GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan 1 



Eclectique says Americans have no guide but 

 the eye in spacing frames, and space them 1 fg 

 in summer and 1|^ in winter. [It is probable 

 that the writer did not understand that the 

 self-spacing frame is very largely used in the 

 United States. A large percentage of the 

 modern hives sold — at least of the number we 

 sell — contain the self-spacing type. — Ed.] 



Bottling honey occupies some six or 

 eight pages of last Gleanings, and then on 

 p. 970 the editor coolly informs us that he has 

 begun the subject. Say, ]\Ir. Editor, are you 

 going to drive all us comb-honey fellows to 

 extraction ? I must confess that, if you should 

 go to arguing that it would be better for the 

 country at large if every one should produce 

 extracted rather than comb, it might be hard 

 to meet the argument. [Yes, I have on the 

 string several more articles on the matter of 

 bottling honey, each touching on a different 

 phase. When I went into the subject I little 

 realized that there was so much in it that had 

 never been exploited before the bee-keeping 

 public. — Ed.] 



" While SNOW-WHITE " is the time Doo- 

 little says to take off sections, p. 968, just as 

 if they would get dark by staying on. Bro. 

 Doolittle, don't you know we are told that the 

 dark color runs clear through the cappings ? 

 Yet I must confess that my bees are just as 

 much out of order as yours, and in nearly all 

 cases cap the honey snow-white, and later 

 plaster it with the dark stuff. [The dark col- 

 or does not always run clear through the cap- 

 pings. I suppose you refer to a statement I 

 have made. A large part of the travel-stained 

 honey I have examined has shown the stain 

 clear through. Whether this stain is due to 

 the fact that the discoloration strikes through 

 like ink through blotting-paper, or whether 

 it is due to some other process, I can not say. 

 It is very evident that, in the matter of travel- 

 stain, there is a great difference in locality. — 

 Ed.] 



Sulphuric acid makes dull-colored wax 

 yellow (p. 971). How? Isn't it by operating 

 on particles of dirt that wouldn't settle with- 

 out the acid ? I'm asking the question because 

 I don't know. What I do know is that in this 

 locality the dirt in an ordinary cake of wax 

 cooled rapidly is enough to have a very decid- 

 ed effect on its color, and when cooled slowly 

 the color is different. I remember distinctly 

 being at a bee convention when it was held as 

 a secret that slow cooling would clear wax, 

 and I wasn't in the secret. If a beginner 

 should to-day ask me how to get bright-look- 

 ing wax, I should feel pretty sure of hitting 

 the case nine times out of ten by saying, 

 " Cool slowly." [I do not know, and I have 

 not yet found any one, not even chemists, who 

 can explain why sulphuric acid lightens the 

 color of wax. It is not altogether a matter of 

 dirt, by considerable. The acid has the effect 

 of bleaching, and I am not sure but that is the 

 only effect. Slow cooling certainly does al- 

 low the particles of dirt to settle out of the 

 wax. But suppose you take a cake of dark 

 wax, and break it in two in the middle. Melt 

 one portion, and allow it to cool slowly over 



hot water. Melt the other portion, and add a 

 few drops of sulphuric acid in the water over 

 which the wax is melted, and just note the 

 difference in the effect. — Ed.] 



The Belgian government pays annually 

 $5000 for bee-keepers' conferences or conven- 

 tions. [And this money is well invested. I 

 am looking forward to the time when our own 

 government will see its way clear to appro- 

 priate at least $500, or a tenth of the amount 

 offered by the Belgian government, to help 

 maintain a national bee-keepers' association. 

 To my mind, Uncle Sam's best investments 

 are not in great guns and big war-ships, but 

 in the amount annually appropriated to main- 

 tain the Department of Agriculture that is 

 now and has been doing such good work for 

 the rural classes in the United States. When 

 our Congressmen can see their way to go a lit- 

 tle further to appiopriate additional funds for 

 the purpose of conventions of all sorts, cal- 

 culated to help the people of this country to 

 a better understanding of how to earn their 

 daily bread, we shall be taking a step in ad- 

 vance. There are many people who read books 

 and papers, but there is a large class who 

 scarcely ever read any thing, and yet they 

 would attend conventions and farmers' insti- 

 tutes. It is true that several of the States are 

 doing considerable in this direction already ; 

 but there is room for more work in this line 

 yet.— Ed ] 



Close every entrance just %X4 ; 



The sleet-mailed storm-king now doth roar; 



At every crack he tries a vantage-ground to seize, 



And force his presence on the clustered bees. 



Ail 



Ulter lack of amity in Amity, apparently. 

 See editorial notes of travel in the land of 

 Goshen. 



Rambler's article on amateurs is worthy of 

 a second reading. The disparaging remarks 

 we often hear about amateurs is owing to the 

 fact that the word is wrongly used for novice 

 or beginner. An amateur works for the love 

 of it. Newton, Franklin, Humbolt, Herschel, 

 and hosts of other men prominent in their 

 lines, were amateurs. See article following. 



According to a writer in the Bulletin de la 

 Soni»ie, Dr. Terc, of Vienna, treats rheuma- 

 tism with bee- stings. He has tried his plan in 

 173 cases, making 39,000 stings. He claims 

 to have had undoubted success. " And yet," 

 says the writer, "one grumbles when stung 

 once. ' ' 



\\» 



Mr. York speaks of a man whose applica- 

 tion for life insurance was rejected because the 

 doctor found sugar had passed the kidneys ; 

 and the question was whether or not it was 



