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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



SIFTINGS. 



By J. E. Crane, Middlebury, Vt. 



For an -easy and cheap device for weigh- 

 ing hives of bees I have seen nothing better 

 than that illustrated on page 105, Feb. 15. 



-555- 



E. F. Atwater's method of curing foul brood 

 and getting honey, p. 136, in careful hands 

 is safe, and worthy of the attention of bee- 

 Jceepers where this dread disease prevails. 

 4f 



Mr. Atwater's exhibit of wasps' work, p. 

 110, Feb. 15, is interesting. We have the 

 same wasps here, but they find ample room 

 to build their nests in the top of our hives, 

 so they do not often soil or injure sections. 

 ■*. 



"There is a possibility and even a proba- 

 bility that we shall have a late spring, owing 

 to the mildness of the winter," says editor 

 of Gleanings, page 119, March 1. Well, we 

 are getting it here in Vermont; but we have 

 this to fall back on: I have never known a 

 very early spring to be followed by a good 

 honey season. On the other hanci, a good 

 season does not always follow a late spring. 



E. D. Townsend's article, page 111, is of 

 more than ordinary interest. What he says 

 in regard to a sheltered location can not be 

 too highly emphasized. However, I don't 

 quite agree witn him that it is necessary to 

 have a good day for bees to fly when taking 

 them out of the cellar. I have found that it 

 works well to take them out on a raw cold 

 day, and then when it warms up they are 

 ready for a fly. 



That picture of the first meeting of the 

 Maryland Bee-keepers' Association, is well 

 worth our attention, page 131, March 1. I 

 remember that, many years ago, a friend 

 was looking over that medley of photographs 

 sent out by the Root Co. "Well," he said, 

 they are a good deal above the average," 

 and I believe we always find a crowd of bee- 

 keepers so, both in intellect and good mor- 

 als, at all our gatherings. 



"Better packages for our next honey crop 

 should be considered by every bee-keeper 

 who ships honey. We do not care to have 

 the railroads raise the freight rates," says 

 Louis H. Scholl, page 102, Feb. 15. It does 

 not cost me any effort to agree with him. 

 Bee-keepers can not be too careful as to what 

 package they use. Get the best, and then 

 paste a good label on top, stating contents of 

 package, and ask politely for careful handling 

 and packing in car. 



That "honey-man" W. A. H. Gilstrap, 

 makes some pretty good points about ped- 

 dling honey, page 112. One thing I want to 

 call attention to. He says that one of their 

 leading grocers told him that it increased 

 his honey sales when the town and surround- 



ing country became interested in honey 

 through his efforts in peddling. Exactly. I 

 have noticed in a good season when every- 

 body was talking about bees and honey, and 

 how much money the bee-keepers were 

 making, it is much easier to sell honey than 

 in other years when there is little gathered. 



On page 119 the editor says, "A capping- 

 melter will be placed on the market this sea- 

 son. This will enable one to have all his 

 cappings, while extracting, melted up into 

 nice marketable cakes of wax at the end of 

 the day's work, while the honey will be in 

 fine condition to bottle." 



Other writers I have noticed made similar 

 statements. Now, I have never used a cap- 

 ping-melter for melting cappings as fast as 

 removed, but have had one made for this 

 purpose; but I have melted up many hundred 

 pounds of new combs in double boilers, but 

 have never been able to separate the wax so 

 as to be fit for market without remelting. I 

 have always found more or less honey mix- 

 ed with the wax, and more or less of the wax 

 of a granular character that needed a much 

 higher temperature than could be given the 

 honey without injuring it. Can some one 

 explain? [In our next issue we expect to 

 have some illustrations bearing on this ques- 

 tion. — Ed.] 



On page 123 friend Holtermann refers 

 again to sealed covers and the excessive 

 moisture of the brood-chamber as likely to 

 injure the stores and bees. I believe most 

 bee-keepers along the northern limits of bee- 

 keeping will agree with him. Some years 

 ago, when this subject was under discussion, 

 I prepared a hive with enameled cloth over 

 the brood-chamber, and packing over that. 

 Well, that colony wintered; but the inside of 

 the hive in spring was such that I have nev- 

 er had any desire to repeat the experiment. 

 Where bees are confined to their hives from 

 two to four and sometimes five months, we 

 can not be too careful in keeping the inside 

 of the hive dry as well as warm when win- 

 tered out of doors. On the other hand, too 

 free a circulation of air is not good. I have 

 found that a couple of boards laid loosely over 

 the brood-chamber will give room for the 

 moisture generated by the bees to pass up 

 through the cracks into the packing. 



DEATH OP MINNESOTA'S FOUL-BROOD INSPECT- 

 OR, MR. RUSSELL. 



I have to tell you the sad news of the death 

 of my old friend and companion, Wm. Rus- 

 sell, bee-inspector of Minnesota. Mr. Rus- 

 sell probably had more to do, next to Mr. J. 

 C. Acklin, also deceased, with getting a foul- 

 brood law in Minnesota, than any other man. 

 He was a good bee-keeper and a good in- 

 spector, and had the gift of making friends 

 wherever he went. Bee-keepers nave cer- 

 tainly suffered by his death. 



Minneapolis, Minn. L. D. Leonard. 



