892 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



board meant a perforated board placed over the 

 brood-nest, upon which honey-boxes were placed, 

 and the bees passed up through the holes in the 

 honey-board into the boxes; hence the name 

 " honey - board." Therefore what I now call a 

 " honey-board " is really a brood-box cover. 

 Bristol, Vt., Oct. 28, 1889. A. E. Manum. 



FAIRS, CONVENTIONS, ETC. 



ARE BEE-KEEPERS WORKING AOAINST THEIR OWN 

 INTERESTS WHEN THEY ATTEND THEM ? 



T|p T the late Illinois State Fair I had on exhibi- 

 9|Jk tion extracted honey. I said to my competi- 

 JW tor, "What makes the difference in this ex- 

 ■***■ tracted honey— all white clover?" 



He said, " I thought there was some trick 

 about it." 



I said, " I agree with Amateur Expert with refer- 

 ence to usiug white comb for light honey, although 

 I believe A. I. Root differs. That honey there on 

 exhibition was extracted from white comb, a good 

 deal of it being built this year, and I had to use the 

 most exceeding care to prevent its being broken. 

 On very hot days it broke badly; but on cool days it 

 did not. If I came across a patch of honey of dif- 

 ferent color, it was set aside, and not mixed with 

 the very white. Have I a mistaken idea, or not, 

 that, in order to have very light honey, it must be 

 stored in white comb?" 



FAIRS. 



I stood by the honey and bee exhibit for three 

 days; shook hands, and gave out sample copies of 

 bee literature; and was I not working against my 

 own interest? To be sure, we had a grand admira- 

 tion meeting; but these'advertising paraphernalia 

 fell into the hands of those who own a few bees, 

 and they may become subscribers, and learn how 

 to produce more honey than they now do, bring it 

 to this market, and undersell me. It appears to 

 me as though bee-keepers who work at fairs are 

 injuring themselves, but benefiting publishers and 

 supply-dealers. 



CONVENTIONS. 



When I came home from Chicago the " lord of the 

 manor" said, "What new ideas did you get at Chi- 

 cago -learn any thing that you didn't know before? 

 Keep bees just as well if you never went to a con- 

 vention." 



" Well," I said, "if I didn't learn any thing new, I 

 saw something that I never saw before, and that 

 was wooden comb that the bees had reared brood 

 in for two seasons. Mr. Aspinwall claims that it 

 will prevent swarming, as the bees can not rear 

 drones. I should not think that the ladies would 

 be as happy and contented, and work as well, when 

 there are no gentlemen of leisure around— would 

 you?" 



It's funny, isn't it? that those who never attend 

 conventions know so much about them. Now, 

 there is Mrs. Chaddock, who never attended a bee- 

 convention in her life, and how glibly she can tell 

 what we all go for! We have an ax that I must own 

 is very dull, as it is used only to pound up coal; but 

 wouldn't I be very silly to carry it to a bee-conven- 

 tion to have it sharpened? 



Mr. Root, you used to throw a wet blanket on 

 conventions back in the seventies, didn't you? 

 And. even now, while there is one in session, a lily 



that has a leaf as big as a cart-wheel has greater 

 attractions. 



gThere are so many changes in a year, would it 

 not be well to have the international subject to the 

 call of a committee, as to time and place? During 

 the encampment of the G. A. R. I could have gone 

 to Columbus and return for less than five dollars; 

 but when the bee-convention met it cost twenty. I 

 have been considering for the past year whether I 

 had better go to Brantford, Ont. The fare will be 

 nearly forty dollars, besides hotel bill, and honey is 

 cheap, and bees slow of sale. Mrs. L. Harrison. 

 Peoria, 111. 



My dear friend, I believe that I did, a 

 good many years ago, try to throw wet 

 blankets on conventions, fairs, etc.; and it 

 is equally true that I once tried, in a feeble 

 way, to find fault with churches and Sun- 

 day-schools. May God forgive me for both. 

 I suppose it is true, that once in a great 

 while we cut off a little of our income by 

 communicating to the outside world what 

 we have learned in our special fields of in- 

 dustry ; but, dear Mrs. H., do you not think 

 the injunction from our Master, " Give, and 

 it shall be given unto you," applies here ? 

 I know the question has come up a good 

 many times, during late years. Shall we 

 teach everybody every thing we know, or 

 shall we keep our business, especially the 

 new developments of our industry, to our- 

 selves ? The latter would seem to be the 

 more prudent way ; but I believe the expe- 

 rience of the world contradicts it. The 

 man who gives most freely, by some strange 

 law of our being gets most freely, as in the 

 language of our text. We have found rec- 

 ords of great business men who have given 

 astonishing sums toward civilizing and 

 Christianizing foreign lands. Did they be- 

 come impoverished? Not so. The begin- 

 ning of a liberal, broad, generous regard 

 for their fellow-men away off in the distant 

 parts of the earth was the beginning of 

 their prosperity ; and I believe, my friend, 

 you will find it true that this habit of going 

 to fairs, and working in a judicious and 

 sensible way for the education of our peo- 

 ple, will bring 'prosperity. Now, I am a lit- 

 tle peculiar in this matter. I do not be- 

 lieve in keeping a single thing secret that 

 would be of value to my fellow-men ; neith- 

 er do I believe in duties on foreign products 

 — that is, so far as I have light on this sub- 

 ject. When those great big cabbages came 

 from Holland, and sold at a big price in 

 America, I felt happy because the neigh- 

 bors in Holland had [found a new opening 

 for their produce, and a new encourage- 

 ment to raise big cabbages. There has 

 been some talk about putting a tax on ba- 

 nanas, and it pains me when I hear it dis- 

 cussed. I do not know what sort of people 

 raise bananas, and I don't care. They are 

 fellow-beings, and the large consumption 

 opening up on them must encourage them 

 in their special industry. I wonder if any 

 of the readers of "Gleanings' live where 

 bananas grow. If so, will they tell us some- 

 thing about it ? Now, I do not know what 

 bearing this has on politics. I am afraid I 

 do not like politics very much ; but I am 

 trying to love my neighbors in Holland, in 

 Jamaica, ^and, '.in short, in Europe, Asia, 



