884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. l."). 



that number who do not know from experience. 

 But I am rather of the opinion that the " four " 

 referred to work on the plan of the " five " who 

 level down the combs. From all the reports I 

 have ever read, full-depth combs not leveled 

 down do not make real first-class comb honey. 

 —Ed.] 



The Homestead, an excellent agricultural 

 paper published at Des Moines, Iowa, says, in 

 speaking of melilotus alba: "We know of no 

 botanist who speaks of the plant for use in the 

 Northwest who does not rank it as a weed." 

 Possibly. So is a stalk of wheat a weed in a 

 flower-garden. But when a man deliberately 

 devotes a portion of ground to be occupied ex- 

 clusively by wheat, the wheat of that field can 

 hardly be called weeds. And when sweet clover 

 is treated in the same way, as it is increasingly 

 for its value as a forage plant, then it ceases to 

 be a weed. 



"There is but very little doubt that the 

 function of the upper-head and thoracic glands 

 is to furnish the ferment which will digest the 

 nectar of the flowers, while the lower head 

 glands secrete a digestive liquid which acts to 

 aigest the pollen. The fact that these lower- 

 head glands are better developed in the young 

 workers, and that the other glands attain their 

 maximum development in the older bees, ac- 

 cords with what has been said above" — that 

 young bees are better as nurses and old ones as 

 field hands. — Prof. Cook in American Bee 

 Journal 



Pkof. Cook {American Bee Journal) thinks 

 it almost certain that fruit- growers of Southern 

 California will become bee-keepers so as to 

 have fruit- blossoms feriilized, and thinks they 

 should introduce the gentle Carniolans. If 

 wanted only as fertilizers, then gentleness alone 

 might rule; but you'll see, Professor, that every 

 man of them will want the bee that gets the 

 most honey. [But why Carniolans? We have 

 had one or two colonies of this race that have 

 been as gentle as the ordinary Italians, but no 

 more so. The average of them have been rath- 

 er more nervous. All my experience would lead 

 me to believe that pure leather-colored Italians 

 would average better than Carniolans. — Ed.] 



Formerly I had many a section with the 

 lower edge of the comb built to the separator. 

 When honey was coming in slowly, the bees 

 would fill the side of the section nearest the 

 center of the super faster than the other, and 

 this made the section swing out of plumb, the 

 lower edge coming so close to the separator 

 that the bees fastened it there. Latterly I 

 don't have this trouble, and I think it's because 

 I use bottom starters. The top starter is fast- 

 tened to the bottom one before the bees put in 

 much honey. [This seems to be a little at va- 

 riance with the article by G. M. Doolittle in our 

 last issue, page 861. Now, who is right? It 



would be fun to see Dr. Miller and Doolittle lock 

 horns. Gleanings will furnish the arena.— 

 Ed.] 



Honey-.jumbles. Flour, 190 lbs.; lard, 10 lbs.; 

 honey, 13 galls.; molasses, 3 galls.; carbonate 

 of soda, 4 oz.; salt, lib.; water, 3 galls.; vanilla 

 extract, 1 pt. [If this is the real honey-jumble 

 recipe that we as bee keepers have been trying 

 to get hold of for years from the bakers, it is a 

 real acquisition; but knowing the exact propor- 

 tion of ingredients i-^ one thing, and knowing 

 how to put them together and produce a nice 

 honey jumble is another. I wish some of our 

 women folks who are adepts at making nice 

 cakes would try their hand at this, and report 

 their success. Of course, they will necessarily 

 have to reduce the proportionate quantities. — 

 Ed.] 



Ten tons of honey is used annually by 

 Woodward & Stone, owners of biscuit and con- 

 fectionery works at Watertown, Wis., as report- 

 ed in British Bee Journal by E. H. Taylor. He 

 was told that nearly all bakers and confection- 

 ers use honey in America, and that the United 

 States could not produce enough honey, but 

 had to import from West Indies! Two recipes 

 used at Watertown are given in other " Straws." 

 [It's queer we have to go clear over to Eneland 

 to get this interesting piece of news regarding 

 the doings of some of our own countrymen. 

 The more of such concerns in the country, the 

 better for bee-keepers; but I somewhat doubt 

 the statement that the United States can not 

 produce enough honey for its own use. This 

 may be true, however: Bakers use off or dark 

 grades of honey, and there may not be enough 

 of this on the market to supply their demands; 

 consequently the imported article is used. — Ed.] 



AMALGAMATION. 



WHY IT SHOULD BE EFFECTED ON LINES LAID 



DOW^N by THE LINCOLN CONVENTION; THE 



SENTIMENT OF ARIZONA BEE-KEEPERS. 



By J. Webster JohiD^nn. 



I desire to say a word in favor of the move- 

 ment to amalgamate the N. A. B. K. A. and the 

 N. B. K. Union. These two organizations have 

 been useful in their way and place ; but neces- 

 sarily, from the nature of each, no vnry consid- 

 erable member-ihip could be expected. The 

 Union has done good work in its special line, 

 but not one bee keeper in fifty has had any 

 personal interest in its work, and especially is 

 this true of the larger producers. The N. A. B. 

 K. A. has been simply an annual convention 

 held at various points. The rf^gular attend- 

 ants have been very few in number, the major- 



