1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



865 



Injr: l>it T am convincrfl tlmt for tlijss locality celUir 

 ■wlntPiiifr is lint (inly tilt' b st lof the liers bui Uie 

 clii ai e-i iiM de ol « itiiiiiiiK- I coulil ikil proicct 

 •wi h !•• atf ;iii(l mitside c; se> lor Ifss ih.m one dnllac 

 pfioiloi y: lint ii doi sn t cd-i mi> ti\o fent-; apiece 

 to put Hum in the ci liar aiiu leuiovf liiem iu the 

 sprintf. 



A > ear aeo I li ft ( n tin ir summor stands two of 

 the siicnfie^t lohnies in ( lieir j atd. 1 priitccted 

 them !•> 8 Hing I oaid- on ;i,ll sides Imt the south, 

 and put fliitlis (ivii- ihe fianies. \\ e didn'i have a 

 severe wi .ler hut bolli wece de;id lieidre (•i)tintr. 

 Tliis is the flr^l time in all n y experience « hen I 

 liad the lemeriiy 'o leave any outdooi-s. I sliall nut 

 try it as^Hin. nnles-; 1 ^rel hizier a- I vef older. Kor 

 nianv \ears I weiylied my liees in and nut. Tlie loss 

 in wiialn \va-^ alwiiy> 1< ss than ten miu'ls aver.ige; 

 time, aiiiint five luunilis. Eugkne Secoh. 



Forest City, la. 



P, liming sections black on account of cos*:, 

 would be out of llie qiieslion. Using the dark- 

 est available lumber — black walnut— would 

 likewise he out of the question for the same 

 reason. There is a golden mean in this matter. 

 A black or uarK section Wv)uld be one extreme, 

 and a "snow-white " would be the other. 



No, i don't think a section was ever made too 

 handsome for white honey in point of work- 

 maii'liip; but in point of color, bee-keeptrs in 

 their demands have gone to the extreme. Sec- 

 tions have had to be as white as o;- whiter than 

 the av(M'age of honey. 



When goods are displayed for sale, the public 

 judges by comparison. If the honey is per- 

 ceptibly whiter than the sec/(o*is, said sections 

 a liti ie darker than the so-called snow- whiles, 

 the honey will appear whiter, and to much 

 better advantage. B'arin mind that the pro- 

 ducer wishes to set off h\sh()Hey rather than the 

 sectinns. If the section is r/s «'/iitc as the hon- 

 ey, there is no contrast in favcjr of the honey. 

 If aeain, the section is whiter than the honey, 

 the contrast favors the section, and the honey 

 itself, the very thing to be sold, appears at a 

 disadvantage. 



Now, let me ask you a question: Do you 

 really think any comb honey— clover, alfalfa, 

 sage, or what not — was ever as white as snow, 

 strictly speaking? I don't; and when we speak 

 of comb honey as being snow-white we are 

 speaking in a term of hyperbole, just as we say 

 a horse runs like lightning, when we don't 

 mean any thing like that speed. 



You say you never saw "' any first-class hon- 

 ey, commercially considered, that wasn't in 

 first-class sections." Neither did I. Don't mis- 

 understatid me. 1 was not advocating second- 

 quality or number twos, either in workmanship 

 or lumber. I did not mean to give the impres- 

 sion, as you will see by re-n^ading page 830, 

 that I favored dark, checkered, or sappy wood, 

 or sections that were not first-class. I did 

 mean, however, a uniform color, sound bass- 

 wood titnb"r of (I slmdc sluihtly darker thuti the 

 very wlMcsL Ixissivnod. :_ 



That D iiiZMil)al<(;r comb honey was not in 

 the- so called " snow-white" bisswood, but in 

 sections of a color described in the' italics 

 above. That would go to prove my argiTtnentl 



Regarding the "matter of wintering, I have 

 no doubt but that, for your locality, cellar win- 

 tering is the better. In fact, in our A B G of 

 Bee Culture and other literature we say that, 

 for some localities, cellar wintering is better, 

 and for others the outdoor system. 



MR. NKW.MAN AND HIS CRITICISM. 



Ox page 8.53 appears General Manager New- 

 man's criticism on the constitution that was 

 adopted by the Lincoln convention, and which 

 was published in our Nov. 1st issue. To say 

 that the staff of Gi-kamnos was siirpriseoi at 

 such uncalled-for critici.-ms is putting it very 

 mildly indeed. 



If Mr. Newman was really anxions to bring 

 about amalgamation, why did lie not offer his 

 criticisms before? Praciically the same consti- 

 tution was [jiiblished on page 681 of our issue 

 for Sept. 1.5 — at least three weeks before the 

 Lincoln convention. lie could have very easily 

 lodged these criticisms with the Secretary, Dr. 

 Mason, and the same would then have been 

 duly considered by the North American. He 

 would then have saved all this space in the bee- 

 journals. 



I may be wrong, but I believe Mr. Newman's 

 policy, while apparently favoring amalgama- 

 tion, has been at heart one of delay and ob- 

 struction, ano this same thought has been sug- 

 gested in a private letter to me by one of Mr. 

 Newman's friends. It seems that hardly one of 

 his criticisms Is valid, and that he was trying to 

 find fault in order to prevent and possibly 

 postpone amalgamation indefinitely. If this is 

 his policy, Glfianings will take every honora- 

 ble and fair means to defeat him; and if he is a 

 candidate for n election it will work to defeat 

 him in that also. 



Many of us worked hard to get the constitu- 

 tion of the present Union amended so that it 

 (the Union) could use the funds for prosecuting 

 dishonest commission men and adulterators of 

 honey. I predicted that the membership on 

 such a basis would be increased. After the 

 Union was reorganized the membership was in- 

 creased slightly in anticipation of its doing new 

 work. But what has Mr. Newman done in the 

 way of fi.{h ling adulteration and dishonest com- 

 mission men ? Practically nothing. 



Mr. Newman's criticisms are strained, ill tim- 

 ed, and, as Dr. Mason says, a direct insult to the 

 intelligence of some of the best men in our 

 ranks, flis efforts to read into the constitution 

 some awfully bad things that are not in the 

 text at all, and then hold them up to ridicule, 

 are certainly as absurd as they are uncalled for. 

 To refer to a secret bal'ot, for instance, when 

 there is nothing of the kind mentioned, and to 

 make so much ado about paying the expenses 

 of didegaies when there is nothing of the kind 

 in the constitution, shows that Manager New- 

 man was hard up for something to pick at. 



