190 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mak. 1. 



amount that is yet unsold, and the figures 

 would run up to over 5,000,000 lbs., and not a 

 bountiful season at that. 



Prof. Cook carries a chemical laboratory in his 

 mouth. He detected samples of honey that 

 were mixed with glucose — some 35, 50, and 85 

 per cent mixtures that were prepared by Mr. 

 Brodbeck. Prof. C. says that people using this 

 mixture for a while get a dislike for honey — an- 

 other argument in favor of laws against adul- 

 teration. 



Bee-keeping seems to be getting some hard 

 knocks from Uncle Sam down in Orange Co., 

 Cal. A government reservation has recently 

 been parceled off, and everybody is ordered off 

 the land, including several bee-keepers. Of 

 course, the busy bee will not harm the trees and 

 the flowers, but the busy bee-keeper can wield 

 an ax, and that's the reason why they have got 

 to get out. 



We think bee-keepers in this State should be- 

 gin to turn their attention to planting honey- 

 producing plants and trees. Our irrigated dis- 

 trict, where the sages have been cut off, would 

 grow many Eastern plants; but here lies an 

 obstacle. Irrigated lands are subject to close 

 and clean cultivation, and there is no room for 

 weeds. But for all that, we have a mind to see 

 if the noted willow-herb plant will grow here. 



LET US BE CHARITABLE. 



T SUI'KRS VS. SECTION-HOLDEIiS. 



By Dr. C. C. MiUer. 



I have a letter from a Canadian correspon- 

 dent who desires a reply in Glkanings. He 

 prefaces his questions by saying that there are 

 few whose advice it is safe to follow, because 

 policy rather than conscience seems to be the 

 governing motive. Don't you think you're just 

 a bit hard on your kind, my friend? I know 

 we're a pretty selfish lot all through, and yet I 

 find evidences of no little unselfishness and con- 

 science left. I was in Chicago a few days ago, 

 and in several instances asked information and 

 advice of entire strangers. In every instance 

 it was given with apparent pleasure, and, I 

 think, with real interest. One man took the 

 trouble, of his own accord, to write down an 

 address I asked for. A boy walked some little 

 distance out of his way to a point where a 

 building could be shown to me. In the hun- 

 dreds, perhaps thousands of instances of the 

 kind, I have very rarely found any other spirit. 



I believe that bee-keepers are just as good a 

 lot as the average — indeed, I think a little bet- 

 ter; and although it isn't a safe thing to follow 



indiscriminately the advice of all, it is more- 

 because they don't know, even where they feel 

 positive they do know. If I were to follow all 

 the advice given me, I should have a hopeless- 

 tangle of all sorts of things in use, much to 

 my detriment; and yet I believe the advice is 

 usually given in the best spirit, and with a real 

 desire to serve me. A man finds something that 

 he is much pleased with, and he is hardly to be- 

 blamed for thinking it would be a good thing 

 for me. So, let's be as charitable as we can. 



THE SUPER I PREFER. 



You ask me to give my choice of comb-honey 

 super, with reasons therefor. The printing of 

 my answer will be a proof of unselfishness on 

 the part of Gleanings, and yet I'm sure the 

 answer will be printed, for my choice of super 

 will not agree witii his. He will tell you the 

 section-holder, and I'll tell you the T super. 

 He'll think, even if he doesn't say so; for, 

 between you and me, he's a good bit of a gen- 

 tleman —he'll thinlf I'm a bit pig-headed and 

 old-fogyish, and I'll think I know better than 

 to be taken with a new thing just because it's- 

 new. 



MY REASONS. 



Well, I've tried largely wide frames, Heddon 

 or Moore supers, and, to some extent, section- 

 holders, and I think I can get better results,, 

 with less labor, with the T super than with any 

 of these. But that may not satisfy you, for 

 those who are just as fit to judge may prefer 

 one of the others. It is hardly worth while to 

 discuss wide frames, since they are so generally 

 discarded, and yet I had good results with 

 them. The Heddon crate will not allow the 

 use of separators, and that is a necessity when 

 honey is to be packed for shipping. 



Section-holders, as I have said, I tried to a 

 limited extent, and should have given them a 

 fuller trial, but it cost too much time and tem- 

 per. Perhaps others have found it easier to 

 empty them, and the fault may be mine. That 

 aside, I may say that, for my use, tlie T super 

 has decid'^d advantages, and I don't know of 

 any advantage but one that the section-holder 

 has. With the T super, separators can go no 

 lower than the T tin, while the section-holder 

 allows them to go to the bottom of the section. 

 That, yovi see, leaves a space the thickness of 

 the separator, for a distance equal to the 

 height of the upright part of the T tin, to be 

 filled in with propolis in the T super, which is 

 avoided in the section -holder by having the 

 separator go clear to the bottom. 



Now. please remember that I said that, /or 

 mc, the section -holder has m other advantages 

 that I know of. I'm not quarreling with what 

 others prefer. The claim is made, that open- 

 side sections can be used in section-holders and 

 not in T supers. Well, I don't want open-side 

 sections, so that doesn't count. 



Root's A B C says, " As the upright of the T 

 takes about -^ of an inch, it leaves a space be- 



