733 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



Thk M-nior editor expects to be at the St. 

 Joseph convention, Oct. 10, 11, 13. 



The last Issue of the Canadian Bee Journal 

 gives a picture of President E. L. Goold. of the 

 Goold, Shapley & Mulr Co., Ltd.. of Brantford, 

 Ontario. We are glad to see the face of the 

 head man of the largest manufacturing con- 

 cern of bee-keepers' supplies aiross the bo der. 



The American Bee Journal keeps on improv- 

 ing. This time the new feature consists in put- 

 ting the department of contributed articles 

 into double-column leaded matter. As such it 

 is very readable, and looks well. The other 

 matter, and shorter items, still appear in two 

 columns to the p ige as usual. 



There was a young miss up in Michigan (if 

 she is not alieady a bee-keeper I think she will 

 be) for whom I formed a strong attachment; 

 and that attachment seemed to be reciprocated 

 on her part. Who was it? you ask. Why, it 

 was baby Fern, of the Eeview office. Perhaps 

 I will tell you more about her at another time. 



I AM glad to tell you that Dr. Peiro, who 

 writes those interesting talks, entitled " Doc- 

 tor's Hints," in the Arnerican Bee Journal, is 

 veritable flesh and blood, and is writing under 

 his own name, and not under a norn de plume. 

 as many have imagined. He is a neighbor of 

 Bro. York, and, like him, one whom it is a 

 pleasure to know. Dr. P. and Dr. Miller are a 

 good deal alike in some respects, and it would 

 be fun to see them at convention together some 

 time; for Dr. P., if you must know it, is becom- 

 ing interested in bees. More anon. 



The following is an editorial that appears in 

 the Bee-keepers' Review and we indorse it most 

 heartily. If we are going to give credit, why 

 not give it in full ? 



Full credit is the thing to give when copying- an 

 article, or even reproducing an idea, that has ap- 

 peared in anotlier journal. I have more resj ect for 

 the man who has tlie audacity ancl effrontery io 

 steal an article right out ancl out, and palm it of!' as 

 his own, tlian lor one wlio will slyly label liis quota- 

 tions, "An Excliange." "A Western Journal," "An 

 American Journal," and so fortli, tlius avoiding 

 giving credit to a rival journal. If an article or 

 idea isn't wortli giving full credit for, it isn't worth 

 copying. 



Prof. Cook writes that he has destroyed 

 every vestige of the new bee-disease (dead 

 brood), simply by feeding. In case the feeding 

 has any thing to do with it, I should be in- 

 clined to believe that probably it was not so 

 much due to starvation as to improper food or 

 food slightly poisonous. In our own case, the 

 disease appeared at its worst during a heavy 



flow from basswood. It is possible that the 

 bees were gathering at the same time some- 

 thing that disagreed with the larvae, and in 

 some cases caused them to die, resulting in what 

 we have seen in some apiaries— dead brood. 



"A Masquerade of Stamens" i^ the title of 

 an article in the September Cosmopolitan, in 

 which the writer, Mr. W. H. Gibson, speaks 

 thus of the relations of the bumble-bee and red 

 clover: "This bumble-bee is as necessary a 

 part of the plant's life as are its leaves and 

 petals. The flower has decked itself in beauty 

 and fragrance for his coming, and blushes for 

 him alone. Its nectar is provided with sole 

 thought of him, and its pink portals are framed 

 to welcome him. above all other insects." And 

 the red clover is but an example, he says, "of 

 this law of vital communion and interdepend- 

 ence between the flower and the insect." The 

 whole article is delightfully written, and makes 

 capital reading for those who are interested in 

 knowing the part played by insects in the fer- 

 tilization of flowers (or fruits). 



THAT EDITORIAL " WE." 



I AM mad— yes, as mad as can be. What 

 about ■? Why, under that editorial " we " I find 

 that A. I. R. is being clubbed for some of my 

 editorial sins; and I am madder still because 

 he also gets credit for some editorial felicities 

 that once in a while escape my lips or from the 

 point of my well-worn pencil that I push some. 

 I am going to put my full name at the head of 

 this department hereafter; and when A. I. R. 

 writes any thing under this heading it will be, 

 as heretofore, signed by him. As I said else- 

 where, the editorial "we "covers up a multi- 

 tude of sins, and that multitude is heaped on 

 the senior editor, who is not to blame at all. 



It may be a little hard for me to drop the 

 conventional "we;" so if you see it stuck in 

 editorials hereafter, promiscuously along with 

 the singular pronoun, don't be surprised. 



Say. Dr. Miller, you remember you gave Mr. 

 Hutchinson, of the Review, a pound of figs for 

 dropping " we " to " I." 



" BRACE- COMI?S AND THEIR ADVANTAGES." 



The above is the subject of an extended ar- 

 'Vle by G. M. Doolittle, in the American Bee 

 Journal for Aug. ."^O. He holds that bees need 

 them as ladders to the supers. Why, he would 

 not have thick top-bars for .50 cts. a hive; and 

 yet there are thousands of bee-keepers who 

 would be willing to pay 50 cts. per hive to have 

 them, to dispense with the nuisance of these 

 same burr-combs. In the very next number of 

 the American Bee Journal there is a well- 

 written article from Mr. H. E. Hill, telling of 

 his disagreeable experience! with burr-combs, 

 of bee-killing by the thousands, of dripping 

 honey, and the difficulty of removing a lot of 

 supers from hives within thin and narrow top- 

 bars. After speaking of the large amount of 



