1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



169 



Boston, Philadelphia, will it not havo a power- 

 ful influence on the price of honey, especially 

 as San Diego is known to be one of the great 

 bases of supply ? 



Now, Bro. French. I know you and all bee- 

 keepers on this coast are suffering from the low 

 price of honey and the hard times. We are all 

 in the same boat, and will sink or swim to- 

 gether. But there are harder trials than all 

 these to bear. Take my own case, for example. 

 I am a bee-keeper. I am suffering from all the 

 "stings and arrows of outrageous forlune"that 

 have penetrated your inner man. But besides 

 all these. I have other ills to bear. I have a 

 certain lady's bees to keep on shares. .She gets 

 all the honey and swarms, and I get all the 

 work. This division of the profits was made 

 because this lady is very dear to me, and I am 

 perfectly satisfied with the contracts But I 

 also " bee-keep " her big dog to watch me and 

 see that I carry out the contract to the letter. 

 I don't growl at this, either. But here is 

 the outrage— for his board, clothes, washing, 

 and ironing, I get only 5 per cent of his bark I 

 That is what 1 kick about. Don't you think. 

 Bro. French, I should have 50 per cent of the 

 bark, or do like some of the commission men— 

 keep the whole dog ? 



PERCOLATEn VS. BO. LED SYRI7P FOR FEEDING BEES. 



Quet-y 2 — Of late a great deal has been said about 

 feeding bees sugar and water, equal quantities (for 

 winter stores or to keep them from starving), by 

 means of the orock-and-plate method or some kind 

 of percolating-feeder. Do you tliink this is better 

 or worse than the plan of boiling syrup to feed ?— 

 Minn. 



P. H. Elwood. — Worse, much wor-se. 



Dr. C. C. Miller.— Ever so much better. 



I cut these questions and answers from the 

 American Bee Journal. It will be seen that 

 the answer of Dr. Miller flatly contradicts that 

 of P. H. Elwood. Now, why is this? Here are 

 two eminent apiarists — so high up the ladder of 

 apiculture that they can almost reach me with 

 their hands, who are just as far divided — just 

 as directly oppo.sed to each other as yes and no. 

 If you ask a dozen teamsters how to feed a 

 horse, there will be but a slight difference, if 

 any at all, among them. The dairymen will 

 differ no more about feeding cows. The pro- 

 fessional poultry-breeders are likewise unani- 

 mous as to the best manner of feeding domestic 

 fowls. In these pursuits it is all plain sailing, 

 because there is no dispute as to feeding the 

 stock, nor of conducting the business connected 

 therewith to a complete success. But when we 

 get among the bees we get into the fog and 

 grope about like blind men. One cries out, " I 

 have found the path; follow me:" another, 

 " No, it is not that way at all; I have found the 

 big road; come on, boys, this way" By the time 

 they nearly all turn to follow him, his "big 

 road " gives out — gets lost in the fog— and they 



get scattered out again. Anon there is another 

 cry in a different diiection. and the flood tide 

 rolls backwaril until ii wa-tes its eiiergiesin the 

 wide ocean, ur breaks upon >om(' r>ick bound 

 shore. 



Now, why should there be such a diversity of 

 opinion as to the feeding of bees? Well, Mr. 

 Editor, I will just tell you the truth — though I 

 am not used to it. We know nothing about 

 bees. Samson, when he took the black-sage 

 honey out of the carcass of the lion, knew just 

 as much about bees as was known up to fifty 

 years ago. It is not fifty years since the "king- 

 bee "died. In fact, he is not all dead yet, but 

 is alive and kicking in many lands and in many 

 parts of our own land. 



THE WILD BUCKWHEAT OF CALIFORNIA. 



I read with great interest the article of Mr. 

 A. Norton, on '"wild buckwheat;" also the 

 accounts of Rambler and others of the large 

 yields in the middle and northern counties of 

 Southern California. In this southern end of 

 the State it yields nothing but pollen, and the 

 bees do not visit it often, even for that — prefer- 

 ring other flowers. But I have had many let- 

 ters from the middle of the State, from friends 

 who have had large yields from "■ wild buck- 

 wheat." But I could never understand why 

 our buckwheat did not yield any honey. It 

 may have come up out of the ground like the 

 young lady's beans — wrong end up. and we fail- 

 ed to reverse it. I am not going to tell friend 

 Norton the genus, species, and family of our 

 buckwheat. He may find that out if he can. I 

 don't believe, anyhow, in parading family mat- 

 ters before the public. 



THE WORLD OF BEEDOM IN COMMOTION. 



Controversy, contradiction, and direct oppo- 

 sition are rampant in the apicultural universe. 

 We are on the verge of a great crisis — of actual 

 war. It is not only one great question that di- 

 vides u<, but many. The most dangerous to 

 our peace are " large vs. small hives;" '" three 

 vs. five banders;" "breeding out the swarming 

 habit;" " breeding out the stinging habit." and 

 a hundred others of minor importance. On all 

 these questions bee-keepers are divided. War — 

 open war — is inevitable unless there is a court 

 of final resort created whose decision no one 

 will dare to dispute or disobey. This court will 

 consist of a chief justice and two associates, 

 and will hold a term of court every three 

 months or oftener, if business requires it. Now, 

 this is the way that court would riddle out 

 those knotty questions. 



"The Supreme Court in Bee-keeping handed 

 down the following opinion to day. It was 

 read in a clear, sonorous, ringing voice by Chief 

 Justice Skylark: 



"The plaintiff in this case is right in demand- 

 ing a larger hive, because a small one won't 

 hold half his bees and honey. On the other 

 hand, the defendant is also right in claiming a 



