1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



453 



needless to say to Newaygo County readers that it 

 is never exerted in a bad cause. 



In the Aplculturnl Review (Spanish), pub- 

 lished by Mr. Andreu, at Mahon. Balearic Is- 

 lands, near Spain, we learn that indications for 

 a good crop of honey are very favorable— plenty 

 of rain, and an abundance of flowers. The 

 editor says the price of wax is steadily going 

 up, while that of honey is continually going 

 down. He recommends the policy of keeping 

 bees for wax only; and his article on the " Pro- 

 duction of Virgin Wax" is so timely that we 

 will translate it for a future number. 



AVOOD-BASE FOUNDATION. AGAIN. 



Since our mention, in the last number, on p. 

 408, of Schmidt & Thiele's foundation, we have 

 received another sample having a very much 

 thinner wood base. S. & T. write concerning it: 



We herewitli send you anotlier sample of our 

 veneer foundation. The veueer we use now is only 

 ^g of an inch thick. This will not warp, or trouble 

 in cutting queen-cells, and is still strong enough to 

 keep the combs from melting, sagging, breaking, 

 falling out of frames when handling or extracting. 



This is a big improvement over the first sam- 

 ple received. Of course, it can not possibly sag, 

 and would, I have no doubt, make good brood - 

 combs; but I am still inclined to think it is 

 more expensive than ordinary brood founda- 

 tion such as is genenerally sold. A great many 

 times old things that have been discarded and 

 declared valueless in the past, have come up 

 again and demonstrated that there is some- 

 thing of value in them after all. Possibly the 

 wood-base foundation of Schmidt I'C: Thiele may 

 be one of the things of this kind. I have no 

 doubt they would be glad to send samples to 

 any one desiring to see it. Their address is New 

 London, Wis. 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY— A GREAT WORK. 



After five years of labor on the part of 247 

 editors and a host of helpers, and the expendi- 

 ture of a million of dollars, this superb diction- 

 ary is finished, and it is far ahead of what the 

 publishers promised at the outset. It defines 

 every English word and its derivatives, with 

 every shade of meaning, in every branch of 

 science and art, making a total of 301,8(i5 words, 

 or 55,000 more than Webster's International. 

 The time has past when any one man might 

 write a dictionary of our language; hence on 

 the Standard a specialist was engaged on every 

 line of human thought and work, such as as- 

 tronomy, botany, chemistry, electricity, physi- 

 ology, etc. In defining apicultural terms, for 

 instance. Dr. C. C. Miller was engaged. When 

 Webster's latest edition was published we were 

 surprised at some of the apicultural definitions, 

 especially under the word " Propolis," which is 

 spoken of as forming the capping of honey-cells. 

 Finding it was too late to have any corrections 

 made in Webster's, we immediately wrote to 



the publishers of the Standard, which was then 

 completed only to the letter B, and urged them 

 to secure the services of Dr. Miller on behalf of 

 bee-keepers. They did so just in time, for the 

 old errors were beginning to show again as the 

 word " Bee " was reached. The publishers im- 

 mediately corrected the type so as to correspond 

 with the suggestions. So far as apicultural 

 terms are concerned, we find no room for im- 

 provement nor ground for complaint in the 

 Standard. This is not intended as an invidious 

 comparison against the International, which, 

 at the time of its publication, was the best dic- 

 tionary ever printed, but to show the great ad- 

 vantage the last one has in profiting by the 

 mistakes of others. The publishers of the 

 Standard have had some of the most prominent 

 editors of Webster's, The Century, Britannica, 

 and other lexical works, on their own staff, and 

 have left no means untried for securing infor- 

 mation wherever it could be found. The Eng- 

 lish press as well as American pronounces the 

 highest eulogies on the Standard. 



The defining part of the book contains just 

 2100 pages, printed in very fine type, copiously 

 illustrated with new cuts (about .5000). Birds, 

 badges, colors, coins, flowers, precious stones, 

 etc., are shown in their natural colors, and not 

 all in dull black. The different parts of modern 

 machinery, such as engines, type-writers, knit- 

 ting-machines, looms, etc., are fully shown and 

 numbered; also the bones, veins, muscles, etc., 

 of man and animals. The locomotion of dogs 

 and horses is shown by numerous pictures tak- 

 en from snap-shot photographs that were taken 

 at different stages of the step, run, amble, or 

 leap. This feature is very unique. The book 

 not only describes the word " apple," but de- 

 scribes fully every known kind — about 368; and 

 when it comes to the weights and measures of 

 the world, one feels lost as in a labyrinth. The 

 principal words used in all the arts, such as ar- 

 chitecture, carpentry, printing, etc., are group- 

 ed by themselves, besides being defined in their 

 proper place. Some 218 pages are devoted to 

 grammatical corrections, pronunciation, foreign 

 phrases in several languages, disputed spell- 

 ings, etc. The quotations used are on the side 

 of morality, Christianity, and temperance. 



The printing of the book is as good as human 

 skill can make it — every page being like those 

 found in our standard magazines, and the bind- 

 ing corresponds. But the best idea the reader 

 can obtain of the book, without buying it, is to 

 send 10 cts. for sample leaves of it, which will 

 show more at a glance than we can say for it in 

 a day. Address The Funk & Wagnalls Co., 30 

 Lafayette Place, New York. 



This is not a paid " puff " or editorial in any 

 sense of the word. It is written without any 

 knowledge on the part of the publishers of the 

 Standard, and simply because bee-keepers will 

 find the book to be so reliable in defining api- 

 cultural terms. 



