1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



333 



York is to be publisher of the new " Bee-keep- 

 er's Guide," written by Prof. Cook, and the 

 price is to be raised to $1.25 instead of ^I.tK), as 

 heretofore. The book is well worth the money. 



Abovi' all, take tlu' shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able 

 to queiuh all the lier.v ilaits of the wicked— El'H. 6; 16. 



Reports show that bees are wintering and 

 springing linely all over the country. 



"Observer," in the Progressive Beekeeper, 

 bints that "Gleanings and the Progressive 

 have formed a mutual -admiration society." 

 Didn't know it before— at all events, the Pro- 

 gressive has grown so fast and so well that we 

 couldn't help but notice it. 



We are having moderate April weather. At 

 the present rate the bees will get through the 

 month in good shape. .So far as we know, we 

 have not yet at this date (April 7) lost a single 

 colony, and they are all outdoors, just as is 

 show n in our last issue, page 370. 



Referring to Mr. Doolittle's article in an- 

 other column, we should like to know whether 

 any one else has succeeded in removing the 

 royal .jelly and the larva, on the plan proposed 

 by Willie Atchley some time ago, and trans- 

 ferring it to the queen-cell cups. 



With this issue we again give you .52 pages. 

 In fact, we have been running 8 pages extra 

 ever since the season opened. We are obliged 

 to make this enlargement temporarily in order 

 to make room for some of the very accei)table 

 matter now on hand, which, if held over very 

 much longer, will be out of date. By the way, 

 our contributors must not be disappointed if 

 they do not .see their communications in the 

 "next issue" after writing them. We very 

 oftpn hold over manuscripts until they are 

 more seasonable. 



" BEE-ROOKS BV THE CARLOAD." 



This is a kind notice that Bro. York has in 



the last Amerirttn BeeJoitrnal: 



The A B C of Bee ("iilturo is a gTMnd ffood hook. 

 Ill Gle.\nings we ju.st notice tliat Bro. Root is get- 

 tinff out the 62d tliousaiid of this well-kiiowii work. 

 That means a hie' pile of books. Let's see; we be- 

 lieve each copy weig'hs two poutids, so that would 

 make just 6!i tons in all — several carloads of just one 

 bet^book ! But thafs just like Bro. Root— always 

 ■doing big things. 



Friend York is quite correct in his calcula- 

 tions, but we had never thought of it in just 

 that way before. Considering the tons and tons 

 •of catalogs, and other bee and agricultural 

 books, to say nothing of every issue of our 

 journal, 62 tons would represent but a very 

 small part of the matter that actually leaves 

 our press. It has to run 14 or 1.5 hours a day, 

 and it is a large Cambbell book-press too, 

 printing 16 pages like this at every impresion. 

 By the way, we are glad to notice that G. W. 



GLUCOSE -factories AND DISTILLERIES. 



We have just had a very pleasant call from 

 J. B. Hains, of Bedford, O. He is one of the 



most extensive bee-keepers of the State; and 

 when he makes his annual visit here we are 

 quite sure to discuss some of the latest develop- 

 ments. Of course, our conversation naturally 

 turned to the subject of glucose. Said we, " Do 

 you know of any legitimate use for the stuff'?" 

 He looked doubtful for a moment, and said. 

 " Yes, 1 do. It is good for sticking labels to tin 

 or glass, and that is all it is good for." We ex- 

 pressed the hope, which he heartily indorsed, 

 that every glucose -factory, every distillery, and 

 every other stomach-destroyer, might some day 

 be excluded from the land, by a cast-iron law 

 that would exclude. If some of our legislators 

 are influenced for their stoinnchs^ sake, and the 

 sake of some of their constituents' stomachs, to 

 vote in such a way that distilleries can continue 

 their nefarious business, we can not imagine 

 how those aforesaid stomachs could influence 

 legislators to vote for the maintenance of glu- 

 cose-factories. There are so many who bow 

 the knee to King Alcohol that it is a hard mat- 

 ter just yet to whip out the liquor-business; 

 but while there are few people, comparatively, 

 who mix glucose with foods, those few ma'Ke 

 such a large use of it that the problem is a most 

 serious one. 



SWEET CLOVER AND ALFALFA. 



It may be well to have it understood that 

 sweet-clover seed and alfalfa seed look exactly 

 alike. I do not believe that expert seedsmen 

 can tell, even with the aid of a magnifying- 

 gla'^s, one from the other: and this fact has 

 given rise to some troubles already, and at 

 least one expensive lawsuit. The seedsman 

 sent a farmer sweet clover when he ordered 

 alfalfa. We have not had any lawsuit, but we 

 have had one expensive blunder in that direc- 

 tion. And this has taught me a way of dis- 

 tinguishing one from the other. Sweet-clover 

 seed (sometimes also called Bokhara) has a 

 distinctive strong odor like that of sweet-clover 

 blossoms or the green plant. After you have 

 once got the smell of it you will never forget it. 

 Well, even a little pinch of the seed has this 

 distinctive sweet-clover smell. One of the iron- 

 clad rules of our seed-room and whole seed de- 

 partment is. that every bag must be labeled on 

 the outside, and at least one label also be put 

 down among the seed. If one label gets torn 

 off or lost, the other can pretty surely be found. 

 If everybody who handles seed would take 

 similar precautions it might save much trouble. 

 Sowing seed on several acres of ground, and 

 then giving it care and cultivation, only to find 



