94 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



time simply by the use of a little paddle. And 

 while it is true that, whenever every thing hap- 

 pens to be just right, you can sometimes get but- 

 ter in one minute, it is also true that it may take - 

 two hours when every thing is not just right. 



THE "sprouted OATS" MAN. 



There is finally at least one poultry-journal in 

 the United States that has turned in with Glean- 

 ings and ihe Rural Nen.v-'i'orker, and given the 

 "feed for ten cents per bushel" some free adver- 

 tising. It is the Petaluna Cal., Poultry Jour- 

 nal. Here is part of what they say: 



You purchase a bushel of oats, sprout them, and you have two 

 bushels of fei d. A merchant might as well advertise "How a 

 family can get a vegetable food at half price" by paying $5 for a 

 book, and then tell the sucker who purchased the book that 

 "beaub" could be soaked and boiled to double their original ca- 

 pacity, and would do to " fill up on," and thus be a great saving 

 to families. 



There is one mistake in the above. Instead 

 of a bushel of oats making ?tco bushels, Edgar 

 Briggs says in his $5.00 book that a bushel of 

 oats will makeyb?<r bushels of the very best kind 

 of chicken feed. 



DOSING CHICKENS WITH POWERFUL DRUGS. 



Every time I pick up a poultry-journal and 

 read about dosing with this, that, and the other 

 vegetable or mineral poison, it makes me sick. 

 The world is emerging from the silly notions 

 people have about taking poisonous substances to 

 make them ivell; but it would almost seem as if 

 it were just getting to be the fashion to dose 

 chickens in a like manner. While having this in 

 mind it rejoices my heart to see that at least one 

 poultry-journal is making arevolt, even if it does 

 run the risk of losing some advertising. That 

 one poultry-journal is one of the handsomest and 

 best that comes to us in the way of an exchange. 

 This publication is called Poultry, and is pub- 

 lished by Miller Purvis, Peotone, 111. Here is 

 what they say in their issue for December: 



If the poultry of this country were given proper care, a good 

 many of those who advertise poultry remedies would be compel- 

 led to go out of business, and the poultry-press would lose a con- 

 siderable portion of the income it derives from its advertising 

 pages. 



"thou SHALT NOT STEAL." 

 Mr. Root: — Will you spare a moment or so of your time to tell 

 us what to do when local thieves steal honey from the hives at 

 night, as they have done here lately: That you may better 

 judge, I will say that it is not because of ill will toward myself, 

 but is undoubtedly done by idle young men, perhaps aided by 

 older ones. What way is best to proceed to secure evidence and 

 to prevent future depredations: They stole a 32-lb. superful from 

 a poor woman here who has only two colonies. 



In conclusion I would say that I appreciate your department 

 very much — perhaps more than any other in your journal. It is a 

 real pleasure and joy to every one trying to do right to know that 

 we have such men as edit Gleanings and the Rural New- 

 Yorker to fight the Lord's battles and ours. 

 Pentz, Pa., Oct. 28. J. Hollopeter. 



After thanking you for the high compliment 

 you pay me by presenting this matter to the 

 readers of Gleanings, I give it as my opinion 

 that your people should all go to work and raise 

 the moral tone of your neighborhood. First and 

 foremost, take up a subscription for the poor wo- 

 man who has only two colonies. Make good 

 her loss; and if you give her a little more it will 

 do no harm. Everybody who helps to lift this 

 burden from one who is helpless will be more 



interested in ferreting out the depredators. Sec- 

 ond, I would advise your people to get to work 

 in your State exactly as the good people are now 

 working in Ohio to banish the saloons. The 

 wretches who would rob a poor woman in this 

 way are certainly a saloon product. Put the 

 matter in the bands of your marshal or mayor; 

 and, if necessary, have a lot of citizens sign a pe- 

 tition, and perhaps subscribe some money to pay 

 the expenses of hunting up the perpetrators. Or- 

 ganize a law-and-order league. If you think 

 proper, offer a reward for the one who meddled 

 with the hives. In some States there is a very 

 severe penalty for robbing bee-hives or poultry- 

 houses. Ask somebody competent to give you 

 the law in your State. This matter should meet 

 with prompt attention all over our land — not 

 only to protect bee-keepers but to raise the stan- 

 dard of morals. Perhaps you remember what I 

 said about our neighborhood in Manatee Co., 

 Florida. Chickens roost in open houses adjoin- 

 ing the open highway; and while a third of the 

 population is colored, my neighbor Rood has 

 never lost a chicken by theft in the whole eight 

 years he has lived there. Let us get to work till 

 each and every neighborhood can present as good 

 a record as that. May God help us in our ef- 

 forts to make a place here on earth, where 

 " thieves do not break through nor steal." 



FLORIDA BEE-KEEPING; HOW TO KEEP EXTRACT- 

 ED HONEY LIQUID. 



Right near the honey-house do6r, on the south 

 side of the building, Mr. Rood has a shallow box 

 covered with a glass sash, the box and sash being 

 tipped so as to incline toward the sun. In this 

 box are glass jars of honey, I think about all the 

 year round, and this honey stays there in the hot 

 Florida sun until it is used to fill orders. I have 

 just been handling the jars; and although it is be- 

 tween 8 and 9 p.m. the jars are still almost hot. 

 He says that, in the afternoon, they are often too 

 hot to handle, but not so hot as to impair the fla- 

 vor of the honey. This high temperature, with, 

 perhaps, some other influence from the strong 

 glaring sunlight, is almost a sure preventive 

 against candying, even when these jars of honey 

 stand for days and weeks on the shelves of the re- 

 tailer; and the longer the honey stays in this 

 "sterilizer" the better it becomes, because it is 

 thoroughly ripened. I do not know how common 

 this idea is for ripening extracted honey, but it 

 seems to me every bee-keeper should use this 

 " hot-bed " feature. The same apparatus can, of 

 course, be used for a solar wax-extractor. The 

 sash should be hinged so as to turn back against 

 the wall of the building; and to save lifting, a 

 cord and pulley should be attached so the sash 

 can easily be swung up with one hand. 



TOLERATING DRONE COMB IN THE APIARY. 



Mr. Rood says few bee-keepers realize what it 

 costs to let drone-combs (or even frames of comb 

 containing a few drone-cells) remain in the hive 

 year after year. He declares it is bad policy to 

 keep such combs for the extractingsupers, espe- 

 cially for out-apiaries that are visited only occa- 

 sionally, for the reason that such drone comb en- 

 courages undesirable swarming and probable 

 loss of swarms. — A. I. R.] 



