104 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



through heat or otherwise, tlie bees would manage 

 to eat all they required of it, if they luid water 

 handy. Queens that wei'e confined in a cage tliat 

 contained a supply of waier .seemed to be he:iltliier 

 than those queens that are provisioned with a hard 

 candy. 



We suspect there is considerable truth in this; 

 and as queen breeders and shippers we have 

 concluded to give the matter another trial dur- 

 ing the coining summer. Years ago, when we 

 used exclusively the hard candy, we considered 

 the water-bottle a necessity; but when the 

 Good candy was introduced, the bottle was 

 dropped, principally because it was not always 

 possible to adjust the small piece of candle- 

 wicking in the cork of the bottle in such a 

 way that it would not feed the water too fast, 

 and thus either wet the candy up too much or 

 run out entirely, and leave the bees with dry 

 candy and no water. We made a few experi- 

 ments last summer, but somehow the water 

 leaked out in some of the cages, even before 

 they left our own hands. The queens had to 

 be transferred to other cages, and were then 

 sent on the usual soft candy, without any 

 water; but they died all the same, for they 

 went clear to Australia. We suggest that the 

 Atchleys commence experiments, not only for 

 their own personal advantage, but for the bene- 

 fit of the brotherhood of queen -breeders and 

 their customers. Perhaps there is nothing 

 more annoying than to have a hive just ready 

 to receive a queen, and then, when her majesty 

 arrives, the queen is found to have " gone 

 dead." Some seasons our percentage of losses 

 in sending queens long distances is practically 

 nothing; and then, again, the peculiar condi- 

 tions of climate, as Mr. Pryal points out, make 

 a lot of trouble. 



THOSE FOOTNOTES— THOSE EVERLASTING FOOT- 

 NOTES. 



In the great flood of renewals that have been 

 coming in during the last few days, it seems as 

 if almost every one says, " Keep those footnotes 

 going;" or, " Do not stop those footnotes if you 

 want us to renew;" or, " I skip the articles and 

 read the footnotes;" and, again, a writer whose 

 letter is in our hands, says, " Do not, under any 

 consideration, think of stopping them. Some- 

 times the footnote has more pith and life to it 

 than the article." In relation to the last.quota- 

 tion we wish to say right here that it is not our 

 purpose to absorb in the footnote all the meat 

 or juice from the article. We simply intend to 

 give it flavor. 



Some of our older read(^rs will remember 

 we asked, years ago, as to the desirability of 

 the comments, and the result was the same as 

 above; but since the footnote mantle had fall- 

 en upon younger shoulders we had a curiosity 

 to know whether they were still desirable, and 

 if not we expected to drop them. We are satis- 

 fled, and shall keep them a going. 



Now, dear reader, it is not fulsome praise 



that we seek— no, no, no— but the best good of 

 you all. If any one department should be 

 lopped off and another added to the journal, 

 please let us have your commands. " Not to be 

 ministered unto, but to minister;" and, again, 

 "The greatest good to the greatest number," 

 are mottoes that we try to keep before us. 



Perhaps it will be well to add, that tln" 

 changes made commencing with the issue for 

 Jan. 1 have been most heartily indorsed by 

 prominent bee-keepers and other lesser lights. 

 If we are sure of any thing, we know our read- 

 ers are particular about having only the very 

 best communications submitted to their peru- 

 sal; on the principle of the survival of the At- 

 test we may say that we have room for only 

 about half the manuscripts that come to us. 



Perhaps we can illustrate how we sift. 

 A. I. R. does not pretend nowadays to look over 

 the bee-journal exchanges, and quite a number 

 of other exchanges that he used to read with 

 pleasure. We run through them just as he 

 formerly did. When we come to an extra good 

 article we take out our blue pencil and mark 

 around it; and the pith itself we underscore by 

 putting a blue line under each line of type.. 

 These exchanges are put on his desk, and at his 

 leisure he simply looks for the blue marks. 



Now, then, we go over the manuscripts in 

 much the same way. A large part of those we 

 use, we cut off at both ends; and if an article is 

 not trimmed down at all, except a few from our 

 regular contributors, it is an exception. After 

 sifting over a great pile of manuscript, we give 

 you, as nearly as we can, in the language of 

 anoi.her. the " cream," and the cream is put all 

 together in as compact a space and as readable 

 type as possible. In other words, we try to giv& 

 you the benefit of our " blue marks." 



MK. HEDDON, AND HIS TEACHINGS ON ADUL- 

 TERATION. 



Mr. Heddon is reported, in the last Bee- 

 keepers' Review, assaying, in a paper which 

 was read at the Michican State Convention, 

 that the hue and cry now being made against 

 adulteration was doing far more damage than 

 the actual adulteration itself, because the adul- 

 terators are not so foolish as to put on the mar- 

 ket an unpalatablecompound.* Hedenounced, 

 also, the change in the constitution of the Bee- 

 keepers' Union, whereby the Union is enabled 

 to prosecute adulterators, and further declared 

 that, in the present state of the art of chemis- 

 try, analyzation was not sulificient to prove 

 adulteration, and therefore argues that, if we 

 can not prevent adulteration, the best thing ta 

 do is to keep still and let the evil go on. 



This is about the same line of argument he 

 prcisented a year ago at the same convention; 

 and after the opposition that was raised at the 

 time, the reiteration of such teaching makes us 



* Yes; but tliey are foolish enough, as facts prove. 

 Bad men always do foolish things.— En. 



