1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



329 



years. This court, therefore, gives judgment 

 against the plaintiff, but assures him of its 

 most enduring friendship— after he has paid 

 the costs. 



Rambler has Informed me that he Intends to 

 make a visit to this part of the country soon. 

 What ameetingi Skylark&nd Rambler!^ Now, 

 don't you fellows be jealous— don't tear your 

 hair and wring your hands with envy and 

 despair. We shall meet, whatever your agony 

 may be. Skylark and Ramblerl Well, well; 

 we can't o/t be great men. The only advice I 

 can give you is to settle back into your sphere 

 and be contented with your lot. Skylark and 

 Rambler! O Jehoshaphat! what a meeting will 

 be there! 



The California Bee-keepers' Exchange Is a 

 fixed fact— fully organized, and open for busi- 

 ness. I think there was one great mistake 

 made, and one or two smaller ones, which may 

 be rectified before long. The great mistake 

 was in restricting the membership to Califor- 

 nia bee keepers. It should have been left open 

 to any and all bee-keepers in tha United States. 

 This would really have made it a national 

 affair at once. The eastern bee-keepers would 

 have seen, without any niidevi-loped intellect 

 at all, that what is our interest is theirs, and 

 wquld have piled into the Exchange, without 

 any compunctions of conscieuce or stay of ex- 

 ecution. Why should not Dr. Miller, with his 

 immense crops, be admitted on equal terms 

 with Skylark? The Exchange will sell Dr. 

 Miller's comb honey for 2>^ per cent, the same 

 rate it charges members. Now here a question 

 stares me in the face — what benefit accrues to 

 a comb-honey producer to induce him to become 

 a member of the Exchange? If he can get his 

 business done just as cheaply and securely 

 without becoming a member, why spend the 

 four dollars for admission and dues? The 

 remedy is plain. Open up the Exchange to all 

 the fraternity in the United States; charge 

 outsiders just double the rate charged mem- 

 bers. Even that, with only the actual and 

 honest bill of expenses, is far better than any 

 one can do with commission men. This would 

 be a bait to the bee-keepprs. It would be like 

 throwing out a large piece of comb honey in a 

 dry time to the bees. Oh how they would 

 swarm into the Exchange! 



WATER IN SUGAR SYRUP. 



MARKETING HONEY; ADULTERATION; AMAL- 

 GAMATION; THE PROGRESS OP APICUL- 

 TURE COMPARED WITH OTHER AG 

 RICULTURAL INDUSTRIES. 



By P. H. Elwooil. 



Skylark, in a late number of Gleanings, 

 laments the dense ignorance of bee-keepers; 

 and, having the Rocky Mountains and his 

 pseudonym to shield him, proceeds to hold up 



water to put with sugar for winter feeding. 

 I do not object to sitting upon the dunce-block; 

 but when Skylark refuses me the company of 

 teamsters, stockmen, and poultry-keepers be- 

 cause they are so much better informed than 

 bee-keepers I do object. The alleged superior- 

 ity may exist in California, but is not acknowl- 

 edged here where bee-keepers are recognized as 

 intelligent as other agricultural classes. The 

 assertion, that the classes mentioned agree, and 

 are better posted than we on the feeding and 

 care of their stock, is not true. One teamster 

 will feed his horses nothing but oats; another, 

 corn and oats; still another, corn and bran. 

 One will have his grain all ground, another 

 not. One will cut his coarse fodder, moisten it, 

 and mix in the meal; another is opposed. One 

 will feed and water his horses while warm; 

 another is sure to founder his teams by so do- 

 ing. One will give his horses all the water 

 they will drink, and water frequently; another 

 will water only at meal time, and then but a 

 pailful, be the pail large or small, the weather 

 hot or cold, the labor excessive or little. The 

 same diversity exists in blanketing, in clipping, 

 and in driving. The differences and egotistical 

 pronunciations of bee-keepers to which Skylark 

 refers certainly do not surpass those of good 

 horsemen. 



Pretty much the same difference in feeding 

 and care is noticed among good dairymen. In 

 late numbers of that excellent journal. The 

 Rural New-Yorker, I noticed a series of able 

 articles entitled " Feeding a Hen." From these 

 articles, and from other sources, I learn there is 

 quite as much variation among successful poul- 

 trymen as to the feeding and care of their flocks 

 as exists among bee-keepers. If you were to 

 ask the professors of gallina culture how much 

 feed it costs to produce a pound of feathers, the 

 answers (if they dared to attempt answering) 

 would vary more widely than do ours as to the 

 number of pounds of honey consumed in pro- 

 ducing a pound of wax. And our answers as to 

 the comparative cost of comb and extracted 

 honey, quite likely, would bear comparison 

 with theirs as to the comparative cost of a 

 pound of eggs and a pound of fiesh. 



The history of apiculture is a record we need 

 not be ashamed of. " Langstroth on the Honey- 

 bee," written more than a third of a century 

 ago, was the ablest and the best written hand- 

 book that had appeared upon any rural pur- 

 suit, and there are very few works at the pres- 

 ent time that will bear comparison with it. 

 The first volume of the Amertcan Bee Journal 

 occupies nearly the same position among rural 

 journals. The invention of the honey extractor 

 antedated by nearly a score of years the inven- 

 tion of the centrifugal cream-extractor; and 

 but for the former, the latter might never have 

 been thought of. Comb foundation, zinc ex- 

 cluders, the bee-escape, smokers, etc.. bear fa- 



