1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



369 



Later. — Since the foregoing- was in type 

 the following letter has come to hand: 



I liave just sold two colonies of bees to go into cu- 

 cumber hot-houses. I sold seven last year, and got 

 about as much money for them as I did for the honey 

 they made the year before. There are a good many 

 colonies used up in this city and the adjoining town of 

 ■\\ inchester in this way, and in Arlington. Mr. Raw- 

 son, of the latter place, last year had five acres of cu- 

 cumbers under glass. John P. Coburn. 



Woburn, Mass., Mar. 15. 



The Mr. Rawson spoken of is W. W. 

 Rawson, of Arlington, Mass., and is thus 

 referred to in the American Agriculturist 

 of Feb. 15: 



How many stands of bees do j'ou keep in a house 

 800 by -10 feet when cucumbers are fruiting? "Usual- 

 ly four stands are required for a single house, and 

 they are put in just before the blossoms begin to 

 open, .so that they are read}' for work as .soon as the 

 flowers are ready to receive them, Eaily in April the 

 old stands are taken out and new ones put in. We 

 contract for our bees at 85 per stand and use about 50 

 stands each season. We usually lose about one-half 

 the swarms, even after the most careful attention is 

 given them. Man}' of them get out of the house 

 through the ventilators, and are unable to return. 

 Many others lose their lives in the house and various 

 places: but we find it absolutely necessary to keep 

 the house well stocked to insure fertilization and thus 

 good fruit." 



This will be a partial answer to Prof. 

 Lowe. If any one else is in position to give 

 us information along these lines we should 

 be glad to hear from him. 



GETTING THE EARS OF NEWSPAPER REPORT- 

 ERS. 



I HAVE been furnishing various newspa- 

 per reporters and magazine writers with 

 information and photos relating to bee- 

 keeping. I have not asked or expected 

 that they would mention the name of The 

 A. I. Root Co., but have requested all of 

 them to mention incidentallj^ something 

 about the comb-honey lies, and to saj^ that 

 there is no truth in them. Several articles 

 have already been published. The Los 

 Angeles Times of April 13 prints two of 

 my photos that I took while in California, 

 showing M. H. Mendleson, his comb hon- 

 ey, and his beautiful apiar3' in Rattlesnake 

 Canj'on. The article is beautifully writ- 

 ten, and, so far as I can discover, it tells 

 plain straight facts about bees in Southern 

 California; nor does it fail to say some- 

 thing about the comb-honey lies, which it 

 nails most satisfactorily. 



Another article is published in several of 

 the dailies in this portion of the country, 

 giving many interesting facts concerning 

 bee-keeping, and tells howmillionsof pounds 

 of honey are produced annually. It gives 

 pictures of the hives of the olden days; of 

 ijees in a bee-cellar; of two modern apia- 

 ries; and last, but not least, a fine por- 

 trait of Rev. L. L. Langstroth, "the fa- 

 ther of bee-keeping in America, who died a 

 poor man." 



I am personally acquainted with the writ- 

 er of this article. In fact, I spent a large 

 part of one day in telling some of the facts 

 connected with our industry, and well has 

 he told the story. 



These articles, illustrated as they are, 

 will be read by thousands of people; and I 



am now in hopes that the "boiler-plate" 

 makers will make extracts and scatter the 

 truth broadcast over the United States. 



There is nothing the general public need 

 to know so much just now as that honey — 

 real honest honey, both comb and extract- 

 ed — is produced tty bee-keepers to the ex- 

 tent of many millions of pounds. These 

 stories about artificial comb honej'', and the 

 fact that carloads of honey are offered for 

 sale, produce a feeling of distrust; and the 

 truth intelligentlj^ told, that honey is pro- 

 duced on such an immense scale reassures 

 the public. Our bee-keeping friends should 

 get the ears of reporters whenever they can. 

 Invite them to come and see you " handle 

 bees like flies " and take off honey, and do 

 not forget to sweeten them up with several 

 nice sections of honej^. 



BEARING DOWN THE MARKET ; INFLATION 

 LIES FROM CALIFORNIA. 



In several of the daily papers I have seen 

 references to the effect that "bee-men say 

 that the California honey crop this year 

 will be the largest that was ever gather- 

 ed;" and there is a whole lot more of rosy 

 statements to the same effect. While I be- 

 lieve it is conceded that there has been a 

 fair amount of rain, and that the prospects 

 are good for a fair crop, I do not believe 

 that any sensible bee-keeper on the coast, 

 if he stops and thinks a minute, is willing 

 to be quoted as broadly saying that "the 

 California honey crop this year will be the 

 largest that was ever gathered." And yet 

 in fact that is just what the papers do say. 



I have been through California, and have 

 studied the conditions somewhat ; and from 

 the amount of rain that has so far been re- 

 ported I believe I am correct in forecasting 

 that the next year ivill ?iot be " the largest 

 j'ear ever known for honey." All plant life 

 has had a setback in Southern California. 

 The rains came too late in many localities 

 to make the year a big one; for it takes 

 Nature a little time to recover herself from 

 a long-contintied drouth. These statements 

 of "unprecedented seasons," "veritable 

 floods of honey in California," "biggest 

 year on record for honey," and a whole lot 

 more of the same ilk, are all being scatter- 

 ed broadcast through the daily press so 

 they are circulated widely here in the East. 



Just stop and think, brother bee-keepers 

 of California, what all this means, and 

 how it will be knocking off the profits of 

 your labor. I believe the truth should be 

 published; but for the sake of our own in- 

 terests, don't tell more thiin the truth, thus 

 destroying the chance of getting fair prices. 



Early last season a lot of rosy statements 

 were sent out broadcast, telling what a big 

 year California was going to have. It was 

 a fair year, but not a " big " one. But the 

 effect of the inflation talk was a big slump 

 in prices, for no one dared to make an of- 

 fer. Such statements as these have a ten- 

 dency to depress the honey market all over 

 the United States, and as such they are 

 most mischievous in their effect. 



