860 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



THE AMERICAN- I!EE ■JOUNIiAL. 



Ox tli(^ tirst of noxt year the old A}iierk'an 

 Bee Journal 1!^ to changp its size to about tliat 

 of these pages, and eaeli number will contain 

 3:2 pages. For a weekly bee-journal this is a 

 big undertaking; but Newnum iV: Son are equal 

 to the task. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPEIS. 



This is the title of a new bee-journal, to be 

 issued Jan. 1, 1891, and to be published by the 

 W. T. Falconer Manufacturing Co., Jamestown, 

 N. Y. It is to be a monthly periodical of 16 

 pages. The cover page and prospectus^are be- 

 fore us, and we have no doubt that they will 

 get out a iirst-class journal. 



SPACERS FOR FRAMES. 



Every now and then we receive a spacing- 

 device for holding ordinary frames at fixed 

 distances. They are complicated, and would 

 make the hive cost anywhere from 10 to .50 cents 

 extra, to say nothing of the length of time it 

 would take to manipulate them. In suggesting 

 tlwse improvements it is well to bear in mind, 

 first, their expense; second, their convenience. 

 No Yankee can tolerate expensive devices, no 

 matter how good they may be otherwise. 



LIFE-MEMBERSHIP IN THE N. A. B. K. A. 



In order to become life-members in this asso- 

 ciation, spoken of elsewhere in these columns, 

 all you have to do is to pay $10.00 to the secre- 

 tary; and when your name is voted upon and 

 accepted, you will be a life-member, and no 

 more annual dues to pay. Any one thorough- 

 ly interested in the success of the society (and 

 that success means a great deal to our industry 

 in general) can not do better than to become a 

 life-member. If he bo a straightforward man 

 there will be no doubt tiiat he will be accepted 

 as a member. 



FLAT COVERS. 



In going over our colonies in Dovetailed hives, 

 preparatory to putting on the outside cases, we 

 noticed that the clusters in some of the hives 

 had settled down almost to the entrance, seem- 

 ingly to avoid proximity to the cover. On other 

 hives of the same kind they are quite close to 

 the cover; and inspection showed that the 

 former had been recently opened — that Is, the 

 propolis attachments making the cover air- 

 tight, had been broken so that the air would 

 flow over their backs, and consequently they 

 went down toward the entrance. Those colonies 

 from which the covers had not been removed 

 for some time, and which had been sealed down 

 with propolis, were close to the cover. The 

 same thing was seen in all our colonies in chaff 

 hives with chaff cushions on top. Our apiarist, 

 Mr. Spafford. thinks he would like to have the 

 Dovetailed cover with side pieces, so that they 

 would telescope over the body. There might 

 be an advantage in this, but it makes the covers 

 more difficult to handle during the honey 



season; and when they are sealed down with 

 propolis it is a pretty hai"d matter to pry them 

 up. unless thei'e are cleats on the hives, and we 

 don't exactly want cleats y(>t. The moral is. to 

 get the colonies fed up as early as possible in 

 flat-cover hives, so that the bees may have time 

 to seal the covers down air-tight. Simplicity 

 covers are no better in this respect. 



EXAGC4ERATION IN DESCRIBING GOODS IN CATA- 

 LOGUilS. 



This matter is brought to my mind just now 

 by a description of lemons in a weekly price 

 list. There are thi'ee grades. They are desig- 

 nated, first, " Extra Fancy: " second, "Fancy;" 

 and third," Extra Choice.'" The '• Extra Choice'' 

 is the poorest grade. I think I can remember 

 the time when the poorest lemons used to be 

 styled " Fair." Better ones were classed as 

 " Choice." Pretty soon we had to say " Extra 

 Choice " to get any real good ones. When the 

 " Extra Choice " got to be only ordinary, some- 

 body started the word " Fancy," and for a while 

 we could be sure of getting the best in the mar- 

 ket by ordering " Fancy." Now, however, we 

 have to say " Extra Fancy " if we want the 

 best; and if we happen to need the ordinary for 

 some special purpose, they must be designated 

 " Extra Choice."* What a sad, sad state of af- 

 fairs ! But somebody says, "What are you go- 

 ing to do about it? If you call your things ex- 

 actly what they are. nobody will purchase. We 

 are really oblig(>d to do as others do." I heard 

 a merchant in California say, when an exasper- 

 ated customer gave him a blowing-up because 

 his pound rolls of butter weighed only ^{, that 

 the only way to live and get along was to give 

 %, just as everybody else does. I suggested 

 that he weigli them up by the pound, and tell 

 every customer that they were %-lb. rolls. He 

 said nobody would buy them, because all the 

 rest in the whole city of San Diego called % of 

 a pound a pound. Now, my friends, all this 

 talk and this theory is false. It is not true. It 

 will take you some little time to build up a 

 business by telling the lionest truth, 7io doubt; 

 but when people get to l<now you, and to under- 

 stand that you give full weight, and that, when 

 you say "choice," you mean better than the 

 average in the market, your fortune is made. 

 There is no spread-eagle advertisement that 

 can come anywhere yiear the simple honest 

 truth, to build up business. Use moderate, 

 simple, truthful, honest words. Make this your 

 foundation, and all mankind will soon flock 

 around you. If others act dishonestly, the field 

 for you is all the ..yider and all the broader; and 

 I have sometimes thought that, in some de- 

 partments of trade, there is an almost un":^ 

 plored region for the man who is actuf lly and 

 truly seeking "first the kingdom of God and 

 his righteousness." 



* When " Extra Fiincy " loses its "saltness, " what 

 words shall we take next? 



