96 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



The long-looked-for rains in California 

 have come, at least in man}' localities. If 

 this continues it will mean another g-ood 

 year for our friends on our western bor- 

 ders. 



In referring recently to the use of sulphu- 

 ric acid in refining wax I stated that the 

 acid and water, after standing, would sep- 

 ar^ite. Two or three have written, saying 

 that I must be in error, as the two would 

 unite and stay united. I have not had an 

 opportunity to test the matter; but my in- 

 formants are evidently persons who under- 

 stand what they are talking about, and I 

 therefore accept the correction with thanks. 



THR NEWLY ELECTED OFFICERS OF THE 

 NATIONAL BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 



The following is the report of the special 

 committee appointed to receive and count 

 the ballots: 



We, the undersigned, have this day counted the bal- 

 lots cast for General Manager and three Directors of 

 the National Bee-keepers' Association, to fill the va- 

 cancies caused bv the expiration of the terms of Eu- 

 gene Secor as Geiieral Manager, and J. M. Hainb .u.uh. 

 Dr. C C. Miller, and C. 1' Dadant as Directors, and 

 find that3'.8 ballots have been cast, of which Eugene 

 Secor received 172. The other ballots were cast for 

 109 different members, the largest number of votes for 

 any one of them being 29. 



For Directors, J. M Hambangh received 180 votes; 

 Dr C C. Miller. 'Is2 : C. P. Dadant, 215. We have also 

 counted the voles cast for and against the proposed 

 amen mrnts to the constitution, and find that 214 were 

 cast for the first amendment, and 93 against it : 2()8 

 votes were cast for the second amendment, and 47 

 against it. A. B. M ■ son, 



S. J. Griggs, 



Toledo, C, Jan. 27. Cotn. 



The General Manager, it seems, was re- 

 elected in spite of his expressed wish not to 

 serve again. This surely bespeaks confi- 

 dence, and an indorsement of the policies 

 pursued under the several terms of his ad- 

 ministration. 



THE RAMBLER FINDING HIS "FOUNTAIN OF 

 ETERNAL YOUTH " IN CUBA. 



A SHORT time ago, in a private letter to 

 John H. Martin (Rambler), now in Cuba, 

 I gave some fatherly (?) advice to the effect 

 that*^ he should remember that he was no 

 longer a young man, and that he should go 

 easy on his strength, and, above all, not to 

 get too enthusiastic over a bee company. 

 This is the way he comes back at me: 



Bless me ! Did you think I was hankering after 

 running a big bee' and honey company? Not much. 

 I am merely blazing the wav for younger men. And 

 let me tclf you, Bro. Ernest, I am about ten years 

 younger here than I was in California. Don't you 

 t/itozv oi4t that I am l<w old for any thing Whv , I laid 

 out that big robust Somerford the other day on a rough 

 wheel-trip. I haven't h;id such a good appetite and 

 digestion for years as I now have. I haven't decided 

 yet what I shall door how lo' g I shall stay. Cogg- 

 shall will be here soon, and several of us are planning 

 a trip to the Isle of Pines. I may buy me a little farm 

 over there. 



But I have another bee in my bonnet. lam eetting 

 photos of almost every thing in sight, and shall have 

 lots of lantern-slides. How about a grand laniern lec- 

 ture-tour of the States— lectures on California, Cuba, 

 and on bee culture? 1 am wondering if jou will say, 

 " You are no longer a young man." 



Let me see. Our young friend is only 62, 

 or 23 years older than his paternal (?) ad- 

 viser. A little later on I'll show you how 

 this youthful cyclist can "scorch" (for I 

 caught him in the act), even if he is a reg- 

 ular down-east Yankee. Some call him 

 " Long John." Well, that is just what he 

 is. When I saw him in California he hadn't 

 an ounce of flesh to spare; and here he is out- 

 doing that big Somerford on a bicycle, and 

 now he proposes to tour all over the United 

 States. Come on, John; we will give you a 

 welcoming hand all over the States — I mean 

 we bee-keepers. 



I suppose he will tell us something about 

 the Isle of Pines — one of Uncle Sam's re- 

 cent possessions. 



THE PROGRESS WE ARE MAKING FIGHTING 

 THESE COMB-HONEY LIES. 



We are making some progress in counter- 

 acting the efi'ect of the comb-honey slan- 

 ders thjit have been going the rounds of the 

 press. Certain familiar items have ceased 

 to appear. But don't let us lay down the 

 gauntlet 3-et; an awful damage has been 

 done to the comb-honey trade because there 

 are niillions of people who still believe comb 

 honey is manufactured, atid therefore will 

 not buy our product. 



It is no little pleasure to know that two 

 or three of the great dailies of the country 

 have published the trutli iibout comb honey; 

 but somehow that truth does not seem to 

 get into circulation through other papers 

 thiit have scattered these lies as on the 

 wings of the wind. All honor to the Chica- 

 go Daily Neivs and Chicago Chronicle for 

 publishing the truth about comb honey in 

 displaj'ed head lines. But the Chicago 

 Tribune, the paper that took up the defa- 

 mation of the comb-honey business in the 

 first place, and started this onset of lies, 

 has not retracted, and our readers are re- 

 quested to keep up their fusillade of letters. 

 Let them feel the force and might of num- 

 bers. 



Among the farm papers, there have been 

 quite a number that have published re- 

 tractions. One or two Iield out long and 

 hard. Among them was the Farmers'' 

 Guide, of Huntington. Ind. ; but now it has 

 come out with a bright breezy biickdown 

 that is truly refreshing; and to illustrate 

 the power that bee-keepers can exert by 

 sending in hundreds of letters, I publish 

 the first paragraph, or a part of it at least, 

 of the last statement that that paper has 

 made: 



The unity with which bee keepers guard their inter- 

 esi.-^ is one of the most commendable things that has 

 lately come under o'lr obser\-auon. If the faimers 

 would tfike care of their interests as well, no combina- 

 t on could afTect them. Nut long ago we published an 

 item to the effect that artificial comb honey was being 

 manufactured by machinery, and that glucose and 

 paraffiue were used. This brought us denials from all 



