138 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb 15 



honey in such sections candjing any sooner, 

 no matter whether licked in the fall or in the 

 spring, than does the honey in those filled 

 from starters of foundation, or those filled 

 with foundation, years of close observation 

 has failed to show any difference. Therefore 

 I adhere to using all partly filled sections 

 again, instead of destroying them, as was the 

 common advice a decade ago, and placing 

 sections in the supers as baits from which the 

 honey has been extracted, without giving 

 them to the bees to clean up, other than what 

 they do after the sections are put on the hives 

 for the next season's crop. And I advised ac- 

 cordingly, as the labor thus saved is an item 

 worth looking after. If any disagree, all they 

 have to do is to give the matter a thorough 

 trial, and then govern themselves accordingly. 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



[Yes, Mr. Doolittle, I remember how you 

 were almost alone at one time in asserting 

 that old foundation was as readily worked by 

 the bees as new. At the present time there 

 are very few bee-keepers, who are familiar 

 with recent literature pertaining to the indus- 

 try, who would pay half a cent difference for 

 new foundation over old. But your other 

 statement about unfinished sections — well, if 

 it came from any one but you I should be in- 

 clined to say he was wrong — all wrong ; and 

 even now, in the face of evidence that I have 

 listened to at the various conventions I have 

 attended during the last three months, I can 

 not help feeling that you are mistaken for 

 once, even admitting that you have been a 

 pioneer sometimes in dispelling and showing 

 up the fallacy of old exploded beliefs and no- 

 tions. If there is any one thing that comb- 

 honey producers have come to regard as an ac- 

 cepted fact, it is, that it is poor policy to place 

 in supers unfinished sections containing honey 

 of the previous year except for baits. They 

 have insisted that it was their experience, so 

 far as I can remember, that such sections, 

 when finished, were inferior-looking in the 

 £ipift place, and very apt to have candied hon- 

 ey ; and now for you to come in and pronounce 

 this a heresy— well, I will keep still until I can 

 gather fresh ammunition. In the mean time, 

 let us have short pithy reports on this matter. 

 Our space is getting to be so crowded that we 

 can not just now find room for a dozen or so 

 long articles on this subject ; but as long as 

 Doolittle stands sponsor for the statement that 

 unfinished sections of the previous year may 

 be used and still furnish, when finished, a 

 good grade of comb honey, we must think an 

 experiment ; for if he is right, then we are 

 throwing away dollars and dollars ; and if he 

 is wrong, lat us bury him out of sight with 

 evidence. 



Regarding the mailing of bees to foreign 

 countries, Mr. D. has probably discovered the 

 real cause of all the bees arriving dead at cer- 

 tain times when at other times they would go 

 through in good order. This may be a proper 

 subject for the National Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion to take hold of ; but we know how diffi- 

 cult it is to get something from even our own 

 government, and we know it is more difficult 



to get a concession from a foreign govern- 

 ment, especially when the interests of bee-keep- 

 ers in the case in question are so small. Mr. 

 W. S. Pender, of West Maitland, Australia, 

 did, however, secure a very important conces- 

 sion, in that bees might go to Australia, not 

 at letter rates, but at parcels-post rates. Mr. 

 Pender is the editor of the Australian Bee 

 Journal, and doubtless he can interest himself 

 in a matter that is to our mutual interest. If 

 he will " pull the wires " on the other side we 

 will "pull the strings " on this side; at all 

 events, I have this day, as President of the N. 

 B. K. A., written a letter to our Postoffice De- 

 partment, asking if some special provision can 

 not be made by which bees will be exempt 

 from fumigation while in transit. — Ed] 



EXTRACTED HONEY FOR THE POOR. 



Relative Cost of Glass and Tin in Four and Five 



Pound Lots for Honey; a Strong Plea for 



the Small Glass Package; Fowls out 



after the Owl. 



BY CHAI.ON FOWLS. 



No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall 

 die with you, but I have understanding as well as you. 

 Job 12 : 2, 3. 



Notwithstanding the alleged foolishness of 

 those who put up honey in glass (according to 

 Mr. Aikin's article on page 955), I will attempt 

 an answer in behalf of the many foolish fel- 

 lows here in the East who put up honey in 

 that way. As I see it, Bro. Aikin's benevo- 

 lence gun is aimed too high. He should com- 

 mence nearer home. He says his sympathies 

 are with the poor laborer. Me too ; but, hold 

 on. "Charity begins at home;" and the 

 kind that would cut down the meager wages 

 of the beekeepers of our land, and give it to 

 other laborers, I should call misdirected. Mr. 

 Aikin moralizes at considerable length, trying 

 to prove the foolishness of those who persist 

 in buying articles put up in glass ; but that 

 need not trouble us. We should try to supply 

 what WiQ buyer wants ; and, as mentioned in 

 another article, my experience has been that 

 they want honey in glass in preference to tin, 

 even at a higher price. In fact, liquid honey 

 in glass has practically driven candied honey 

 in tin out of the market, excepting the five- 

 gallon square cans as sold at wholesale. 



At the Chicago convention. President Root 

 reported that a number of prominent produ- 

 cers are now bottling their own product. Of 

 course, this means they think it will sell bet- 

 ter this way than candied. Now, I will leave 

 the readers of Gleanings to judge whether 

 these people " are decidedly lacking in push 

 and business ability." While I may be lack- 

 ing in these requisites it strikes me that it 

 takes more " push " and a higher order of 

 " business ability " to build up such a trade as 

 Mr. Selser has at his prices than to sell in a 

 crude condition at half price, or at the price 

 of sugar. 



Again, Mr. Aikin tries to make out that I 

 am cheating my customers in that I am mak- 

 ing them pay for a worthless glass package 



