HE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



2r 



gone they leave that box and go for the next. 

 Then the grapes have a rest from bees until 

 a heavy dew or light shower makes them 

 vulnerable in places. In that case, a bunch 

 of bees like a b iby's fist may gather and peg 

 away for a week, leavirg nothing behind but 

 skins and seeds. Yet. as said before, the 

 total loss is not large; and the grape-sorting 

 machines easily throw out the refuse. On 

 the other side, too much grape plunder may 

 make a bad smelling mess in the hive and 

 provoke the bees to swarm out next spring. 

 But just enough fresh juice for daily use, in 

 time of drouth and bee famine, keeps the 

 colony in fairly good condition. He suc- 

 ceeded in shutting up his bees, releasing 

 them an hour before dark each day; but 

 there were so many outside ones which he 

 could not shut up that it made no practical 

 difference, and he quit it. 



Friends .\bbott and Thompson manfully 

 defend alfalfa honey on page :^21 of Glean- 

 ings. If it is off-color some other plant's 

 nectar is mixed in. If it lacks body, or if it 

 granulates worse than other honey, the 

 greedy bee ma has extracted it too soon. 



Dr. Miller rejoices that so strong a support 

 as K. C. Aikin endorses bottom starters, and 

 is "glad what he did" when he invented 

 them. Baal None of 'em for me — and the 

 least possible of any other kind — 'cept when 

 I can have starters of nice, clean comb. 



The new substitutes for coffee can he 

 sweetened with alfalfa honey, it seems, and 

 be very nice. Gleanings 'M'2. 



Gleanings despairs of getting satisfactory 

 grading rules from a convention or conven- 

 tion committee, and is for going in with the 

 other editors to fix things up "apple pie." 

 So! 



Is it honesty or climate that makes the 

 Kietsche foundation-making device im- 

 mensely popular in Euroi)e but a '"back 

 number" in America? Doubtless it would 

 be popular here if there whs any serious diffi- 

 culty in getting pure foundation without it 

 — so far all clear. Also, it is probable that 

 if Germany had our climate, with savagely 

 hot spells every little wliile to melt down 

 everything not pure beeswax, the German 

 foundation makers would be honest — would 

 have to be, else go out of the business. The 

 " oncertin pint " is whether, in case we had 

 the (Jermau climate, some of our makers 

 would accidentally spill in a little of " the 

 stuff " once in a while. 



RiCHABDs, Lucas Co., (). luly I'll, 1«<»7. 



EXXRT^OXED. 



No Doubt of Mr. Newman's Honesty. 



In the last number of the Review appeared 

 the following editorial: 



" Thos. G. Newman I believe to be an 

 honest man. I say this because there is an 

 item in Dr. Mason's article that might be 

 construed into an insinuation to the con- 

 trary. Then there was an item not long ago 

 in the American Bee Journal that might be 

 looked at in this same light. I do think 

 that it would have been better if Mr. New- 

 man had given an itemized account of the 

 expenses, and better still, if there had been 

 an auditing committee, but although these 

 are lacking. I see no grounds for doubting 

 the truthfulness of the amount reported as 

 expended. Mr. Newman has been very 

 severely criticized, and I think some of it de- 

 served, but let us not resort to such criticism 

 that it may be regarded as an insinuation 

 against his honor, when there is no greater 

 foundation than that his report does not give 

 an itemized account of the expenses of the 

 last year." 



The foregoing was copied into the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal and commented upon as 

 follows: 



" We were quite surprised when we read 

 the above paragraph, for we were not aware 

 that there had been anything in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal that reflected upon Mr. 

 Newman's honesty. Certainly we have not 

 questioned it at all. If some have miscon- 

 strued our suggestion that an itemized ac- 

 count of the annual expenditures of the Old 

 Union be published we can't help that. It 

 is every member's ritilit to know how the 

 funds of a society lo which he may belong 

 are expended; and we insist that such a re- 

 quest does not carry with it any insinuation 

 that the treasurer is dishonest. We surely 

 would not thus accuse Mr. Newman, for we 

 have known him long enough to know that 

 he is an honest man. The only instance, we 

 believe, wherein we claimed Mr. Newman 

 did wronc was in t>ubli«hiTig his criticism of 

 the New Consti'ution in his Annual Report; 

 and to our mind there is no question about 

 that at all. It was not Ipiritimately a part of 

 the Re|)ort, and so should have been omitted 

 therefrom. 



We must insist that the American Bee 

 .Journal has not even insinuated that Mr. 

 Newman is rot honest, though in his article 

 on page 2!K) Mr. Newman does a great deal 

 more than to simply make 'insinuations' 

 against our honor. But we can stand that 

 if he can" 



I am glad to have Bro. York disclaim any 

 intention of even insinuating that Mr. New- 

 man is not honest. I did not suppose that 

 he tliouijht him dishonest, but these criti- 

 cisms, coming at the time and in the man- 

 ner they have, have been liable to miscon- 

 struction, and it is just as well that the 



