1S90 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



541 



carefully examined it, and found it was the genu- 

 ine foul brood. Fortunately it came during a great 

 yield of nectar, and of course there were no rob- 

 bers. Had there been, we might have had a repeti- 

 tion of our foul-brood troubles. I tell you, friends, 

 it is a most serious matter. Sending foul brood by 

 mail or by express can not help placing in jeopardy 

 an}' apiary within whose immediate vicinity it may 

 come. The instructions and description of foul 

 brood, given in our A 15 C of Bee Culture and in 

 Prof. Cook's last Bulletin, are bo complete and full 

 that our friends ought to be able to properly diag- 

 nose any case of the real trouble. Bro. Newman, 

 In the Amrricaii Bee Jdunuil, has likewise informed 

 his readers, and we hope the other bee-journals, if 

 they have not already done so, will send forth a 

 warning note. Our friend wished us to send it to 

 Prof. Cook, alter examining it. Instead of com- 

 plying with these instructions I gave it a " hist " in- 

 to the boiler-furnace. It is like sending dynamite 

 or nitroglycerine through the mails. While in the 

 case of foul brood, human lives are not jeopardized, 

 yet human interests are so most seriously. 



Either our friend above is not a reader of a bee- 

 journal, or else he reads them so carelessly that he 

 overlooked the former warnings. If he had been a 

 follower of our pages a year or so back, he could 

 not have been mistaken as to what he had in his 

 apiary. 



iafer.— After the above was in type I noticed 

 that Bro. Jones, of the Canadian Dec Journal, things 

 it necessary, for proper diagnosis, that samples of 

 the infected brood be sent to the proper persons. 

 With the clear and minute descriptions that have 

 been given of the symptoms of the disease, I still 

 think that a person of average intelligence could 

 very easily diagnose his own cases. 



HONEY AS FOOD. 



How many times I think of Josh Billings' quaint 

 speech— "What is the use of knowing so much, 

 when so much that you know ain't so?" I am re- 

 minded of it just now in the confession I have to 

 make. A short time ago I gave you my experience 

 in using honey as food, and I was quite emphatic in 

 saying that it gave me a headache when maple syr- 

 up would not. Well, a few days ago I took a notion 

 to eat quite liberally of the new alfalfa honey, spo- 

 ken of in last issue. Quite to my surprise I felt un- 

 usually well during the whole afternoon. Then I 

 ate still more for supper, and good old dame Nature 

 l)ronounced it tiptop and called for more. Since 

 that I have been eating quite liberally, with the 

 best results; and when I found that alfalfa honey 

 agreed with me perfectly, I substituted good well- 

 ripened basswood honey (extracted, of course), 

 with the same results. Therefore I wish to ask my 

 good friend Cook to let me take back at least a 

 good deal of what I said about honey being un- 

 wholesome. In the latter experiments I ate it with 

 good nice bread and good nice butter; and I be- 

 lieve that, in my former experiments, at least sev- 

 eral times I ate honey with hot biscuit or some- 

 thin? of that sort, and I am afraid I charged the 

 honey with something that belonged to the hot 

 cakes that went with it. Perhaps you think 1 am 

 taking considerable space for a small matter; but 

 it is quite a serious matter when the editor of a 

 bee-journal says that honey is not good food, even 

 if he does mean to gay, so far as his persimal experi- 

 ence (joes. Very likely a kind of food that would at 



one time induce nature to protest, might at some 

 other time prove to be exactly the thing she wants 

 and calls for. Shall we not all be slow in coming to 

 positive conclusions? 



OF INTEREST TO AUSTRALIAN RE ADERS. 



Goods shipped to Australia have had the option 

 of three routes: Across the continent to San Fran- 

 cisco, thence by steamer, which is the quickest and 

 most expensive route; by steamer via New York 

 and England, and via sailing vessel from New York 

 direct, the last being the cheapest and alto requir- 

 ing the longest time, usually about Ave months 

 from New York. We have just received advice of 

 a steamer, " Prodans," to sail a month hence direct 

 for Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sidney, and expected 

 to make the trip one way in fifty days. We are as- 

 sured that the rate will be low, less than half the 

 cost by steamer via England, and we sincerely 

 hope, for the benefit of our Australian correspond- 

 ents, that the venture may prove successful and be 

 continued. 



EOYPTIAN ONION-SETS, CROP OF 1890, ETC. 



Ours are now ready to gather, and, like the 

 strawberry-plants, the quicker you get them into 

 the ground the better growth they will make before 

 winter time. Price 10 cte. per quart, or 75 cts. per 

 peck. If wanted by mail, add 10 cts. per quart 

 extra. We shall not be ready to send out straw- 

 berry-plants before aboutthe first of August. Dur- 

 ing the coming fall we shall offer lor sale only four 

 kinds— Jessie, Bubach, Haverland, and Gandy. We 

 drop the Sbarpless for the Jessie, and the Jersey 

 Queen for the Gandy. We mention this, as others 

 may wish to know our preference among all the 

 new sorts that are oflered. The Gandy is the one, 

 it will be remembered, that has been advertised as 

 the " first season's " strawberry. We shall also test 

 quite considerably the strawberry known as Mi- 

 chael's Early, also sometimes called Osceola. This 

 seems to be about the best early strawberry. 



E ; : I MOTTOES AND LETTERS IN COMB.^O 



You can add much to the attractiveness of your 

 fair exhibit by having the bees work out in white 

 comb, letters forming your name or some motto. 

 It will be the means of attracting many more eyes 

 than would otherwise notice your display. We are 

 again prepared to furnish letters as we did a year 

 ago, and that you may know fully what we did 

 agree to furnish we copy from last year's notice: 



We have a full set of pattern letters to work 

 from, and they are of such a size that three will fill 

 an 8-section wide frame, the openings forming the 

 letters being about 7'/4 in. high and .5 in. wide. M 

 and IF, of course, are wider, and 1 narrower. The 

 letters are of the following pattern : 



FAIR, 1890. 



The price will be 10 cts. per letter or figure. With 

 thin foundation inserted, 15 cts. per letter or figure. 

 In ordering, if yoir will write the letters in the or- 

 der you want them, we can make 3 letters in one 

 piece, just right to slip into a wide frame. Or if 

 you don't happen to have a wide frame, simply 

 tack a bar on top, to suspend it from, and hang it 

 in the hive without a frame around it. The 4 fig- 

 ures, 1890. will go in a frame. To make the letters, 

 we simply lack two 7.: inch boards together, mark 

 the letter, and jig it out on a scroll-saw. To put in 

 the foundation, separate the boards, lay a sheet be- 

 tween, and tack them together again. We make 

 the letters large, because the bees will work in 

 them more readily, and they are much more con- 

 spicuous when filled. 



PREMIUM OFFER. 



To those intending to make an exhibit, and who 

 will agree to distribute judiciously the circulars we 

 will send, we will furnish free one letter or figure 

 for each dollar's worth of goods ordered, if the or- 

 der amounts to $4.00 or more. If foundation is in- 

 serted in each letter, we will furnish 3 letters for 

 e\ery f 4.(K) worth of goods ordered. u ■« ■« 



Will tell you more about our fair offers in next 

 issue. 



