1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



201 



Canada that a great many of ns began to 

 think it was a great big yarn. lie was too 

 busy taking care of liis crop to write letters 

 or answer (luestions very much ; and all we 

 could tell about it was the stunning state- 

 ments that liad got into the newspapers. 

 Friend Jones kept still, however, and left ns 

 to find out as best we could what wonderful 

 things our sturdy l)rorhers in Canada could 

 do when they got w ell worked up. J ust here 

 Ave began to'wonder whether there were any 

 better races of bees anvwhere in the world 

 than we had already. The Italians were a 

 great advance over our common bees: what 

 might others be? Frank Benton, from the 

 Agricultural College, in Michigan, put his 

 skill as a linguist with friend Jones"s capi- 

 tal, and tiiev two went on an exploring 

 expedition to the (Jld World. Although 

 some of us do not think the new races tliey 

 sent liome were any great improvement over 

 the Italians, yet I think, dear friends, our 

 thanks are due tliem nevertheless. Tliey 

 opened up bee culture ; the new races dem- 

 onstrated many new and wonderfiU facts, 

 and gave us (juite an advanced stej) in tiu; 

 way of queen-rearing. 



Within the past year our friend Fiank 

 Benton has so tlioro'iighly experimented on 

 just what is needed foi- sending by mail, and 

 has succeeded in biiiiging it to sucli jterfec- 

 tion, that (pieens are now sent across tlie 

 ocean in the mail-bags with comparatively 

 few losses. 



Again, the age l)ecame ripe for some im- 

 provement in tlie combs we began to lialidle 

 so much ; and different intellects through- 

 out the land beyaii thinking of combs made 

 by macliinery, more accurate than the bees 

 could mak«!"tliem. and all worker combs in- 

 stead of dron(>. Investigation showed that 

 the Germans had l)een using something of 

 the kind for twenty years or more; and. in- 

 deed, our friend Samuel Wagner had at one 

 time made comb foundation, but let it drop, 

 as he did the lirst numbers of the .1. Ji. ,/., 

 for the good reason that the times were not 

 yet ripe for it. When the time came, how- 

 ever, it sprung up with new vigor in differ- 

 ent places. Our friend .John' Long. wiu)m 

 many of you may reineml)er. and who. I re- 



g ret to say, thought an assumed name to be 

 etter than his real one. liegan to send out 

 little sheets of wax. impr(>ssed with cells. 

 It was a success. 1 wrote to liim to know 

 liow he made them, and he said they were 

 made by a i)air of i)Iates. and tliat was why 

 he could not furnish me sheets large enongii 

 to iill the Langslrolh frame. I at once de- 

 clared the aiticle sliould be made by em- 

 bossed rollers. Although tliis statement was 

 given in print several months l;etvire my 

 first pair of rolls were linished, nobody re- 

 plied that rolls had been alreadN in use. 

 Vou knowtiie result when I ainiounced that 

 it was a success. The rolls were honestly 

 my invention, or at least they were made 

 under my direction ; but I have since been 

 told that a ])Oor (ierman by tlu; nanu- of 

 AV^eiss had a pair of rolls, and that the sam- 

 ples sent out by John Long were made on 

 these. John Long said afterward that lie 

 told me they Avere made on plates, to keep 

 the discovery a secret. Friend Newman in- 



forms us that Mr. Weiss died in the poor- 

 house. 



About this time the queen-trade opened. 

 The bee-keepers were so careless or so heed- 

 less that the P. M. G. ruled bees out of the 

 mails. For some time the progress of our 

 industry was seriously retarded by this rul- 

 ing; for in consequence of it the express 

 charges on a queen worth a dollar and a half 

 were sometim«?s as high as two dollars and a 

 half. For a while all efforts to get a revers- 

 al of this decision proved unavailing ; but 

 the times were ripe, and the wants of the 

 nation demanded that queen-bees be per- 

 mitted to go through the mails. The mat- 

 ter was taken up at a convention in Chicago, 

 if I am correct, through the influence of the 

 editor of the A. B. J. and Prof. Cook, in- 

 cluding several other friends. To our great 

 relief, our petition was granted. Prof. Cook 

 made a visit to AVashington to secure the de- 

 sired end, if I am correctly informed. 



Once more something more substantial 

 for combs began to be called for. Wiring 

 was tried, and a great manv said it would 

 not work. Finally Dr. Carlin, then living 

 near friend \'iallon, wrote me that line tin- 

 ned wire, about No. 80, would support the 

 combs so they were comparatively secure 

 from breakage, and yet they did not in any 

 wav interfere with brood-rearing. I found 

 this to be correct by experiment, and now 

 we s<'ll tinned wire' for this puri)ose in such 

 enormous (piantities that we purchased over 

 a /Oii at one lime last season. Dr. Carlin, I 

 am sorry to say, was recently killed in an 

 encounter with" some rullians in the far 

 West. 



The ripeness of the times just now seems 

 to demand a reversible frame, and many 

 busy brains are working the ground over 

 and" over. One sad part of it is, that a good- 

 ly iiortion of them are wasting time and 

 talents in working over ayaln the ground 

 that has already been gone over; 1 mean 

 the chij-s wlio refuse to take a bee-journal, or 

 who are not conversant with the contents of 

 our back volumes. My friends, before you 

 undertake to make inventions in bee culture 

 —at least liefore you try to do very much in 

 that line, get th'e old volumes of our bee- 

 journals, and run them through to see if the 

 subjects have not been thoroughly discussed 

 and well gone over. See, also, the devices 

 that have been pictured out, and may be 

 afterward dro])ped. 



AVe have now half a dozen or more jour- 

 nals devoted to bee culture. The ^1. B. J. 

 has been for several years a weekly, and is 

 ablv managed by friend Newman, who 

 is "present with us to - day. Although 

 there has been some fault-finding and com- 

 plaining, and I fear, at times, a little jeal- 

 ousv, I believe when we get at the real truth 

 of the matter we shall hnd that the world is 

 large enough for us all. There, is plenty to 

 do.' and jilentv of room for all who are keep- 

 ing iiace with liie times; for all who are 

 reiidv to recognize the wants of the times, 

 and iiountiful harvests are in store for those 

 who have proved, by years of holding-on, 

 and faithfulness in what (iod has given them 

 to do, that they ave worthy of bountiful har- 

 vests, 



