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GI.EANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb 15 



liaust the list ; only to introduce the subject 

 in hopes that some one more competent would 

 take it up. It might not be of any practical 

 value, but it would at least be interesting to 

 see a full list of all improvements in the past 

 60 years, with names and dates as far as pos- 

 sible. [No, indeed ; the Porter bee escape 

 should not be omitted ; for in the saving of 

 time, and in the saving of disagreeable work, 

 no other invention of recent times has accom- 

 plished as much. Say : I do not know but it 

 would be a good idea to have a list of all the 

 great and important inventions relating to 

 bee-keeping. I'll try to prepare such a list, 

 and then submit it for revision. — Ed.] 



Dr. Johann Dzierzon, the beloved alt- 

 meister of German bee-keepers, was 90 years 

 old on his last birthday, Jan. 16. He is still 

 vigorous, and made a strong address at the 

 last great German convention. As evidence 

 of the high esteem in which he is held, the 

 January numbers of German bee-journals con- 

 tain many pages concerning him. But Dr. 

 Dzierzon belongs not to Germany alone ; he 

 is too great for that. He belongs to us, and 

 to the whole world. No other man living has 

 done so much for bee-keeping. Long may he 

 live ! [Is not your last sentence, doctor, a lit- 

 tle strong ? I am a great admirer of Dr. Dzier- 

 zon, and believe he has done much for the ad- 

 vancement of scientific apiculture ; but to say 

 that no other man living has done as much for 

 bee culture would be questioned by many bee- 

 keepers. — Ed.] 



About three years ago (Gleanings, 

 Vol. 26, p. 292), a Stray Straw said, " Bro. 

 Rilchey and I believe in breeding for long 

 tongues, even if some editors don't ; " and the 

 footnote said, " But some of us have not seen 

 those bees yet with long tongues, notwith- 

 standing all the talk about them." Then a 

 little later (p 502) the same footnoter said, 

 " Are you really sure, doctor, that some Ital- 

 ians have longer tongues than others ? ' ' That 

 same footnoter is now the craziest of the crazy 

 on long tongues. And yet some people say 

 no progress is being made. [Look here, doc- 

 tor ; you do not need to go back into old an- 

 cient literature. It may give you a great deal 

 of satisfaction, but it may not please other 

 folks. But I have the same opinion that I al- 

 ways had about a glossometer ; that is to say, 

 I do not take much stock in that way of mea- 

 suring bees' tongues. — Ed ] 



At a convention reported in Revue Inter- 

 natio7iale, M. Seller showed a bottle of con- 

 centrated chemical preparation used by adul- 

 terators to give the proper odor to adulterated 

 wax and honey. If one can judge by the for- 

 eign journals, America does not take the lead 

 in the adulteration of honey, and is far in the 

 rear in adulterating beeswax. [So far as I can 

 remember, never even a taint of suspicion has 

 ever rested on the makers of foundation in the 

 United States as to the purity of their product. 

 The paraffine and ceresin foundations were 

 very unsatisfactory to those who tried them. 

 Perhaps they might be used if the frames were 

 excessively wired. After all, the general con- 

 sensus of opinion of those who are in position 



to know is, that genuine beeswax is the cheap- 

 est in the long run. Economy in foundation 

 will not come by cheapening the product from 

 which the product is made, but rather in re- 

 ducing the excess of wax now in the cell bot- 

 toms or septa. While we have made great im- 

 provements in this one respect, there is still 

 room for more improvement. — Ed] 



"Is IT TRUE that outdoor- wintered bees are 

 always stronger in spite of the extra consump- 

 tion of stores?" p. 103. Not "always," but 

 I'm afraid they generally are. Let me give 

 my guess in the matter. A weak colony suf- 

 fers from severe cold more than a strong one, 

 as a greater proportion of its bees form the 

 outer crust. A strong colony suffers more in 

 the average cellar than outdoors, in spite of 

 the more favorable temperature of the cellar, 

 because the air is impure in the cellar and 

 pure outdoors. [I would suggest that our 

 readers watch this matter of outdoor and in- 

 door wintered bees verj' carefully this coming 

 spring. Take count of the amount of stores 

 consumed per colony by the outdoor and in- 

 door bees ; then see which ones are the first 

 to go into the supers, or, better still, which 

 produce the most honey. But, look here : 

 Suppose the bees of an indoor colony have 

 long tongues, and the indoor colony, of the 

 same strength, has short tongued bees. Well, 

 at all events it would do no harm to take ob- 

 servations, for it is only by a general compari- 

 son extending over several years that we can 

 get at the truth of this matter. — Ed.] 



IiJ'Stl 



We %vait. impatient, for mild Summer's reign 



To bring the flowers so nice. 

 Then turn, perspiring, from those flowers 



To bless these blocks of ice. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



At the last session of the Illinois State Bee- 

 keepers' Association a paper from Mr. Geo. 

 W. York, the editor, was read. His subject 

 was "Pure-food Legislation." Concerning 

 the reason that laws on this matter and others 

 concerning the public health are not properly 

 enforced, Mr. York well says : 



Another very important requirement to the success- 

 ful results of pure-food legi-laiion is houe-t i fficials — 

 officers who know no belter than to enforce laws just 

 as they find them, without fear or favoi . No law ever 

 enforced itself, and never will. The reas' n. almost 

 invariably, why p'ohibitton doesn't prohibit is because 

 of officials who don't officiate honestly and fenrless y. 

 1 believe, however, that the present pure-)ood com- 

 mission of Illinois are all right, but that the fatal 

 weakness is in the law itst If. 



But so long as the " dear people " persist in electing, 

 as their Stute lawmakers, saloon keepers, pothouse 

 politicians, gamblers, and frauds, just so long may 

 thev expect to have weak laws — laws that fail at the 

 most crucial time, because they were c ac ed with 

 that intentioti The people must act honestly and 

 decently themselves in the selection of their lawmak- 

 ers and public officers : then, atid not until then, need 

 they expect that good laws will be furnished and 

 properly enforced. 



