43d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, APRIL 23, 1903, 



No, 17. 



^ Editorial Comments. ^' l 



Ignorance About Bees. — Arthur C. Miller seems to be stir- 

 ring up trouble by hinting in the strongest kind of a way that we 

 don't yet know all about bees, and that what we don't know isn't 

 always so. He seems to be wanting in respect for accepted traditions. 

 For example, we all " know " that bees pack pollen in the cells by 

 butting their heads against it after the fashion of a belligerent ram. 

 To be sure, none of us ever saw a bee in the very act, and we never 

 took the trouble to discuss whether it was a reasonable belief or not, 

 but we've read it, and then it was easier to go right along believing it 

 than to take the trouble to think about it. 



Now, see the irreverent manner in which that fellow, Miller, goes 

 tor that venerable tradition, in the American Bee-Keeper: 



As the pellets of pollen are dropped on the floor of the cell by the 

 gathering bee, a mere ramming in by the head of any bee would pack 

 it very unevenly, much at the lower side and little or none at the 

 upper, a consideration which heretofore seems never to have attracted 

 attention. Also, as every organ is adapted to its particular function, 

 we should expect to find the front of the bee's head hard and smooth, 

 if it was intended and used for this purpose; whereas it bears a pair 

 of delicately articulated antenna', and simple and compound eyes pro- 

 tected by a multitude of fine hairs, surely anything but a battering- 

 ram. 



As a matter of fact, the pollen is packed by the bee with its man- 

 dibles, and is a process of pushing, kneading, and spreading. The 

 work can often be found in an incomplete stage, and the pollen will 

 then be found thickest at the lower part of the cell, but it does not 

 remain so, for that, or the next lot, will be worked into the upper 

 part, making all even. 



Bulk Comb Honey (comb honey cut out of the frames and 

 packed in cans or other vessels and filled out with extracted honey) is 

 strongly advocated by H. H. Hyde in an article in the Bee-Keepers' 

 Review, in which he says: 



It has been demonstrated time and again that bees will store all 

 the way from iM percent to 100 percent more honey when worked for 

 bulk comb than they will when worked for section honey, and many 

 believe (the writer included) that where the bees are worked as out- 

 lined above, nearly, if not quite, as much bulk-comb honey can be 

 produced as could be produced of extracted honey alone; and espe- 

 cially does this hold good where the localities have fast flows of honey, 

 in which a great amonnt of wax is always secreted whether there are 

 any combs to build or not. 



If it is true that an average of 75 percent more bulk than section 

 honey can be produced, and if the bulk can be sold for 57 percent as 

 much as the section honey — to make it a little more concrete, if the 

 bulk brings s 4-7 when the section brings 15 cents — then the scales 

 will promptly turn in favor of the bulk, tor the amount of money re- 

 ceived will be the same in either case, while the outlay of mout-y and 

 labor will be less for the bulk. 



There may, however, be some question whether in other localities 

 than that of Mr. Hyde would the proportion of bulk to section honey 

 be so great. Many would probably find that they could secure very 

 nearly as much honey in sections as in full frames, and in this same 

 article Mr. Hyde assures us that it requires as much skill and as fine 

 a grade of honey for bulk as for section honey. Of course, however, 

 there must be figured in favor of the bulk the amount of extrailed 

 packed with it. 



Each one must decide for himself as to the proportionate amount 

 of honev he can secure, and the relative price in his market. 



DEATH OP I>R. E. GALLUP. 



On Monday morning, April i;i, we received the following letter 

 announcing the death of Dr. Gallup : 



Orange Co., CALir., April 7, 1903. 

 Editor York: — My father. Dr. E. Gallup, died Sunday, April 5, 

 ata o'clock. He had been sick in bed about six weeks, but had been 

 failing in health for about two years. He would have been 83 years of 

 age on the 22d of next August. 



I have 14 colonies of bees now, 3 of this year's swarms, one having 

 come out to-day at 1 o'clock. Bees have just begun to store. 



Yours sincerely, Herbert S. Gallup (aged 16). 



So Death, the ruthless reaper, has cut off another of the old-time 

 bee-keepers — this time one of the very earliest writers on bees in this 

 country, as well as one of the very latest writers, for only last week 

 we published an article from his pen, and still have one more, which 

 will appear soon. 



Dr. Gallup was always a good friend of the American Bee .Journal. 

 He rendered it noble service at times when such service was of untold 

 value — before either Mr. Newman or its present editor took hold of it. 

 At one time, in its early years, his timely aid seems to have saved it 

 from what might have been a total collapse. 



For a number of years Dr. (iallup's name disappeared from the 

 printed pages of the bee-papers. .Just why, we do not know, unless it 

 was that he was almost entirely out of bee-keeping during those years. 

 But about 10 years ago we saw his name somewhere, and decided to 

 resurrect him as a writer if we could, and so wrote to him. There- 

 suit is well known to all who have been regular readers of the Ameri- 

 can Bee .Journal for the past tew years. 



Dr. Gallup was Mr. Doolittle's teacher in bee-keeping, over 30 

 years ago, and his book, " Scientific Queen-Rearing," was dedicated 

 to him. 



A few biographical notes would doubtless be interesting to all, 

 which were pubished in these columns in 1893, having also appeared 

 in a bee-paper (now extinct) in 1870 : 



Elisha Gallup was born on Aug. 32, 1820, in the town of Mel- 

 bourne, county of Sherbrook, Canada East. His parents were born 

 in Connecticut, on Long Island Sound. By occupation he is a farmer, 

 with the exception of eleven years a miller. He removed to Wisconsin 

 in 1859, and settled in the town of Metomen, Fond du Lac county. In 

 June, 1865, he removed to Mitchell county, Iowa. And now, in the 

 fear that we may not do justice, we will here introduce friend Gallup, 

 and let him speak- for himself: 



" From my earliest youth I have been an enthusiastic admirer of 

 the busy bee; in fact, my earliest recollections are of the bees and 

 Jjee-hives. Often have I heard my mother say, if she lost me when a 

 little fellow, she was sure to find me by the bee-hives. My intense 

 desire to learn and investigate the bees in every particular has been 

 such that J have dreamed of them at night, and thought of them in 

 my waking hours to an almost absorbing extent, and to-day I am still 

 a student; and I find those persons who proclaim themselves fluished 

 in every branch, are the ones who in reality know the least. 



" My early advantages were of a limited nature in the way of edu- 

 cation — scarcely common-school advantages did I have. My first 

 reading upon the subject of bees was a small pamphlet written by a 

 Mr. Weeks, of Vermont, which abounded in errors. My next was a 

 work by Mr. T. B. Miner. I picked up my first real insight into the 

 true system of bee-keeping from an old German by the name of Well- 

 huysen. He made 125 colonies from one in two seasons. And here I 

 will remark that I have been suspected of getting my knowledge upon 

 the subject of bee-culture from Mr. l.angstroth's work; but to settle 

 that matter quickly and satisfactorily, I have never been known to 

 quote from Mr. L. ; neither could I have done so, from the fact I had 

 it not to quote from. Once I reuiember to have had the privilege of 

 skimming through it one evening, at tbe house of a friend, and that 

 was merely to see if there were auy new ideas put forth. 



" Eight years ago last season (in 1861) I obtained my first movable- 

 comb hive. My progress from that lime I felt was rapid, from using a 

 glass observatory hive of a single comb, for several seasons in Can- 

 ada, of my own getting up. In my own opinion, the movable-comb 

 hive is very far superior. 



" Mr. Quinby's first edition of his book struck me as being excel- 



