466 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15. 



had a great desire to swarm, will cause this 

 result. Years ago, when I cut off queen-cells 

 to restrict the issuing of first or prime swarms, 

 I often had instances of that kind, and in every 

 case I found that such colonies would swarm 

 without the construction to completion of 

 queen-cells. Another thing, I have found that 

 any queen that is enraged enough to pipe will 

 not lay any eggs while so piping, or during the 

 time. Again, I have had queens which I was 

 trying to introduce insist on piping, and the 

 bees would always cluster such queens, or the 

 cage containing them, as long as they continue 

 to pipe and make such angry demonstrations. 



In the May Review we are presented with a 

 " Foreign Leaflet on Honey," from which I cull: 



" I know parents who, in times of epidemics, 

 give to their children, as an antiseptic, honey in 

 abundance, and with complete success, these 

 children having invariably escaped the illness." 



"The Creator seems to have united every 

 property in this remedy. Honey is not only 

 sweet and wholesome, but also a food, a blood- 

 producer of the highest order." 



" VVhoever takes regularly this bee honey will 

 not only be much better nourished, but will also 

 be spared, under ordinary conditions, a heavy 

 medicine-bill, and will in any case increase his 

 individual capacity." 



Putting these quotations side by side with 

 Health Notes in Gleanings, don't you see 

 something paradoxical about the two lots of 

 writings? if honey is such a king cure-all, 

 how come so many sick ones in the ranks of its 

 producers? How •" kweer and kontrarie " man- 

 kind can be, anyway ! We sliall surely have to 

 enter heaven by different routes.— Somriambw- 

 list in Progressive Bee keeper. 



The tornado which visited St. Louis last week 

 is without a parallel in the history of our coun- 

 try. Hundreds of lives were lost, and millions 

 of dollars' worth of property destroyed; homes 

 laid waste and hearths made desolate, while 

 sad eyed mourners watch and wait in vain for 

 those who never come. In a recent card, Mr. 

 E. T. Flanagan, of Belleville, 111., says that the 

 report of the storm was not in the least exag- 

 gerated, and that the destruction of life and 

 property is simply awful. He also informs us 

 that the tornado destroyed $?.500 worth of fruit 

 for him, but his bees escaped, and he is thank- 

 ful that the lives of himself and family were 

 spared.— -Editorial in Progressive Bee-keeper. 



Carelessness is found among bee-keepers as 

 well as elsewhere. We have just received a 

 letter from "Alexander," with no State or 

 even name or address of the writer given. Of 

 course we can do nothing with it until we get 

 another letter from the same writer, who will 

 likely " kick ' because we did not reply to his 

 former letter, when we have no means of know- 

 ing who the man is, or in what State he lives. 

 Be careful always to sign your name to a letter, 

 and also give your address in full.— -Editorial 

 in American Bee Journal. 



Don't make a mistake this year, and send 

 your honey oft' to some unreliable city commis- 

 sion firm. Better take two or three cents a 



pound less for your honey than to ship it any 

 great distance to market, and run the risk of 

 leakage, breakage, and paying high commis- 

 sions. Supply the home demand first, by all 

 means, and make some effort to enlarge it. 

 Many families do not know how healthful hon- 

 ey is, and need only to be assured of the fact, 

 when they will become regular users of it. — 

 Editorial in Ainerican Bee Journal. 



The reports of the good times we luqje are 

 coming, or perhaps already here, are just be- 

 ginning to come in. Here is a sample: 



We sire in the midst of the heuviest honey-flow I 

 ever saw— raspberry and other wild flowers. 

 Morrill, Minn., June 8. A. T. McKibben. 



Our bees are just starting on the basswoods, 

 and by the myriads of buds now opening we an- 

 ticipate a good flow of honey. 



There! I nearly caught Dr. Miller in a case 

 of unconscious bias. Almost before he thought, 

 he concludes, in Straws, this issue, that Mr. 

 Taylor's experiments furnish "strong testimo- 

 ny in favor of cellar wintering." As I under- 

 stand it, they were made for the purpose of de- 

 termining just how much effect the protection 

 afforded by a cellar had over colonies in single- 

 walled hives, not how much difference there 

 is between indoor and outdoor colonies, both 

 according to the latest and most approved meth- 

 ods. 



The May number of the Southland Queen is 

 a pleasure and a surprise. It is fully illustrat- 

 ed, contains extra pages, and is filled full of 

 bright spicy things. This is what she (the 

 Queeyi) has to say for herself: 



She starts out on her second year printed on her 

 own press, with her own type, in her own house, on 

 her own soil, and run by her own hands. Now that 

 the Queen is a fixture, and a settled fact, send in 

 your subscriptions and see what a bee-paper we will 

 send you. 



Success to the Queen! and may she see many 

 another birthday as auspicious as the first. 



A NATIONAL BEE-KEEPERS UNION AS A DE- 

 LIBERATIVE BODY. 



A PRIVATE letter from a prominent bee-keep- 

 er, commenting on the amalgamation matter, 

 contains a paragraph which I can not forbear 

 giving right here: 



All this talk about "marrying," and "a poor 

 society wanting to get the money of the other," is 

 "all bosh;" for those who are the very backbone of 

 each are the very ones who are in favor of a union 

 or a new organization, the outgrowth of the others. 



Italics are mine. In another place the same 



writer says: 



