1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



331 



GLEANINGS FROM OUR 

 EXCHANGES. 



By W. K. Morrison, Medina, O. 



Some time ago the United States Reclamation 

 Service decided to irrigate 100,000 acres near 

 Grand Junction, Colo., by means of a high-line 

 canal. Now a private concern announces it will 

 undertake to supply water for 250,000 acres 

 more. If this means any thing it indicates more 

 alfalfa honey for the effete East. But the Colo- 

 radoans are — for selling it. They should eat it. 



President Taft, on hii western tour, will have 

 the pleasure, if all goes well, of turning on the 

 water at the Gunnison tunnel, near Montrose, 

 Colorado. Such works mark a new era in the 

 history of Western agriculture, and, incidental- 

 ly, of bee culture. 



This is not buncombe, for the Reclamation 

 Service has already constructed 16,000 miles of 

 concrete-lined canals, many of very large ca- 

 pacity. 



Some time ago Gleanings alluded to the fact 

 that the glucose trust would soon have to deal 

 with a very active competitor. This is now an 

 accomplished fact. A company has been formed 

 with a capitalization of $7,000,000, and several 

 factories have been engaged. The Royal Bak- 

 ing Powder Co. is behind this move. The 

 headquarters will probably be at Roby, Indiana. 

 Had Dr. Wiley been allowed to hare his way 

 this enterprise would, in all probability, have 

 never been started. Look out for " Honey- 

 Drips," etc. 



THE WAR SCARE IN AUSTRALIA. 



T/ie FeJeral Independent Bee-keeper has imbib- 

 ed the war microbe, and is devoting space to a 

 consideration of Australian defense from imag- 

 inary enemies. Our friends may take heart of 

 grace when they hear the United States nation 

 has never yet been attacked. In all our wars 

 we were the aggressors. Even if our navy were 

 one-fourth its present size we bee-keepers would 

 lose no sleep over the fact. The Dreadnought 

 scare looks ridiculous to us at this distance. 



In our case, at least, it would pay better to 

 spend our money on internal improvements, ag- 

 riculture, postal service, and other business needs 

 than on warships. 



-sfc- 



.ATTACK THE PURE FOOD LAW. 



The Corn Products Company, of Chicaeo, attacked the con- 

 stitutionality of the pure-food law ia an answer filed on Saturday 

 last in the United States District Court in Cincinnati to the al- 

 legations of United States District Attorney McPberson, who a 

 few days a|o caused the United States Marshal to seize 46 

 packages and bags of sugar manufactured by the Corn Products 

 Company and found on the premises of the Gerke Brewing 

 Company in that city. The government alleged the sugar was 

 labeled "pure sugar," whereas it was adulterated. 



The Corn Products Company admits the label, but denies 

 the sugar was adulterated. As a defense the company declares 

 the seizure was illegal because the pure-food law is unconstitu- 

 tional lor the reason that " the Congress of the United States has 

 no power under the constitution of the United States to enact 

 the puie food and drugs act." 



The company att.icks the constitutionality of section 10 of the 



pure food and drugs act on the ground that " the section contains 

 provisions thai are tinreascnable, and the section provides for 

 unduly oppressive measures, and deprives citizens of their prop- 

 erty by hatih and unusmil means. — American (itoctr. 



No comment is necessary. 



SPEAKER CANNON AND PARCELS POST. 



James L Cowles, secretary of the Postal Prog- 

 ress League, has this to say: 



I had an interview with the Speaker, and found him in a vig- 

 orous state of mind, opposed to all our reforms. The salary of 

 the average rural tree-delivery carrier last year was $865. His 

 average earning for the government was $132, leaving a deficit, 

 when we merely consider the cost and the return, of $733 a 

 route, or of $29,000,000 for the entire country. Our proposition 

 for an amendment of the postal laws so as to permit him to carry 

 parcels up to one cubic foot in size, increasing his earning power 

 and making a source of revenue to the government, had no at- 

 tractions for the Speaker. Whatever is done in increasing the 

 efficiency of the parcels-post service must be done over the oppo- 

 sition of Mr. Cannon. 



THE PATHFINDER DAM; A FINE TERRITORY FOR 

 BEES. 



The Reclamation Servic«of the federal govern- 

 ment recently accepted from the contractors tht 

 Pathfinder dam in Wyoming, which foreshadows 

 an early completion of the North Platte irriga- 

 tion project. The dam will store one million 

 acre-feet every season, and irrigate a splendid 

 country for general crops, particularly alfalfa. 

 These lands lie alongside the old overland 

 trail for a distance of 250 miles. From the res- 

 ervoir to the lowermost end of the irrigated tract 

 is a distance of 500 miles. The dam was 

 named in honor of Capt. John C. Fremont, the 

 pathfinder. It is situated 50 miles southwest of 

 Caspar, Wyoming. It is not the highest dam, 

 but it is 215 feet in height. Homesteads are 

 available in areas of 80 acres each. The charge 

 for the water is $45, payable in ten annual in- 

 stallments without interest. 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM IN EUROPE. 



The Austrians seem to be breaking away from 

 the German system of bee-keeping. Recently 

 they adopted as the standard frame of the coun- 

 try a modification of the Langstroth, known as 

 the Dadant-Blatt. This puts Austria in line 

 with France, Belgium. Nederland, Switzerland, 

 Italy, and Spain, where this frame is the recog- 

 nized standard. 



There is also a tendency to copy American 

 methods At the bee-keepers' congress held at 

 Vienna-Neustadt, Mr. Alfonsus, the very able 

 apicultural editor, of Vienna, took up the cudg- 

 els in behalf of Pratt's system of queen-breeding, 

 of which he is a partisan. The Germans present 

 seemed to think the American system too com- 

 plicated, and that for the average bee-keeper, 

 getting a few queens during the swarming sea- 

 son, was good enough for them yet awhile. 



It is with considerable pleasure I note that in 

 the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Nor- 

 way, Sweden, and Finland the bee-journals rec- 

 ommend American methods. It is the same in 

 Russia, where there are several excellent bee- 

 journals. They do not seem to favor German 

 ideals at all; on the contrary, they delight in 

 favoring our methods. They have caught on to 

 Mr. Hand's system in Russia, and the factories 

 make and sell his hive. 



