novice's" gleanings in bee culture- 



BOOKS OF AMERICA DEVOTED 

 TO BEE CULTURE. 



Tip VERY bee keeper should read 

 ]$M\ Langstroth and Quinby. No mat- 

 ter who, or where, or what your pro- 

 ficiency, read them for it will afford 

 you a rare pleasure that you cannot 

 afford to lose. 



For something for ready reference, 

 condensed and alphabetically ar- 

 ranged, we know of nothing better 

 than Mr. King's Text Book. It 

 served us well and we almost "learn- 

 ed it by heart, (and we must add the 

 American hive along with it, which 

 we could have far better dispensed 

 with, and hope Mr. King will too, 

 when he ceases to be a patent right 

 man,; and have given it to ruany be- 

 ginners to save answering their in- 

 numerable questions. J t is true that 

 no mention is as yet made of the 

 extractor in any of its frequent 

 revisions ; nor have we any work, so 

 far as Ave know, that even does it 

 any kind of justice. Perhaps our 

 many periodicals are fully compe- 

 tent for this work. Price of Text 

 Book 40o, and it is well worth the 

 money after tearing out all about 

 the "American hive," "Instructions 

 to agents," etc. 



Bee Keepers Guide, by E. Kretch- 

 mer, Coburg, Iowa. Price 50 cts., 

 has just been sent us for an opinion. 

 As our opinion has been asked, we 

 ran afford to be quite candid. The 

 whole appearance of the book struck 

 ns ;is something strangely familiar, 

 and on reading different parts of it, 

 we were still more puzzled until we 

 placed King's Text Rook by its 

 side and found that the same ideas 

 followed in almost the same shcits- 

 sion even to whole pages ami chap- 

 ters; and extracts were in the same 

 words : even "American Hives," 

 too. (under a different name, i -In 

 si ructions to agents, etc." lias Mr. 

 KrcU'hmer stolen this from King, 

 or has King sold him the right to,— 

 to copy him. imperfections and all? 

 As the book is larger than King's 

 there must be something new, and 

 we find the Extractor mentioned 

 favorably, butit isso unimportant an ; 

 implement that we presume more ; 

 than one page devoted to it would 

 be a waste of time. 



Cant some one who makes a bust- ! 



ncss of selling only Bees and Honey 

 write a Text Book, with no other 

 end in view than to teach us to pro- 

 duce honey cheaply. 



'■Bees, Their Management and Cul- 

 ture," by Mrs. E. S. Topper, we can 

 heartily recommend. It advocates 

 movable comb hives, only in the 

 abstract and not any particular one. 

 The work is too brief to go into de- 

 tails, but many valuable facts are 

 given. As Mrs. Tupper devotes a 

 page or two to box hone)^, and not 

 quite five lines to the Extractor, we 

 shall have to think that she is un- 

 acquainted with developments made 

 in bee culture in that direction, or 

 hesitates to recommend it to begin- 

 ners. The assertion on page 12 that 

 "The most valuable invention since 

 movable combs, is that of the new 

 swarming attachment," of Mrs. 

 Earnham's, we think very doubtful, 

 for very many large Apiaries arc- 

 now managed with the aid of the 

 Extractor, so that swarming is al- 

 most, if not quite, done away with, 

 and such an arrangement would be 

 worse than useless for th//t purpose. 

 As no mention is made of the 

 malady that has carried off large 

 Apiaries during the past winter, we 

 must conclude she has no advice to 

 offer on the subject, or that "ven- 

 tilation," '■plenty of food,'" and 

 •'numbers'' furnish the remedy. We 

 leave the question to be answered by 

 those who have suffered. 



Some of the circulars that we re- 

 ceive from enterprising Apiarians, 

 are almost a Text Book in them- 

 selves. Quinby's circular and price 

 list we always look for with pleas- 

 ure, as we do many others. 



Queen -Rearing is really getting to 

 be one of the fine arts, and we know 

 of no more honorable occupation 

 tor man or woman. The same can 

 be said of the manufacture and sale/)! 

 hives and all implement* of value 

 in apiculture, where the curse of 

 patent right speculation and false 

 representation is not connected 

 therewith. 



Recollect that you must keep the 

 animal heat concentrated in a com- 

 pass small enough to suit the quan- 

 tity of bees, and you arc all right. 



: If you hurry too much you spoil the 



' whole. — Gallup. 



