460 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July 15 



eiit should attend this meeting. Particu- 

 lars as to the dale, program, etc., will be 

 announced later. Watch the bee-papers for 

 it. 



The membership of the National to-day 

 (June 18) is o88o. It will be more than 

 4000 by the time of the National meeting. 

 There are a few who should renew now; but 

 after the honey-harvest all will attend to 

 that, surely. 



Many report that their bees are doing 

 well. To-day we began extracting, and with 

 four machines and steam-knives we took off 

 a ton of honey. My son, who does all the 

 uncapping, says that, of all the several 

 methods of uncapping honey, he prefers the 

 steam-heated knife. 



If any member of the National wants a 

 copy of my State Inspector's Annual Re- 

 port for Wisconsin, and will write me for it, 

 I will gladly mail a copy of it. 



A renewal of membership was just re- 

 ceived from a bee-keeper who has kept bees 

 the greatest number of years continuously 

 — 88 years, I believe. The member is John 

 Cline, of Darlington, Wis. The "boys" 

 stay with us. 



The number of copies of the last Annual 

 Report of the National are getting low; but 

 so long as any are left I will mail a copy 



to each new member. A.lso, for 4 cents for 

 postage on each copy I will mail to any one 

 other back numbers of Reports, as there are 

 a few of them still left. 



The program of the next meeting of the 

 National Association is being prepared. It 

 promises to be one of the best meetings the 

 National has held in many years. If the 

 honey crop should prove to be a good one 

 between now and that time, the attendance 

 ought to be a record-breaker. 



A bee-keeper sent his National dues, 

 claiming he wanted help at once, as his 

 swarms lit on his neighbor's apple-trees, 

 and the neighbor, with a revolver, said he 

 would shoot trespassers. He claimed the 

 bees ruined his apples and sucked the juice 

 from his onions! How is that for charges? 



Platteville, Wis. 



PATENTED FOUNDATION WITH A RE- 

 INFORCING OF CLOTH IN THE BASE. 



BY INVENTOR. 



HONEY hasn't DOUBLED IN PRICE; 

 MORE OF IT? 



I am pleased to be able to say to you that 

 I have just received notice that my claims 

 for improvement in honey-comb foundation 

 have been allowed, as you will see by the 

 letter of my attorney, which I inclose for 

 your information. It 

 seems to me that the 

 device is fully covered 

 in the "claim " quot- 

 ed by Mr. Hough. I 

 wish you would try it 

 out under your own 

 observation, so that 

 you may be fully in- 

 formed and satisfied 

 as to its merits. Un- 

 til very lately I fully 

 believed that any sort 

 of swarm, in any con- 

 dition, would accept 

 the reinforced founda- 

 tion as readily as they 

 would take to a natu- 

 ral comb-starter; but 

 a little time ago I pro- 

 posed to shake a 

 swarm to prevent 

 swarming. O n get- 

 ting busy with them 

 I found that they had 

 cast a swarm the day 

 before; but I shook 

 the hive out on to 

 empty combs, except 

 one comb of brood, 

 and, very unadvised- 

 ly, put in a frame 

 with a reinforced 

 starter (7X7). It was 

 unadvisedly done, as 

 there were not bees 

 enough to cover prop- 

 erly one-third of the 

 other frames, and al- 

 most no honey com- 

 ing in. (I will say 



WHY don't you eat 



