186 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1. 



It is a mistake to " pull up stakes" too hasti- 

 ly, leave your own locality, a good one, and go 

 to one in California that may, perhaps, not be 

 as good. Frank McNay, that big bee-keeper in 

 Wisconsin, would make a mistake to go to Cali- 

 fornia. He can do better where he is. See his 

 article in another column. It seems, also, that 

 all bee-keepers in that State of the setting sun 

 do not make the business pay. See W. G. 

 Hewes' article elsewhere. 



In the letter by Mrs. M. Louisa Thomas, in 

 our issue for Jan. 1.5. page .51, it seems a couple 

 of erroi's crept in. Mr. Cowan, in writing in 

 regard to them, says: 



There are one or two errors which are probably 

 are due to the printers. It is said that I spent many 

 years In Africa, Asia, and Russia. Quite true as re- 

 gards Russia; hut I have been only some weeks in 

 Africa, ami not at all in Asia, althoug-li 1 liave been 

 within a few miles of il . Then instead of " medals " 

 It sliould read nuKhln of bi'cs wlucli I sliowed lier. 



Of course, it should have been rnndels. and we 

 acknowledge this as our mistake. 



Some of our readers may be surprised, per- 

 haps, to see so many things in this number 

 dating several months back. Perhaps some of 

 you will recognize things that you had long ago 

 given up as having been consigned to the waste- 

 basket. Be patient, dear friends; and if God 

 gives me strength I expect to dig up many 

 golden grains out of those same heaps that 

 have been waiting for somebody with brains 

 enough, and strength of body to cull out the 

 most valuable from the comparatively unim- 

 portant that oftentimes prefaces and follows 

 after. " A. I. R. 



BEGINNERS, AND INA^ENTING NEW HIVE.S. 



Every once in a while in our correspondence 

 some bee-keeper— evidently a beginner — tells 

 us that he has made a new and important in- 

 vention in hives, and wants to know what we 

 will give him for an interest in it, before he 

 has even told us what it is. We generally 

 write back, ■' Why. friend Jones, how do you 

 suppose we can make you a proposition until 

 we know what you have to offer?" This 

 brings a letter giving in detail the principles of 

 the new hive; but we are cautioned not to 

 "give it away." With scarcely an exception 

 we find that our friend has combined together 

 a lot of old exploded and abandoned ideas on 

 the construction of hives; and when we at- 

 tempt to do him a kindness by, telling him 

 these facts, and that it will be foolish for him 

 to invest very much money in it, he curtly in- 

 forms us that our knowledge in regard to hives 

 must be rather limited and queer, and adds 

 that he has a hive that will outsell any thing 

 else: nevertheless, that is the last we ever hear 

 of it. There is lots of fun in trying to invent 

 something new — something far superior to 

 what the fathers of vVmerican bee-keeping 

 have settled down on as being the best; but as 

 a general thing it does not pay. We do not 

 wish to discourage inventions in apiculture; 

 but we do say that bcyiJidcrs had better wait 

 until they have had considerable experience. 

 It seems that our co-workers, the editors of the 

 British Bee Journal, have had experiences in 

 this line similar to our own. As it echoes so 

 perfectly our own feelings, we rei)roduce a foot- 

 note of theirs, in answer to a correspondent 

 who has iust invented a " new" hive: 



It is always pleasing- to read of the zeal with 

 which young- bee-hands devote themselves to new 

 metliods of management, and especially to improve- 

 ments in hive-making. But for years past we have. 

 In our capacity of advisers, invariably recommend- 



ed those less experienced to "go slow" in tliese 

 matters; and the soundness of this advice lias never 

 been questioned by those who have passed througli 

 tlie "experiment stag-e" of their bee-keeping. We 

 therefore once more repeat ourselves, and advise 

 the trial of one or, at most, two hives on the plan 

 proposed; tlien judge if it fulfills the conditions 

 claimed for it. For the rest, our columns are open 

 for any pros and cotis our readers may feel disposed 

 to express on the new hive. 



NEW RULING REGARDING THE MAILING OF 

 QUEENS TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



We have just received copies of the United 

 States Otficial Postal Guide for 1893. Knowing 

 that the postal authorities of the Australian 

 Colonies had made some new and favorable 

 rulings in regard to receiving into their ports 

 queen-bees, we turned at once to the paragraph 

 relating to foreign mails, in the new Guide. 

 On page 918, paragraph J, we read the follow- 

 ing: 



j. Live liees in wooden boxes closed with a wire 

 screen protected by a movable wooden lid may be 

 sent to the Argentine Republic, the Australian 

 Colonies (Hi-itislo, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Boz- 

 nia-nei'/.ef>o\ina, Ihilgaria, ( anada. Chili, Colombia, 

 Con^d, Cosla Rii-a, Dominican Republic, the Dan- 

 ish \Vesi Indies, Egypt, France, Germany and the 

 German Protectoraies, Greece, Guatemala, Hayti, 

 the Hawaiian Kingdom (Sandwicli Islands), the Re- 

 public of Honduras, India (British), Italy, Liberia, 

 Luxemburg, Mexiro, N<>therlauds and the Nether- 

 Jands Colonies iiu-luding Curacoa), Nicaragua, Nor- 

 way, Paraguay, Portugal and the Pt)rtug-uese Colo- 

 nics, Ron mania. Slam, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, 

 and Tunis, as "samples of merchanise. 



It will be noticed that the new ruling includes 

 the Australian Colonies. In the old one these 

 colonies were conspicuous by their absence; it 

 also made a restriction as to the size of the 

 cage ; I. c, 5x2x]j><i. For various reasons we 

 found it was undesirable to conform exactly to 

 this size; but by the new ruling we are permit- 

 ted to make whatevcn- size of cage we desire, 

 providing we do not go beyond the weight of 

 8f^4 ounces as specified under sample of mer- 

 chandise ; and the extreme weight of the 

 queen-cages so far sent to Australia has never 

 averaged more than 3 ounces. With regard to 

 postage on samples of merchandise, we observe 

 that the charge for packages not in excess of 4 

 oz. in weight is 2 cents per package; therefore 

 the postage on a cage of queen-bees, such as 

 we have been in the habit of sending out, will 

 be just 2 cents instead of 98, that we have been 

 compelled to pay under the old rulings requir- 

 ing letter postage. We can now send queens 

 more cheaply to Australia than we can to a 

 little town four miles distant from Medina. 

 This is going to prove to be a great boon to 

 bee-keepers all over the world, and will render 

 it possible to introduce valuable strains, not 

 only in the United States, but all over the 

 world, at a cost that is simply insignificant. 

 We are indebted for a large part of this valu- 

 able ruling to the bee-keepers of Australia — 

 particularly to Mr. W. S. Pender, of West 

 Maitland. Verily, the world does move. 



ri.AVING WHILE YOU ARE AT WORK. 



I HAVE had a good deal to say about work and 

 wages in years past. I have tried to tell a great 

 class of unfortunate people why they do not get 

 better wages. An incident right in line with 

 this is just before me. The neighbor who fur- 

 nishes the hot-bed sash I spoke about in? our 

 last issue has some quite expensive wood-work- 

 ing machinery. Well, his men and boys got a 

 fashion a while ago of throwing blocks and oth- 

 er things at each other. For instance, a man 

 would be very busy, leaning over, his work, it 

 might be a buzz-saw or some other dangerous 

 piece of machinery, when somebody, for a joke, 



