22 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July 15 



The Indiana State Fair will take place at Indianapo- 

 lis, Sept. 6 to 10. Entries close Aug. 24. 

 Display of comb honey— quality, quantity, 

 and manner of putting up for market con- 

 sidered 25 15 8 



Display of extracted honey, same conditions 25 15 8 

 Display of beeswax, quantity and quality to 



be considered .' 10 8 6 



Money vinegar, not less than one gallon, in 



glass 5 3 2 



One-frame observatory hive of Italian bees, 

 showing queen, workers, and brood in all 



stages 10 8 6 



One-frame observatory hive of foreign bees 

 (Other than Italians), showing the queen, 



■ workers, and brood in all stages 10 8 6 



Display of bee-supplies 20 10 5 



Display of honey, wax, supplies, and other 

 material pertaining to the bee industry. . . 20 10 5 

 J. L. Van Natta, Sup't, Lafayette, Ind. 



Convention Notices. 



The Tennessee Bee-keepers' Association will meet 

 at the Board of Trade Building, Nashville, August 14, 

 at 10 A.M. A good program has been arranged, and a 

 meeting of more than ordinary interest is assured. 

 Among the subjects to be discussed are these: Honey- 

 dew; marketing honey; wax-rendering; bee diseases; 

 value of fair exhibits, etc. All bee-keepers, whether 

 members or not, are invited to be present. 



I should like to urge all the bee-keepers of Tennessee 

 to join our association; for with a strong organization 

 we shall be able to accomplish much good for the bee- 

 keeping interests of the State. The membership fee is 

 only 50 cents a year, or $1.00 a year for membership in 

 both State and National Associations. 



Franklin, Tenn. J. M. BUCHANAN, Sec. 



Special Notices by A. I. Root. 



RATS AND MICE— ESPECIALLY THE MICE. 



After the article on page 386 was in print I discover- 

 that it was not rats that " chawed up " my precious ap- 

 ples, after all. It was mice; but a couple of cheap wire- 

 and-wood mouse-traps that are now on the market 

 wound up the business. Get right at it and catch the 

 varmints someway or other, the first thing you do; 

 then go to work and hunt up the crack or crevice or 

 opening where they get on your premises, and stop it 

 up. Make sure of three things: First, that there is not 

 a rat or a mouse on your premises; 2. That there is not 

 a crack, crevice, nor opening where they can get in 

 after being once chased out; 3. Do not leave any sort 

 of food scattered around for the rats and mice. Do not 

 encourage them nor entice them on your premises. If 

 1 mistake not, your cliicki'ns will consume profitably 

 every thing that rats and mice will eat. Encourage the 

 chickens, but discourage the rodents. 



Since the above was written, our Mr. J. W. Bain, the 

 man who has charge of our apiary, says the best 

 mouse-trap in the world is one called the " Sure- 

 catch," and the very best thing to bait it with is bee- 

 candy. Mice are always fond of honey, you know, or 

 any thing else that is sweet; and he says that The A. I. 

 Root Co. could confer no higher favor on bee-keepers 

 than to purchase a quantity of these wood-and-wire 

 traps, and offer them to bee-keepers at a low price; and 

 I .^m glad to tell you that we have just got in a lot of 

 them that we offer at the following ridiculously low 

 prices; 2, 5 cts.; by mail, 7 cts.; dozen, 25 cts.; by mail, 

 41 cts.; one gross, if you want so many, $2.00. 



I hardly need tell you that mice in the apiary, espe- 

 cially in the honey-house, frequently cost bee-keepers 

 many dollars. Bat now with these little traps careful- 

 ly attended to you can start a crusade that will rid tiie 

 country of rats and mice. 



We can furnisli a larger size of trap, suitable for rats 

 and other animals of that size, for a like low price. 



TRANSFERRING FROM BOX HIVES — THE BEST TIME TO 

 DO IT. 



Mr. W. K. Morrison, in his notice of the Biggie bee- 

 baok in our last issue, page 23 of the advertising sec- 

 tion, objects to transferring in the spring. As the write- 

 up was unsigned it might imply that the authors of 

 our ABC wrote it and were not consistent in their 

 teachings. We do not agree with the criticism, that 

 bees should be transferred after the colony has swarm- 

 ed, and the matter would have been corrected before 



it was put in print had it not been overlooked. It is 

 true that, by transferring after the box hive has swarm- 

 ed, you can get rid of the brood; but it is not true, as 

 he states, " there is neither brood nor honey in the 

 hive." 



If I am correct, James Heddon suggested this method 

 of transferring, and it has one very marked advantage: 

 You can put your bees on combs of foundation or on 

 good straight combs that have been drawn out from 

 foundation, thus avoiding not only drone comb but 

 crooked and ungainly combs that are usually found 

 in box hives. In the ordinary way of transferring, as 

 laid down in our bee-books and our transferring leaf- 

 lets, if one wishes to save the brood he must cut out 

 and fit into frames as many or as much of the comb as 

 contained brood. By the methods referred to, old 

 combs contain no brood; but they do contain such an 

 amount of honey, and make such a dauby, sticky mess 

 of it, when the combs are cut out that I should say the 

 Biggie book is right in recommending sprins transfer- 

 ring, when there is but little or no honey in the way, 

 and a good many times but little brood, especially if 

 you do it quite early in the spring.— A. I. R.] 



THE VINEYARDS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE 

 PRESENT PROHIBITION WAVE. 



Already there is a great alarm among the 

 vineyardists of Cahfornia, where grapes are 

 grown for wine, something Hke the conster- 

 nation among the manufacturers of "whisky- 

 bottles." With the following letter was sent 

 a newspaper clipping headed, "Teaching 

 America the Use of Wine." The article rec- 

 ommended making wine so cheap that it 

 could be used in place of tea and coffee, as 

 they do in Spain and Cuba. 



I am a subscriber to Gleanings, and always read 

 your Home writings, and especially like the way you 

 show up the evils of tobacco-using and intoxicating 

 drinks, including fermented wine, which I know to be 

 as bad as the worst of intoxicating drinks. I am now 

 living in a prohibition neighborhood (which I am 

 thankful for) ; but there are wine-vineyards all around 

 here, and a winery located on the road between here 

 and town, at which they can sell wine only in quanti- 

 ties of more than single drinks, but there are so many 

 drunken men on the road near the winery that the 

 children are afraid to pass on their way to and from 

 school. I was raised in California, and know some of 

 the best parts of the State are demoralized by wine 

 and the wine-grape industry. 



Now, you will notice in this article inclosed that our 

 State tiniversity is working for this wine business, 

 and they have no right to head their article with " the 

 grape-growers of California." I have been a raisin- 

 grape grower, and have known many raisin-grape 

 and table-grape growers who would not even sell 

 their grapes to winery men. Wine as mentioned in 

 the Bible was not fermented unless it said so, as fer- 

 mented wine was the exception and not the rule, as it 

 is to-day in Palestine. Grape juice is preserved there 

 in many ways without allowing it to ferment and turn 

 into alcohol. 



Now, I do hope you can use this article in Our 

 Homes to counteract their intended scheme of educat- 

 ing the American people to drink wine by giving it 

 away, etc., in the eastern cities. There is not, and 

 never can be, a separation of fermented wine from 

 any other intoxicating drink. J. I. MORGAN. 



Escondido, Cal. 



We are very sorry to bring consternation 

 and trouble among those who grow grapes 

 for wine. But I think there is a good and 

 wholesome way out of this trouble — first, 

 put on the market plenty of unfermented 

 wine. This can be sold, it" thought best, at 

 the price of tea and coffee. If the grapes 

 grown can not be used up in this way, or by 

 selling the fruit, or making it into raisins, 

 then dig up the vines and use the ground 

 for some other purpose. This is being quite 

 largely done, I am told, already, especially 

 where there seems to be an oversupply of 

 any particular crop or fruit. 



