1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



183 



Eight extra pages this time. 



In spite of the extremely cold weather, re- 

 ports so far indicate that bees are wintering 

 well. This is indeed surprising. When we re- 

 member that cold winters are followed by 

 early springs, usually, the prospect so far is en- 

 couraging. 



O. O. PoppLETON, of Potsdam, Fla., writes 

 that "the frost of last week has practically 

 wiped out all the bee-industry on the east coast 

 of Florida for the coming two or three years at 

 least." This is rather discouraging, coming 

 right on the heels of such a magnificent honey 

 season as Florida had last year. 



It is with much regret tiiat I learn that Mr. 

 S. I. Freeborn, one of the foremost bee-keepers 

 of Wisconsin, and, I might say, of the United 

 States, died suddenly at his home at Ithaca, 

 aged H2. It seems that his health had been 

 failing for some time, and some three or four 

 weeks ago he contracted a severe cold, which 

 resulted in pneumonia and death. Mr. Free- 

 born's name was first brought prominently for- 

 ward before the bee-keeping world through the 

 Bee-keepers' Union. It seems that his bees 

 were declared a nuisance, and an effort was 

 made to gel them out of the town; but, as our 

 older readers know, through the efforts of the 

 Union, of which Mr. F. was a member, the case 

 was finally decided in favor of the bees. This 

 was its first victory. Mr. Freeborn was not a 

 quarrelsome man — indeed, the very opposite. 

 He was held in very high esteem, both as a 

 neighbor, father, and a member of the com- 

 munity. His son-in-law is Mr. C. A. Hatch, so 

 well known to our readers. 



MIXED .JOURNALISM. 



The American Bee-keeper has decided to 

 adopt mixed journalism. The size of the paper 

 is doubled, the new matter being of a literary 

 character. The fact seems to be, that, in spite 

 of certain criticisms that seem to break out 

 here and there, the bee-papers that adhere 

 Mrictly to the subject of bees do not enjoy the 

 circulation of those that have added subjects 

 foreign to bee-keeping. Not a few of our 

 readers take Gleanings simply for its religions 

 matter, and others for the gardening depart- 

 ment; and from the numerous letters received, 

 it is evident that, in many of the homes of our 

 subscribers, Gleanings is the only paper tak- 

 en. One man wrote the other day, saying the 

 times were so hard he was obliged to drop even 

 his church paper which he prized so much; but 

 (rLEANiNGS he must have. 



But why should objection be made when we 

 add enough extra pages every year to make up 

 very largely for the matter that is foreign to 

 bee-keeping? During the early part of the 

 year, our journal is enlarged all the way from 

 8 to Ki pages; indeed, this number has 8 extra 

 pages. Let's see: Last year our volume show- 

 ed a total aggregate of •.I68 pages, or an average 

 of 40>H pages per issue, while the regular issue 

 is 3(). Some years our volume shows over 1000 

 pages. 



A number of years ago we took a vote of our 

 readers as to whether they would have the ex- 

 tra religious matter or not. The result showed 

 that, of those who voted, there were about 100 

 in favor, to one the other way. This is a con- 

 servative estimate, too, and it is to be presum- 

 ed that the rest not voting was represented by 

 this proportion. These people who criticise 

 our course in putting in religious matter and 

 garden topics do not seem to be aware of the 

 fact that they are in a very small insignificant 

 minority. If they do not like those subjects they 

 do not need to read them, or even take the 

 journal at all, for there are very excellent bee- 

 papers that confine themselves strictly to bees. 



ADULTERATION IN BEESWAX. 



Beeswax, as you will notice by the markets, 

 is steadily going up in price, and we are just 

 about out, although we are expecting more 

 daily— enough to keep going as usual. I said 

 we are about out. We have got some " stufif," 

 more than we wish we had, which we bought 

 for pure beeswax, thatis beautiful to look upon; 

 and when we bought it, it seemed to stand all 

 the tests for pure wax. It was analyzed, how- 

 ever, and found to be adulterated largely with 

 paralfine. It is now on our hands, and we do 

 not know what to do with it unless we make 

 the parties who sold it to us take it back or 

 stand damages; for we would under no cir- 

 cumstances use it for foundation. About .500 

 lbs. of the same wax was sent to M. H. Hunt, 

 direct from the parties above mentioned, and 

 whom we supposed to be reliable, before we 

 suspected adulteration; but as he was on his 

 guard he set it to one side, pending further in- 

 vestigation. Another lot was sent to W. A. 

 Selser, of Philadelphia direct, on our order from 

 the same parties; but it was found by him to 

 be impure. Fortunately we had used but very 

 little of this wax ourselves, and that little, for- 

 tunately, too, was mixed with a large lot of pure 

 wax. Paraffine or mineral wax is a positive 

 detriment in comb foundation, as we learned 

 years ago. The bees will build it out beauti- 

 fully, but it has a disagreeable fashion of melt- 

 ing down in the hive. Even foundation from 

 pure beeswax does this bad enough at times, 

 but nothing like the stuff made of paraffine. 

 Mr. Selser is a little fearful that a good deal of 

 the wax on the market is adulterated. That 

 being the case, let foundation-makers be on 



