274 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr, 1. 



" Some who are very fond of candied ex- 

 tracted honey care very little about comb hon- 

 ey. Personally, I much prefer it in this form 

 to comb honey." — C. Davenport ui A^ner. 

 Bee Journal. "Now, how can a man talk 

 that way ? " will probably be the mental com- 

 ment of many a one who reads that. But facts 

 are stubborn things. I have a niece who will 

 not eat comb honey, but is very fond of can- 

 died extracted, and it is possible there may be 

 so many cases of this kind not suspected, 

 that it would make quite a market for can- 

 died honey. 



The Grand Trunk Railway, says the 

 Canadian Bee Journal, has issued notice that 

 hereafter comb honey will not be accepted as 

 freight because too fragile. Considering that 

 its fragility is put to a severer test by express 

 than by freight, that decision is a little rough 

 o;i the Grand Trunk bee-keepers. [The On- 

 tario Bee-keepers' Association had better get 

 after the Grand Trunk Railway. No such 

 move has been contemplated on this side of 

 the line ; and the right kind of pressure, if 

 brought to bear from three or four of Cana- 

 da's best bee-keepers, would result in getting 

 the ruling rescinded, I believe. — Ed.] 



You ARE RIGHT, Mr. Editor, that there are 

 places where Thos. Slack's plan of selling, p. 

 222, would not work. There is this to be said 

 about it, however, that where there is any 

 thing like an equal chance between his plan 

 and the small-package plan, the Slack plan 

 should have the preference as being best Jor 

 the buyer. Small packages, glassed sections, 

 and all that sort of thing, have their places, 

 but we should especially favor what will give 

 the public the most honey for its money with- 

 out making the producer lose by it. [I say 

 amen to this ; and that is why I am in favor 

 of selling sections by the piece when they are 

 properly graded. See answer to Straw else- 

 where. — Ed ] 



While working on the problem of getting 

 thin foundation to work in brood-irames, as 

 mentioned in footnote, p. 225, it might be well 

 to consider the possibility of imbedding wood- 

 en splints. I have an idea that a very small 

 splint would answer. Of course, it must be 

 first saturated with wax. [It may be that 

 the wooden-splint idea would be the best so- 

 lution of the problem — no, it can not be, if 

 the manufacturer can only put very fine wire 

 into the foundation at the factory. Wires can 

 be imbedded by electricity at a rate that is a 

 thousand times faster than the using of splints; 

 but I am willing to concede that splints may 

 be more practicable under present conditions 

 when the foundation is not wired as it leaves 

 the mill.— Ed.] 



Prop. Cook has written in the American 

 Bee Journal some criticisms on Root's ABC 

 which show plainly that he has not had in 

 hand the latest edition. Some will say this is 

 unfair. I say so too ; but the unfairness is 

 on the part of the publishers of the ABC. 

 How can Prof. Cook be expected to get into 

 print a comment on the very latest edition if 

 the publishers persist in getting out a new 

 edition every Saturday afternoon } [Serious- 



ly, the ABC might now almost be called an 

 annual. The last edition followed the pre- 

 vious one by about 15 months : and the edi- 

 tion now just out may all be disposed of in a 

 year and a half, notwithstanding there were 

 8000 copies in this edition, of which 3000 have 

 already been sold. — Ed.] 



Discussions in Canadian Bee Journal shoyf 

 a difference ot opinion as to gelling bees out 

 of cellar early. Some say the saving of honey 

 in the cellar is more than balanced by the 

 earlier brood of those taken out early, those 

 taken out very early outstripping those taken 

 out later. Others say that those taken out 

 early make a spurt at the start, but later on 

 fall behind. Wish that we could know some- 

 thing for sure, and know that we knew it for 

 sure. [Ever since I attended the convention 

 of the Ontario Beekeepers' Association at 

 Niagara Falls this question has been plaving 

 in my mind Two or three at that convention 

 urged that it was important to get the bees 

 out early, and no one seemed to dissent from 

 the proposition. I am going to keep our bees 

 in the cellar very late just to see what the ef- 

 fect will be. — Ed.] 



I STUDIED over that footnote on page 219 

 for some time, and then I said, " I've always 

 thought of its needing a week or so to let bees 

 have extracting-supers before changing for 

 sections ; but Ernest says it needs only a day 

 or two. He also says it beats bails for pure 

 Italians that are stubborn about going into su- 

 pers with baits. If what he says is true, I've 

 got to capitulate." After a minute I added, 

 " But our bees are never stubborn about going 

 into baits." My wife replied, " May be you 

 don't watch 'em down close enough." I gave 

 her one of my crushing looks as I said, "What 

 does a woman know about bees?" [Next 

 summer, doctor, you try some extracting su- 

 pers. Leave them on only a day or two at 

 most, or until the bees get up into them. 

 Then take them off and clap on the comb- 

 honey supers without the baits. I can not 

 remember exactly, but I think I have used 

 one extracting-super as a puller on half a doz- 

 en different colonies, and it was not full then. 

 This was an extreme case, but I desired to see 

 what could be done when one wished to pull 

 bees upward, without running too much for 

 extracted. — Ed. ] 



Speaking of the variation in sections, p. 

 218, Mr. E iitor, your first question is right to 

 the point, " Why place so much stress on sec- 

 tions holding a pound?" the answer being 

 that there is no section always holding a pound; 

 but your second question, " Why not sell by 

 the piece ?" is off, the answer being that it 

 would not be entirely fair to sell at the same 

 price sections that vary so greatly in weight. 

 [But you will not forget, doctor, that those 

 who advocate selling by the piece recommend 

 and practice very careful grading, both as to 

 filling and weight. Mr. Niver, who always 

 sells by the piece, so grades his sections that 

 they will vary scarcely an ounce at the out- 

 side ; and think of the time saved, and the 

 convenience to the grocer, and yet no one is 

 robbed. It is the general practice with the 



