408 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15. 



space to reply to this; but as others may per- 

 haps have jelt hurt in the sarrie way, it is only 

 necessary to explain that I did not mean to in- 

 sult anybody, but was simply striking at care- 

 lessness, and not at our old friends and patrons. 



At the last meeting of the North American, 

 it will be remembered that Dr. C. C. Miller was 

 appointed a committee of one to wait on the 

 Western Classification Committee to see if he 

 could secure some needed reduction in freight 

 rates for bee-keepei's and supply-dealers. May 

 8 last, this committee, assisted by Geo. VV. York 

 and Mr. Herman F. Moore, appeared before the 

 railroaders, and were successful in securing one 

 important reduction on honey in barrels, kegs, 

 and cans. An interesting report by Mr. Moore 

 will be given in our next. 



MOISTURE IN CELLAR— DOES IT CAUSE DYSEN- 

 TERY ? 



The last Review at hand contains the con- 

 clusion of Experimenter Taylor's experiments 

 in wintering. Among other things his object 

 was to determine whether moisture in excess 

 had any thing to do in causing dysentery. The 

 results seem to show that it does not. Mr. T. 

 seems inclined to believe that the disease is due 

 rather to the food, and to the fact that the 

 temperature is such that the bees are not able 

 while in the cellar to pass out of the hive and 

 void their feces. As between upward ventila- 

 tion and sealed covers in the cellar, there is 

 practically no difference in results. The tem- 

 perature of the cellar where these experiments 

 were tried was practically uniform, varying 

 only from 43 to 45°. 



THIN veneer FOUNDATION. 



A new firm, Schmidt & Thiele, New London, 

 Wis., send us a sample of veneer foundation, 

 and request our opinion on the same, in Glean- 

 ings. It is simply a thin sheet of wood, ,1;; of 

 an inch or less, covered with cell-walls of ordi- 

 nary foundation. The object is to give truer 

 combs, and combs that will not sag. We learn 

 that Schmidt & Thiele are going to get out a 

 patent on it. I do not like to discourage a 

 worthy invention, but it will surely be a waste 

 of money for them to invest in a patent to cover 

 this idea, when it is already sixteen years old 

 and over. Sixteen years ago, after having tried 

 paper, cloth, and the like, as a background, 

 with indifferent success, A. I. Root tried the 

 wood; and this is the way he threw up his hat: 



I have succeeded perfectly, with a board about ^s 

 inch in thickness; and the only difficulty now con- 

 sists in getting' these boards coated perfectly with 

 wax, on which to make the foundation. For once 

 in the world, we have combs perfectly even, and 

 safe from sagging You can scrape off the honey 

 if you like, and let the bees build on more; but the 

 boys complain that they can not cut out queen- 

 cells from them. 



That was published away back in August, 

 1879, on page 317 of Gleanings. Later on, a 

 more elaborate description was given in our 



ABC book; but, like a great many things that 

 promised a great revolution, it died a natural 

 death. In the first place, such foundation can 

 not be made to compete in price with ordinary 

 foundation; and while it prevented the sagging 

 of cells, and made the most beautiful combs, 

 bees would at times gnaw the wax off, leaving 

 the thin veneer of wood; and at other times 

 the veneer has a disagreeable habit of warping, 

 pulling the combs out of true. But I presume 

 that bee-keepers could have got along with 

 this had it not been for the increased expense. 

 While Schmidt & Thiele offer this at less per 

 pound than ordinary foundation, it weighs pro- 

 portionally a good deal more per square inch; 

 and, after all, the present methods of wiring 

 seem to do away wiih the disagreeable sagging, 

 and at the same time stiffen the combs fully as 

 much as the wood. 



I very much dislike to throw cold water on 

 Schmidt & Thiele's veneer foundation; but at 

 the same time I believe I am doing them a 

 gredter kindness in showing them what has 

 been done, and that a patent, even if secui'ed, 

 would be valueless in the face of printed matter 

 like the above. 



FOUL BROOD IN ENGLAND. 



We have just received a copy of the Report 

 of the Committee on the Bee-keeping Industry 

 and Foul Brood in the United Kingdom. It 

 sets forth in a very thorough manner the possi- 

 bilities in the line of apiculture in the British 

 Isles were it not for the shadow flung on it all 

 by foul brood (which seems to have its own way 

 so far as the law is concerned), before which dis- 

 ease English bee-keepers seem to be powerless. 

 The British Bee-keepers' Association is now 

 trying to have apiculture recognized as an in- 

 dustry, and to have suitable legislation enacted 

 to drive the fell disease from their shores. Our 

 British brethren seem to be hampered in this 

 direction more than we are here, and are more 

 inclined to say, "What can't be cured must be 

 endured." The American version in that case 

 would be, "What can't be endured must be 

 cured," and Canada has about done so. The 

 mother-country is much behind Canada in this 

 respect, where foul brood at present is likely to 

 find its match. 



The report was compiled under the supervi- 

 sion of Thos. Wm. Cowan, editor of the British 

 Bee Journal, who gives us the following infor- 

 mation: 



The annual value of bee-keeping in England 

 and Wales would probably reach S750,(X)0. aside 

 from sale of bees. The annual yield of honey 

 and wax in the same place approaches 4,000,000 

 lbs. More honey could be gathered if more 

 bees were kept; not enough bees are kept; 

 demand for honey increases with the supply; 

 area of pasture land is increasing. Prosecu- 

 tions for the sale of adulterated wax have im- 

 proved the demand for pure wax. The use of 



