoors should be packed the same way for springing, whether they are partially diseased from wintering or in perfect health; because, <'ven if the latter, and no spring could kill them if not packed, even thc^se healthy col- onies will be (enough stronger when the surplus harvest opens, because of this packing, to repay the owner several times over for all cost and trouble. I once discussed this question with W. Z. Hutchinson, I taking the opposite and he my present position: but I afterward found out my mistake, and admitted it — yes. declared it several years ago. ♦ ;LKANlN(iS IN I{Ki: CUI/niKK. 27'.> I piu'U as tolldw >: I maUi' a l)o\ ol' comiuoii lumber two to llirrt- i in- lies larncr than the liivr all aioniiil. It lias a tit;lit liottoiii. and a e-ovci slmttiup over liUf till' lid of a triinU. but witli- tiut biuift's. of I'oufsi'. After taKiuir tlie bive fcoMi tbc bottom stand, and placiiifr tbc box ibei-t'oii. pitohiiiK it 1"' to ".'D defirccs foiward. 1 put a si>lid l'._.-iiifli div sawdust iii tlir bottom, sft the hive inside on tin- sawdust, witli an ai- ranueiutuit to maUe tlie eutfanees i'ofres|)on(i: tiiop in a lifidiie to make a elosed eiitiance whii-li will keep out tlie pai'kini>o.n. Dowagiac. Mich.. March ".'.i. • We do iu)t know much about spring dwin- dling—that is. w hat causes it — w hetlier it is a malady peculiar to certain seasons (U' whether it is due to the consumption of too much pollen. In our locality we have taken no i)ains to select combs without p(jlleu for w intering. and yet for the last six or eight years we have had very lit- tle s[jring dw indliug. You may be right, and you may be wrong in regard to pollen: but we are certain that you are nietty sotind on the wintering question. While we have been making all this noise about non-absorbents and si-aled covers, we presume you have been using them for several years. iiv the way, there has been a good deal of fool- ishness shown as to who was the first one to discover the sealed-cover idea. .\s the expres- sion goes, it is "older than the hills." We have no doubt that yourwinter cases give excellent results: and wf are sure that you are right in advf)cating that cellared bees otight to be protected iifter being set out in the spring, for a time at least. Our winter cases gave us most excellent results. It nuiy surprise you a little to know that those with dead-air spaces w intered the bees just as well as those in which the same spaces were i)acls with us. Our winter cases, as you may know, are made of •'„ lumber, and only '.' inches larger inside all afouiul than the sin- gle-walled hive is outside. It has no bottom- it simply slides down ovei' the hive, jtadded sticks being on the insid<' bottom edge to keep out the cold. A '4 -inch board is then put on top of the hive, and the bei^s are allowed to seal it down, which they will do. of course, if put on in time. Above this thin board is a chaff cush- ion ■-' inches thick, aiui the w inter case is then covered by the ordinary hivi'-cover. We remember that you once took the ground that indoor wintering in your locality was bet- ter: but now it is a pleasure for us to observer that you decide for outdoor wintering for aver- age winters. For our locality we arc; sure that it is the belter w ay. We are equally sure that, for verv cold localities, the cellar plan is the better. ' The great trouble with localities like our own. and perhai)S yours, is that bees in the cellar are apt to be noisy and uneasy because the weather outside is at times too moderate.] AKE CLOSED END BARS OF BROOD-FRAMES PREFERABLE TO OPEN ONES 1 \T rUK OHIO STATE HEE-KKKI'KKS CONVENTIOX, CINCINNATI. I suppose that, if the question were put in oth- er words, so as to read. "Are the standing closed-end (,)uinby brood-frames preferable to the Langstrolh hanging ones?" the general verdict would be that the latter are preferable. Yet tliere is undoubtedly a growing sentiment against loose hanging frames: but that it will ultimately lead to the adoption of a closed-end brood-frame. I do not think. Although many excellent bee-keep(»rs now use them, and would have no other, still my faith is stronger- to-day than ever that some form of the Langstrotli hanging franu' will ever be the most popular, and will serve to perpetuate tlu- memory of the man who has done more toward the advance- ment of apiculture than any other that ever lived: who lifted our jjursuit from an unprolita- ble and unsatisfactory investment in "straw skeps " and box hives to a pursuit at once prof- itable. r(»spectable. and highly fascinating to a large class of our people. That this revival of apiculture from the state of obscurity into which it had falhui was due to the J^angstrotli iuveution. there is not on<' who to day doubts, 'i'hat it still has merits over evi-ry other inven- tion of a bee-hive, either ancient or modern, it seems to me is so far proved by the liistory of apiculture in the last forty years that the ques- tion is hardly worth discussing: and that these itu'rits lie clnelly in the superiority of the hang- ing frame is e(jually apparent. So it would aj)- pear. that, after the general approval of the bee-keepers of the civilized world for forty years, we may well conclude that the princi- ples of the Langstroth hive will survive and become the dominant ones in the jwpular hives of the future. The present tendency against Idusi- lianging frames is not necessarily a tendency toward the use of clo.sed-end broo(i- frames, but. rather, to- ward some practical method of spacing and fix- ing the hanging frame. This we have had for some vears in the Hoffman- Langstroth frame, w hich of late has undergone a ftirther improve- 280 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Apkii, 15. mentby the Root establishment at Medina, so that, as now constructed, it is without objec- tion, and fulfills every function claimed for the closed-end frames, and yet is about as readily movable as the old style of the L. frame. How- ever, in a hanging frame only 7 inches deep, which I use. I prefer to space and fix the frames by a very light form of the Van Deusen metal corner, as it spaces exactly V^h inches from cen- ter to center, and does not interfere with the ease with which the frame may be taken from the hive. It is. therefore, my opinion that, be- tween these two methods, the public need not look further for a practical means of keeping the Langstroth frame in its place. The prefer- ence, then, must be given to brood-fraraeS' with open end -bars. Du. G. L. Tinkek. New Philadelphia, (). [The first sentence of the last paragraph gives the true statement of the case. So many have inferred that, because we do not recommend the loose frame, therefore we argue for the closed end. Not so; as the doctor well states, .some method of accurate spacing is demanded: and that, for the L. size frame, the Hoffman end- bars seem to meet the requirements. As to a seven-inch frame, the Van Deusen may be bet- ter.] AUTOMATIC SELF-HIVERS. PRATT S I)p;VICK ( HITICISEI). As I invented the first self-hiver, it is quite natural for me to take quite an interest in all that is said about them. In Gleanings, page 199, I see that Mr. Pratt illustrates and de- scribes a device for self-hiving bees, which he claims as his own invention. Well, it may be that it is all his own. I waiit to say that Mr. P. and myself have talked a good deal about self-hivers in the last two years. Last season I remarked to Mr. P. that I did not know but that I should have to arrange my swarmer so as to compel the bees to pass out through the new hive in order to hive nii the bees that issued with the swarm, as, by being compelled to enter a new enti-ance on their re- turn, not all the bees that come off with the queen would find hei- and enter the new hive. I also stated that there were strong objections to placing one hive before another, and thus compelling the bees to travel such a long dis- tance in order to reach their combs on return- ing from the field. I will describe and illustrate, in P'ig. 1, the most practical self-hiver tested; and this has been thoroughly tested, and does its work well. FIG. 5— FULL COLONY. FIG. fi— DEf'OY HIVE. A and B represent the self-hiver. The hive at the left is supposed to contain the colony; the one at the right hand is a sort of skeleton (or decoy) hive. In the decoy hive should be placed one dry, clean brood-comb. Several days befoi'e a swarm issues, the bees will be busily working on the comb; and when the swarm issues they enter the new hive. The queen quickly enters box B, and is followed by more or less bees; and when the swarm returns the bees readily find their queen and settle down to business. In case there are not bees enough to make as large a colony as is desired, the parent hive should be removed. Now. no one can reasonably object to this: as the old or new swarm should have a new location, and experienced bee-keepers would advise making the young swarm as strong as possible, it is cer- tainly a great advantage to do so. I consider the above arrangement for a self-hiver the most practical of any yet described. In work- ing for a practical self-hiver I kept in mind the fact that the entrance should be as free of any sort of obstruction as it is possible to keep it. and at the same time have a swarmer attached 1o the entrance, which, in my opinion, is of it- self all the obstruction that should be there. I also kept in view ihe fact, that thp swarmer, in order to come into general use, should be sold at a low price. I have no doubt that the Pratt device will hive the bees. It seems to me that he has adopted the same principle for trapi)ing the queen that I have been granted a patent . for. Therefore the Pratt swarmer, like all the others, is an infringement on my claim. Some time within six months my good friend Dibbern took considerable space in this i)aper trying to make your readers believe he had de- vised a swarmer that would hive a swarm of bees every time. Before Mr. I), got through it was found that his swarnu>r had never hived even one swarm of bees. All that he could claim that it had done was to catch the queen and a few bees. I should say that it catches about as many bees, and works about the same as the drone and queen trap. By the way. Dr. G. L. Tinker says the queen -trap is as good a swarmer as he wants. Well, if one is in the apiary most of the time there is no better ar- rangement for managing swarms when one issues than by using the trap. Where the trap is used, the bee-keei)er is not obliged to droi> his work when the swarm comes off: he can take his time to hive them. If no hive is ready when a swarm passes through the trap, just place a box near the hive the bees issue from, so that the trap will be about the same dis- tance fi'om the ground as when on the hive, and I will guarantee that not one bee will re- turn to the old hive, but all will go to the trap and cluster with the queen. The trap should not touch the parent hive. On the other hand, place a new hive at the side of the one the bees issue from: and as soon as the queen is seen in the trap, place it on the new hive and every bee will enter it and thus hive themselves. Release the queen when the bees begin to go in. Wenham. Mass. Henry Alley. [We sent the above to Mr. Pratt, who replies:] All honor to Mr. Alley for inventing the first self hiver I Even if he did not perfect it, great credit is due him for starting the thing. I ad- mit that his first device caused me to take great interest in the matter, as it did bee-keei)- ers all over the country. Mr. Alley and myself have talked a good deal about self-hivers. and it was during some of those talks that I suggested the i'oim and make of the box B connecting box A and C, which caused him to abandon the zinc tube used on his first device and adopt the improvements, although it was hard at first to convince him that the round connection was not the thing. Then after it was found tJiat would not work I gave him the point of letting light into B B, over the cone, which proved a success in call- ing the queen into box B. 1 ■»*••.• (;i-KAM\(;s IN inoK ciii/ruKK. •.'HI Mr. A. K. IJoal's sii;rj,'(>siiuii on |iii^'i' 7(ic.. Sc|it. 1. ISIM, was thfi'iuisf (if l)ox (' bfinn abaiKhmt'd (set» Ai>i. for Nov.. pane l(>li. and tlu' sclf-liivtM' illustratt>d by Mr. .V. above was broiiKbt about, ill tbis way. Vcs. Mr. .Alley is ptMtrctly jusli- tii'd ill claiiniiiij bis swaiiner as all liis o\\ n. 1 am pleased to rcrcivc sutrKt'stioiis tliat will belp me |)erfeet a device. It is in tbis way tlie most 00 in plica ted iiiaebiiies are made perfect and useful. I do not lememlier ol Mr. .\liey"s tellint; me tbal be "did not Uiiow but tbat be sbould bave tti arian;ie tbe swarmer so as to compel tbe bees lo pass thmiKjh tbe new biv(»." If be did it mad(i no impression on my mind. I do fe- nuMuber of bis ttdlinff me tbat he would bave to devise some way of compidling: tbe bees to pass out of tbe bi\i's opposite tbe entrance to tbe new bive. so tbat tbe (lueeii would be traiiiied lliere. anil more bees would pass in with her. I did not understand, as be lias stated it. at all. nor did my new principle originate from any of Mr. Alley's stati'iueiits. Tbere j.v a little objec- tion to baving one hive placed before aiiotber. also beside anotlier. and tliese objections I have overcome in a recent device witli thi> new prin- ciple of trapping the (pieeii in tbe hive tbe swarm is to occupy, and causing the bees to join lier by tlie entrance they have become used to. Mr. Alley is mistaken when be says my swarmiM' is an infringement upon his trap. Reading both i)atent claims will show that tliey in no way conflict with each other. One is used to hive a swarm of liees. while the other is used to catcli drones. 1 can not but echo what Mr. Alley says about the advantage of his drone and queen trap, an excellent device. 1 have always been loud in its prai.se — justly too: but the drone and queen trap is not an itiitdtiKitir s\y;\vm-h]\i-v. E. L. Pr.xtt. Heverly. Mass. THE PRATT AUTOMATIC SWARMER. irs l'KATLKK> KKC().\-II)i:UKl) I!V C. U. DIU- BKKN. I was very niucli interested in the Pratt self- hiver. as described on |)uge I'.iii of Cti.eaning.s. I have experimented largely in that line during the past few years, with various devices of my • iwn. witii more or less success: but I am free to say ti'at the I'ratt is far ahead of any thing heretofore suggested. I am well awan* that it is not very safe, usually, to give a positive in- tlorsement to a device that we have not our- selves tried fully in actual use: but a single glance at the cut fully convinced nu; tbat the one great obstacle had been overcome. 1 liad been watching for some further explanations from Mr. Diblile. u ho referred to son^e device of his described on page 0:.' of (;i,K.\.MNwarmer. I feel quite sure that the perfect swarmer will soon be i)roduced. if. indeed, we have not already got it. Let us consider some of tlie advantages of the Pratt overall other automatic hivers heretofore described. In the Pratt system the swarm re- turns to the same entrance to which they have long been accustomed, and, of course, there are no bees lost by trying to enter adjoining hives as is often the case wliere the queen is hni to a new [)lace. As the ()iieen will be ahuost surely in fi'ont (jf the empty liive. where the bees will readily find her. it is quite certain that nearly all the swariH will remain in it with her. One great point in favor of this plan i.s, that the hives can remain safely as they are for a week fir >;o. with advantage, as the young bees hatch- ing in tbe old liive will be constantly reinforc- ing the new swarm If tbe honey surplus cases are shifted over to the new hive, it will b(^ a great belp to them: and such a swarm slioiild continue working in the sections i-igbl along. Some of the disadvantages are, that the bees have to travel Ihewholc length of tbe empty hive, passing two perforations before reaciiing their own hive. Now. if a queir past discussions we iiave pulled the subject to pieces and viewed it piece by piece. Let us now come, as far as practicable, to a focus, and out of the several systems agree on one or at most two systems of grading. If fur- ther discussion will increase the number and variety of systems we had bettei' stoii where we are.] THE COST OF PRODUCTION. KKE-KSCAl'Ks: 1!V .1. H. I.AKHAHEK. As requested, I send you one of the bee- escapes that I have used foi' the past two sea- sons. It is not new in any point. I had seen Dibbern's. Reese's, and the old Porter, and de- cided to make some, as I had previously come to the conclusion that they were a success. You see, I had " tried it in my mind." 1 had ou hand thin lumber of a ceitain width, and two of these widths were not wide enough for a whole board within about two inches; and as I laid the pieces upon an empty hive the idea occurred that this two-inch space was just what I wanted to put the escape in. The points about it that make it more effective than some of the other cone escapes I have seen are: I.AKKAHKE's BKK-KSCAl'E. 1. Till' three large cones are not easily clog- ged: 2. Plenty of ventilation to the super, thus preventing the excitement causing sufl'ocation or gnawing of the cappings. The cost, you see, is almost nothing, and time in making it is about ten minutes. Like the new Porter or Dibbern's Little (Jiant it is a practical success. Brushing and shaking oft' bees is no kmger done in freeing extracting suj)ers; and wh<'n remov- ing crates of sections the young bees are not crawling upon the honey-room floor or spotting the windows. There is another subject upon which I wish to say a word. As you stated in your report of the Grand Rapids meeting, I made the asser- tion that I could care for bV) or 300 colonies, al- lowing half a day's labor to each colony, doing every thing fi-om putting together of s<^ctions to crating the honey for market. As there was considerable discussiim upon this point, and some seemed to think I had placed the esti- mate too low. perhaps it would be interesting to know how I would manage l.")0 colonies. My bees are wintered out of doors in chatf hives, the brood -chambers of which are pro- tected on top by a tray with cloth bottom, filled with cliaft'. On the first warm days of April I remove this tray, roll back the (luilt, and see that <'ach colony has a queen and stores. It is almost never necessary to remove a frame to ascertain either of these facts. If a queen is lacking I unite at evening, and if stores an- lacking I remove one of the combs near the cluster and insert a frame of honey that I take care to have on hand. I am not stingy of hon- ey, but see that they have enough to last till 1 8H.\MN(;s L\ HKK ClM/rURK. •.'s:? tilt' liurvfsi. ;ni(l il tiiUi's l(H> of il at lliis linn' of the yrar. I )j>> owr ilic apiary in liiisway in a (lay. Tin- next cxaniinalion is niadc lo- waid I In- lirst tif May. when tlic I ray of vluitT l^ it'iiiDVcd from tlu> tt>|i of the frames and slurcd in a dry place, and tlie l)()ard cover placed on the hrood-clianitiiT. 1 keep an eye npon tlie condition nf the liees ai this time, to maUe sure tiiat all have sntlicient honey to last till ilie lirst of .lune. 1 also note any weak colonies for a little special care. At tliis time I slick np the a!)iary. ri'iiiove and clean out combs and hives of colonies that may hav(> died duriiiij winter, etc. This lakes a couple of days more. About the middle of .May I bcyin the tiusiuess of pre- paring for the lioney-liarv<'st. In I hree weiMvS I have the foundation in sections, and in crates and frami's in hives ready for swarms, thonsh the woik of preparing extra hiv(>s mij^ht be left out of the :\ccount, as no credit is {jiven for value of increase, j-'rom the tiftcenth of .lune to the twenty-lifth of .luly. my time is filled in with the work of tlie honey -harvest, putting on and removing sections, rearing queens, hiving swarms, and at morning and e\eiiing I lind timi' to nail, paint, and repair, and biiiig up llie odds and ends of work. The most of my time after the lifteenth of •Inly is d(>voted to i)reparing the honey for mar- ket: and along about the first of September an- other two weeks" work g(>ts the average crop graded and into the shipiiing-cratcs. This gives me plenty of time remaining of the T.") days in which to prepare the bees for winter: anci as they are in ten-frame hives, and have an abundaiKM' of good honey, tliis is not much of a job. The burlap covers and chaff crates I can put on in a day. and all is snug until next year. It is by having a good coiivi-niiMit honi'y- house. an apiary of chaff hives, allowing plenty of room for good honey stores, and the practice of a definite system or plan of work, that I have done this. I am familiar with my hive, apparatus, and system, and thi're is some- tliing in this. We neve! have a fall honey-flow to a degiT-e to make supers desirable. In Pres. Taylor's estimate of cost of produc- tion, he allows only fourdoUars for the handling, from the hi\(' to the honey-marki't. of each l.'iOO lbs. of honey. This seems io mtUoo low. I should atleastdouhle it. For the New p]ngland markets. the sections must all be scraped, aufl the honey carefully graded and packed in crates witii glass or in cartons, and neatly stenciled and marked, ami this is necessary in oi'der to get the l."> i-ents i)er poumi of Mr. Taylor's estimate. 1 believe that the most (economical method of running an out-apiary is to cage the qui-en to prevent swarming. This seems as yet to be the only practical method nnle.ss some one watches for swarms. It is nice to run the out- apiary for extraoted honey, and discouraging swarming by plenty of room. I understand that our friend Manum has secured the past season a good crop of comb honey from several apiaries, almost alone, on the caging plan. I am also looking with much interest for the ar- ticle from fi'iend Hilton upon thissubjectof cost of production. As I sin'iit several days with Mr. M. after the State convention I had the oppor- tunity of observing that he was careful and systematic, and tliat his methods were very similar to mine — so mucli so that he remarked we could not get into an argument. .1. II. I,Ai;i;Aiii:i<:. Ag'I College. Mich.. .Ian. :.'0. [We may explain, for the benefit (d' oui- n-ad- 4irs. that our first knowledge of the Larrabee bee-escape came while we were in attendaiice at the convention of tlie Mich. State K. K. .\. at brother took oil' :!(KK» lbs. of extractcil honey withoiil so much as brushing a liei' off the combs, we were elated. As you will remember. w<' asked one of the Lafral)ee boys to s»Mid us one of their escape- boards. They did so. and the engraving above illustrates somewhat I lie principle. We might add. that it is simply two boards cleated around on the sides, leaving a I -space on one side. The boards are left about two inches apart, and on two sides are nailed strips of wire cloth, covering the opening as shown, the strips being of une(|ual length. lietween the strips are two sets of three tiori/.ontal cones of wii'e cloth pointing in opposite din'ctions asshown. The fact that bees have got to go through thrive cones is pretty good evidence that it would be quite unlikidy for them to get back into the super: and then, the ventilation is perfect. As to whetlu'r the Larrabi'e escape will woi'k as well as or better than the I'orier remains to be proven. As Mr. I^. says, it combines the old principles of the Reese and Dibbern escapes; but it s(>ems to us in a very inii(|ue and practi- cal manner. In i-egard to the cost of. honey, we icgarded Mr. Larrab(U!'s statement as being very con- servative and fair. He uses in Vermont tln^ large chaff' hive, and these stand out both win- ter and sumtnei'. and they rcMiuire but very lit- tle labor. That is one beauty in having chaff hives. They cost a litth; more, but they savi' a great deal of labor in springing and wintering in the way of moving in and out of the cel- lar and in hauling. There are some localities that are too cold for outdoor wintering of any kind, at least we are so informed: and for mi- gratory be<>-keeping or for any reason that the hives must be moved often, the chaff' hive is un- desirable. Oui' small Dovetailed chaff' hive is an e.\cei)tiou. It is but a trifle heavier ttuui the single-walled hiv<'s. and is equally portable.] PREVENTING PROPOLIS AND BURR-COMBS. r.\t-T,0\V .\XI> V.\SEI.IXK FOi; THE I'Cin'OSK. I want some advice and help. We have been U}\(\ for many years, that, if we ruobed tallow on the joints of our hives and other places wher(e we did not want pro|)olis to accumulate, the l)ees would not |)ut it there. Now. I want to know whether there is anvone who has tried it on a scale large enough to know wh(U,her it is practical or not. Some lOnglishman. I be- lieve, has lately been recommending vaseline for the same purpose. Who has tried this? Does either of them, or any thing else, prevent proi)olis enough to inaki' it jii-oli table to use? It would be woi-th something to gel rid of pro- polis where it is not wanted. It is for another purposes though, that I think it might prove profitable to use the plan: that is. in the pre- vention of burr-combs. Several years ago I made some fraiiK^s to hold cages in which to [)ut (lueen-cells for hatching in the hive. Wishing to have them as perfectiv movable as possibh;. I rubbed them well witli tallow. They have always been used in hiv On page 333, 1890, you uif nlion a way to have ceils built by the bees, and have tlie queen fertilized when hatched. You saj', " Let there be an entrance on top." Now, what I want to know is, if I do not make ati entrance on top, but only the original en- trance at bottom, CHU I raise cells, the cells to he cut out a few days before they hatch, and given to full colonies, as I wisii to requeen all my hives? My bees are black, and sliow some trace of Italian stock, whicli 1 wish to get rid of and come back to the original hla<'k stock that I had years ago when I used to get iioiiey. 1 used to raise what queens I wanted, by the nucleus system; but if I can raise tliem in full colonies without having the hives (lueenless. I think it would be better. The system you reeonmiend seems to me to he really two dis- tinct colonies. If I do not let tlieni have two en- trances, will the bees below go above and raise cells and really act as one colony ? A Subscriber to Gleanings. Yes, you can raise cells just as well without any entrance above, if yon want to cut out the cells before they hatch. I think you may find the plan to succeed well sometimes and some- times to fail. The first time I raised any celLs in the way mentioned was in a hive over which I had placed three stories of empty combs to be taken care of by the bees. In order to make sure that the bees would traverse the entire lot. I put a frame of brood in the upper story. There was no queen-excluder, and nothing to hinder the two queens coming togithei' except the fact that they were so fai' apart that it was easier for the young queen to use as an entrance the hole she found accidentally left above. This case was reported in ( Jleaxings at the time, and 1 think it was the first case of the kind ever published. No. there are not two colonies. I don't know just how much separation is needed, but it seems that, whenever there is young brood to be taken cai'e of. and the queen does not have ready access to it, a certain amount of isolation will induce the bees to rear queen-cells, even if there is constant communication between the bees of the two parts. I have not always succeeded in getting the bees to rais(^ cells in a second story with an ex- cluder between. But Til give you a plan for raising cells that may almost always be de- pended upon, and you need no queen-excluder. Instead of a queen-excluder, put between the upper and lower story a quilt or sheet; if holes- are torn in it, no matter. But there luust be sonu- place, at back, front, or side, for the bees to pass up through, and I don't know that it luake.s much difference whether a squaie inch is left for a passage, or ten inches. The point seems to be. that the cloth cuts oft" direct com- munication between the two stories better than the queen-excluder. If very much of an open- ing be left, the queen will sometimes go up into the upper story, especially if she hasn't all the room she wants below. Of course, when she IS'l-J (JLKAxNlNtiS IN inOK ri'I/rLIRH. unt's up. tilt' oclls almvc will 1)0 licstioyod, iiii- loss tht'rc is some iiiioiitiou to swarm: but in any oiisc the Ihm's will start otMls below. Sol iiavc ofti'ii li'ft the ool(Miy in llic upper stoi-t. and put only one e(niil> of lnooii in the lowei- story, to lind cells alnmst surely started below . Now. some oiu' will say that this is a good V)hin to have oueens reiu'wed— simply let tlie vounff iiueen liateh out and kill the old one. l"ve had notrnublein haviufj the younj.^ (lut'cn hati'h out. but in a tew days she was always missinsi. and the old iiueen serenely maintained supreniaey. With an excluder between, and an entrance for each (|ueen. the case might be ditl'ereiit. You want to tret rid of the trace of Italian tilood. I wish 1 could swap for it the tiace of lilaidv blood in some of my colonies, and ha\e us pure Italians as some 1 had ".years ago. when I used to sret honey.'" Hut I'm afraid tluit. if you had the same |)u"re blacks back, you'd find that tlu>y wouldn't give you a crop w itliout a good season. We've had bad S(>asons lately. It is (|uire true that Italians have not secured croi)s: but I have no distinct recollection of ivading about the blacks storing better crops than the Italians. ('. ('. Mir.i.i;i:. Mareimo. 111.. Mar. 17. REPLIES TO INQUIRIES. WKUillT OK COI.OMKS. (j>((c.vf(o/i.— What becomes of the diffei'ence between fall and spring weight of colonies, sometimes amounting to :.'() to ■.'."> pounds'.' Aiisiccr. — Hei'S use hone\' largely as fuel dur- ing the winter season, in tiider that they may not freeze during the frigid weather of our northern localities. The natural food of the honey-bee contains the least possible amount of gross matter: and as bees do not take on fat and then-by increase in weight, the digestion of honey in the stomach of the bee is equivalent to combustion: or. in other words, the honey is burned up: henc<' as the ashes of burned fuel do not weigh anyw heic near as much as the fuel did before burning, so the" ashes." or what is left in the intestinesof the bees, weighs much le.> from nitrogenous mattei-, it is jjassed off in liquid or vaporous form by way of sensible and insensi- ble perspiration and respiration, except the small amount to be found in the bodies of the bees. This is sometimescarried on to such an ex- tent that water is often seen running out at the entrance of hiv(>s in winter. Some of the food is also used in pnKiucing muscular foice; and as this force is constantly wearing out, the loss is perceptible in the food, while in the weight of the bees it is not seen. In all of the above we see the wisdom of Him who created ourjiets: for were it otherwise they could not stand the rigors of our northern latitudes at all. inasmucli as they are too cleanly to soil theii- hives, while the weather will not admit of their leaving them, often, for mom lis in succession. FEKIUXG BKKS IX WIXTKR AXD SI'KIXG. Question. — What is the liest method of feed- ing a colony of bees that is found to be without food in the hive iti miflwinter or early spiing'.' Ansner. — In tlie fiist placf we should never allow our bees to be in this condition, for it is much more to onr advantage, and to the advan- tage of the bees, to have sutlicient food supplied them in tlie fall to last at least till the last month of spring, and 1 often think that, if enough is given to last till .lune it is all the bet- ter. The prudent ai)iarisi will look overall his colonies in Octobei-. and see that all are abun- dantly sup|)lied till ihe llowers bloom again. However, should such a thing as our pets i)eing shortof stori's happen, through sickness or othei; adverse circumstances, the very best method of feeding them is to set in combs of sealed honey, as this places the bees in a natural condition and does not distui'b them every little while, as most othei- modes of feinling do. If no combs of honey can be had. the next best way is to till combs with good thick sugar syruiJ. when they are to b(^ used in the same way thi^ combs of sealed honey would be. In either case snch combs of feed should l)e warmed for six hours or more before being jihiced in the hives: for. where combs of frozen honey are set next the bees, th(! colony is thrown into a state; of ex- citement to warm this honey up to wiiere they can safelv cluster against it. There is still another way of feeding wiiich I like very well, especially if this feeding is done in the spiing. and where I have on hand some extracted honey which has candied, which is as follow s: .Make a bag out of cheese-cloth. al)out six or eight inches square, or that much in diameter, after which partially till it with the candied honev. which has previously been worked till itis (jiiite soft, or it can be worked after it is placed in the bag. Don't till the bag so but that it will assume a flat shape, for we wish to press it down right ovei' the cluster of bees. .Ml it can l)e covei-ed over snugly with bee- (juilts oi- old carpeting to keep in the heat. The bees will suck the feed tlirough. and in process of time cut through the cloth so as to use it all up. t,«>f ATIXO AX AI'IAHV. V»e.sf('o(i.— Which is the l)etter location for bees— one on low ground, where it is moist and frosty in the spring, but sheltered, or one on high ground, where it is free from dampness, but somewhat windv '.' Ansirer.^li I could have my choice I would select neither. My choice would be midway on a moderate slope which faces the southeast. This would avoid the early spring frosts and the dampness of the low lands, and, to a large extent, the high winds of the elevated position, which are almost sure to prevail. To be sure, a windbreak can be constructed around the apiary on the high gnmnd: l)ut according to my experience, many bees are lost by being swept away on windv days upon rising above this in- closure into the cold blasts which blow about it, they being allured out by the calm and sun- shine witliin. For this reason 1 would select the low ground in preference to the high, had I notthe privilege of taking the inlei-mediate one. If bees go out from the warmth caused l)y the mid-day sun shining in this low ground, they are not'liabh' to be lost thereby: for when they rise high enough to strike the cold air from above they at once fall into the warm air l)elo\v, so are not lost: then on the whole the tempera- ture at the low location will average the warm- est in early sprins. (' 7r> Box. ••ill 11" Langstroth. 1 — 31 Simplicity. — •-'1 S. and Mitc'l.i ■'>(! 17 Langstroth. h' 8 Box. .""11 10 Sniplicitv. "'0 1"' Simplicity. 10 !■' Langstroth. [ ">o 6 Dove'd. 8-fr. -"'0 1 Simplicity 50 ■i6S. andDoV.l. 400 30 Siniplicitv. , ',0 75 Langstroth. -25 :i3 Lingstroth. , 80 •!0 Langstroth. I M 30 Siniplicitv. — i'lO Langstroth. •;'> 33 Langstroth. 20 1300 Langstroth. i — 25 Simplicity. ,100 2 Simplieitv. — 2 Mrs, Cotton's — 7n Langstroth. tii 136 Langstroth. i 40 ■^ Simplicity. ^> 4' Langstrotli. Mi' Simplicity. 2 Simplicity. 90 Simplicity. 80 L , K-story. "> Langstroth. 14 New Heddn 120 Simplicity. 17 Langstroth. 30 l^angstroth, 50 Langstroth. « Simplicity. 8 Siniplicitv. 60 L. and N. H. 18 Langstroth. 16 Langstrotli. 10 Box. 4 Box. 11 Langstroth. '•• yuinbv. 4" S inplicitv. 40 sniplicity. 6" S. and Dov'd ''" Lang-troth. IS" Langstroth. ■:0 Box 10 Simplicity. ? Eight-frame /.' Eight frame 3t Simplicity. '^ Siinplic'ty. Simidiclty. Sinnilicity. Box. Frame. Simplicity. 66 100 .■ill Bo Fi'ame Langsti Box. ith. Box. Box. Box. '" Langstrolh 12'- Langstroth. 28 Dovetailed. •■' S inplicitv. 140 Langstroth. 8 Simplicity. 40 Simplicity. 30 Long-Idea, l? Simplicity. S' Simplicity. 40 Simplicity. 46 Sim|ilicity. I'l" Siniplicitv. l>o S mpiicity. 4" Siniplicitv. 8" Langstroth, 4" Lang.stroth. 40 Langstroth. '•' .Simplicity. '2 Siniplii-it.v. ' American. 82 Dixie. 10 Simplicity. 10 Simplicity. 10 Simplicity. 7 Dovetailed. 2j Frame. 8| Dovetailed. 0: 50 R„x. 26 Box. 12 Box. ••.0 Box. ■'"Box. 5 Box. 12 L. Cotton. 14 Frame. .\verage stiy Length of tlit Honey Season. Orange, palmetto, button-bush, grape. Palmetto, pennyroyal, oaks, etc. Orange, palmetto, goldenrod. Orange. I Mange, palmetto. No repoi t. No report. Mangrove, tig, mastic. < >raiigc, palmetto, gallberry. Palmetto, mangrove. Palmetto, dog fennel. Orange, p.-ilimttci. Orangr. palnictln, bay-trees. Saw-paliiietto, bay. irange. palmetto, gallberry, gold'rod. irange, iialmetto. Orange, palmetto. Bay, goldenrod. Palmetto. Palmetto, mangrove, iiennyroyal. Saw and cabbage palmetto, mangrove. Mangrove, saw and cabbage palmetto, Tu)ielo. gum. -nowvine. Tvr^ . tupeUi. siunvvine. Tiit.elo. t.\ ty, snowvine. t 'range, pa Imetto, goldenrod. wax-iil't Palmetto, andronieda. gallberry. I iiaiige. palmetto. Orange. Black gum, tupelo, grape. Gallbeiry. >aw and cabbage palmetto. Tyty, snowvine. tupelo. Orange, palmetto goldenrod. I 'range, iialmetto. etc. Saw palmetti>, sea grapi'. Orange, palmetto, bay, golileiirod. Palmetto, black niangiove. I 'range. )iiiliiietto. Palmetto, mangrove. Orange, p.ilni'o. ji irtridge-jiea. go'rod. Pennyi oyal. saw palmetto. Orange. Not iepoi-t( d. Orange. Orange, galll en y, parliidge-pen. Orange, partridgepea, gallberry. Partridge-pea. gallberry. orange. Cotton, eoi n, fall flowers. No report. No report. Orange palmetto. Orange, palmetto, mangrove. Saw-palmetto. Galjbcriy. palmetto, (iallbeiry, orange, palmetto. Pennyroyal, saw-palmetto. Pennyroyal, saw-palmetto. Palmetto, basswood. Saw and cabbige palmetto. Mangri>vc. palmettn. Palmettii, mangrove. Paimettii. mangrove. < Irange, fruit bloom, goldenrod. I 'range, fruit-bloom, goldenrod. Palmetto pennyroyal, etc. Orange, palmetto. Orange. Palmetto, pennyroyal, etc. Palmetto mostly. Orange, palmetto. Palmetto, orange, .icssamine. ( 'range palnuttc, .iessamine. Jessamine, palmetto, orange. Orange, p.almetto, fall flowers. Black mangrove. Palmetto, gallberry, mangrove. Gallberry, mangrove, palmetto. Saw-palmetto, niangiove. .Mangrove, saw -palmetto. Saw palmetto, mangrove. Mangrove, saw-palmetto. Saw -Iialmetto, mangrove. Maim rove, saw-palmetto. Black niangiove. Black mangrove. Black mangrove. Black mangrove. Black mangrove. Black mangrove. I iallbei ly , palmetto, basswood. Orange, ii;i!metto, mangrove. Palmetto, leil liay, mangrove. Orange, palmetto, fall Howers. Palmetto, orange, tall flowers. Pink root, iialmettn. fall flowers. Orange, palmetto. Palniettci orange. Orange, palmetto. Palmetto, orange. Orange, deletrie. Palmetto, orange. Saw ]ialmetto. Palmetto, partridge iiea, etc, Partridgr ii'-a. palmetto etc. March- July. Febi uary -May. Mar.— July; fall. Febru'y— March Febiuarv— June. May— June 30. April- Nov Jan, 1— June 1 . 7 months. May— Oct 15 March— July. March— o<-tobei. May— .lulv. May-Nov. Mar.-.Mav:Oct. Feb.— October. Feb.— Apr.; fall. Whole j-ear. 6— 10 months. May- October. .Ma'v- October. Apiil— Sept. April— June. Februarv-Nov. March— .luly. March- June. March and Apr. -Mar. l.'i— June 1. .\pril- .luly l-'i. Mar. 10- July 1. February— Nov. January— Oct. Mav 1— June 15 March— Nov. May 10- July 20. February - June. May -August. February— Nov. Ftbruar\— Juni'. March, Ajiiil. Mai ch— July .\pril— October. .\pril— October. April— October. July-Sept. March — Sept. February Nov. Febiuarv- Juh. Apr. 20 -June Ml. Apr. -iO June 20. Feb. 1 May 20. February June. February— June. Apri!-July. Mav 30-Scrit. ai. .MaV .30- Sept. 30 Mav 30— Sept. .30 May-Nov. Mav-Nov. Whole year. March— July. February— Apr. Whole year. I Whole year. March June. Whole year. Whole vear. Whole year. Febiuai\ .lune. June l.'i '.lulv 15. M i,v 10 Aug. 1. Mivio Aug. 1. May HI Aug. 1. June iO— Aug, 10. .May la- ,Uily 30. May 15— July 30. June 1 Aug. 1. June 1— Aug. 1. June 1— .\ug. 1. June 1 .Vug. 1. June 1— Aug. 1. June 1— .^ug. 1. June 1 -\ug. 1. June 1— .\ug. 1, Feb.- June 10. Feb.- June 10. February Aug. Feb.-Mav; fad. Feb.— Mav; tall Feb.-Ma.V; fall Mar. 1— June 1. Mar. 1— June 1. February- May. February- May. Six week<. Four months. .\pril June. Palmetto, pai Ige-p, Partridge jiea. palmetto, et<-. Palmetto partridge pea, etc. Pal ti i.ltJe pea, palmetto, etc. I'.ilmettii, iiaitridge-pea, etc I 'range, palmetto, gallberr.v. (Iallbeiry, (lalmetto, orange. 240 100 900 1100 •2000 hnllO t93 216011 l."i2iS SCO .1200 1600 2,i(8l .nOO 6.'i (iOO 100 4(KI 60 fiOII 2600 120(:0 200 :m\ 0 2(K0 30 2180 '•• 9.01 80 6110 12 Maich ti .March frost. .Mareh frost. March frost. Morch frost. Manh -frost. March— frost. Mar.— May 30. Mar.— May 30. a-T 2(H) 250 50 Ml .it) 40 60 2.10 2000 2000 ;i(K)0 2000 2000 2000 — - 2000 25 1140 2& ISiC' (iLKA\IN(;.s IN KKK ( I' l,'l"l' KK. :J87 pussihlt-: lull i»\\ iiiir lu iiiiiii> ol' ilw Irii'iHi-; iiui aii^wfiiiiir all ilir qiirstions it israllifr liurd lo siinimari/f it as a w liiilc. I siMil oiil some .")()(i piiiii.'d hlaiiKs on postal oafils: hut witli this i-onvciiitMiiT only about oiii'-tiftli of tlic fiinids icplicd; ami tills, too. when 1 know from pri- vate li'ttt'is that a irtKul many of tlicm liail sc- oured vcrv fail" I'fons. I'loin information thus iraim'd 1 ('stimatc tlif numiuT of i-olonics in the State at ahout r.',(HHi and the honey crop at niXi.iHH) Ills, for the past yeaf. On the Apalach- ieola River there are over .itKKi colonies not list- ed in the report, and thoeinen liaveall secured from i)(> to iN) ner cent of a full crop. I hav(> not tested tliem. for thi' reason I have not received personal I'eports from each, only an estimate from one or two in each district. In siimmlnj? til> llie report we lind: 1. That 110 persims report a total of ."):«)."> colonies, an average tif ahout 4S colonies to each: ".'. That ;{7 percent of the hee-koepers use the Simplic- ity hive: -JS per cent the I>angstroth: 1(1 iier cent box hives and HO per cent miscellaneous makes: '.\ That sfi rejiort on increase an aviM- age of 5t) per cent: 4. That the main surulus hoMPV comes from orantie, {rallherry. tyty. tupelo. snowvine. Iilack gum. saw an?l cabbage palmetto, black mangrove, pennyroyal, golden- rod, and partridge pea: .".. That i here is surplus (luring neaiv every month in the year in some locatit>ns. and that we can lake two or mori' crops during a year by moving our colonies to such locatioiis: H. That tif'i re|)oit that an aver- age of .'ti'i per cent ort ".'I'li'.' lbs. of wax: *.». (not in report), that from .Mhi blanks sent out to the bee-keepers of our State 1 have been alile to obtain only IKi responses, as givt-u above. Hoping the aliove report will be of some value t() vou. my friends, tlie coming season, and that 1 may again hear from you. I am your obedient servant, .\. I". Hi!<>w\. Huntington. Fla.. Feb. -.'1. [Perhaps some of our readers may think we are giving a good deal of spaci' for the statistics of one State, flowi'ver thai may be. we give the room in order to siiow iiow the work may be done, and to give a better idea of tiie real hoiiev resources of Florida. While we may not be able in the future to pulilish these State sta- tistics in full, we shall lie glad to publish the summaries giviuiz the gist of the whole matter. We hope, therefore, that other States will fol- low suit. If California bee-keepers would get up statistics as complete as these, we siiould be glad to publish tlie entire report, even if it took several pages. Such a rejiort would be valua- ble, coming from the greatest honey region of the world.] PAINT FOR BEE HIVES. THK HK.ST I'Al.Vr: I'KIMIXO fOATS: IIOW Hi Dl. TK( T AI>lI/n;KATIOX IN I'AIM. I.K . B// Eiiiest H. Honi. We have already gi\en some hints in regard to the most durable |iaint for bee-hives: but during the last few months we have been col- lecting material from various sources, and are now in position to otter some information that may be valuable to our n-aders. now that we are about to enter upon siiring wi'ather. when the bee-keeper may iia\e time to paint some of Iiis hives that mav be ^adlv in need of it. Ii is a wi'll known lai-i among painters, that yellow l-'reiicli ocher gives a very permanent covering, especially for priming coats. Ocher would doubtless supersede even white lead were it not that its c(dor is against it. It is also slated that a priming coal of ocher presents such a hard surface that a covering (d lead does not adhere so well as it does to a priming coat of lead. A few years ago nearly all the priming was done with yellow (teller: but it was discov- ered thai the later coats of lead would Make oil': so generally, now. for house-painting, pure leaii for a piiming coat is preferred, providing it can be obtained. i?ut we shall hav<> occasion to speak of adulterated leads further on. It is generally acknowledged that French ocher combines vi'iy readily with lead, and the com- bination makes a more durable paint than even pure leaii: Imt. unfortunately, so-called pure leads are feai fully adulteiatecj. Ih^alers get to cutting on prices, and manufacturers are tempt- ed to put in barytes. lime, and other cheap in- gredients, w liich. instead of adding to the per- manence of the [)aint. work in an inverse ratio. The result is. that some of these adulterated lead paints show a very poor surface in a couple of v<'ars. The paint either Hakes off or rubs otT like chalk. I'.esides pure lead, and genuine yellow French ocher. pui<^ zinc is another good body for paint. The addition of /.inc~at least a small projior- tion — does not generally artect the durable . Very foituntitely there is a simple way of de- tecting adulterations in paint. Any thing but linseed oil can usually be detected by the smell. Fish oil has a very rank, sickening odor. Ba- i-ytes and lime can usually be detected in the following way: Buy a small can of the lead that you propose using with your ocher or zinc. as the case may be. Scoop out a little of it and put it in an empty tin can; pour on top turpen- tine. Mix thoroughly by stirring, and then al- low this to stand for 34 or 48 hours. At the expiration uf this time, pour oft' the top: and if barytes or lime is used you will find a sort of dry powder in the bottom of the can. that has failed to unite with the oil. This lime or ba- rytes is a positive detriment; and the only reason it is put in is because it cheapens the lead. If. on tlie othei' hand, after making the test as above, you find no chalky residue in the bottom of the can. you may feel pretty sure that your lead is pui'e, or, at least, has nothing woi'se in it than an addition of zinc, which will not hurt it. Genuine Fi'ench ocher, on the other hand, combines perfectly with the lead or zinc, and leaves no residue. There is anothei' very simple test, though perhaps not so positive in its results. Dip your thumb and finger into pure white-lead paste and rub them vigorously together for four or five minutes. If the paint is made of pure lead and linseed oil, oi' of i)ure lead, ocher, and lin- -seed oil, a rubbing of the fingers for four or five minutes will still leave only a soft oily residue. If, on the other hand, the paint is adulterated with barytes or lime, two or three minutes' rub- bing will reveal a sort of dry powder between the thumb and fingei'. I^inseed oil combines perfectly with lead. zinc, and ocher, but it will not '^ombine with linu'., barytes. or chalk, and hence the fraud is easily detected. IVrhaps we might state, while we are about it, that there are on thi; market what are called white and gray ochei-s. We would warn bee-beepers to let these alone. The only reason they ai'e called "ochei''" is because the general public understand that ocher paints— at least the yellow ocher — is known to be durable when spread upon the wood. We have tested some white ochers; and while we could not tell ex- actly, we felt pretty sure they wei'e made up of barytes, lime, and clay. Gray ocher is. perhaps, a little better; but it does not begin to have the qualities of the yellow ocher. While we are about it, we might add that Venetian red also makes another durable body when combined with pure linseed oil. Its color, however, is against it. You can get a very pretty and durable I'ed by mixing pure French ocher and Venetian red. half and half. Such a red will not deteriorate into a dull brownish red. but will remain of a bright glossy color. We use such a paint on our outside winter cases, or on any thing that is not to be used for sum- mer use. We also use it on hive-stands. The bright-red hive-stands and the straw color of the hives make a very pretty combination in an apiary. It may be also stated that dark shades are apt to burn off more by the (iffect of the sun than the lighter shades. We have thought best to make some extracts from the readings we have made. They not only confirm in some cases what we have said, but they will be found to give other additional facts. IMPORTANCE OK GOOD PAINT. We iiie I'lolmbly more indebted to paint than to any other ai'tlcle for tlie pn-sei-vation of surfaces that are exposed to the elements; and it is tliere- fore desirable to use only tlie best. Notwithstand- ing the e.xperiments and trials that have been made with other materials, thus far iiotliing' has been found to take the place of white lead (carlxmate of lead) and linseed oil. Owing- to the liigh cost of these articles other metals liave l)eeii repeatedly tried, and even more extended experiments have been made to substitute some other oil for linseed, lint without success, and they still hold theii- su- premacy for painting purposes. The carl)onateof lead contains, in addition to tlie metallic lead, a cer- tain percentag-e of earto7i and o.xj'g'en, and .iust suflicient h.vdi'ogen to give it tlie proper spreading- quality. Linseed oil also contains carbon, oxyg-en, and hydrogen, and hence its afiinity for the lead, causing- the two to unite perfectly. The natural formation of cai-ljonate of lead, however, is such that it has a tendency to chalk otf; and the more advanced authorities in paints emplo.v the use of zinc oxide to cori-ect this tendency; and experience lias proveti that this comljination of lead and zinc insures a more durable paint than lead alone. As white paint is more subject to being- soiled from dust, smoke, etc. (the favorite painting- ma- terials are in colors), the most durable colors are the iron oxides; but these are usually too dark in t-olor to be I'leasing- to the eye. Chromates of lead, i. e., yellow and g-i-een, are used largely in varying- tints and shades. Combinations of different pig-ments are used in almost endless variations. Probalily there is no color that is more of a favorite, however, than ocher; and as it combines perfectly with white lead, it malies a g-ood paint. Ocher is a substance, the liest g-i-ades of which ai-e found in France. Tt is composed of alumina, silica, and hydrated oxide of iron. From tlie latter it obtains its i)eculiar I'ich .vellow color. Many pleasing; tints are made by combining ocher with white lead; and althoug-h it may not perhaps be indorsed by the festhetic as the color "iiai- excellence," it is always a reliable and favoi-ite color, and is more largely used than any other color Of its class.— Friioi the Foie-'it City Paint Co., Clevelanil, Ohio. THE PRIMING COAT. Many painters do notg-ive mtu'li attention to this most important of all coats. Tlie.v seem to think and act as if any thing were good enough for a primer. We have fre<]nently seen odds and ends in the slusb-tub tui-nish the material for priming; and if foi- any rt>asoii a lot of paint is condemned as unfit for fin isl ling- coats, it is reserved and thouglit to be g-ooti enough for llrst coat. It is. however, of the utmost im|)oi'tance that the priming receive the a-reatest attention and care, as, if it is neglected, the win ile superadded coats are bound to be defective. It matters little how g-ood these may be, nor how i-areful the workmanshii); there can not but be trouble in view in the near future. Wood, it will lie noticed, is composed of bundles of thi-ead-like filaments; where these filaments have been sawed tln-ough. the.v present the appeara.nce of iiores. Fndei- micioscopic examination it will be found that there is consideraliie space between the tllaments. and that they are not solidly laid against one another. These interstices it is that the primer is called upon to till. The primer will be found to have little bits of roots, which form cliiicliers. These clinchei-s have a great hold upon lliewood, and it is of the utmost importance that both the pigment ;ind the vehicle be of the best (piality and of the proper nature. The vehicle should be raw linseed oil. for this penetrates much further than the boiled will, and for that reason the latter should not be employed. Earth colors containing consideraliie silica wliich have lieeu very tinel.v ground are the most u.seful pigments for iniraing, and the ochers for that rea- son are the best of all these. Tliey co]itaiii con.sid- erable silica, and have great body besides. The addition of a quarter to a third lij- weight of white lead is an improvement, as the paint is then more porous and the next coat can penetrate through it. Never use a dry ocher unground for pi'iming, as the particles are much too coarse and can not enter into the pores. Have only careful, reliable men to apiil.v it, as it must lie thoroiiglil.\' brushed in to get Weil worked in, and we know that there is no class of work that is slighted moi-e than this is in the workmanship. Any thing in the shaiie of paint, and anybody to put it on, won't do. Zinc "should never be used in priming, for the rea- .son that the tendency of zinc is to peel otf; and we have frequently seen it do so where it had been used as a primer; even the rootlets formed by the entering of the primer into the pores are drawn out 1892 IJLEANIN(JS IN HKKCULTURK. 2m t'ii>iii Ihi^«. Fur llii> ii-;i>.iiii. tlu-ii. /iiic -lioiild Ix' di-^- (•.•iiili'd alliiRi'llicr foi- ;i pi'iiiu'f. Tim >rro:il :i li<>il\ is not dcsiialilf iii;i iiriiiu'i-; iiiid. while botli Ilic oclicr-. iiiid while h'lul .ire hciivy- liodit'd. llicy niiisl be Ihiiiiud down with tlir M'liii-lc niilil tlicy ai-c vn-y thin. F. Moiir, >ii H(iii:w. 'Pliis will iiialve tlie most diii-able color for ear bodies; tlie elironie is pertnanenl when inixi-d with lend almost as niiieli so as the best oeheis; but it is far superior in b(Mly ami I'overinv projierl ies, and one of the most useful pivments in the paint-shop. Whiti- lend alone will ehanv'o from its original whiteness in ease it is mixed wit li a surplus of oil; itistlK'oil which elianyi's it to a yellow cast as it hardens in diyinjr : ''ill when lead is mixed with some other strong pijfment. its color when thus tinted is more permanent, and its densit\ and weariiifr <|ii;ilities are iiicrea.sed. The s it is. as I have heaifl exuressed by members, that thi' foreman painter is not consulted in reirard to the coloi- of the car This is e-enerall\ decided by those who ki n-eeable intercourse, he can affirm that not one of ids immense circle of customers has had to complain ul)out liim. Hi.s lo.ss will be sorely felt in Italy, wheie his rt-putation was as good as it was. abroad. [For the last six or eight years we bought all our queens from Italy of Hianconcini. Tliey were uniformly good, and gavi' excellent Sittis- faclion to our customers. His business relations with us were also of the pleasantest; and as a bee-keeper and qneen-breeder he stood high. We are happy to announce that his business will be carried on by his daughter. .Miss E. Hianconcini. liologna. Italy. She no doubt has been her father's best assistant in the a|)iary. and will therefore be fully able to sustain the reputation of her father. We expect to give her our patroiiMg*'. and would respectfully refer others to her. I E. K. R. I'OISONOfS HONKY. I have a young man living with me who has lived all his life in northeast Tennessee. He says evi-ry one keeps bees there: besides, the woods are full of wild bees, but he never saw a liee on wiiat is called mountain laurel there, and he don't believe they can work on it on ac- count of the sticky nature of the blossoms: but they do work, in limits of scarcity, on a small evergreen shrub called ivy in his locality, (may it not be confounded with the lattrel in some other locality, as happens with other phints?) and what honey they store while it is in bloom is dangerous. He has betMi very sick from eat- ing it, and knows a number of other cases, and one child died. The bees never seemed to do well when they had any of this honey in their stores. The symptoms of poison, as he gives them, are simiiar to tho.se given by Dr. (Jram- mer, in the .A H ('. I looked through my apiary yesterday. The Italians (Roofs and NebeTs stock) are in tine shape— lots of bees and stores, and a good bit of brood: luit the blacks are in rather poor shape: dill not feed uj) well last fall, (live me Italians everv time. They are the •"hustlers." Parker. Kan.. Mar. :.'y. .1. W. (iitovK. .\ I.ETTKK Fi:oM CIKA. Friend Ernest:— I notice in (Ji.ka.m.nhs of Feb. 1st that you think your father is coming to Florida, and" might fiossiJtlii come to Cuba. Well, we Cubans will just be delighted if he 290 CJLEAMNGS 1^' JJEE CULTURE. Ar-iJii, 15. will cunsciit U) (.•oini'— 1 iiican the bee- keeping fraternity. This is not only a honey country, but a mass of (luweiy vegetation, with sugar- plantations, miles wide, dotted here and there with enormous sugar-factories, and the climate is just delightful li'oni October until May. The place to take the boat would be at Tampa, Fla.. there being a line of elegant steamers that run from Tampa to Havana, a distance of ;{20 miles. The run is made in about 24 hours, with a small stop at the charu)ing city of Key ^Vest, Fla., which has a population "of about 20.000. it would be best to write to Dr. James Warner. Havana, about three days before your father takes the boat at Tampa, so as to meet him at the boat-landing in Havana, for every one speaks Spanish, and possibly he might be annoy- ed. Dr. Warner lives in Havana, and is quite an extensive bee-keeper. Mr. Casanova is living here, and he is a fond lover of bees, and, besides, owns one of the finest sugar-plantations in Cuba, as well as a fine new sugar- factory, and he too would be very glad to have the honor of entertaining Mr. Root. With the hope that we Cuban bee-keepers will be honored by Mr. Root's visit to oui'Iand of i)altns, I am sincerely yours. F. (). S()MKRFt)i;i>. San Miguel, Cuba. Feb. 14. [Many thanks, friend S., for your very kind invitation: but, as 1 have before explained, you will have to wait until scmie future tiine before we make that pleasant visit. I assure you that your kind invitation has done us both a great deal of good. The fact of having such friends away off in Cuba is of itself worth a good deal.] A. I. R. i'()Ktek"s hee-es('ai'E8 ake a great success. In an editorial in (Ji.eanings of March 1, the editor asks any one in a position to know, whether the rumor that he heard was true, that a Canadian association of bee-keepers con- demned the Forter bee-escapes, saying that they tore the wings of the bees. Xo: that ru- mor has no foundation whatever, and no Cana- dian association of bee-keepers did or could be got to condemn the Porter beecscapes. because, wherever any bee-keeper in Canada, has tried the Porter escape, he speaks of them with un- limited praise. If any one will tear one of the Porter escapes open and examine it he will be convinced at once that they could not in any way injure a single bee. Xo bee-keeper on this orb of oursshould be without niorc^ oiless of Por- ter's very valuable escapes. They are one of the best things ever bi'ought into any apiary, and they should be used in every bee-yard in the whole wide woi'ld. ^^'.M. McF,\- OY, Funl-bvootl Inspectoi-. Woodburn. Out.. Can., Mar. 14. A SUGGESTION. To meet the objection of Mr. Walratli. to V'ing the sides of the end -bars of the Hoffman frame why not make the V by cutting the wood away all on the outside thus: ]z: ]z: ]z: This lea\ es the inside next to the bees smooth. lUit the frames would have to be all square and close-fitting in the hive; i. <;., have no end play, else the sharp edge of the end-bar would not always touch its adjoining bar. Perhaps by leaving the point of the V ,i. inch thick would make it work. E. H. Whitakek. FaSalle. 111., Feb. 24. [Your sharp edges would be impracticable for the very I'eason that in practice it is impossible to avoid all end play: and when there is end play, the sharp edges would slide by the square edge, and thus destroy the function of accurate spacing. Even if the liives and frames are made ever so nice, moist and dry weather would inake it impossible to get the fi-ames down in the rabbets.! SEVERE WINTER EOSSES: fONDITION OF .M V r.EES. The honey-dew is doing its best in this part of Uncle Sam's domain. When I go down into my bee-cellar the odor is dreadful: the floor (made of cement), barrels, boxes, shelves, ev- ery thing, are covered with dead bees, and soiled. Over half of them are dead: the other half, or one-third left, will be in such a dilapi- dated condition that, if they will not die before long, there surely will not be a pound of surplus this coming season. They had a good fly one afternoon, three or four weeks ago, and were put back into the cellar the same evening. I also had standing out two in Roe's chaff hives. Both are dead. My neighbor is about as badly off; two-thirds of his bees are also gone, and that means no sections or bee-supplies for us this year. The bee-paper is the only thing that will still flourish. W.\r. >i<)ERSHEi.. Homestead. Iowa, March 22. ONE third M(»RE honey TO WINTER OUTD!>ORS than indoors. I find that it is taking a third moi'e honey to winter bees outdoors than it does in the cellar. Those in the cellar used one pound of honey in l.'S days, or very near that, while those in single- walled hives, out of doors, used a pound in 10 days or on that average, for the last 00 days. Charees White. Farmers Valley, Neb., Feb. 15. A I'l.EA FOR THE HEACK HEK. Has the black bee no friends, that we see nothing in its favor? For years I purchased Italian queens, and had my apiary well Italian- ized: but the winters of Xorthern New York seemed too much for them, and my bees are now all natives; and I believe that, in this location, if "a man had an apiary of fifty colonies, and forty were Italians and ten black, at the end of ten years there would not be an Italian h^ft. Woodville. N. Y.. Mar. 0. W. Van Aukev. SMAM. AI'IARIES FOR EXTRACTED OR ((»MB HONEY. Would it pay to buy an extractor where one has only S or 10 hives of bees ? and which stands pay most, those run for coml) honey or for ex- tracted? What proportion would you advise to run for comb honev, and what for extracted? Weldon. Ark.. Mar. 3. E. W. .Iohnson. [If you have only a few colonies you had bet- ter run them all for comb honey.] AEFAI.FA. AND WHEN CI' T FOR HAY. On page 115 of (tLeanings we read that alfal- fa cut for hay is cut before it blooms sutticienlly to produce honey. I would not give much for that hay. In this country it produces honey for a while before it is cut. but not as long, of course, when cut for hay as if cut for seed. Last, Cal., Mar. 27. W. A. H. (Jiestrau. A CHEAP l"ACKA(iE FOR EXTRAC TED HONEY. Candy-pails for honey I find are the best and cheapest thing for extracted honey. When the honey granulates they can be shipped every- where. My bees are wintering well. Cokato, Minn.. Mar. 21. Fayette Lee. 1 S«.r,> (;li;\nin"(;s in mkh ( ri/i rin:. :!oi Notes of Travel FROM A. I. ROOT. Wlu'ii 11 railioad goes over th*' mountains it ulinost invariably inns np a oanymi. and, as a mattor of saving I'XptMisc. the bniidiMs laUc ad- vantage of (ncry dcpi'i'ssion: therefore when yon go over oi' throngli mountains on tlie ears yon ean not get a viewdf tliewoild below at ail. f(n' yon simply see ont of tlie car-window the sides of the canyon: and when yon reach the snnimit and go through a pass, this also is a de- pression, and seldom gives any view whatever /riNNKI.lNG FOH \V.\ rKK AT KA tON (ANVO.N •of the val'ev below. There are some partial ex- ceptions to this rule when the road goes up the «id« of the mountain dike the trail on Wilson's I'eak). but not many: and it seems to me. loo. that one must go at least part of the way on foot to enjoy thoroughly the monntain scenery. To get health and enjoyment there must be a ♦•ertain amount of enthiisiasm. How shall we get it? I liave been thinking a good deal of this laU'lv while writing these papers. Some may sav they have not naturally the imagina- tive disposition that fnrnislies these " flights." In fact. Mrs. Root has said the same thing a good many times : but she has enjoyed the mountain scenery almost as much as I have. Now. please have faith in your old friend vvhen he tells you hitir to have entliusiasm. Ask (Jod to give it yon. .\sk him to give yon love for and enthusiasm in your daily tasks. Keep praying: and i)efore yon know it your pray<'r will t)e answered. < )ne element of enthusiasm is a clear conscience — a conscii'uce void of of- fense toward (Jod or man. I do not see how one can make any ical prayer without this. So if you undertake to pray, your' inconsistency will rise up before yon — that is. if there /><' any inconsistency. Now. don't keep it back if it wants to come. Let tiie still small voice spf^ak: and wlu-n it tells yon wlieii you have wronged a neighbor, stop praying light s(iuare ott'. (io and make it right with liim: return 1 bat bori'owt'd tool, or |tay liim for the damage you have done it: then, and not befoi'c, linish youi- prayer. Is not this almost exactly what the Savior >aid ".' See : •ThiM-efore if tli.iu IjiiiiK thy tiifl to tlie ;ilt,ir. a nil there le- iiicinbei-cst t)i;it tliy ln-dlhcr liath aufrlit :i;;aiiist thee, leave ilu'ie thy gift before I he altar, and go thy way; tirst be recon- ciled t(i Xhy brother, and then conie and offer thy gift."— >1.\TT. 5: :J3, 34. Then shall you have enthusiasm; and with the en- thusiasm shall come a love for wholesome exer- cise; and witli ex- ercise and a clear conscience shall come health. I have before mentioned the pic- nic dinnei' we had at the foot of Mt. Wilson, after our tri]) down. You know I mentioned also how I envied peojili' who could drink all the pure walei' they want- ed, at any time and on any occasion. Now. the water that supplies the beautiful city of Pasadena comes from a mountain stream that tumbles down tiiis same Eaton Canyon: and as the waterworks is somewhat extensive and complicated, an old gentleman remains there constantly as superintendent ot the works. H<' seemed glad to see company, and pointed ont to us the best drinking-water. I drank consid(M-able I do not remember jttst how much; and as it did not produce any dis- agreeable effect at all. at dinnertime I drank a tremendous quantity of lemonade. Friend Steven.son and Mi.ss McClurkin assured us the lemonade was (irst class, because they picked th(i lemons from a tree that grew in their own dooryard. The boys that were along declare that I drank lirclrc >ihisses: but I think they Till-: FOOT Mr. WILSO.N. 29'2 GLEANINGS iN BEE CULTURE. Al'KII, i"). nuisfc have been in a huri-y t(t get a dozen: be- sides, the glass was not a very large one. and probably it "slopped over"' a little in filling it up. No matter: I did drink jnst all I wanted of lemonade and sprinjg water all that after- noon, and rejoiced to fei^l that I was a well man, especially in this one respect. The en- thusiasm and almost constant perspiration probably had much to do with it. You know I have had much to say about doctoring without medicine. Well, here is another weakening and distressing malady cured without any med- icine at all, unless we call (iod's pui'e air, sun- shine, spring water, and mountain scenery " medicines." I was quite curious about the irilgating ma- chinery, and the old engineer seemed quite glad and willing to tell us all about it. A great iron pipe, I should think six inches in diameter, for it looked like a small stovepipe, ran along the sides of the canyon and up the mountain until it reached the spring, KiO feet higher up. This gave an immense pi'essure. you will notice. Now. this great pressure was utilized in work- ing a sort of injector, using water under pres- sure instead of steam, of course. Well, this force was made to I'aise water from anothei' spring oi' springs lower down in the canyon: that is, this force raised water without any pressure, so as to deliver it into the irrigating canal that supplies the city. The engineer receives a certain salary to remain at his post and look after the waterworks, if T understand it. he was to work at something else or not, just as he chooses. Well, he is a man after my own heart, in that he does not like to be idle; so. just for the fun of it he made a tunnel into the side of the mountain, working at it during his leisure hours. The cut on p. 291 shows some of his work. There was originally a crack or fis- sure in the rock. With a pick and shovel he made the opening larger, so that one could go in and out without trouble, standing up. I snapped the Kodak on it, and friend Stevenson stood by the side of the opening so as to give one an idea of the size of things. There is a little stream of water that comes out under the plank that runs in at the entrance. After our friend got a little way into the rock he found it so much softer thathe could dig it with com- parative ease, and with a narrow wheelbarrow he ran out the debris and made a very pretty walk along by the side of the stream of water. He had run his cave in about 100 feet, and he was quite anxious that the whole party should go in to see his work. We were already warm and perspiring from our exercise in climbing: and when we found that this cave grew warm- er and warmer, until at the extreme end it was almost like an oven, the party began to protest — especially the women- folks, and we hustled back for the open air faster than we went in. The tin cup at the entrance looked so inviting that we passed it eagerly from one to the other to get a drink of these wonderful waters. Of course, a "tenderfoot"' would expect to get rool water as it issued from the rocky mountain-side; but the water from this particular tunnel was of about the temperature of common dish- water. Of course, no one said any thing, but passed the cup along for each one to drink. Springs of water are like mines of gold, in Cali- fornia; and ourold friend wasquite enthusiastic in telling us how to locate springs. He says if , you can find a fissure in the rock, or if it is only a crack or crevice, if you follow the fissure into the mountain or hill until you strike the bottom of it you will surely find a stream of water. He says he never knew it to fail. There is one thing about our trip up Eaton Canyon I thought I wouldn't tell of; but as there is a moral to it. perhaps I had better. after all. Up the rough and stony mountain stream, over perhaps a mile of hard climbing, there is a beautiful fall. After we got there the boys spent quite a little time in fixing the stones so that they could stand near the fall while I took a Kodak view. When all was ready I snapped the machine, telling them that 1 had got a nice view, and then we trudged l)ack again. When almost back to the carriage I discovered that I had omitted to remove the plug that covers the lens of the Kodak. In a letter just received from friend Stevenson, he adds the following in regard to it: Friitid f^)(l^•— Don't forg-et to give in Gleanincs^ the picture you took of the falls in Eaton Canyon. Pasadena. Cat. , Marcli 2.5. W. Stevenson. Not only are the streets and buildings of Lo.s- Angeles superior, but the parks that grace many parts of the city, and the beautiful door- yards and gardens, present a spectacle with their semi-tropic vegetation that is almost over- powering to one unused to such a scene. Our first morning in the city was after what might be called a summer shower: and Mrs. Root's en- thusiasm at the sight of what constantly met our view in some portions of the city was almost too great for words. Adjoining this we give you one sketch as an illustration. The palms and palmettos will be recognized by all of our readers, from having seen them in greenhouses and at expositions. The tall treelike object in the center of the picture is the dried blossom- stem of the century-plant. These run up twenty or thirty feet in only a few weeks" time. The great quantity of vegetable matter accumulated in the leaves during years of growth seems to expend itself suddenly in the one last effort to produce blossoms and seeds. The plant itself seems to be something on the plan of the modern storage battery, only that it accumulates for years j ust for tlie one grand fl nale of a few weeks. i was told several times that the century-plant bears considerable quantities of honey: but I don't think it will be worth while just yet to advertise the seeds for sale as one of our honcy- plants. The i)lant dies after this wonderful effort to blossom and make the seed. Jan. 23d we bade adieu to the beautiful city of Los Angeles. It certainly is at the present time the cleanest and prettiest city I have ever set foot in. The streets are broad and regular, and the buildings are fine. Every night, after traffic has ceased, a number of great carpet- sweepers ("carpet-sweepers" drawn by horses> go over the whole of the paved streets and sweep them almost as clean as the floor of a room. Then immense sprinklers lay the dust, what there is left, so you can cross anywhere without soiling the niost delicate shoe. The various shopkeepers, as a rule, sweep the walks in front of their stores so as to have them in keeping : and, altogether, one is tempted to think it some fairy land where "shines un- dimmed one blissful day."" The people are also nice and accommodating, and there is also a very strong Christian element pervading all classes. Some of you may think I am hum- bugged by glitter and outside show. I am well aware: but. dear friends, I know there is at least much that is genuine. 1 presume likely I am of late leaning a good deal toward that lit- tle virtue that "' thinketh no evil;"' but I believe it is through the influence of the Holy Spirit I have been praying for that helps me to .see and to find goodness and purity everywhere. After reading the above to Mrs. Root she says it is all right except the great amount of tobacco-juice spattered on those beautiful clean pavements in Los Angeles very soon after they are so nicely swept. I hope her suggestion may be copied in some of the Los Angeles papers, and 1 >st»-' lil.KANlNtiS IN HKK ( L:LTL;UI0 •J'.t'J 294 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Atkii. J5. that ihi^ gt'iitlc lepioof may suggest the idea of dropping this offensive liijuid over the "curb- stone into the gutter, instead^of on the beauti- ful elean walk. The city of San Diego is, in many respects, like Los Angeles, but is not building up at the present time. During the three years since I visited it before, it has suffered pretty severely in consequence of being '" boomed"' to an extent it would not bear. Houses in the suburbs are deserted and empty, and many tine blocks in the heart of the city are unoccupied. A storeroom that used to rent for .*150 per year now brings on\Y $30. With its beautiful climate and mag- nificent harbor I can not quite understand why this is so: hut I presume it is because so few are really engaged in farming, manufacturing, etc. The Christian element seems active: and when the people get over waiting for a chanc(^ for speculation, or for some opportunity of getting money from a fiesh •' tenderfoot." I predict great things for San Diego. OURSELVES AND OUR NEIGHBORS. If any of you lack wisdom, let liim ask of God. — James 1:5. I have been familial- with the above text for many years: but it is not till within a few weeks that I really understood it: or. perhaps I should say. within a few weeks past a new ap- plication of it has come to me: and it has help- ed me so much 1 want to tell you about it. For many years I have been in the habit of praying for wisdom in a general way. I have admired that little prayer of Solomon's, wherein he ask- ed for wisdom rather than riches, long life, and victory over his enemies. I have prayed in that way for wisdom. But some way the subject has .seemed too wide for me. and too general. Now for the new application. It is this: When we come to a point where we are unde- cided what is best to do, especially at times when we feel that we are just a little out of the influences of the Holy .Spirit, then is the time to make a practical use of the text. Stop right where you are: and. if it be practicable, get away by yourself alone in your closet, and on bended knee ask (xod for wisdom to decide in regard to this specitil nuitter that is before you. It may be well enough to pray for wisdom in a general way in your morning devotions, for this, of couise. is all right and pi'oper: but the new point is to me. to ask (Jod for just what you want in the line of wisdom at the very time you feel the lack, exactly as you would go for a crowbar to move a weight that you could not move by unaided human strength. And I have often felt that prayer should be one of the tools that a Christian workman uses to get along nicely with his work. Perhaps the first essen- tial to use this prayer in the way I have indi- cated is to feel your own weakness. A couple of lines in a familiar hymn read: I am weak but thou ai-t mig-lity; Hold me witli tliy powerful liaiid. And that is what W(; need to fetd. and we need to feel it oftener. lOspecially do those who are in authority need this little prayer in tlie way I have mentioned — a teacher in the pub- lic schools, a public ollicer, a ticket agent (oh how I do wish we had more ticket agents and conductors who are ChristiansI), one who lias charge of men. a minister of the gospel — yes, most emphatically do ministers of the gospel need ^to] pray for wisdom, not onlyjevery hour, but sometimes almost every minute. We pray for the influences of the Holy Spirit in a gener- al way: yet how frequently, when an issue lies right before us. and we are compelled to decidf- one way or another, we find to our consterna- tion that the Holy Spirit seems to have desert- ed us. Then Satan whispers. ""Circumstances alter cases."" or something of that sort, and we decide hastily, and then suffer the pangs of re- morse of conscience afterward. In the line of our text, if a matter is to be decided, and it is something involving the comfort and happiness of individuals, by far the better way is to ask a little time to think the matter over. If you are talking with a professing Christian, you need not hesitate to say, "Dear brother, before I decide in regard to this "matter I should like to have a little time to consider it, and to pray over it: and I wish you too would think of it and pray over it. If we both do this, the Master whom we both lov<' and try to serve will surely lead us to decisions which shall not be very widely different." Oh what a world this woiild be if even professing Christians through all their in- UM'course would do this! I know that some of you will say that many professing Christians- would pray over it and decide in a selfish way just as if tliey hadn't prayed over it at all. Well, now. let us not be too hard on our neujhhors, hut let us come back toour/ioj/Jt'sand (lurselves. Who has not tried to pray over some quarrel or disagreement, but even while praying has felt that self was crowding sohard to be uppermost, it was almost imi)Ossible to give an unbiased opinion'.' I have myself prayed as I thought (|Uite earnestly, to let the Holy Spirit rule and decide: but as my mind went back to the mat- ter in question, self and selfish intei'ests pushed and crowded so strongly tliat there was not very much Holy Spirit about it. In fact, when I undertook to "write on this text I felt such a sense of my own unworlhiness that it seemed almost a shame for one who "" practices" so- poorly what he "preaches."" to undei'take tO' tedf'h at all. Neveith<'less. I have been helped a great deal in just the way I have tried to tell. In the first place, we want to recognize that human wisdom is so insignificant compared with God"s wisdom that it is hardly worth con- sidering. ■' As the heavens are higher than the- earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."" Now, the great point is to realize this: That human wisdom unaided is exceedingly faulty. We are l)iased and ])rejudiced. even the best of us, by so many circumstances and conditions, that, without this cleansing power of the Holy Spirit, we are totally unfit to decide any thing for the public good. Let us once feel that, and feel th(^ necessity of wisdom from on high, and we are making great progress. Now, this may sound like riddles or enigmas to some of you. Does God really speak now as he did in oiden time, and tell us what to do or what to say ".* Yes. my friends, in one sense he does: but now please don't think that I am going into some- thing visionary or untangible. The religion of the present day is a matter of )>lard his stateiueiii. not one of them dispiiii'd it. Without liiseiissintj the lohaeoo quesiinn heri'. every snuill l)oy seemed to have a elearly • were thrown out of the ground. As an experiment we sowed some seed of the Ameri- can Pearl .some time in July. When we put out the sets as mentioned above, we also put out onion-plants from these seeds. The plants were, perhaps, as large as a leadpencil. with a bulb on the bottom about the size of ordinary sets. These, too, have wintered perfectly: hence I conclude that the American Pearl, either from seed sown in July or from .sets planted in September, if they make a growth so as to get well rooted, they will winter over safely in ordinary winters. We tested quite a number of other onion-sets in the same way. Some of them wintered partly — others almost not at all. The Spanish King came out very well. By the way. We have also wintered over cold-frame onion-plants about the size to be planted out. These had no covering except a little straw. Most of them are all right. By the aid of sash they could, without question, be wintered as we winter cold-frame cabbage- plants. 1«>-,' (;LKAMN(iS IN HKK I I l/rURK. 'nn KtiVITIA.V. t'K WINIKU ONK'N. Ydii may n'liicmhcr tliat I incntioiii'd hist season that some of nm lOLryplian sets on our vtTv rii'li inarUet-traiiicn jjhoiiihI jjivw to he ahiiost thi' si/.e of hens" ojtgs. Of codisi-. wc .■oulil not sell siioli sots; and as I didn't Unou w hal else to do with tluMii. wc phmtrd tlicin in ;i row alxiut si\ inoiics apart. What do yon thinl< iliov ilid? Why.thfv st i aisilil way split tiu'insolvfs up into little hnll)s JiUi' potato onions: and now wc have a wonderful firowtli of larirc ffiven tops and beautiful hiineh onit)ns from si\ to twelve in a hundi. One of these large sets proihu-ed 14 fair-sized onions. This Kgvptian onion is perhaps the hardiest vege- tahle we liave any thiii^ to do with. It will sjrow. and look green and hrigiit. at a tempera- tiiri' lietween 40 and "lU. In fact, they have already made a wondeifnl growth this spring while scarcely any thing else has made a start. The demand for sets has been beyond the snp- plv again: and. by the way. this onion may l)e divided and planted at aiiy titnc of the y<'ar wIkmi the ground is not frozen. In fact, you can pull sets from the toi)S of the onions at almost any stag(> of growth, and i)nt them in the ground and they will send out roots, and grow. There is something wonderful about this onion-plant and its many divisions and subdivisions. Von know I have beiMi talking about writing an onion-book. Well, w iiat 1 liave learned about onions alri'ady would inake a very fair-siz<'d book: but th<' more I study it. the more I liogin to think that what I Iore than that, a rich reward in dol- lars and cents is pretty sure to pay the one who gels thoro\ighly ae(iuainted with any line of plants so as to undei-stand what they may be made to do. l'I,.\N'r-HKI)S WtrU S.\SH. .SHTTTEI5S. A.Mt COT- TON CLOTH. On page 784. Oct. ]. 1891, I described an ar- rangement of a series of hot-beds with places to put the sash at eithei- end. I want to say that wc find it in our work now a fierfcv-t suc- cess. U'e have just had iiuite a little freeze. and every tiling in the way of sash was scraped up to cover the i)lants. After the sash was exhausted we used all the wooden shutters, even dilapidated and broken ones. Then we took cotton cloth for the hardier plants in place of either sash or shutters. The cloth was held fast at the upper or northern side by a pole, and then another pole was put on the south or lower edge to roll it up on, exactly as friend Day does it with his tomato - beds. It has answered nicely: and although we have had some tremendous winds, a heavy rain, and an inch or two of snow, the cloth has answered the purpose perfectly. My opinion is now. that •• high-pressure gardening'" is to be done large- ly in these beds. Not only can vegetable- plants be raised at a protit, hut last season we raised extra early corn, early potatot^s. snap beans, cabbages, and a great variety of other crops not usually put in cold-frames, and we got prices that paid expen.ses txjo. Some of you may be inclined to laugh about growing corn in a hot-bed or cold - frame. The corn was planted the last of February, the kernels being put in just ten inches apart. Glass was used over them at first: but when the stalks got so they crowded against the glass ihey were pro- t all our people would piiy, but corn grown in the open air a few weeks after that itisii brought '.'.■> cents. becaus<' the people had got a little edui'aled to paying that price. Now. I am not sure but th<'y would have given .">0 cents a dozen for at least quite a little of it. because it was quite a novelty from the fact that it was started under glass". There is a big tiehl for work here, friends, if you really love the business and enjoy lighting the frost, ice, and piercing winds. The lighting is to be dom- l)y th(>se same plant-beds, with glass, shutters, and cloth. The testimony of the Lord is sui e mailing- wise the simple.— I'sAI.M 19:7. SixcK we have had so many testimonies in favor of sealed covers we have had quite a number of lettei's for upward ventilation and absorbing cushions. In our next issue we will publish a few of them. \N'e hope that none of our friends will imagine that a scaled-cover is so near and dear to our heai't that we can not listen to arguments against it. Wk have long needed a I'liited States law for the suppression of adulteration of foods. There is now a pure-food bill befor*^ Congress, with a probability of its p;issing. ^Ve understand it has alreadv p issed the Senate, and we hope its friends, including Mr. Taddock who introduced ir. w ill be successful in having it become a law. The main feature of tiie bill is to pi'event the sale of adulterated foods in otiier States than those in which they are niixi'd. This, we think; will be tjuite a chi'ck upon tlii' nefarious busi- ness, and we hope every subscriber will write to liis representative, urging tlH> importance of the liassage of this good law. .lust at this time iieekeei^ers need it. Dk. Millkh asks, in Stray Straws, how we succeeded in imbedding the wires in founda- tion by means of electricity, the electricitv heating the wire from end to end, so that it wifl melt into the wax. We were not quite ready yet to reiiort, but perhaps we might say this: We succeeded partially, and are certain that, with the proper battery power, we could imbed and make a nice job. We do not feel so positive, however, that it w ill |)ay. Matteries — at least the direct-current or primary type — are expen- sive, and require to be renew(>d often. Storage lor secondary) batteries will answer nicely, but they are still more expensive, and require to be stored up with the invisible fluid from some ((lectric-power station. For the average bee- keeper these are not available. It remains for us now to prove whether Matn be done: and if so, whether it can be done profitably. In response; to our call for reports as to how bees are wint«Ming throughout the country, about 200 bee-keepers have, up to date. Apr. 1:3, responded. The reports show that bees, with very few exceptions, have wintered exception- ally well. About a third of the number report no loss, and the remaining two-thirds show from 9.T to 98 per cent as the number that have wintered. Tnere are only three or four who report below (50 per cent. The losses, where they have occurred, have been principally in 2'.)8 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Al'KIL J5. Iowa, Wt'sicni Illinois, and Northei'ii Michigan. In an.^^wer to the second question. '" How does their condition compare witii former years?" most of them report " much better." At Medina, out of a total of :.'()0 wintered outdoors we have lost only ;^, making our per cent stand US'.,,. One was in a winter case, another in a cliaff hive, and another in the liouse apiary. By the way. the few colonies in the house apiary fared very much worse than those outdoors. During the first week in April brood-rearing outdoors seemed to be progress- ing finely: but during the last few days a cold spell has set in. What effect this will have in killing off unsealed larvie we do not know. The phonograph is proving to be a grand success in our office. By its aid one typewriter operator is enabled to do the work of nearly two. In fact, one of our girls now transcribes with the talking-macliin<* all the correspon- dence of E. R. and .1. T. C. On the old steno- graphic dictation plan she had all she could do to handle Mr. C."s correspondence alone. We suppose the reason why the phonograph is not generally used in offices is because business men who would use them for dictation are not sufficiently expert in handling electi'ical ma- chinery. The phonograph is. in fact, simpler than a sewing-machine: but it is so new and so different, that, when a thing gets " out of kil- ter," the average business man. instead of try- ing to fuss to get it in order, will give it up and go back to the old way. The day must surely come when the phonograph will be used ex- clusively in all offices whei'e large correspon- dence is carried on wholly through dictation. It should be stated that the phono-graphophone has not yet proven to be a success: but the Edison phonograph has with us— at least so far. A NEW I'OUI.TRY-IJOOK. It would seem that the poultry-book business is already overdone: but recently thei'e has come to our table an excellent book entitled "The Chicken Business, and How to Make it Pay :" by H. B. Geer, of Nashville. Tenn., a well- known poultryman, as some of you may know. So far as we have been able toexamineit.it gleams with experience. From the preface we quote: "This book is written by a practical ' poultryman for practical people, and with no attempt at tine style or language;'" and such, evidently, it is. To give you an idea of the l)ook we will give you two or three selections: On page S. in speaking of yards oi' runs, he says: "' To be a successful poultry-keeper it is very necessary to keep the fowls on the premises divided into small flocks of tifteen or twenty to the flock."' In another place he says that fifteen or twenty fowls will usually pay better than fifty or more together. The reason of this, we presume, is on account of disease and many other ills to which poultry are subject when in larger flocks. Again, he says, in si)eaking of artificial hatchers or brooders. " We would not advist^ Itersons of inexperience in poultry culture to invest at the outset in an expensive incubator with the expectation of making a success of it. It is a great deal better and a great deal cheap- er to experiment with a r.'.'i-cent hen as an incu- bator at first. " The author does not discourage the use of brooders and incubators: but he ad- vises every one to be a little careful how he invests his money in expensive ai)j)aratus at the outset. The book is divided into chai)ters, and every thing is made so plain that any bright boy or girl could. u|ion reading the instructions, successfully manage poultry, we think. The price is 50 cents. It can be had of the author, or of the imblishers. Foster i<: Webb, Nashville. THAT CASXDIAS I-M r.t!( M.I.IO. The unwisdom of incorporating the Nortii American, and the subsequent non-affiliation of the Ontario Society, is still harped on at length in the CctndOidu Bee Jnurnal by two of its corres])ondents. If the latter had left out. or could leave out. their unchristian and unkind thrusts toward ourselves and two or three others on this side of the lin4'. we might feel disposed to reply in detail. When controversy arrives at this stage we w ould rather drop out altogether, even if we are placed in an unpleas- ant light by the other side, although we could answer every one of the allegations. As we said at first, we still insist that " further discus- sion is ill advised and unwise." especially if it must degenerate into a clannish and partisan spirit. R. McKniglit's reply ue considered fair and courteous, and so, also, do we consider the criticisms of S. Cornell with reference to our position regarding the best treatment for foul brc )0d . With regard to incorporation of the North American, if, in view of its unpleasant recep- tion on the Canadian side, our American bee- keepers would feel disposed to " throw up the sponge '" we would be in favor of doing so, sole- ly im the ground of peace. Perhaps on this point we may difl'er with Mi'. Clarke. Our re- lations with Canadians in general, up till now. have been of the pleasantest. and we would rather yield a point, or. if you please. •■ back dow n " — yes. lose all the advantages of incor- poration, rathei' than not enjoy cordial rela- tions. THE INTKKXAE WATER CUKE. As nothing has been said in regard to this of late, perhaps some of tliH friends would like tO' know how it has turned out after longer ex- perience. Well, so far as a forward movement in the line of cleanliness that has heretofore- been neglectvd is concerned I think it has ac- complished a great deal of good: but as to cur- ing the great list of diseases that it was claim- ed to cure by those who sold the seciet foi' several dollars, it is simply a disgrace to those who have peddled it and received money for the information. Some of you will bristle up- again. I think quite likely; but, my dear fi'iends, during my travels I made it a point to get the opinions of some of our best physicians. Not only that. I met and talked with many people who used it. and a great many who paid money for the secret. Like almost every otb(>r remedy, it is useful in certain cases: but so far as being a benefit when used indiscilminately. it is a mistake. Your family physician can, as a rule, guide you safely in this matter. Several in- stances came to my notice where its use did harm, without question: and I presume that the (/renter par/ of those who were so enthusi- astic about it a year ago have mostly abandon- ed it — that is. for constant use year in and year out. as recommended by Wilford Hall and his agents. The idea that our family physicians are hostile toward it because it cuts off their practice is ridiculous; and any well-informed man or woman of the present day should be^ ashamed of such talk. It is a disgrace to the present state of civilization. Of course, there are. here and there, unprincipled physicians; but as a class, the medical men of our age are among the best informed, and, as a rule, they are working hard on this problem that lies be- fore us all — what is the cause of so much human suffering, and how shall we lessen M? Now, when you are tempted again to say Uiat all doctors are rascals, remember it comes next door to saying that " all men are liars."' Now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. A. I. R. 1892 (;LK.\NlN(iS IN KKK CI'l/rrKK •}'.C.» "A" Grade $40. ALLIANGE,GRANGE,LEAeUE FBM ^% tk MiiiilxTS and tliousiilHls of other Koo'l ■ IVIa D m fKm "'t'li iiiid true, patroiiizid us so liberally last year that wo were eoinpelletl to luiy, build and increase ;)ur facilities until now we now of the LARGEST Grade $46. S«'nd for our handsome, illus- trated Catalogue, showing; over lOli ditl'creiit styles of Vehicles and Harness, and you will un- derstand wliy all this vihenoin- ennl success and immense busi- ness. Wi- actually ici\c more for less money than anv Hufigy or Harness factory in the world. .Ml floods hand made and warranted for years. Get our prices and compari' them with your dealers. ALLIANCE CARRIAGE CO. CINCINNATI, 0. North Court St.,opp. the Court House. CARRIAGE and HARNESS FACTORIES IN THE WORLD. Tbe.Mliance Factory runswhen others shut ilown or break uij. *A" Grade $72.50. L ."""111 reffpoiiaing to tins mlveniseiueiit uientlon OLKANUJOS. I TELL you what. Jones, Leveriii;:; Brus. sell llie best froofls and at % the lowest price of an.v one fye \ struck yet. The laitrest and best ' Bee - Hive Factory in the West. The Doyetailed Hive and New Ilott'nian self - spa-ing- Fianie a specialty. Every thinfj- used by practical bee-keepers at wliolesale and retail. Send fortheir free Illustrated Piice List, and save money. Supply Dealers, send for their Wholesale List. Address X-EVERIITG! BROS., tittdb "^JVio-ba, Cass Co., lo-wra- h'lea>e mention this paper. C|\/\ Colonies of Bees Devot- 9W ed to Queen-Rearing. Write fill prices nn lai-jre ipninlities. TWO MILLION SNOW - WHITE SECTIONS. Write fur |irices nn laiffe quantilie>. Send for our 24-Page Catalogue of Dovetailed Hives. Smokers, Extractors, Etc. LEAHY MT'G CO., Higginsville, Missouri. Foreign anrl domestic. Crude and refined. .\ stock constantly on hand. Wiite for luices, statinjLj' (iu;inlit.\ wanted. ECKERMANN & WILL, Syracuse, N. Y. 0rin respondini? to tliis advcitisennTit mention Glkamnos. MINNESOTA AH LAD, WHY? Mecause in consequi'uce of her pine forests lumber is cheap. That's the reason Eikel sells hives cheaper than anyone else in Americ i. Only think, slng-le- story hives from 3.">c up; two-story hives f rom TOc up. " Other supplies cheap. Send for eatalog-ue. Otfdb F. C. EKKEK., Le »«ueur, ITIlnn. ^1 Please mention this paper. I am Pushing Ahead ! And am so far in the lead that I challeiiKe ati\f)ne to show up suiierior bees to my best Five-Banded Golden Italians. Large, beautiful, trentle, and trocid honey- ffatherers; the results of lU years' careful breedinpr. Try them. Satisfaction g-uaran- teed. Queens in Mav, ?!.;» each; 6 for W. After June 1. *1 eacli; fi for f.'i. For- full jnii- tii-ulars. send for dex-ript i\e circular. CHAS. D. DUYALL, Spencerville, Md. :tfdb t^ln re»(X)MUln»f to thi^s udvei-tlr^uient nienium Oi.)-./. Strawberry Wonders! Bo YNTON '■'<" l.usti.lf. ..1 lieiries til the acre. ERT SEEDLINC-nseii .,uarts to tin- acre \i rh. liiiiiva Kx(ieriiiitntal Station, in matted rows. Tlie r Berries ever |iroduc-e(l. iozen ; t'iA*i per lOH. ERT SEEDLING 2.x- pi nlozen; «l.-i'i per KK), piiHt- QOYNTON oiiipir dozen ; «-2.(ii( per lOii li.ul by mail. AN I .le-sie, Kentucky, and 2.'i other varie ties. Twu lir-t aie tlie tie-t. .viso TRUE BELGIAN HARES CHEAP. .\iliire»s K. BOOMHOWEK. lialliipvill^. N V. B''»l!JF'"!iiff""i|llil»'"|ll"' -"liill" J"liiil"' -"liill"^ -"liiF "iJiiF "lllil"' J'SJl'i'^ig"': •Jiljri A HONEY-EXTRACTOR FREE. J ."^eiid ineyiiur name on a postal card n for mv new catalogueof Italian ijueens ^ and all kinds of BEE KEEPEES' supplies. % and 1 will tell \ on how to get a NOVICE " EXTEA0T02 free. Addicss WEAVER, M W 7S TIM, Hi;k .M\.\, WairiTLsliu^', -Mo. "W aiuglllllur.. mlllliiif. .iiilSiir. .nAir. iillliir lulllliiii .iiilfliiii. .niflk mllllliir iiilllliiir. .nilllliiir. .iii1l!lliir.jidSiiic..ie IS^n responding to this advertisement mention GLEANlMas. "the dead line IN BEE-KKEPIXJ March and April -is at I hand. Head "THE WINTER PROBLEM," and keep up with the times. Prioe 60 ftn. G. K. PIERCE, Blairstown, Benton Co.. Iowa. \^in responding to tlii.« adveitisemeni nifnonii hi.i<;aking.-<. Bee-Keeper's Supplies. Hives. Honey-Cases, .Sections, and Frames. We ate the only concern in Southern Califor- nia who make a SPECIALTY OF BEE-KEEPERS' MATERIAL. Agents for tlie white basswood 1-lb. sections. Send for catalogue and price list. (;-13db Oceanside Mill Co., Oceanside, Cal. SECTIONS. $2.50 to $3.50 per .TI. Bee-Hlve8 and Plx- tures (lieap. NOVELTY CO., 6tfdb Rock Falls, Illinois. 300 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Ai'Kii, \:> CONTROL YOUR SWARMS! N D WESTS SP'RAL WIRE QLEEN TECTORS AND CAGES. CELL PRO N. D. West's Spiral Wire do it. and you can RE-_ <.^UEEN your apiary during-' the swarming' season. Pi'o- iiounced the Best by such men as Oapt. J. E. Heth- ERINOJTON, Cherry Valley, N.Y.; P. H. Elwood, Stark- Anile, N. Y., and others. Cell - Proteotors, ^.(0 per 100, or 13 for 6,Jc, by mail. Cages. $i.00 ])cr 100, or 13 foi- Jl.OO. bj' mail. Samples of both, with i-irciilar explaining, 35 (^ts. The cages ai'e used foi' hatcliing lOdb WHY, YES, EVERYBODY KNOWS that it pays to purchase their HoNEY-Ct)MB Ft)i:N- DATION at C. W. PHELPS &0O."S Wholesaleand Re- tail Foundation Factory. They sell heavy for Brood. 45c.; thin for Comb Honey. .5.5c. They deal in all kiiids of A piarian supplies. Their customers are always pleased, for their work "is good and prices reasona- ble. Send for free sam- ples Foundation and price-li.st of Bee supplies. Address C. W. Phki.ps &Co.. 74 Pettit street. Binghamton. N. Y. Bee - Keepers' * Supplies. We are jnepared to furnish liee-keepers with sui)- plies piDiiiptly and at lowest lates. Estimates gladly furnished, and correspondence solicited. Our goods are all flrst-class in quality and workmanship. Cat- alogue sent free. Reference, First National Bank, Sterling, HI. Address 1-24db Win. nvCA NE A CO., sterling, lUiuofs. i^"In rHSlH.iiilun' t . • ,■ liu ntiiill fJl.EANINGS TAKE NOTICE! DEFORE placing your orders for SUPPLIES, write " for prices on One-Piece Basswood Sections, Bee- Hives, Shipping-Crates, Frames, Foundation, Smo- kers, etc. PAGE & KEITH. 14tfdb . New London, Wis. Plea-se mention this paper. J-. C. SJLYLES, HARTFORD, WIS., Manufactures Apiarian Supplies op Every Description. C-atalogue Free to All. Send Your Address. Stfflb Please mention this paper. Honey ^ E:>^ti^aetotT. Squafe Glass Honey-Jai's, Tin Buekets, Bee-hives. HoneynSeetlons, &c., &e. Peffection Cold'-Blast Smokeps. APPLY TO -v^v.^v^^xx^v.r^^^.^ CHflS. F. JVIOTH & SON, Cineinnati, O. POULTRY. Choice Fowls and Eggs for sale at all times. Finely illustrated circu- lar free. GBER BROS St. Marys, Mo. Sltfdb OAVE MONEY. -Send to J. P. H. Brown, Augus- ^ ta, Georgia, for his price list of supplies. Hivas and foundation ;tt wholesale rates. 4tfdb ITBLIIIII I|¥E|I8 FOB^BLL The tinesl lioney-gatherers in the land. Tested, $1.50 each. Select tested, $3.00 each. Untested, $1.00 each, or $9.00 per doz. Queens ready t-o ship by April first. I guarantee safe ai'i'ival and satisfaction, by mail. Orders booked now and paj- when vou want queens. J W. TAYLOR, I 4tfdb Ozan, Ark. i L^ln responding to this auvei ci.'-enieiit mention iTi.iiAiMMis. Hatch Chickens by Steam. IMPROVED EXCELSIOR INCUBATOR iWiU do it. Thonsanda fai snoeessfol op«r- ation. Simple, Per/eet and Self-Regulatinq . Lowest-pnoed flnt-class Hatcher made. I Guaranteed to hatcb a laiver percentnga of fertile eggs at less coet tnan any other. Send 6c. for UaB. Uatalog. SKO. U. STAHL, i{uin«r, HI. 'j¥ III I'-t'pondinii to this advertisement mention Glkanings, Bee-Hives ^ Sections etc in stock. A specialty. Foundation, Sniokeri' Send for liew list. free. 4tfdb -W. D. SOPER. Jackstm, Mich. flease mention this paper. ! Tji A. T3 T TT OOLDEN, untesteh queens. $1.00. *S******J * LAEGE, FINE, GENTLE, AND BEBD i for business. Ready about March ^). Dealeis send for prices. Fine tested, raised last yea!', $1.50 to $2.(X). A few breeders, Italian or Golden, $3 to $5. J. B. CASE, Port Orange, Vol. Co., Fla. Please mention this paper. 3tfdb DR. J. W. CRENSHAW, Versailles, - Kentucky, Offers for Sale Untested Italian Queens at $HK) each throug-h May and June: after, 76c each. Safe arrival guaran- teed. Queens raised only from Imported motlier. Drones only from selected and tested mothers. Also CELEKY PLANTS from July to September, at $2.00 per M. 7-18dl) Western Bee-Keepers' Supply House Root's QOOdS oaji b« had at Des Hoinet Iowa, ar Roors Prices. The largest mpplT basine (il.KANlN(;s IN HKK C'UI/rrRK. :t()i BBARD BEE HIVE \ SECTION PRESS. If v.iu wiiiil lo liaiidle boi'S easy l>y sittiiiu ili'wii 111 il licri' is llio liivc. i nniu's ti\t'y tlie leaiiins supply (ienlers AsU tluiii lor it tir semi ti> nie. A Iidv (•nil put together 8(i(» to lOUO suclions nil liolir and have tlicin true, I'.cnd si'c tioii around, put in press f,'ive .1 lildc push — 'tis doru' Will last a lilV-tinie and is bound to please you Send for my Circular about Hive. Press Foundation Fastener. Sections. Fnnndatiou Italian (Queens. Extractors, Veils. Honey Crates and '"ases. S:c S;c It will inicrcst you Or send 15 t'ents lor Practical iJuok tor Hegiuuers — "First Principles in Bee Culture." lllli thousand just issued. G. K. HUBBARD, 277 Harrison St., Fort Wayne, Ind. 3-lO.ib t?"ln responding to this adveilisement mention Gleaninos. Sections! Yes! Sections! Great Crash in Prices! XOO.OOO all ready foi- shipnicnt in standard sizes, planed on both sides. Our ciistotiiers sa.^■ "»■ inamifacturi' tlii' ttnesi sections made in Canada. We are the only inatiutactiirers ill Ciinada of the celebrated A. 1. Kool Dovetailed hive. Our one-dollar dovetailed hive includes Lea<'h"s improved comli-honey crate complete. By usiii^ the above crate the si'Ctioiis are taken otf perfectly clean, need no scrapin.tr. and are all ready for mar- ket. All our hives are furnished with the imiiro\cd Motrmaii frames. We make a spei'ialty of manufactiirinfr all kinds Mf bee-keepeis" supplies. Our new catalog-ue for ls!i:J mailed free on appli- cation. Address ..... . Bee-Hive Supply & M f g Co.. lock 3os IH. Tilbury Center, Cnt., Can. R.;/'ere»icf^>Jerchaiiis' Bank. Tilbury (enter. Out. Kobi. Ed. Smith, S. A. Leach, t^ln rf!"!"""'!"-' '"*'''*■ '*''^''*'^' iifiit nifntiDn fSLEANlNoa Called "The Chicken Busi- ness, and How to Make it Pay." Tells all about it. OA^tf Finely illustnited, iiractical. and orifri- WVJUrV nal. "Prii«! 5U cents, p sipaid. An il- '^ lustrated circular free. t:i\insr particu- lars about the tiook. and prices of pure bred fowls aiifl eg-^s for sale by the author. 4ttdl) H. B. CEER. Nashville- Tenn. "Ill responding to this advertisement mention ( '.ucanings. From 10 to 25 ? discount from former prices. My 40-pag'e cataloKue for 1892 g-ives rea- sons. I otter a new - style chatl liive at one-hiilf the cost of other styles, and just as gdod. This hive can betaken a part ''^^^^ almost instantly, /\ POULTRY BEES 350 COLONIES OF BEES. 1.000.000 Sections. HIVFS, .Smoker'J, QutENS, etc. Send for price list to E. T. FLANAGAN Box 783, Belleville, Illinois. .^ and packed ui> in small space. It can be used on any hive (see cut). Don't fail to get my 32d annual price list. I mean business, and am bound to sell as grood as the liest, and at equally low prices. Address WM. W. GARY. 6tfdb C0L.ERAINE, Mass. Please mention this paper. Murray £.Heiss."^'o^^;,|'^° tATAt-" Fnc£. VIOLINS GUITARS MANDOLINS ^'OK S.\L.E. The apiary of Solomon Vrooman, " deceasi'fl, consisting of lii7 colonies, and ;ill nec- i-,sai\ apjiliances. For many years tin- apiary of .lohn H. Martin. Hartford, Washington Co., N. V. Addiess F. S. ELUREDGE, No. Adams, No. 11 N<,. Church St. Berkshire Co., Mass. 32 pages— $1.00 a year— Sample Free. The oldest, largest and cheapest Weekly bee-paper THOMAS G. NEWMAN & SON, CHICAGO, ILL. FOR SALE. t^ln responding to this advertisement mention Gleanings. PHRSONS CURNTirJG APIAl^IflH SUPPliIES Woiilil do well to send to W. 12. ( i.-VKK, ( )riskany (bieiUaCo.. N. V. .Send for illusi rated jiriee list. Dealers should send for Deal- ers" list for Smokers. ti-13db £S''lii responilinK lo this ailveitlnemeiii uieulion Gukamnus. For May delivery, Italian and Hy- brid Bees ill light shipping-cases, 8 L. frames. Price, for Italians, ft.OH; hybrids, -I^.Od each, free on bciaifl cars here. 1 guarantee safe de- livery. A. \V. «AKI»l\KK, .5-8db" €eiitervllle, ITIlch. fWIii respondin^r to this advertisement mention Gleaning.s. nTT"r)r)T TT^CJ Langstroth Bee-hives, and ^1 r r I ]| hi^ every thing needed in the k^VJl 1 I J i A-'f^ • ix-e yard; IJiVpage catalogue ■HHi^Hiii^MHBH free! " BUSY BEES," :i book telling how to manage them. 10 cents in stamps. WALTER S. POUDER, .T-12db 173 E. Walnut St.. Indianapolis, Ind. BTIn reHUondini; to tlii.-- advei ti.~enuiil mention GLKAiJINOS, 3()2 (JLEANINGS IN HEE CULTURE. Al'RIl> l."i. For Sale. CALIFORNIA ! For Sale. I -^best on earths A rjiriL'li of rif<0 acres. Government land adjacent. I>welliiif4\ liee -hoii.se, lioiiey-liou.se, barn, and all needed out-lioiises. (^attle and horses, with waaons and farming implements if desired. A l)ariuain for a hee-man who has not used his homestead and pre- emption rights. Address C. B. A., ^-9d LiOitoak. Itlniiierey Co.,€al. Wholesale and Retail Manufacturer and Dealer in BEE-KEEPERS' SUPPLIES. ONE-PIECE SECTIONS A SPECIALTY, AS GOOD AS THE BEST. Send for ciitMlofjiie. W. E. SMITH, .5tfdl) Siiccoisiirto Smith X- Smith, Kenton, Hardin Co., Ohio. In writing aiuliii>: I" til \A/ nil llu' h.'lli .if iii\ oiniiiK to Mu> frnnt with CHAFF HIVE, Siiuile - Wallod Hive, and Hive- Protector. \\ lite fur prifo list . GEO. H. KIRKPATRICK, Union City, Ind. .Iv,rn-.,iiiriu' froc. stt'db H. ALLKY, Weiiliain, Matiitli and fidl .-olonii's at spi- i-ial prices. Bee >iii|»|»llei» of all kinds. Send for ciicidar jriviny full particu- lars. JNO. INEBI<:L. & SON. ■li^h Hill, aio. ISriii responding to tills adveitisenictit mention GLEANmos. JENNIE AtCHLlY" Will send VdU qiK ens l>\ rclmii mail. Safe arri\al ;md satisfaclioii jfuaratitci'd; cither Ihice or tivo banded strains. T'ntestL'd. April and Mav, *I.h(l each: six. ^5.00; after, 75c each; si.\, H:M; or *S.OO per dozen. Tested and breeding queens on ai)plica- tion; trv inv (iiieens. Monev-order otlice. Greenville. JEMMIE ATCHLiE^, Itfdb Floyd, Hunt <'o., TexaM. Please mention this paper. lON'T pa\- two prices for Hees. Queens, and Snp- ' plies, but send for tuy <'alalu:iue with Di«- III. — pil*'>, iiui seiui o •(- in\ ^ n inii^;i tit- %% 1 1 1 1 foiiut slieet, on 5>Baiided QiieeiiM. and fic best at M price. Chas. H. Thiks. .^teeleville. GOOD QUEENS! CHEAP! :{i I tested Italian (juei'ii--. i-.iised last >eas(in. 1 will M'll after Apr. ~'ii; *l.i5 each; per do/,., ^VZ.iHt. I will have untested (jueens about .\ia.v9. at $1 Oiieach; i^liMiO per doz.. ready to mail; reared from one of .\. 1. Root's best imv>orted queens, or from select home-breU stock. \V. A. tJOITI »"r«HV, sd Liyiiiiville, Teiiii. Please mention this paper. For Sale, 15 Hives of Bees, In doulilc-walled hi ves 111] tin !>. frame Ttfdb A. POWERS, Hiittain. Summit C Old. FOR SALE. Two hundred tive-frall. screw-top square honey-cans; been used once, tlie most of them :is ^'ood as new. at 30c each, f. o. b. Address C. A. STANTON, « per M.;or ^L'.fiO per M. in .■)(i(K) lots at factory at Wati/.eka. Wis. Other su|>plies sliiiiped from <'apac. stfdh Addle.- B. WALKBH, Capac, Mich. ■ nii'iition I his pajier. Oatman's Soldering and Repair Kit Misisi^ lit tiii-pot. two copper solderiiiji-irons, bar solder, solderina- tluiil and biusli, all-steel scraper. Iiammer, scratch-awl, aiifl i)l.\ers, as shown in cut. Any one puiehasiiiK this ou'ttit will g-et full direc- tions, whi(;h will enable them to I'cpair tin, copper, brass, metals, and iron; also how to keep their sol- dering-irons in Older. Whole kit, boxed, 12 lbs. Shipped on receipt of $'2. Agnits winittd. O. & I.. OATinAN, ITIedina, Ohio. iC^lii ri-~ji.iiii)jn(j to this advertisement mention Glkanings. IF YOU WANT BEES Thai will .just ••roll" in the honey, Trv Moore's strain of Italians, the result of 13 years' careful breeding. T. .J. Motlitt, Kem|)s Mills, N. C says: ••They beat any thing I ever saw in the bee liiie. They are ct-rtainlj' ' rolling ' in the honej- now; one of them beats I hree of my others at work. I would not take ^5. (Ml apiece for the queens. They seem very gentle." Prices: Warranted queens, in June. *I. 00 each; :ifoi*2.5». Tested queens in Mav. ^^^.IMi each; select tested, .t2..50. Circulars free. " Sd J. P. MOORJi!, Morgan, Pendleton Co., Ky. Mention this p.apei'. rOR SALE. .5:1 colonies of Italian bees in A. I. Roofs 8-frame Dovetailed and Langslroth's lo-fiame hives, at Ave dollars per colony. A liberal discount for more than one colonv. Safe deliver-y guarantoefl. S-lldl) .fOHN CiKANT, Batavia, Ohio. MARTINS PROLIFIC BUCKWHEAT Same kind as ad\ eri ised last year in (ii.K.AMNCS. On my sand.\' soil it fields double tlu' i|uaniity per acre as .lapanese. (Jives e.Ycelleiit satisfaction. $1.00 per bu , cash, on board cars here, sacks includ- ed. WM.ITiABTlIN, »^lldb Highliiiid, Oalilaiid Co., mii-li. Please mention Glraninos. M\- new price list of Pure Ital- ian KceM, Wiiitesiiid BroM'ii l..e^'liorii <'lii<-keiiM. Wliile and Brown Fer- rets, and S«-oteli <'olliePupi». Address N. A. KNAPP. Rochester, Lorain Co., O. stfdb FKBSI Founddtion Wholesale and Retail. / f rei' sanii)U'S. Siiecial iirices to dealers on Foui Fi'ee price list of everything needed in the apiary. pri( Otfdb H. HUNT. It you would like to see how nice foundation can be made, send for nidation and Sei^tions, et<-. (Near Detroit.) Bell Branch, Mich. 304 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Aprii- lo. Wants or Exchange Department. Notices; will be inserted under this head at one half our usu- al rates. All advertisements intended for this department must not exceed five lines, and you must say you want your adv't in this department, or we will not be responsible for er- rors. You can have the notice as many lines as you please; but all over Ave lines will cost you according to our regular rates. This department is intended only for bona-flUe ex- changes. Exchanges for cash or for price lists, or notices of- fering articles for sale, can not be inserted under this head. For such our regular rates of 20 cts. a line will be charged, and they will be put with the regular advertisements. We can not l)e responsible for dissatisfaction arising from these "swaps." WANTED.— To trade a larg-e lot Of Heddon liives, nicely made and good a.s new; some with combs complete for honey, now or after crop of '93. Write for particulars. Address D. S. Hall, •it.fdb South Cabot, "Vt. WANTED.— To exchange job printing- of any kind for black or Italian bees. A. D. Ellingwood. fi-9db White Mountain Apiarist, Groveton, N. H. WANTED.— To exchange 1 higli-arm Singer sewing- machine, good as new, 3 White Plymouth Rock cockerels, Trio White Minorcas, and eggs from Wliite Minorcas, White P. Rocks, Golden Wyaii- dottes, S. C. Brown Leglioins, R. C. Brown Leg- liorns, and Pekin ducks, for comb foundation, or offers. J. C. Pkovins, Masontown, Fayette Co., Pa. 7-8d \17 ANTED.— To exchange brood-foundation, at 40c W per lb., or light for the boxes at .50c per lb., for wax at 30c per lb. . B. Chase. 7tfdb Earlville, Madison Co., N. Y. Wf ANTED. —To exchange pure Italian queens, \\ three or tive banded, or from imported queens, for 1-lb. sections and comb foundation. 7tfdb Mks. Oliver Cole, Sherburne, Chenango Co., N. Y. FOR sale or exchange, swai'ms of bees. -1 Barnes foot-power saw, 3 L. L. ESENHOWER, Reading, Berks Co., Pa. \1/ANTED.— To trade a lot of American hives and VV combs, or combs without hives, for something- useful in apiary; also some Langstroth combs. RoBT. QuiNN, Shellsburg, Iowa. FOUNDATION exchanged for wax or a few bees bv the pound in May. "W. H. Upton, Morning Sun, Iowa. WANTED.— A middle-aged woman, to live as one of the family; only three in family. Address .sd Adell. Wood. Monahans, Texas. TITANTED.— To exchange double-action S. andW. Vf model revolver and Italian queens for P. China, Berkshire, or Essex pigs. W. C. Gathright, Toccopola, Miss. WANTED, apiary. -An experienced bee-keeper to work in J. A. Abbuckle, Greeley. Col. W ANTED.— To exchange choice Carniolan and Italian queens for supplies. 8-9d F. A. Lockhakt & Co., Lake George, N. Y. W ANTED.— To exchange new D. hives for tested Italian queens. J. G. RisLOW, Lake Mills, la. JUST OUT! B7 W. I. CHAMBERLAIN, A. M., LL. D., Fonuerly Secretary of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, and late President of the Iowa State Agricultural Col- lege. At present Associate Editor of the Ohio Fai mer. This is a valuable companion to our otlier rural books.. It embraces the experience of forty years of one of our foremost praclii'al agriculturists, who has laid with liis own hands over 15 miles of tile. Price 35c; by mail, 40c. A. I. ROOT. MEDINA. OHIO. TESTED ITALIAN QUEENS. Bred for business and gciicial good qualities, of last year's raising, Jl.OO each; *10.00 per doz. Hy- brids, 36 cts. each. T-8d T. W. LIVINGSTON, Dalton, Wliitfleld Co., Ga. tsrin responding to this advertisement mention Gleanings WANTED.— To exchange my 10th annual price list of apiarian supplies. al.so i)ure gold strain of Jersey sweet-potato seed, for your name and ad- dress plainly written on a postal cai'd. 7-.s C. m. I>lXON, Parrlsh, III. fl B C OF STRAWBERRY t CULTURE, A t BOOK ? FOR t BECINliERS. BY T. B. TERRY. This is Terry's latest and best work, and has re- ceived some very high words of praise. Who that keeps bees does not also have a little garden-patch'/ If you would learn to raise in it that mo.st luscious of "all fruit, the sti'awberry, with the best results, you can not be without tliis little hook. Even if you don't grow strawberries yt>u will he the better for leading it. Pages one-half size of this. Fully illustrated; 144 pages. Price 3.'!c; by mail, 40c. A. I. ROOT, MEDINA, O. lash for Beeswax! Will pay i!Tc per Ih. casli, or ;jiic in trade for an.y quantity of good, fair, average beeswax, delivered at our R. R. station. The same will be sold to those who wish to purchase, at 32c per lb., or 35c for best ! Kelected wax. Unless you put your name on the box, and notify us by mail of amount sent, I can not hold myself I responsible for mistakes. It will not pay as a gen- ■ eral thing to send wax bv earjjress. A. I. ROOT, Medina, Ohio Black and Hybrid Queens For Sale. WANTED. -To exchange for bees or offers, the following books: Clarke's Commentary, Vols. 5 and 6, N. Testament; History of Methodism, Ste- vens, 2 vols.; Heroes of Methodism; Life of Sweden- l)org; Mary, Queen of the House of David; Greek Testament"; Bible Dictionary (Union!; Jacobus on the Acts; Presbyterian Reunion Memorial Volume. Address " J. Fekhis Patton. 693 Freeman Ave., Cincinnati. WANTED-LADY OR GENT IN EACH county to distribute and collect for Bi-abant's ladies' toilet cases; 3.38 articles, worth W; will send sample and full particulars by mail for a5c in stamps: returnable If not satisfactory; territory free; S3 to $5 per day easily made. Address J. C. FRI8BHK, general atfeut, 172 Maple St., Denver, Col. For the benefit of friends who have black or hybrid queens whic*! they wish to dispose of. we will insert notices tree of charge, as "below. We do this because there is hardly value enough in these queens to pa.y for buying them up and keep- ing them in .stock ; and yet it is oftentimes quite an accommo- dation to those who can not afforil higher-priced ones. I have 50 good hylirids and V)lack queens for sale at 3.ic each, ready "for immediate delivery. 6-7d W. H. Heastman, Citra, Mari(m Co., Florida. Black (jueens, 1.5c; hybrids, 20c; mismated, 25c. Geo. E. Dawson, Carlisle, Ark. 1 ha\ e a few hvbrid queens, voung and veiy pro- lific, 35c each ; 3 for f l.Od. W. C. Gathright, Toccopola, Miss. 25 mismated and hybrid queens at 40c each. They are large and spjightly, and lu-oliflc layers. Stamp** taken. J. J. Hardy, La^ onia, Franklin Co., Ga. l«l)? «;leanin(tW in bee culture. :i()r. KIND WORDS FROM OUR CUSTOMERS. My h-immIs iiitivihI iill rijirln. miuI I am well pU-iist-d. ■pill" >t'Oi ions ail" \<'ry iiltf Soi.oMon I.kwis. Hcllovuc. O. 1 iri-ci\r k*»hIs ill jrood onU-i- Mulliins- Inst. 1 was well pli'asi'd with ovcry tliiiijr. Maustoii.SVis. ('. E. Haskins. As to the A B C l)ook. I (lout tliink 1 eviT read a novel tliat interested me any more than tliat does. Diamond. Pa. F. II. Koss. I am'verv nuieti pleased witli thi' k'hhIs I ri"i-ei\cd from you.' 1 like the thick slats of the section- holders, and the foundation isihetinest 1 ever had. Carpenter, 111. K. S.Mirii. I liave rei-eived your book, the A B C of Bee Cul- ture, and one .'opy of Gr,E.\.NiNGS, and am very well iile.ised with them. FRANK .XnMii.i). DeeT- Plain, III. tiooils" received .hin. 1. lfresting- in the future as in the past, please consider me a "sticker." ' L. G. English. Marysville, O. [That's phiin English.] Friend Koot. you may continue Gleanings. I in- close ^l.iNi. I ani very.imurli pleased with my sew- inff-machine. I think it is on the true principle. Mohawk. N. Y. .^g»CUAS. P. Bhown. How Gleanings has improved! If it would oidy come every week, and as •'chuck full" of jjoud sound reading a.s^it nowis.it would^have no rival. Allow me, Ernest, to congratulate you on your part t4)ward making us a good periodical. WeltoiL Iowa. Frank Coveudale. ole.\nings .\s an .\i)Vertising mediu.m. ~r I found your journal the best advertising medium last season. Iliad more orders frcjm the two inser- tions than I had from other journals in wlii(;h I ad- vertised « months. O. .7. E. Urkan. Tliorndale. Texas^ There are other .sweets that we get out of the col- umns of Gleanings besides bees and honey— the crumbs that fall from; thej.ma.ster's table -those good things our cliildren like to read, and proHt by the same. S. F. Mii.i.K.ii. North Manchester, Ind. Gleanings is always awelcome visitor, or. latlier, a welcome member of the fanuly. Your fath(>r's notes of travel are worth many times the price of Gleanings. M. L. Uiikwek. Phllo, ni, Wife can't fgive up the "goixl talks," and I won't give up any part of your journal, although my apiary does not furnish much honey e.vccpt ali<)iit one year in five. N. W. Fai.ks. Im'usdale, Cal. Gleanings improvas with every issue, but it ought to have more items from Southern bee-keep- ers to make it of as miicli use to us as it is to t hose further north. H. P'lrz Hakt. Avery, La. [We are glad to get items of interest from practi- cal men from the South. We desire to make fiLEAN- iNGS interesting to all classes.] Goods ordered of you were received all tight. It is almost surprising with what promj>tness you folks do business. When we order goods from you they are always here t)efore we are lo(»king for them. The sewing-machine gives splenflid satisfac- tion. Tlie lady told me she liked it well, and would itlst as soon have It as a 1'4(l machine an agent left at her house to try to sell to her before she saw the one 1 got from vou for my danghtor. I^mg life to Gleanings and all Its helpers. L. Dvek. .Morristown, Ind. I Hiid ever.\ thing compU'te. I am well pleasefl. The si'wiiig-machine Is nicer and better than we e.\- pected. I have tried it thoroughly, and tliid It tiist- class in everv respect. I believe 1 could secure more sales of mai'liiiies in t his locality by a little work. Coniniia, Ind. Slmi'Son F.vhrincjton. Job Lot of Wire Netting. CUT PIECES AT A LOWER PRICE THAN FULL ROLLS, Having bouglit from the factory, at our own price, five or si.\ hundred remnants, as listed below, we are able to give you the choice of a great variety of piecesat the price of a full roll or lower. Full rolls of netting are 1.50 ft. Ions', and when they are cut we have to cnarge nearly double the full-roll rate, be- cause it is so much trouble to unroll, measure, and cut, and run the risk of having a lot of remnants on hand. No doubt it is in this way that the following remnants have accumulated. It costs a good deal to get all this in shape .so we can easily pick out from the lot the piece you want. But to move it off quick- ly, we put the price down so you can all have a chance at it. Remember, first come, first served. In ordering, therefore, name a second or third choice, or say that we may send the nearest we can if tlie piece selected is gone. (In 5 pieces deduct .5 per cent, on 10 pieces 10 per cent. These remnants are shipped only from here. If any of you want to secure some, and don't want tliem shipped till later, when you will order something else, so as to save freight, pick out the pieces you want, send remittance with the order, with request to lay by till called for, and we will mark tliem as belonging to yon. We prefer to ship them tight out. however. LI.ST OF POULTIIY-NETTING REMNANTS. y. .J ■= S ^ * g X Lengtli i>f each piece. Multiply by the widUi in feet to pet the number of square •^ '^ ?ia feet in each piece. Then multiply by the ■a » price per foot for tlie price per piece. ^ X z. 5 3i 2 20 % 27. 2 2 19 ^ 103. 100. 72 2 18 1 61, .53. 48. 35. 22. 22. 76 2 17 i'4 23. 1.5. :«i 2 Ifi m; 23; 18 in. wide. 40; 24 in. wide. 94. 88. 72 2 16 IK 60, .58, 56; .30 in. wide, 46. 24 ; 48 in. wide. 48. 18 2 l.i 2 87,30; 12 in. wide. 100. 24 12 1.5 2 100. 90. 69, .52. 33. 13. 12. 60 in. wide. 21. 20. 42 2 1.5 2 121, 23. 8; 72 in. wide, .36, 33. 9. 48 2 15 2 72. 49. 48, 4.5, .■«. 37. 30. 29. 26, 14. 30 IJi 1 19 1 1 33, .36 in. wide. 47. 42 IH 19 1 85,59; 6(1 in. 58; 72 in. 18 1H 18 m 40. 14; 54 in.. 12; 60 in.. :*4. :m\ iH 16 2V. 79; ;<6in.,14; 42 in. ,34; 48in.,9->. :«) l>^|20 22. •Srt IH 19 1^ 48.12.24 in.. 42; 30 in.. 75; 48 in., 78. «« IV 18 2 15, 10;:42in..80: 48 in.. 22; 72 in., 8. 48 1 W» t'V .53; 72 in., 51; ,30 in., 96; 9 in.. 40. 24 1 19 2 26; 9 in.. 24: 42 in., 50, 34; 48 in., 1()0. 4"; fid in.. 26; 18 in... 50. S2 I 18 2^ 85; 24 in, 23; 30 in., 69. .•»il 18 2V. 48 in. ,.30; 60 in. ,.59. 9 'H 2(1 n 7; 36 in., 55. 24 3 16 1 19; ,36 in., 86, 42 in., 14. ■M 3 1.5 ji^ 63; 48 in., 60. 48 3 1^ 45; 72 in.. 100, 70. 14 3 166. .52, 35, 23 22 4 107. 68. 35. 17, 15. .-(0 4^ 52. 47, 36. 33. :«) 29 19, 18, 13, 9. 34 4\ 43. 37. .34, 25. 24. 2.3, 18. 42 4 5 68, 62, 62, 23. 22, 22. 15, 12. 12. 12. 8. 6. *B nV, 82.50.44 11,5. 18 8 13 2 68 ft. ; .36 In.. 200 ft. at 4c; 4.5 in.. 247 ft. at he. Four and el^ht inch fencintr. price per foot in length. Price in fourth column i» tin ^. Z. ROOT, Mediza.a,, O. 306 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. Aprii, is. Hastings' Lightning Bee-Escape. Send for sample of Hastiiig-s' "Lightning " Bee Escape, and you will be convinced tliat it is the best and most practical escape yet produced. It will clear the supers in ;i short space of time (2 to 4 liours), and it is impossible for tlie bees to clog the passage, as tliey can not return. Eacli escape guar- anteed as repifsented. Price, l)y mail, each, $().:J0; by mail, per do7... $2 :i5. Full directions with eacli escape. Electrotypes furnished free for dealers' catalogues. Write for discount. 7-12dl) M. B. HASTING.^, New York Mills, Oneida Co., N. Y. Please mention this paper PREVENT SWARMING ivplaving old worn-out queens ' YOUNG ones lief ore the harvest opens. I breed the Leather-colored strain of Italiiins. Prices for the next 30 days, *1» per doz. ; $1 each. Purltv and sale arrival guaranteed. A. F. BROWN. Huntington. Khi. .\sent Southern KxpressCo. 7 Sd Good Queens Cheap. 300 tested Italian queens, raised hist season, for saleatSl; .?10 pei' doz. A few Iiybrids at 25c each. They will be shipi)ed about June ]5th to 2.')th. or later if desired. Have order booked now and senfl money when you want tliem. My bees have been KRhJD fitU nvsiNUSS, and these are bar- gains. Nuclei and full colonies at very low rates. J. A_ GREEIT, DaT-boa, Ill_ ^^In responding to thi.s .nlvii i i It niHIltion GLEAKINOa New Machinery. We have just put in the hit est improved machin- ery for the manufacturing of bee - keepers' sup- plies. Dovetailed and che;ip L. hives at a bargain. Sections and frames very cheap. A large stock of smokers and foundation. Send foi' circular. 7 I2db w. H. BRIGHT, Mazeppa. Minn. t^Vci responding to this advertisement mention Gleaninqs, Sent( for fricf Lint to R. E. HARBAUGH, Ofomif'r ami Itcolcr in Hee- lii^i-jT rs' Siijiplifs. Breeder of Italian and Carniolaii Bees and Queens, Light and Dark Colored Ferrets. 'iHth and Cloy Sts., - - - st. Josffih, iMo FHILO'S AUTOMATIC SECTION FORMER AND GLUER. IT DOES BOTH AT THE SAME OPERA- TION. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS TO TUHN THE CRANK, AND THE SEC- TIONS ARE ROLLED OUT BY THE WHOLE- SALE. ANY CHILD CAN DO IT. PRICE ONLY Address E. W. Philo, Halfmoon, N, Y. The machine is for any wldtli of the mxm one- piece section . Italian Bees and Queens For Sale. Untested niuccns, *1.(HI; tested, UM. Bees, *1. 00 per lb. Colony, $5.00. Al.so barred Plymouth Rock eggs for sitting, $1.00 per 13. 7-l(Vlb MRS. A, A. SIMPSON, Swarts, Pa. BEE SUPPLIES and all kinds of Berry - pack- ages, boxes and baskets. We make a spe- cialty of one- piece sections, and wood sepa- rate )rs. Address BERLIN FRUIT BOX CO.. Berlin Heights Erie Co.. Oliio. Please mention this paper EARLY QUEENS and BEES FROM THE SOUTH. 1 untested (lueen, April, $1.00; May, *1.00 H " •• •■ 3.75: •• 2.50 1 tested '• " 3.00; " 1.50 3 " " " 5.(0; " 4.00 Best Select Tested foi' In-eeding, $3.00. Twivframe nuclei, with any queen, $1.50 each extra. Safe arrival guaranteed. Special rates to dealeis. W. J. ELLISON, 6^7 «d Catchall, Sumter Co., S. C. twin responding to this advertisement mention (iUKANDioa. pfliriTFOH BEE-HIVES. After much experimentation, and a can>ful study into the paint question, we offer a mixed Paint Prepared Especially for Bee-Hives. It will not Chalk or Flake off. We guarantee it to be free from adulterants, such as whiting, barytes, lime, and other sub- stitutes that do not add to the enduring quali- ties of the paint. Our paint is made of strictly pure lead, strictly pure zinc, and genuine Frencli ocher of about equal proportions, mixed in pure linseed oil. It is generally recognized that there is no pigment more permanent than French ocher; and this, combined with zinc and lead, makes a most durable combination. The re- sultant tint is a pale straw color. Price: Pint. 35c: quart. (JOe: half-gallon, *1.0(3; gallon, «l,75. Half a gallon will cover ten No. 1 Dovetailed hives two coats. A. I. ROOT, Medina, O. IS'.V? (JI.KANINCS IN HKK CUI/niRH. :'.n NOTE THESE FACTS, THAT IN THE PECOS VALLEY, THE FRUIT BELT OF NEW MEXICO, Farmers in this valley ra se twd or three erops a year of iirain ami vefjcelables. and live crops a year of hay : Stoi'k grazes on <>:r('en alfalfa all winter; Kvery f;n inei- in the Pecos \'alley is wril- \\\iX tn all Ifs friends lo i-onie here ; The I'eros \'alley is destined to rival any portion of sonthern California as a frnit- urowinjj country; It prodnees nearly every variety of fruit, vesetable and eereal" that e:in be grown any- where in the United States; Nearly every species of forest tree can also he >rriiw"n here under irrigation ; V'egetables and grain can be grown be- tweeii fruit-trees while the latter are grow- ing to the bearing stage; TVe have a home market for all our pro- ducts at good jirices; \Vc have the most delightful and health- ful climate in the world ; The thickest ice formed here this winter was less than one inch thick ; Tlie total snow - fall was less than two inches; The sun shone on this valley 352 days in ISDI; This climate is a never-failing cure for consnmittion, bronchitis, asthma, catarrli, rheumatism, etc.; All pulmonary troubles are relieved by a permanent residence here; There is just freezing enough here in win- ter to kill out any and all i)ossible impurities in air or water; Men can work outdoors with comfort eve- ry day in the year; Our Pecos River water is pleasant to the taste, and healthful; It is, moreover, a never-failing cure for dyspei)sia and liver troubles, and for all dis- eases of the l)ladder and kidneys; It is also excellent water for stock; All kinds (jf stock thrive upon it; Good, pure, cool well water can be had anywhere in tlie valley by digging 20 to 40 ft ; And a great many others equally impor- tant which we will point out to you when vou come here. Meanwhile send for handsomely illustrat(-d liook, mail. ftr. Address PECOS IRRIGATION & IMPROVEMENT CO.. EDDY, NEW MEXICO. (#*ln responding to this advertisement mention Olkaninos SPEAK QUICH! 30 Colunies of black bees on Quinby suspended frames, foi- sale, in light shlpping--b()xes. Tliese bees have plenty of brood. N> I'm i|1hiiis hI ilii-, r;i('i', bred. and impoited bv a " HdUninxltiii Uw-kciyrr." is l)elo\v. Priieseach: Viryiti, .tl.."«(l; fertile, untested, ta.On; ditto I'liie mated, .tll).(K); dittct selected, *4(I.(I0; ditto impdrted, $.')O.OII. Sent per mail prepaid and fiiiar- iiMtced [,i>rainst lo.ss in transit m- iiM rodiiction. If nut :ippio\ed of aftir trial, ;\\\ nnmey reliirnt'd in /l(7/. Circidar fi-.'c.' Adilress .lOH^ IIKWITT «V <;0., Shcfllold, Kng. lyiu re.spondlnt; to this a Please mention this paper. BEE-H1VE8, Dovetailed or Otherwise. All Kinds of Bee Supplies. Write for free eatalogue. W. H. PUTNAM, 8 13db River Falls, Pierce Co., Wis. t^"ln responding to this advertisement mention Gleanings. ITAlilAIV QCJEENS. Choice te.sted, $1.50; un- tested, 9i)c. Satisfaction guaranteed. 9-lld S. P. RoDDF & BiKj., Mt. St. Mary's, Md. PflR ^Al F Seventy-five colonies of bees in run Onl-t, Simplicity hive.s. Price $4 a colony. Address Wm. G. Griffiths, Chew, opp. Sharpneek St., Germantown, Pa. TESTED ITALIAN QUEENS, $1.00 EACH. ' Untested, 6;!c; .select tested, $1.35; one 2-frame nucleus, tested queen, $2.00; f)ne 2-frame nucleus, untested, U.W. STEWART BR<»S., 8-12db Sparta, Wliite Co., Teuu. LEATHER-COLORED ITALIAN QUEENS. One untested, $1.00; six, $5.50; twelve, $10.00; one tested, $1.50; six, $8.00: twelve, $15.00; selected for breeding 6«r!y, each, $2..50; one year old tested, m Jmiii. inily. $1.25; six, $7.00; twelve, $13.01). Two-year- old (pieens, each, .50c. Descriptive catalog-ue mailed free on application. ^''''''^ A. E. Manum, Bristol, Vt. lyiiirespouoinK to tliis a^lviiti.-^ement mention Gleaninos, LOCATIOIT Is a Ijig- poiui, in supplyinjf floods; ours gives you low freig-ht rates. As we sell low, you should have our (-irciihir of supplies. l-l«dli I.J.STRINGHAM, 92 BARCLAY ST., N. Y. Fleasc menlioii tliis piiper. TT f;^ts To order the 1)est made goods. For Fine Sections, Foundation. Perforated Zinc, Queen Excluders, and the best hive for comb honey now before tlie public, order of Dr. Tinker. PRICES GREATLY RE- DCCED. Address for catalogue De. G. L. Tihkes, New Philadelphia, 0. I'lc.ise menticiii tliis p.iper. 8-Udb 313 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 1. Contents of this Number. Absorlfents Favoied 33' Alfalfa, When Cut 324 Apricots. Calif orula 3-14 Beesof Italy 319 Bee-moth 331 Colonies. Doubling 326 Covers, Sealed 327, 343 Ditching. Tools for 340 Electricity tor Imbedding. .343 Eugene Secor 317 Feeders 3:51 Foundation, To Restore .334 Frames, Wiring 328 Hive carts 330 Increase by Fuichase 3-'4 Italians Ahead 334 Moving to Out-apiaries 3.30 Orange-blossom Honey 3.34 Photos of Bee-keepers 330 Propolis on T Tins 331 Propolis on E-vcluders 3.33 Funics, Price of 319 Queens, Three in a Hive — 334 Rambler at Bonfoey's 320 Retailing-cases" 32,5 Robbers, To Catch 333 Shipping-cases 32.5 Space Under p'rames 323 Spraying Trees 322 Sulphuric Acid 332 Swarms, To Prevent 329 Swarmer, Pratt's 318 Swaimers, .Automatic 318 Tools for Digging 340 Top bars, New Plan 334 Transplanting to the Field .341 Ventilation, Upward 327 Vinegar, Honey 316 Wax Sheets on'GIass 334 Wiring. Keeney 333 CONVENTION NOTICES. The first annual meeting of the Connecticut Bee-keepers' As- sociation will be held at Hartford, May 12, commencing at 10:30 A.M. All interested are invited. Mrs. W. E. Riley, Sec. Waterbury, Ct. The annual meeting of the Ionia Bee-keepers' Association will be held at the Bailey House parlors, Ionia, Mich., May 11, 1892. John H Larrabee, of the Michigan Agricultural College, will make an address. H. Smith, Sec, Ionia. The Southwestern Wisconsin Bee-keepers' Association will hold its next annual meeting in Boscobel, Grant Co., Wis., on the 13th and 14th of .Tanuary. 1S93. commencing at 10 a.m. All members of the association ,^re requested to be present, as the following officers are to be elected: President, vice-president, secretary, assistant secretary, and treasurer. Blank repu)-ts will be sent to each member of the association for 1892, with instructions. A cordial invitation is extended to all bee-keep- ers, and especially to those who would like to .ioin us. Each member will be notified at least one month before said meet- ing. Benj. E. Rice, Sec. Boscoliel, Wis. CIRCULARS RECEIVED. We have lately received apiarian price lists from the folli ing parties: F. C. Erkel. Le Sueur, M nn. Jos. E. Shaver. Friedens, Va. \V. H. Biight. Mazeppa, Minn. C. D, l)uv:ill, Si.ineerville, Md. Otto J. E. Urlian. Thorndale, Tex, J. W. Bitti nbciiiler, Knoxville, Iowa. Leah.v ilauufarturmg Co.. Higginsville, JIo. Special Notices. CANNED TOMATOES. We have a large supply of tomatoes of our own canning'. Tliey are Igiiotum.s; and as both seeds and juice were separated at the time of canning-, the cans contain only the solid Ig-notum meat. Price lu cts. per can, or 19.00 per 100 cans.« SEEDLING TOMATO-PLANTS. We have quite a surplus in the greenhouse of g-ood strong plants, standing in tlie seed-bed; but we are having so many frosts that we do not dare risk them outdoors wilhout protection. Under the circumstances we offer them, for immediate orders, for 30 els. per 100, or f,'J.0O per 1000. If wanted by mail, add :,'.') cts. per lUO for yx'Stage and packing. We have Livingston's Beauty, Ignotum, and Dwarf Chauipiou at tlie above prices. As tlie trade has liardly yet commenced on cab- bage, caulitiower, tomato, and celery plants, we have an unusually good assortment of all of them, including, also, sweeVpotato plants. When tlie frosts let up for good, however, tliere will probably be a tremendous rush for every thing in this line, and We rather anticipate there will be a scarcity of many kinds of vegetable-plants. RUBBER STAMPS FOR TOUR NAME AND ADDRESS. A month ago, in urging you to be sure and sign your name and give your address, we mentioned incidentally that we could furnish you a rubber stamp to print 3'our name and address for 20c, and so We can; but you need with it ink and pads — or, better, a self-inking pad, which costs 25c more. We can, for 25c, furnisii you a nicKel pen-holder, with sliding pen and pencil in one end, and on the other a rubber stamp, giving your name and address, with pad to ink it, and a tube of ink included, all for 25c. It is usually sold for .50c, and often for 90c or !?1.(X). If you want this, order our pen and pencil stamp, and be sure to give plainly just what you want it to print. If you don't write verj' plainly we can not be respcjiisible for errors. MASON FRU1T-.JARS. Last year, in fruit-canning time there was a scar- city of Ma.son jars, and the price went up to nearly double what they can be had for now. We advise you to provide yourselves In time before the "glass- workers stop for the summer heat. We are pre- pared to take orders now for jars to be shipped di- rect from Pittsburg, Pa., in original packages, from the first to the fifteenth of .June, at the following prices : Pints (6 doz. in box), $8.00 per gross (12 dozen). Quarts (8 doz. in box) $8.25 per gro.ss. 2-quart (6 doz. in box) $11.00 per gross. Remember these prices are good only for imme- diate orders, and to be shipped during the first half of June direct from Pittsburg, Pa. Orders to be sent to us. STANLEY AUTOMATIC REVERSING HONEY-EXTRACT- OR As announced in last number of Gleanings, ^\( have lea.sed from G. \\ Stanlej^ the right to make his automatic ex- it letor, and we bought li om E. R. Newcomb his stock of materials and nirepared we are to serve you. Last year, and the year before, our supply of lumber suitable for sec- tions was insufficient, and, as a consequence, to fill orders at all we were compelled to send out some that were rather inferior for first grade. To many of our friends who received these goods we have al- lowed a rebate; and to others who mentioned it in their orders we have sent an extra supply of the choice sections we are now turnin.g out. If there are any who have not yet had satisfaction, we want to hear from j'ou .so that we may ha\ e an opportu- nity to give you satisfaction, and to give you sec- tions that can not be surpassed by any manufactur- er. IS'.fJ (iLKANMXCS IN BEE CULTURE. 313 Honey Column. CITY MARKETS. Nkw VoHk. IJoiliil. CoMsidoniliU" slock of cnnib li.iiu'von llu- inarki'l. mostly otr slock iiiid lim-k- wlu'a't. No diMiiMiiil fxcci't f<"" fancy stoi-k. Now cro|> SoutlifiM cxliactcil arriving in siimll iiuanli- tios. and tinds roadv sale at from TO®".") a na""" Co'' choice; «.">(';; Southern strained, in bbls., as to .luality, iX^mM- Bwsmt.r, prime stock, 28X ; selected, more. Apr. 30. W. R- Westcott & Co., St. Louis, Mo. Chicago. — Honey. — Honey - market unchang-ed since last reported. Tne offerings of flue comb are very lijrht. and it bring-s 15c; dark comb according- to present outlook will be aViout exhausted by May. The price of this is uncertain at 10@18. Extracted sells at 6@7@'<. Stock light, and shipments would iie sold on arrival. Bii.?ieiy.— The demand for comb houey is as usual very light at this season of the year. A few fancy lots' have sold as liigh as 14c; hut for or- dinary lots, 1275 per gallon. BK>^-sfy. l>2'-st'y. 2 st'y. 2-st'y. In lots of 5 — 72c 82c 87c 97c In lots of 10 .... 69 79 84 94 In lots of 25 .... 60 70 75 85 In lots of 50 .. . 58 68 73 83 In lots of 100 ... 57 67 70 80 The reason we can sell so cheap is that lumber is cheaper in Minnesota than any other State in the U. S. The above prices are for Dovetailed, Simplicity, and three other .styles. Send for catalogue. F. €. ERKELr, lieSueur, Mtuii. Please mention this paper. Engine and Boiler For Sale. A six-liorsV upright cngiiie and a teii-liorse hoi-i- zoiilal steel lioiler. They are both complete and in flne condition; have been used only about six months. Boiler arched in. Both are W. B. Dunn- ing's make, Geneva. N. Y. Also an 18-inch Feed-Mill, French buhr, of A. W. Stevens' make. Auburn, N. Y. Shcller, Elevator, Shafting, Belting, Pulleys, and a fine lot of Slmonds saws, cut-off and rip, from 5 inch up to 18. Two Vandervort Foundation Mills, 6 and 12 inch, steam melting-apparatus, etc. The whole outfit is nearly new, and in fine condition. Will lie sold at a bar- gain. Write for particulars. G. W. BALEV & SON, 9tfdb Ovid, Seneca Co., N. Y. Please mention this paper. A Four-Color Label for Only 75 Cts. Per Thousand. Just think of it! we can furnish you a very neat fiiur-color label, -with your name and address, with the choice of having eitlier " comb " (jr " extracted " before the word '•honey," for only 75 cts. per thou- sand ; .50 cts. per .500, (jr 30 cts. for 250, postpaid. The size of the label is 2>^xl inch— just right to go round the neck of a i>ottle. t(j put on a section, or to adorn the front of a honey-tumbler. Send for our special label catalogue for samples of this and many other pretty designs in label work. A. I. ROOT, ITIedfna, O. 314 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 1. f^^FLJT Li q rs' FOR 1892 AND A F/iVt, TnGTHO, ITALIAN QUEEN. OF LAST YEAR'S REARING. FOR $1.75. EITHER ALONE. $1.00. FOR $2.00. THE REVIEW. THE QUEEN ANO THE 50 CT. BOOK, ■■ ADVANCED BEE CULTURE." WILL BE SENT. W. Z. HUTCHINSON, FLINT. MICH. P. S.— If not acquainted with the Review, send ten cents for three late but different issues. SPECIflli IVIflTED queens' reared under the swarming impulse in our Texas apiary, and mated to very yellow drones. Queens and drones from two of the best queens in Texas. All queens warranted purely mated. One queen, Apr., $1.25; 6 for $6.00. May, one queen, $1.10; 6 for $5.50. Our 5-Banded Italians are the best workers, most gentle and beautiful bees. Safe ar- rival and entire Satislactloii Guaranteed, cir- cular free. S. F. & I. TREGO, Swedona, 111. In writing to advertisers please mention this paper. ^ ^^ CENTS WILL BUY A GOOD 2 -STORY W^l 1 L. Hive. $1.00 Will Buy 100 L. 1^/^^ Brood Frames. SI. 00 Will Buy a Nice Golden Italian Queen. Please Write for our Circular Before you Buy your Supplies. W. H.IBRICHT, Mazeppa, Minn. Please mention this paper. FOR SALE— 100 COLONIES of Italian and hybrid bees in K-frame Langstroth hives. Price,,' for Italians, $4.00; hybrids, $3.50 each, free on board cars here. A liberal discount for more than five colonies. I guarantee safe de- livery. Thomas Grimm, Jeffer.son, Jeff. Co., Wis. 910(1 Please mention this paper. BEE SUPPLIES RETAIL — AXII — WHOLESALE. Everything used in the Apiary. Greatest variety and larges^t stock in the We^st. New catalog, 54 illustrated iniges, free to bee-keepers. E. KEETCHMES, EED OAK, IOWA. In writing advertisers please mention this p.iper. DOVETAILED *"\^rY.!;S. QUEENS. Send for price list of Italian Queens, Drones, Hives, Smokers, Foundation, etc. Finest breeding queen, after March i, $4.00. Tested, $2.00; 3 for $.5.00. Untested, in April, $1.00; 6 for $5.00, or $9.00 per doz- en by mail. Safe arrival guaranteed. Orders for Queens booked for 3(1 days or more, 5 per cent dis- count. Make monev orders |i:i\ able at Clifton. 3tfdb COLWIGK & GOLWIOE, NOESE, BOSaUE CO., TEXAS. L^lu responding to tins advertiseniuiit mention Glkanlngs. HADIIini 111 BSSS AND QUESNS. UAnlllllLnil They beat tliem all. Never have in(J ;ouR • deivote: •To-BELEL^T •ANC)HoN_. ,, ^ 'AND HOME.- "n^" 'PuBljiHeDBY^^-I-TfooT' Vol. XX. MAY 1, 1892. No. 9. STRJir Straws FROM DR. C. C. MILLER. That i,EAi>-ziNC-ocHEi: paint mentioned on p. 2S7 makes a very liandsome finish. Frke PEMVEiiY of mail would be very handy for bee-keepers in rural districts, in the busy season. Geo. W. Youk is now assistant editor of the "old reliable" ^. B. J. A good man for the place, and a nice fellow. D. L. Tracy. Longmont. Col., says no one in Colorado can raise honey for lis cents, the ac- tual cost being about 7 times that. HrmiT.vsox has made a success with his little picuiri'S. and the short sketches add inter- est. Wish he'd get a picture of Hasty. Stim. they come. The Natiomtl Bee Gdzctte will make its bow to the bee-keeping public May 7, hailing from St. Louis, Mo. Don't know who is to straddle the tripod. Review voi'r figures. ;Mr. Editor, and see if that heading on page ilSH) shouldn't read •' One-half more honey to winter outdoors than indoors," instead of "one-third." I WA.S suRi'RisEP to find that considerable al- falfa seed is being sold to farmers about Maren- go, this sj^ring. 1 shall tx' still more surprised if it niak<'S any ditVerencf in my honey crop. I'm quiti' willing to be surprised. MixNf;80T.\ goes to the head of the class as a hatcher of new bee-journals. Two inside of a year. The last is The Bee Ated. If it is, it will be a good song. Most of the readers of these pages an^ more or less familiar with the poetic writings of Mr. Secor. and he has been especially happv in his dialect songs. Take that one in which the good-natured Crerman has been hearing the big KUGENE SECOR. Stories of what bees will do with little or no care. He gets a colony of bees, and then sings, care- free,— Oil, 1 isli voti of dose happy bee mans, I don't {rot to vork any more; I loafs all day on der apple-tree shade, Or shniokes mine pipe on der door. More or less of this vein of humor seems ready to bubble up at all times in his writings. Even the tortures of la grippe have for him a funny side, and he writes, — T don't feel well. I can not sleep. The chills aloiiK my backlioiie creep. I'm tired and nervous. I go liorae And call the doctor, wlio, when come. Says, " Grippe." Then afl<'r describing how himself and all the neighbors are affected in all parts of their in- ternal economy by microbes or bacteria, he thus earnestly apostrophizes: 318 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 1. Ye microscopic sinners, ^o Wliere ye belong— that is, below. Haunt us no more foi-erer, please, Tliou Russian, Frenchified disease. La Grippe. After all, I like best the poems which show his tender side. I think the right kind of a heart never grows old, and Eugene Secor's heart seems to be of that sort. The poem, "A Love Letter," finely shows this tender side, with a quaint touch of the humorous. No proper idea can be had from any short quotation; but after a description of his anxiety to meet again his loved one. that involuntarily pictures to your mind the ardent young lover, he ends up: For love is in the present tense, no future doubts can chill; Besides, the one who longs for me, 'twixt anxious hopes and fears, Has bef n my wife and true love, lo! these five and twenty years. While you smile at the neat little trick that has been played upon you, on discovering that it is a grandfather, and not a youth, who is talking, the whole effect is such that tears are very near the surface. If room permitted. "My Sweetheart" (his sweetheart was the baby), "Papa, Come Home," and others, might be mentioned. But I can not forbear the mention of just one more, '"Father, Hold my Hand." After picturing a little one tucked in for the night, with her many odd questionings, finally ending with the request, '" Papa, will you please hold my hand?" the poem ends: When I lay me down for that last long sleep. And bid all mj^ loved ones good-night, Shall I my sweet faith in the Fatlier still keep. And trust liim to bring me to light ? Shall I rest my liand in my dear Savior's own. And all my vain questionings cease? Or shall I go out in tlie silence alone, When deatli doth my spirit release ? But to the last question I am sure the poet would make answer: Ah, no! I shall not go in silence alone. Spare in form, somewhat above medium height, iron-gray hair and beard, Mr. Secor's whole appearance impresses you as belonging to a man of force; but in another respect the face belies the man, for it gives the impression of inflexible sternness, with no hint of the genial, kindly nature that lies back of it. Mod- est and quiet in demeanor, you might be with him for some time without finding out what he was. Mr. and Mrs. Secor seem proud of their two daughters and two sons; but the latter, al- though men grown, have been so sadly neglect ed in the matter of accomplishments that nei- ther of them smokes cigarettes nor belongs to a base- ball team. A bee-keeper of twenty years' experience, Mr. Secor's many other duties forbid his going be- yond the number of about 7.5 colonies, and these he has mostly in eight-frame Langstroth hives. Marengo, 111. C. C. Miller. AUTOMATIC SWARMERS, AGAIN. pkatt's veky late.st. Bro. Root: — I send you by this mail a model of another application of the swarmer. The sketch above will illustrate how it is applied to any loose-bottom hive. No. 1 is the hive con- taining the colony expected to swarm. No. 3 is an empty super or honey-case set on a rim of any width, which is shown at A. This rim has one of its ends removed, and a piece of exclud- ing zinc covers the opening and forms a very widf^, light entrance. The super and rim rest on the bottom-board exactly as a hive-body would; and the board having the triangle bee-escape is placed (zinc down) on the super — just as you would apply a bee-escape board to any hive. The apex to the escape should point to the front of the hive toward the entrance. Over all is at last placed the colony expected to swarm. When they do swarm, the queen will be trapped in the lower apartment, and the returning swarm will join her there, after missing their queen. ^--^-"^ This arrangement does away with the extra hive and stand, and is nearly as cheap. The only drawback to it is, that it can not be applied to a tight-bottom hive; but perhaps the men using these hives would be willing to cut two pratt's latest automatic swarmer. or three auger-holes in the bottom-board of them for the sake of checking swarming, or they could shift the combs up into the upper story and use the old hive to catch the swarm in. A zinc honey-board, first placed on the bottom-board, and the super to catch the swarm placed over this, will answer the same purpose as the rim with one end covered witli zinc as shown at A, but there would not be depth enough to hang in frames for the bees to work on. If one has a surplus of hive-bodies they can be used to catch the swarm in, and the zinc honey-boards will work in well for them. My patent lies in trapping the queen in a new hive and causing the swarm to join her by the entrance they have become used to working through many days before the swarm issues. Beverly, Mass. E. L. Pratt. [We believe that the swarmer above illus- trated is considerable of an improvement over the one formerly presented to our readers by Mr. Pratt, good as it was. The feature of the latest one is. that both hives are supported by the same bottom-board, and this makes it un- necessary to level up an extra bottom-board in direct line with the other. The plan seems to be specially adapted to the Dovetailed hive. It is well known, that two of its supers make an equivalent to one body, and that the same can be used for holding the ordinary brood-frames. All we need, then, is a perforated escape-board situated between Nos. 1 and 2 as above, and an extra super with one end open, covered with perforated zinc. While we have not tested either one of Mr. Pratt's devices, from a theo- 1892 (JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURK. 310 rptical point wo h<>lii'v»> tlu-y possess featuros not foiiiul in aiiv otlirr.l ARE THE BEES OF ITALY YELLOW-BANDED 1 IX WHAT I'AKT OF ITALY TIIK \KI.I,OW HEES Ai:i; KOIXD IX THEIK I'UKITY. Following a statoincnl of a cori'espoiidciit, that lit' had hi^cn from oiKM'iid of Italy to the othtT and failed to tiiid any yellow-banded bees, yon seem to have questioned his veracity, with a fesult tliat a controversy has sprung up. Now, as a matter of fact there are very few yellow-banded bees in the country known as "Italy." and. what is more, there is no mountain or other barrier to keep them from mixini: with black bees; consequently they •• shade otT" to lilacks. If yon have a copy of Frank Benton's " Bees " [if you have not acopy you will tind a reprint in the BritusJi Bee Jmirnal. on page 81, for March 1. 188.t] you will see that in it he says: •' A few years ago there was quite a discussion in the American bee-publications as to whether black bees existed in Italy or not. and very like- ly many are not yet clearly informed in regard lb this point. An e.xamination, however, of back volumes of the leading Italian bee-journal, L'Apk-nltore (Milan), would .set this point at rest in the minds of all. for plenty of Italian writers on bee culture have stated that very dark bees, not possessing the three yellow bands, exist in various parts of the peninsula and on the adjoining islands. In that portion of the centraT plain having as its northern limit Ber- gamo, its eastern limit Nerana and Mantua, the Apennines on the south, and on the west Milan, we find Italians in their purity; also be- low the Apennines between Genoa and Rome. Outside these regions they shade off into hy- brids." Native black bees also exist in Liguria: so you will see. by reference to a map of Italy, that you can travel from the extreme hmglh of that country without meeting with native yel- low-banded bees: therefore it will be seen that the word "Italian" is clearly not the name they ought to have been known by, and is suf- ficient, to explain why I prefer to call the new race I am getting from Tunis "Funics," instead of Tunisians. The Romans learned agriculture from the I'o'uians. and it is highly probable that they introduced the bees cultivated by the Fcenians, becau.se the black bees of Italy more closely re- semble the Funics than the German race: but where did the yellow-banded race come from? I am satisfied they did not originate on Italian soil. Frobably the Romans, struck with a dif- ference in color, imported some yellow bees; and these, being put in one district, and multi- plied, have maintained their yellow blood be- cause it preponderated in quantity: therefore all yellow-banded Italians are imbued with black blood, probably Funic, or. at least, a dash of it. which has caused ihem to be likr-d. One reason why I think this is so is because preference is always given to dark or leather- colored bees, for gentleness and working quali- ties—these dark bees, of necessity, having most black blood in them: hence, if this dark blood is so valuable it is nothing but logic to go to the fountainhead and get it in its purity in the shape of Funics, and let the yellow bands slide by; for no known pure yellow race has turned" out quite satisfactorily. Where the Italian yellow bands came from I know not — probably the original race, which is most likely — has had some other race of bees fused with them, and nuiy l)r now known as Cyprians or Syrians. I think the b world ought to find a nice slioit name for ycllow-baiiih-d Ix'cs from Italy. The liest of them canic fiom S\vit/,ci-land. Why not give them the lOnglish nanu-. " Ligurians "? It was used here bi^fore they reached America. It may not be correct; but it can be understood to mean only yellow-banded Italian bees. CAN rUNIC QUEENS BE SOLD AS CHEAPLY A.S ITALIANS? Judging by th(> letters at hand from readers of GLEANiN(is who have addressed their letters, as per my noin de plume, many want to try the Funics, btit they say the price is too high in America, and seem to think they can get thera cheaper In're. Of counsi!. I am pleased to hear from any one who wants to give Funics a trial; but I don't want them to run away with the idea that queens can be reared in England as cheaply as they can in America. In the first place, the climate is against us for the work. But in rearing Funics there is another difficulty to contend with, to get pure mating — and all ask for price of tested queens — viz., that, if any strange drones are on the wing within six miles it is almost impossible to get pure mating, no matter how many drones one may have flying. I cautioned friend Fratt about this at first, and he subsequently found it out, that, no matter how easy it might be to mate Italians and Car- niolans true, it was no easy matter with Funics until drones were generally killed off, and then mating to pn^served drones. There are three plans I am following, be- sides requeening all my neighbors' stocks all around with pure Funics; viz., to raise queens early, before other drones get on the wing: do it late, after drones are killed off, and between these to resort to the Mohler sys- tem; in fact, the latter will be used the whole season through, so that my untested queens will have a fair chance to be all purely mated; but all this means trouble and expense, which, of course, has to be paid for. lam also arranging for the exclusive use of an island in the Atlantic, and expect to obtain good results in the way of sending hand-picked drones, to mate with sehn'ted queens; thus if I can't secure individual mating I shall at least get it to one out of a selectt'd number. What I am aiming at is to supply queen-breeders with true breeding queens, and not to supply every one with a cheap queen; i. e., try to undersell American breeders who have every thing in their favor. A Hallamshike Bee-Keepek. Sheffield, England. [We find, by looking at the map, that our Italians, and. in fact, about all the Italians that have been imported into this country, have come from the region described by Mr. Benton as having nothing but pure Italians. It is of but little importance to us whether there are any black or hybrid bees in certain parts of the peninsula or not: but it is a fact, nevertheless, that all the Italians we have re- ceived since we have been in business have been nearly uniform in color, markings, and general characteristics. It is very possible, as you hint, that the Funics may be closely relat- ed to the dark Italians. We have Funic queens in our apiary now, and we shall take pleasure in watching them very narrowly this summer. We doubt, however, whether we shall be able, or, rather, whether it would be advisable to at- tempt to rai.se dark bees in our locality, since it is so thoroughly Italianized — that is, permeated with yellow blood. As the Funics look so much like black bees— that is. to the average bee- keeper— it will be very difficult to tell when we 330 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 1. have pure stock, on account of the general prevalence of the German bees thioughout the United States.] BAMBLE NO. 58. IN THE SAGE BRUSH. The Hotel Temescal is the center around which South Riverside revolves. The South Riverside Land and Water Company have de- veloped a water supply from canyon and from artesian wells, and propose to make a city equal to famous Riverside, fifteen miles to the north. South Riverside has a population of about 800, is rapidly growing, and so are the hundreds of acres of young orange and lemon trees; and in time the town will amount to something. I inquired of mine host whether he knew where Mr. Edward Bonfoey lived; and in the morning he conducted me to the west end of the hotel veranda, and, pointing across the mesa to the Santa Ana Mountains, said he. "Mr. Bon- foey lives in that white house on that plateau away up on the side of the mountain.'' "Well," said I, "Mr. B. roosts in an elevated position. I should say that I have a two-mile walk to get there." "Yes; and when you walk it you will find it over four miles. The atmosphere is so clear in this country that objects many miles away ap- pear not half the distance they really are. A mountain twenty miles away appears really to be only ten." I soon started for Mr. B.'s by rapidly putting one foot before the other across the mesa. Another beauty of this new country is its fenceless condition. There are no little stifled two-acre lots hegded in by stone walls, rail fences, and hedge-rows of elders and briers: but the pedestrian can strike across the country in a bee-line for the object to be attained, and find but few obstructions to his onward march. After an invigorating walk of about an hour the foot of the mountain was attained. A sharp climb of about half a mile up a graded zigzag road put me on the plateau and at the residence of my friends with whom I had become ac- quainted at the convention in Los Angeles. I was greeted by two not very ferocious dogs and Mr. and Mrs. Bonfoey. The residence of our friends is like thousands of such houses in Cali- fornia where the family has started a home and is improving the wild surroundings to make it some time in the future a place of beauty and value. The house is a simple one-story cottage, with front and rear room with canvas partition, and a lean-to for a kitchen. The visitor needs a little caution about leaning back against the walls. An inadvertent leaning against the can- vas would result in the catastrophe of suddenly going into the next room unannounced. The houses here are not built for warmth, but mere- ly for a place to gather to at meal time and at night, and the Rambler has seen scores of houses in the erabi-yo form of a tent, and others with a light frame covered with cotton cloth. We soon visited the apiary, and were met several rods away by several skirmishers. They followed us in, and, with their reinforcements, obliged us to resort to veils and smoke. Mr. Bonfoey and wife have a joint apiary of about 260 colonies. There is a little spice of romance in the estab- lishment of this apiary. Mr. B.. a young man, had a small apiary, so also had a young lady schoolteacher some bees. They put them to- gether and ran them for a season. But it hap- pened after a while that the young man, every time he tasted honey, would think how sweet that schoolteacher looked with that gypsy hat on; and the teacher, every time a bee passed by her, imagined it to be a Cupid. Such a condi- tion of things naturally led to the calling-in of the parson, arid, noiv thdt (ipkiry is just hoom- ing. The apiary is very nicely located on a little plateau down the mountain from the resi- dence. It has the usual California honey-house. a building about 10x12. a honey-tank, and a large sun extractor. Mr. and Mrs. B. manage THE BONFOEYS' APIAKV IN CALIFORNIA. their apiary for comb honey, and put upon the market a gilt-edged article. Their yield dur- ing the past season was light; but the bees were in good shape for another year. At the time of our visit, about Nov. 1. they were flying very lively, but getting no honey." October and No- vember are the dryest months of the year; the long dry season is near its end, and rains are soon expected, to replenish the earth again. This apiary is in the genuine sage district; and to my inexperienced eyes the pasturage seemed to be unlimited. The flowers that yield honey here are, first, in March, alHlaree. moun- tain mahogany, lilac, and manzanita; in April and May. balled sage and white sage; and, a little later, sumac and wild buckwheat. It would be impossible to adequately describe the acreage of these plants. The apiary is at the entrance to the Hagadorn canyon. Let us ramble for a mile into its winding way and be- hold nature's handiwork. The entrance is quite " WHEN THE EXTRACTOR DIDN'T ' GIVE DOWN ' IT WAS KICKED ALL OVER THE APIARY." broad; and out of it, and extending far across the mesa, is the dry bed of a creek (dry now, but a torrent in the rainy season), and called the iros?i ; and wherever you find it there is an 1893 GLEANINGS IN HEE CULTURE. 321 abiiniiaiu'iMtf lioncy-prodiioinp i)l;ints jKHMiliar to it Tlif scinlilaiu'i' of a loail follows tlic wasli. MOW ill it or on tiic risiht <>r tlu' left. Tlic sides of tli(> iiioiiiitain soon draw closer, and rise in many places so ste(>p and rocky tliat even vegetation recoils from tliedi/.zy lieijilits. The further we penetrati*. the more ohstrnctions we meet in the form of stones and a scrnhhy growtii of bushes, and we iiave to scramble ami wrijifil<' our way aloiis. At lenijtli we reach an old deserted lime-kiln, and halt. We mijilit pursue our course up the canyon for several miles, or until the summit of the i-anjre is n»ached. These uppei' raiiii*'^ ;^i"e unoccupied l)ee-pasturas(>, and will be for a long time, as a road can not l)e maintained in the canyon without great ex- pense, on account of the annual wash-outs it receives. Opposit^^ the lime-kiln, in the per- here, but it was als^i jjreserved liy the lime and other ingredients held in solution in the water, w hicli ill a short lime conifiletely line tlu; pipe with a rocklike sulistance. When we emerged from the Hagadorn we en- tered another smaller canyon and found the apiary of Mr. I)e Tee. The owner lives in a very romantic place in the mountains, and is surrounded by all of the comforts of life. The apiary I must, however. say was in a dilapidat- ed condition. The hives were unpainted and full of cracks, and were leaning at various angles, their entrances showing unmistakable signs that skunks were doing their share toward running things. The honey-house was a rough shed with the door awry, and roof-boards off. The general wreck and ruin of the place was probably owing to the fact that the apiary was THK RAMBLER DREAMS. pendicular face of the rocky mountain-side, was a genuine California bee-cave with a small entrance, and of unknown depth. The bees were streaming out and in as though there were immen.se numbers within their safe abode. About every two hundred yards the main canyon was entered by side canyons of greater or less depth and length. The whole mountain was thus cut up into ranges and pi'aks, and the multiplied surfaces covered with sage and other honey-producing plants. There is no timber on these mountains except a few scraggy live- oaks, and thus the honey-plants have free range. The water company's pipes for obtain- ing water are laid far into the canyon, and I was surprised to find one of them nothing but common stovepipe. In our eastern climate such a pipe for conveying water would soon rust out. The pipe itself would last a long time in charge of a helper who runs things on the rare-and-tear principle. When the extractor didn't give down properly, it was kicked all over the apiary. The hives were probably not kicked around much, but the little oak-trees looked as though thr>y had been subjected to a hard time. Still, this apiary produces honey, and any quantity of absconding swarms. Having seen aH of the bees in the vicinity, we next turned our attention to locating a min- ing claim. Various kinds of minerals crop out of these mountains; and Mr. Bon foey, seeing unmistakable signs of something having the possibility of millions in it, proceeded to lay claim to it. He tirst stated in writing his claim in full, adding his signature, to which also was appended the Rambler's name as witness. This document was then inclosed in a tight tin can. We then built a monument in 332 (JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 1. thf center of the claim, the claim extending 750 feet north and south, and 300 feet east and west from the monument. We first stuck up a scrag- gly pole, then piled a large number of stones around it, placing the tin can and the document near the top. This gave fair warning to every- body that we had laid claim to all that was valuable on that piece of land, all the way down to China. The Rambler has a share "in the mine for lifting some of those big stones, and expects at no distant day to strike it rich. Thus in airy castle-halls of gold and precious stones dreams the Rambler. SPRAYING FRUIT-TREES WHILE IN BLOOM. SOMETHING THAT SETTLES THE MATTER. Mr. Editor:— I read with great interest the discussion on this question, which occurred at Albany, and was very glad of the outcome of that discussion. 1 am sure that bee-keepers owe nothing but the kindliest feelings to Prof. J. A. Lintner. He is one of our most able, most candid, and most cautious entomologists. He had previously believed that it was unwise to spray fruit-trees while in blossom, and had ad- vised that no one do so. At Washington, it seems, several entomologists expressed the opinion that there was no danger to bees in such early spraying. I regret that official du- ties as secretary of Section F prevented my being present at the discussion of the entomo- logical club, where these sentiments were ex- pressed, or I should surely have corrected them, and should have shown that they were errone- ous, as I could easily have done from careful experiments which we have made here at this college. Prof. Lintner, supposing the points made to be well grounded, changed his opinion and resolved in future to advise spraying at any desirable time, without reference to blos- soms or bees. But before acting, he came befoi-e the bee-keepers and expressed his convictions and the reasons for them. Upon hearing the opinions of bee-keepers, and learning of their experience, he at once changed his decision, and will continue as before to advise all to spray with London purple or Paris green only after the blossoms have all fallen from the trees. Surely there was a fairness and candor about all of this which rightly claims our respect and admiration. From a long acquaintance with Prof. Lintner, it is just what I should have ex- pected. I regret that I could not write you earlier re- garding our experiments in this matter, which I am sure settle the question beyond doubt; but you know how four months' absence from home fairly swamps a man with work. This, together with larger classes than usual, have given me no time till now to consider the mat- ter and write you the facts. Mr. Elwood's article shows that he, one of our best-informed apiarists, as well as Dr. Lint- ner. feels that the matter is in an unsettled state, and pleads for more experiments that we may know the exact truth in relation to this important matter. I am very happy to give you in advance the experiments which we have made, that I am sure will convince all. These are now in type, and will soon appear in the Report of the Mich- igan State Board of Agriculture, so there is no need that any other station should demonstrate these facts, except that, the more that do such work, the sooner will the results be known to the people, and the sooner will practical results be obtained. Let me premise by saying that, in several cases in Michigan and other States, especially Illinois— -States where the value and safety of spraying were first demonstrated, and hence wheie spraying has been most general — there have been serious losses of bees at the time of apple-bloom. Not only did the mature bees die oft rapidly, but there was extensive mortality of the brood. These colonies were strong, and had survived the period of the so-called " spring dwindling." Every well-informed experienced bee-ket'per like Mr. Elwood knows that such mortality at such time was previously unknown. In every case, large orchards in the immediate vicinity had been sprayed with the arsenites while the trees were in bloom. Previous to this I had tried several experiments in feeding bees sweetened water, with the common London purple and Paris green of the drugstores added in the same proportions that we use it for spraying. In every case the bees were poisoned. Yet they did not die at once; indeed, they lived many times longer than would be necessary to carry the poisonous liquid to the hives and store it there. This explains why the brood is also poisoned. As these people wrote to me of their losses — quite a number have done so. and from at least three States — I had no doubt that the spraying at the wrong season was the cause. 1. The poison would do it. as I had repeatedly proved; 3. The poison was thiown on to trees while in bloom, and the flowers had been freely visited by the bees; 3. Such loss of bees in this manner and at this season was entirely unprec- edented in our bee-keeping history. I at once recognized the danger, informed the bee-keepers directly interested, proclaimed through the bee-papers the dangers that threatened bee- keepers, warned fruit-growers of the danger, and urged them for their own interests, as well as for the good of their bee-keeping n<'ighbors, never to spnty while the trees are hi bloom. I have also tried to secure legislation that would prevent such untimely spraying. No bee-keeper need be told that negative tes- timony counts for little in this matter. That some one has sprayed his trees while in bloom, and yet no bees were known to be lost, would deceive an entomologist who was not an apia- rist; but a bee-keeper would know that the spring is often so cold that the flowers secrete almost no nectar, and the liees an? often unable to fly at all. While, then, in many eases, spray- ing the trees while in bloom would cause no loss, yet in another case when the weather was mild so that nectar was abundant, and the bees out in force, the loss would be most serious. I presume this explains the repoils from the entomologists at the meeting in Washington. Our experiments the last summer, already in print (Report of Michigan State Board of Agri- culture. 1891, p. 137), are as follows: HOW STRONG SHALL WE USE LONDON PURPLE? Some years ago we tried a series of expei-imeTits to determine tlie minimum stieiig'th of Lmidnn [lur- ple or Paris green tluit would surely (irove etfective in the de.struction of insects. The conclusion was, that 1 lb. to 2iK) gallons of water was as weak as we could safely use it. This year we repeated the ex- periments. We used two'species of oals-caterpillar — Anv«tta stigma, and Aniftata se)nt(irin; a lialry caterpillar on tlie oak— Hdlrs'dnfn tesi^elntn; tlie cab- bage caterpillar — Pierig rapce; the potato beetle — Doryphoi-a tenlineata, both larva and imago, and the honey-bee. All excejit the honey-lwe wi're treated outdoors, on the plants or trees, and all, iiu-ludiiig bees, were fed in cages in the lalioratorj'. We used the London purple, 1 lb. to 200, to 300, to 400. and to .500 gallons of water. In every case 1 11>. to 2(X) gal- lons of water was quickly fatal. The weaker mix- tures were not satisfactory, especially on the older larvfe and the imago. The weakest mixture, 1 lb. to 500 gallons of water, failed to do thorough work in every case. The other mixtures. 1 lb. to 3X) gallons of water, and 1 lb. to 400 gallons of water, were tardy in their action, and did not do the execution that 1 lb. to 200 gallons did. 1892 (JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 323 OiU'lI). Ill iiH) gallons of walcr killed the lioiu'v- beos siiid the iniaKo poiaio-ht't'tlcs altimst invariably witliiii t wfiity-foiii- lioiii-^. Wf tliid I liat lai'vie s\ie- fiiiiil) to the poison moic i|iiicklv than do iniaK". and that \oiiiiv or small liirvii- die inoi'c (Hiickly than do older ones. Tims our exixTiineiits an'iee with those i>re\ioiisly nia from the above that the standard nd.xtiire — 1 lb. of either I/ondon purple or Paris Kreen to 2(KI jrallous of water is fatal to the honey-bee. This iiiiikes it imperative that fruit-t rees be not sjnayed while in blossom. It may be done just before or at any time afterward, Init urcfr duriiiij tlir Unit' of bloiini. The above, written last October for our Report for IS'.U. settles the matter positively. When ^\e add. that diiiiiisj bloom is not the time to spray; that for btid-niolhs and fungi it should be dotie earlier, and for the codling moth later — not till the blossoms have fallen from all the apple-trees — we thus see there is no possible e.x- cuse for sprayiufT while the trees are in bloom; while there are very important reasons, as we have just seen, why no one should spray while the blossoms are still on the tree. It has seemed to me. and I am now stronger in the faith than ever, that every State should pass a law luaking it a serious misdemeanor to spray our fruit-trees wiiile in blossom. I do not think stich a law would nted to be tised much, if ever; but as an educator it would do signal service. It would act as our foul-brood and yellows laws have. When men find that there is a law against any proposed course of action, they will almost always hesitate before they act. In a case like this, where there is iio cause for wrong action, but every reason for doing that which will work no one ill. but the mo*t good to all. then surely if a legislative act will have intluence it shotild be urged by all, whether directly interested or not. Is it not wise for every bi'e keeper to agitate this mat- ter, that the public may be educated at least, and that such legislation may be secured as will aid to |)revent atiy spraying during the time that the fruit-trees are in blossom? Agricultural College. Mich. A. J. Cook. SPACE UNDER FRAMES FOR WINTERING. FIKST SWAUM.S. AI{[iAX(;KMEXT OF HIVES, ?:TC. W. Z. Hutchinson says there is one point that otight not to be neglected in preparing bees for winter — that of leaving a space below the combs. I ain suie he is right. We have been practicing the above for several years now, and know that it ha< been a great benefit to our bees. Before raising thein. many colonies would become clogged up at tlie entrance, both in the cellar and out of doors, long before^ spring. If in the cellar it would be impossible to clean them out. We could clean the entrance for a little way back in the hive, but they would soon Ijecome clogged tip again. Such colonies that were thus clogged up seldom came out in the spring in good condition, and many of them would die in spite of being carefully nursed. .Mr. Ilntchin.son recommends a rim two inches high. We use but one inch to 13i inches, and find that sufficient: but we raise the hive two inches or inore at the back, which enables the bees to drag out the dead bees and keep the bottom - boards clean. Bees are tidy little housekeepers. It .seems to worry them to be in a situation where they can not keep their hives ch»a!i; and for this icason I would not let the rim extend clear round the hive unless there were an entrance under \\w front of it. as the b(>es that fall in a hive slioulfl be in a position where they can l)e easily dragged out. If they remain in tin- hixc and mold, it causes the bcM's to become diseiised; and if it is unhealthy for bees, what must it hv. to human beings living above them? Yes, we think h(^ sp(;aks truly when he says this space is a wonderful aid in bringing tlui bees through the winter in fine condition. Our l)ees do not now seem to be dying oflF so much as in the first part of the winter. They se<;m more quiet at the sanu! tcnnperature, and we do not S(!e any difference as yet in the loss of bees from those! wintering on honey-dew and tho.se on siigtir syrup. " I saw it stated in a paper a short time since that the first swarms were the ones that furnish the honey. The parent colony rarely lays up niore than enough to supply them with food." Now, in our e.xperience if a swarm is put into an empty hive with all their combs to build, the swarm would not get as much surplus as the parent colony would; .so it depends alto- gether on how we treat the swarm, whether it gathers more or less than the parent colony. Were I purchasing bees I think I should as soon take the parent colony as the swarm. In the picture where Mr. Root is represented as sitting on a hive with several hives around him near enough to work without rising and walking from one to the other, is a good sug- gestion. In order to do much work we need to study economy of steps, which saves time, just as a thrifty housewife does. The person who runs back and forth from pantry to kitchen, and from cellar to garret, with no thought how she may save her steps, accomplishes but little work compared with one who economizes her steps as well as her time. But as to the slates or tablets on top of the hives. I am sure I should jostle them around so much I should lose all they were nuant to indicate. Probably Mr. Root means us to sit still. I have such an abhorrence of any thing '■ wapperjawed,'" or mixed up together, I must say that the straight rows look the prettiest, and I believe I should prefer them for looks' sake if it did take more time to manipulate them, and were not quit(! so handy. Some- times I have need to pull two hives together, but thfiy are always an "■ eyesore " to me until I get them squared and trued up again. Brother A. I. says we know he has always been interested in wells and springs; but we have wondered, when reading, what he was 7iiit interested in. He gave us a very interest- ing accoitnt of our brother's. Samuel Axtell's, home in .South Dakota, next station west of Mitclusll. moi'e than we had ever learned of the country in all brother's letters; but they do sometimes have tc^rrible blizzards. About five or six years ago three of brothers boys, young men. started to their own farm, three miles away, one morning; and by tlui time they had gone half a mile a blinding blizzaid caught them, and they could proceed no further, nei- ther could they go home. As they were near a deserted hou.se they unhitched tiieir hor.ees and went in. For three days they were unable to leav(! that hou.se. One of them, who had a wife and children, risked his life and went back home; but the other two preferred to remain rather than run the risk of being lost in the storm, although they had nothing to eat. and no feed for their horses, and had to keep on the move much of the time to keep from freezing. A sure sign of swarming, says the ('undilidii Bee Jouriitil. is the backward and forward movement of the bees upon the alighting-board. 324 GLEANIKGri IN BEE CULTURE. AIay 1. I have often noticed the same shaking move- ment; but instead of a backward and forward movement it was from one side to the other, holding on to each other by their fore feet, wiggling their bodies from side to side with all their might. I used to think they would swarm the same day, or soon, but they did not always. I noticed their wiggling in that way this sum- mer in our home apiary, where we had but one swarm, and none from that hive. I should like to know what makes them wiggle so. They act like a lot of little children who are wonder- fully pleased over something. Dr. Miller's big brush is all right, pi'ovided he can get the grass and weeds (which we can generally get, all we need, and more) ; but in one of our out-apiaries this summer we could get but very little of either grass or weeds. The ground was so bare that we retained the old brush and gathered what we could and wrapped around it, making it fresh on the out- side. In the Fancier's and Br'eeder''s Journal it \s mentioned that Mr. Root says, in convention, I think it was the Northwestern, that it is un- profitable for bee-keepers to breed for any pure race, as many of his customers asked for hy- brids and would have nothing else. If hybrids are really as good for honey-producers as the pure race, then why change more for the pure ? Our experience is, that, in a real good year for honey, a good hybrid will gather as much as a pure colony; but in a poor year the pure colo- nies are ahead, and are much easier handled — that is, the Italians. Mrs. L. C. Axtell. Roseville, 111. [There is no question but that the space un- der the frames, especially for cellar wintering, is a good thing. We arrive at the same result by leaving off the bottom -boards and piling the hives on top of each other in such a way that the one above stands over the space between the two others below, a la Boardman. The reporter in the Breeder's and Fancier's Journal must have got things pretty badly mixed when he quoted us as saying that it was unprofitable for bee-keepers to breed for any pure race. We have never knowingly given utterance to such a statement. We might have said that bee-keepers as a class do not make any very great effort to keep their Italians strictly pure.] ALFALFA, OR LUCERNE. THE STATEMENT THAT IT IS CUT BEFOKE IT BLOOMS IS ALL FOLDEROL. I have noticed with considerable interest that the quality of lucerne honey is coming to the front, as we in this section consider it equal to the best honey produced anywhere. Now, what I wish to say is, that we have a continuous hon- ey-flow from it, commencing about June 1st and lasting from three to four months. We do not know what it is to have a poor season for hon- ey. Of course, some seasons are better than others; but we always get a surplus. All this talk about cutting lucerne before it blooms is all folderol, so far as this section of country is concerned. A farmer who would cut his hay before it bloomed would be looked upon in about the same light as one who would cut his grain before it was headed; and theic is so much dif- ference in time of cutting after haying has commenced that some are cutting their first while others are cutting their second crop. In fact, we are haying all the time for three or four months. And, besides, there are thousands of bushels of seed raised which is cut only once. generally the latter part of September or the 1st of October, and then our roads and ditches are completely lined with some which is never cut at all. We also have sweet clover, but the bees do not work on it any more than on the lucerne. RUNAAVAY SWARMS OCCUPYINCt HIVES AVHEKE BEES HAVE DIED FROM FOUL BROOD, AND PROSPERING. Did you ever hear of bees going into an old hive where the bees had died with foul brood? About a year ago I was called upon by my neighbor, Mrs. Streeter, to look at her bees. She had two swarms which were all dead, as I found on examination, having apparently died with foul brood. I was surprised, a few days ago, when her son came and asked me to come and look at the bees ayain. I asked him if his mother had bought some more bees, as I sup- posed she had cleaned up the old hives as I ad- vised her. " Oh, no! " said he. " The bees have all come back. They stayed away only about three or four months." I went and found bees in both hives, one hav- ing a good strong swarm, while the other had only a few robbers. I did not think it possible for them to thrive in such a hive of combs as those. E. M. Whiting. Mapleton, Utah, Mar. 14. INCREASE BY PURCHASE VS. DIVIDING. HOW TO SECURE INCREASE BY SPREADING BROOD. On page 893 of last year's Gleanings Mr. A. C. Brown, of Smithfield. Tex., asks if it would be cheaper to buy bees at $4.00 per colo- ny or divide, using full frames of foundation, and feeding sugar syrup to have it drawn out. And on page 131 of this year's Gleanings is an article from L. Stachelhausen, " How he does it;" but he fails to give the information asked for. I will endeavor to give Mr. Brown what light lean on the subject. 1. As soon as it will do, or as soon as the nights are warm enough not to chill the brood, go through your 45 colonies and spread the brood, placing one or two empty combs in the centerof the brood-nest. In seven or eight days go over them again, doing the same thing, keeping the unsealed brood as near the center as possible, this time drawing one or more frames of brood from the stronger colonies, and give them to poor ones. Repeat this once a week until all are strong, and at the same time feed, if necessary to keep up brood -rearing. Now you are ready for increase. Your queen- cells should be ready, abou. eight or nine days old. Now for the divisions. Take from each colony the queen with half the brood, honey, and old bees. Place them in a hive on a new stand, closing the entrance with wire cloth for 24 hours. Now open up. and the most of them will remain. Now look through the others; de- stroy all queen-cells, and introduce your queen- cells, which should hatch in two or three days. In one or two days look through to see if all are right. If any cells are torn down, replace them. Now till your hives with full sheets of foundation. Never use starters if you can avoid it, as they will be filled out with drone combs. When they are ready for the upper story, fill it with frames of foundation; raise one or more frames of comb from below as baits: crowd the frames rather close at first, spreading them as they are drawn out. placing outside ones in the center, and you will have nice straight combs drawn in due time. I think you will find that isie GLKANINCJS IN UKK CULTURP:. 32:-) they will i-nst yon a frn^at deal loss than four dollars per colony, hi'sidcs tiic experience and fnn you liave. I iMu'l side witli our Texas friend. I liave no short cuts, hut lind thai I pet well paiil for all fussinji that I can do. I should like to read more from our Texas hreth- ren. as our State is so different from others. Linn Crove. Texas. Z. S. Wkavki{. [The instructions given ahovo are good in the main; hut foi' the heuetit of beginners, perhaps some limitations ought to he made. There is much danger in spreading brood. Many times we havi> cold nights and days, even aftei- wo think the weatlier is settled" for warm. The result is. the brood is kiiliHl and the colony is setback. As a general thing it is best for be- ginners to lot nature tak(> its own course. Mr. Weaver's plan for dividing the hoes may work, but we prefer to do it this way: Put the (iiioon, one-third of the brood, and "two-thirds of the bees on the new stand. A largo part of the bees, not used to the new stand, will return to the old one. The consoqnonce will bo. that each stand will have aliout an equal division of bees. The now stand will have one-third the brood: but it has the queen, and therofoie tlio power to go right on witli brood -rearing, while the old stand with two-tliirds of the brood will have to wait until they can raise a queen; therefore they ought to have the more brood. Wo tried this plan of dividing last season, and it worked very nicely. As a general thing we secured about an e(iual division of the bees, and both colonies would incroas*^ to about the same strength, both having equal advantage in the first place as near as we could make it.] SHIPPING-CASES. THK ADVANTAGE OF A DOUBLE - TIER CASE OVER A SINGLE-TIER. One way of making our honey look well, so as to find a ready market, is to have a nice shipping-case— one that will show off the honey to the best advantage, and insure its safe ship- ment, oven if it costs a trifle more. I know that, at the present price of honey, the cents have to be counted pretty closely. But the question is. whether we lose or gain in the long run. The sliip]ting-case was bi'ought up foi' discussion in tlie Chicago convention, and I be- lieve the majority present were in favor of the single-tier case. l"J-I.r.. SINGLE-TIER AND :.'4-i,ii. douhlktikk CASES. We have always used the double-tier case holding :24 sections, and perhaps for that reason I am pi'ojudicod in its favor. I know it costs a little more, and hence many condemn it. Per- haps we ourselves may some day. Hut I don't believe there is any other case that will show off the honey to as good advantage as the double-tier 24-seclion case. There is less wood and more honey shown by it than by any other cas(> 1 know of. Many say it does not ship w(>ll, and I presume they are right about it as they use it and as we formeily used it. We piled one tier of sections on top of the other, letting the upi>er tier of sections rest on the lower ones; and I must say. using it in tliat way is very ob- iectionable; for. do the best you can, you are likely to have a sticky, dauby mess of it, as there will Ijo broken sections unless «!vory sec- tion is exactly square; and even if it is, there will still be the weight of the upper sections resting on the lower ones, which is sometimes a severe strain with the bumf)ing and jolting th(>y must undergo in the cars. Hut as w(! use it we do away with all thes(! objectionable fea- tures, and the only objection I can see to it is its cost. It does cost more. But, doesn't it pay? Wo have always thought so. Our cases are made for 24 sections 4}^x4'4'xl^, using 12 sections in a tier. Between the two tieis we use a board 13J^x7%x^. Each tier is separated into three compartments of four sec- tions each by two little boards measuring 4% long by 7Js may do under siu-h oiirumstancos is iiitcrcsiini:. yet wliat Ik-cs (Id ifhilc in d nor- null cniKlitioii is wliat iiitcifsts iis tin- most. That yoiinji liccs do this " iioii.s('\vorl< "" when tlu> (.'oioiiy isiii a normal rondition is very easily proven, lefjai'dless of what l?ro. V. believes. CJive a hlaek colony of bees an Italian (jneen about the tcMith of .hme. and the tirst Italian bee will have hatched in that colony about July 1st. Now watch the entrance of that hive and see when tlu' tirst yellow bees are sch'U at the entrance on the wing. and. unless all of my watchiniis have becMi in vain, none will l)e seen before the aftci-noon of .Inly lUli or 7th: but put only hatching brood in a hive, anti young bees will be seen on the wing on the third day. thus showing that, when a colony of bees is in a normal condition, young l)ees do not go out •" as soon as they are able."" Next, look through the glass part of tlii' hive, and you will see these young yellow chaps poking theii' heads in and out of the cells, showing that they are doing housework by way of fe(Mling the brood. Now watch this hive every forenoon for nine days more; and, if I have made no mistake, no yel- low bees will be seen going and coming with loads, but all black bees. Next, look in the sections where comb is l)(>ing built and honey stored, and the most of the bees there at work are Italians, "doing honstnvork " — building combs, don't you see? If this is not sufficient proof for I?ro. F. that he is " wrong,'" let him make this one of his experiments also. liorodino. N. Y.. Apr. 20. G. M. Dooijttle. UP-WARD VENTILATION. AND IN FA VU1{ OF AllSOIiBlXG CUSHIONS. I should like to add my testimoiiy in favor of upward ventilation. We have followed the practice many years, and have been so general- ly successful in wintering our bees that we con- sider it a very necessary feature. We winter out of doors, the hives packed in chaff. The propolis-covered sheets are replaced by woolen; and the rough cap which takes the place of the summer one is filled with chafTinot loo full) held in place by cloth tacked over it. A piece some six inches square is cut out of the center of the cap cover, and over this is tacked wire cloth to keep out mice. This certainly gives every advantage for the escape of moisture. Perhaps I should mention that, over the whole, there hangs an A roof to ju'otect from rain and snow. It is necessary to remove th(! woolen sheets in the spring as soon as the bees become active, or they will themselves begin the work of removing them. "There is a great deal in location," said a bee-keeper who made us a call a few weeks since. •• Now I know why you are so success- ful in wintering your bees."' said another a doz- en years ago as he stood in our ai)iary and threw out his arms to the encircling forest. But location, it seems to me. is not every thing. At the close of the season some years ago our apiary consisted of (il colonies, and every colony in the spring was in tine condition. A bee- keeper a mile distant had W colonies in the fall, but had not a single one in the spring. I do not know all the leasons for failure in this case, but I am sure that, if oiu" bees had. like his, been left unprotected till extremely cold weath- er, and the hives were full of frost, and then subjected to the disturbance of packing in chafT, I should have needed but that reason for failure. I suppose the old " Wiley lie " is responsible for a part of this serious statement which may be found in the February ,^t(nnftc, in an article entitled "The Nearness of Animals to Man:" "Tame honey-bees hav<^ ceased to make comb since the apiaiist has begun to furnish them with a good manul'actui'ed article."" I'.ut where, 1 wcHider. did t 111' iiiilhoi' lind bis authority for the rest of it, and for certain ot.her allirmations quite as startling".' For instance, speaking of the rearing of (lueens, " In order to provide for (•mergencies, several hirvie are I'eared in a sin- gle cell, which the old queen is never p(!rmitted to approach, sinc<' she is as jealous of th(!se royal scions as was ever Persian padishah of his nextof kin. For this reason they arxtremely interesting, but it must be confessed that th(! author's bee-lore slightly impairs one's confidence. One can not but wonder what proportion of the whole is truth, Nellie Linswik, [You have liad most excellent results in win- tering; but is it not possible that you might have done a little better by having a larger entrance and a sealed cover? We hope that, for the sake of experiment, you will try two or three colonies next winter. So far our observa- tion leads us to believe that sealed covers offer special advantages during the springing of the bees. We become almost discouraged sometimes when we note how the Wiley lie still bobs up its head here and there in standard periodicals; aiid how such nonsense about bees as appeared in the February AtlanUc could be inserted is be- yond our comprehension. We know that it is almost impossible for an editor to compass all knowledge, and therefore to judge in regard to the accuracy of all statements made in sundry articles that pass through his hands ; but why in the world can they not sometimes submit some of their so-called " science " to specialists? We hope that bee-keepers all over the land will send in a protest to the editor of the Atlantic Monthly, published in Boston, Mass. We shall certainly do so. The more bee-keepers there are who will take the pains to do so, the more effect it will have. We must not let such ab- surdities go unchallenged; and letters of earn- est respectful protest from three or four hun- dred bee-keepers will have more effect than the protests of a dozen editors of bee-journals. THE D. CASE— SEE GLEANINGS, PAGE 248. Thanks for your naming the single ease for me. Allow me to say that I now use a tin fold- ed like this, L, put on the outside of the case, nailed at each end with a single 3^-inch nail, with a string or wire around the middle of the case, which holds the tins snug in place to the sides, and the sides solid to the sections. When a string is used, better wax it where the bees can get at it, or they may gnaw it off, SE.VLED COVEHS PREFEKRED. Tell Dr. Miller I have been using tight sealed covers 20 years; in that time, T have tried porous covering 8 years on a part of my bees, by which I lost hundreds of dollars. Sealed covers as the bees prefer it is my way. F. Danzenbakek. Washington, D, C, April 16, ABSOIU5ENTS VS. SEALED COVER. As you have been advocating sealed covers I thought I would tell how my bees have win- tered with absorbents. I put an even ICK) col- onies into winter quarters last fall in the home yard. They had a good flight early in March, and began breeding rapidly. To-day there are o L J 328 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May L 97 booming colonies, and they are getting pol- len quite freely. I use a sui>pori over the frames similar to Hill's device, and a crate with cloth bottom, filled with chaff and saw- dust, instead of chatf cushions. Your sealed covers may be all right. I do not say they are not; but as long as I can winter bees with ab- sorbents with a loss of only 3 per cent, just so long I am going to have upward ventilatiion. W. G. Larrabee. Larrabee's Point, Vt.. April 8. — — I ^ WIRING FRAMES. J. A. golden's pi>an. Friend Rions an eighth of an inch deep, and the same in width. Get a strip of iron one eighth by one inch wide, and, with a sharp cold -chisel, split it into three strips: then with a tile dress them to one width. Cut them to suit the kerfs of your board; file notches at suitable places in each piece, so a medium small wire will lie in the notch. Place each piece in place, and. with a slim awl. make a hole on each side. At the notch a wiif is put through, then with pliers twist the two ends, making the dies '.-olid. See board A. The heater. B, is a box 12x18 inches at bottom, 9x17 inches at top, and two feet high. All the above is outside measure. Several fourth-inch holes are made at top and bottom for ven- tilation. A sheet-iron top is made similar to a drip- ping-pan. 1,1.2 inches deep, with a flange to nail on top of box B. The iron is per- forated t h o !• o u g h 1 y to avoid warping when heat- ed by a lamp which is used for this purpose. See box B. The foundation-stand, C, is a box six inches high. It tits the inside of your frame, with a gioove cut at one top edge for the comb-guide to rest in when the frame is placed on the stand or box. Insets are cut where each wire-nail hook comes, so the wire will strike its full surface, and evenly over the foun- dation comb. This stand should be covered with a piece of oilcloth, with can- vas side out, tacked on and kept quite damp, to keep the foundation from sticking, as it often does. The comb-guide fastener, D, is a cog-wheel about an inch in diameter, molded of babbitt metal, or it can be filed out. The cogs are made beveling: the wheel is fastened to a metal handle, the beveled side of the wheel next to the wired sheet of foundation when in use, thus leaving the edge of foundation, after fastening, cell-shaped, and perfectly fastened. Please IS'.i-,' (;i.HANIN(;s IN HKK CULTURE. 329 obst'i-vf little Fuda in tlu' ui-tof faslcniiiw the fonndiition lo tlu' oomb-siiidt'. m)\V TO I'KOfKKM. A linliti'd lamp is placfd in luix H. The pn-ss- hoaixl A is placed on tli(> lieatcr H. with tnctal dies dosvn, and heated iirelly warm. In the meantime i)laee a sheet of I'oimdatidn on the stand C. and th<'n the wired t'lame over the fonndation. pressing it down so the comb-giiido will tit down well into the lahhet cut in the edge of the stand 0. Now lift the picss-hoard ffom the box H by two small e'leats i)ieviously tacked aei'oss t lie" back of thi' board, and place the same in the frame on the stand C. The metal dies press the small wires into the foun- dation, and at lh(> same time melt the wax sufficiently to attach linnly the wire; to the foundation. After a munber of fiames have thus been ti-eated. heat the wheel U and tinish llie lot all at one lieating. The franH> contain- ing the half-sheet, as you will notice in the engraving, is Root's extra thin surplus founda- tion. Friends, try it. J. A. lioi.DKX. Relnersville, O.. Jan. 1. [We liave no doubt that you may be able to imbed the wires into foundation as you de- scribe; but a far simpler way is. to heat those wires by running a current of electricity through them. See editorial elsewhere.] PREVENTION OF SWARMING. PUTTING A PERFOKATKI) ZINC HONKYBOAKI) UXDEK THE BROOD-FHAMES: HESUI.T.S. A friend in Missouri, working on the problem of preventing swarming, asks my opinion of the following plan: Put a queen - excluder under the hive, having plenty of space under the ex- cluder for the exit of the bees. Ofcourse.no queen, young or old. could get out of the hive; and if the excluder is put under at the begin- ning of the clover harvest no swarm would es- cape, because no queen could go with them. Or. if a swarm were wanted from the colony, the excluder might be put under after the is- suing of the prime swarm, thus prevent- ing the issue of an after-swarm. I'uttingan excluder under is one of the tilings I talked over last fall; and while there are very serious difficulties in the way, l"m not so sure that it is not possible some use might be made of it. The two serious difficulties are. first, that all the drones would die in the hive; and, second, that no young queen could leave the hive for fertilization. Let us see how it would work. Suppose a prime swarm issues. The queen, not being able to leave the hive, the swarm is likely to return; but in some cases it might go into another hive or unite with another swarm. If. however, all hives in the apiary had excluders under them, there could be no real loss. Gen- erally, though, the swarm would promptly re- turn: and while iu some instances the cells might be destroyed and the colony continue with its old queen throughout the season, tlu^ great probability is that the old (lueen would be killed on the hatching of the first young queen, if not before. I don"t know just what would be done next; but I suspect that, no queen being able to leave the liive, all but one would be killed in perhaps two weeks from the issuing of the prime swarm. Then the re- maining young queen would be a drone-layer if she laidat all. So it will be seen that the scheme can end in nothing else than the ruin of the colony. But. can lio use whatever be made of it? The lirst difficulty might be got over by taking Doo- liltle"s plan — a plan that looked troublesome to me at lirst. lull I'm not sun- that it is not the least troublesome way. in the long run. of get- ting lid of drones. The plan is. lo have no drone comb in the hive exeept perhaps an inch scpiare in one eoml); lln'ii when the drone brood in that i)atcli is ready to hatch, slice otf their heads, and repeat the slicing once in three weeks. Even if a very few drones should be hatched in other scattering cells, they would b(! torn to pieces after dying and would do no great harm. Kill the other difficulty is more troublesome. True, the destruction of the old queen is not so serious a matter, and we could stand that well enough if we were sure she would be followed in good time by another laying (pieen. But that ()iieen must be fertilized. Xow. if my sup- position is correct (that only one young queen would be li'ft living in the hive), and if we could know just when that interesting consum- mation would occur, then we could take out the excluder and all would be lovely. But. alasl the ifs. We could not afTord to go "through the hive every day to see if the proper time had come to take away the excluder. But it wouldn't need watching every day. How often would be necessary? Before finding out, we need to know two things that at pres- ent I don't know, but they might easily be found out. First, how long after the hatching of the first queen may we count on having only one young queen left in the hive? and, second, w hat is the earliest period after hatching that a young queen will be too old to be fertilized? or. in other word<. how long may we keep a young queen coniined without spoiling her chances for fertilization? I do not know this; but careful observation might easily determine it. A virgin queen sent to me from England when six days old was ten days on the way. and was then fertilized, and laid all right. So she must have been sixteen days old or older when fertilized. If she stood the confinement of the ocean voyage, would she not stand, at least as well, confinement in the hive? Suppose, now. we put the excluder under belore there is any danger of swarming, or at least make sure that eggs are in the hive when the excluder is added. Then we are safe in leaving the hive untouched for two weeks; for if we found eggs there, there was no young queen present — at least. I tliink that is correct. So, if we open the iiive in two weeks we should never find in it a virgin queen too old to be fer- tilized— all the time supposing that every queen may be fertilized if ccmfined till todays old. Then we might count ourselves all right throughout the stxmmer, by looking into the hive once iu two weeks, so long as we found eggs in the hive. But if working for comb honey, I should not expect very long to find eggs in the hive after the time for swarming came. Suppose, then, that, on examination, a colony is found in which no eggs are present, and further examination reveals the fact that not only has a young queen hatched out, but that all the young queens have either hatched outor have been destroyed. If. indeed, several (lueen-cells should be found vacated. I should not feel so very anxious about there being any danger of swarming, and I think it might be safe to remove the excluder until the young queen was fertilized, or perhaps for the rest of the season. .Suppose, however, that one or more queen- cells are found with young queens in them, and a young queen probably free in the hive. It will not do to take away the excluder: and the question arises, How soon will it be necessary to mak(^ another examination? or, in other words, how long can we leave the excluder 330 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 1. without danger of the young queen becoming too old to be fertilized ? To know this, we need an answer to the question I have already men- tioned, as to the length of time after the hatch- ing of the first young queen before the workers give up the idea of swarming and allow all the extra queens to be killed. I wonder if it might not be safe to say that all would be killed with- in a week after the first young queen hatches. If so, then all we need to do is to look through the hive a week later if there is a plurality of young queens in the hive. So on the basis that our suppositions are cor- rect, we might agree to put excluders under, only to be removed when all young queens but one were destroyed, making an examination, once in two weeks so long as we found eggs in the hive, and once a week if eggs were lacking. But I am not very sanguine about all this. In the first place, our suppositions may not be cor- rect; it may tuin out that some young queens become too old to be fertilized before they are 16 or 17 days old: and it may be that a plurality of young queens may be tolerated in a hive longer than a week. If so, then the time of looking through the hive would hav(^ lo be modified, and it is possible that so great a mod- ification would be necessary that too much la- bor would be involved to leave any value in the plan. Besides, there are so many ways in which disappointment may come unexpectedly that only repeated actual trials with the bees can determine the matter. After reading over to my assistant what I had written, she said, " But there is one difficulty that you haven't mentioned, and it's perhaps the most serious one. Will your excluders al- ways exclude '?" I very meekly replied, *' I don't know." C. C. MiLLEK. Marengo, 111., April 13. [You have figured out, doctor, just about what a bee-keeper will find in practice with an excluding board between the brood-nest and the bottom-board. We have ti'ied just that very thing: and the result was, that it would be cov- ered with dead drones to such an extent in a week or ten days in the swarming season as al- most to prevent the bees from passing in and out. You can prevent swarms from abscond- ing; but that prevention means the killing of the old queen and the non-fertilization of the virgin queers following. While it does pre- vent the bees from running away, it does not check that longinrj desire to swarm; and when bees wani, to swarm, and can't, they will waste valuable time during the height of the honey season doing next to nothing. Perhaps some of our readers will remember some of our experi- ments along this line, as described in Glean- ings two or three years ago, at our basswood out apiary.] BEE-KEEPERS' PHOTOS. HIVE-CAKTS AND OUT-APIAKIES. While perusing some numbers of Gleanings last fall, and admiiing your supplement con- taining cuts of so many prominent bee-keeper>, my son suggested that it would be a good plan to cut out and paste on a card each face, and then ins(>rt them in an album for convenience, preservation, etc. I found, however, this was not practicable, as it would result in the muti- lation of some of them, and ;ilso their biograph- ical sketches, etc. I then and there resolved to ask you to present your readers with the faces of all now in your possession on a sheet of pa- per printed on one side only, with a short sketch of each below, so that we could carry out our proposed plan; or, if you choose, to print them on a separate card would be still bet- ter, and a small charge made for those desiring them. Well, now, you see what delay means; for has not Mr. Hutchinson gone and done it. only in a trifle different manner, and now furnishes, as far as possible, a picture of his correspond- ents with each article contributed? It is scarce- ly necessary to add, almost every one thinks this a step in the right direction, including, of course, youiself among the rest. BOA15DMAN HIVE-CARTS. Carts a la Bo; among others, my preference being in favor of placing the hive on the cart the same as on the wagon. Again, there is sufficient room for lifting two hives instead of one or two top stories or even a brood-chamber and a top story as the case may be, and carting both away at the same operation. The arrange- ments attached to the lifting-arms are not exactly alike for lifting off a top story and carrying a brood-chamber; but liolh are very simple, the only addition to any hive in use being the nailing on of a wooden cleat ]4 inch square by 8 long, either to the sides or ends, as one chooses. This cart is expected to assist me greatly in moving hives to and from the wagon, while moving the bees to the out-apiary: yes, I mean to take it right along with the team, by simply fastening it behind the wagon, so that it can be utilized, both loading at home and unload- ing in the orchard at the point of destination. I can also run around and pick off top stories when once cleared of the bees, by the escape system, and have lots of fun too. MOVING TO OUT-APIARIES. This brings me to the last part of my article; viz., moving to out-apiaries. Many have been the methods devised and illustrated in Glean- ings for moving hives containing loose hang- ing frames: but the simplest and most expedi- tious way for any one not having very rough roads nor long journeys is to use a frame cov- ered with wire cloth, the ends of said frame having a wire nail driven through from the top sufficiently far to penetrate each frame in the. hive (say '% of an inch), so that, after ad- justing the screens, a little pressure will soon secure all the frames at once. I have moved bees many times without a single mishap to any of the hives themselves, except that I once smothered eight colonies on a warm day in June, notwithstanding the whole top of the hive was covered with a >s rim as described, so that now I am a little skeptical in regard to so little ventilation being given as advocated by some, even in cool weather, unless a large space is also given for the bees clustering in. The tying method given by you in Glean- ings some time since is the only other thing necessary for expeditious work with such a hive, having tested and used it successfully not only with a single-story hive having a loose bottom-board, but with a two-story hive as well: consequently 1 use it with as much as- surance now as any other thing or system I know of practical value in the apiary. F. A. Gemmell. ISlfJ (JI.HANINCiS IN HHK CUI/rUKK. 331 [Hiitoliiiisoirs si'luMiu" of liaviiif; a snnill i)()r- tniii of llif w ritci' at tlic hcaiiing of most of tin- articles for the Rcvinr is a gooii oin'. ami siiirc hf lias ilt)m' it so admicahly it will not Ixmu'ccs- sary fof us to i>iiiit a S('|)arati' slicci fifiving a sliort skctoli aiui portrait of sonn- of our con- tributors: in fact. \V(> already have practically that same iliintr in the last form of our A H (' of Hi'c (.'ulturc — Vonr haml-cart will no doubt be a iiood thins. The idea of haviiifx it tajr on behiiui the waiion w hen uoinii to and from out- apiaries is a good one. I PROPOLIS ON T TINS. now TO (T.K.\.\ rr oil- with conckntuatkd I.VK. When we commenci'd work in the shop, the; tirsi super I lilled with tho nice clean sections, 1 looked at the T tins all covered with propolis and thoiijihl to luyself. " If we ar(> to have sec- tions unstained by piopolis it will never do to put them on these" dirty T tins. J>ut, oh dear! it will be an endless task to scrape them all. I can never do it."* Just tluMi a happy thought struck me. Why not boil the propolis oft' ? Sure enough, why not? 1 repaired to the kitchen, placed the wash- boiler on the stove (ont^ we use for such work), tilled it with water and T tins, then went back to the shop to work, and left them to boil at their own sweet will, delighted to think I had such an inspiration. In about an hour I went back to the kitchen to see how my T tins were progressing. I fully expected to see thiMu all nice and clean, and was most bitterly disap- pointed to find that they looked even worse than they did when 1 put them in. as the pro- polis was more evenly distributed all over them. I ni-xt tried scrubbing them with a broom in the boiling water, but it would not work. I meditated awhile, then concluded I would try concentrated lie. providing Dr. Miller did not object. I did not know what effect the lye would have on the tins. He said I might try it. I put the boiler back on the stove to try once more. I did not feel quite so sanguine as I pour- ed in part of a can of concentrated lye. I did not leave it this time, but anxiously watched to see what effect it would have. It brought it off pretty well, but was not quite strong enough. I put in the rest of the can of lye. and. eurekal the propolis disappeared as if by magic. I stirred the tins with the poker to insure the lye reaching all parts of them; then with the tongs I lifted them into a tub and rinsed them off with cold water, and set thein up in the sun to drain, as bright and clean as when they came from the tinner's. I tilled up the boiler with T tins again, and so on. until the strength of the lye was all used up. when I turn<>d it out. tilled up the boiler afresh, and began all over again, continuing until they were all done. I used a can of lye to a boiler of water. Every time I fill up a super with the nice cleaii T tins I feel more than paid for the work it took to make them sf). I am pretty sure that washing-lluid would clean them almost if not quite as well as the concentrated lye, providing it were used strong enough, although I have never tried it. However, I think I should pre- fer the lye, as it does the work most thoroughly and does not hurt the T tins in the least, that I can see. If you have a lot of dirty T tins I advise you to clean them in this way, and see if you are not as delighted as I was to see them come out so bright and clean. Be sure to use plenty of wa- ter in rinsing them off. Emma Wilson. Marengo, III., April .5. THE BEE-MOTH. ITS IlAIilTS ; WIIK.N A.\n WIIKKK C()I'II,.\T|()N TAKKS I'l.ACK. Mr. \V. ]{. Ransom, New lliver, Va., wisiies me to answer the following questions tiirougii (ii.KAMNus: If the l)ee-moth larva— the so- called moth-worm — spins its cocoon inside of the bee- hi v(^ and there issues from the cocoon a female, can she lay eggs without coming out and mating, or must she do as do the queens, come foilh and mate? U the latter Ik; true, at what age does she commence to lay? l''rom the conditional foi'in of the first sen- tence we might conclude lliat it is unusual for the moth-larva to spin its cocoon in the hive. On the other hand, this is almost always just wiu'ie tlie cocoon is spun and the pupa staU; assumed. In accidental cas(>s the cocoon might be spun outside. In nature, where man did not interfere. 1 doubt whether the cocoons would ever be; found outside the hive. Indeed, in our northern climes it is imperative, often, to the life of the insect, that the cocoons be formed and the pupa stag(! passed in the hive. As the late Mr. JNIoses Qulnby showed years ago. the bee-moth, unless protected by the warmth of the colony, often succumbs to our severe win- ters. I have proved, liowever, that, in mild winters, they may endure the exposure, even unprotected by the warmtli gendered by the bees. It is probable that the bee-moths always tiy fortli to mate, as we usually see them during the day concealed somewhere outside of though by the hives. As many are reared on combs in the honey- house, it is not uncommon to find th<'m in this building. They are nocturnal — that is. they fly by night, and. witliout doubt, usually mate as they take these after-day nuptial flights. It would be unsafe to say that they never mati; in the hives. I iiave seen both moths and butiei-flies in copula before the wings of the female were dry so she could fly: though usually the same species pair only on the wing. So of this spei-ies — the bee-moth — while they usually and peihaps always mate outside, it is possible that copulation may occasionally occur in the hive. The pairing usually takes place with all moths very soon after the females fly: and. as I have said. oft(m before her wings are so dried that she can fly. I am sni'e that the bee-moth is no exception. With all insects, the females are able to '"bide their time." The queen may await a pleasant day or the coming drone. Moths that usually meet the males as soon as they can fly, in case no males are present, may wait for days. This is true, also, of the bee- moth. She may wait nolens volens. for a suitor must come before he can be accepted. Egg-laying commences, often, the very next day after pairing occurs: always very soon. Agricultural College. Mich. A. J. Cook. FEEDERS. TIIP: TWO TH.\T I I'HEFEIJ : HOW TO .M.\KK. This spring a good many of my colonies are short of stores. I have been experimenting on feeders. Nothing in the price lists suited me. I wanted to feed eai'ly inside of the hives, with- out disturbing any honey-board or < by four inches square; with an extension bit bore a hole through it large enough to receive J^ inch of the top of the jar. When the cover is on, fill the jar with thin syrup. Screw the perf©rated cover on tightly; place the block over the hole in the honey-board or quilt; insert the jar and insert in the block; replace packing, etc. The bees Avill suck the contents out of the jar in one or two days, though of itself it will not run out. I think this is an improved method of using the Mason jar as a feeder. Of course they are cheap, as you spoil only the covers, and every one has empty Mason jars not in use at this season of the year. Many feeders are recommended that are not fit to use. Wooden butter-dishes leak, and the syrup goes to daub up the packing. They are nice to have in an apiary to save an occasional piece of broken honey, ijut are of little use as feeders except in feeding candied honey. In this case, make a hole in the dish and use the same as the basin described above. Gray's feeder is not good, as it kills bees to some ex- tent. H. Lathrop. Browntown, Wis., April 9. [Your circular feeder— that is. the first one you describe— is very similar in principle to the very (excellent Miller feeder. We have no doubt that it will woi'k very nicely. The second one is nothing more nor less than a slight modifica- tion of the old-fashioned pepper-box feeder that we have sold for so many years. We believe that it was E. France who first called attention to this feeder, and it is by him used very ex- tensively, even at the present day.] Heads of Grain FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. MRS. HARRISON IN FLORIDA. Mr. Editor:— It appears strange to one who has always lived at the North, to see plants blooming so differently from what we have been accustomed to. Fruit-trees do not blos- som all at once, but continue to bloom for a long time. There will be peaches upon the trees, the size of peas, and plenty of blossoms at the same time. The peen-toos commenced blooming in October. Since the 9th of January I have noted peach-ti'ees blooming, and there are some late ones to bloom yet. Bees appear to be doing well, and commenced swarming April 1. They are gathering honey from orange bloom, tie-tie, dewberry, spider- woi't, and many other flowers unknown to me. What surprises me the most is, that goldenrod is out in full feather. Inclosed is a sprig of it. Bees in this town have only half a flight, as half of it is the bay. There are not many col- onies kept here, and all that I have seen are blacks. I leave here in a day or so. en route for the North by the way of Wewahitchka, to visit the noted orange-groves and large apiaries located there. 1 long for home, and to see Gleanings, which I have missed for some time. Mrs. L. Harrison. St. Andrews, Fla.. Apr. 11. SULPHURIC acid IN WAX-RENDERING; HOW TO PROPORTION THE WATER AND ACID. Will you please state in Gleanings, in plain United States, how many spoonfuls of sulphuric acid should be used to a gallon of water when rendering old combs. Some one has stated it once in milliliters; but Dago is incomprehensi- ble to the average American. Does the use of the acid injure the tin vessels in which the wax is rendered? Must the combs be soaked in the solution some time before boiling, or can we simply pour the acid into the water, throw in the wax, and start up the fire? Newhall, Cal., March 26. Wm. G. Heaves. [The proportion of acid that we have recom- mended is 1 lb. of acid to 4 pails of water. This would be reducing the acid about 100 times; 1 lb. of acid means 1 pint: 4 pails would make about 50 quarts; 1 drachm is equivalent to about 1 teaspoonful. Therefore in 1 gallon there would be sojiiewhere about 1000 drachms or 1000 teaspoonfuls. According to our propor- tion you would want to take about 10 teaspoon- fuls of acid to a gallon of water; but you must remember that the acid will attack the spoon unless you dip it in melted wax, and then you will destroy the proportion, because the spoon won't hold as much. To get the matter correct- ly, measure ten teaspoonfuls of water into a glass tumbler; make a note of the water-line; pour out the water, and then fill up with acid to this water-line, and then this you can put into youi' gallon of water and have the propor- tions about correct. It will do no harm to in- crease the amount of acid, providing your wax is very dirty. We sometimes make it in pro- portion of from 1 to .50 and 1 to 75. It depends on how much dirt there is to be clarified out. Use a kind of stone crock that is used for cook- ing; pour in your water and then the acid, and then your refuse pieces of wax. Let it boil over a slow fire for a couple of hours. Move it back on the stove, and keep it just barely hot for about five hours. This will allow all impurities to settle. At the end of this time dip off the wax. Be careful not to stii' it up too tiiuch. — Yes, theracid before dilution, and to a propor- tionately less extent after, will injure tin uten- sils. Wooden or crockery ware should be used. No, the combs do not need to be soaked before heating the acidulated water.] IN FAVOR OF ABSORBENTS. Ever since you have been agitating sealed covers I felt prompted to write. Such an article as friend Dadant's ought to carry conviction with it. I have had bees for 7 or 8 years; have wintered 40 stands some of the time, and — well, a little fishy — but I have never lost a single stand by being poorly wintered— have never lost more than four or five from (tny cause dur- ing the winter in all this time. Those were queenless, or something of that nature. I live ten miles north of Terre Haute, Ind., and have (.LKANINCJS IN HEE CULTURE. 3:^3 liatl some |nrlt_\ had wiiilcis on bees licri' too; hut I liavi' never used sealed covers. l*erliai)S one is oocasionally sealeii; hut a very large per cent, at least '.Ht. liave had more uiiward venti- lation than 1 wanted, on account of (loorly con- structed hives. I iiliniys use soinet hinfj; similar to the Hill device — a piece of hurlap spread over tlie top of the device and the bees, and tlien till in — not full if a two-story. t)nt full or nearly full ifal'o-story — with olii cloths, col- ton or wt)olen. old caipet. etc. (i. F. Avhks. Alherton. I ml., April 8. HOW TO ( .\rcil IIOHHEKS WITH A I'OKTKK HKK- \-:sCAVK. Huring the drouth las^t fall 1 had somi' tronlile witli robber-hees; and after trying sevei-al plans to pi'event. 1 have settleii upon one nior(> way of '■ heading otf the little rogues, and am not quite satisfied that I am right, hence this letter to you. When the robbers begin another run on a hive, I propos(» to plug the entrance with a Porter bee-escape to point in; remove the top of the hive and (piilt. and substitute double wire clotli (wiri" al)out one inch apart), and let rob- bers and all run in. and keep tlteiii tlicre a few days. What do you think of the sclieme? If all right, how long should I keep them cooped up before opening the hive? Mks. a. R. Forman. Slatonville, Ark., Mar. 1.5. [The scheme will be excellent; and although this same thing has been proposed before, we do not remember that any one has tried it. W'e should be glad to have you and others try it. and then report. It will catch the robbers; and if they can't get out to tell the rest of their comrades, they can't get up a very big robbing.] KKKNEY VS. THE HOHIZOXTAI. WllilXCi. In (ILEAXIXGS for 18!»0, page 371, Mr. E. D. Keeney gives his new way of wiring to which the members of the Root establishment seem to have taken a liking at once. Ernest has pro- posed wire nails, to be used in place of the staples in Keeney's plan, these nails to be bent to a hook. This was a great improvement. On page 5f)l. friend Hatch makes another im- portant improvemimt on Keeney's plan, to which Ernest says: " I like your improvement on the Keeney method." On page .x)7 he says to Keeney: " Your method of wiring is working nicely, and it will probably supei-s(!de all oth- ers.'' Now. why is this method abandoned, and the horizontal method by piercing end-bars recommended? Has ii proved a failure? With me the former is done more rapidly, and gives. so far, good satisfaction. S. Klona, Iowa, March '.>. [The Keeney wiring as improved by Hatch did not prove to be a failure. With heavf or medium brood foundation it worked v(ny nice- ly: but it would not work satisfactoi'ilv with light brood. The latter gradi; as yoii may know is considerably cheaper than eitlier of the other two. and as this works nicely with tlie horizontal wiring we gave it the i)refeience. It is less work to wii'e on the horizontal plan: our girls who wire many hundreds of frames will vouch for this. Again, the Keeney plan did not please all. because the foundation would bulge in places. We recommend the horizontal plan in a wfH'd because it is cheaper, not only in tiqie of wiring but in th(! grad*^ of foundation that can be used with it. It should be remem- bered that the horizontal wires should not be drawn too tight, otherwise the foundation will bulge.] TMAT"KIN. not ■• in it." Thi>y could not understand the situation, seen through their Kodak. If that Rambler sliould ranil)le thi'ough here I shall turn my :.'()() lb. "/>»/ /if .Wicc/; " (thorough- bred Oxford) loose on him: and his business set up will Ix'guile leisun; hours for (li.EANlNGS rea(ters for a wliole fortnight. I hope you will tiy to help us all you can to get an automatic swarmer successfully at work. It will be a wonderful help to single-handed folks who till the soil and cultivate the bee. I must have some by June if I can. Regarding adulteration, my brother writes me that, wlien at work in canning-factories in California, all their jellies and all theirextract- ed honey put up where he worked was three- fourths glucose. He said he never was so sur- prised, for he thought where such a supply of pure product was obtainable such things as adulterants were never used. This is a fact, Mr. Root, and I hope you will use every effort to expose and stop the frauds. Faribault, Minn., Mar. 24. L. J. Page. [We are not willing to let the matter stand right here. Can not affidavits, or sucii evidence as will be recognized in courts, be procured to convict these adulterators? Will your brother take oath to such statements? and if so, let's test the law in California. W^e should be glad to get legal advice from some one of our sub- scribers in California, of the law profession.] QUEEN - EXCLUDEK.S FOB EXTRACTING; HOW THEY WERE PI-UGGEI) UP WITH PROPOLIS. As I saw a statement from Mr. A. Sion. Kyle, Texas, about propolizing jjerforated zinc, I will tell you what hai)|)ened to melast S])ring. Just in the beginning of basswood time I put on 30 zinc excluders ; left them on one week ; and wlien I looked in the upi)er story there were hardly any bees u|) there. I thought they might be too weak, wo they would not work in the second story; but when I lifted the zinc up I found they were sti'ong, but they would not go through the zinc; and some had almost all the holes lilled up with propolis. As soon as I found it would not do I took them all off. and I got about :'.].")() lbs. of extracted honey from 30 swarms; tnn my idea is. that, if I had left them on 1 should not have had 10 lbs. apiece. I think they are great quecsn, bee, and honey excluders in our Western country. I will try a fcnv this season again. - William SeExMann. Boscobel, Wis., Mar. 27. [This seems a little remarkable. It makes, however, only the second report of this kind. All others, so far as we remember, declare in favor of the zinc. J. F. Mclntyre, of Fillmore, California, uses it largely, and recommends it to his l)ee-keei)ing friends. We presume your bees were working on the sealed-cover idea. While the fact that honey began to l)e stored a/(cr you removed the excluders is suggestive, it may have been only an accidental coinci- dence. It is possible that the honey began to flow in al)out tiiat time. If bees don't have much to do they will j)lug up with propolis; but if there is a good flow of honey they do not bother much with gumming. It looks a little 334 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 1. as if, when they stopped viy the zinc holes, little or IK) honey was coming in then. J. A. Green suggests that such rare instances are due to poor covers. Bees, to store comb lioney, must have their receptacles thoroughly well sealed over.] ANOTHEH SCHEME FOR TOP-BARS. Mr. Calvert: — Below see two ways of avoid- ing lateral motion in top-bar of frames. First, cut a notch on the under side of the projection ORANGE-BLOSSOM HONEY: HOW THE NEW COWAN REVERSIBLE EXTRACTOR COMPARES WITH THE NOVICE. Your new reversible extractor, the "Cowan Eapid," received a few days ago, works nicely. I have thrown out the last 100 gallons with it, and I must say it is a boss machine. The sam- ple of honey sent was drawn light from the machine. We don't have honey much thicker than that here. A Novice machine would hard- ly throw it out as clean as the new one will. THE BEE-ESCAPE. AND HOW* IT SAVES LABOR. Some question the practicability of the bee- escape. I have used them a good deal, and pi-o- nounce them a good thing. They have no faults if you understand how to use them. There are several good makes. I like the Por- ter. With 20 of these, one day last week I took 1000 pounds of honey with 45 minutes' labor — 1.5 in putting the escapes on in the evening, and 30 in taking the honey to the extracting-room the next morning. Can one man remove the same amount of honey by any other method in the same time? It might not be out of the way to say that those same 20 colonies each gathered from 8 to 10 pounds of honey the day the honey was re- moved. Would they have done this if the old methodof shaking and brushing had been used? I say no. Our spring flow is at a close, lasting only about 10 days; but it was good while it lasted. My scale hive (on average colony) averaged about 10 lbs. per day. One picked colonv gain- ed 17)^ lbs. in 9 hours. How's that? Will the man who says "orange" does not yield honey please walk up? A. F. Brown. Huntington, Fla., April 12. ANOTHER METHOD OF PRODUCING WAX SHEETS. Did you ever try dipping wax for foundation with a glass vessel tilled with ice water? My son is a dentist, and to-day he is preparing wax (for taking impressions) into thin sheets about the same as for foundation. Sheets so prepared are very smooth and nice. Any glass vessel six inches in diameter would make a sheet 18 inches long, and as wide as the bottle or vessel is long. The cold water cools, and causes the wax to ad- here at once; and from what I have seen this morning I think he could produce one sheet per minute. Perhaps this mode is not new to you. If it is, try it on a small scale, and see if it will not beat wood all together. Kenna, W. Va., Mar. 22. Franklin Garns. [We have never made sheets in the way you describe, but have no doubt it could be done in that way. We simply dip thin boards of the right size into melted wax, and then plunge them into ice or cold water. We can thus make the sheets much faster than one a minute.] ITALIANS GATHERING TWICE AS MUCH HONEY AS BLACKS. I notice some of the bee-keepers prefer black bees to tlie Italians. Well, they can take them for my part. I have both blacks and Italians, and I say positively that my Italians gather twice the honey per colony that my blacks do. I will admit that the cai)i)ings on the sections taken from my blacks are a little whiter, when they have any. which is not often the case. Lexington, Tex., Mar. 23. Wm. Douglass. of the top-bar -^ or ^ deep, and ,V wide; or, second, let the bottom-bar project within jV of the side of the hive. I find if a hive is cut like No. 2 no tin rest is needed. R. T. W. Little Britain. Canada. [We 'have no doubt that your scheme would work very nicely, Mr. R. T. Whatsyername; but the fii-st thing you would encounter would be the change in the length of the top-bar, and that seems almost out ot the question— at least, any radical change on standard sizes. There would be an advantage, however, in having a bee-space around the ends of the top-bars as well as around their sides; but practical bee- keepers seem to prefer the top-bar run clear up to the end of the rabbet.] AUSTRALIAN BEE-KEEPERS AND WHAT THEY PROPOSE TO DO AT THE WORLD'S FAIR. The bee-keepers of New South Wales are just aiTanging for a conference to be held at West Maitland, in this colony, and to forward an exhibit to your Chicago exhibition. Our paternal government is taking the exhibition affairs up in good earnest, and the colonies should be well represented. I hope to go over and see a small portion of America in 1893. We have heard so much about it that one feels quite anxious to see such a wonderful country. C. F. Jeanncret. Hunter's Hill. New South Wales, Feb. 16. [Good for Australia and her bee-keepers! We always thought your people were progress- ive. We shall be glad to welcome you. and hope you will come so as to attend tlie North American convention, which will be held at the World's Fair.] OLD FOUNDATION, AND HOW TO RESTORE IT. On reading J. A. Green's article on page 239 I was anxious to see whether any process would be mentioned by the editor whereby old hard foundation may be restored: but I see that no remedy wa^i suggested. 1 have a friend, a bee- keeper, who says that, by dipping in warm water, foundation, no matter how old and hard, can be brought back to its original quality. This is an important matter. I should like to hear from others on this subject. Browntown, Wis., April 9. H. Lathrop. THREE LAYING QUEENS IN THE SAME HIVE. I have a hive with three laying queens in it, and all the bees pass in and out through the same entrance. Let us know how many times you ever had the same thing. I have tried, this spring. Doolittle's process of raising queens, and find it \vorlr irhn inn I tii- Uat wide world — th(! business world as well as the Chris- tian world — were passing Miiller by, giving him and his work but iitth? thought or attention. I once dreamed that I discovered a machine or principle for navigating the air; and I expected, of course, the whole world would stop its work and look while I deiuonstrated over their heads and before their eyes my new principle. 1 was a good deal disappointed because folks did not pay very much attention to lue or to my " navi- gation." Some of them stopped their work and looked a minute or two. and then they went on hoeing corn and driving business as usual. In fact, a great part of them did not look up at all. They evidently felt content to stay on the fjrdund and let folks navigate the air who felt that way. So in regard to Miiller. He came upon the spiritual and financial world so sud- den, that, for a tiiiH-. it was almost startling. A f(!vv people stopped and considered the matter. 338 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 1. Some wondered for a while if we had not all been making a great mistake — a mistake be- cause we lacked in faith. Miiller loved hu- manity; at least, he did after the Holy Spirit made its dwellingpiacc^ in his heart. Then he began to u^nrk and pnnj. He believed it was not God's will that the homeless ones of the gi'ea*^ city of London should grow up educated to sin and crime. He had faith to believe that God would furnish the means for a reformation. The great busy world looked on and concluded that it must be a siring of couiciclences, or that it was just a ■• happin-so," and could not last very long. But years go and come, and there are few business enterprises on earth that seem more flrmly established than Miiller's work. Now for a consideration of some of the state- ments he makes. A man who is industrious and diligent that he may obtain the means for supporting his wife and family, is, according to Miiller, making a rnlsPike. 1 do not suppose that he means that the above is not a praise- worthy object, and really above the heads of some of us; that is, we have people all about us who do not take care of their wives and children — in fact, some who neglect or refuse to provide even the necessaries of life. If these people can not be moved by any higher motive, I should most strongly urge this; but for all that, there is a higher plane to live on, and a higher motive for exertion. This matter of laying up something for a rainy day. or for sickness, or for old age, that is so often talked about, and so often discussed, what is it but selfishness after all? A missionary from China gave us a glimpse of what a nation is without Christianity, by remarking that, if a comrade were drowning, very frequently the natives re- fuse to go to his rescue; and a poor fellow act- ually drowned because the missionary could not make some fishermen move quick enough to go to his aid. They n'fused to stir until he would give them a sum of money something like five dollars. When he told them at once that he would give it, they insisted on having the money first. By the time the money was handed over, the poor man was drowned. I saw a newspaper statement in regard to the recent flood in Mississippi, in our own United States of America, where the colored folks re- fused to stir a peg to the relief of other colored people until they had been paic? /o?' laboring for the rescue of tlieir own people; and, further- more, they insisted on having their pay before they went to work. I am greatly surprised at this, for I had formed a pretty favorable opin- ion of our colored population in the South— at least of the intelligent and educated ones. I hope it is a mistake, and not true; or, if tine, that there were only a few. comparatively, who took this stand. Had it been their own rela- tives and children, very likely these people would have stirred themselves at once; but as it was somebody else they didn't care particu- larly. Now, the man who is simply trying to lay up something for a rainy day, or against old age, sickness, and the like, is a good deal after this fashion: and if he steps no further, or goes no higher in his plan of life- work, he may both lie and steal in order to get the wherewith for a rainy day or for old age. Years ago. when we had saloons here in Medina. I went to a neighbor and remonstrated because he proposed opening a bar in his hotel. He said that he nmst do something to earn the wherewith to support his family and educate his children: therefore he opened the bar. Be- fore the children w(>re educated, however, he filled a drunkard's grave, and they had to edu- cate themselves. Miiller says. " If our possess- ing the necessaries of life depended upon our working, we cOuld never have freedom from anxiety." There we have it. A man who is trusting to his own powers of mind and body — one who is trusting in the probability that he inay have health, etc.. has great need to be anxious, for all these things are but luck and chance; but, on the contrary, when he is trust- ing on the strong arm of the Lord, and has faith in him instead of in poor feeble human brain and muscle, then may he be at peace, for " the Lord uiill provide." Then, again, there is something wonderfully comforting in the little text I have chosen. I got it from Miiller's book — '• Ye are not your own. for ye are bought with a price." Oh I am so glad that I am not my own! It fairly makes my heart thrill to feel that Christ Jesus cared so much forme that he really wanted me to such an extent that he of his own free will and choice bought me with a price. Therefore I am his. He owns me, and I am not my own. I remember the dreary years of'my earlier life when I called myself my own. t had become so old that I was no longer under my mother's charge, and my good father had decided to let me plan for myself. For a time I thought it was very nice to be my own boss and master. It was stepping out into pretty broad liberty when I felt myself no longer accountable to any one. I did not think of God— ill fact. I thought I was all-suffi- cient. How soon I learned my mistake I Have you not learued it too. dear brother and sister? Ohl I do hope you have reached the point where you felt as I expi'essed it last issue — " I am weak; but thou art mighty.'" Again, the man who is not working or thinking about lay- ing up soinething for old age or a rainy day. or for the childi'en, has something to spare for missionary work. Miiller says, in his quaint way, page 14 of the little book: I do not tind in the whole New Testament i'essed down, and shaken together, and running over. shall men give into your l)osom. For with the same mea- sure that ye mete withal it shall be me;isured to you again." And now. dear friends, I am coming to a thought that has been on my mind for a long time— in fact, something has been said in regard to it in these pages already. It is. the starving brothers and sisters in Russia. Our church is to make a contribution next Sunday. I have been urging a long while: and when they de- cided to wait until next Sunday, I made the remark that ever so many hundreds and may be thousands might starve before our contribu- tions get there. Of conrse.it is not as bad as the men who demanded five dollars in advance before they would stop fishing long enough to save a man from drowning; but I do think we sliould make liaste to let it be known that our ISlt-' (JLKAXIXCS IN HICK C'Ul/rUltl':. 339 worU. and imr asi)irati(ms ami plans lici't' in lliisworKi of (iiiis. jiu a litllc onisiilc of family rt'lations ami family lies, rrrliaps we can not. all of us. i-iimb to the siiiiiliial level where Miiiler stands, and .s7(/i/ lliere. I add the last, because one of my irieat weaUiiesj-es is to slip down so (piii'lfrard to tho work. The first comes from the (^(iinitnj (iciitleiiKtn of March :il: An appeal for prompt and lilieral asslslance is issued l)y the Hussiaii Katiiine Kelief C'oniinittee (John W. Hoyt, Ciiairmaii, 7,i2 Fimrteeiitli St., Wushiii^'toii', and desi-rves iinuiediale atteiitiiin. Every newspaper is aslied to uif^o upon the atten- tion (if its rea- factions of those in otiier and more favored lands. That the Russian .eovertuuent is exciting'- itself heroically foi' the rescue of tlu' peopU-. botli bj- a niuniticence worlliy of a .trieat nation and l)y the sacrifices of those who administer the public affairs. Tliat tiie extent of the famine is so great, and tlie revenues of tlie g-overnment liave been so far ♦•rippled by ri-peated and widespread failuies of the crops, that there is need of help from othei' fi-iendly countries — help immediate, lilieral, and persistent That, the rest of Europe having- also been impov- erished, the bulk of .sujiplies must come from America, so wonderfully blessed with bountiful crops tlie past season that she can send shipload after shipload of food without perceptible drain upon her ine-xhaustible stores. And liere is what the Rurtil Xeio-Yorker of April :.'o has to say: Philadelphia w;is the flr.st to send a shipload of flour to the relief of the starving Russians, and the steamer Indiana's cargo was received at Lilian with public rejoicings and hearij- thanks. TUt; Minne- apolis millers sent the next cargo through New York, and this is still at sea. The Pliiladelpjiaiis have almost c imp'etud another sluploait, and the Western millers will send another also in a fi'W weeks. Millers, farmers, and oihers all over the country are geneiovisiy joining in the goi d work, and probably a dozen or more cargoes in all will be donated. Of course, this will be a Goiisend to a comparatively few. but would hardly beamomh- ful among the millions in Uisliess. High-pressure Gardening. BY A. I. ROOT. everitt's man-weight cultivatok and iuiekd's wkkder. What do you think of Everitt's Man- weight cultivator and seed-drill? Is it not bad for the man's breast? Can you recommend it for rather stiff clay loam? Do you like Breed's weeder? Ahixandria. Va. A. Ja.mii:so.n. [My good fiieiid. the great trouble with both of these implements is. that the average gar- dener does not very often have the land or the kind of soil suitable forsuch machines; and an- other thing, the ground must not be too wet nor too dry. What I mean by " too dry " is, that if the cultivation has been neglected at the right time until the soil tjecoines baked, neither of these machines will be practicable; at the same time, by the use of these machines we ought to be able to keep our ground soft and mellow, unless we have too much rain, ruder- draining the ground thoroughly is a great help; in fact, it is really a necessity. Ridging the gi-ound up ill winter lime to let the fi-osl work at it is anotliei- great liil|): and we have been so much annoyed i bis spring by having our gi-miiid too wet to woik that I have liegiiu to think se- riously of plowing it in the fall when it is in propel- trim, then throwing it up in lidges and plan! ing our eaily stulV in tlie tops of the ridges, l(>veling them down slightly with son f these tools. One of the best crojis of potatoes that I ever raised was worked eniirely with a Hi-ei^d's weeder. It was never touched w ith a ho«! at all. Hut this was on out- best ci-eek-boltom ground that is slightly loamy. But this same pii-ce of ground this spiing has been too wet to work for a whole mouth. Everitt's ciillivatoi- is too poor- ly mad(^ to stand wear and tear: at least, the one he .scuit us pulled to pieces so much that we have become disgusted with it. I think he ought to furnish us (and. in fact, everybody else who has om^ of his poorly made nuichines) a new one free of charge. He evidently, how- ever, does not think so, foi- I have written him about it, and he simply said they made them better now, without any offer to jnake good our lo.ss. Later. — He has, since the above was in type, olfered to send new parts.] THE TltOIIBI.E WITJJ KA.SI'BEItRIES; AESO SOME- THING ABOUT SQUASH-BUGS. A. I. Root complained that raspberries do not thrive as they used to. I wish that he would see whether the trouble is not from fungus or the root- borer, and report in the garden depart- ment. The injury is a serious one with us. I should also be pleased if Mr. Root would exper- iment with a hot-water spray for squash-bugs, and perhaps other Insects. Jthaspi-oved useful in "ome cases. L. Williams. Delavau, Wis.. April 7. [1 am inclined to think you are partly right, my friend. Examination shows adeadnessof the roots, although I do not see any traces of the borer. Our new plantation, put out last spi-ing. made a very poor growth during the fore part of the season; but in the fall the vines did pretty fairly, and seem to promise now to glow with vigor. In regaid to the hot-water spray for squash-bugs, even if it succeeded per- fectly it would be too much labor. With us they fri'quently come in droves within an hour; and in just a few hours the vines are destroyed or very mucli injured: so you see it would take constant watching. With the wire-screen bug- protectors, however, whi-n they are once cover- ed up. all troutile is at an end for. jierhaps, a couple of weeks. I am inclined to think now that plenty of tobacco dust will also do thi; bus- iness'; but instead of a little sprinkling, it wants a wliole shovelful: and as the shovelful is worth all it costs, for manui-e. in localities whei-e this dust can be had at a low price it will probably be the cheap»!St remedy for our insect-enemies on vines. The strong odor of the tobacco re- mains for a long while, even after the vines are so large as to crowd against the wire-cloth covers.] THE AMEBIC AN I'EAKL ONION. You say the Pearl onion has wintered again with you. It did not with me. I got a quart of you and planted tbem Sept. 15th. so that they mad(! a good growth: but there are not more than a dozen left, and they were mulched with hay. Potato onions, planted the same day, about half winteied: planted Oct. l.'ith, one month later, all w intered. I sliall try again, but plant so that they won"t grow any in the fall. Irish potatoes winter all right in the ground here, not over two or three inches deep, and we had hard freezes for this country — 4° above zero. You are right about the Hall 340 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May L treatment. It is the worst fraud of the age — not but that it is good, but it claims too much. Bees wintered all right, but I hear of some starving on account of no fall honey. Grand View. Tenn.. April 18. A. F. Ames. [Friend A.. I wish you had tried a part of your American Pearl onions without any mulching. They are very apt to rot, and I have sometimes thought the mulcliing helped to keep the ground damp, and thus make them rot. I am surprised to l you want it;* and, by the way, the bottom of the ditch should be very little wider than the bottom of the spade No. 6. It is on this point that I have a good deal of *The following- is from pagre 88 of our new book, Tile Drainagre: If the entire ditch is to be 30 inches, I usually try to make fully 7 or 8 witli the plow, and 1.3 or 14 with the first spade, and that leaves only 8 or 9 Inches for the second, or bottoming--spade. The subsoil at the bottom is far more compact and hard. No. 1 is for grading and cleaning out the trench just before the tiles are laid. The tool is an exceedingly handy one; but I should pre- fer it with a permanent solid joint instead of the adjustable one as shown. In fact, I have taken quite a dislike to adjustable tools, or and it is better not to liave too deep a course to dig-. Great care should be taken to keep the grade of this course e.xactly rig-ht, so that, when you draw the double-ended cruml>cloaner No.l, and groove-cutter througli the few loose crumljs of claj' that are al- ways left by the spade of even an expert, you will leave a true groove ready for the tiles. 1892 (iLKANlXtJS IN 15KK CUl/rURE. H4I qiiarrcliiij;. t'spcoially wiili iirw mcii. 'Tlicy will ilii: iln' liiu-li i\\ iiM' ilir w idili ol ilic spade niul lia\»' the liottoiii in siu-li a a l<\\ ani slia|)c tliat (lie tilrs i-an nut belaid inic and rt'^ular. Tlu' cM'iisc is. ilial ilir\ ran imiwoik in so nai- row a diti'li. Where a man won't do as you \visl> to have iiini do. or as he sees othei's do. 1 wouKi tiiiii him oil' and hire soniehody who wouiii. May he yon think this ik)i's not sound like sonn' of my teachings: hut I moan, of course, that you are to use mild measures first. If that iilan iiot>s not answci-, tiien state the case kindly Imt lii'rnly. And. Ii\- the way. No. ti is a most valual)le tool to hav(> in thi' market- garden or on the farm. We have three of them —two with long handles and one with a short handle: and tiiese ditching-spades are almost always wanted for a variety of pui'poses. If you want to take up trees they are far ahead of a common spade: for where the tool is a good one it can he used almost like a crowbar. For digging horseradish, or digging rhubarb roots for sale, taking up Egyptian onions, parsnips, carrots, vegetable oysters, and the like, they are the best thing in the world. The (joint is so narrow you can dig a dock out of your straw- berry-bed and not in.iure very much besides the dock. If you have not had one on your prem- ises, just let the boys get hold of one and see how they will learn to "go for" it. '>o.^^ HOW TO DIG, EVEN IN HAKD CLAY, AND DO IT EASILY No. 7 is a tool that I never owned until I saw- it recommended in the tile-book. When you are ditching through rich ground, take off the rich black surface soil with a common spade. Clean out the ditch down to the yellow dirt. Throw this good dirt to one side, and the rest of the soil (the poor clay) on the other side. Now take No. 7 and push it down full depth. Tnless you have learned how. you will say you can't do it — th(^ ground is too hard. I tnink, my friend. I can push both the spades. Nos. (i and 7. down full depth on the hardest ground you have. If the ground is full of stones I can still do it and get out the stones quicker than you can do it with a pick or grubbing-hoe, and I will have a straight narrow ditch all ready for tiles quicker than a big stout man who works in the old-faslii(jned way. The se- cret of being able to do this is shown by the cut, and I copy here from the tile-book itself: u|>|i:i(le witli ;i (luick inipul^e, and uork- inu 1 lie li.'inille sliMliI h hai'k and I'otI li in syiiipal liy Willi 111. ■ flldilsor lln' fiMil. II will l:ike Ironi Iw'o or I liree lo si\ or einlil " sIioncs " lo send ;i sixlccn- incli sjiade " Inline, " (he nuinlier vaiyintr wil li the Iniidness iir stiininess of llie cla.N and llic skill and iniisclf iif the di^i-ncr. Tlie besl wajtojjrel lliis nin- liiin is Id watcli a real expert ami net liiin In tearh you. I almost ne\ cr iKSea pick or mattnck. A gund (lltcliiiiK-spado well liamlled will (liff almost any tliiiifr but the stoniest clayey gi'avel faster alone than Willi I lie lielp(?) of the i)ick, b.v working (truuiKt the stones. No. 8 is to be used much like No. 2. Thc^ tool we use, iiovvever. has flat tines instead of round ones, as shown in the cut. The tines are flat on the inside and rounded on the outside. It is called th<^ (illiiig-hook; but it is useful in a great variety of places on tlii^ farm or in the garden. It will pull straw out of a slack, pull manure on to a stoneboat. level down hum- mocks in the field, dig potatoes on an emergency, and do a variety of such work. With a set of tools like these, many kinds of work as well as underdraining may be done: and a man who is expert in the use of tools will oftentimes do double the work by having .fust the tool he re- qui'-es. We presume that you can find these tools at your nearest hardware store; and, in fact, it is usually the best way to get them, on account of the expense of ship- ping such bulky arti- cles. If, however, you prefer to get theni of us, we can furnish them as follows: No. 1, U.2f); Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 75 cts. each; and No. 8,50cts. No.7,?1.25. A single tool is rather expensive to send by express; and it is also rather expensive and inconvenient to send by freight unless it goes along with other goods. If. however, you should want several tools they can be made into a bundle so as to go by freight at moderate expense. In case you do not buy of us, the fig- ures above may indicate to you about what prices you ouglit to pay. UONT BUKY THE SI'ADK. The first point in rapid, easy dipfsrinf?, is to lieep line side-edffe of t)ie spade mtt ot the mtih, iuxioht, cacli spjidef ul. Fig-. 21 sliows liow a non-expert will liury both edg-es of the spade at y/i, ),j,kl. w», and liave liarder work tliere.by. botli in sinkiiijr tlie spade and in breaking- off tlie slice of earth. Fifr. 'i2 shows liow an expert will sink liis spade; ali, cd, cf, heinf? the curves cut by the spade, and the edfce a being- " out " the first cut, and tlie edge r being out the second cut, and so on. Thus held, the spade sinks more easily, and the oitr edg:e bi-eaks oft' true and easily. SINKING THE SPADE. This is done by a succes-sion of quick " shoves " or thrusts with the foot, throwing: one's whole weight TKANSPLANTING FliOM OaiEENIIOUSES OR COLD- FRAMES INTO THE FIELD. There is one thing in friend Day's tomato-book that pleased me greatly. It was, a recognition of the fact that there is a tremendous gain in moving plants to the field with dirt adhering to theirroots: and heeven moves his tomato-plants in this way, for planting out acre after acre. I have for years been satisfied of the importance of this, but yet the whole great wide world, al- most, seems stupid in regard to the matter. They say it is too much fuss, and takes up too much time, and so they let the dirt rattle off, some- times taking the tine roots with it, and lo.se half of their crop, then w in the greenhouse. If you haven't scoop-shovels enough, gather up your barn- shovels, potato-forks, etc.. and use those. 343 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 1. Tobacco Column. Bpfore giving the following brief extract from a letter just received, we wish to say that Gleanings does not propose to open its columns to discuss politics. I am sure it would not be wise nor well. But where two political parties are alluded to in the following, we wish it un- derstood that their names are mentioned solely because of their bearing on the question of the use of tobacco. If our good brother's state- ments are not true, we may give place to some- thing very brief, showing wherein they are not true. You will notice that he and I evidently do not quite agree in politics. I am glad, how- ever, that we agree perfectly on the tobacco question. Here is the extract: I do not know how much you have associated with Prohibitionists— whether you ever attend- ed any of their conventions, or have read their side of the question or not; but I will tell you just what kind of a "crowd" they have. I never saw a delegate smoking a cigar. Neither did I ever hear a profane word used by one of the delegates. Neither did I ever see a stub of a cigar, nor a chew of tobacco, nor a particle of tobacco-spit on the floor when they had finish- ed, and I should have seen it if there had been any. I have seen in our own county court- house, before the Republican Coiuity Conven- tion adjourned, a new carpet completely satu- rated with tobacco- juice, with quids of tobacco and stubs of cigars covering it, while the room was blue with cigar-smoke. Voi.ney White. Findley's Lake, N. Y., April 11. Please send to George Bates a smoker. His address is Davis City. Iowa. He has quit using tobacco, and I think he is safe. If he ever uses it again I will jjay for the smoker. He is rais- ing a family of boys, and his influence on them will be better. A. S. Ross. Decatur, la., Feb. 25. Mr. Andrew Hudsi)eth has, through reading Gleanings, discarded the use of tobacco, and says he has quit for good. If you feel so inclin- ed you can send him a smoker; if he ever begins the vile habit again I will pay you for the smok- er if sent. M. F. Ragsdale. Collinsville, Texas. I think I may lay claim to one of your smok- ers that you offer to all readers of Gleanings who quit the tobacco habit. This I have resolv- ed to do. I have not used any for two and a half months, and do not intend to again. If I do, I will pay for the smoker. I have been a user for about 23 years. J. M. Campbell. Glidden, la., Feb. Ifi. Mr. Lafayette DeVVitt, of Sunny Side, Md., has stopped the use of tobacco, and he agrees to pay you 75 cts. for it if yon will send him a smoker and if he uses tobacco again. Also Mr. F. B. DeWitt has stopped the use of tobacco, and he agrees to pay you for the smoker if he ever uses tobacco again. His address is Sunny Side, Md. M. H. DeWitt. Sunny Side, Md., Jan. 4. According to the terms of the Tobacco Column I believe that I am entitled to a smoker. I have been using tobacco for upward of thirty years, and through the influence of some friends and Gleanings I have given uj) the filthy habit. So if you will send me a smoker I will agree to pay for the same, if I ever use the weed again in any form. Frederick Miti,son. Baldwin. Kan., Feb. 10. "Pages7xI0 00 PERYEABj If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, liow much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?— Luke 11 : 13. All photographs designed for half-tone re- production should be made with a llyht back- ground; and especially is this true for portrait work. Half-tone work, while so beautiful, and admired by many, has a tendency to obliterate lines, and therefore the contrast between ob- jects should be strong. A GOOD many are now receiving consignments of hives in the flat. After they are unpacked there is a liability that some of the boards will warp a little. Do not try to spring them into shape by nailing the hives or by putting cleats on the covers. First wet the concave side of the boards and lay them on the floor, wet side down. In a few hours they will be straight, and then they can be nailed together. We desire to call special attention to Prof. Cook's able article on page 322 of the present issue. It is one that should be copied widely; and bee-keepers should take pains to see that their fruit neighbors are properly informed; for we feel very sure that no fruit-man wants to do any thing that will work damage to his bee-keeping neighbor. All he needs is the knowledge of it'7(e?i and how to spray, in order to kill c6dling-moths and yet not destroy bees. The Leahy Manufacturing Co., of Higgins- vllle, Mo., seems to be booming things. Glean- ings wishes them success, even if they enter Into competition in the supply business. We have a good big country, and there is plenty of room for all; and although we employ every legitimate means to stimulate trade, we do not want the " whole loaf." and therefore welcome new business enterprises in the bee-keepers' supply line. Almost every mail brings a letter offering either to sell bees to us outright or to give them in exchange for goods. We are obliged to say to one and all that it is not profitable for us to buy bees from a distance, as the express would cost more than they are worth. Another thing, the bees are not in such frames, nor such stock, as a rule, as we care to send out again to our customers. If you wish to reduce your stock of bees, the better way is to offer them for sale in your local paper first; i. e., sell 'em around home. If that does not dispose of them, try the bee-journals. As we have said several times before, we re- peat again: If you differ from the position taken by the editor— that is. if you are sure he is wrong, and that, if such position is not correct- ed, it will work damage to the industry, be free to correct him; but for goodness' sake, do it in a gentlemanly and courteous manner. We have not time to bother with unkind flings. Time is too precious to waste in following up and an- swering such attacks; but we do desire to be on the right side; but if on the wrong side we are isyj GLEANINGS IN HEE CULTURE. 343 glad to ho sot riglit. Alack tlic day whon \\(> shall got into ruts and stick to wruiifj iiotioiisl Gl.KANiNt^s desires to ho fair to all parties, and to all sides of a (ini'stion; hut it has no spact^ for sarcastic and cutting witticisms. SoMK years ago Mr. liangstroth wrote an ar- ticle on nomenclature for hee-keepers. At the tim<\ he suggested the coining of new words, the use of which was almost a necessity, U^' proposed, for instance, the term " uiuiui-ening " lor tht» ciri'umlocution of removing or in any way depriving a colony of tlxMr royal mistress. Wo helieve that he also suggested the term "springing ■■ for the long roundalumt way of saying ■■ bringing the bees tiiioiigh the spring months." It is a well-known fact, that it is not so dithcult to wint<;r bees as ii is to xpring them: and if it is proper to say "wintering," why not say " s])ringing " V We sim|)ly men- tion these two words as an illustration. b(^cause we propose to allow — yes. recommend — cori'es- pondents to \isesuch short and expressive terms, the moaning of which is perfectly evident to every bee-keeper. One of the commission honey merchants says that they have much complaint of comb honey candying. This can be remedied to a very great extent by keeping the honey in a warm dry room; but. in spite of all precautions, old comb honey is liable to candy on our hands: and when once candied there is no practical way of reducing the honey to a liquid form again so as to be suitable for the market, or to bring any thing like what the honey is worth. And right here is one groat advantage in ex- tracted honey. It can always be liquefied, and, with care, be equal in flavor to what it was before. But, oh dear I extracted honey can be adulterated; and for this reason bee-keepers should take additional pains to fight to the bit- ter end the disreputable mixing business. Be sure to urge your representative to vote for the Paddock pure-food bill now before Congress; and after you hav<' done that, don't let the adulteration go on if you can help it, in your neighboring city or neighboring town. There is plenty of law In nearly every State to make the scamps squirm; and all we need is evidence. Do not put poor dark honey— that is, the un- palatable kind — upon your local markets, nor um>n any markets, in fact, that are designed to supply direct consumption. It is putting this dark honey upon the public that ruins, in a great manv cases, the demand for honey; and, as C. W. Dayton well says in the Review, it fans the fire that keeps up the newspaper '• canards" in regard to adulterated honey. All such unpalatable honeys should either be fed back to the bees in the spring (in most cases it will do no harm, even if fed for winter use), or should be sold to bakers. If nothing but the \veli-navou;d nice honeys are sold for direct consumption, it will tend greatly to increase the amount sold. and. as a consequence, stiffen prices. We would say, for the benefit of the York State bee-keepers, that these remarks do not apply to the dark rich buckwheat honey that is preferred by so many New Yorkers. We have reference only to the honey that tastes bad — " stuff" that bee-keepers would not eat them- selves— no, couldn't even be hired to. To put it a little stronger, it is a downright shame to put such '"stuff "on the market and call it honey. The sooner bee-keepers will give up the prac- tice, the better it will be for the pursuit in gen- eral. si;ai,i:i) covkhs vi;i{sis pouors ai!.S(>i{hi:.\t8 KOI{ WI.NTKKINO. Ei-sKwiiKitK we publish several communica- tions in favor of upwafd ventilation and porous covering as against the sealed-cover idea. As nearly as we can discover, both from the letters pui)lished and those uni)ul)lished, the writers have not ti'ied hotb the sealed cover and the absorbing cushions side by side foj- a series of three or four years. All through the ivint^r we could discover no practical ditTerence in our apiary; but this sin-iiKj there is a slight differ- ence in favor of the sealed-cover colonies. Those under sheets of glass seetn to be stronger and more lively than those under the absorbing cushions, and they are the first to II y out. At present, however, W(i an> seeking for more light, and at present are not prepared to advocate (Mther method as being the best. It may take three or four years of careful experimenting on the part of a good many to decide the (juestion. Francis Danzenl)aker. of Washington, I). C, in another column, the inventor of the; Dual hive, and the one who suggested to us tli(^ adopting of the dovetailed corner for the Dovetailed hive, you will notice says he has tried thi^ sealed covers for twenty years, and that he has also tried the porous covering, with disastrous re- sults. Now, who is there, besides the Dadants, who have tried the sealed covers and porous covering side by side, and found the latter as good as the former? MORE ABOUT IMBEDDING WIKES INTO FOUNDA- TION BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY. Some two months ago a correspondent of the American Bee Journal stated that he had suc- ceeded in imbedding wires into foundation by means of electricity from a battery. This set us to thinking and experimenting, although we had entertained the same ideas some eight or ten years previously; but on account of the in- tersecting wii-es by the old way of wiring, the plan was not feasible. But since we are begin- ning to use the horizontal plan, no wires inter- secting, so that a current can be run from one end of the wire to the other, the matter has assumed a new aspect. In our last issue we stated the progress of our experiments. Since that time we have been imbedding the wires to a lot of frames by electricity. The form of battery that we now employ is three cells of bichromate of potash, each of a gallon capacity, with the carbons in the large cell, and the zinc in the usual porous cup. Since Mr. (Jolden's article appeared in typci, as given in another column, we began experimenting anew; and the result is, that we find we can imbed the founda- tion on the wires perfectly. After the job is done, the wire lies nicely imbedded in the cen- ter of the w^ax; and, more than all, it is covered with a very chin transparent coating of wax. Sometimes bees are inclined to gnaw around the wires; but we imagine tiiat, if the wires were covered with a film of wax, the bees would be less inclined to do so. How(>ver, experiment will decide this point. At {)i-es(>nt it looks as if imbedding by means of electricity might not be so very expensive after all, and especially so if we consider the nicety of the work. We imbed- ded this morning the wires of about 50 frames into foundation by electricity, and the work is beautiful. ]5y timing ourselves we found that we could put foundation on to wires at the rate of three fram<'s \h'V minute: so that we think the imbedding could easily be done at the rate of ].")0 frames per hour. In our next we will try to give you a picture of the apparatus, and how to make it. We ought to say right here that it probably would not pay the small bee-keeper to imbed 344 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 1. his wires by electricity; but it looks now as if it would be quite a saving in time for the large bee-keepers and all supply-dealeis. PRODUCER AND CONSUMER— MAKING A SHORT CUT FROM ONE TO THE OTHER. While we sat at the foot of Wilson's Peak drinking our lemonade, friend Stevenson sug- gested that evaporated fruits were, in many parts of California, a drug. He said he had some beautiful apricots of his own growing and evaporating that he would be glad to sell at 7 cts. per lb. I told him to send me a barrel. They reached us safely at a cost of 3 cts. per lb. for freight. He paid the freight in advance, so as to be sure there would be no overcharges. Well, they proved to be about the finest fruit that our Medina people had ever got hold of. The boys put them on the wagon, and they sold nearly half the barrel the first trip they made through the town. We retailed them at 13 cts. per lb., and this is about what they are worth at wholesale in Cleveland. Now, the point is, by this operation we made a short cut, like can- cellation in arithmetic, skipping the middle- men, as has been talked of. Of course, you know I do not mean to intimate that "middle- men" are not good members of society; but they are not alivays needed. When we can make a short cut crosslots, to the benefit of both parties, by all means let us do so. The question then is. How shall we find out who has nice stuff for sale? and who else it is that wants it. Why, I think our home journals should be the medium of this sort of exchanges— a brief notice in the "Wants"' and "For Sale" column, for instance. The next point is, that both buyer and seller should be good square men. I do not know whether fiiend Stevenson has any more left or not. If he has not, I think very likely his neighbors have. His address is, Wm. Ste- venson, 80 Orange Grove Avenue, Pasedena, Cal. A. I. R. Down G-o tlie Prices ! Must Be Sold ! 100,000 No. I One-Piece Sections at §3.00 per M. In 5000 Lots, - - - - §52.80 per M, Fifty Colonies of Italian Bees; 1 Colony, $6.00; .5 C(jloiiies, $.5.00 eacli. Tested Italian Queens in May, $1.50 each. Untested, $1.(0 each. Hybrids. 75c each. Comb Foundation and a full line of Apiarian Sup- plies. Twenty-page price list free. J. M. KINZIE, 9-13db Ko«'liesl€'r, Oiiklaiid ♦!«»., Midi. t^In responding to this advertisement mention Gleanings. ^fayy^^Tr^^ 1 TNTESTED QUEENS from the Jt w *M "^^s original and only imported cooocccccccc:S, Fremont, A/io/i. Please mention this paper. i QOn Golden Italian and Wliite band Albino A OQO loOa bees at very low rates. Do not fail to *OiJfl send for my prices before purchasnig-. Also Eggs for hatching from my choice strain of Silver-laced Wyandottes that gave sucli good satisfaction tlie past season ; $1.00 per setting of 13; 3 settings. $1..50. Address W. J. Hillman, Green River, Vt. J. W. K. SHAW li CO.. TESTED QUEENS from our best Imported MILAMO Strain. Ready by Return Mail, $i.oo Each. Un- tested, $9.00 per Doz. Loreauville, Iberia Parish, La. t^"lii resiionding to this advertisement mention Gleanings. Ladies' Home Journal Of fhiladeliihia. New or renewal subscribers to this best of all, only 75 cts. lull year. Reference as to our reliabili- ty. Editor of Gle.\mnos. Address AM. CLiUB 1.1ST, Miamrock, N. Y. twin respondintr to this aavertisement mention liLKANlNGa. Five-BanHfiil Soincii Italiaiis. One untested, 3 or 5 banded, $1.00; six for $5.00; one tested 3-baiided, $1.35; .5-banded, $1.50. A few bvl3rids, iJoc each. Two-frame nucleus and queen, $3.50. Full C(jlony, $5.00. Supplies cheap. My Queens are yellow to the tip, and if not found as represented your money will be returned. Send for catalogue. CHAKLES H. THIKM, 9tfdb Steeleville, Illinois. I^"1ji responding to this advertisement mention Gleaninos, BEE.HIVES AND SUPPLIES. Send for catalogue free. Address SAMllEIi JONES, Highland Park College, Des Moines, Iowa. 9-lOd $1.00. READY TO MAIL. $1.00. My Golden Italians are " Hustlers." Untested, six for $4.50; dozen, $8.00. Tested, $1.60; three for $4.00. Select for breeders, $3.00; very choice, $3.00. Safe arrival and satisfaction guaranteed. Make P. O. payable at Daytona, Fla. JOHN B. CASE, I'ort Orange, Vol. Co., Fla. .-jivjiiding to this advertisement nientiuii (^lkaM.sg i T OR SALE— 35 colonies good hybrid bees for $75, in ten-frame Langs troth hives. Must -sell on i iccount of health. JOHN CROMBIE, Columbus, Wis. BERRY CliATKSand liASKETS. ^^JsJi^^ Indorsed by all ^ ^ "Fleadlne berry growers as The BEST. Also (.ift . _. I'actages, ilrape," _^^ f eacD an.l oluer lluuets. Prices low. Ulus. Catalogue Fre«I DISBROW MFC.CO.,ROCHESTER,N.Y, tyiii /•-v'i'iiiiiiL' ti) this adviTti?-<-Muiit nifntioii Hlka.vings limaxi UIANTED-I.ADY OB GENT IN EACH " county to distribute and collect for Brabant's ladies' toilet cases; 338 articles, worth $1; will send sample and full particulars by mail for 35c in stamps; returnable if not satisfactory; territory free; $3 to $5 per day easily made. Address J. C. Fbisbee, general agent, VrZ Maple St., Denver, Col. Reference, A. I. Root, Medina, O. 8L-^In respondinj^ to tliis aciverti-^ement mention GLEANINGS, TAKE NOTICE. If you are looking for the bees that give the best profits, and mt)st gentle in handling, try the Albi- nos. I also have the Golden Italian, and can fur- nish eitlier variety. But if you ask for my prefer- ence I say Albino, and in my circular you can see what others say of them. Send for circular and see how cheap I .sell them. I also manufacture and deal in Hives, Sections, Foundation, Extractors, and other Apiarian Sup- plies. S. VAI.ENTINE, Hagerstown, Md. I^rin responding to this advertisement mention Gleanu'g.s. IS'.l'.' (ii.KAMNcs i.\ HKH (iM/rum-; .'{4^ ^BSIST OIT SiiKTZX^^ 1892 KLEVKN YEAKS WITHOl T A rAKALLEL. AND THE STAND AKD IN EVEKY C I VI LI ZED COrNTKY. Binghatn & Hetherington Patent Uncapping-Knife, Standard Size. Bingham's Patent Smokers, Six Sizes and Prices. Doctor Smoker, ;iSi in., postpaid ... Conqueror " 3 " Liu-pe '• 2H " Extra (wide shield) 2 " Plain marrow " )2 Little Wonder, IX " Uncappinjr Knife Sent i)romptly on receipt of price, sell ag'ain, send for dozen and half-dozen rates. $2.00 LnO L2r> 1 (10 6."> . 11-. To 1892 ROOT'S Dovetailed Hive .il hi- piici's. ('ircuiai- free, lilni llMliaii i|ii<'(Mls, .tl.dfU'.'ii-li, or (i fof ^.j.MI. ltl'r OPRAir YOUR FRUIT TREES i VINES Worrny Frujt and Leaf Blight of Apples, Pears, Cherries, pVpCI ClflD SI' K.WING OUTFITS. Gr ipe and Potato Rot, Plum Curculia prevented by using PERFECT FRUIT ALWAYS SELLS AT COOD PR ICES. Catalogue show- inc all injurious insects to Fruits mailed free. liarge xtock of Fruit Trc»'s. Vinesj and Berry IMants at Bottom Prices. Address W.U. .STAHI.., '> Wis. 24-lOdb twin. resDondinK to tliia advertisement mention GLBANiKoa. ROOT'S GOODS FOR THE EAST. Bee-Keepers of the East should Bcdr In IVIind^^^'"'*^'^^^^®*'^^^''^'^^^^^^^'^^^"***^^"E3st8rn Brdnch where our Bee-keepers" .Supplies arc kept for sale, and prompt shipment. You can save time and freight by ordering from our Eastern Branch. We have engaged Mr. F. A. Sal- isbury to lake charge of this business, and he will treat you well. He will be pleased to send you a list of goods kept in stock. Address all orders, EASTERN BRANCH, F. A. SALISBURY, Agent, Syracuse, N. Y. 346 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 1. BBARD BEE HIVE \ SECTION PRESS. If you want to handle bees easy bj sitting down to it. here is the hive, t rame"'- fixed and variable distance combined No wrenching or prying or scraping of combs togetlier. Many thousands in use. giving excellent satisfaction. Liye Agents lake Splenflii Profits. Large Circular of 20 pages free. This SECTION PRESS (Pat'd is sold at S3.50 by the leading supply dealers y\sk them tor it or send to me. A boy can put tfigether 800 to 1000 seCtionV an hour and have them true. Bend sec tion around, put in press, give a little push — 'tis done Will last a life-time and is bound to please you Send for my Circular about Hive, Press Foundation Fastener, Sections. Foundation. Italian Queens, Extractors, Veils, Honey Crates and Cases. &c. &c. It will interest you. Or send 15 cents tor Practical Book for ISegiuners — "First Principles in Bee Culture." 11th thousand just issued G. K. HUBBARD, 277 Harrison St., Fort Wayne, Ind. 3-lOJb t^In responding to this advertisement mention RLKANDJas. SOmET\\\!l(i HEMl \ Great Crash in Prices ! The Best Made, SECTION Handiest, QIIPSTD and Cheapest OUrLK In the Country. ALSO THE BEST DOVETAILED HIVES, SEC- TION-BOXES, COMB FOUNDATION, ETC. —SEND TO THE — Largest Supply Factory in Massachusetts, for Free Price List that will interest all Bee-Keepers, Address DUDLEY BOX GO,, or F. M. TAINTOR. Manager, Greenfield, Mass. I^In responding to this adveiti; ement mention Gleanings, j(\ POULTRY Called "Tlie Chir-ken Busi- ness, and How to Make it Pay." Tells all about it. r>t*\f\l[ Finely illustrated, practical, and ong:i- Wv/Vyr\ nal. Price 50 cents, postpaid. An il- *^ lustrated circular free, giving- particu- lars aliout the book, and prices of pure-bred fowls and eggs fur sale by the author, 4tfdb H. B. CEEf?. Nashville. Tenn. : ■ ! 11 responding to this advertisement mention CiLKANiNGS, BEES 350 COLONIES OF BEES. 1,000,000 Sections. HIVES, Smokers Queens, etc. Send for price list to E, T. FLANAGAN Box 783, Belleville. Illinois. nTTF>DT TT70 Langstroth Bee-hives, and L*>l I I I Ji ^Jl^ every thing- needed in the KJKJ 1- i- i^J-X^Kj, bee yard; SiVpngre catalog-ue ^■^^■^^■HBM free, " BUSY BEES," a book fcUiTigr how to manage them, 10 cents in stamps, WALTER S. ROUDER, 5-12dlj ITS E. Wai-nut St., Indianarous, Ind. IHORT-HORN CALVES" For sale. Registered in purchiiser's name and de- livered at express office in light crate (from one to six months old) 823,00 each; 30 head of cows and heifers, and 4 young- bulls, cheap. For prices and breeding-, address 7-8-9d CALVIN LOVETT, Otsego, Mich. |I^"ln responding to tliis adveiti.-iement mention GLKANINGS, From 10 to :2.') , discount from former prices. My ■iO-pag-e catalog-ue for 1893 gives rea- sons, I offer a new - style chaff hive at one-half the cost of other styles, and just as good. This hive, can l)e taken apart almost instantly, and packed up i7i small space. It can be used on any hive (see cut). Don't fail to get my 32d annual price list, I mean business, and am bound to sell as good as the best, and at equally low prices. Address VV/W. W. GARY. 6tfdb CouERAiNE, Mass. Please mention this paper. Murray e|wri(liau'to il,ij-a.lVfiti>Hi..,ril ii., l. ,. ' • Foreign and domestic. Crude and refined. .\ stock constantly on hand. Write for prices, stating (luantity wanted. ECKERMANN & WILL, Syracuse, N. Y. C3'"In ri'sp-jiiihnj? to this advertisement mention OLK-VNtvos. U' \-> "TpTP T My new price list of Pure Itai- * *^^1*^ a Ian BeeM, White and Brown lie«;|iurii <'lii<-kcnM, While and Brown Fer- rets, and Srotfh Collie Pups. Address N. A. KNAPP. Hochester, Lorain Co., O. St f d 1) • GABBAGE-PLANtS. Henderson's Succession, Flat Dutch, and Early Summer. E.xti-a tiiu' i)lanl^. Five dollars per thou- sand. Acme and Beauty Tomato plants; ten dol- lars per thousand. Italian bees and queens for sale. »>. li. WOOD, Birmingham, Ala. Plea.se mention this paper. THE DEAD LINE One-Piece Sections Our Specialty. 1 eliallenge conii>aris(>n of my goods with those of any other make on the maricet. If, ui)f)n fair trial, they are not found superior to, and cheaper than, any makes of so-called snow-white, premium, sand- papered, etc., sections, tln' goods will cost you noth- ing, and you are invited to [lublish me as a fraud. lean fill orders promptly for any width at $2.75 per M.;or $3.50 per M. in 5I_I00 lots at factory at Wauzeka, Wis. Other supplies shipped from Capac. 8tfdb Address B. WALKEB, Capac, Mich. Please mention this paper. OATMAN'S SOLDERING AND REPAIR KIT (.'iiii,-.ists I'l lii'e iiot, two cojiper soldering-irons, bar of solder, solderinjr lluid luid brush, all-steel seriper, hanipner, scrat<;h- awl.and |ilyi'is,as shown in the eiit. Anj-oni' iiurchasint; this outfit will K'i't full BEE-KKEPINti— March and hand. Read A i)ril — is at 1 "THE WINTER PROBLEiM," and keei) up with the times. Price 60 cts. G. R. PIERCE, Blairstrci Viillcy .\i>iar.v Mh.>S. Ol.lVKIl COLI E'l .-Ird, -I..")!! p 1 \V(.-I ra lui- fl Iiil. -ti'd.Tl L Ninl.MiswillA Older cailv r t,)iu'«'ii. $2.00.1] Si-iid foi list ■*l)ui|-| pass by *• Sln.'rl)iii'iK>, Clu'iiaiiK" <'<>.. N. V Plcas^e mention thi!< pnper. CANADA BEE KEEPERS Will sa\t' iiiiiiii-y liy piiri'liasiiii;- siipplii's from T. Philli|>s & Co.. Orillia, Ontario, wlio iiiaiiiifactiii'(> all stylt'.s of Hives, S»'clious. I'ranios, Foiiiulalloii, E.YtraVtors, and Smokers. Also iiiiHiy new tliinjrs not handled by other dealers. Send foi' i-atalofjue and samjiles of foundation, free. 3-od T. PHILLIPS & CO., ORILLIA, ONTARIO, CAN. I'ltiisf mention this paper. FOR SALE CHEAP !i^^.!^^^,r-^;e^<^^: plus attaehnienis; also IJariies saw, etc. 9d \V. ('. Gii.r.ETT, 1101 IMiie Island Ave., Chicago, 111. MAILING . • . . BLOCKS FOR — SAMPLES . OF . . HONEY. The ad j oi n i n tr cut shows a very eonvenient package for mailing samples of honey and other liquids. The cut is only aijout half size of the one we are prepared to furnish, wliich holds H ounce, and gives a good taste of the honey and some to spare. We also use a very wick-- mouthed bottle so the honey will run out eas- ily. Vou notice the top screws on, dosing it tight and making a very handy package, easily opened, and accepted by the postal authorities. We liave just bought :i5 gross so as to Ije able to sell them at only 5c each, .'wc per doz. Hy mail, :5c extra t)n one, or 3c each extra in quantities. A. I. ROOT, Medina, 0. 1 PDA Kfi^'fllihi ■';' SCREW M- KIND WORDS FROM OUR CUSTOMERS. I think Gle.\ning.s is an excellent paper. I don't see how I can ever do without it. A. J. Bccher. Declierd, Tenn., Apr. 11. How far does Gleanings go? I still have orders rolling in for carnations which I advertised. I shall not be surprised to get an order now from Japan or some other far country, telling me that they saw it in Gleanings. S. Lenton. Piru City, Cal., April 4. I have got to be with you in j'our religious talks, and I think Oui- Homes was tlie thing that set me to thinking, and finding Christ, more than any thing else. Geo. Allen. Union Springs, N. Y. 1 should be lost, almost, without (J leanings' reg- ular visits; and long may it live and prosper is my wish. K. D. Nichols. Monlro.se, Colorado. 1 have just received a nice lot of your new Hotf- inan frames, and think they are the finest 1 ever saw. I shall use them altogether this sea.son. iMocksville, N. C. E. R. Hunt. OUK BOOK ON TILE DRAINAGE. A. T. Root, of >fedina, O., has recently brouglit out another of those excellent little handbooks for farnieis. This is one on tile diainage. ami is by W. I. Cliamlierlaiii. late pr(>si(leiit i)f tlie Iowa Agri- cultural College. Mr (li.iinberlain dug this book out with the spade. In othei- woifls, it is his own expeiienc(\ and we shall have more to say of it after awhile.— ir(.s/<7)i StocloiiiDi atiii Ciiltivatiir, OiiKilid, Nii). Job Lot of Wire Netting. CUT PIECES AT A LOWER PRICE THAN FULL ROLLS. Having bought from the factory, at our own price, five or six hundred remnants, as listed below, we are able to give you the choice of a great variety of pieces at the jjiicc of a full roll or lower. Full rolls of netting are IM ft. long, and when they are cut we have to charjic nearly double the full-roll rate, be- cause it is so much trouble to unroll, measure, and cut. and run the risk of having a lot of remnants on hand. No doubt it is in this way that the following remnants have accumulated. It costs a good deal to t;et ail this in shape .so we can easily pick out from the lot the piece you want. But to move it off quick- ly, w'e jiut the price down so jou can all have a chance at it. Remember, first come, first served. In ordering, therefore, name a second or third choice, or say that we may send the nearest we can if the piece selected is gone. On 5 pieces deducts per cent, on 10 pieces 10 per cent. These remnants are shipped only from here. If any of you want to secure some, and don't want them shipped till later, when you will order something else, so as to save freight, pick out the pieces you want, send remittance with the order, with request to lay b.y till called for, and we will mark them as belonging to you. We prefer to ship them right out, however. LIST OF POOLTRY-NETTING REMNANTS. .f ^ s ~ t ta c « ^ Leng-tli of e;ii-h piece. Multiplv by tlie '* width in feet to get tho rivimluT ut square £ 0 a. feet in eiicli piece. Then nnilfiijlv by the ? 1 6 o price per foot for the price per piece. 3ii2 20 % 27. 2 2 iy ■V 103, 100. n 2 18 1 61, 53, 48.35,22,22. 76 2 17 V4 23, 15. m 2 16 w 23; 18 in. wide, 40; 24 in. wide, 94, 88 72 2 16 IV, 60. h%, .56; 30 in. wide. 46. 24; 48 in. wide, 48. 18 2 \i> 2 87, :J0; 12 in. wide. 100. 24 |2 I.') 2 100, 90. 69, 52, 33, 13. 12, 00 in. wide, 21, 20. 42 2 Ih 2 121, 23, 8; 72 in. wide, 36. .33. 9. 48 2 l.i 2 72, 49, 48, 45, ;i8, 37, 30, 29, 26, 14. :iu IH 19 1 33, .36 In. wide. 47. 42 W 1« 1 8.5.59; 60 in.. 56; 72 in. 18 w. 18 m; 40, 14, 54 in.. 12; 60 in., 34. 3U w 16 'iV. 79; 36 in., 14; 42 in., 34; 48 in., 92. 36 1'4 •M IH 22. S6 1'4 19 \% 48,12,24 in.. 42; 30 in., 75; 48 in., 78. 36 1'4 18 2 15, 10;;42 in., 80; 48 in., 22; Tl in.. 8. 48 1 20 14( .53; 7ain.,i)I; 30 in., 96; 9 in.. 40. 24 1 ID 2 26; 9 in., 24; 42 in., .50, :$4; 48 in., 100, 40; 60 in., 26; 18 in... 50. 32 1 18 'iV, 8.5; 24 in., 23; 30 in., 69. 36 1 18 •IV, 48 in.. 30; 60 in. ,.59. 9 X 20 2'Jr 7; .36 in., 5.5 24 3 16 1 19: 36 in.. 86; 42 in., 14. 36 3 l.T m 63; 48 in.. 60. 48 3 14 !'-< 45; 72 in.. 100, 70. 14 4 14 3 166, .52, 36, 23 22 4 14 4 107, 68, 36. 17. 15. 30 4 u\iy, .52. 47, 36. 33, :i0 29 19, 18, 13, 9. 34 4 U 43^ 43. 37. 34. 2.5, 24, 23, 18. 42 4 14 5 68, 62, 62, 23, 22, 22, 15, 12, 12, 12. 8, 6. 46 4 14 hy. 82,50,44 11,5. 18 8 13 2 68 ft.; .36 in.. 200 ft. at 4c; 45 in., 247 ft. at 6c. Four and eigrlit inch fencing. Price in fourth column is the pnce per foot in lenj^th. £L^ Z. ROOT, Xi^edina, O. 350 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 1. -lEJVIPIREi- Safety^ Bicycles. Strictly High-Grade Machines. Made of the Best Materials. Solid and Cushion Tire. For Ladies and Gentlemen. PRICES: Gents' 30-in. Solid Tire, like cut *80.(X) " 114-in. Cushion Tire 90.00 Ladies' 28-in. Solid Tire 80.00 " li^'-in. Cushion Tire 90.00 R. I. f^OOT, Medina, O. PUNIC aUEEM and AM. APICULTUEIST One Year, $2.50 Qolden Carniolan and Am. Apicnlturist One Tear, 2.00 Beautiful Italian and Am. Apiculturist One Year, 1.50 Eight-paRe catalog-ue free. 8tfdb H. ALLEY, Weuliam, Mass. H^In respoiidintj to ii.i.s u.ivi iti i ui OfE L-ntliiii (Jleanings. Our strain of Italians have reached the top. Golden-colored queens bred for husiiies.s. Tented (lueens in May, UJM; 3 for $4.no. Untested, $1.00; 3 for $3.60. NiK-lel and full colonies at spe- cial prices. Bee SiipplieN of all kinds. Send for circular giving' full particu- lars. JKO. IViBBEL. A: SON, Hi:;:!! Jfill, no. larin responding to this aUveitiseiiient mention Gleaninos. JENNIE ATGHLEY Will send you (jueens by return mail. Safe arrival and satisfaction gruarauteed; eitlier tlu'ee or five banded strains. Untested, April and May, $1.00 each; six, $.5.00; after, 75c each; six, H.'M; or $8.00 per dozen. Tested and breeding queens on applica- tion; try my queens. Monej* -order oflice, Greenville. JEMNIE ATCHL.E:\, Itfdb Floyd, Hunt Co., Texas. Please mention this paper. Early Queens from Texas. From my choice 3 or 6 banded stock. My bees are very gentle, good workers, and beautiful. Safe ar- rival and satisfaction guaranteed. One untested queen, April and May, $1.00; six for $5.00; later, 75c. Orders booked now; money sent when queens are wanted. Send for price list. J. D. Civens, Lisbon, Tex. Please mention this paper. DON'T pay two prices for Bees, Queens, and Sup- plies, but send for my Catalogue with Dli»- couut sheet, on 5-Banded Queern*, and get the best at }^ price. Chas. H. Thies, Steeleville, 111. SAVE MONEY.— Send to J. P. H. Brown, Augus- ta, Georgia, for his price list of supplies. Hives and foundation at wholesale rates. 4tfdb Good Queens Cheap. 300 tested Italian queens, raised last season, for sale'at$l; $10 per doz. A few hybrids at 25c each. They will be shipped about June 15th to 25th, or later if desired. Have order booked now and send money when j^ou want them. My bees have been BRED FOR BVSINESS, and these are bar- gains. Nuclei and full colonies at very low rates. J. A.. GRSEXT, Tisiy^on., 111. ^p"In responding to this advertisement mention Gleaninqs. Hastings' Lightning Bee-Escape. Send for sample of Hastings' " Lightning " Bee Escape, and you will be convinced that it is the best and most practical escape yet produced. It will clear the supers in a short space of time (2 to 4 hours), and It Is impossible for the bees to clog the passage, as they can not return. Each escape guar- anteed as represented. Price, by mail, each, $0.20; by mall, per doz., $2.25. Full directions with each escape. Electrotypes furnished free for dealers' catalogues. Write for discount. 7-12db M. E. HASTINGS, New York Mills, Oneida Co., N. Y. Please mention this paper. Send for Price. List to R. E. HARBAUGH. Wfamif'r and Dealer in Ree-Keepers' Supplies. Breeder of Italian and Carniolan Bees and Queens, Light and Dark Colored Ferrets. 'iSth and Clay Sts., - - - St. .Joseph, Mo. Italian Bees and Queens For Sale. Untested queens, $1.00; tested, $1.,50. Bees, $1.00 per lb. Colony, $5.00. Also baried Plymouth Rock eggs for sitting, $1.00 per 13. 7-16db MRS. A. A. SIMPSON, Swarts. Pa. £9*In responding to this advertisement mention Gleakinos. Choice Fowls and Eggs for sale at all times. Finely illu.strated circu- lar free. GEER BROS St. Marys, Mo. 21tfdb POULTRY. Hatch Chickens by Steam. IMPLOYED EXCELSIOR INCUBATOR kWill do a. Tbonaandi fai gnooemfnl oper- jAtion. Simple, Pfftet and Self-Hegulating, f LowMt-pnoed flrst-olMa Hatcher made. I Guaranteed to batch a larger percentage of fertile egga at leas cost than any other. Send 6a. fur Clus. UataloK. (J£0. 11. 8T.illL, ({Dinar, HI- i^'lii responding to this advertisement mention GLKANlNaa Bee-Hives ^ Sections A specialty. Foundation, Smokers, etc., in stock. Send for new list, free. 4tfdb W. D. SOPER. Jackson, Mich. Please mention this; paper. Western Bee-Keepers' Supply House Root's Qeode c&c bs I^sA ai Des Hoines towa, at Roora Pi"3iQ«8. ' Ihe utrgen lupply bosmass in the west. EatabUahed iS8g iDOTotalled Hire*, Beo- t!loaa, Fonndatlon, Elx- araotorg , Smokepg, veil* , Orates, reeders. Clover Seeds, e to. Imported Italian Queens. Qneens and Bees. Sample copy of our Bee Jonmal, "The West« am Bee • Keeper.''^ and Latest ■OstQlOKue mailed Free to Bse-keepors. MSSPS S^SBWMSSE. PES KOJITES IQW*, In writing to advertlsers'please mention this paper. 4tfdb IW)"? CLEANINOS IN HlOE CUl/rilRK. :{:., DOIT'T FOUGET THAT THE PEGOS VALLEY, The Fruit Belt of New Mexico, OlTiTs ht'Uer advanlafics lor iicisoiis desir- ing to engage in fruit culture than any other place on the continent. Nolo the follow! iijr table, .showing growtlis mack' by various fruit trees, sliade trees, grapevines, 6>t('., duriug the past summer: NiJinriif P. O. Gr<)wt]i in (imwrr. A(Uhr.-^ Cherry, 1 9 Crab Apple, 1 »H Mulberrv, 1 8 F. G. Campbell. Eddy, N. M., Black Locust, 8 7 G. W. Blankenship, Eddy, N. M., Apple, 3 11 " " " Apricoi, .5 8 Peach, 3 9 Box Elder, 6 1 " '• " Mulberry. 7 S Lombardy Poplar, 6 2 " " " Castor Bean, 8 4 Jas. Hogg, Seven Rivers, N. M., Peach, 7 2 Cottonwood, 16 3 K. M. Gilbert, Seven Rivers, N. M.. Osag-e Orang-e, 14 7 Native WiUow, 16 6 Pecan, 6 2 Blackwalnut, 4 11 •' " Plum, H 1 Mulberrj', 6 4 Witt Bros, liave several cottonwoods, 9 years old. that are 62 to 64 inches in circum- ference and over 60 feet high. Mr. Hogg has a peach-tree 3 years old from the seed that is 8i inches in diameter and 17 feet o inches high. He has a cottonwood 4 years (lid that is 28 inches in circumference. Mr. (iilbert has a pecan-tree 6 years old that is 24 inches in ca'cumference and 22 feet higli. He has a blackwalnut-tree '6 years old, from the seed, that is 12 inches in circumference, 11 feet 10 inches high, and that l)ore several walnuts this year. Maynaid Sharpe, of P2ddy, has 2 jieach-trees, 2 years old, from the seed, that Ijore and matured 7 jieaches this year. He has 1 api)le-tree,2 years, from the seed, that liore 3 api)les the past season. Apples, Peaches. Pears, Apricots, Nec- tarines, Figs, J'rnnes, Almonds ; Muscat, Tokay, Muscatelle, and other varieties of Grapes now in successful bearing in this \''alley. Over 1000 acres of Muscat Grapes Iteing planted this year. Send for maps, illustrated book, etc. PECOS IRRIGATION & IMPROVEMENT CO., EDDY, NEW MEXICO. C^in respondlngr to this advertisement mention Gleaniko& liOCATIOIT Is a big poui<, in supplying goods: ours gives you low freight rates. As we sell low, you sliould have our circular of supplies. l-18db I. J.STRINGHAM, 92 BARCLAY ST., N. Y. h'lea.'se mention this pu|jir. B Yellow, Extra, Excellent ll:ili;iii (.hie.iisp'i'csled. $1.50 p'j" wc-f r-i iim' l()|- sah' ill .III III' L I" II letted. *1 L Nurlens uil li r Older eailv L s .11 Ch e n a iigo I Order eaily I <,)ueOn. $2.1JU. \'alley Apiary Send for list I) in'l pass by ' .Mus. Oi.iVKU ('oi,i;. Slier hii rue, ('henango Co., N. V. PlL■a^^e mention this paper. DON'T STOP ME ! I am going to send at once to C. W. PHEI.PS & CO.'S Wholesale and Kctail Foundation Fac- tory, Pinghamton. N. Y..for a free sam- ple of Honey Comb Foundation, and buy all of my Bee Supplies of them. Its THE place. BEE-HIVES, Doveiailed or Otherwise. All Kinds of Bee Supplies. Write for free V('r; ^@7. No demand for comb honev. Bccxwax, 27X- May 9. D. G. Tutt Gro. Co., St. Louis, Mo. Albany.— Honri/.— The continued cool weather and short maple-sug-ar season lia.s favored the con- tinued sale of comb honey, and we would have clos- ed out all of our stock had we not received three or four small consignments durinf^ the past week. Prices continue unchanged, .5@ilO. Extracted, 6@8. Bff.xirn.r, 26@28. Chas. McCulloch & Co., May 9. ■ Albany, N. Y. Chicago. — Honeii. —Very little chang-e since last quotations; comb is slow, but offerings are not large. Extracted is steady, and prices Arm at 6@7@8. clover bringing the liigliest jirice. BMt'uax, 27. R. A. Burnett, May 7. 161 So. Water St., Chicago, 111. CiNCiNNATi.-Honcw.— There is a general dullness prevailing in the demand for comb honey, with prices nominal at 12@,14 for best wliite in a jobbing way. Demand for extracted honey was slow for the la.st few weeks, at 5@.8 on arrival. Be^:i>H•ax. — Demand fair, at 2.5@27 for good to choice yellow on arrival. May 9. Chas. F. Muth & Son, Cincinnati, O. Boston. — Hnney. — No change in the honey- market. Slow sale, and fair stock on hand. May 9. Blake & Ripley, Boston, Mass. Detroit.— Hooey.— No cliange in prices since la.st quotations, and not much honey left to quote. Bee.mvnx, in fair demand, 27®28. May 9. M. H. Hunt. Bell Branch, Mich. Kansas City.— Hk/kj/.— The demand for comb lioney does not increase very fast . Sales slow. No. 1 white comb 13@Uc; No. 2, VKTi Ki; No. 1 amber, 11 @12; No. 2. 6@8. Extracted, white, 6(5j6'/^; amber,6; dark, 5. Beeswax, 23@27. Clemons, Mason & Co., May 10. Kan.sas City, Mo. JUST OUT! B7 W. I. CHAMBEELAIN, A. M., LL. D., Formerly Secretary of the flhio State Board of Agriculture, and late President of the Iowa Stale Agricultural Col- lege. At present Associate Editor of the Ohio Farmer. This is a valuable companion to our other rural books. It embraces the experience of forty years of one of our foremost practical aKriculturists, who has laid with his own hands over lb miles of tile. Price 35c ; by mail, 40c. A. I. ROOT, MEDINA, Ohio. This is one of the most profitable of farm crops, and Is especially valuable to the liee-keeper because of the pasturage It affords for the bees. It is har- vested witliln three montlis from the time it is sown. Under fair treatment it yields 50 bushels to the acre, and rarely brings less than .50e per bu.shel. The time for seeding is at hand and we are prepared with several hundred bu.shels of choice seed, which we will sell as long as it lasts at the following prices. Former years we have run .short and had to advance prices in June so as to supply orders with- out a loss. We hope to have enough this year for all orders, but we advise you not to put off ordering too long. Per bushel, $1.00; '/^ bushel. 60c; per peck, 35c; 1 lb., 5c. If wanted Ijy mail, add 9c for postage. Two bushels for $1.90; 10 bushels or more, 90c per bushel. Above prices include bags to shii> in. A. I. ROOT, Medina, O. I TELL you what, Jones, Levering BroM. sell the best goods and at \ the lowest price of any one I've \ struck yet. The largest and best ' "i equipped Bee -Hive Factory in the West. The Dovetailed Hive and New Hoffman .self - spacing Frame a specialty. Every tiling used by practical Ijci^keepers at wholesale and retail. Send for their free Illustrated Price List, and save money. Supply Dealers, -send for their Wholesale List. Address I-EVERIITG BROS., 6tfdb "WTio-fea., Cass Co., lo-wra- l'lea>e mention tLis paper. BEE-HIVES, SECTIONS, ETC. We make the best goods and sell them cheap. Our Sections are far the best on tlie market. Our Works turn out the most goods of any facto- ry in the world. Our goods are known as the best througliout the United States and Europe. Write for free, illustrated catalogue and price list. G. B. LEWIS & CO., WATERTOWN, WIS. t3yin responding,' to this advi-rli^iiiii iit nii-ni imi i.i,ka.ni.\gs. 358 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 15. runi lA ^ © rs' -^^ © FOR 1892 AND A FINE. TESTED, ITALIAN QUEEN. OF LAST YEAR'S REARING, FOR $1.75. EITHER ALONE. $1.00. FOR $2.00. THE REVIEW, THE QUEEN AND THE SO CT. BOOK, "ADVANCED BEE CULTURE." WILL BE SENT. W. Z. HUTCHINSON. FLINT. MICH. P. S.— If not acquainted with the Review, send ten cents for three late but different issues. IT F^^TS To order the best made goods. For Fine Sections, Foundation, Perforated Zinc, Queen Excluders, and the best hive for comb lioncy now before the public, order of Dr. Tinker. PRICES GKEATLY RE- DUCED. Address for catalogue De. G. L. Tineee, New Philadelphia. 0. Please mention this paper. YOUNG QUEENS READY to mail to anj- one, anywliere at any time, io the U. S. or Canada. I rALIANS. untested, $1.00: 3, $3.75; 6, il5.00; per dozen, $9.00. Tested, reared last season, $2.00; 3 for $5.00. Two-frame nucleus, with any queen, $125 extra. Safe iirrival guaranteed. Send for circular of Dovetailed Hives, Smokers, Foundation, Drones, etc. Money - order office, Clifton. GOLWICK &, COLWICK, NORSE, TEX. t^"ln responding to tliis advertisement mention GLEANINGS. ^ ^^ CENTS WILL BUY A GOOD 2 -STORY t^l 1 L. Hive. $1.00 Will Buy 100 L. 1^^^^ Brood Frames. $1.00 Will Buy a Nice Golden Italian Queen. Please Write for our Circular Before you Buy your Supplies. W. H. BRIGHT, Mazeppa, Minn. Please mention this paper. ITALIAN QUEENS. Untested queens ready to mail on receipt of order, at $1.(X1 each; $10.00 per dozen. Tested queens, roared in 1891, same price as untested. After the lirst of June 1 will sell untested queens at 75c each ; k doz., $4.00; per doz., $7.50. Mailed promptly on I'eceiptof order; reared from imported stoi'k or se- lect stock. W. A. COiTlPTOIM, Lyuuvlllc, Tenn. |^"ln ret-|i'iiii;iiii. ij iiiis iulverii.enniii mention Glkaninus. RETAIL — AND— WHOLESALE. Everytliing; used in tlie Apiary. Greatest variety and largest stock in the West. New catalog. .54 illustrated pages, free to bee-keepers. E. KEETOHMEE, EED OAK, IOWA. In writing: advertisers plea.se mention this paper. BEE SUPPLIES OADIIini All BBES AND Q,U££NS. uAnNIULAH Tlicy beat tliem all. Never have (lvsciuc)\-. All ijuccns reared from selectim- portcd'motlKMS. rnti'slcd, .50c; 13 for $5.00. Tested, $1.00; 12 for $10.00. Select tested, $1.. 50. Descriptive circular free. A. !•. LINDl^KV, Jordan, Ind. «-i;Jdb FOR SALE. LARGEST BEE SUPPLY BUSINESS IN CANADA. Reputation all over America. A Snap for some enterprising business man or firm. Good reasons for selling; only $2000 or S3000 required. Send for particulars. Address DR. R. S. CHEFFEY, BtetCD, Ont. FOR SALE— 100 COLONIES of Italian and hybrid bees in S-frame liangstrotli hives. Price, for Italians, $4.00; liybiids, $3.50 each, free on board cars here. A liberal discount for more than five colonies. I guarantee safe de- livery. Thomas Grimm, Jefferson, Jeff. Co., Wis. 9 lUd Please mention this paper. FIVE-BANDED GOLDEN ITALIANS. Untested 3 or 5 lianded stock, f 1.00; six for H.W. Tested 3-banded, $1.25; 5-banded, »2.(i0; liybiids, :j5c. Full colonies, nuclei, and supplies cheap; catalogue free. CM AS. H. '1 HIKS, Steeleville, III. Please mention tills paper. ELMER HUTCHIJVSOJV Has moved to Vassak, Tuscola Co., Mich. He can furnish untested queens in April and May, raised from one of Ids Golden Italian 6-banded (jueens, that took FIRST PREMIUM at the Detroit E-xjiosition the last two years, for $1.15 each, or 6 for $5.00. Or- ders will be tilled for me in April and May by a queen-breeder in the South, who has one of my best breeding (lueens. Orders promptly filled and safe arrival guaranteed. Make money orders payable at Vassar. 7-lvdb POSITIVELY By return mail, beautiful young warranted Italian queens, at $1.00 each. Tested, $1.50. A select tested yellow-to-the-tip breeder, $2.00. Satisfaction guar- anteed. W. H.Ij A WS, Lavaca, Ark. 8tfdb One of our 5-banded red-clover queens? 100 lbs. of clover honey in poor seasons. Send for descrii)tive circular free. LEININGER BROS., 7tfdb Ft. Jennings, Ohio. Porter's Spring Bee-Escape. We guarantee it to be tiie best escape known, and far sujierior to all others. If, on trial of from one ttj a doz- en, you do not find them so, or if they do not prove sat^ isfactory in every way, return them by mail within 90 days after receipt, and we will refund your money. PRICES:— Each, by mail, postpaid, with full direc- tions, 20c; per dozen, $2.25. Send for circular and testi- monials. Supi'ly dealers, send for wholesale prices. lOtfdb R. & E. C. PORTER, LEWISTOWN, ILL. IL^lii responding to this adyertisement mention QLEANUJua ■'^Journal- • deivote:. •andHoNeV--^: •and homel- "o •1NTE,FIEST^ Vol. XX. MAY 15, 1892. iu8ll6HED8Y(^l-r\POr . I^perTeai^ \©) fAEDlMAOHlO No. 10. Stray Straws FROM DR. C. C. MILLER. What a spring! Thksk Sthaws average longer than usual. Wet weather always makes straw grow long. Editoi: Cowan is making a tour in North Africa. Now he can procure pure Funics per* private purchase right in the town of Punic, Punic provinc*!. Bingham has made his smoker still better by giving it a crooked nozzle with a cool handle, so you needn't turn it upside down to use, nor burn your fingers lilling it. Fkiend Neavman thinks it is time to raise the question as to the best date for holding the convention at the World's Fair. Make a mo- tion. T. (J. How would the last of September do? ANT.S IN HIVES can be driven away, says the B. B. J., by a liberal sprinkling of powdered naphthaline. The Indiana Farmer says a free use of common salt will produce the same result. A STAND.^Ki) SECTION 4}ix-i^xlX has been adopted by the Utah Association. Good move. They also resolved, that, hereafter, "'honey shall be sold by such standard instead of by weight.'" Isn't theke just a little bit of confusion about speaking of absorbents as synonymous with upward ventilation? May there not be absorbents with tight covers afe well as with upward ventilation? Golden Punics is what Alley says he's going to have before the season of \S'.>2 is over. Ne.xt year I suppose he'll tackle the common blacks, put a few yellow stripes on them, and then we'll have (iolden Blacks. Editor Newman is again at his post, "rested and invigorati'd." Like a sensible man, he has resolved to husband liis strength and let some things go. If kindly wishes would strengthen him, he ought to be a pretty strong man. I TOOK my bees out of the cellar April 7, and I think it was all right, as they were in bad condition from not having had tire in the cellar. But with fiif! through the winter, I think they would have been better off in the cellar till May 1. Wakped hoards can be treated as advised on page a4-', but I'll tfill you a better way, if it's warm weather. Just lay them on the ground in the sun, hollow side down, without any wet- ting, and see if they don't come "'straight as a board." Ai.LEN Pringle (C. B. J.) thinks I ought to get a Webster. Got one, friend Pringle, but it doesn't make avnilahle mean •' in readiness," or "get-at-able." I'm afraid such definitions' are hardly available*. Where did you get them, anyhow ? This spring I've used 4.5 of the old-fashioned Miller feeders, the bees going up at the sides, and 22 with the Warner improvement, the bees going up in the middle. To my surprise I don't find that the bees make any difference. It cer- tainly seems they ought to. From Medina I have a beautiful specimen of imbedding wire by electricity, and Fred T. Hayes sends me some thin surplus foundation perfectly wired by the same method. He says it is the outgrowth of Miss Wilson's heat meth- od, which he used satisfactorily last year. A NEW SYSTEM of Working bees, by Mr. Wells, is making some stir in England. He puts two colonies side by side, with a perforated dummy between, and queen-e.xcluder oVer, having both colonies work in the same supers, and reports great success. But it seems to increase the tendency to swarm. Electricity takes the premium for imbed- ding wire in foundation. It makes a more reg- ular job of it than Emma does with ordinary heat, and her plan is ahead of anv previous imbedding. Just looks as if the wire grew there. Now, friend Root, if you can get up cheap batteries, may be the rest of us can use electricity. I moved 38 colonies of bees about 10 rods, ]\Iay 4. Shut them up before flying in the morning, moved them to their new location, and opened them at dark, putting a board in front of each hive. Set a hive with two empty combs in the old location, to catch returning bees. Ciot less than a pint. Gave them to a weak colony. I value supply-dealers more than I did. This spring I wanted some more feeders in a hurry, and had the stuff cut here because I thought I hadn't time to send to Medina. I found, after I had them mad(!, that I could have ordered them by telegraph, and had them sent by express ready made, at less expense than the stuff ready to nail cost me here. Prof. Cook, speaki ng of a law against spray- ing fruit-trees while in bloom, says, on p. 333, '•I do not think such a law would need to be used much, if ever; but as an educator it would do signal service." Don't you think it would be a good thing, professor, to have a law to prevent my planting an apiary on ground fully occupied by you, not to be used much, you know, "but as an educator"? I WONDER if, for once, Doolittle hasn't got things a little mixed when he speaks on p. 336 about bees gnawing foundation when put on too early. I generally put on sections before 360 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 15. bits of white wax are seen — not because it is better, but because it suits my convenience bet- ter— and I never observed any foundation gnaw- ed at that time, but I've had foundation badly gnawed after storing ceased. Still, I may not have observed closely enough before harvest. Mks. Axteix properly raises the question, " If hybrids are really as good honey-producers as the pure race, then why charge more for the pure?" Even if hybrids were as good as the pure, it does not follow that successive genera- tions of hybrids would not deteriorate. Some dairymen think half-breed Jerseys as good as the pure; but they say their herds would rap- idly deteriorate if they used only half-breeds for breeding. The wiggling that Mrs. Axtell talks about on p. 324, is. I think, entirely different from the back and forward "raking" spoken of in C. B. J. The "wiggling," I have oftenest seen by bees on the comb; the "raking," never any- where except on the outside of the hive. Lately I have seen it suggested that bees wriggle in this way in order to help them disgorge the contents of the honey-sac. But there doesn't seem enough of it for that. EXPERIMENTS IN APICULTURE; HISTORY AND SUGGESTION. PKOF. COOK GIVES AN OUTLINE OF WHAT HAS BEEN DONE. Dear Mr. Editor: — The subject of experi- ments in bee-keeping is one that has taken much of my thought for years; and so the arti- cle in the current volume of Gleanings, p. 228, from the able pen of one of our most expert bee- keepers, the late president of the American Association, was read with no slight interest. I am glad that he and the American Associa- tion are moving in this direction. I believe he is the chairman of a committee to look after this matter. lam glad that this is so. Such action is wise. I believe the government, which is looking after the interests of almost all in- dustries in very telling ways, should not over- look that of bee-keeping. I am also quite cer- tain that, if bee-keepers demand recognition, and ask aid, the government will not be slow to render all possible assistance. HISTORY. The present Assistant Secretary of Agricul- ture, Hon. Edwin Willits, is a man of great breadth, and so has the broadest sympathy with all useful work. He recognizes in apiculture an industry that has men of the noblest tiber in its ranks; that gathers up what would other- wise be a waste product, and hands it forth to feed the people, thus adding to the nation's wealth; that does a great though unrecognized service in securing more perfect fertilization of the flowers of our fruits and vegetables, thus adding immensely to the fruitage of our fields, gardens, and orchai'ds. Such breadth of knowl- edge and such interest in all that is useful has made him the earnest friend of bee-keepers, as of all other useful citizens. Just as he was leaving his duties as pi'esident of this college, where he had done most excellent service, to assume the still more ai'duous duties of his pres- ent position, I talked over with him the whole field of apic'ultural experimentation, and told him when^ I thought the United States govern- ment could and should assist the bee-keepers in their work. He assured me that bee-keepers, as well as those of other industrial pursuits, should receive attention, and, when possible, aid and encouragement, so far as he was able to secure such service. The next year after Dr. E. Willits assumed his duties I was in Washington, and was asked by both Dr. Willits and Dr. C. V. Riley, who. as head of the Division of Entomology, would naturally have supervision of experiments in apiculture, if, in case the Department wished to carry on experiments in apiculture, the bees at this college could be secured for such work. I replied that I thought they could be had for such purposes. In the autumn of 1890 Dr. C. V. Riley visited me here at the college, and asked me if I would supervise experiments here for the government. I said I would do so if he would employ a good apiarist to take charge of the work. I told him that I thought the best service which the government could render was to secure bees from the Orient; that there might be bees in the East that were superior to ours, and that this was work that private en- terprise ought not to have to undertake: there were possibilities in this direction that the gov- ernment ought to develop ; the knowledge thus gained would be valuable to science; and if no practical good came from it. it would still be worth the time and money necessary to the enterprise. I also urged that Mr. Frank Ben- ton was just the man to attempt this work. I think an unsuccessful effort was made to effect this importation of foreign bees. The experi- mental work. I suggested, was in the line of our previous work — planting for honey, breeding a race of bees, experiments to show the value of bees as fertilizers of various flowers of useful plants; effect of spraying blossoms of fruit-trees with the a"senites, etc. I do not need to say that this arrangement was made, and that we were so foitunate as to secure the services of Mr. J. H. Larrabee. of Vermont, to take imme- diate charge of the work. Last autumn, while in Washington I express- ed to Dr. Willits and Dr. Riley that my duties were such that I wished to resign the work so far as all responsibility was concerned, though I was willing to advise as before. I suggested that Mr. Larrabee seemed an able man for the work, and recommended that the experiments be put into his charge. I suggested ihat the large plant at the college could be used as be- fore, and that the location was good; for, in case the agent wished aid in any of the sciences closely related to apiculture, as entomology, botany, chemistry, or bacteriology, there were experts close at hand to give the information or perform experiments desired in those lines. This plan commended itself to Dr'^. Willits and Riley, if we may judge from the fact that Mr. Larrabee was appointed, and now has charge of the work. Mr. Larrabee is an honest, care- ful worker, and I believe will do very satisfac- tory work. In case he should not prove to be the right man. he will be first to learn the fact, and will quickly resign in favor of another, though I feel sure there will be no call for such action. Mr. Elwood thinks that Mr. Larrabee's time is too much occupied in caring for the large apiary here. The apiary hei-e is not large— no larger, I think, than a person who has no other duties wonld wish. Indeed, I know by experi- ence that a person who experiments with only fifteen or twenty colonies will be criticised from this very fact, though I think with small rea- son. Besides, if Mr. Larrabee feels that he has too many colonies he can reduce the size of the apiary. I am sure. I think the size would be left entirely to him. There is another advan- tage here. Mr. Larrabee can secure help to care for the apiary at any time, as well as aid in scientific lines. The complaint by the au- thorities at Washington is, that they have little money. Why, then, ask them to buy a plant when they have one at their disposal ? 1892 (JLEANINdS IN BEE CULTURE. 3<)1 Mr. EI\v(M)d supRosts tliat. tlH> work he t;ik(>ii from Dr. Ivilfv's hands. Even ijrantinf.' tliat this he desirable, it is not praelieal. We surely can not iret a separate Divi-ijon for a|iiciiltiire now. I think, tiionuli. tliat Dr. Ixiley will leave the work almost if not wholly with the apiarist. 1 tliink. too, that it would be impossible to stf- i-nre an apiary at Washington. Is it not hotter to hold on to what we have, and not grasp for more and lose all? The other advantagos so well i)resented by Mr. Elwood are seeiired liere as well as liiey would he at Washington. I believe Mr. Larrabee is the right man in the right place. I believe that, if he is sustain- ed by th(^ governmcMit and by bee-keepers, he ^\ ill give far more than value i'ei'ei\(^d for the money spent. 1 believe that, if tlie bee-keepers ask this, he will be kejjt at work for a .series of years and will achievi' large results. Is it not worth while for the bee-k(>epers all over the country to write to the Secretary of Agriculture and ask this favor, or, better, rhjlit ' I have no doubt in my own mind of the wisdom of this cour.se. If the bee-ke(^ping public agree with me, and act in the matter, there is but little question that Mr. Larrabee's work will be con- tinued, and real substantial good be the result. Agricultural College. Mich. A. J. Cook, BEE-KEEPING AFTER THE OLD FASHION IN GERMANY. .1, H. GRAVENHORST, OF THE ILLU.STRIERTK BIEXENZEITUXG, TELI.S WHY THE REE- KEEPERS OF GERMANY STICK TO THE OLD STRAW SKEP IN PREFERENCE TO THE MOVABLE-FRAME HIVES. Of course, it will seem strange to many read- ers of GLEANING.S. to know that, in one part of North Germany, the old straw skep is to-day the hive most in use; that thousands of pounds of honey are raised in it. and thousands of men earn the greater part of their livelihood by bee-keeping after the old fashion. The mov- able-comb hive is used there by only a few bee- keepers. It is equally strange that there is not a part of (Germany where there is not a bee- keepers' association that did not, besides the fourteen (Jerman bee-journals, recommend the movable-comb hive. If yon were to travel through North Germany, especially the prov- ince of Hannover, the dukedom of Brunswick, etc., then you would see in erc;i/ village or town two, three, or more apiaries, and all run only for jirotit and not for pleasure. W hy is it that the owners, I might say with- out any exception, stick to their old hives, their management of bees, and not use the movable- comb hive, and look upon the modern hive as a plaything, like Monsieur Hamet. the late editor of the AiJicultciir at Paris? Answering this question, I must say: 1. The hive they use is unsurpassed by any other in regard to wintering bees outdoors, preserving the colonies in the spring and through tin; .rea- son: 2. The hive is very cheap, and can be made by every one: !{. Bee-keepers have learn- ed from infancy to handle their bees in their old hives, consequently they are very familiar with it; have all tricks of management at their fin- gers' ends, so that they use it witliout failure; 4. It is the best hive for moving bees; .'j. The management of bees in this hive takes the least time and labor, so that the bee-keepers are able to .sell a pound of honey much cheaper than the movable-comb-hive men. Let me say another word in praise of that right honorable old straw skep that has done much service for the bee- keeping world in the past time, and will do it further, at least in North Germany. If you go over Europe yon will meet with this hive in every country, from sunny France to the frozen sliores of Siberia; and almost everywhere the bees thrive in it. even without-any care of men. Who in the civilized world is not ac(|uainted with at least its picture? Von not only find It printed in every l)ook that treats on beei, honey, and wax. but in many other books— yea, on labels and signboards as a symbol. THE STRAW SKEP OF GERMANY. The cut above shows the reader the hive our German "tixists" have in use. As he will see, it is dome-shaped, nearly 18 inches high, and has a diameter of 10 or more inches. The top has no hole for a super, as these are not in use. If it is necessary to give the bees more room, then the bee-keeper will put one or two straw rings under the hive, and fasten these to the hive with three iron clamps. The entrance is near the head, and this has, by the construction of this hive, many advantages, but it would be of danger for the bees by any movable-comb hive. For want of space I can not explain this; but should the reader understand German, then he may find a full explanation of this and many other things in my bee-book, " Der Praktische Imker." To give the combs in this hive the necessary stability, eight or ten wooden sticks are pushed through the hive from the outside, running parallel with the entrance. Two or three starters are to be pinched between the top and the first set of sticks. These starters, mostly made of fresh and mashed drone comb, run ((crofys the sticks from front to n>ar, so that the combs and spaces ijetween the combs run against the entrance. Every bee-keeper in North Germany who u.ses this straw skep goes with .50 to 1(X) and more colonies into his winter quarters. In his house yard he has selected a protected place, and there built a house-apiary. In this he places hives on low shelves, one above the other, so that they are facing .southeast. He knows very well, that not in all, but in some winters, it is of great benefit for his bees to have a cleansing flight in the sun, while there is in the shade too low a temperature for the bees to have a flight without much loss. The bee-keepers of North Germany keep their 362 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 15. bees in just the same way as their forefathers did centuries before: and up to tliis day they do not use comb foundation nor the extractor; and no one can convince them that one can feed bees with sugar successfully. They never do this; they feed only honey. There is not one of them who has not in his house a dry honey- room in whicli one may find three to six barrels, every one containing 300 pounds of honey, from one to three and more years old. They call it "futterhonig;" that is, honey for feeding. These barrels are made from old oak wood, and A RECEPTACLE IN WHICH THE GERMANS STORE THEIR BROKEN COMB HONEY. never lealt if the wood is put together when very dry. Under the cover of the barrel is placed a cloth to prevent the intrusion of dust. From 50 colonies, spring count, the honey crop will be. in a very good year, 12>-^ such barrels, each of 300 pounds of honey, and .50 pounds of wax. They will get ^.500 for the honey and §13 for the wax. Their chances for getting such a honey crop are, so far as I can see, not so good as in New York Slate. However, the bee-keepers are not satisfied witli the honey-flow at liorae, and therefore they move their bees one, two, or three times in a season, ten, twenty, or forty miles from their home, wlien the honey sources at home are cut ofl" or do not flow fast. To un- derstand this, I must say that we have in Ger- many thrt'i' regions for bee-pasture: 1. Such as where bees have very good honey pasturage in the spring till the beginning of July or August; 2. Those wliere bees find scarcely any food, but live from hand to mouth from early in the spring till the beginning of July or" August, when buckwheat and the Ericd vulgaris: wiW come in bloom; 3. Last, there are in Germany a few scattered regions where bees have good pasturage from spring to autumn. The bee-keepers of this last region have only house- apiaries, and do not move their bees, while the occupants of the two other regions must wander if they wish to get a crop that pays well. Therefore the occupants of the second region, in Nortli Germany, move their bees early in the spring to the first region till July or August, when tliey go home, because buckwheat and heatlier (erica) will come in bloom. Many of the inhabitants of this region who keep bees in straw skeps will also wander to buckwheat or heather. In the third region there prevails the mova- ble-comb hive; also in South and Central Ger- many : but in the second it has not found a foothold. In another article I will tell the reader how the bee-keepers in this region manage their bees in their old dome-shaped straw hive in a very rational way to get a honey crop that pays well. C. J. H. Gravenhokst. Wilsnack, Germany. To be continued. [All of this is exceedingly interesting to those of us who have been advocating, during the last twelve months, the handling of hives more and frames less, since it shows that the bee- keepers of Germany do make money with the old straw skep; and while we would not for a moment advocate in our own country such methods of keeping bees, we do say that bee- keepers having frame hives may learn a lesson. The point is just here: While movable frames give us advantages that we can not afford to dispense with, it is not at all necessary that we should handle the frames so excessively as is the practice of many bee-keepers, and thus ab- sorb what otlierwise would be profit.] FOTJL BROOD IN AND AROUND YORK, NEBRASKA. another statement of the case. In Gleanings for March 15, page 205, 1 saw an article from the pen of Mr. L. D. Stilson, the editor of the Nebraska Bee-keeper, in which he attempts to prove that, because Mr. Todd does not belong to any society, and purchases his supplies where he can do the best, and has kept bees only two years, his statements are injuri- ous, and intended to create a false impression of things here, and injure the trade of those en- gaged in business here which lie does not pat- ronize. Mr. Todd has never had any burning desire to attend society meetings, but may at- tend in the near future. He makes his own hives and frames, and buys other kee-keeping supplies of A. I. Root. He never picked up and used any old combs, as was intimated by Mr. L. D. Stilson, but buried tliem as soon as found. He is an invalid, largely dependent on his bees for support: and by close study he has made liimself very proficient in his chosen call- ing. He knows foul brood woll. having made it a study for the last two years, first having satisfied himself that it was foul brood by send- ing two samples to Prof. Cook, who pronounced them genuine foul brood. R. R. Ryon. Ex-inspector of Bees for York County, Neb., and Ex-president of York County Bee-keepers' Association of the State of Ne- braska, and now of Salem, Ore., says: "I am satisfied that foul brood did prevail in many parts of York, and especially in North York. I have ample evidence that the south part of York Co., and the nortli part of Fillmore Co.. have many cases of foul brood in its worst form. Mr. , of York, admitted that his bees had died with the disease. Mr. also lost his and left his hives and fixtures lying around, whereupon I notified him to clean them up under penalty of the law. R. R. Rvon." If the readers of Gleanings have any doubt about the existence of foul brood, tliese extracts from tlie Nebraska Bee-keeper ought to con- vince them of its existence; also that Mr. Todd's statements are true, and not made through a desire to injure any one's business. In Vol. I., No. 2, page 7, Mr. Stilson says, " Foul brood is well scattered all over Nebraska, having been brouglit from the Eastern States." 18«»2 (JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 303 In Vol. 1., No. 3. piiff(> ".', he stiys, '" HiUilIy was our last month's t'diiioii otV tlif ofi'ss hct'ofc we lii-aid a cry of hoiTof that we should have iiisiiiuati'd tiiat the disrasr known as t'oiil hfood was in XfhrasUa: ami, more, that wo shonld say that it was well scattiM'cd ovor tho Stat<>: that we arc ctHnitini; a false and visolcss alarm amoiiLr the boo-kocpci-s of the Slat(>. wliich would ho an injtiiy to its in the fnlni'c. . . . . The widt'-aw aki' apiarian can in-v- cr hope to kci'p his o\\ n hi\cs pnrc \\ liilc his careless neiiilihor is allowed to throw tlie refuse from ills old hives on the ground to swelter and rot in the Slimmer sun." I shall make no comments on the above state- iniMits. but allow the readers of (;i,i.-..\ninos to draw their conclusions, only adding that, of ;.*3 small apiaries within three miles of this city, I know of only one that is free from the disease. Mr. K. E. Leech and myself at one time had more bees than the rest of the county: now he has none and I have one. and that has foul brood. Mr. Leech stated at our society meet- ing in March that he '" went out of the business on account of the wide prevalences of foul brood." I went out and continue to stay out for the same reason. E. A. Butterfiki.d. York. Neb.. April 25. [We have suppressed tlie names of the bee- keepers mentioned by Inspector Ryon, on the printed page, because by this time they have no doubt cleaned things up. If they have not, they should be summarily dealt with by the law. We are sorry that this matter has assumed the nature of an unpleasant controversy. How- ever, we hope, now that the attention of the bee - keepers of the whole country has been called to it, the disease will be speedily stamp- ed out by the resident bee-keepers if it is not well under way. We can not believe either party in the discussion intentionally misrepre- sented, and we hope it will not be necessary to " talk it out " any further.] GRADING HONEY. Nos. '.' and 3 dark.- I'oukl be grailed about the same way. This would give the dark honey an e(|ual chance with the light, and tlie price would be governed by the demand. Saratoga, Wis. Tiioma.s Em-iott. ANOTHER VIEW. [This, as it will be observed, was sent to Dr. Miller. As it contains so much of value he sent it to us with the suggestion that we publish it.] Dr. C. C. -VHier;— Wishing, like yourself, to see some practical way of grading honey set- tled upon. I can perhaps give you a pointer on the subject. Three things must be taken into consideration. L It must accord with the pres- ent market for "honey; 2. It must be suited for the whole L'nited States: 3. It must be simple. The honey market knows only two kinds — white and dark: and it is on this basis that we must grade. My plan is, to keep them entirely separate, grade the white and dark by them- selves, and our troubles are at an end. I would suggest the following grades: No. 1 white. — Pure white, free from travel- stain or propolis: all cells capped except the outside row: no honey protruding beyond the section: sections well tilled. No. 2 white. — Pure white, slightly travel- stained, all cells capped except the outside row; may be bulging on one side. No. 3 white.— I think honey with a slight shade of dark should be admitted to this grade. It would, of course, take all that would not go in Nos. 1 and 2. No. 1 dark. — Of uniform color, free from trav- el-stain or propolis, all cells capped except out- side row; no honey protruding beyond the sec- tion; sections well filled. HOW TO SEE BEES WHEN THEY SWARM. i;. WILKIN, ONE OF THE I'lONEER CALIFORNIA REt:-KEEI*ERS, TELLS HOW 'TIS DONE. In a large apiary, where the extreme limits are four or five hundred feet apart, as is the case with mine, it is dillicult to readily recognize a bee on the wing: y(!t they can be seen further than that whore optical conditions are favor- able; but if most unfavorable, they can not be readily recognized, even ten feet away. Where the bee-keeper docs not wish to spend all his time watching for swarms, and the peculiar hum of the swarm is too far away to l)e heard distinctly, it is economy to have things so ar- ranged that swarms may be recognized from the point where the bee-keeper is most at work, and also from one extreme of the apiary to the other. A strong contrast with the color of the bee seems necessary to see it most distinctly. At one of my apiaries, as I stood looking east out of the door of ray house, the mountain ris- ing abruptly four hundred feet in front of me, the apiary lying between me and the rising earth, as the sun arose, not shining on me or the hillside, but lighting up every thing between us, every bee became visible as it arose from its hive, circling, gliding, darting, or grace- fully wending its way far up the mountain- side. The eye could settle on any bee and fol- low it hundreds of feet away, the vibrations of the wings, even, being quite distinct, giving the appearance of a thread of raveled stocking yarn; even silvery spider- threads, like ropes, long and short, perpendicular, horizontal, or curved, could be seen wafted gracefully amidst this scene of insect-life before me. But every one can not have a mountain at his command, and must substitute a makeshift. Swarms are best seen when looking in the direction of the sun from 9 to 3 o'clock, as the shadows of trees and other objects are seen most in that direction. I find it very service- able to have a thicket of trees or sage-brush just outside the apiary, especially on the south- east side, and making their shadows close above the tops of the hives. I help this by clearing away underbrush, or piling limbs and leaves in such a way as to shut out the sun. I sometimes set boxes or empty hives on the tops of the hives on the outer ends of the rows, with the open side next to me, so as to make a dark shadow on the inside next to me. This helps some when there is nothing better. Last season I purchased a web of black mus- lin and cut it into pieces from one to three yards long, and placed them for backgrounds just outside the apiary at the sides most needing them, and just high enough to be plainly seen above the tops of the hives. I held them in place by fastening them to stakes live or six feet long driven into the ground. I find this a very serviceable device. Visitors ask what the black cloths stretched around the apiary mean. I tell them that, having lost many bees last winter, I drape my apiary as a badge of mourn- ing. When swarming is over I roll them up to keep for other years. Who can throw light on this subject? An optician or artist who studies lights and shades ought to be able to help us save our swarms. The blue sky can often be utilized as a back- ground to help see bees. The eyes of the ob- server himself are best if well shaded so as to 364 (iLKAMlNGS IN BEE CULTURE. May J 5. soe sharply, as any one who has been in the bottom of a deep well knows that, by looking up, even in midday, stars can be seen in the heavens. R. Wilkin. Ventura, Cal., April 18. [In photography we always seek to get what is called "good contrast;" that is, we try to group persons and things of dissimilar colors in such a way as to show sharp conti'asts. For dark objects we prefer light backgrounds, and vice versa. This brings out the picture strong and clear. In practice you have endeavored to secure the same results in nature.] BEES AT THE FOOT OF THE ROCKIES. J, F. McINTYRE IN HIS APIARY. HOW COLOKADO AS A HONEY COITNTKY DIFFERS FROM THE EASTERN STATES. To a bee-keeper in this I'egion many of the instructions and suggestions found in the books and periodicals of the States east of the Missis- sippi are entirely unsuited. They are generally based on the well-marked honey seasons of white clover and basswood. But here we have neither of these. I have never seen a basswood- tree this side of the Mississippi River except a few small ones planted for ornament. As to white clover, I know of none in the State except a little that I have sown along the ditches, amounting to probably less than half an acre all told. So all instructions in regard to readi- ness for the white-clover season and for manip- ulations during the basswood flow are thrown away on us. Our early pollen is derived from maple, wil- low, and Cottonwood. The bees seem to collect some honey from these sources also, as they are carrying in more or less at present, and there appears to be no other source from which it can be obtained. Our main honey sources are, fruit-blossom, alfalfa, and cleome. or Rocky Mountain bee-plant. In this vicinity are hun- dreds of acres of orchards and small fruit- ranches. These furnish rich pasturage for our bees early in the season. Unfortunately a se- vere freeze in March killed much of our fruit in the bud, so we shall not have the profusion of bloom that we usually' have; but we expect enough to build up our bees into good working trim for the alfalfa harvest, which begins in June and continues till frost. There is a large amount of this within bee range of my place; but, being raised only for hay, it is generally cut as soon as it is in full bloom, so we do not get the benefit in honey from it that we should if it were raised for seed. But it generally hap- pens that some of it is in bloom within reach of my bees all of the season. Of cleome there are hundreds of acres on waste grounds and on roadsides up and down the river, within reach of my bees. This begins to bloom in July, and stays in good condition about two months. I have never known this to fail to produce abun- dance of nectar. The honey from both this and alfalfa is of excellent grade, being light-colored and fine-flavored. Bees have come through the winter in fine condition. The winter problem seems to be a secondary matter here. The past winter is the first that I have tried to carry bees through. But men who have kept bees for many years tell me they always go through the winters safely on their stands without any special prep- aration provided they have plenty of stores. I have adopted the New Heddon hive; and from one year's experience with it I think it just " beats the world." L. J. Templin. Canyon City, Colo., April 2.5. PI-AN OF ARRANGING HIVES IN CALIFORNIA; A CONVENIENT HONKY-CART, ETC. The engraving shows a near view of the south half of the apiary, taken from the honey- house door. The honey-cart in the foreground is one of the most satisfactory implements which I use in connection with the bee-business. I have two of them, and they are both in con- stant use during the extracting season. While one is being filled in the apiary, the other is emptied in the honey-house. The wheels are 30-inch hose-cart wheels, and cost here $4.00 per pair. The boxes which hold the combs are made of half-inch lumber. They are 12 inches deep, and in the bottom of each box is a drip- ping-pan made of tin. 3 inches deep and full size of the inside of the box. which catches all the honey that drips from the combs. I find it much more convenient to have the combs run lengthwise, as shown in the engraving, than across the cart. You can lift a comb from the cart and place it in the super, or from the su- per and place it in the cart, without moving your feet. That little tin box in front of the large ones is used to hold water. I always brush the bees from the combs with a wet brush; it does not irritate the bees so much as a dry one, nor get sticky with honey. I was just opening a hive in the usual way, and watching the bees run down from the smoke, when the photographer snapped his camera, with the remark, "I caught you at work that time." For the last three or four years I have used an extra large smoker, and burn straw altogether for fuel. If the straw is packed in tight it will burn a long time; and it makes a cold white smoke which is just the thing to quiet the bees. The lines in this apiary are arranged in straight rows six feet apart, with a five- foot alley between the backs for the honey-cart to run up and down, and 12 feet clear between the fronts with a low of grapevines in the middle. Most of th(^ large apiaries in this county are arranged this way. You can get the honey- cart up close to the back of the hive where it is in the most convenient position to load. The Miller plan is better for queen-rearing, but not for producing extracted honey. Almost any plan will do for a small apiai'y; but when the apiary covers over an a^-re of ground, the bees will get MU)re oi' less demoralized with any plan. You will see a number-stake at the back cor- ner of a hive just above the honey-cart. It reads 19 K. That means K row. No. lU. The rows ar(^ lettered fi'om A to V. and the hives numbered from 1 to 23. By having a book in- dexed on the margin I can open it at any row; and as all the n umbers are on that page. I can see the record of any hive in about two seconds. The rows run east and west, and the liives face north and south. I have come to the con- clusion that bees prefer their entrance on the south side, and do a little better in the rows facing south. The plan of my apiary on page 77.5, last year's Gleanings, is not this apiary, but an out-apiary, and the engraving on page 772 is looking north; on page 773. south. This engraving is looking southwest. THAT COWAN EXTRACTOR. Before I close I wish to say a few words for that new Cowan extractor. I felt enthusiastic the moment I opened Gleanings and saw the cut; and the only thing that prevented me from sitting right down and expressing my ad- miration was the fact that I had already rec- ommended and indorsed this principh'. When I showed the cut to my wife she said, "That is 1*1-2 ULEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 3(55 366 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 15. something like the thing." If your Novice ex- tractor breaks too many combs, just buy a new Cowan: and, ray word for it, you will be happy. J. F. McIntyre. Fillmore. Cal., March 5, 1891. [We are glad the artist caught you when you didn't know it. Your pose is more natural and easy. We notice you are using the Bingham smoker. You needn't tell our customers, but somehow, when the bees are cross, our boys have a preference for the Bingham. We have no doubt but that a wet brush irritates less than a dry one. Say. did you ever try the Cogg- shall brush for the purpose?— In regard to the Cowan extractor, you are about right in your estimate of it. See what Frank McNay says of it below.] "*. THE COWAN REVEESIBLE HONEY- EXTRACTOR. STRONG TESTIMONY IN ITS FAVOR FROM ONE OF THE MOST EXTENSIVE EXTRACTED PRODUCERS IN THE WORLD. I received the new Cowan reversible extract- or about a week ago; and although I was con- vinced as soon as I examined it that it is prac- tically all right, yet I decided to wait and try it befoi-e reporting. I can now say, that, in regard to convenience, it is all that can be de- sired; and although the combs may be reversed without stopping, yet I would not advise this for general practice, for I find that the gearing is so strong that it can be stopped and started in- stantly, and can really be done quicker than on the slowing-up plan. I remember using some very emphatic words to you last winter in regard to the necessity of greater strength in extractors, and I am now convinced that you heard, even if you were a little deaf at the time; for after carefully examining and trying the Cowan extractor, I have failed to find a weak part, and I do not hesitate to say that it is the best extractor made, both in regard to convenience and durability, and I shall replace all of my five machines with the Cowan as soon as possible. Frank McNay. Mauston, Wis., May (3, 1893. [Before introducing the Cowan to the public we talked and corresponded with some of the largest and most practical bee-keepers in the world, friend McNay among the number. We were thus posted as "to all the desirable points in an extractor, and with this knowledge in possession we set the best talent of the Home of the Honey-bees at work constructing the ma- chine, and as now constructed we have reason to think it will ph-ase all, as it has friend McNay. In strength of material it surpasses every thing we ever turned out before in the way of an extractor.] A WHEELBARROW FOR CARRYING HIVES. HOW TO MAKE IT. I inclose a sketch of a hive-carrier that I made and have had in use for two years with perfect success. The expense is almost nothing, and can be made in two hours. The wheel is one taken from an old garden-drill. It is eigh- teen inches high. The springs running back from it are mortised through the end-bars of the frame, and are made out of one leaf of a Champion spring, and bolted at each mortise. The frame and handles are made of 2x2-inch oak, and the sides are mortised on to the ends. The handles are fastened to the frame by strap hinges so that thay can be swung out in grasp- ing the hive, as brought down over the top. The lifting-springs are made of the same as the ones going to the wheel. They should be about 9 inches long; but for a slio 1 man a I'ttle shorter, so that the front of the hive will not touch the ground in wheeling. These springs should be screwed to the handles about one inch back of the middle of the hive, so that the hive will tilt forward and be steadied against the end-bar of the carrier when the arms are swung in. The springs should also be sprung inward about 2 inches so they will press tightly against the bottom when the handles are brought up against the hive. KNIGHT S HIVE WHEELBARROW. The length of the frame should be eighteen inches, and the inside measurement between the handles the width of the hive, with about an inch to spare, so as not to rub the paint off the hive. With this carrier you can pick a hive off from a stand or from the ground, run into or out of a cellar, and setitdownon astand properly, as you can see three sides of your hive while running, and the swinging handles do not bother in run- ning. When empty, the hinges should be on the outside, so that, when the handles are straight, they will be perfectly stiff. Detroit, Mich. Bruce Knight. CELLAR WINTERING. why I CARRY MY BEES OUT OF THE CELLAR EARLIER THAN MOST FOLKS DO. In the first place we will see a little about the way they are in the cellar. We have all of our brood hives with fast bottoms, but they can be made loose by taking out two screws. Our entrances are" so that they go clear across the hive, but can be closed, or partly closed, in one second. When we carry our bees into the cellar (about Nov. 1.5 to 20) we elosi- our hives, set two or three hives on a carrier, and, with one man ahead and one behind, walk into the cellar with our load. We have a platform in the cellar 8 inches high, and as wide as the hives are long. The platform being level, we place a 2x2 joist on the back edge of the platform. We now take the hives from our carrier, and set one row on the platform, the whole length, with the back end of the hives resting on the 2x2 joist, so the hives will all stand pitching forward. This will greatly aid the bees in keeping the bottom-boards clean, which they will generally do. If a few fail, then we help them clear the entrance with a wire hook. When the first row is placed all right, we either have boards sawed l,Vo inches longer than the hives are high, placed between the hives, then set up endwise so we can put a board on them for a shelf for another row of hives to sit on, or we sometimes just place a piece of joist the length of our hive on the top of three hives, say on each end hive, and the middle hive in the I'ow, and lay the board shelf on them, and so on until we have four tiers high. We have our bees in the cellar so we can walk in the alleys and get to the front of each hive and look after them as we think they need IS9-2 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 367 it. We cNpcrinuMit .^oino ovoi y yoar witli a fow ditTcriMit Uiiuis of hivos and difT»>riMit ways of inanajicmcnl. Ono vfiy iniMortaiit tliiiifj witli tlioi^c who are keopinjj a proou many swarms is, to have lln' Iwltoms fast, and xho iMitram-c convtMiiciit to close, and so bo sure a hoc can not get out w iiilf carrying in and ont: thru we can use clicap lii'lp. and tlu'v iiko to do it. I tind tiiat most b(M»-koopors say, "Keep the bees in tin- ceiiai' until natural pollen is ready for them." With the hive that I use. I must differ with them for this reason: Hees will remain (jiiiet, and winter well in the cellai' for about four months; and if kept in five months, more will die or iret weak— the last month, more than all the tirst four months. I have set bees out at all times from lM>b. 1 to May 7. This is too early and too late. IJut any time after the l.">th of March, when the w eath<'r is fine, so the bees can get a good cleansing Hight, and if no snow is on the ground, is the time to take bees out of the cellar. IJut, ohi we want a day when the hees will not waste much in their tirst flight. If we knew the weather would be tine in a day or two after, it would be best to carry them out at night, or on a cool day (we do so with our out-yards, if the day is such when we get there), then thi>y do not fly until it is warm enough. After our bees have had cue or two flights Td rather have it cool, to keep the old bees in the hives. Now. I think my bees are more healthy than they would have been if I had kept them in one month longer: and they now begin to rear brood, and the old bees stay at home and keep the brood warm, and live until the young bees begin to take their place. I always get some rye ground just as fine as our miller can grind it, and leave the bran in with the fiour: and if we have a few warm days, give the bees some of this. Place it in a shallow box two feet square, near the yard, and the bees will have work close at home; and this, too, will stimulate thein to breeding. But we shall be likely to have considerable cold weather when the old bees will be like a sit- ting hen — keeping their eggs warm. Now, when natural pollen comes, say April 8, the young bees will begin to hatch, and the old ones will begin to work very hard, and soon die: but the young bees will hatch out as fast as the old ones die. and take their place; and this prevents spring dwindling (as it is called), and the old bees have been worth much in rear- ing this bro(Kl. If we wait until April 8 before we .set our bees out, then the bees start right off hard at work, pellmell, and, being weaker, too, by their longer confinement, die olt fast, and will be able to care for but a small amount of brood, and spring dwindling is the result: and by May 8 the bees will not bt; as plentiful in the hives as they were when set out: and then comes the troubleof changing combs, and much fu.ssing work to get the bees ready for the hon- ey harvest. But tho.se set out in time to have the young bees coming on to take the place of the old ones that die off fast when no pollen comes, will be ahead, and keep so, without all of this fussing: and another thing, we are apt to have a few swarms that are weak, and liable to get robbed if not watched whi'u carried out early: and after their first flight, look for and find out whether any are poor; and if so. carry those back into the cellar, and leave them in until natural pollen comes; then set then) out and care for them as they need. They will not be as liable to get robbed now. but the.-ie few should be put on from three to five frames, just what they can protect and care for. Ifb(>tter swarms should lose a queen, unite with one of these. I will say, that the most of my hives are wide enough for ten franu's (III4 tleep x !.">'>, long); but I use a division-i)oard the siz(> of my frame. ' on th<' outside of my combs, so but 8 frames are used much of the time. I like this. The heat and cold do not affect the Ix^es as much. 1 like the bodies of my hives painted red and the caps white. I use a cap to set over my section crates. I think they pay. They are gocxl for a good many reasons, such as shade tf) keep off rain, heat, and cold; and we use thin sides to our section crates, 14 one-pound sections to the crate, and two of these crates just cover a hive. I have been experimenting some with a hive with the rim nailed around 5'.; inches from the top, and the cap set over the hive. The cap is 8 inches deep. This gi-ves 2)-^ inches of chamber over the frames. Put a large quilt on the hive; one thickn(^ss of hop baling is good, or another on top of that, or forest- leaves, or chafT on top of quilt, if you wish. Then put the cap on over, and set one hive on top of the other in the cellar. The cap on the front side, one inch down, has a hole cut through for a handle 1x4 inches, covered with wire cloth on the inside. These, too. have wintered well. In moving bees frotn yard to yard, take off the quilts and drive a nail through the cap into the hive (one in each end will do), and the wire cloth in the cap will give air enough; close the entrance, and we are ready to move. Middleburgh, N. Y. N. D. We.st. [Friend W. makes some good points in favor of taking bees out of the cellar early; but in all this we should consider the matter of locality. This spring we kept our bees in the cellar con- siderably later than usual, for experiment; and we found that we might better have taken them out two or three weeks before we did. Our outdoor colonies are about a month ahead in brood-rearing. Whether or no these cellared colonies will catch up. remains to be proven. Dr. Miller has recommended taking bees out as soon as maples come into bloom; and for him we have no doubt that this is the better time, because his locality is very cold compared with that of most other bee-keepers. We believe Mr. West's plan of putting bees into the cellar is a good one. If we were sure we could winter our bees in the cellar without removing the hive-bottoms, but leaving plenty of upward ventilation, we would make them all fast; because convenience in moving bees to out-yards, and in and out of the c(>llar. and carrying them around the apiary when they are in hives with fast bottoms is no small item. If upward ventilation in the cellar will permit of this, and yet give us good results, it would be worth our giving it a little consideration. Last winter we put into the cellar colonies having sealed covers and those having absorbing cush- ions. The former had their bottoms removed, and the latter had bottoms that were nailed fast. This spring we could detect no particular difference in the wintering of either set. '" But, how about this sealed-cover idea that you have been advocating all along?" some one will ask. If the reader will refer to what we have said, he will see that our remarks applied to outdoor wintering. The pui'pose of this sealed cover is to retain all the warmth of the cluster; and this is very essential for outdoor wintering, for then we have no heat to spare by letting it escape through the top of the hive. But in the celUir tho conditions are n-versed. The great trouble with the most of us is not to keep the bees ir(tnn enough, but super above the wood-wool pad and the spaco in the winter case above the pacUinsr. The advan- tage of this will be readily ai)pareiit. as it al- lows the excess of moistun> to be absorbed by the nnpainted sides of the pai-Uing-cases. as it is canietl over in the form of \apor. to be con- densed as soon as it reaches the colder chamber. The ri'siilt has been highly satisfactiii'y, and I can indorse heartily the conclusions reached by t". v. Dadantin IMarch l.")tli (Ji.KANiNCis. It is only a (luestion of the kind and (luality ot absoi bents. It is beyond (inestion, that damp- ness, or a moist condition of the brood -chamber, is as fatal to the bees as is the sam<> condition to all animal life. Dampness, darkness, and inaction are siii-e pr(H'ursors of debility and disease: while lim- body health and human ha()piness. My bees were contined. wiihont a tli^lil. from Jan. 1 until March 4. On examination I found the hives dry — no moldy combs nor dripping cushions. The pads coulil be determined damp; but no appreciable gain in weight — a fact which was tested, of course. At this writing, April 1, the boos are employing daily flights, and there is absolutely not ono pint of dead bees in the whole 18 colonies. This has been proven by thorough examination, and by raking the dead bees from off the bottom-lioanl. There are, indeed, some colonies that seem as strong as whiMi \nit into winter quarters. The cost of this material for pads may deter bee-keepers from enipl^r -■p'/^..■'ii^.■•Vc^•K>'•.i^■;■■••■-• |j>5 THE IJAMBI.K|{ A.\I) KlilKND RIDING IX NUMKH- OITS OUST. Barley is extensively cultivated, and the ground is in condition to secure not only one crop from one sowing, but two more volunteer crops afterward; but all this land will soon be 370 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 15. covered with groves of orange, lemon, and other fruits, and nuts. The land is under the control of a company who are developing a water sup- ply, and settlers^ are invited, on easy terms, to invest in their lands. We soon entered the common highway, and then our pleasures were of another sort. This country, during the many months of dry weath- er, develops something that the land companies' circulars and the booming local papers never mention. It is, the finest and most numerous dust you ever breathed. A horse trotting or even walking in it. where the feet sink inio it up to the fetlock, is sure to raise an impenetra- ble cloud of it. We were obliged to talk through our noses for some miles, and even that was disagreeable. It was a genuine relief to drive off the road and approach a ranch where the pleasures of cooling shade, blooming roses, and refreshing S])ring water were to be enjoyed. This lovclv i)laci"]Ki(l the lovi'ly name of Wild from the apiary to the honey-house, some 25 rods, on a wheelbarrow. Miss Alfiretta combines schoolteaching with her other duties; and from the enterprise with which these ladies manage the ranch, it was easy to see that they were thorough business women. In the house was a fine library and a case of several hundred curios. On the floor was a large lynx skin to which Mrs. Wood called our attention. Herself and daughter had treed the animal in the night, and the hired man was called out with gun, and successfully finished the hunt. We were loth to get out into the dust again; but the pleasures of Wild Rose Park were not so irresistible but that, after another quaff at the cooling waters, we pursued our journey and soon arrived at the Glen Ivy Hotel and the Temescal hot sulphur springs. We were in just the condition to appreciate the cleansing WILD ROSE PARK APIARY. Rose Park, and was managed by two lovely women, Mrs. Wood and her daughter, with the lovely name of Alfiretta. Out beyond the great oak-trees that surrounded the house, and crowded upon a narrow margin of land between the wash and the hillside, was a long array of 130 swarms of bees. The peculiarity of this apiary was the large number of Harbison hives. These hives were a little different from oui- Sacramento friend's. Instead of using a block to fill up a vacancy, the hive had been increased to such a degree that several crates of sections could be storified, and the hive had a very lengthy ai)pearance; in fact, it is a Long-Idea hive pointing toward the sky. The greater share of the hives in the apiary were of the L. pattern, and the ladies wished to sell all of their Harbisons, and this was strong evi- dence that they preferred the L. During the East season the yield had been .5000 lbs. of comb oney, and Mrs. Wood had transported it all properties of a bath, and made haste to plunge into the water, warmed to 105 degi'ees tempera- ture, and medicated by nature in tne hidden recesses of the earth. We forgot the dust and discomfort of the ride, and exclaimed, "Oh what a glorious country is this I" The hotel and these baths make the locality a noted resort. The glen from which the hotel takes its name is a beautiful and romantic goi'ge with a clear stream of water tumbling and foaming over the boulders, making many beautiful wateifalls. Besides the hotel there is a little stoie, a pretty and commodious school house, used also for a church and Sunday-school, and half a dozen cottages scattered here and there among the oaks and cottonwoods. This com- prises Temescal. The main product of the town is honey, and nearly every resident is in- tei'ested more or less in its production. There are over 1000 colonies owned in this vicinity. Mr. Isaiah Audi-rson is the veteran bee-keep- 1S9-: CJLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 371 cr of the placo; and from tlio aiipcaiaiioc of liis jilcasaiit homo ami siirrouiuliiiRS. bcc-Ucciiiiig lias iu)t ht'cn an iin|)rotitalil<' business for liim. His a|iiary was onl in tiir monntains. as were nearly all of the rest. Mr. Dawson and son, the sion'keepers. wei"e also lar>xely interested in bees, having apiaries of several hundred colo- nies. Mr. Haz/.ard and Mr. Henderson' also numbered tlieir stocks by the lumdred. Others, as far away as Riverside — 'JO miles — had bees in this canyon. Mr. t;eorg(> F. I'feiffer owned a small apiary of 40 colonies on a spur of the mountain overlooking the valley, and the lo- cation was the most charmintr and cosy, for an apiary, we had ever seen. \Ve climbed the hill to make the acquaintance of the owner. The little one-room lO.xl;.' cabin, with adobe Moor, a bed in one corner, a stove in another, and doors in the others, was vacant. Mr. P. kept bach- elor's hall, and the feminine portion of his hou.seliold is probably being considered by matchmakers above (I speak only from hear- say, for thafs where they say matches are made). We strolled along the apiary, which followed the contour of the mountain in about the form of a letter S; and as Mr. I'."s 40 acres of land nearly all hung up edgewise on the side of the mountain, the land for the apiary had to be terraced. We were about to leave the place when the Rambler thought that the terrace further around would reveal something; and as we turned a sharp corner, tiiere we found our friend fast asleep on a lounge fashioned into the side of the mountain, directly under a large oak-tree. There was a rude table in front of him. with books and newspapers on it, and a •'MY gracious! is that TIIK RAMI5LE1!?" bottle and glass on the top. The camera was adjusted. Mr. Bonfoey aroused the sleeper; and as soon as he had rubbed his eyes open enough to take in the situation, he shouted, in evident teiror, " My gracious: is that the Ram- bler?*' Then it was the Rambler's turn to be surprised at the idea that be(>-keepers in the remote places of the earth were expecting to see that camera pointing toward them; and the question arose. '• Isn't it about time the.se ram- bles came to a close?" After our various surprises had subsided, Mr. P. exclaimed, " Well, I declare! I am so glad you called; and you are really one of us:" and we fell on each other's necks for joy. Mr. P. then offered us some milk out of the aforesaid bottle — the veritable milk of human kindness — but Mr. Bonfoey and I had been drinking sul- phur water, and had to refuse on account of the shock that milk and sulphur would give to our organs of gastronomy. When we got around to th(^ cabin my new friend was glad again that I was one of us. And we fell on each other's necks again. (Joing down the mountain he was overjoyed again. i>ut we omitted the neck oix'ration. Our footing was so insecure that we might have fallen and in'oken our necks. We will now Ic^t Mr. Bonfoey return to his mountain home, and for a day I am in the hands of Mr. PfeitTer. We journeyed up through the canyon to Elsinore Lake and the coal-mines, which have recently be(Mi d(!veloi)ed here. Many apiaries were .scattered along up the can- yon. As I was one of us, I spent a night in the little cabin. Mr. P. is an excellent cook, and served a breakfast fit for a sovereign American. T\u\ walls of his cabin were decorated with pictures of all sorts and sizes, from the illus- trated papers; and if thens was any thing he didn't want around in the way, be it boots, tin cans, newspapers, and such, it was thrown un- d(!r the bed. It was a rather cool night, and Mr. P. wasn't a very salubrious bed-fellow. He had a way, while lying on his back, of drawing his feet "toward his head, and thus making Gothic rafters in the bed. I forgave him, how- ever, for I learned he was a member of the Sunday-school, sang in the choir, and was a member of the Temescal band. He is the lifer. I bade my good friends adieu, and it was a late hour that evening before the railroad was touched. On our way, as the horse was plung- ing through a wash in the darkness a peculiar shouting like the rolicking voices of schoolboys and of babies crying saluted us from a point not far away. I asked my traveling companion in surprise what those childn^n were celebrat- ing in that lonely place at that hour of night. He laughed aloud, and said, "Those are not children; they are coyotes'' (pronounced feiotes). Says I, "Tenderfoot again." That was my first experience with them. Since then they have many times saluted the Rambler. THE T"WO-MILE THEORY. DO QUEENS MEET DRONES IN THE SAME APIARY? DRONES CONGREGATING. In a recent paper I see that my name is men- tioned in connection with that of A. I. Root and others as having seen queens mated in the apiary by drones from the same apiary, the writer trying to make out the theory true, that is put forth by some, that diiTerent races of bees can be kept as near together as two miles and not intermingle. What A. I. Root has seen, I do not know; but when I witnessed the mating of a queen and drone I was at least two miles from any apiary, and gave the fact in connec- tion with the idea that drones had certain places where they congregated, which I then, as now, believe to be the truth in the matter. If drones congregate in certain places, it would be but natural that the queens should be drawn to these places; and the fact that one queen was known to mate at such a congregation of drones went quite a way with me in leading me to believe that queens in general were so mated. As many are now trying to improve their stock by reai'ing queens from one strain of bees and tluiir drones from another strain, some writing me that they have two queens which they wish to breed from, raising drones from one and qui^ens from the other, this matter of drones congregating should be of interest to such, and also to all who have any ideas of the improvement of stock along certain lines. If drones do thus congregate, and the queens go to this congregation, it must be apparent to all, that, where there are any bees in the woods, or bees kept by the fanners within the flying dis- 372 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 15. tance of drones, our queen will stand a poor chance of mating one of the desired drones, as long as the colonies kept on the let-alone plan will raise ten drones to where our colonies rear one. Where I witnessed the mating of a queen was on a high hill where I was cutting weeds out of a cornfield the fore part of August. On every fine afternoon, from one to three o'clock, there was such a humming in the air overhead that it seemed that a swarm of bees must be going over, and at first I looked for them: but seeing nothing I concluded that it was flies of some kind. One hot day. being tired I lay down to rest: and hearing this swarming noise I shaded my eyes with my hands and looked steadily up into the clear sky. After a little I could see thousands of living creatures shoot- ing in all directions, and finally I saw a dozen or so of these shooting objects give chase after another and overtake it. when the flight was less rapid. Two of them continued circling around, and. nearing the ground, stopped on the tassel of a cornstalk near me. I got up at once; but before 1 reached the stalk of corn one of them flew away and the other fell to the ground. From what I saw of the one which flew away, I called it a queen honeybee: and upon picking up che one that fell to the ground, I found it was a dead drone. This solved the mystery of the humming noise; and when I have since heard this same humming in differ- ent places I have believed it to be drones in their congregating-places. The fact that this noise is heard only in the early afternoon of pleasant days also proves that di'ones congre- gate, or some other insects, for I never heard this noise except at this time of day. If it was made by the worker liees it would be heard in the forenoon as well as in the afternoon. One other item bearing on this subject is the faci. that, pi'ior to the advent of the Italian bee. a man keeping bi'KS for forty years near us never saw aught but the common black or Ger- man bee. Another man living four miles from him purchased an Italian (|ueen one year in July, and from this one queen he stocked all of his apiary, some forty colonies, with Italian queens the same year, which, according to Dzierzon, would give Italian drones but hybrid workers, as the purchased queen gave no drones the first year. As this man who stocked his apiary with Italian queens took no pains to restrict the rearing of drones, multitudes of them were reared; and, as a result, fully one- third of the queens reared the next year (being in the old colonies of after-swarms) by our black-bee bee-keeper gave more or less bees with yellow bands, to which he called my at- tention. Fully one-third of my queens also gave a part yellow bees; and as I was so well pleased with them I was not long in procuring the Italian bees myself. This fact has always proven to my mind that drones not only congregate, but that bees must be kept at least five miles or more apart to se- cure the absolutely pure maiingofour queens. That this bee-keeper had kept bees for forty years w ithout any of them showing any yellow, would seem to point to the fact that no man could take our black bees in their purity and breed yellow Germans from them. I see Mr. Alley proposes to give us yellow Funics this year, yet admits that there are apiaries with yellow bees in them only two miles from where be rears these queens. If the Punic bees are an eZ)onj/-colored bee in their native home, perhaps they would not bi> so Inclined to sport along the yellow line if they were isolated on some island in the large lakes or kept five or more miles from othei' bees, as they are in the hands of Mr. Alley. Let him place his apiaries from five to ten miles apart, and he will not be criticised so nuich in putting forth his golden Carniolans and Funics. I heartily wish that drones could he controlled as well as the queens; but so far I see no way of doing it. If we have an inferior queen we can pinch her head ofl' as soon as we see her; but when we come to say to a certainty as regard- ing the drones our queens are to mate, we are not sure of anything about it: for should we pinch tlie heads of all inferior drones (an end- less task) we are not sure but that there will be millions of inferior drones at the congregating- place, which will stand an equal chance with our best. From the above T think all will see the folly of claiming two mih'S as sufficient distance to insure the pure mating of all the queens reared. G. INL Doolitti^e. Borodino, N. Y.. May 2. [So far as my experience goes, friend Doo- little is entirely right in what he says in the above. Not only do drones thus congregate, but a kind of flying ants may often be seen dur- ing pleasant days along in the fall, congregat- ing and mating, as I have already mentioned at length in an article on the subject, given in Gleanings sevei'al years ago.] A. I. R. SELF-HIVERS. THE STYLE HEf'OM MENDED BY HENRY ALLEY. Friend Root: — T promised to send you a de- scription of a self hi ver that Mould hive every swarm that issued through it. I will now at- tempt to do so. FIG. 1. Fig. 1 shows the arrangement attached to a Bay State hive. It will be seen that it pi'ojects considerably in front of the hive. The bees, to gain access to their home, must pass under the swarmer and enter through the metal, A. Now, this is no serious obstruction to the bees, as they have wings, and it does not in the least seem to inconvenience them in their flight from and to the hive. Of course, it will bother them some foi' an hour or so when first placed on the hive, the same as the trap does. Fig. 2 shows the interior of the hiver. It is the same as the drone-trap: in fact, it is noth- ing else. It is made with a bay-window attach- ment for the accommodation of a large swarm 18<12 GLEANINCJS IN BEE CULTURE. 373 of tiot's. w hilc ilu' trap as coniinonly used will hold hut a (luait of lu-t'S. Fi^. - also shows ilu> hivor in brokon parts, iu order tliat the interior maybe illustrated. The box is resting upon its side, bottom to the front, and showinjr the tubes through which the queen passes when the swarm issues. .Inst in front of the tnl)es will be seen a strip of per- forated metal. This is so arranged that it is exactly over the entrance to the hive when the swarnier is in position. Now, when a swarm issues tlie bees do not rush pellmell up through th(> metal iu the swarmi'r. The metal is not designed for that purjiose. When the bees return from the air after missing their qu(>en, tliey then rush pelhnell through the metal to join their queen, which is lield in confinement di- ri'ctiy over the entrance to their hive by a piece of perforated metal placed diagonally across the end of the box to cover the tubes ami confine the queen in a place easily and (luickly found by the ;. The bees read- ily find their queen, and at once enter the box and cluster on the little comb, when they are ready to be hived at the option of the apiarist. Although this swarmer works well, I do not consider it as practical as the one I illustrated in a recent issue of Gleanings. Swarmers are as nu- luany of them are of meroiis as hives. practical worth ? This swarmer. How- regular queen -trap like tl _ . swarmer. will trap all the drones and keep them out of the way of the entrance; hence it is a safe one to use in an out-apiary, as there is no danger of drones clogging the entrance and smothering the bc^es in the absence of the bee- keeper. li, in Fig. 3. represents the part placed at the entrance of the hive expected to swarm. C is the cover to the box. Henry Ai.lky. Wenham. Mass.. Mav. 1892. SELF-HIVERS. WESI.KV DIHIU.I-: S NEW II)E.\. Are self-hivers worth any thing? Do the parties who advertise them, make them, and sell them, deserve to be recognized as truthful men? Can we go to their yards and find these parties using wliat they advi'rtise? are they succeeding exactly as they tell us they are? If so. let us give these men credit. What is a perfect success w ith them would be a total failure with others by a little deviation from their plans. (Jo slow now. and give these men justice: give them credit for their hard- earned inventions. The above picture will hardly need any desciiption. as it is so plain. It is intended to carry a swarm from the lower to the upper hive. It would be amusing to you to see my museum of traps since 1888 to accom- plish the above object. I have succeeded far enough to say. when you visit me you will find these traps in use all through my yards. One object I have always in vi(;w: (iive the bee free access to the hive, and don"l obstruct the entrance. A trap of any kind in front of the hive is a hindranci' to the bees. It affords a shade and place to cluster in front, and in real hot weather they are a nuisance. To illustrate: I have an out-yard supplied with entrance traps. Tlie bees are lying out, covering the traps and fronts of hives. Now, I arrive at this yard at 4 p. m.. because I can't get there sooner, and I (ind from one to ten hives have swarmea during the day. What would be the chances of knowing which one of those hives swarmed? Give us an intelligent answer if you can. Put >/ie down as saying the man who succeeds in THE DIBBLE SELF-IIIVEK. giving us a successful trap of any kind will give us something besides an entrance trap. We must have a trap when we can at a glance tell where our queens are. We must know instant- ly, when passing through a yard, which colonies have cast swarms, without opening a hive. We haven't any time to spare in digging clus- ters of bees froiii in front of hives. We are, for instance, alone with three or four yards to care for, and can't get intelligent help, and the fam- ily is large; bread and butter to get: children to school and clothe; and perhaps, as I have, invalid parents to take care of. You see, it is a good deal like the boy digging a woodchuck beside the road on Sunday morning. The min- ister comes along and says, " My boy. do you expect to get that woodchuck?" " Yes, sir," the boy says; "'got to get it; the minister is going to he at our house for dinner, and we have no meat." The minister got woodchuck meat for dinner. We have got to "get there," as did the boy, and get meat for dinner. Now look at the above picture, and I haven't a doubt but you will want to ask some questions. W^hat kind of hive do I use? Answer. Eight-frame, 9>§'xl7^, Langstroth exactly. I use the frame reversible by notions of my own. I like them after live years' ex- perience. Question. How does that trap fasten to the bottom -board? Ansu^er. A small strip of tin nailed across the trap slid<'S behind one like; it nailed on the bottom board. With these, one can put on or take off 100 in half an hour. Question. Where does the queen get into the tra p ? Ansirer. Cut off the strip on the bottom- board, two inches; slot in the trap to corres- pond: and also the top of the trap connects with the upper hive in the same way. There are two cones in the trap, so afranged they will not clog. The trap furnishes a cavity for dead drones and bees, bees having free access to the trap by the queen-slide, as shown in the picture. My next article will be a continuation of self- hivers hived at the side; size of swarms, etc. Wesi-ey Dibble. Middleburgh. N. Y., March 7. 374 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 15. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF FBANCIS A. GEMMILL. PRESIDENT OF THE ONTAKIO BEE-KEEPEKS ASSOCIATIOX. The subject of our illustration is now 46 years old, and a Scotch Canadian by birth. His first bee-keeping commenced in 1863, when a lad of only 17 years of age. In 1864, in order to be up with the times, he purchased, in addition to Quinby 's Mysteries of Bee-keeping, a copy of the third edition of Langstroth on the Honey-bee, and also his first Italian queen from Mr. Lang- stroth, at the same time procuring one of his movable-comb observatory hives, which is still retained in his apiary as a memento of his youthful experience. Mr. G. has never laid claim to being what many consider an exten- sive or specialist bee-keeper, his colonies never numbering more than 7.5. It is, however, his intention, at an early date, to go more exten- sively into the business. time, neither has he been slow in adopting such simply because new; hence his preference for such labor-saving apparatus as honey-boards, bee-escapes, etc.; among others, a hive-cart a la Boardman. Of late years he has taken an active part in attending meetings, etc., and has, besides being president of a number of local or county asso- ciations, also been vice-president of the Ontario Asso-^iation for two years in succession, and is now president of the latter, having been ap- pointed such at the meeting held in London in January last. Mr. G.. like most bee-keepers, has had his sweet and bitter experience in apiculture — yes, has had experience with the pest of the apiary — foul brood; therefore his determined stand at urging legislation in regard to the disease for two years past, with the happy result that Ontario has one of the best, if not t}ie best, acts in the world, the forming of such act being principally due to the efforts of Mr. A. Pringle, late president of the association. Mr. G. also took an active part in securing the bill now In force in Ontario, making it a penalty to spray fruit-trees while in full bloom. In his younger days he learned the printing business in his father's oCfice, and afterward followed the drug business for ten years; but for a number of years he has occupied a position in the civil service of Canada. His family consists of wife and two children (a son of 17 and a daughter of 13). It was the pleasure of the younger editor of Gi^kanixgs to meet Mrs. G. and himself at Branlford in '89. Stratford. Ont.. Apr. :.'9. A. Lamont. F. A. GEM MILL. His preference has always been for the eight- frame L. hive; and with the exception of half a dozen Jones style, for experiment, has had no occasion for a larger one. However, he secured 25 of the New Heddon style as soon as manu- factured in Canada, and is more and more lean- ing toward fixed distances of some kind, espe- cially as the moving of his colonies from one location to another is not only a benefit, but of late an actual necessity. The wintering of bees has been a fairly good operation with him. both in cellar and outside, and he is a little inclined of late to the outside method, for the reason that, in his locality, cellar - wintered bees need spring protection. On this point he is satisfied beyond a doubt. His location, especially since the late poor hon- ey-flows, is. he finds, considerably overstocked: notwithstanding this he has secured fair crops of both comb and extracted honey. This, of course, has not been accomplish(id without proper attention to all the little rules and regu- lations connected with the pursuit. It has never been a hobby of his to try every new - fangled device appearing from time to DR. KELLOGG AND HONEY. A C'KITIC CRITICISED. You ask my opinion of the article from Dr. Kellogg regarding honey. I think it another case of a man's writing on matters of which he knows little, accepting statements from others which lie has not even attempted to verify. As a result he has crowded about as much error into a small space as it is possible to do. It is true, that honey is not wholly sugar; but does that prove that it is less valuable? Our gold coins are alloyed, and who would say that they ai'e "open to greater objections" because of the alloy? The alloy makes them more valuable, and makes them worth more as coins. May not the flavoring material of honey make it more palatable, and possibly more nutritious? If so, it adds to its value as food. If the glucose sugars, to which honey belongs, are not better than cane sugar, why is cane sugar reduced to glucose sugar, or digested, when eaten, by all animals? Nature shows us that honey sugar is a better food. Bees have to digest nectar — which is cane sugar— or change it to reducible sugar, before it can be absorbed. We have to do the same. May it not be, then, that reduci- ble sugar such as honey is more wholesome than cane sugar, and that we are safer in eating honey than in eating our common sugars? The presumption is strongly on the side of the hon- ey, and so the burden of proof lies with those who favor cane sugar. That bees are not neat is a new idea. I wish we could be assured that all parties engaged in manufacturing our food-stuffs were as neat. Bees do visit uncanny places, but in quest of water and saline substances, which are not mixed with honey. The nectar which comes from flowers, honey-dew, etc., is clean, espe- cially as it is placed in the honey-cells. It may not alsvays be of good quality; but that which is inferior, either in taste or color, is easily dis- 1S92 GLEANINGS IN HEE CULTURE. 375 covorod. and is not used or sold as food by tlu» bt^e-kocpcr. I hclitno tliat no sweot — not fv»'ii niaplo syrup from tlu> iu>ati'st sngar-bnsli—has so nnioh to nn'oniintMui it in tlic way of cleanli- ness as doos lioin\v. It is a new idea, that the bees store with their lioney the pollen rubbed otT as they toneh the anilieis. Surely Dr. K. needs to brush upon tlie habits of bees. It is true, that a very small portion of pollen is taken with the nectar as they sip: but this is mostly .separated by the stomach-mouth before the bee pets to the hive, so that only an inliiiitesimal portion is stored in the hive with the honey; and why does he say, "" if the i)ollen happens "to be poisonous"? We know that bees aii" very easily poisoned. How little ether, cyanofjen.or arsenic it takes to kill a bee! And yet the b(^es live on pollen in great part, and digest it for their brood, and not only live butthi'iveon it. Pollen is about as poii^onous as A No. 1 tlour. That Trebizond honey of Turkey— so fatally Foisonous— is getting to be a veritable^ chestnut, don't believe the honey anywhere in the world is poksonous. The same story is told about our mountain-laurel honey. The old Trebizond soldiers ate too much honey, and were sick, and so the old story about poisonous honey, which has been kept alive for centuries. A similar story was starti'd in Revolutionary days about American honey along the mountains of Penn- sylvania and Virginia; yet who believes that it had any foundation? Some years ago the students of our college cut a bee tree. All feasted to the fill on the luscious clover honey. About fifty were not at cla.ss that afternoon. All we needed was the presence of some Xeno- phon. ignorant of bees, to get up some superb canard about the awfully poisonous quality of the Michigan white-clover honey. And. last. Dr. K<^llogg has got on to the old canard about the bees poisoning their honey by spraying it with the poison from their honey- sacs. And more, the bees are vindictive, as they will add an overdose of this poison if irri- tated, which makes the honey rank (sic), and rank honey is terrible — why. it will often create a rash: and. worst of all, "These facts have all been determined by scientific investigation." The fact is. the above statements are veritable "bosh.'" and not facts at all, and so could not be determined by scientific or any other investiga- tion. I teach my students that good nursing is altogether more potent to stay disease than the doctor: and when I read such nonsense as the above, and that from a physician of wide re- pute. I feel like advising great caution before we give the lives of ourselves or our families into the hands of men who are not more care- ful in their statements. To write so carelessly, and to roll misstatements, with no attempt to prove them, as a swe(;t morsel under the tongue, is certainly a great faith-shaker. A. J. Cook. Agricultural College, Mich. [And now. my good friend Cook, are you not coming down rather heavily on our fi'iend Dr. Kellogg? I think he deserves it: and were I sure that you two could both shake hands over it in a friendly way after Dr. Kellogg lias read the above. I should not fee] troubled. The les- son that comes to me is. that we should all be careful: and especially do we need to be careful when acting as critic, "and particularly when we are a little out of our legitimate field. I greatly value Dr. Kellogg's family doctor book: but I must confess, that, when I read his rasli ci'iti- cisms on our own industry. I fell to wondering whether he made his statements in his book on family medicine in the same rash, liasty wav. We are all anxious to be right. We like. also, to be considered authority, at least on that which is in our own line of work; but if we ex- pect to lie authority on any thing, we must be careful. I'erhai)s Dr. K(dlogg is a very fiusy man; and I wonder if it would not l)e better for him if he were to attempt less in older that he might l)e sure he is right in what he does do. Let us all take the lesson home. See p. 33LJ A. I. R. Lad/es' Conversazione. FLORIDA. MKS. H.\I{I{I80N OIVK.S SOMK OF HER IMPKES- SION8. Mr. Editor:— k^Y\\ 1.3th I enjoyed the plea- sure of visiting the apiaries of Alderman v'c. Roberts, tlie largest in Florida, and excelled in number by few apiaries in the United .States or the world. The home of the Aldermans is unique in its kind, being built over the waters of the lake, and steaml)oats come and go from its wharf, which is like a front porch; and baited hooks are suspended from it to catcli fish. The lower story is used as a warehouse and ofhce, while there are very pleasant family rooms above, and a promenade around on the outside. From one of these promenades, ripe oranges and blossoms could be reached. I en- joyed walking around this promenade, and looking far away over the waters of the lakes, whose surface was covered with pond-lilies, with their great green leaves spread out upon the water. This paradise of a home, with its damp fertile gardens, luxuriant orange-groves, boating and fishing, has but one drawback; and that is, mosquitoes and malaria; and from May until September, those who are able to leave do so, to avoid its baneful attacks. Wewahitchka. in the Indian language, means the lakes of the two eyes, or eye-glasses joined together. These lakes are eighteen miles long, and from, three to five miles wide; they are fa- miliarly known as the " Dead Lakes." from the dead cypress-trees with which they abound. As I was traveling homeward on board the Queen City, ascending the Apalachicola River, I continually heard sportsmen congratulating one another on their success, and extolling these lakes as the greatest place in the world for sport, and exhibiting their trophies as proof. My interest in them centered greatly in their fjeing such rich pasture for bees, in their aquatic vines, shrubs, and trees. They afford a rich study for the naturalist to delve into natui'e's secrets, and endeavor to solve the problem, by what great convulsion of nature were these mighty giants of the forest lowered into the waters, which deprived them of their green leaves and pristine loveliness? Now they stand as mute monuments of their former greatness, shrouded in clinging vines and dra- pery of hanging moss. APIAIUES. In the region of these lakes are 2r){X) colonies of bees, and the firm of Alderman i<: Roberts own 1300 of them. On the afternoon of my ar- rival Mr. Alderman escorted m«! to s(>e one of their apiaries, located ou an island. We wend- ed our way by a path, through the orange- groves, which ended in the water-side, where a boat was in waiting. I was directed to take a seat toward the. prow, wiiile Mr. Alderman and the propelling power, in the person of a sturdy descendant of Ham, occupied the stern. The boat pushed out from the shore into a labyrinth of water-lilies, aquatic vines and bushes, while above towered those mighty giants of former centuries, clothed in funeral garb. When we 376 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 15. reached the opposite shore a beautiful panor- ama opened to our view — orange - trees, and long rows of gayly painted new hives, under sheds. These sheds had roofs inclining in op- posite directions, supported by stout posts. The hives were placed in rows facing outward, and there was plenty of room in the shade, between the backs of the hives, out of the bees' flight, to perform the woi'k in the hives. A very pretty star, in variegated colors, adorned the portico of each hive, which presented a pretty effect. As the star guided tlie wise men to the Babe of Bethlehem, so this apiary should be the guiding star to apiarists in the way of neatness and beauty. Every thine was in holiday garb, as if in readiness for the Columbian Fair. As the sun was setting we entered the boat and bade adieu to the manager and his two interest- ing little boys by his side. Mr. Alderman re- mained to go the village by another route, to attend prayer-meeting at the Methodist church, of which he is a devoted member, consigning me to the care of his faithful colored man, who had been with him for nearly a score of years, and to whom he had intrusted his own family in numerous instances. During a drouth, when the waters were low, obstructions had been re- moved, a roadway cut. and guide-boards nailed to the trees, and pieces of burlap tied to the branches, to keep travelers from getting lost in the dense swamp. In the gloaming, with no sound but the dipping of the oars, the faithful oarsman avoided every obstruction, and eager- ly scanned fortho?e bits of board and of burlap, which were so valuable to us in this our time of need: for without them we might have lost our way, and been compelled to pass the night in the swamp. We reached the shore in safety, and soon entered the hospitable home of the Aldermans. More anon. Mrs. L. Harhison. Peoria, III., April 25. WAX FLOWERS. MBS. AXTEIX TE:I.I.S HOW TO MAKE THEM; CONCLUDED FROM MARCH 1. Peach, apple, or crabapple blossoms are made by putting a small heading on a wire looped down at one end, of a little fringed yellow or white wax, or a bit of pink or white ribbon fringed, and the petals like those of the center of the fuchsia: or, get a blossom and cut the pattern from them, i-nbbing a very little red paint underneath each petal to give the tint of the natural flower. Pear or plum blossoms are made almost the same, only white. A cluster of white pear- blossoms is very pretty in a wreath. Cherry-blossoms are so small they are tedious to make. Cherry, blackberry, straw- berry, and raspberry blossoms may be cut out with the phlox-cutter. For lilac, use a lilac- cutter, and white or purple wax. Phlox are made by cutting out the petals with a phlox-cutter: also verbenas with a ver- bena-cutter. Stick a pin through the center of the flower, and draw a pink stamen through: then put a speck of wax under the flower and stick it to the stamen to keep it from slipping down. Make several of these, stick them all together on a stem, adding green leaves. Tint the phlox if you like, by rubbing a little of the carmine on the under side of each flower. Snowballs are made by putting many of these white phlox together with plenty of green leaves. Lilies and long-petaled flowers are more apt to droop and get out of shape. If they are made, use double wax, or the thick wax used in making pond-lilies. For pond-lily, use the double, or pond-lily wax. The center is formed on a stiff wire, of green or brown wax, about as large as a small peanut. Pinch it smooth and round; then, with the sharp-pointed molder, press the sides into ridges. Take two strips of yellow or orange wax, an inch and a half wide, if for a western pond-lily; if for a New England lily, three- fourths of an inch wide is sufficient (as the western pond-lily is more than as large again as the eastern). Cut one strip in coarse fringe, and the other in fine fringe. Lay the fringe on the palm of the hand. Take the dull molder and stroke each thread of the fringe, which will curl it up like center leaves. Put the fine leaves on first, then the coarse fringe, letting it all curl toward the center. Stick on 30 or 40 pond-lily petals, hollowed a little so as to curl slightly toward the center, graded in size and length from small to twice as large. Lay a small fold on the point where joined to the stem, to make the petal stronger. The sepal, or covering of the flower, is made very broad and rounding, three in number, and is thrown nearly back upon the stem, made of dark green wax lined with white wax with a very thin cloth between, pressed firmly togeth- er, made very hollowing with a large molder (a round door-knob will do for a molder). Trim neatly, and press on tightly. This supports the long petals. Add large green leaves of several sizes, or trim the large ones so some will be smallei', if but one leaf-mold is used; also make some buds of white wax, with calyx just open- ing. As this is a large flower, place it at the bottom of the wreath, or put it above in a pond- lily vase, which should have a mirror in the bottom, to look as if the lily were standing in water. If used above, rub upon each petal plenty of arrow-root, except at the base of the petal, which gives it a velvety look. Some of the center petals may have the least shade of pink color mixed with the arrow-root. Do not get too much color, as a pond-lily should be nearly white or yellow. Patterns from these are easily cut from paint- ings, where the natural lily can not be procured; they are also often seen in the artificial flowers. After one has made a few flowers it will be easy to make almost any flower by having the nat- ural flower to model after: but as some flowers are much easier made, and retain their shape better. I use mostly those with short petals, as they do not droop out of shape as do long-petal- ed flowers. The box for the back of the frame for flowers should be three inches deep, and the flowers should be tacked in so as to stand out distinct from each other, nearly touching the glass. Line the box with white printing-paper. Let the green leaves come between the flowers and the paper for a contrast, especially the light flowers. Tack the flowei's to the back of the box before fast(Miing it to the glass front. Use broad-headed tacks and a small hammer, and a nail-set. Ix'ginning at the top with the small flowers and small leaves, and work around as in a wreath, but do not let the wreath quite touch in the center at the top. The first flowers I generally use are fuchsias drooping down from the center; then phlox, verbenas, and other small flowers and leaves; at the sides come in groups of roses, and apple and peach blossoms, chrysanthemums, etc., while at the bottom are the heavy flowers, such as snowballs, dahlias, etc. In arranging the flowers in a wreath, be sure to use as many red flowers in one side as you do on the other, or as many white or pink in one side as the other, and each side about as many and as lieavy flowers as we used in the other, to look symmetrical. A white cross arranged for the center of a wreath is beautiful. My wreath has in its cen- ISifj (iLKAMNCiS IN I5KK CUI/niliK. t*>r a (.•liromo of a little child, whose eyes follow any one wheiover he may he in the room. The fiowei's are ari'ansred in a wn-atli ai'onnd it. The yellow- headed huniltle-hees are vei-y pretty, killed, and a [)in stueU thioiish them, and [)iiine(i to a tlowef. Tliey do not withei" up as hoiiey-hees do. Do not impale tliem with th<> jiin until they nvo dead. One of more hnt- terllit>s are pretty in a wreath if the hntterlly is not too iarse nor too many of them. I kill them by lioldinjr th(>m by tiie wing and cutting across the abdomen. It costs too ntuch to buy many cutters. I buy only i)hlo\. verbena, and leaf-mold cotters, though cutters foreach Mower can be purchaseil: but they would lu^'d to Ix' made ditTereutly froiu the directions 1 hav<' given. 1 think I liave mentioned all the tools that are needed, as I ha\'e made several large wreatlis and a good many bouciuets. Next time I will tell how to luake a wliite cross, and arrange other flowers into cross(>s or a harp. Instead of purchasing a picture-frame for the front of the wax-tlower box they look very well with only a large sheet of glass glued to the box: but I prefer a nent frame that fits on tigiitly aud is screwed to the box of wax flowers — not put on to open and shut like a door: that lets in too much dust. When fastened in I also paste over all cracks thin cloth or paper, as flowers will last a lifetime if kept from the dust and insects, and from getting too warm in win- ter from a stove. The natural heat of summer will not melt them unless stove heat is also added, as I have a large wreath I liave had for twelve years or more in perfect preservation. Roseville, 111.. Jan. 33. Mrs. L. C. Axtell. FOUNDATION-FASTENEKS. TUE DAISY. AM) WHAT MISS WILSOX THIXKS OF IT. When Dr. Miller came home from Medina he told me he had bought a Daisy foundation-fas- tener, and wanted me to wait until it came be- fore commencing to work on the sections. I did not say so to him. but I thought. "I know I won't like it as well as the Clark." I don't know but I've said I didn't want any thing bet- ter than the Clark. But Tve changed my mind — I do. I want the Daisy, for it is far ahead of the Clark: and if you have any thing better than the Daisy, I want that. When I first tried the Daisy I could do very good work with small starters, but could not irianage the large ones. We use a small starter ■'i in. deep at the bottom of the section, and a large one at the top that will almost till the remaining space. It was thes(> large starters tliat bothered me. Their own weight would invariably bring them out before; I could turn the sectif)ns over, and I could see no way to avoid it. With the Chirk I had plac- ed my fingers behind the foundation, supporting it as I turned the section over — a thing I could not do with the Daisy. But I kept trying dif- ferent ways. I had not worked very long before Dr. Miller says he heard a very emphatic "I have it I" I had to give up altogether the in- struction to pusliin the section with the riiig fingers. Instead I used the third and fourth fingers of the left hand on the top of the sec- tion, and the thumb on the bottom, to push the section in place, and with the tips of the first finger of each hand pressed thi' foundation in place as it slipped off the healed plate. Then letting go the right hand. I turned the section over with the left, still holding the foundation in place with the tip of the first finger, as I turned it over, and it worked nicely. Mr. I{oot, did you ever try putting in large starters, and could you make it work? You s(M', you can't throw sections with large start- ers directly from the fasierier into a basket. They must be set right side up, b(H'ause the large starters will come out while warm, as I have already said, tfieir own weight i)ulling them over. Indeed, I don't think that at any time it would be ji good plan to thr(jw sections with large slarteis into a basket indiscrimi- nately. Let me name some of the advantages that the Daisy has over the Clark. Yon do not have to use the fet't, iind using the feet all day is very tiresome. You are noloiiliged to wet tlu! foun- dation-fastener to keep it from sticking. The foundiition is heated as you put it in, and you are not obliged to ket^p your foiuidation in nice even piles so as to have one edge warmed. (Sometimes those piles would tip over, much to my annoyance, so perhaps the Daisy saves my temper.) Cold foundation is easier picked up than warm, because it doesn't stick together so much; and with the Daisy, cold foundation works better than warm. So you can have your foundation in your lap, and thus avoid reaching for each piece — no small item in a day's work. The hotter you can keep the plate, the Ijetter work the Daisy does, both as to speed and se- cure fastening. I questioned a little at first whether the sections would stand hauling as w(>ll as they did when fastened with the Clark: but I do not think there will be any trouble on that score, as they seem to be very securely fastened when you keep the^ plate hot enough. In fact, if properly put In you can not pull the starter away from the wood, as the foundation will give way elsewhere. Emma Wilsox. Marengo, 111., April 21. [We never put in large starters for our trade, as they would not stand shipping. For large sheets it may be necessary to modify the direc- tions some; in fact, we rather imagine that every one will have his own way rather than follow any prescribed directions. Y^es. we were certain you'd like the Daisy, and told Dr. Mil- ler so.] THE MOUNTAIN LAUREL. HOW THE BEES GATHER HONEY FROM IT IX KENTUCKY; THE HONEY' NOT POISONOUS. In the Apr. 1.5th number. J. W. Grove says he has a young man living with him who lived all his life in Northeast Teiuiessee, saying he never saw a bee on wluit is called " mountain laurel " there, and believes bees can not work on it. on account of the fact that the blossoms are too sticky. Yes. bees do work on it here in West Vii'ginia, on the Alleghany Mountains. There arc hundreds of acres here in these mountains. There are two kinds— big anil little laui'cl. The little is the kind the bees work on tnost. Last summer bees worked on laurel quite sti'ong in preference to white clover. True, the blossimis are sticky, but bees load up, I think, in half the time they do on white clover. I never lieard of any one being sick here from eating laurel hon- ey, although the leaves of the little laurel are poisonous to cattle and sheep: but I hardly i)e- lieve that laurel honey would have so much poison as to make one sick. I have found about 40 bee-trees since I came here, and all in reach of laurel. The honey from these trees never made us sick. John Slauraugh. Eglon. W. Va., April 29. [See Prof. Cook's article, page 374.] 378 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 15. Notes of Travel FROM A. I. ROOT. Feb. 1. — We are now at San Jacinto, near the foot of the San Jacinto Mountains. Although the peak is only ll,r>00 feet high, it is to me the most wonderful and imposing of any mountain I have yet seen in California. Of course, it is snow-capped at this season, and the greater part of the season its summit is more or less ob- scured by clouds and snowstorms. There is somehow a wonderful fascination about it to me, and I turn again and again and gaze at the rocky citadel, reaching away up among, and often over and above, the clouds. When the weather is clear we can see the summit of " Old Baldy " also, although said summit is toward a hundred miles away. Its top is so clean and white that Mrs. Root insisted it must be some fleecy cloud illumined by the sun; but clouds move and vanish away, while the white tops of the "eternal hills" are fixed for ever. At the base of the San Jacinto range of mountains there are innumerable hot and warm springs that are a never-ending wonder to me. You may remember my theory of accounting for the heat, on the ground that it is caused by the mixing of waters highly charged with chemical salts. Well, here they have a great hot spring that would almost run a mill, and yet the water is pure and soft, and does not seem to contain any chemical at all. In fact, they send it up into an elevated tank by means of a hydraulic ram. so that it may cool off and be fit for drink- ing and domestic purposes. Now, although the temperature of some of these springs runs up as high as 160°. no attempt has yet been made to utilize this vast quantity of heat for greenhouses, outdoor gardens, incubators, or even for warm- ing buildings, so far as I can find out. The people at the bath-houses buy wood and fuss with stoves, while at the very same time they are sending this hot water in iron pipes right past their doors, to cool it off! Why in the world they don't run it through a coil of pipes placed in the rooms, or even through a single pipe running around the room, is more than I see. Of course, it is often tuo warm in the mid- dle of the day, even occftsiondlly in winter; but how much expense would it be to close a valve and let the water flow outdoors as it does now? Oh I I wish I had nothing else to do, so I could come out here and start a queen-rearing plant, using the hot water to warm up the "lamp- nursery," the nuclei, and perhaps a few strong colonies of bees, so as to get lots of drones to fly during these occasional warm days. While I raise the queens, Mrs. Root is going to raise chickens, and have a verii .smaZf egg-farm. East of the town. aDout two miles ana a half, isla sanitarium where the hot water comes out of the sides of the mountain, up perhaps 200 ft., and in these hot-water canyons are sunflowers higher than your head, in full bloom; and, mind, this valley is a cold location, where frost is common, and snow comes occasionally. The green vegetation, all along the hot water, clear down into the valley, clearly attests the value of the hot water for pushing vegetation ahead of the season. What a little paradise this might be for the strawberry-grower I At both places we saw arrangements for washing clothes right in the open air. and in one an aged Indian wo- man was away off' up the mountain, alone, do- ing uj) quite a large washing in the Indian fashion. There is no sort of question in regard to the curative properties of the hot water of these various mineral springs. I was at first inclined to ascribe it to the dailyibathing; but instances that came to.my knowledge inciden- tally furnish, an amount of evidence too great to be set aside. One of our bee-men was almost at death's door with rheumatism, and the wa- ter of the springs gave him almost immediate relief; and after only five weeks' treatment he climbed the steep rocky mountain with us, with comparative ease. San Jacinto and vicinity seems to be a favored locality for people afifiict- ed with asthma and kindred diseases. We met again and again with people who really can not live in the Eastern States, who are compara- tively well while they stay here. Some of them, after being cured, have tried going back to their old homes and relations; but the mala- dy soon comes back. It seems that certain lo- calities favor certain symptoms or constitu- tions; and the problem, therefore, seems to be to find the place where you get most relief. The result is. that we find many intelligent and cul- tivated people away back in the rocky wilder- ness, keeping bees or raising fruit, simply be- cause they can not live anywhere else, and they feel as if they must have something to do. I would most earnestly advise those who can not enjoy fair health where they are, to give differ- ent portions of California a trial. Don^tlnvest until you are tolerably sure you have found the place you want; but. rather, try the air and surroundings for a few weeks, a month or two, or a year; and if by that time your affliction seems to be giving way. then make arrange- ments for a permanent home. At San Jacinto the air is nearly always dry, and at certain points there is hardly such a thing as a fog known. These localities are especially favora- ble for drying fruit out in the sun. and fruit is often shipped to quite a distance, where it may dry secure from fog. Such locations seem to favor asthmatic people. Here is one of the great grain-producing val- leys of the world; but it isn't done at all as we do it in the East. And this brings to mind the fact how little our agricultural papers of the East are fitted for farming here. Again, the farming of one portion of CdUfoiiiid is so utter- ly unlike that of the other, that the instruction and papers for one would not do for another at all. More of this anon. Here in the valley of the San Jacinto they sow their grain at any time from October to February, rarely later than Feb. 1. It is mostly put in at one opera- tion, with a machine that is in itself a plow, seed-sower, and harrow combined. Mr. H. I. Morse, to whom both myself and Mrs. Root feel greatly indebted, told me the following: He rented Ki acres of gi-ound for -SlG.tK). With the help of his son and eight horses they sowed it to grain in one day. They never went on the ground any more until after the harvesting was done; then tiiey picked up the sacks of grain and hauled them to the depot, where they re- ceived the cash for the crop. After taking out all expenses they received -?iiO for the one day's wo7-k I have mentioned. Now. please don't im- agine that every man and boy in the San Jacin- to Valley gets scto for every day's work they do. The harvester mentioned is shown on next page. The machine cuts the grain, thrashes it, cleans it, and puts it in bags, all for 10 cents per bushel, and it wastes less of the grain by shell- ing out than any of the common ways of cutting and thrashing. Of course, such a machine is possible only where it never rains in summer. The gang that run the machine furnish every thing but sacks and fuel. A "cook-wagon" is a part of the apparatus, so that the farmer has no great lot of men to board and lodge. Well, in San Jacinto they do not irrigate for grain at all. The rain that falls during the winter months starts the grain to growing and makes the crop. I made a good deal of inquiry, but they seemed to think it wouldn't pay to irrigate 18.nce. The honey is made a shade dai'ker, and usually bring-; a low- er price: but wh(>n it is I'un out pretty quickly from soft new combs, the coloi' is pretty fair. The honey is run, while hot. into square tin cans, and ilie whole product of the apiary is got season this great root sends up sprouts that grow and bear fruit, as only a plant with such a root can grow. "Storage battery" again. It would seem that nature is not only ahead of us in almost every invention we make, but this orange seems to be a veritable storage battery indeed. It locks up. as it were, in that great, heavy, clumsy root, that is a terror to the gar- dener and fruit-grower, an amount of material for future use that enables the plan t to make this astonishing growth. Are you watching for the moral? Why, train the plant to grow some- thing useful or something good for food, and what a treasure it would be I lam impressed that the thing is possible by seeing some Hong Kong cabbage in a Chinese garden. The veget- able seems to be a sort of hybrid or mongrel somewhere between a cabbage, lettuce, and ed- ible topped beet. The inside leaves are crisp, white, and nice to eat, even raw. High-pressure Gardening. JUUIBARB, OR PIE-PLANT. Of late I have been "getting acquainted" ^._ _ __ . . ^ with tlie aliove plant; and it seems to me that ready for the market with very littlelabor. The it has hardly had' the attention that it should heat'of the extractor clears the frames of every thing, so thev are like new ones, except a thin coat of wax that looks like varnish. To save time, both of bees and operator, a new set of frames is put at once into the super, and the bees commence at once to till it up as they used to fill boxes in olden time. I believe our friend proposes to continue this method during the coming year. Should he have a good yield of light sage honey, and his crop bring a cent or have. At seasons of the year when fruit is dif- ficult to obtain, and high-priced, pie-plant is cei'tainly a boon to mankind. If you do not believe in pies, have your wife make some nice bread, and use the rhubarb as sauce with your bread and butter. If you want it before it comes outdoors, a very little heat will do the business, as it is one of the easiest plants to force or push that I know of. In the cellar under our machine-shop is a drip-valve, as we two less per pouiid than his neighbors who use call it, that takes the condensed water from the the extractor, he may lose some of his enthusi- steam-engine above down to the cellar bottom, asm. If I am correct, he depends mainly on The water then runs into the cellar drain smoke to get the bees out of the supers; but through a small-sized tile. Of course, when very likely a good many of them never get out. just coming from the engine the water is a lit- but go into the sun extractor with the wax and itle warm. Well, one of our boys said he knew honey. he could raise pie-plant over this small tile in While visiting W. J. Haslam I examined sam- the cellar bottom; and, sure enough, right in pies of the foul brood they have in the vicinity, the depth of winter he had the most beautiful My impression is, that it is a different and a rose-colored stems of rhubarb I ever saw. They milder form of the disease than what we have were long, and delicately tinted, because they the East. For instance. I am assured by grew in the dark, and were about as delicious several reliable men that it has, in quite a number of cases, disappeared of itself. I also found a hive, prettv fairly filled with good healthv brood in all stages, and perfect bees hatching out in considerable number, where as an V thing people often put into pies. Over the exhaust steam outdoors that I have told you about. I'hubarb starts with wonderful lux- uriance. It is true, the frost has "cooked "it ^ ... __ once or twice during our recent frosty spring; old sunken cells were to be found at the outside but the plant showed its goot? wiZf, anyhow, edges of the combs. These cells when punc- Well, I have been wondering what has been tured contained the ropy matter, and seemed to done in the way of new varieties. In fact, I have the familiar smell. Mr. H. had iieen am just preparing to have a trial ground of watching this colonv over a year, and it had rhubarb, testing every thing in the catalogues, given a good yield of honey; and this spring lipf'ore doing so, however, I thought best to there were certainly no diseased cells right write to our good friend Green, of the Ohio amo7ig the new brood. This is a puzzle to me. Experiment Station, and see what they had May be some of the friends can tell us more already done in that line. Below is his reply: about it. In our apiary (when we had foul brood), when it once got into a hive the numlier of diseased cells never grev less. All over California we find a plant growing wild, called " mock orange." It looks like the same thing we sometimes grow in the East, just for playthings for the children. Well, I was astounded here at the enormous crops it bore— ?ady Mr. Rant: -In reply to yours of the 29th I would .say that my experience with rhubarto has been rather limited. Two years ago we sowed the seed of four varieties— Victoria, Linnteus, Carlton Club, and Eg-yptiaii Queen. Of tlie first two Isinds we got a fair stand; but of the others, hardly enough for a fair test of their growth out of doors. The Vic- toria seems to be the strongest, but tlie Linnieus 1S<»0 GLEANINGS IN HKE CULTURE. 381 ROLLING Vr TIIK (TinAIN TO A llEl) l.")() FKKT LONG. suriiiR iiioiiflis, before rlmharb was giowii in tli(> open lield, we received :.'() cts. per lb. for it; and. ill fact, we received '.'(i cts. per lb. for all we could pet outdoors for perhaps the lirst week. 'I lien coin|)etiti()ii sent the price down to 1.") and then to 10 cts.: and to- day. May !t. it ha.s got as low as (i cts. at re- tail. My itnpression is, however, that it could be raised at a [irofit at only one cent a iiound — that is, if enough of it could b(» disposed of to make it an object to pro- duce it in quantities. SO.ME SKETCHES FROM OUR FORTHCOMING TOMATO-ROOK. In our issue for March 15 I gave a description of the new industry at Crystal Springs. Miss.— raising early tomatoes for the northern mar- kets. At the time, I told you I would give some pictures later on. The first picture shows how one man rolls up the curtain to a bed 1.50 feet long. It also shows the general plan of the cloth-covered cold-frame or hot- bed. The next shows the way in which two men can roll up the curtain to a bed S.'iO feet long. It also shows another Tlie seed is rather diffi- cult to s(jw. eitlier witli a drill or by liand. In Uutk- iiiji- tlirouK'i tlic books I find tliese two varieties recommended in about tlie way I liave described. In the cataloRues tliey are about tile only kinds men- tioned. Henderson frives a lu-w kind, and so does Rawsori, witli extra prices. 1 wish othei- veg-etables wvrv cut do\yn to two kinds that could hv rec ommended as well as these in rliubai'b. The (question you ask in tlie last Gleanings lean not answer, as we have never raised carrots to >ipeak of . I tried your plan of plant inf? celery early to g'et it to run to seed." as we wanted to ^et a cros.s be- tween Silver Spray and White Plume; but it \^-ould not go to seed, and all winter- killed durinyr the past winter, so we shall have to try afrain. We have made quite a success with our niiish- rfioms this winter. From ioii/cr tlif hnis of about half of one liouse we have sold nearly one hundred dollars' worth. It beats any thing- we have tried to raise under the beds. E. C. GUEEN. Columbus, O.. May 2. During the winter and CLOTH C0LD-FI;AMK, •.'.")() FEET LONG 382 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 15. cloth cold-frame in the distance. The third shorter in order to clear the curtain-roller If is a view of one of these cold-frames with its made shorter, however, they do not hold the plank covering of pine leaves and straw, to protect ^9 securely from warping:. I have had some e.xpe- the plants from a severe frost. In the picture "e°ce m tins line witli plant-beds. Tlie herry- you will notice that the covering has been t^'t^ '^^fTx^i::^ "^^'^^^^ ^'^l boug-h t very cheaply without bottoms. Friend Dny})astliem nailed up. rig-lit on hisg-rounds. just as they are used in the bed. Now. with us we would drive a very lively trade in pelling- plants, box and all. In fact, we have quite a few custom- ers who would give a nickel for a nice tomato- plant growing- in a box. It is true, however, tliat it requires more care to grow plants in boxes than in the entire level sur- face of the ground, espe- cially during a dry time. As friend Day suggests, they will dry out, and the plants will die; whereas, if they stood right in the bed there would be no trouble. Wliere a bed is filled with these boxes, the dirt is first shoveled up in a lieap, down to about four inches in depth, then the bottom is nicely leveled off. and the boxes placed in. tight togetlier. Now the dirt is shoveled into and over them, until a strip of board can be passed over so as to level otf the dirt, as you would sti-ike off a measure of grain. Now ONE OF TIIE3CLOTH COI-D-FEAMES, WITH ONE SIDE FIXED FOR \ SEVERE ^*^* ^'^'^ plants, one in the FROST. center of each box. removed from one side of the bed. the oth<'r being left on. With a rake, and sort of brush or broom made of branches of trees, this light covering can be thrown off or brushed off very quickly. It is left on the ground at the foot of the curtain, where it will be ready for use the next spell of cold weather. When a frosty night is coming, his men. with appropriate forks, will scatter the litter over the canvas beds very quickly. The last of this series of pictures is a wood engrav- ing. We copy the descrip- tion from the tomato-book. It also gives a nice idea of the way in which the cloth frame, double width, is con- structed, e.xcept that the en- graver has shown the stakes. that hold the plank sides, on the insick of the bed instead of the tnitsklc. I suggested to friend Day that I thought the mside preferable. His objer- tion was, that they occupied room that might be used for plants; and wiien I still sug- gested havingthem on the inside instead of the outside, so that they would be entirely out of the way of the curtains, he replied that they made them THANSPLanting wrrii and without BEKRY-BOXES. CI.IOANINOS IN HKK (.'ri/rUUE. 383 MiLU t'L—{)\\ what wcliH-s: li laiiird uiilil tilt' »rioiiiid was soaki'd, ami tlu^i raiiu-il atiaiii; Hiui w litTc the jrardcncr did iiot just stJr him- self and malvt' tiiiiiLTS tly w hcin'vci- till' j^i'oiiiid wa^iii pfopcr condiiiuii. his crops af<> not in. 1 lliiiiU 1 tu'vcf t'lijoycd seeing uiidei'diains do their w.rk as mik-Ii as 1 have in tho past lew- days. A new pieee of groinia ha'i neve: hern driiinea; but it was so mar liie niilrohvl Daniv that it seemed to me as if it did not roai'v need it; bi.'. i I -.lally p;;. in dfaiiis over; %' To.., even ihoujrh tlie ground was on a good slope. And now as I go along the hank 1 see a stream of water issuing from every outlet, and the piece of ground dries out heauti fully, and no water ever stands on its surface at all. To keep the outk'ts from washing away I fastened together three pieces of one-foot tile by crowding iheni into a galvanized pipe two feet long, the tiles projecting (l in. at each end of the tube. Where the end sticks otit of the bank it is firmly im- bedded with stones above and below the end. OURSELVES AND OUR NEIGHBORS. Xo g-oiMl tiling- will he witliliold from them that walk uprightly.— Psalm 84:11. For many years there has been more or less discussion in our little household in regard to the propriety of Christian people engaging in card-jilaying and dancing. Kow. please do not imagine that I am going to take up the suljject and discuss it right here. I presume that almost every one of my readers, especially those who are members of churches, have gone over this matter again and again, and very likely they are familiar with the arguments pro and con. I may simply say, however, that card-playing and dancing have never as yet found a place in our home. Neither have the •" Root boys " or the ■■ Root girls" taken part in such amuse- ments in <)th€r homes. Perhaps this might not liave been the case, however, had it not been so well understood by all members of the family that ■■ pa Root ■■ was very decided in his views in regard to such matters. I do not wish here to convey the impression that there was a dis- sension in the family in regard to the matter. In fact, after some little discussion with tlie young people a few days ago I astonished them somewhat by telling them that, after thinking over the matter — yes. and praying over it — I had decidexl that it was my iluty to tell Constance (shi^ that used to b(^ call- ed'" Blue Eyes'") that she was old enough to judge for herself in such matters, and that, from that time forth, she should do as she thought best in regard to taking part in such amusements or ?iof taking part. I even prom- ised that, if she should have cause to regret any thing in such line hereafter. I would be careful not to say even so much as " I told you so." At first there was quite a little excitement over my decision; but when my daughter found that my sentiments had not changed — only that I began to recognize that, as she was nineteen years old. and a member of the church, she cer- lainly ought to be able to take care of herself— at least to tliat extent. Now. in our household the children have grown up with such pleasant relations between themselves and their parents that I hardly be- lieve any one of them who has attained a majority has ever thought to note the fact, as children sometimes do. by saying to themselves, if not out loud, " Well, to-day I am eighteen;" or, *' To-day I am twenty-one," as the case may be, •' and therefore I atn my own " boss,' and am not in the future to be ruled over by any one." Well, Constance, after thinking the matter (i\('r. concluded that, e ;'ii if she K'ccf eiglit(((:n, or even niuet»MMi, for ihat matter, she did not feel any more likedisa jreeing with her parents, «>v(>n on a small matter, than she did before. So the (luestion ri'maiiis just about where it was. Perhaps I might say that the discussion lirst started because of the fact that, in our town, those who do not dance or play cards, are, at liMst to .so/iic (extent, ostracized from certain gatherings, by certain classes cif society. I do not like that word '■o a little to persist in walking up- rightly: and tli(M-e are not a few who really become '• weai'y in well doing." They say. "It does not make any difference! how loiig or how hard I try to do right. Nobody notices it. and I get no reward for it. I might just as well havETiN No. 13. of the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture, entitled " Foods and Food Adulterants," by H. W. Wiley, Chief Chemist, has recently been laid upon our table. It re- lates to the adulteration of sugar, molasses, honey, and wax. Prof. Wiley, it will be remem- bered, is the author of what Mr. Newman appropriately calls the '" Wiley lie." Years ago he wrote an article for the Popular Science Monthly, stating in all seriousness that comb honey was successfully manufactured, filled with glucose, and capped over by appropriate machinery. The professor was called upon to retract by bee-keepers all over the land; and finally, years afterward, he admitted that his article in the Popular Science Mnntldy was only a "scientific pleasantry," and that he had no idea it was possible to manufacture comb honey. Well, now, in the bulletin above men- tioned, page 744, the same chemist says: •* Many samples of comb honey containing only glucose have come under my observation. But in all these cases, the comb, presumably after the separation of the honey by a centrifugal machine, was evidently placed in glassed bot- tles, and the glucose then added. I have never yet found a sample of comb honey sold in the frames which was artificial, except in the use of comb foundation." Here we have the professor down in plain black and white; and why couldn't he have been candid enough to give utterance to a similar statement years ago ? Now, instead of attacking bee-keepers on the score of comb honey, he and his associates have struck out on a new line; and that is, pi'onounc- ing, by chemical analyses, that nearly all liquid honey is adulterated. Pnifi^ssor W.. it seems, appointed seven or eight chemists lo analyze each some fifty samples of honey. These analyses are all numbered and IS'.i-i C.LKANINCS IN HKE CULTURE. 3S7 taliiihiii'ii. ill llu'ivport lu'forc us. witli the name anil a lit! It 'ss of t lu' (xm'sous pultiiiir up t lio satti- plo. Tlic latilcs tlu'Misclvcs arc iiol vciy ddi- iiitc to tlio iiiiiid of tlic aviMaiic btH'-kt'cpcr. bt>- oaus(> only u (.•luMuist can nial<(» out what they mean: but th«'n' aro sonio thiusis that cvcMy out' iMu undcrstauil. It scimus that some saui- i)lt>s of honey were ohtaiufd frtmi ("harli's F. Sluth.a bt'i'-ktvpcr and com mission nuMcliaut of iutefirity. and who. as is well known, is cu- tiivly above the disreputable business of adul- teratiuc tiouey. As we stated, all the samples are numbered", and we will quote a few of them. No. 1(>4. page 7S8. reads: " Pure machine - extracted honey, from the Italian apiary of C. F. Mutli, contains fully .50 per cent of adulterant. The machine alluded to in the label is doubtless the convtM'ter by which corn starch is changed into glucose in ButTalo and other places." Again we (]uote: •• No. lOii. labeled ' Muth's California Honey.' is almost pure glucose." And again: *■ No. 127 is warranted pure honey, put up by C. F. Muth vt Son. It is nearly half glucose." And still again: " No. 149 is another illustration of adulterated honey bearing the label of C. F. Muth ifc Son;" and so on through the seveial pages of num- bered samples fi'om different commission houses, the honey is branded as "' adulterated." But the strangest thing about it is. that some of the scamps whom we feel sure are adulterating, are counted as selling pure goods. C. F. Muth's name as a honey merchant and a bee-keeper is above reproach. No man has done more than he to fight the adulteration of honey, and he is the very last one in the whole trade who could be pravailed upon to enter the disreputable business. We can say with almost a certainty, that every sample of honey that goes out of C. F. Muth's establishment is absolutely pure — at least, if adulterated it was not done while in his hands: and he has been too long in the bus- iness to be fooled w^ith honeys that are not pure. To show you how thoroughly incompetent Prof. Wiley is in his methods of analysis, we will state that Charles F. Muth some time ago sent him samples of pure honey, just as it was taken from the hive, asking him to make a chem- ical analysis. Professor Wiley did so, and an- nounced that((/i were adulterated. This alone is enough to show that the methods \\hich the chief chemist in the Department of Agriculture and his associates have adopted are exceedingly faulty. As Prof. Cook has so ably shown, hon- ey does contain natural glucose: and pure honeys will show many if not all of the chemical reactions found in adulterated goods. In view of this. Prof. Wiley and his associates have called down upon themselves the reproach of the whole bee-keei)ing world; and at a large expense to the government have giv(Mi us a report (so far as it relates to honey) lilled with error and absurdity. Professor Wiley has once before, by virtue of his high o)'tic»\ done bee-keepers an irreparable damage by his falsehood in regard to manufacturtid comb lion- ey; and then when cornered he slyly slipped out of it by saying that it was a']jiec(! of "scientific pleasantry." If not malicious, as we hope he is not, we deem him thoroughly incom- petent to analyze or direct about analyzing honey. As we have said before, we do not deny that extracted honey is adulterated to some extent; but we do deny that nearly all liquid honey upon the market is glucosed, as this report tries to make us believe. The truth is bad enough; but when it is turned into a falsehood, we "kick.'" IF YOU WANT BEES Tli.il will Just "roll" ill the JKUny. I ly Moore's strain of italian>, the result of Hi veai-s' cat'eful breediiiK. T. .1. Moflilt, Kemps Mills, N. C., suys: "Tlu-y beat any thiiiff T cvit saw in the bee line. Tliey are certainly ' rollintr ' in the lioncy now; one oftlicm l)cat.s thicc of my others at work. I would not take .t.^.iH) .■i])ieco for the (jueeiis. Tlie.v seem very Mt'ii'lc." I'rici»8: Warranted queens, in June, $1. (It) each; ;i for *2 .50. Tested queens in May, *:i.00 each; select tested. $2.50. Circulars free. 8d J. P. MOORE, Mortran, Pendleton Co., Ky. In writini? to advertisers pleane mention this paper. FOLLOWING LOW PRICES : Untested, before June 1, U 00; after, 75c. Tested, before June 1, $1..50; after June 1, $1.00. Safe arriv- al and satisfaction guaranteed. I breed a fine flve- banded strain of Italians. Send for my price for 1892, and get prices on nuclei and full colonies. Cheaper than ever before known. Write for prices on large orders. OTTO J. E. URBAN, Prop., Thorndaue, Texas, t^"In responding to this advertisement mention Gleanu.gs. Our dolden ami L,eather Col- ored Itnliitn Queens. Hrecl for Jiiisiiies.s. b^tWAYSj Tested, in June, $1.25; untested, 75c; 3 .ON_y for $2.00. Our stock consists of 300 col- JT0£/ onies devoted to bees and queens for the trade. Orders filled by return mail. Send for catalog of supplies, etc. JNO. NEBEl. & SON, High Hill, Wlo. P. S.— A. J. Fields, of Wheaton, Ind., writes: "The queen and bees received of you last spring made 147 lbs. of comb honey, and took first premium at three fairs." 8tfdb t^"In responding to tliis advertisement mention Gleanings. ^ FINE ITALIAN~QUEENS ^ ^ PRICES FOR MAY. C ^ 1 untested queen $1.00 ^ Q 3 " " 2.50 5^ fii 1 tested queen 1..50 i£ S " •• 4.01) « Tj Select Tested, each 3.(K) ^ ^ Two-frame Nucleus with any queen, ^ »-J $1.50 each e.vtra. Safe arriA'al guar- rj: M anteed. W- J- KI^HSON, lOd , €atcliall, Siimter To., S. V. iS^iu respondlntr to tJiis u(lv(■l■Ii^elllellt mention Gleanings. The queen I got of you lias mtjre brood than any colony I have. A. Mim.Ett, Trail, O. Our Five-Banded Italians Are the l)ees for business: gentle, and beauties. CDCC f The Amateur Bee-keeper, .52 pages; price rntt. ;>5c; one given free each day to the one sending the most money for queens. One warranted queen in May, .?l.l(l; 6 for if5..5l). June. $1.00 each; (i for fo.OO. Entire satisfaction guaranteed. l-24db S. F. 6c I. TKEOO, Swedona, III. C3'"ln responding to tliis advertisement mention Gleanings. 388 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 15. Beautiful! Gentle! Prolific! { The Five - Banded Golden Italian Bees. I Send .5c for sample of bees and be t'on\inced. P Catalogue free. One queen, June or July, $1.00; P six, $.5.00. ? J. F. MICHAEL. I 8-13db GERMAN. DARKE CO., OHlO.> . ■ ... n_spoiiijiiig i^> Uii:s aclverti.-^einunt nientu>ii :AM.\(is. DR. J. W. CRENSHAW, Versailles, - Kentucky, Offers for Sale- Untested Italian Queens at $1.00 each tlu-oug-h May and June; after, 75c each. Safe arrival guaran- teed. Queens raised only from Imported mother. Drones only from selected and tested mothers. Also CELERY PLANTS from July f ) September, at $3.00 per M. 7-18db 0*ln responding to this advertisement mention Oleanings. Good Queens Cheap. 300 tested Italian queens, raised last season, for sale'at$l; $10 per doz. A few hybrids at 25c each. They will be shipped about June 15th to 2,5th, or later if desired. Have order booked now and send money when you want them. My bees have been HRED FitR ItVSlNUSS, and these are bar- gains. Nuclei and full colonies at very low rates. J. A.. (3:ii.'EE^'^, DaT-boza., ZU. Srin respondinir to tliis ailvei tiseinent mention GLEANINOa. WHY, YES, EVERYBODY KNOWS that it pays to purchase their Honey-Comb Foun- dation at C. W. PHELPS & CO. S Wholesale and Re- tail Foundation Factory. They sell heavy for Brood, 4.5e.; thin for Comb Honey. 5.5c. They deol in all kinds of A piarian supplies. Their customers are always pleased, for their work is good and prices reasona- ble. Send for free sam- ples Foundation and price-list of Bee supplies, i^ddress C. W. Phelps &Co., 74 Pettit street, Binghamton. N. Y. TAKE NOTICE! BEFORE placing your orders for SUPPLIES, write for prices on One-Piece Basswood Sections, Bee- Hives, Shipping-Crates, Frames, Foundation, Smo- kers, etc. PAGE & KEITH, Utfdb New London, Wis. Please mention this paper. J. C. SAYLES, HARTFORD, WIS., manuf=actures apiarian supplies of every Description. Catalogue Free to All. Send Your Address. Stfdb Please mention this paper. Bee-Keepers' Supplies. Hives. Honey -Cases, Sections, and Frames. We are the only concern in Southern Califor- nia who make a SPECIALTY OF BEE-KEEPEKS' MATEEIAI. Agents for the white basswood 1-1 b. sections. Send for catalogue and price list. 6-13db Oceanside Mill Co., Oceanside, Cal. ^7*In responding to this advertisement mention Gleanings CONTROL YOUR SWARMS! N. D. WEST'S SPIRAL WIRE QUEEN CELL PRO TECTORS AND CAGES. N. D. West's Spiral Wire pat Queen-Cell Protectors will o^^ do it, and you can RE- QUEEN your apiary during' the swarming season. Pro- nounced the Best by such men as Capt. J. E. Heth- ERiNGTON. Cherry Valley, N.Y.; P. H. Elwood, Stark- ville, N. Y., and others. Cell- Protectors, $3.C0 per 100, or 12 for 60c, by mail. Cages. $5.00 per 100, or 12 for $1.00, by mail. Samples of both, with circular explaining, 25 cts. The cages are used for hatching queens in any hive, and are the Best Bee-Escape in use. Address 8-910d N. D. WEST, Middleburgh, Schoharie Co., N. Y. Please mention this paper. Bees For Sa.le. COLONIES. NUCLEI, AND QUEENS. at living rates. Send for circular and price list to C. C. VAUGHN & CO., Columbia, Tenn. In writing to advertisers please mention this paper. 5-lOdb Honey ^ E:kti^aGtoi^. Squafe Glass }4oney-Jai»s, Tin Buckets, Bee«hives. Honey-Seetions, &e., &c. Peffeetion Cold-Blast Stnokefs. APPLY TO -^.^^^-wv^^^^^^x^^ CHAS. F, IWUTH & SON, Cineinnatl, O. Send 10-ct. stamp for "Practical Hints to Bee-keepers.' Please mention this paper. PRICE LIST OF BEE-HIVES. 8-fr'me. lO-f'me. 8-frme. 10-f'me. l>^-st'y. VA-sfy. 3 st'y. 3-st'y. In lots of 5 . . . . 73c 83c 87c 97c In lots of 10 .... 69 79 34 94 In lots of 35 .... 6.) 70 75 85 In lots of .50 . . . 6K 68 73 83 In lots of loo . . . 57 67 70 80 The reason we can sell so cheap is that lumber is cheaper in Minnesota than any other State in the U. S. The above prices are for Dovetailed, Simplicity, and tliree otlier styles. Send for catalogue. F. €. EKKEli, lieSueur, ITIlnu. Please mention this paper. Engine and Boiler For Sale. A si.x-horse upright engine and a ten-horse hori- zontal steel boiler. They are both complete and In tine condition; have been used only about six months. Boiler arched in. Both are W. B. Dunn- ing's make, Geneva. N. Y. Also an IH-incli Feed-Mill, French buhr, of A. W. Stevens' make. Auburn, N. Y. Sheller. Elevator, Shafting, Belting, Pulleys, and a fine lot of Simonds saws, cut-off and rip, from 5 inch up to 18. Two Vandervort Foundation Mills, 6 and 13 inch, steam melting-appaiatus, etc. The whole outfit is nearly new, and in fine ct)ndition. Will be sold at a bar- gain. Write for particulars. O. U^. BALEY & SON, 9tfdb Ovid, Seneca Co., N. If. Please mention this paper. 1892 (;i>KANlN(;s IN HEE CULTURE. 389 HUBBARD BEE HIVE \ SECTION PRESS. If ymi want to hnniilo lues easy liy sitting:; (Idwii to it. liero is tlie liive. Iniiiu"s fixed mill vniint>li' (lisliiiii'e coiiihiiifd Nn wreiK'liing nr prying or scnipiiig of combs togt'tluT. Many tlioiisaiid.s lu use. giving excflleiu salisfiiction. Live Agents make SDlenflid Profits. l.ar^;i.' Circuiar of 'Jn |)ai,'es free. Iliis SI'X'TION I'UKSS (Put'd is sold at S3.50 by tlu' loadiriK .supply dealers , A.'-k iluni lor ii or send lo me A bov i can put together 8u0 to 1000 .sections' an hour and Imve them true, liend see tioii around, put in press give .i little push — 'IKS done Will last a lil'e-time and is bound to please yoti Send for my Circular about Hive. Press Foundation Kasteiier Sections. Foundation. Italian Queens, Extractors, Veils. Honey Crates and f'ases. fi-u i'kc. It will interest you. Or send 15 cents lorFraetical Book for Hegiuiiera— *' First Principle.* in fJee Culture." 11th thousand jilst issued. G. K. HUBBARD, 277 Harrison St., Fort Wayne, Ind. 3-lOdb I3?"ln responding; to tliis advertisement mention Gleanings. BEES 350 COLOTOES OF BEES. 1,000,000 Sections. HIVES, Smokers, Qubens. etc. Send for price list to E. T. FLANAGAN Box 783. BeUeviU*. Illinois. Q(TT-r\T)T TT^QI Lan^stroth Bee-hives, and M I II I J I iii) every thing- needed in the ^- *- ^ ^ ' -^ *^ "^ ^* bee 3'ard ; SiVpag-e catalogue ■^■^l^i^Hli^H free. " BUSY BEES," a book telling huw to manage tliem, 10 cents in stamps. WALTER S. POUDER, 5-13db 17S E. Walnut St., Indianapous, Ind. $iM READY TO MAIL. $m My Golden Italians are "Hustlers." Untested, six for M.50; dozen, $s.OO. Tested, $1.50; three for $4.00. Select for breeders, $2.00; very clioice, $3.00. Safe arrival and satisfaction guaranteed. Make P. O. payable at Davtona, Fla. JOHN B. CASE. Port Orange, \o\. Co., Fla. \ .. .u.-iKjiiding to this advertisement mtiiti..M uika.mnc;. Down Go the Prices ! Must Be Sold ! 100,000 No. 1 One-Piece Sections at $3.00 per M. In 5000 Lots, - - - - $2.80 per M. Fifty (ninnies of It.'Ulan Bees; 1 Colony. $6.0(1; a Colonies, $."i.00 each. Tested Italian Queens in May, $1.50 each. Untested, $l.i 0 each. Hybrids, 75c each. Comb Foundation and a full line uf Ai>iaiian Sup- plies. Twenty-page [Jrice list fice. J. M. KINZIE, 9-12db RocIieNter, Oakland Co., ITIicli. twin responding to this advertisement mention Gleanings. ^TT^JTC! 1 JNTESTED QUEENS from the *^ ^^ "^ ™^^^ original and only imported nch. stocks in tlie country; fiiHi Pratt's swariner. by mail, BUc; 2 for $1.00. li. I.. PR.ITT. 9-12db Beverly, JIauB. Plea-xe mention this pajH-r. BEES FOR SALE. 25 Colonies ItaliaiiM, lUO <.'olonieM Hybrlditi and Blaekfi. All on Simplicity frames. Slate what you want and write for prices to CiHa. Jl. HIT^T(J:S, Fremont, Miah. Please mention this paper. OAVE MONEY — Send to J. P. H. Brown, Augus- ** ta, Georgia, for his price list of supplies. Hives and foundation at wholesale rates. 4tfdb Great Crash in Prices ! From 10 to 25 ';' discount from former prices. My 40-page Ciitalogu'e for 1893 gives rea- sons. I offer a new - style chaff' hive at one-lialf the cost of otlier styles, and just as good. This hive, can be taken apart almost Instantly, and packed up in small space. It can be used on any hive (see cut). Don't fail to get my 3Sd annual price list. I mean business, and am bound to sell as good as the best, and at equally low prices. Address WM. W. GARY, 6tfdb CoLERAiNE, Mass. Please mentiun this paper. VIOLIN S GUITARS MANDOLINS Murray &.H El 5S.'":" Frl£. twin responding to this advertisement mention Gleanings. PERSONS LUAflTIflG APIARlflri SUPPLiIES Would do well to send to W. E. Clark, Oiiskany, Oneida Co., N. Y. Send for illustrated price list. Dealers should send for Deal- ers' list for Smokers. 6-12db t^In respondinsT to this advertisement mention Qleanings. Called "The Chicken Busi- ness, and How to Make it Pay." Tells all about it. Finely illustrated, practical, and origi- nal. Price 50 cents, postpaid. An il- lustrated circular f I'ce, giving particu- lars about the book, ami prices of pure-bred fowl.s and eggs for sale by the author. 4tfdb H. B. CEER. Nashville, Tenn. ( "'"In responding to this advertisement mention CiLEANiNGS. /\ POULTRY BOo"k BEE.HiVES AND SUPPLIES. Send for catalogue free. Address SA.^IIEL JONES. Highland Park College, Des Moines, Iowa. 9-lOd 390 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 15. ELEVEN YEARS WITHOUT A PARALLEL, AND THE STAND- ARD IN EVERY CIVILIZED COUNTRY. Bingham &. Hetherington Patent Uncapping-Knife, standard Size. Bingham's Patent Smokers, Six Sizes and Prices. Doctor Smoker, 3>i in., postpaid ... ffS.uO Conqueror " 3 " " . 1.75 Largre " 24 " " ... 1..50 E.xtra (wide shield) 2 " " ... l.'ib Plain (narrow " )2 " " ... 100 Little Wonder, IX " " .. 65 Uncapping Knife 115 Sent promptly on receipt of price. To sell again, send for dozen and half-dozen rates. Milledge\ ilie. 111., March 8, 1S90. Sirs:— Smoliers received to-day, and count cor rectly. Am ready for orders. If others feel as 1 do your trade wiU boom. Truly, F. A. Snell. Vermillion, S. Dak., Feb. 17, 1890. Sirs : — I consider your smokers the best made for any purpose. I have had 16 years' experience with 300 or 400 swarms of bees, and know whereof I speak. Very truly^ R. A. Morgan. Sarahsville. Ohio, March 12.1890. Sirs: — The smoker I have has done good service since 1883. Yours truly, Daniel Brothers. Send for descriptive circular and testimonials to 7tfdb BmoEAM Sc HsTHEBmaioi^, Abronia, Mich. f3?*ln respondinff to thl.s advertisement mention Gi.EA.viNfis^ ITU gOEEHS FOB W The finest honey-gatherers in the land. , .50 each. Select tested, $2.00 each. Unteste . i.OO each, or $9.00 per doz. Queens ready to ship by April first. I guarantee safe arrival and satisfaction, by mail. Orders booked now and pay wlien you want queens. J. "W. TAYLOB, 4tfdb Ozan, Ark. t^In responding to this advertisement mention Glkanings. p^BERRY "'fifcSiATESand m iJASKKTS. ~ Inilorsed by all fleadine borry growers as The BEST. Also (.jft i Packages, Grape," I'eacta ana otaer ttaskets. Prices low. Illus. Catalogue Free. DISBROW MFC.CO.,ROCHESTER,N.Y, "III resixiiiairiK to tliis adveitiseiiient mention (;lk.a.sim:s. SECTIONS. Snow-wliite Sections, Cream Sections, No. 2 Sections. Finest goods made. We liave a large stock on hand, and can fill small and large orders promptly. a. B. I^EWIS CO., 'Waierto-n-n, Wis. Please mention this paper. ITALIAN QUEENS. Untested, 85 cents. Tested, $1.35. Special terms for large orders. H. FITZ HART, 6tfdb Avery, Iberia Parisli, lia. tyPlease mention Gleanings. Dovetailed Hives, Simplicity Hives, SECTIONS, EXTRACTORS, ETC. A FULL LINE OF BEE-KEEPERS' SUPPLIES. 60-PAGB CATALOGUE. Itfdb J. M. Jenkins, Wetumpka, Alabama. twin respoTiflinir ti> tliis CIPRAf YOUR FRUIT TREES i VINES Wnrmy Fruit and Leaf BJightof Apples, Pears, Cherries, CVppl CinR 8PRAYINO OUTFITS. Gr ipe and Potato Rot, Plum Curculia prevented by using PERFECT FRUIT ALWAYS SELLS AT COO D"P RICES. Catalogue show" ing all injurious insects to Fruits mailed free. Tjiirui" stork of Fruit Tre«-!<, Vinesj and Berry L'lauts at Bottom Prices. Address WiU. STAllli, Quiucx, Ills. *'"hi resij.Mi.i. ^ I . 1.^ .iilv.i iif^enient mention GLKaMUJQS. ROOT'S GOODS FOR THE EAST. Bee-Keepers of the East should BCdr u\ JVlind that vre have established at Syracuse an E3StCrn DrBllCh where our Bee-keepers' Supplies are kept for sale, and prompt shipment. You can save time and freight by ordering from our Eastern Branch. We have engaged Mr. F. A. Sal- isbury to take charge of this business, and he will treat you well. He will be pleased to send you a list of goods kept in stock. Address all orders, EASTERN BRANCH, F. A. SALISBURY, Agent, Syracuse, N. Y. IS'.fJ (il.KANlNGS IN HEE CUI/rURK. 301 I am Pushing Ahead! Ami am so far in the U-ati iliat 1 olialleiijiro any one to sliow up superior l)eos to my bust Five-Banded Golden Italians. l,arg-o. iK'aiitiful, jrt-ntif, iiiul jrood liont-y- jratlicrtTs; tlio rt'sults of ID yoai-s' careful lireedinjr. Try tliem. Snlisfaction RUiirari- ti-oil. Queens" in May, Jl.i5 eacii; 6 for *6. After June 1. $1 eaeli; 6 for $5. For full piir- tirulMi-s. send for deserii>tiy(> circular. CHAS. D. DUYALL, Spencerville, Md. ,tfdi, t?'"lii iv.-iKiiidim.' til tlii> u.i\i-iu>«-iiitiii 111. I I •'! Foreipn and domestic. Crude and refined. A stock constantly on liand. Write for prices, stating quantity wanted. ECKERMANN Sl WILL, Syracuse, N. Y. f^rin rt's^Hjiulinj; to tlil.-s advertisement itlon Ri,K\NiNf;s FKSBI My new price list of Pure Ital- lau BepN. White Mild Browii lieiirliorii ('lil<-keu»>, While and Bro^vii Fer- relM, and S<-olfh <'olliePiipn. Address JV. A. KNAPP, Rochester, Lorain Co., O. Htfdb CAA Colonies of Bees Devot- ^W ed to Queen-Rearing. Write for prices on largre quantities. TWO MILLION SNOW - WHITE SECTIONS. Write for prices on large quantities. Send for our 24-Page Catalogue of Dovetailed Hives. Smokers, Extractors, Etc. LEAHY MT'Gr CO., Higginsville, Missouri. Please mention tliis paper. Stfdb SECTldlfS. ii;2.5U tu .^3. .50 per Jl. Kee-Hives and Fix tur«M « heap. NOVELTY CO., 6tfdb Rock Falls, Illinois. tSrin resiKindinjr to thisariveiti iieul iiieiili.m Olkanings. One-Piece Sections Our Specialty. I I'lialleiiKe comparison of mj- goods Willi tliosoof any other make on the market. If, upon fair trial, tlieyare not found suj)erior to, and cheaper than, any makes of s«>-ealled snow-white, premium, sand- papered, etc., sections, the goods will cost you noth- itig, and you are invilcil to publish me as a fraud. lean till orders i)romptlyfor any width at $2.75 jier M.;or $3.50 per M. in .50(10 lots at factory at Wauzeka, Wis. Other supplies shipped from Capac, or Evart, Mich. Sections from these points 25 cts extra per M. 8tfdb Address B. WALKER, Capac, Mich. Please mention this paper. OATMAN'S SOLDERING AND REPAIR KIT Consists of fire pot, two (•oi)per soldering irons, b.ar of solder, soldering tliiid and brush, all-steel ser-ipiT. hammer, scratt'h- awl.and jilyers.as shown in the cut. Any one purchasing this otitftt will get full directions, which will enable him to repair tin. copper, brass, metals, and iron; also how to keep the sol- deiing-irons in order. Whole kit. boxed, 12 lbs. Shipped on receipt of $2.00. Agents wanted. Reference, .4. I. Root. O. & U. OATMAN, Medina, Ohio. Mention this paper. rOR SALE. 50 colonies of Italian bees in A. I. Root's 8- frame Dovetailed and Langstroth's 10-frame hives, at five dollars per colony. A liberal di.scount for more than one colony. Safe delivery guaranteed. 8-lldb JOHN GKANT, Batavla, Ohio. MARTIN'S PROLIFIC BUCKWHEAT. Same kind as advertised last year in Gleanings. On my sandy soil it yields double the quantity per acre as Japanese. Gives excellent satisfaction. $1.00 per bu., cash, on board cars here, sacks includ- ed. WM. lUAKTIN, 8-lldb Highland, Oaliland Co., Mich. A Grand Success. Mew Cowan Reversible Honey-Extractor. Head wliat Frank McNay and .T. F. Mclntyre say of it in this issue. Strong, well made in every respect, light, and of conven- ient size. The can is but little larger than that of the Novice. The gear is beveled, and covered by an iron shield as shown in the cut. Though not automatic, the two baskets can be operated about as rapidly. Price all complete, japanned and lettered, for L. frame, $12.00. A. I. ROOT, Medina, Ohio. 393 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 15. PT71TIC QUEEITS FEOM IMPORTED MOTHERS. Eacli, S2.00. This is :i fine race of laees, and will give better results tluin any other race or strain. Ready to mail May 2.5. HENU V A1.L.KY, AVeiiliani, inass. FOB SALE.— 100 acres of land, 60 in cultivation, the rest timber; log house, good well, barn, corn-crib, and otlier buildings; 900 apple-trees, 100 peach-trees; cherry, plums, grapes, and othersmall fruit, which is 4 years old; and a good location for Ijees. Inquire for particulars. Price $1,500. lOd J. HULiSE, Waco, Cleburne Co., Ark. Wants or Exchange Department. Notices will be inserted under this head at one half our usu- al rates. All adverti.senients intended for this department must not exceed five lines, and you must say you want youi adv't in this department, or we will not be responsible for er- rors. You can have the notice as many lines as you please, but all over five lines will cost you according to our regular lates. This department is intended only for bona-fide ex changes. Exchanges for cash or for price lists, or notices of fering articles for sale, can not be inserted under this head. Fot- such our regular rates of 20 cts. a line will be charged, and they will be put with the regular advertisements We can not be responsible for dissatisfaction arising from these "swaps." WANTED.— To trade a large lot of Heddon hives, nicely made and good as new; some with combs complete for honey, now or after crop of '92. Write for particulars. Address D. S. Hall, 2tfdb "*' ■ South Cabot, Vt. WANTED.— To exchange brood-foundation, at 40c per lb., or light for the boxes at 50c per lb., for wax at 3i)c per lb. B. Chase, Ttfdb Earlville, Madison Co., N. Y. WANTED.— To exchange choice Carniolan and Italian queens for supplies. 8-9d r. A.XocKHART & Co., Lake George, N. Y. WANTED.— To exchange for bees, 1000 brood and extracted combs, 6 and 10 inch foundation- mills, dipping-board, etc., shotgun and Safety bicy- cle, write to me. B. W. Hopper, (t-lUd Box 224, Garden City, Kan. n/ ANTED.— To exchange for any tiling useful on Vt the farm, Canary birds, fine singers, raised from imported stock. B. Geissler, 9-lOd « Basco, Hancock Co., 111. TO exchange.— Bee-hives for beeswax. 9-12db - - Wm. Iden, Etna Green, Ind. WANTED.— A man to care for stock, bees, and fruit-trees, on shares, in the Indian Territory. For f iirther Infbrhiation dpply to 10-ll-12d Mr. L. C. Axtell, Roseville. 111. WANTED.— To exchange pure Italian queens, 3 or 5 banded. Write what you have to exchange. F. C. Morrow, Wallaceburg, Ark. TO exchange.— For wax or cash, Standard L. or Heddbn N.'H. combs, at 5c each. Combs all worker, and in good order. H. D. Burrell, lOd Bangor, Mich. \1T ANTED.— To exchange one Joliet Safety bicycle, Vt high grade, latest pattern, ball bearings, dia- mond fi'arae, cusliion tires, nearly new; one 49-incli Columliia, best high wheel made, good as new, very cheap; one Odell typewriter; 150 good second-hand hives for L. frame; one extractor for L. frame, for wax, honey, supplies, or offers. lOtf db J. A. Green, Dayton, 111. WANTED.— By young man of 20 yeai-s, a position in apiary in Ill...Wis[., or Mich. Wages, $2u per month, board and washing included; havehad4y'rs experience. Address Apiarist, Box 25><, Mt. Erie," 111. rnilKiriATinKI Brood, .38c; Thin, 48c; closing rUUIlUH I IMn. out. but small stock left. Also 20 acres fine land (see Ex. Col. i at a bargain, for ca.sh. lO-lld H. L. Graham, Grandview, Iowa. PURE ITALIAN QUEENS. Tested queens, $1.25; unttsted, 7.5c: safe arrival guaranteed. HISSES S. & M. BARNES, Piketoo, Ohio. li>lld rrO exchange.— 2J acres; 10 in alfalfa, remainder l_ gardened, under irrigation; adjoins Garden City, Kansas. Country rapidlyseeding toalfalfa; Glean- ings, Vols. '81 to '91 inclusive; Am. B. Jour., Vols. 'T8, '79, '83, '83, '85. What am I offered ? lOd H. L. Graham, Grandview, Iowa. Stanley Automatic Reversing HONEY - EXTRACTOR. As announced in a late number of Gleanings, we have leased from G. W. Stanley the right to make his automatic ex- tractor, and we l)ought from E. R. Newcomb his stock of materials and machines unsold. This stock consists of about twenty - five machines, twii and four frame. To wnrk it off quick, and tiive us a chance to put out macliinesof our own make, we offer these machines as long as they last, at one-fourth oft' old prices. We will sell the two-frame machines as they are for S9.00; the 4-frame for $15.00. They are crated ready for shipment, with crank direct on the center-sliaft. We will attach our new horizontal gear, as shown on page 14 of our catalogue, for $3.00 each extra. A. I. ROOT, Medina, Ohio. PfllflT POH BEE-HIVES. After much experimentation, and a careful study into the paint question, we offer a mixed Paint Prepared Especially for Bee-Hives. It will not Chalk or Flake of. We guarantee it to be free from adulterants, stich as whiting, barytes, lime, and other sub- stitutes that do not add to the enduring quali- ties of the paint. Our paint is made of strictly pure lead, strictly pure zinc, and genuine French ocher of about equal proportions, mixed in pure linseed oil. It is generally recognized that there is no pigment more permanent than French ocher; and this, combined with zinc and lead, makes a most durable combination. The re- sultant tint is a pale straw color. Price: Pint, 3.5c; quart, 60c; half-gallon, $1.00; gallon, 11.75. Half a gallon will cover ten No. 1 Dovetailed hives two coats. A. I. ROOT, Medina, O. Black and Hybrid Queens For Sale. For the benefit of friends who have black or hybrid queens which they wish to dispose of. we will insert notices tree of charge, as below. We do this because there is hardly value enough in these queens to pay for buying them up and keep- ing them in stock ; and yet it is oftentimes quite an accommo- dation to those who can not afford higher-priced ones. I have 40 good hybrid queens for sale at 40c each, or 3 for $1.00. None but good queens are sent. Safe arrival guaranteed; stamps taken. Jas. M. Smith, Perklomenville, Montg. Co., Pa. 1 S>.1? GLEANINOS IN BEE CULTURE. 303 SOMETHING NEW in Spray and Force Pumps. small clamp whicli attacli- es to the stave of the bucket or tub, and steadies tlie pump, holding- it in pi-oper position. A Great Improvement on the Whitman and Smith Pumps we have been Selling. Till' many insect, euomica to fruit and fdliiiKe iinve compelled !ill iiilercsled to study foi' the best means to destroy thi'se ix'Sts. The most ell'ective means yet d(!vised is to administer poison in solution, put upon tlic tree in the form a si)iay, at justtlie rif>lit time. Tlie sprnying of fruit and foliMfi'e trees hiis oiiened a lartre demand for spraying outfits of various kinds, and the number of kiiids on th(! m;irlu't is jrcttiiif:- to be legion. We have been on the look- out for tlic l)est cheap hand-pumps, and we believe we have found tlicni in the two following, bntliof which have come out since Marcli 1st— so recent that we are rather late for this ^e;i-;on in t)ringing them to yo\ir notice now. The tirst, designed to take the place of the Whitman Pump in our trade, is the Myers Bucket Brass Spray Pump. Tt is constructed of material that is not attected by the iioisonnus arsenites used in the different formulas for spraying fruit-trees, vines, and shrubbery- The cylinder and iill the working parts are brass; has rubber ball valves and is e(iuipped with the combination spray nozzle, and will throw a spray as fine as mist. It is so fine that it floats up like a chnid. By this feature the same amount of liquid will go at least four times as far, and does more effective work than with a perforated spray nozzle. The pump dif- fers in construction from tlie old-line pumps of this cla.ss. and is arraiiKcd so that the lieavv work isdone on the down stroke of the plunger and nothing on the up. The effect of this operation, wliile pumping, is to hold the pump down, and it is not necessary to use a foot-Test or m any way ste.idv the pump while in operation, except by means of ^' Bv doing the pumping on the down stroke of the piston, and the fact that it is not necessary to steady the"pump with any foot-rest, makes it verv ciisv to operate, and gives it extraordinary power. It is pro- vided with a large'air-chamber, and has a valve at the bottom between the cylinder and the air-cliamber, whereby the pressure is held uniformly in the dr- nozzles with at^ tachment so it can be put on a common J^-inch hose connection, at bU cts. each Bv mail 75c. We are also prepared to furnish Myers Barrel spray- ing outtit, without the barrel, at $7.50, shipped direct from Ashland, Ohio. Common-Sense Spray Pump. Special There are a number of cheap tin pumps on the market ; but, so far as we have examined, this is ahead of them all. The adjoining cut shows its construction and manner of working. The piston, or plunger, is worked with a lever handle, giving greater force for tlie sami; i)ower exerted. The |.liinger-tube is shorter, and larger in diameter, than the ordinary pump. If tlie water comes over the top it spills right into the i)ail again. It has an air-ihainljer, with valve, giving a continuous stream or spray. It has a short rubber host; to give direction to the stream or spray, witliout moving the pump It has also an adjustable nozzle for stream or spray. In all ,^^ ^ these points we regard it superior to the Smith pump we liave been selhng, -3^?*== and we have adopted this pnmp in place of the Smith, and will sell at the ^ same prices as given in our price list, i)age 13. Retail price, $1.00 each. prices on either of the above pumps in quantities, to those who buy to sellagain. A. I. ROOT, Medina, Ohio. 394 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. May 15. ^EMPIREi- Safety 4* Bicycles. Strictly High-Grade Machines. Made of the Best Materials. Solid and Cushion Tire. For Ladies and Gentlemen. PRICES: Gents' 30-in. Solid Tire, like cut 180.00 134 -in. Cushion Tire 90.00 Ladies' 28-in. Solid Tire 80.00 " 13i-in. Cusiiion Tire 90.00 R. I. t^OOT, Medina, O. JENNIE ATGHLEY Will send you queens l)y return mail. S:ife firriv^al and satisfaction fj-uaranteed; eitiier three or five banded strains. Untested, April and May, $1 («• each; six, $5.00; after, 7.5c eacli; six, U'M; or $8 00 per dozen. Tested and breedine: queens oa applica- tion; try my queens. Money-order office, Greenville. JEMNIG ATCHLEY, Itfdb Floyd, Hunt €o., Texas. Please mention this paper. BEE SITPPUEe and all kinds of Berry - p a c li- a g e 8, boxes and basl£ets. We malsea spe- cialty of one- piece sections, and wood sepa- rators. Address BERLIN FRUIT BOX CO., Berlin Heights Erie Co., Ohio. Please mention this paper WANTED-LADY OB GENT IN EACH county to distribute and collect for Brabant's ladies' toilet cases; 238 articles, worth $1; will send sample and full particulars by mail for 35c in stamps; returnable if not satisfactory; territory free; $3 to $5 per day easily made. Address J. C. Frisbee, general agent, 172 Maple St., Denver, Col. Reference, A. I. Root, Medina, O. IMPORTED ITAIilAN QUEENS, $3.50 on arrival, June 1st. Untested queen, $1.00. Order now. W. C. FRAZIER, Atlantic, Iowa. Hastings' Lightning Bee-Escape. Send for sample of Hastings' " Lightning " Bee Escape, and you will be convinced that it is tlie best and most practical escape yet produced. It will clear ttie supers in a short space of time (2 to 4 hours), and it is impossible for tlie liees to clog the passage, as they can not return. Each escape guar- anteed as represented. Price, by mail, each, $0.20; l)y mail, per doz., $2.25. Full directions with each epcape. Electrotypes furnished free for dealers' catalogues. Write for discount. 7-12db M. E. HASTINGS, New Yorli Mills, Oneida Co., N. Y. Pleasse m«ntion this paper Send for Price TAst to R. E. HARBAUGH, Wnnttf'r atttl Dealer in Bee-Keepers' Supplies, Breeder of Italian and Carniolan Bees and Queens, Light and Darls Colored Ferrets. 2Jith and Clay Sts., - - - St. >Tospj)h, Mo. Italian Bees and Queens For Sale. Untested queens, $1.00; tested, $1..50. Bees, $1.00 per lb. Colony, $5.00. Also barred Plymouth Rock eggs for sitting, $1.00 per 13. 7-16db MRS. A. A. SIMPSON, Swarts, Pa. POULTRY. Choice Fowls and Eggs for sale at all times. Finely illustrated circu- lar free. GEER BROS St. Marys. Mo. Sltfdh Hatch Chickens by Steam. iimovED EXCELSIOR INCUBATOR S^D^ik'W'iU do it. Tbooaandi fai Meoafltfiil oper> ■|Bl^sr»tioa. SimmU.Pfftet and Self- Regulating. Tl^^^nrLowefi-inieea fint-elaM Hatcher made. Jl U u!?fi«JI Oaa»ntaed to hatch a larcer i ^ f ""^ of fertile ecga at lesa cost than Send 6o. for Illas. OataloK. OEO. U. STAUL, ;er percentage ,an any other. (jninar. 111. QTlii respondine to this advertisement mention Glkaninqs Bee-Hives ^ Sections A specialty. Foundation, Smokers, etc., in stock. Send for new list, free. 4tfdb W. D. SOPER. Jackson, Mich. Please mention this paper. WESTERN BEE-KEEPERS' SUPPLY HOUSE. ROOT'S GOODS can be had at Des Moines, Iowa, at ROOT'S PRICES The largest supply business In the West. Established 18te. Dovetailed Hives, Sec- tions, Foundation. E.xf raotors, Smokera, Veils. Crates, Feeders. Clover Seeds, et<-. ni ported Italian Queens. Queens and Bees. Simjile eoiiy of our Bee Journal, •THE WESTERN BEE-KEEPER." and LATEST CATAUXU'E mailed FREE to Keu keepers. JOSEPH NYSEWANDER, Des Moines, Iowa. In writing to advertisers please mention this paper. itfdb "IeSTED ITALIAN QUEENST 50 tested Italian queens for sale at $1.00 eacli,to be delivered June 1st to 15th, all raised last fall from an imported, and best select tested queens. Untested queens, July 15th and after, 70c each; 3 for $1.75; 6 or more, 60c each. D. G. Edmiston, Adrian, Lenawee Co., Mich. Foundation Wholesale and Retail. ) free samples. Special prices to dealers on Foui imples. Speciii Free price list of everything needed in tlie apiary. prices 6tfdb M. If you would like to see liow nice foundation can be made, send for Foundation and Sections, etc. (Near Detroit.) HUNT. Bell Branch, Mich. 1 S«fJ (il.HAXlXtJS IN inOK ("UI>TLIUE. TESTED ITALIAN QUEENS, 80c 399 IN JULY .\M> AIJOHST. Ill .luiic. tl.Odc.Hli. .MiMn;it<'d ()iii'i'iis, 4(1 ccnls. J.C.WHEELER PLANO, ILL. B Yellow, Extra, Excellent 111 sale ill .luiu :ii (' li t> n a iiK< ViiUoy Apiary riu.-sto(i.>i L OnliT caiiv r v:.,i.,l f,»i iwi ■* I' w 11-1' ra 111 »' Niii'k'us with t,»ui'fii, .52.110. D.)irt pa.ss by Mhs. Oi.ivKK Coi.K. Shorhurne, Clu'iiaiigo Co., N. jil'illi Plwise mention this paper. BEE-HllfES, Dovetailed or Otherwise All Kinds of Bee Supplies. Write for trer i-alaldtiuc. W. H. PUTNAM, s Willi River Falls, Pierce Co., Wis. i., Kparta, Tenii. LEATHER-COLORED ITALIAN QUEENS. One untested. Jl.OO; si.v, if.5.5ii; twelve. $10.00; one tested. $1..tO; six. $8.00: twelve. Jlo.iKi; selected for breedliifr wic(j/. ench. $2. .50; one vearold tested. i;i J'luif 'nxly. $1.25; six, $7.(K1; twelve. $i:! 00. Two-year- old queens, each. .50c'. Deseriptive ratalojiue mailed free on apidicatioii. ^'^''^ A. E. Manum, Bristol, Vt. iSrinrespoiiiiuiu'' til this lulveitisement mention Gleaninss. I DO NOT ADVERTISE a speeialtw Inn cm r\ thiiitr found in apiauy. Beesr- wax wanted. C. E. Lil KE^VS. «-Td 19 IV. 2d St., Philadelphia, Pa. C^ln respondinsr to this advertisempTif mention (Jleanings. GLOBE BEE- VEIL By SSail for $1.00. , A center rivet holds 5 epring-steel I , cross-bars 1 ike a globe to support the bobinetVeil. These button to a neat brass neck-band, holding itflrtnly. It is easily put together; no trouble to put on. or take off. An absolute ^ protection against any insect that ^ flies. Will go over any ordinary ^ sized hat; can be worn in bed with- out discomfort; fits any head; does not obstruct the vision; folds compactly, and can be carried in the pocket: in short, it is invaluable to any one w'lom files bother, mosquitos bite, or bees sting. Extra Nets. 50 Cents Each. lOO Rundulijh St., Ciiicag-o, 111: Bee - Keepers' * Supplies. We are prepared to furnish bee-keepers with sun- plies prompt! J' and at lowest rates. Estimates gladly furnished, and correspondence solicited. Our goods are all first-class in quality and workmanship. Cat- ahigue sent free. Keference, First National Bank. Sterling, 111. Address l-24db IVin. IWcCUNE A: CO., Sterling, Illinois. Bnn respoiidlnp to tins juivitf l>fniirit ineiiiion Gl.KANINQS.. Wholesale and Eetail Manufacturer andDealerin BEE-KEEPERS' SUPPLIES. ONE-PIECE SECTIONS A SPECIALTY, AS GOOD AS THE BEST. Send for catalogue. W. E. SMITH, otfdb SucccjtKor to Smith a.i> eiu-fiiu in mu'i.mom (^lkanINGs. J. FOt^NCf^OOK St CO. (( WILL FURNISH YOU THE BOSS" ONE-PIECE SECTION AS ( :ilKAl> AS TIIK CHEAPEST. And the Best in the Market. ALSO DOVETAILED HIVES, AND OTHER SUPPLIES. j^-Write for Price List. WATERTOWN, Wis., Jan. 1, 1892. 7-9-lld Itfdb Please mention this paper. PURE ITALIAN BEES. By the pound, 90 cents. Untested queens from imported mother, 90 cts. Two-frame nuclei, both frames con- taining brood with all adhering bees, and untested i, and 7. Our .stock of 8'/i and 9 is also low. The four smaller .sizes are, however, the best for general use. SECOND-HAND MACHINERY. During the past few months we have bought up several outfits of machinery for making bee-keep- ers' .supplies; and if any of our readers or their friands contemplate putting in machinery we are prei^ared to fit you out from cellar to garret with everything you need in engines, boilers, machinery, shafting, pulleys, hangers, belting, saws, etc. The following is a partial list of the second-hand ma- chinery we hnvc to sill. If you desire further par- ticulars we shall be pleased to hear from you. One 30-H. P. Fishkill horizontal engine, rebuilt, and as good as new; would cost new, $4U0; will sell for $300. One 5-H. P. horizontal engine and boiler, with en- gine mounted on boiler, in good running order. Price $150. One 24-inch two-roll Fay sandpaper machine, near- Iv new. Price, new, $450; will sell for $175. " One 9-inch cigar-box planer, iiearlv new; has been used very little. Price, new, $65; will sell for $40. One V-groove section machine, nearly new. This is our make, old style, with screw-feed; sold some years ago for $75; will sell now for $40. One cutter-head, witli table complete, for cutting entrances 1o sections. Old style, but nearly new, and in good repair. Price, new, $25.00; will sell for $15.00. One iron-frame hand-jointer; well worth $35; will sell for $15. One double-head tenoning-machine, especially ar- ranged for making the c-ombined rabbet and miter joint of the Simpli2 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 401 Two foiir-piofo sect ioii-maohi IK'S, as tri'CKl ii.s mow. Tlu-y rust iu>w. $85 caflj; wo will sell tlu-m for $30 «'acli. Also II larKi' lot of sliafiinv:. pulleys, lian)fei'8. iH'lttiifr, and saws, too niinn-mus to iiu-iitioii luTf. •lAl'ANKSK lift KW UK AT. Tills lon.ur-ooiitinucil wet anil i-old wcallnr is not only cut tinjr otf tlic prospect of a full hoiuy ciop, but' is preventing the plantinjr of <'orn till it will l)e too late for it to mature befoi'i> frost comes in the fall. .Iap;tnese Inickwheat can he sown as late as .luly 1,">. anil mature before frost, in ordinary sea- sons. It is also as protitable to raise, and makes as V'ood feed for stock, as corn. Mrs. W. H. Shane, widow of the late \V. H. Shane, who was one of the most successful bee-keepers and fanners of this (.•ounty, raisi'd sc\-eral ai-res of .lapanese buckwheat two years ajf<>. which yielded si.\ty busliels to the acre. Last sprinjr oats and corn were scarce in this locality, and pi-iees Were rather hijfh. J{ather than sell the buckwheat for 6.1 cts. a liusliel anil bu>' I'orn ,it t).T or TO cts.. she tried the buckwheat for feed, and I believe her verdict was. that the same number of l)ushels would go fui-ther tlian corn. May be others have ti-iedit. If so. we would be ^iad to {fet, reports of its value. See cut. and prices of seed, in another column. nKCI.INE I.N BEtiSWAX. A year ajro at tliis time l)eeswax was rather scarce, and the market advancing', but just now the conditions are reversed, and we are oblig'ed to drop 2 cents a pound on the price. We are now paying 2.1C per lb. cash, or •2t'i6r';r, per gallon, according to qualily; orange blossom, 7(///7X. Bfcsi/vir, 27fi(2'.i. with \((r>r per lb. advance for choic<' run. May 19. t'HAS. Israel & Biio., 110 Hudson St., New York. Detroit.— Hone//.— The market is about cleaned up ol all desirable comb honey. Dark and inferior lots selling at what prices buyers will give. Ex- tracted, 7@8. Bw.simx, 27@28. May 19. M. H. Hunt, Bell Branch, Mich. Ai.UANV.—f/o7i(;{/.— Three weeks ago we did not expect to be able to close out our large stock of comb honey before July 1st; but the cool weather has favored us and we are entirely- .sold out, includ- ing a number of recent con.signments. Prices range from B@10 according to style and quality. Ex- tracted selling slow at 6@7. Chas. McCulloch & Co., May 13. Albany, N. Y. St. Louis.— Howej/.— There is quite a demand for white-clover comli at 16@18. Dark can not sell at any price. Extracted in barrels sells readily at .5@5X. Cans are slower sale at 6>$@7. We received first shipment of new crop a few days .since. Beeswax, 26. May 19. D. G. Tutt Gko. Co., St. Louis, Mo. Chicago. — Honey. — Very little comb honey on sale, and tlie small amount offered is chiefly rejec- tions out of earlier shipments; sells slow at 15c, for best of it. Our market uses very little at this sea- son. Extracted in steady demand, and supplies are about exhausted, «@7@8. Beemmx, 26. R. A. Burnett, May 18. 161 So. Water St., Chicago, 111. Minneapolis.— Honey.— The honey market is Im- proving somewhat. Fancy white comb. In 1-lb. sec- tions, Is selling at 17@18; choice, 15; dark, 11@12; strained, 7@8, with very slow sales. May 21. J. A. Shea & Co., 14 & 16 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis, Minn. Kansas City.— Honey.- Demand poor, with supply well cleaned up. We quote: Comb, l-lb., fancy, 12; dark, 8@9. Extracted, white, 7; dark, 5@6. Beeifwax, none on the market. May 19. Hamblin & Bearss, 514 Walnut St., Kansas City, Mo. Boston. — Honey. — No change in the honey- market. Slow sale, and fair stock on hand. May 19. Blake & Kipley, Boston, Mass. Kansas City.— Honey.- The demand is very light; supply ample. We quote: 1-lb.. No. 1, white, ]2®13: No. 2, 1U@12; No. 1 amber, 11@12; No. 2 amber, 5@10; extracted, .5@6i4. Beeswax, 22(a»27. Clemons, Mason & Co., May 20. Kansas City, Mo. WANITPn "■"' -swarms of bees with queens by ITMIII l-U. ,1,,. ]5,i, ^,f 20th of June, in light sliipping-ljoxes OK) conil)s); who will sell cheapest? ROBX. Ul^INN, Sliellsbiirg, Benton Co., la. WANTED.— Old stamps; 2oc paid for each 10c stamp used from 1847 to 18.51. All old stamps bought. Look them up, your old trunks and papers may contain several dollars' worth. nd H. Bricker, Bellevue, Pa. ITALIAN QUEENS f-°^,fl^^E.,.S: il.aU. J. C. PEOVINS, MASONTOWN, PA. 403 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. JV>E 1. por 1892 and a Fine, Young, Iiaying i IT.X- REVIEW 3 fllone, V5 Cts. pov $1.75, the l^evietu, the Queen, and the SO et. Book, (J •© Italian QUEEN ^°'^ $1.50. The ^ I^evietu Alone, $1.00. The (^uesn 5 Advanced Bee Culture," txiill be sent. W. Z. Jlutehinson, plint, JVIich. ^, P. S. — If not acquainted with the Review, send ten cents for three late but different issues. STRAWBERRIES ! Fresh Picked from the Vines. Shipped by first train at the ruling- Marietta prices. Or will contract witli you for rates. Address all orders and correspondence to R. STEHLE, MARIETTA. O. If friend S. sends j'ou such berries as he sent us a year ago, you will surely be pleased. A. I. R. |S"ln respuiiiiiiiji lo tills aI.41\S, untested, $1.00; 3, $2.75; 6, S5.00; per dozen, $9.00. Tested, reared last season, $2.0U; 3 for $.5.00. Two-frame nucleus, with any queen, $1.35 extra. Safe arrival guaranteed. Send for circular of Dovetailed Hives, Smokers, Foundation, Drones, eti'. Money - order office, Clifton. COLWICK & COLWIGK, NORSE, TEX. |3rin responding to this advertisement mention Gleanings. m^ ^% CENTS WILL BUY A GOOD 2-STORY ■■^l I ^' Hi^e- ^100 Will Buy 100 L. |^# ^^ Brood Frames. SI. 00 Will Buy a Nice Golden Italian ftueen. Please Write for our Circular Before you Buy your Supplies. W. H. BRIGHT, Mazeppa, Minn. Please mention this paper. SUPPLIES „„1E... Everytliing used in the Apiary. Greatest varietj- and largest stock in the West, New catalog-, 54 illustrated pag-es, free to bee-keepei-s. E. ZEETCHMEE, BED OAK, IOWA. In writing advertisers please mention this paper. nADIIini All BEES AND QUEENS. UAnlllULAII They beat tliem all. Never have dysenteiy. All queens reared from select im- ported motliers. Untested, 50c; 12 for $5.00. Tested, $1.00; 12 for $10.00. Select tested. $1,.50. Descriptive circular free. A. Li. IjINDLiEY, Jordan, Ind. 8-13db FOR SALE. LARGEST BEE SUPPLY BUSINESS IN CANADA. Reputation all over America, A' Snap for some enterprising: business man or firm. Good reasons for selling; only $2(100 or $3000 required. Send for particulars. Address PR, R. S. CHEFFEY, BtetOD, Ont. «# IF YOU WANT GOLD. s|e Send for one of my golden Italian queens, raised from the best 5-banded stock, that has been award- ed FirHt freiniiiiii at the JJc^t roit E.xpositioii the last two years. Untested queens, $1.00 each; 6 for $5.00. Tested queens, $3.00 each. Breeding- queens, $5.00 each. ELMER HUTCHINSON, lltfd Vassar. Tuscola Co,, Michigan. y-lOd Please mention this iiaper, TT FATS To order tlie best made g-oods. .For Fine Sections, Foundation, Perforated Zinc, Queen Excluders, and the best lilve for comb honej' now before the public, order of Dr. Tinker. PRICES GKEATLY RE- DUCED. Address for catalogue De. Cr. L. TiNEEE, New Philadelphia. 0. Please mention this paper. 8-lldb FIVE-BANDED GOLDEN ITALIANS. Untested li or .") bandfd stock, ifl.Oil; si.\ for 15.00, Tested ;5-banded, $l.:i5; 5-banded, »3.U0; hybiids, 35c. Full colonies, nuclfl. and supplies cheap; catalogue free. CM AS. H. '1 HIKS, Sleelevllle, HI. Please mention this paper. POSITIVELY By return mail, beautiful young warranted Italian queens, at $1.00 each. Tested, $1.50, A select tested yellow-to-the-tlp breeder, $2,00. Satisfaction guar- anteed. W. H. 1.A \VS, Lavaca, Ark. 8tfdb One of our 5-banded red-clover queensV 100 lbs. of clover honey in poor seasons. Send for deserlptive circular free. LEININGER BROS., 7tfdb Ft. Jennings, Ohio. Porter's Spring Bee-Escape. We guarantee it to be the best escape known, and far superior to all others. If, on trial of from one to a doz- en, you do not And them so, or if they do not prove sat- isfactory in every way, return them by mail within 90 days after receipt, and we will refund your money. PRICES:— Each, by mail, postpaid, with full direc- tions, 20c; per dozen, $2.25. Send for circular and testi- monials. Supply dealers, send for wholesale prices. lOtfdb R. «£ E. C. PORTER. LEWISTOWN, ILL. £S"lii resiK)ndinK to this advertisement mention Gleam • delvote: •To-BELE.^..™. •ANDHOMEL- <^ \^ rAEDINAOHlO Vol. XX. JUNE 1, 1892. No. 11. STRAr Straws FROM DR. C. C. MILLER. I^kt's Fi)i.iA)W Prof. Cook's suggestion, and write to the Secretary of Agriculture. "Wet axd coi.d most of the time," says Doo- llttle, "and that tells you all about it." That Myers spray pump is just what I've been looking for this good while. Must have one. Dooi-iTTi.E took his bees out of cellar April 26. r,» davs later than I did. Wise Doolittle. Foolish Miller. Nkw Hampsuire is a bad State for selling artilieial honey. The ^4. B.J. says a man was fined ?100 for selling it there. My bees are still dying off in the middle of May. It's not dwindling; the weak ones just die. same as they do in winter. Two YOUNG queens last season mated 31 days after leaving their cells, for W. P. Fayloi;, and he says they were good in every respect. R. (iAMMON writes that he is afraid the name- less disease may become a very serious matter with him. and he finds the salt cure no good. If I HAD KEPT EIRE iu my cellars all winter and then not taken the bees out till May 1(5, I think I should have had more bees than I now have. SoFT-M.\PEE Bi.ooM is becoming less and less a guide for me as to taking bees out of the cel- lar. Of late years the maple doesn't seem to have very good judgment, and blooms too soon. The Keei>ey Tobacco Cure, according to the Weekly Medical Rcvlcii\ killed a man in Omaha, after two weeks' use. It's not so safe as the Root smoker cure, and I don't believe it's as sure. Laurel honey may be rank poison, but if it is I'm puzzled to know win I never heard of any one being poisoned t)y it" in Western Penn- sylvania where we had acres and acres and acres of laurel. And wasn't it beautiful? The fuist swarm came out for me May \2, but it was a " fool swarm," a little bit of a colo- ny leaving its hive without the shadow of an e.xcuse— had plenty of honey, a clean hive, and all that— what makes such a colony swarm, anyhow ? I READ, on p. 38.5, " We notice that the Big Four are having all their ears painted with ocher." and began wondering who had been decorating the ears of the incorporators; but on reading further I found the editor was talking about a railroad, and that it was cars and not cor.s- that had the coat of ocher. Is THE THORAX of a laying queen anv larger than it was when she was a viigin? Who can tell us? For it's the thorax, isn't it, and not the abdomen that prevents a queen from going through an excluder? Bro. Larrabee, there's a nut to crack. " We have last largely," writes Mrs. Axteil, "and more are dying every day, spotting the hives badly— not enough bees left to cover the capped brood." My bees differ in one respect. They haven't as much brood as thev can cover. I suspect it is better so. That chapter by A. I. Root in the new book. "How to Support a Family on a Quarter of an Acre of Giound," is good, I'll warrant; but the question that interests me most is, " How to Support Forty Acres of Ground with only One Small B^amily." This is the worst spring, I think, for bees, that I ever knew. Changing from cool to cold, and i-ain, rain, rain, there have been no days when bees could fly all day. few when they could leave the hive at all. and none when they could gather any thing to speak of. May 13 was the first day for some time that bees could fly, and there was on that day some spotting of hives, just as on first flight in spring. Showed they were injured by the long confine- ment. Then ]\Iay Ifi was good, and those two days are the only good ones we've had in the month, up to the 20th. Bait sections, I used to think, were better in the corners of the super. Latterly I prefer them in the center. I think one Ijait in the center is as good as one in each ccn-ner. Bees start sooner in the middle, and if there are any unfinished sections left in a super I'd alwavs rather have them in the corners. Sweet clover, I suspect, may have a future before it as a hay plant. I have lately been feeding some sweet-clover hay, and find it a success. If I were a farmer, I should give it a thorough trial: for if it makes good hay, I think there is no question about the heavy yield per acre. I am inclined to believe that it needs no cultivation of taste for the dry hay, as it does for the green plant. Looks a little blue to see the bees kept the same as in winter quarters up to May 20. and no telling how much later, but there's much to be thankful for. Pve plenty to eat and drink, the happiest homc^ in North(!rn Illinois, and it's up on a hill where there's no danger of its being washed away lik(^ so many others; and al- though the flood-gates of heaven seem wide open all the time, there are blessings as well as rain coming down. Excluders h.ave been reported in some in- stances as failures. Was it because the ex- cluders were faulty, or can a queen go through 404 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. June 1. the best of excluders if she tries? To say that a queen doesn't go up into a .^uper through an excluder proves nothing. Generally she doesn't wan't to go up. and wouldn't go up anyway. But put the brood above and all empty combs below, will the queen stay down? I think with the right kind of excluder she will, but I don't know for certain. Hutchinson is a philosopher. He says it makes no difference whether you charge a high price for the bee-keeper's time, or charge a low- price and make a big profit; that in either case just the same amount of money goes into the bee-keeper's pocket. And he's clearly right, and it sometimes makes a difference how a thing is put. Proclaim to the world that the price received for honey is nearly all profit, and don't you think it will have more tendency to bring down the price of honey than to say that the bee-keeper gets no more than fair pay for his time ? PROF. H. "W. 'WILEY'S REPORT ON HONEY ADULTERATION. PROF. COOK REVIEWS IT. This report, being a part of Bulletin No. 13 of the Chemical Division of the Department of Agriculture, which has just been issued, con- tains much that is of exceeding interest to bee- keepers. It is not altogether conclusive, and makes it exceedingly desirable that we should have a large number of analyses from reliable chemists, of honey of all kinds, procured in such a way that there can be no possible doubt as to the purity of the article. I am quite of the opinion that such analyses would modify the views of many of our very best chemists. Hon- ey comes from so many and such varied sources that it must vary greatly in its nature and composition; and I very strongly believe that our chemists are not fully conversant with all the facts. Regarding Prof. H. W. Wiley, let me say that his character as a man and a chemist ranks very high with those who know him most in- timately, and are best qualified to judge. That he made a terribly mischievous error in his Popular Science Monthly article regarding the manufacture and sale of artificial comb honey, there can be no question. That he made a still more unfortunate mistake in not frankly ac- knowledging his error, and at once correcting it when his attention was called to the matter, and the truth pointed out and demonstrated, is also beyond question. His "scientific pleas- antry "was an awkward excuse, unworthy of the scientist and the man. Yet many another good man finds it hard to retract an unwise or incorrect statement, or to gracefully acknowl- edge, even when convinced, that he has been led into erroi*. Prof. Wiley's first mistake was in publishing as fact that which was only rumor, and which he had taken no pains to verify. Had he avoid- ed that mistake he would have been saved all the others. It seems to me that, in this last report, he may be repeating this mistake. On page 744 he speaks of temptations which the manufacturer, producer, and dealer have not been able to withstand. That manufac- turers and wholesale dealers have and do adul- terate honey to a large extent, I think is true beyond dispute. That producers do this, I do not believe, and I have investigated the matter quite fully. That they do not do it is not that they are all exceptionally honest, but they are not up to such work, and are not skilled in such business. TJiey are producers, not munufac- turers. Again, bee-keepers are" generally well read, especially any who would be led to such work, and our bee-papers are loud in denunciation of adulteration, and so all bee-keepers know that, to be discovered as adulterators, would at once ruin their business. But all bee-keepers in a community know each bee-keeper, and watch his work and methods; hence, to engage in this work extensively at all (and there would be no profit in any but a wholesale business), would surely bring detection. I have long been con- versant with bee-keepers and their work and methods, the country over, and I fully believe that no one could make this profitable, and es- cape detection. Again, there is now but very little profit in this nefarious work — I say " ne- farious," for, to sell any article for what it is not, is to defraud — and so the manufacturer must do a tremendous business to make it pay. The real producer of honey, we know, does not do this. We know his sales, and we know that they are just about what the season's product permits. Heioce I believe Prof. Wiley does our bee-keepers a serious wrong. I have no doubt that he thinks he is correct.. I am only sorry that he had not studied the facts, and so known whereof he affirmed. I am quite sure he has no data to sustain his charge. A study of his tables shows that it is the manufacturer, not the producer, who sells an adulteration as honey. On page 74.5 we find, " Artificial comb honey has been regarded as a possible article of com- merce by many scientific men." A slip sent out after the report, puts a not before '• been " in this sentence. The truth is, no scientific man thinks it. The thing is impossible, and has never been done. A real scientist does not think a thing till he studies into it and has a reason for his conviction. It is unfortunate that Prof. Wiley had not ended his sentence with " by any scientific man.''' Page 745 states that •' pure honey has a slight left-handed effect on the plane of polarized light, less than invert cane sugar." He states further, on p. 796, " By reason of the fact that these five samples were right-handed they have an unusual interest." These are stated as sure- ly genuine. Again, p. 798. we find honey from pine honey-dew with a right-handed rotation. I have delicious honey from several kinds of honey-dew, and some from ergot. Does Prof. Wiley know but that some of this — which is genuine honey — may be very strongly right- handed ? Is there not room for more investiga- tion? Again, has Prof. Wiley analyzed honey which was gathered very rapidly — basswood for in- stance— when the bees may gather 20 lbs. per colony in a single day— to note whether, in such cases, the bees may not fail to reduce the sucrose of the cane sugar, and thus possibly give us a genuine honey of very best quality which is strongly right-handed? He says, p. 746. "The amount of cane sugar varies from nothing to 8 to 10 per cent according to the quantity of cane sugar in the nectar. a?icZ the extent of inversion to which it Is subjected in passing the organism of the bee. We here have acknowledgment that the digestion of the nec- tar— that is. the inversion of the cane sugar of the nectar — varies. May not rapidly gathered honey, then, like our basswood and the sage of California, which is often collected with tre- mendous rapidity, be stored without inversion, and so be rich in cane sugar and be strongly right-handed? I have good reason to think this may be true. On p. 745 we have: " The content of water in pure honey may vary from 12 to 20 per cent. It 18«>2 GLEANIN(;S IN IJEE CULTURE. 405 is seldom as low as r.\ and docs not fii'(iii(Milly (>xotM>d ".'0 iKT rcnl." On p. 7S() «(> lind tliat IS sanipli's an- |ii'onoiiiu't'd impiiro licoaiisc of cx- ci'ss of water. S(>V('i'al saini)l('s jravc ov(>r .'{() por I'iMii. wliilo one fiavc over .'ill jicr cent. Tliis stMMiis to tli(> h(>('-l<('t'i>cf lil<(' a jolo'. and siifcdy eivos aiiotluT reason why wc sliould put only luliy ripened honey on the market. Had Prot\ Wiley consulted even a novitiate in extraoted- hone> nfodiu'tion he could have learned that, since tlic lione\ -extiactof has been hroucrht into use. the neiventage of watef is no test for honey. How well it would bo if the scientist could know mon^ of what is A B C to the practical man I The analy.ses given in the report are from ten of the best of our American chemists. Fifty samples were analyzed by each one. The adul- terated samples as repoit<'d range from i:.' per cent— ttiose by Dr. S. P. Sharpies, who procured his material from Boston, wher ' there are very stringent laws against adulteration— to 76 per cent— those reported by I'rof. H. H. Nicholson, of Lincoln, Neb. KNCOtTRAGING POINTERS. There is much in this report that will prove gratifying. Tlie fact, as just stated, that Bos- ton, with a good law against adulteration, shows so clean a record, is surely enough to move every bee-keeper to work for such a law in his own Stat(\ Esp(>cially is such a law needed in Nebraska, if the report is a correct guide. Should not bee-keepers everywhere urge the passage of the Paddock law now pend- ing in congress? Again, nearly if not quite all the samples con- demned in the report are from manufitcturers. Those from apiarists, so far as I know or can determine, are all pronounced pure, I have long believed and urged, that, if all would pur- cliase honey witli the producer's stamp or trade-mark on it, they would get genuine honey. As shown above, producers do not 77ia?)»/(fcture. The very words. " Strained honey " and "Cali- fornia white-clover honey," show that the hon- ey was never put up by a bee-keeper. PUZZLES. That two chemists' report adulterated honey from C. F. Muth is puzzling. No one who knows Mr. Muth and his earnest work against adulteration can believe for a moment that he is guilty of any such meanness and fraud. Eitlier "the analyses are conducted on a false basis, or else Mr. Muth has been deceived in his purchases. As I understand, he purchases mostly of real producers, and so. as above sho^v n. would get pure honey. In case he pur- chased of these manufacturers, we should sup- pose him too experienced and wary to be caught, as I have previously stated. Analyses which condeiun honey with Mr. Muth's gijar- antee of purity affixed cause us to doubt the methods of an.'lysis. Again, how can California honey, sold at three and four cents per pound, be adulterated at a profit? Is it not possible that California honey lias properties that deceive the very elect chemists? The high standing of all the chemists en- gaged in this work proves conclusively that, in case there are errors, it iswitt the methods. As the report states, honeys are complex and varied in character, and "often old chemical methods have had to be given up with the ad- vent of new light. The fact that several whole- sale dealers furnished only pure samples in every case, and that the most of Mr. Muth's samples are pronounced genuine, should tend to strengthen our confidence in the report. A. J. Cook. Agricultural College, Mich, May 19. [The article ai)ove was vvritt(Mi ixifore I'rof. Cook saw our editorial in May 1.5th Gi,e.vn- iN(js. Since receiving that numl)er he writes as follows: — iOi).] It seems to me that you are very severe in your editorial regarding Prof. Wiley's report. I am sure you intend to do only exact justice, and that you have reason to feel strongly; but we can not afford to do injustice; and I know that you are th(( last person that would inten- tionally do injustice to anyone. You will no- tice that not one of the samples purporting to come from INIr. Muth was bought of him; and any man that would lie by selling an article as pure honey which was adulteratcid stuff would, I imagine, not hesitate to steal a man's name and character. If he did this he would likely steal the best Ik^ could find, which means Mr. Muth's. Prof. M. A. Scovell, who analyzed the samples you refer to, is. to my certain knowl- edge, as I know him well, one of our finest men, and one of our best American chemists. He uses the best means known to science. I be- lieve, as you know, that the method is, very likely, faulty; but we must not condemn a luan who acts according to the best light he has. I have already consulted with Prof. S., and he desires to cooperate with mein settling this mat- ter once for all. I wish you would aid us by helping me to get several .samples of basswood and white-sage honey — surely genuine— right from the apiarist, which was gathered very rapidly by the bees. I hope to show the chem- ist that a new and better method is demanded. You say Dr. Wiley starts out on a new line, to show that nearly all liquid honey is adulterated. Would it not be more correct to say, to show that much — less than half, really about 38:o — of the honey prepared by wholesalers is not genu- ine? Are we sure this is not true? I believe this report will do good. If the chemists are in the dark, we are going to show it. If wholesale dealers are defrauding our people we should know that, and take; immediate measures to prevent it. I tell you, we can secure laws and action to stay such iniquity, and we must. 1 do not think Prof. W. an incompetent. He is one of the ablest chemists in the country, and, I believe, wishes only the best good to all our bee-keepers. If the chemical methods need re- forming, Prof. Wiley will be very glad to know it. and suit his methods to the latest and best advice that science can give. This is the cer- tain conviction of Yours truly, A. J. Cook. Ag'l College, Mich. [vSee editorial comment el.sewhere.] . COST OF RESTRICTOES. MANIPULATING COLONIES. In Gleanings for March 1, page 1G4, is an article by Mr. .S. A. Dyke upon the subject of queen restriction, with the editor's notes to the same, which, it seems to me, should be recon- sidered. First, Mr. Dyke pronounces them "quite ex- pensive," and figures the cost of ten at S6.70 as compared with the labor of unqueening ten hives, which is figured at ¥!3.00. In this .S6.70 he has figured 40 brood-frames, made up, which he already has and would not need to buy. We may call these frames worth §!J.(X). If the re- strictors are to be shipped without frames, another dollar may be deducted, leaving -54.70 for ten restrictors. All the parts of the restrict- or are composed of metal, and will last 20 years. The labor of unqueening might be performed 4(J6 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. June 1. evpry year, so that for 30 yeais it would amount to UO.OO instead of Mr. Dyke"s S2.00. Taking the cost of the ten restrictors (S4.70) from the $40. it shows a balance of $35.30 in their favor. It is no more reasonable to use restrictors only one season than to use hives only one season and throw them away. In the footnotes the editor says. "The object of queen - restriction, advocated by C. VV. Dayton, is primarily, as we understand it, to control unnecessary brood - rearing out of season.'" This understanding is faulty. It is not primarily nor any other "marily." In my last pamphlet, no such function is mentioned; iDut for correction, and any one who cares to know. I may explain somewhat further. You use an excluding honey-board on top of the brood -chamber, to prevent the queen from going above into the sections. Very well; the restrictor consists of what may be called excluding honey-boards; one for each side of the brood-combs, as well as one for the top, to prevent the queen from going into the sections or extracting combs at the sides and top of the hives, and also an excluder to prevent the queen from going out at the entrance. I know there may be more honey obtained by having the surplus receptacles arranged upon three sides of the brood than when we depend upon the top of the hive alone. Again, ihere are not such a perplexing set of bee-spaces at the sides to coax the bees through as at the top, because brood-combs may be placed outside of the excluders, and the excluders moved toward the center of the hive. With the common excluding honey-board, having two bee-spaces, it takes about five days for the bees to work their way through them, and then they enter at the bottom of the sections, four inches from where they wish to begin work. The bees will never go into surplus receptacles thus arranged, until the honey-flow forces them to go soiiie- where. These claims may be tested by a proper arrangement of the bee-hive, as for instance: About ten days before the opening of the honey harvest, select a number of strong colonies and separate their brood-combs in the middl(\ and put in three courses of pound sections through the center of the brood-nest. At the end of ten days the outside sections will be filled with comb; but the center rows will seldom be work- ed upon any. If only one row of sections is put in they will be filled with comb in thirty-six hours. This shows plainly that the bees work much more readily close by the brood. Again, two wide frames full of sections may be placed in the center of the brood-nest, with a slatted honey-board (or, rather, a slatted division- board) on one side, and nothing between the sections and brood on the other side. The ifoundation next the division-board remains un- touched day after day, or until the honey har- vest sets iii. From 16 to 40 sections are filled with comb by the time the bees begin on the foundation after going through the slatted division-board, or the excluding honey-board, on top of the hive. A NEW-FANGI>ED QUEEN-EXCLUDEK. Friend Dyke says I "seem to think four frames about the right number" for the n^strictor. Exactly. Now suppose your colony contains the eight combs of brood. Of course, this may not apply to mri colonies, because my hives liold twelve combs, and there are usually more than eight combs of brood; but if you area bee-keeper who keeps up with the times we may be safe in counting on eight combs of brood for j/oirr colony. Separate the eight combs into three groups— four combs in the middle group, and two in each outside group. Attach the restrictor-excluders to the outside frame" of the middle group, and arrange the three excludingstripsin the bee-spaces between the frames. Now you will have the queen con- fined on four conibs. and there will be two brood -combs on each side, outside of the exclud- ers. In this way the effects of the excluders are entirely overcome, and sections or frames placed beside or alternated with these outside brood-combs will be worked upon just as readi- ly as they will take i)OSsession of any comb alternated with the brood-combs. The line of queen exclusion or resti'iction. to bring the best results, should be drawn within the limits of the brood-nest instead of outside. In the case of the excluding hom^y board, used between the brood -nest and supers, it is considerable distance outside. SPEED IN MANIPULATING HIVES. On page 161 Mr. Dyke estimates ten colonies as a day's work in unqueening and destroying queen-cells. On the next page you place two hours' work at 40 hives, which would be equal to 300 per day and 1300 per week. Now. after ten years of practice I confess that, to find and clip the queen's wing, break a little capping for stimulation, etc., 60 colonies is a good fair ten hours' job. I can set 13,000 ems of type in ten hours, which is considerably above the or- dinary speed of composition: but I am not nim- ble enough to manipulate 75 colonies of bees in the ten hours; so you see we have a variation as to a day's work of fiom 10 to (iOto 3(X) colonies — still further apart than were Messrs. Doolittle and Taylor as to what a day's work is worth. Who is the nearest right? Whatever discussion any one may enter into regarding the cost of restrictors will not ti'ouble me. as I am not in the notion of manufacturing them to sell, but am in the notion of maintain- ing my originality and priority of invention without such a dispute as was caused by the invention of bee-escapes, divisible brood-cham- bers, and swarm-hivers. Several have intimated that Heddon hives with a queen-excluding honey-board on the top and bottom would accomplish about the same results. Certainly they would; but their greater expense is against them. The two ex- cluding boards cost 40 cents, while the total expense of the I'estrictor is 47c(^nts. leaving only 7 cents with which to change fi'om the common frames and hives in use to the Heddon style. To adopt restrictors is simply to change from one form of excluder to another. Hives and frames remain the same. C. W. Dayton. Greeley, Col., May 10. [The average bee-keeper does not use one kind of frame or hive more than ten years. He either goes out of the business or runs on to some new hobby. So ten years would be about as long as you could safely count upon the use of your restrictors on the average, although they would doubtless last twice that length of time; so there would hardly be a balance of $35.(X) in favor of the restrictors. Moreover, as it has been already observed by another, it seems to us there must be a good deal of labor used in handling so many pieces of metal; and if for any reason it is desired to see the queen or to inspect the brood surfaces, these pieces of metal must be handled at a considerable ex- pense of time. Referring to our footnotes, our understanding of the restrictor may be faulty; but arestrictor is something to restrict something, and, in the case of your device, to restrict brood-rearing. Either the device is not well named, or our un- derstanding, as stated, was correct. The object of contraction is, to prevent excessive brood- IS'.tJ GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 407 rt'iiiiiis at till' wnuiii tiiiir of tlic yi-ar; iiiid \\r may add, also, to foivi' llic Ih-cs into I \\r siiriilus. Vour rcstrii-tor (s a iiu'IIumI of arcomplisliiiig ooiitraotioii. and n'strictinj^ tlic c^j^-layiiif; to les-s tlian a hrood-i-liamhii- of the ordinary I^. hivo. It ditTcrs from ordinary contraflioii. tliat you insert brood-rombs or widi' frames of sec- tions in place of iiiittinjj in dummies at. the sides: and for sucti use we have no doubt it accomplishes a very useful pui'pose.J RAMBLE NO. 60. IX VKXTl I!.\ COrXTY. Many of tlie readers uf Gi.iCAXixcis, 1 jiave no doubt, love to read, now and then, a good book of fiction. There is an interesting romance of Southern California, which gives an insight into the easy-going ways of Spanish life at about ilie time the Americans, with their greiid to me<'t ail association of schoolteachers, to give them a lecture on the insect-j)ests of the coun- try, and especially facts in I'elation to the de- tiH'tion of si-alc that is so destructive to citrus- trees. The teachers would impart the instruc- tion to i)upils, and th(> rising generation would be b(>tter picparod to fight the destfoyer. Orange-growing is, therefoi-e. not all a thing of ease and protit, but has fully as many discour- aging phases as bee culture. Mr. M. directed me to diive his horse to his re,sidenc(\ about three miles up tlu^ S(!spe, and he would return on the morrow. Now, that horse of M.'s is a remarkable animal. Mr. Root says it is patient. It is more than patient. Aftei- 1 had pushed on the lines, clucked at him, and said. ■' Gidup," I gave him a cut with the whip, and he stopped and turned his head around, and, with his big eyes, plainly indicated that he was thinking of a quotation from Shakespeare. Said he, in language that speaks plainer than words, '"Stranger, this was the -. -i .MRS. M I.XTYRE .S QUEEN-REAKIXG APIARY UNDER THE ORANGE-TREES. for gold, acquired jKjssessionJ of the country. The story was founded upon facts, and the main cliaracters in the romance were veritable inhabitants of the .Santa Clara Valley, and many place.s are pointed out as landmarks mentioned in the story. I therefore recommend the •• Story of Ramona." It was down this valley I traveled to find the home of .1. F. Mclntyre. I had almost madf up my mind to say nothing about this portion of my travels, for Ventura Co. has now been quite well written up: but in looking the ground over I find that not half the wonders of this beautiful country have ever been told. About tlie first man I met at the PMlImore depot was Mr. Mclntyre himself. He had an ajipointment most unkindest cut of all." I admired the horse's intelligence, and thereafter allowed him to proceed at his own gait, and arrived at the Mclntyre mansion after dark. I had met Mrs. M. in Los Angeles, and tiierefore felt at home. ~ Mrs. M., I will agree, can make good bread; but that isn't all of her accomplishments. She can make canned peaches. Dears, apricots, and put up oranges in the following styles: Orange jelly, fritters, cake, pie, ambrosia, and heavenly hash. Then there are the four babies to train into usefulness, the organ to play, and queens to raise. I have a photo of Mrs. M.'s queen- raising apiary under the orange-trees. It is located under those beautiful orange-trees. An oiange-tree has a peculiar charm about it — the 408 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. June 1. deep-green foliage; the clean, trim appearance, and, in the fruiting season, the golden fruit. Four stands are placed around each tree; on these stands are two little hives, with frames the size of a iJi^^H section. The frames rest on two bottom stiips, and the whole little hive can be removed f)om the frames, leaving them free to be manipulated. The stands are also of sufficient height to work around without much bending of the back, which is an excellent pro- vision when a dignified lady manipulates the hives. I have no doubt Mrs. M. can run that whole apiary of 500 colonics, and do it as well as she can make bread. She comes honestly by her bee-lore. for. as the most of bee-keepers know, she is the daughter of Mr. Robert Wilkin, one of the pioneer bee-keepers of this portion of California, and she has been used to the hum of bees all her life. Mr. Mclntyre has been written up so much that you would hai'dly know that he had a helpmeet of ability, and 1 hope the above will set her right before the public. Mr. M. returned the next day, and we made a short call at the apiary of Mr. Keeney. A de- scription of his apiary tallies well with others. Let me describe nine-tenths of the California apiaries in a few words. Pasturage, bees, hives (good, bad, and indifferent), stones, a 10x12 honey-house (sometimes only a frame covered with burlap, or in Mexican style of adobe): a especially adapted to the cultivation of beans; and this is probably the greatest bean-produc- ing valley in the world. The largest bean- ranch contains 2300 aci-es, and produced 1030 tons of lima beans, making several solid rail- road trains of beans from one ranch. About 1.500 carloads from the county were handled, and the value was $133,000. In Ventura we find many bee-keepers. Mr. Mercer, well known to the fraternity, is in the business to the number of 1200 swarms. Mr. M. has four stalwart sons to help him, and is a general driver in business. He and his sous are all engaged, not only in bee culture, but also in carpentry and building, and have a planing- mill to aid them in their various enterprises, and are doing a great amount of business in the building line, all the time adding to and ex- tending the size of the growing town of Ven- tura. In the honey season, he too. like Mr. Richardson, of Santa Paula, goes out to his apiaries with his whole family and his horses, and the cow and the calf and the colt. Our photo shows the train coming in after thi^ con- clusion of the labors of the season. The colt is mounted in the wagon; the head wagon has the inevitable trail wagon behind, and Mr. Mercer is driving. Mr. Robert Wilkiii, of Ventura, has retired somewhat fi'om the activities of the pursuit, though he still has apiaries in a distant portion of the county. He has a very pleasant home, THE WAY A CALLFOENIA HOUSEHOLD MIGKATES TO AN OUT-APIAKY. gaivanized-lron honey-tank: sun wax-extractor; badger, skunk, squirrel, and gopher holes all around; sometimes a little 10x12 cabin to bach it in through the honey-season. Mr. Keeney's apiary was near his residence, and was in very good trim. Mr. K. himself is not only a bee-keeper, but he is also a cultivator of the vine, and produces quantities of raisins. If the bees get troublesome he covers the grape- trays with wire cloth, so the fruit-growing and bee culture go hand in hand, as they should. From Mr. Keeney's I proceeded to Santa Paula. Here Mr. Wm. T. Richardson resides, and is owner of 1200 colonies of bees. He is a contractor and builder; but when the honey- season opens, with his family and a crew of helpers he goes from one apiary to another until the flow ceases. His bees were out in the mountains on what is called the Sime ranche. Mr. R. Touchton also has kept bees in Santa Paula foi' 1(3 years, and is one of the veterans in the business. In a good season he can take ten swarms and increase them to one hundred. Mr. C. W. Metcalf, of Santa Paula, is a metal- worker and tinner, and has invented a new re- versible extractor. The baskets are operated by a sprocket-chain, very ingeniously arranged around several sprocket-wheels. The machine workis very well, and the inventor is selling a number of them. While the foot-hills and the mountains are rich in honey, the fertile bottom lands are presided over by his youngest daughter. In his front yard I noticed a pretty fountain and reser- voir with goldfish. His house and surroundings denote refinement and comfort, and I believe it all came through bee culture. In his palmy days he was ambitious to secure a crop of 50 tons of honey, and accomplished it. He then sought a market for it in England, with good results. Since living in California he had bought and sold many apiaries. I find that apiaries are more salable property in California than in the East. Every season those who wish to enlarge their business are looking for api- aries, either to purchase or to rent; while in the East, if an apiary is sold it has to be broken up and sold to vai'ious parties, unless the pur- chaser buys bees and farm. Here the apiary is located upon government land, or land that can be used for nothing else, and the purchaser buys the bare bees, hives, and fixtures. Mr. Wilkin is a progressive man, takes an active part in the prosperity and upbuilding of the town in which he lives, and has also been an active factor in the formation of bee-keep- ers' associations. Mr. Walker, a few miles out of Ventura, com- bines bee-keeping with ranching. He has sev- eral thousand acres of land, and cattle and horses. We read of the " cattle on a thousand hills."' Here it would seem there are a thousand cattle on a hill. P'ruit culture is, however. Mr. Walker's hobby, and all kinds and of the best IS'.l'J (JLEANINGS IN HEE CULTURE. 409 irrowii iiri' foiirui nn Mr. W.'s raiioli. His In^os \V('n> atlliricd laiju'ly witli tin' tr(Mi\MinK tlis- t'usc. or i)aralysis. 1 fear, however, tliat Mr. \V. has •• loo many irons in liu- tire."' and tiie hoc iron is tlu' ono tiiat sntTcrs. The reader will jierliaps hegin to thinl\ tiiat tlie al)o\e enumeration of bee-keepers, witli tlieir tiundreds and tiiousands of eoionies, is enough for one eoiinty: l)ut tiiere art' more to foiknv. Not half of the wonders of tiiis beauti- ful eountry iiave ever been told: neither can thev all be rehearsed h\ the Ua.mulkh. CARRYING BEES FROM THE CELLAR, ETC. now AND W IIK.N I'M DO IT SO AS NOT TO IIAVK THE BEKS FI,Y OUT. In a back number of Gi.kamxgs I tihd this question: "I see quite a good many of the brethren who practice cellar wintering advise putting tlie bees in the cellar without any bot- tom-boards to the hives. I should like to liave them tell me iiow they manage in the spring to keep the bees from getting in an uproar when being phiced on their summer stands." I have waited some time to see if some one else would not answer this question, as I should like to hear the plans of others; but as no one has done so. -and as I have a request privately, to answer this question. I will try my hand at it. One of the most dreaded things" which I used to do was the setting of the bees out of the cel- lar, where the hives had no bottom-boards on them during the winter, as the bees would fly out in spite of all the carefulness in handling which I could do. and these bees which flew out were the most wicked to sting of any which I had to encounter. Also, all the bees which flew out on the journey from the cellar to their stands apparently marked the spot where they left the hive, and would hover about there for some time after, ready to sting whatever came along, as well as being a loss to the colony and the apiarist. -Studying on the matter for some time 1 Anally resolved to smoke each colony as soon as out of the cellar-door: and ujjon trying it I found that smoke would drive the few bees that were ready to rush out and fly, right back to the cluster, where they would stay for a mo- ment or two before attempting to fly out again. In this way I got along very well unle.ss the stand the colony was to occupy was so far from th(; cellar door that the cluster would break up, and a general rush would be mad(! for the light and warm air which greeted them, after being in the dark cellar four f)r five 'uonths. One day I thought of the spring wheelbarrow, so I tried setting them on th;it and wheeling them to their stands. This was much easier for me: but there was a cf^rtain amount of jar- ring to it, in spite of the springs, that irritated the bees so that they were ready to rush out en mf<8.S'e when I waslitting the hive from the barrow to the stand; and often the bottom of the baiTOW would be covered with the Vjees which had come down before the stand was reached. This saved all of the bees, as they all marked the right spot, but did not do away with tlie stinging from the bees which flew in the air before the hive was on the stand. I next took an old sheet and wet it. and. after doub- ling, put that on the bottom of the wheelbar- row and tip over the front end- board. This took off all the jar. and also kept the few bees which might straggle down on to the bottom of the l)arro;v from staying there ; for as soon as they came in contact with the wet sheet they would run hack. I now went into the cellar, took a hive of bees, and placed it on the sheet, tipped it up a little in frontso as to blow under three or four jtull's of smoke, lowered it to its place, and put a wet rag down in front ovei- the entrance, when I had the thing just as I wanted it, for 1 could wheel them wherever I wished, without their apparently bicaking tht^ cluster at all. The wet sheet gave a chill to the air inside of the hive so the i)ces did not fed on th(> inake-uoof the siH'tion. in- dependent of the sonii'e of t lie contents, we can then start in with white, amber, dark, and buckwheat, if yon choose, and then there will be no dilliculty afterwarii in adtiing particular kinds alontr with buckwheat, just as rapidly as there is any need for it. If you say. " Hut W(^ don"i want more tlian four or live grades all told, takiiifi into account tiie kind of honey and every thins." I i"<'ply that, if there (rrt' moie kinds, then you may as well recognize tliem. There's buckwlieat. that stands out byitself: it isn't amber, it isn'tdark: it's buckwheat, and yt)n can't lump it in \vith any thing else. Isn't it possible that Spanish needle ought just as much to stand by itself".' Of course, as long as the jinblic tiiake nodis- erimination atnong the dilTei'ent light honeys it is well enough to put them all into one class and call them white: l)ut our system siiould be such as to allow a change any time, if for any reason the public want any one of the whites singled out from the others. Let me repeat what I have been trying to get at: That the three or four grades dep.MKling up- on make-up. independent of the flowers from which the honey was gatjiered. is something that ought not to he so very hard to agree upon, no matter liow much we may differ as to the relative merits of the different honeys them- selves: that part —that is, the appearance — ran be graded. I doubt whether you can grade with any general satisfaction the different kinds of honey. Plenty of people consider buckwheat a higher grade of honey than white clover. If you attempt to call one or the other first grade, you make an invidious comparison. But you may cUi-ssif}) the kinds of honey without strok- ing any one's fur the wrong way. If you class- ify very simply as WjJit and d(trk, that's not saying which is best. So it seems to me we might agree on a few^ (/rndes based on appear- ance, and then more or less rldsses based on contents. I know that most of us are pretty busy now, but I do hope that we may have a fuller ex- change of views on this subject before we meet at Wasliington. C. C. Mili^ek. : Marengo, 111. [We are heartily in sympathy with you in your efforts, doctor, to get a uniform system of grading, but our faith is weak. As bee-keepers will not all use the same kind of hive, so we doubt wh(!ther they would agree upon one sys- tem of grading. However, we do not wish to throw cold water upon the att<>mpt to secure this object, worthy as it is: and we therefore submit again, for easy reference, the system of W. C. Frazier, which Dr. Miller seems to favor more than a'l the rest. COLOK. Gnuk -'A." AV'liite honey, clover, l);issw()()(l, and tiiiubed Imn- «ys, which are white or hg'lit colored. Ormlf "B." Honey.s wliich are yellow or aiiil)er, such iis alfalfa. Spanish needle, etc. Oradf "C." All dark honeys, l)nckwlieat, etc. CONDITION. " Faiiry." Combs which are well .sealed, stiaifrht, and even; sufficiently attached to ship without breaking-; combs ana sections unsoiled. " Choke." Corn lis well filled, firmly attached; not more tlian one-fourth of the surface can l)i' travel-stained or unsealed, but inny be Ijulged. " Family." .\ll honeys whose condition floes not wariant, placing them in eithei' of the al)ove grades. Now, in support of the ;il)ove I Iwive not much arjiuinenl to oll'ei-, :is I think it is simple, not neai-ly as complex ;is , my tliMt have heretofoic been otJer- I'd; also, hy it all honey raised in this country conid be graded, and its e.xact 11." 'I'he reyrioiis that pr'oduce buckwheat honey would mark tln'ir liest coml) hon- ey " l"'ancy (", " while those who are fortunate eiiou^rh to secure white honey in first-class style could mark their product " Fancy A." The Krade marked " Fainil.\ " will find a nnich more ready sale, at a better prict', than the .same honey would tiring' if miirked 3d or -tth {frade. It would not take the lioney-producers loiifr to learn that "A" means white, "B" yellow oi' ambei-, and "C" dark, and thentoKrade a<-cordinfj- to condition; and there is no use in having- four or five ditlerent gi-ades so that it would take an expert to jiaok honey. The three grades of condition are enough—" Fancy ' for the best; •'Choice" for good honey, slightly bulged or travel-stained; "Family" for what's left after the two above grades are taken out. Then the let- ters can be used for grading extracted honey; as it is graded mostly according to color, they would be as applicable to extracted as to comb. Now. is it not possible that we can adopt this in the luanner proposed by Dr. Miller, with some very slight changes, or, at least, agree enough upon it so as to be able to submit it to the North American when we assemble at Washington'?] IMBEDDING "WIRES IN FOUNDATION BY THE USE OF ELECTRICITY. A ClIEAI' BATTERY FOR EVERY ONE. We had intended, as announced, to write up more fully, and illustrate, the method of im- bedding wires by electricity; but the following, from the Bec-hcepers' Review, covers the sub- ject so well that we thought we could do no better than to copy it entire: To make a batterj', take three one-quart fiaiit^jars (glass), and cut ott' the tops just lielow the taper. The best way to do this is to cut with a glass- cutter's diamond, then tap lightly with a small hammer or the head of an iron bolt, all around in- side the jar. just opposite the cut made by the dia- mond, when the toi> will come off just where the diamond made the cut. Another way is, to file a groove around the jar, or grind one with an emery wheel, then tap with a hammer. This is the way I do it; and although it is not so perfect as the above methods, yet it answers the purpose. Take a red- hot poker and move it slowly around the |)lace to be cut. When 1 have l)een around the jar abtint twice I drop about a taljlesi)oonful of cold water on the place whence I remove the poker, when the top will bi-eak off. but not always so very straight. Out of i's hard wood make a round cover. Vi inch laiger all around than a jar, for each jar'. Scribe a cir'cle on each cover, one incli less in diameter than the inside diameter of a jar. Make five or six holes ihrongh this cii'cle, having them equallj' distant from one anotlrer, and of such a size that a carlxm will fit tightly in each liole. (See Fig. 8, C, C, C.) Tlie center hole is for zinc. The more carbons used, tlie higher the tension of the battery. Get carbons long enough to I'each within >4 inch of the bottom of t Ik' jar wlien complete. [In this place, waste pieces of cai'lion long enough for this purpose can l)e ol>- laiiied of the electric-light trimmers, simiily for the asking. — Ed.] File a notch around one end of each carbon, .^ of an inch from the end. (See Fig. 1.) Put the carbons half waj' through the cover, and fasten one end of a No. 20 copper v,'irv around the notched place ill one carbon; then wind it around the next carbon, and so on, until the last one (in that cover) is leaelied; leaving one foot of surplus wire for making connection. Shove the carbons 412 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. JUXE 1. through the cover until the shoulders formed by the wires rest on top of the cover. A little melted resin and beeswax poured around the wire and car- bons on top of the cover will make permanent con- nections. A piece of zinc (cast from any old scraps) i4 to % inch in diameter, with a shoulder and a wire cast in it (see Fig-. 2(, the zinc to fit loosely in the cover, is next needed. Amalgamate tlie zinc, and its con- sumption will be less rapid. To do this, take one part sulphuric acid and two of water and put in a saucer with some quicksilver. Rub tlie zinc with this mixture, vising a woolen cloth, until the zinc is bright. Amalgamate only below the shoulder. With both zinc and carbons in place, put the cover on the jar and fill the latter with water to within )^ inch of the cover. Take off the cover and mark the watei'-line by pasting a strip of paper on the outside of the jar, just at tlie point reached by the water when the cover is off. Treat all three jars and covers the same. To make the solution, take one part commercial sulphuric acid and seven parts water. Pour the acid slowly and gradually into the water, stirring it with a glass rod or hard-wood stick. To each quart of this mixture add four ounces bichromate of potash, or about three ounces to each jar, stirring it until it is almost dissolved. Pour the water from the jars and pour in the solution until it comes up to the aforesaid water-line; put on the covers; place the zincs in their places and '"connect up." (See Fig. 3.) ^J> To connect the battery, take the surplus wire from the carbon of one jar and connect it to the zinc of the next jar. Take the carbon wire from this jar and connect to the zinc of the third jar. Now you have two surplus wires left— one from the zinc in jar No. 1, and tlie other from the carbon in No. 3; i. e., positive and negative terminals. Take in your right hand the surplus wire from No. 3 and touch it to tlie suiplus wire of No. 1, and you will see quite a Hash of lightning You will then know that the batteij- is in good working order. Don't be afraid of a shock, for there is none where there is no magnetism, and there is no magnetism about a naked battery. You might burn your tingers, though, by catching hold of the small wii'e in the brood-frame when the current is on. A word of caution just here. Remove the zincs from the solution as soon as you are through using the battery, otherwise the solution will become overcharged with sulphate of zinc, which renders it worthless. Make all connections as s/iorf as possible, as this style of battery is of low tension, and would not heat 50 feet of wire 2°. Oh, yes ! it will burn a four or five volt lamp, as bright as day, for a few minutes; but fifteen min- utes with a closed circuit at any one time would ruin the carbon element for ever; but if the battery is used simply for imbedding wires, the carlionswill last for years. Before connecting, scrape or emerj-- paper all parts to be connected. Soldering them is better. For all connections, use copper wire, about No. 20. [If a battery of three jars proves too weak, more jars can be added until the desired I'esult is obtain- ed. If any one should prefer to buy batteries instead of making them, they can be bought (those called the Diamond Carbon) at $1.25 each, of the Electrical Supply Co., 102 Mich. Ave., Chicago, 111. —Ed.] To wire a frame, attach one end of the wire (use No.* 30) to a tack in the end-bar (see Fig. 4): and after the frame is wired, attach the other end to a tack in the opposite end-bar; the tacks to corres- spond ^vith metal springs, S S, on cleats, in Fig. 5. No one part of the wire must touch another part throughout its length, nor any part be connected to the same piece of metal that another part is fasten- ed to, as, if your wires cross each other, thei-e will be what is called a "short circuit," and the current will take the shortest route back to the battery, leaving part of the wire "dead." If you undertook to imbed crossed wires, only that part would be imbedded that the current heated, and you would count the wliole thing a grand failure; yet if, in your style^of wiring, the wires do cross, put a small piece of p'lper between them, just enough to keep them separate, and you will meet with no trouble at all. To rig up a table, make a drop board, ju.st thick enough so that, when nailed to the table, and a wired frame laid over it, the frame will rest on the table, and the wires will be the proper distance above board; i. e., half the thickness of the founda- tion. Next make two square cleats, as thick as the end-bars of a brood-frame are wide. Make two metal springs (thin brass) as wide as the cleats are thick, and fasten to the cleats with screws (see Fig. 5). Nail the cleats, one on either side of drop board (see Fig. 5), so that, when the end-bars of the frame rest between the cleats and drop-board, the tack- heads (to which tlie wire is fastened) will press tightly against the springs. Have the springs two or three inches long, so if you don't get the tacks always in the same place on every frame the tack- heads will press against the spring anyhow. To make the contact^button, take some oi tlie same metal (brass) as mentioned above, K inch wide and 3 inches long, and bend it in the shape shown in Fig. 6, and screw it to the table, six inches or there- abouts, to the right of the right-hand cleat. Just under the spring, or raised end, drive a brass-headed tack, of the kind u.sed in perforated chair-bottoms. (See Fig. 6.) To connect the battery with the t.^.ble (make all connections under the table for convenience as well as looks), take the surplus carbon wii'e in cell No. 3; run it through a small hole made with an awl close ti) the tack in contact-button; wind the wire around the tack between the table and the head of the t|ick; drive the tack home, and that connection is com- plete. (See Fig. 7.) Make an awl-hole through the table, alongside of one of the scicws that hold the contact-button to the table, aiiothei' awl-hole close beside the spring, in the rUjht-haud cJnit; put one end of a short piece of wire around one screw in the contact-botton ; drive the screw home. Run the other end of the wire down through the hole made in the table, and u() through the hole alongside of the spring in tlie rigJit-liand cleat, and fasten the end of the wire around the screw and drive the screw home. (See Fig. 7.) Now take the surplus zinc wire in cell No. 1 and connect it to the spring in the Jf/'t /uoid c^iaf, and your table is com- plete. (See Fig. 7.) To operate the "machine," place your wired brood-frame over the drop-board with the top-bar from you. See that the tack-heads press against the spring in the cleats; place your foundation on the wires; "press the (contact) button, and the electricity does the rest." A man with nimble lin- gers could do ten a minute. Don't you tliink I have made it all plain ? W. E. Dages. Morris, 111., March 26, 1892. 1892 ('.LEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 413 FLORIDA. I.KXGTH OF TIIK llONI. V -KI.OW ; KATTLESNAKKS. The llrst tliinir wlicn I lake up (ii.KAXiNGs is to look lip ill tlio tahlc of I'oiiti'iits ili(> word Florida: but my eye is very seldom sralilied. How ott<>ii I wish" that thi> talontod oiu's of Florida hcp-kci'pt'rs would givo us some items iificiicr than thi'v dol Wt'll. friend uVowii has taken groat pains in iriving us his annual Florida report. I see by it liiat some i)eople leaii us to think tliat they get honey the "year round." Do they mean to get a i-rop every day'.' Here in Orange County I ean get honey only in Mairh. April. May, or .liiiy and October. " Hetween tli(> tiiree distinct crops of orange-blossom, palmetto, and golden- rod, there is (|iiite a cut -off. Northern bee-keepers are sending their bees here to gather in line orange-blossom honey, and. I suppo.se. get back north in time for the clover crop. A .Mr. Lane, from Michigan, has visited my apiary, and consulted me with a view of moving some bees liere. Dr. Harry Siites. of Harrisbiirg. Pa., has first