366 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1. 



Eight extra pages again this Issue. 



In our last issue I spol^eof the fact that there 

 seems to be a sort of apathy on the part of bee- 

 keepers to subscribe toward the Langstroth 

 monument fund; and Bro. York, of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, in commenting on this, finds 

 the same thing to be true among his readers. I 

 can not tolerate the idea of giving it up yet, 

 more especially as some of our friends across the 

 water have given generously for this purpose. 

 Surely we American bee-keepers can not afford 

 to be outdone by friends in England and Rus- 

 sia. As I said before, fifty-cent and dollar sub- 

 scriptions are all we ask from the mass of bee- 

 keepers. Every dollar will be accounted for: 

 and when the proper time comes it will be turn- 

 ed over to Mr. Langstroth's daughter. Some of 

 the friends, perhaps, would not like to have 

 their names published opposite their small sub- 

 scriptions, and so we thought we would publish 

 none. 



FREIGHT RATES ON HONEY. 



Freight rates on extracted honey and syrup 

 ought to be the same; but here in the East and 

 in the South, honey is classed higher. There is 

 no reason why the one should not go as cheap- 

 ly as the other. We have been working to get 

 honey in the class of syrup for the East, but so 

 far have not succeeded. Bee-keepers of the 

 South have been putting forth similar efforts. 

 At the bee-keeping congress at Atlanta a com- 

 mittee was appointed to get a concession from 

 the Southern lines. Mr. W. S. Hart, a member 

 of that committee, writes: 



I wish to say that, as a member of that committee, 

 I have received very courteous treatment from the 

 traffic managers, and now feel very sure that a re- 

 duction of the rate on extracted honey to that on 

 syrup will at least be secured over lines in this 

 State. I sincerely hope that the rest of the com- 

 mittee, and all parties interested, will do every 

 thing In tlieir power to secure this reduction for 

 the whole South and West through the meeting in 

 Washington to be held next month. W. S. Hakt. 



Hawks Park, Fla., Mar. 17. 



WHERE SHALL THE NEXT NORTH AMERICAN 

 BE HELD? 



Again we want to suggest the experiment of fol- 

 lowing the G. A. R. encampment this year. As tiie 

 Grand Army meets in St. Paul in September, and 

 that city will be pretty well crowded then, we think 

 that Minneapolis would be the proper place. All 

 could get round-trip tickets to St. Paul, and then a 

 small street-car fare would take them to Minne- 

 apoUs in a few minutes more. It seems to us this 

 plan is worth trying, as the railroad fare will be 

 only one cent a mile at that time. 

 While we know that it was practically decided at 

 he St. Joseph convention that the North American 

 n 1896 should go to Lincoln, Neb., still we also know 

 hat those good western people are willing that the 



success of this year's meeting shall not be prevent- 

 ed by holding the North American so strictly to its 

 Iiledges in a matter of this kind. Doubtless some 

 other year, and that very soon, the G. A. R. will 

 meet in Lincoln or Omaha; and then, it we find it a 

 good thing to follow it around, there will be Such a 

 big meeting of bee-keepers as will simply astound 

 our Nebraska friends, although accustomed to big 

 things.— .<4mc/(fa)i Bee J(nirnal. 



The President of the North American says he 

 is agreed, provided the Nebraska bee-keepers 

 are. It seems to me that, in view of the grand 

 opportunity of one cent a mile, they surely will 

 be agreed also. One reason, yes, the main 

 reason, why the North American has been so 

 poorly attended at its various meetings is be- 

 cause of the railroad fares. Here is the only 

 chance to get low rates. 



THE TOUGHNESS OF THE NEW-PROCESS FOUNDA- 

 TION. 



When we made foundation by the old process, 

 dipping in short lengths and running through 

 the mills, we trimmed the sheets by hand with 

 a sharp butcher-knife around a form to regu- 

 late the size of the sheet. In making founda- 

 tion by the new process, the sheeting is not only 

 turned out automatically, but the trimming and 

 piling up is done automatically also. Very re- 

 cently, having an odd-sized order for the new 

 wax, we had occasion to do considerable trim- 

 ming by hand. It was then we discovered that 

 this kind of sheeted wax was very much harder 

 to trim. Women used to do the trimming by 

 hand of the old dipped wax; but if we did not 

 have the automatic machinery for trimming 

 our new-process foundation, it would probably 

 be necessary to have a good strong man, with 

 good big arms and a large butcher -knife. 

 '• Why," said one of the women, as she trimmed 

 by hand a lot of the new foundation, " this wax 

 trims ever so much harder." 



Recent tests in Florida having shown that 

 the old dipped foundation was five times more 

 liable to sag, it is not surprising that the new 

 wax should trim so much harder. 



grading honey; co-operation of BEE- 

 JOURNALS. 



On page 82, in the Revieiv, Mr. Hutchinson, 

 in commenting on what I said on page 222, says: 



In 1893 the North American, in its meeting at 

 Washington, still further "revised" this grading 

 and adopted It. Since then the Revieiv has kept this 

 grading at the head of its market column, and it is 

 printed on the blanks sent out to dealers lor their 

 use in giving quotations, and quotations are given 

 in conformity with that grading. The editor of 

 Gle.\nings suggests that we take up the Miller 

 grading and use it, and says that GLKANI^Gs stands 

 ready to co-operate with any of its cotemporaries. 

 Good! But wh> adopt the grading of a private in- 

 dividual (unless it is better; wlien that adopted by 

 the leading bee-keepers' society of this country has 

 been in use three years by one journal, and during 

 that time not one criticism has been made by deal- 

 ers or shippers 'i* If that adopted by the North 

 American lias any faults, let them be pointed out 

 and have them corrected at its ne.xt meeting: but 

 don't encourage the use of different sets of rules 

 for grading, and tliereby bring in '• confusion worse 

 contounded." 



