552 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1 



will then be turned out to find material for honey- 

 making in the country surrounding the World's Fair 

 grounds. It will require about 040 hives to construct 

 the little State-house, and in it about five a'nd one-half 

 million bees will work. It will be a great exhibit. 



THE ATTITUDE OF GLEANINGS TOWARD MR. 

 ABBOTT. 



Perhaps nothing I ever wrote was hard- 

 er for me to write, or that went more against 

 my inclination, than the semi-official state- 

 ment in reply to Mr. Abbott, in this issue. 

 Mr. Abbott has always been a good friend 

 of mine, and I hope he is yet; and for that 

 reason it was harder for me to rule against 

 him. But the questions that came before 

 me, while acting as the official head of the 

 Board, were not those of sentiment or 

 friendship, but simply an interpretation of 

 the constitution, of precedent, and of par- 

 liamentary law. Before arriving at my de- 

 cisions I consulted some of the best parlia- 

 mentarians and lawyers in our ranks. If 

 I have erred, then some of these best men, 

 who, while they have agreed iti every essen- 

 tial detail, have erred also. If it should de- 

 velop later on that Mr. Abbott was right 

 and I wrong, and if, subsequently, he 

 should be elected General Manager, by the 

 Association, no one will give him more cor- 

 dial support through these columns than I. 

 In any case, I propose to stand by the As- 

 sociation, and do whatever in my judgment, 

 with fairness and right, will best promote 

 its growth and prosperity; but in carrjang 

 out that idea I shall go by the rule that the 

 Association is more important than anj' 

 man in it. 



THE DENVER CONVENTION- 

 RATES, ETC. 



-RAILROAD 



The next convention of the National Bee- 

 keepers' Association will be held in Denver, 

 Sept. 3 to 5 inclusive. I feel confident this 

 will be a great convention; and if the sea- 

 son had been in any way good in localities 

 outside of Colorado, it would have eclipsed 

 any other convention the Association ever 

 held in point of attendance, and it raay do 

 so as it is. There will be quite a delega- 

 tion from the East. Mr. Hutchinson will 

 go by the Santa Fe route from Chicago, and 

 Mr. York and Dr. Miller will go by the 

 Northwestern, from the same point. Huber 

 Root and mj'self have arranged to go over 

 the last-mentioned route, and will probably 

 leave on the same train with Messrs. York 

 and Miller. They expect to leave Chicago 

 Monday, Sept. 1st, at 10 a. m., leaving Oma- 

 ha via the Union Pacific at 7:30 p. m., of 

 the same day. This same train will arrive 

 at Denver at 2 p. m. the next day. There 

 will be a Pullman tourist car from Omaha, 

 in which the charge for a double berth is 

 only $1.50 to Denver. The tourist Pullman 

 cars are in every way as convenient and as 

 comfortable as the regular Pullman. I in- 

 variably took them mj'self when I could get 

 them when traveling in the West, because 

 they were not only cheaper but cooler, and 

 the beds are just as clean as on the regular 

 Pullman. 



There will probably be a delegation of 

 bee-keepers over the Santa Fe route, with 

 Mr. Hutchinson, and also a delegation over 

 the Northwestern route. My brother Huber, 

 who had charge of our exhibit at the Pan- 

 American, will be present to operate the 

 stereopticon for me as he did at Chicago. 



COLLECTING HONEY STATISTICS THROUGH 



THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE OF 



CALIFORNIA. 



Our friend W. A. H. Gilstrap, of Cali- 

 fornia, as will be remembered, has shown 

 an active interest in the matter of securing 

 reliable government statistics. He has had 

 some correspondence with Prof. Frank Ben- 

 ton, of the Department of Agriculture, and 

 has forwarded me one of his letters, and 

 suggests that I place it before the public. 

 This I gladly do, as it shows that our 

 "friend at court," as formerly, will do all 

 he can to help us. 



Mr. IV. A. H. Gilstrap : — I am decidedly of your 

 opinion as expressed in your letter of May li concern- 

 ing the manner of collecting statistics of apiculture ; 

 that is, that they should be collected through this De- 

 partment. The National Association will never cover 

 the territory properly and impartially. The mere item 

 of postage would forbid their going into it as exten- 

 sively as would be nece.ssary in order to have their 

 figures wholly reliable. As long ago as 1894 or '95 I 

 recommended this very thing to those in authority at 

 this Department, and have repeatedly urged it since 

 then. I think the prospect is growing better for un- 

 dertaking something of the sort. In fact, if I can pro- 

 cure proper clerical assistance (and this, of course, 

 depends upon increased appropriations), I shall insist 

 more strongly than ever upon taking up this work. I 

 shall be very thankful for your co-operation in con- 

 nection with it whenever it is possible to undertake 

 any thing of the kind, as also your support of other 

 measures that we may be able nieanwhile to undertake 

 for the benefit of the apiarian interests of the country. 

 Yours very truly, Fr.\nk Benton, 



Apicidtural Investigator .^ 



A FEW MORE WHOPPING LIES. 



The press notices that have gone broad- 

 cast over the country, telling about that 

 red-clover queen, dated "Medina, May 30," 

 are so garbled as to be hardly recognizable. 

 The authorized statement that I gave to our 

 local reporter was correct, and was pub- 

 lished as given to him. But the reporters, 

 for other papers scattered over the country, 

 desiring to make something "catchy" and 

 sensational, have made out that we paid all 

 the way from $200 to $2000 for her. Some 

 items contained the astonishing declara- 

 tion that we sold her queens for $200, and 

 then sagely remarked that our loss must 

 have been very great! !! ! The original 

 statement that went to the reporter was to 

 the efi'ect that we valued the queen at $200, 

 and would give that sum for another her 

 equal. 



I think it is only proper that we make 

 this statement so that those of our friends 

 who read these sensational reports dated at 

 "Medina, May 30," will not think we had 

 a hand in putting out such whopping lies. 

 I can see plainly now why it was that the 

 cnmb-honey yarn would go like wild fire. 

 It was seusatioual, and wns pis'^i^d f-^-rx 



