1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



201 



Maryland has no pure-food law. The 

 State AgricuUiiral College Quarterly says it 

 is time it had one. It is. The bee-keepers 

 will have to stir them, probably, before the 

 law-makers will do any thing. 



Winter is starting out on the first of Feb- 

 ruary snug and cold. We mueh prefer to 

 have it cold at the right season of the year 

 in order that we may have other seasonable 

 weather in its season. A cold February and 

 March is quite sure to be followed by a mild 

 and early spring; but a warm February and 

 March will be almost sure to be followed by 

 a bad April or May. Nature seems to try to 

 establish a balance of weather. 



HIGH EXPRESS RATES. 



The railroads have steadily reduced their 

 rates for a number of years; but the only 

 move made by the express companies in l8 

 years has been to raise them, which they 

 did when the United States levied spe(4al 

 taxes on account of the Spanish war. They 

 raised their rates to meet these taxes. The 

 taxes have been long since removed, but the 

 rates have not been reduced in the least as 

 they ought to have been. w. k. m. 



THE BAR SINISTER. 



According to press dispatches from the 

 seat of government. President Roosevelt is 

 very much interested in the controversy with 

 regard to corn syrup vs glucose. One rea- 

 son for this is because the business of manu- 

 facturing glucose is supposed to be in the 

 hands of a trust. Another reason, so it is 

 said, is the fact that the Standard Oil Co. is 

 financially interested in the company con- 

 trolling the output of glucose. w. k. m. 



SPECIAL ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE. 



There are several articles in this issue to 

 which we wish to call special aUention. 

 One is a contribution on sweet clover, by 

 Frank Coverdale ; another, on the folly of 

 using swarming-cells, by E. W. Alexander ; 

 another, on h me-made windmills, by T. P. 

 Robinson ; and, last, the automatic uncap- 

 ping-box, by L. E. Mercer, a device by 

 which cappings are melted as fast as they 

 are shaved off the combs. There are other 

 valuable contributions in this issue, all de- 

 serving a careful reading. 



ITALIAN bees FOR JAPAN. 



F. Jay Lewis & Son, of Oak Park. Cal., 

 recently sent two full colonies of Italian 

 bees to Japan, and, according to advices 



since received, the shipment was entirely 

 successful. It may be asked why it was 

 necessary to send full colonies. The reason 

 is obvious when we remember that the bees 

 of Japan are smaller than ours, and there- 

 fore the comb cells are too small to raise 

 our bees in to maturity. Mr. Y. Suminoku- 

 ru, Tokio, Japan, is now the owner of the 

 two colonies so successfully transported. 



w. K. M. 



WAX-MOTHS AND AMERICAN FOUL BROOD. 



The above is the title of a small bulletin 

 issued by the United States Department of 

 Agriculture. As its name indicates, it deals 

 with the relation of the wax-moth to the 

 spread of foul brood. The auihor. Dr. E. F. 

 Phillips, comes to the conclusion the wax- 

 moth does not prevent the spread of foul 

 brood when it eats up the combs, as the bac- 

 teria are still present. There are three plate 

 illustrations. The Superintendent of Docu- 

 ments, Govei'nment Printing Office, will sup- 

 ply copies at 5 cts. each. w. k. m. 



CATTLE AND SHEEP VS. BEES. 



The western sheep and cattle men, at least 

 a great many of them, are protesting against 

 the passage of the Burkett bill now before 

 Congress, providing for the leasing of all 

 public grazing lands. So far as bee-keepers 

 are concerned, however, the case is different, 

 because it would provide against overstock- 

 ing a location with bees Also two of the 

 worst enfmiies of the bee business would be 

 controlled namely, sheep and goats, which 

 are likely in the end to eat up every flower- 

 ing tree and shrub on the face of the land- 

 scape. This has actually happened in cer- 

 tain localities where the range has been over- 

 stocked with sheep, cattle, and goats. The 

 prime objects of the Burkett bill are to pro- 

 vide against overstocking, and against the 

 cattlemen's and sheep-herders' wars. 



w. K. M. 



FIVE THOUSAND BASSWOOD SEEDLINGS AT 

 AU SABLE, MICH. 



The following clipping has been sent us, 

 and will explain itself: 



Bay City, Mich., Dec. 1".— Wm. B. Mershon, speak- 

 ing of the work along forestry lines being done on the 

 Au Sable forestry farm, said: "We have just con- 

 tracted with the forestry nursery at Dundee, 111., for 

 5000 basswood seedlings Tnese are two years old, 

 and they will be put out as soon as the weather is fa 

 vorable in the spring. It is an interesting fact to 

 note, that basswood seeds do not germinate the first 

 year of planting, but germinate in the second to the 

 fifth year." 



Basswood is now extensively used for packing-box- 

 es etc. A few years ago it was not used for such 

 purposes; but it has been fiiund to be an excellent 

 substitute for pine, formerly so largely used in that 

 way. 



If this plan were to be carried out by oth- 

 er States it would go a long way toward 

 solving our section problem for the future, 

 and at the same time give us the old-fash- 

 ioned flows of honey from basswood. Of 

 course, it would take years to get results ; 

 but it is high time that we were beginning 

 to do something, for the paper and furni- 

 ture industries alone are cutting annually 



