870) 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



Ox account of having a large amount of mat- 

 ter left over from last issue, I find it necessary 

 to omit my own Bicycle Notes in this number. 



The editors of the other bee-journals are 

 having considerable sport at A. I. R.'s expense 

 over what he saw at the St. Joseph museum. 

 That is all right. May be he will have a chance 

 to get even at some future convention. 



MANAfiEMENT VS. LOCATION. 



It was decided at the St. Joseph convention 

 that there is more in management than in races 

 of bees or location. Obviously, bee-journals 

 can not improve location. They may do a little 

 in the way of betterment of races; but they 

 can do very much in suggesting new and better 

 manangement; hence no bee-keeper who keeps 

 even but few colonies can afford to be without 

 at least one good bee-journal. 



A CORRECTION. 



On page 846 of our last issue, about half 

 way down the first column, there is a line that 

 reads, " has the hardihood to comment on such 

 a thing." It should read. " has the hardihood to 

 tommend such a thing.'" I did not mean, dear 

 friends, to brag about my courage, you see. 

 By referring to my manuscript I find I wrote 

 comment very plainly, and the printers con- 

 cluded I had omitted the word on, and supplied 

 it themselves. A. I. R. 



Bro. York is getting up quite a reputation 

 as a punster; but he is quite independent, and 

 at the same time is quite willing to let other 

 people have their own preferences. Here is 

 what he has to say on the editorial we and I: 



Editor E. R. Root says in Gi.eanings: "Since I 

 have discarded .that editorial ' we,' somehow I feel 

 more natural." Now, tlie "we" seems more " nat- 

 ural" to us. How futniy it would be to use tlie 

 "editorial I" in the American Btc Jmn-iml! "I" is 

 sometimes egotistical, but " we " Isn't. Now, there's 

 a fine sentence— "I is" and "we Isn't." But it's 

 correct. Guess we'll stick to "we"— but Ipt the 

 "I's" have it, if tliey want it. 



FOUL brood in wax. 



In the Review for October 10, R. L. Taylor 

 discusses the question as to whether foul brood 

 can be transmitted through wax. He is confi- 

 dent that, if the wax be heated to a tempera- 

 ture of 212 degrees, all germs will be killed; 

 but the trouble is, wax is melted and refined at 

 a much lower degree of heat than that, and 

 hence it may preserve its objectionable features. 

 This season he made some foundation out of 

 wax that was foul-broody last year, and put it 

 into two hives on the 2()th and 2,'Sth of July 

 respectively. The colonies were examined fre- 

 quently, but no sign of foul brood was found 



till the 8th of Oct., when one single cell of ap- 

 parently foul-broody matter was found in each. 

 If it does prove to be the real foul brood, it will 

 disprove all theories to the contrary. In one 

 hive the disease diminished greatly, without 

 assistance; and Mr. Taylor is not sure but bees 

 may recover from it unaided. 



A note to queen-bkeeders. 

 I would call the special attention of queen- 

 breeders to the article of T. S. Ford, in this 

 number. It seems to me that all sensible and 

 reliable queen-breeders will agree with the 

 sentiment expressed in italic,in the footnote. 

 Indeed, I should like to see a show of hands of" 

 those who will agree to destroy the first case of 

 bee-paralysis that appears in their yard— hive,, 

 bees, and all, as soon as it is discovered. We 

 will publish a short announcement of everyone 

 of you, to that effect; and if you can conscien- 

 tiously say that you have never had bee-paraly- 

 sis in your yard, say that also. If you really do 

 not know what it is, while you are fortunate in 

 never having had it you are laboring under the 

 disadvantage of not knowing just exactly what 

 it is, should it ever come. 



irregular advertising. 

 There has been a good deal written in regard 

 to advertising, but I think there is one point 

 which has not as yet been fully emphasized ; 

 viz., that the advertiser must not be disappoint- 

 ed, nor blame any one, if he gets no return from 

 one insertion of an advertisement, especially if 

 he is a new man. We will say that Mr. A, for 

 instance, orders one insertion of an advertise- 

 ment, offering queens. He is a new man. and 

 is apt to expect that, within four or five days 

 after the appearance of his card, he will get a 

 large number of responses; but he forgets that 

 Mr. B., a well-known queen-breeder, offers 

 queens just ascheap, just as good, and is knoirn 

 to be reliable. It is the most natural thing in 

 the world for bee-keepers to buy of those who- 

 are well known. I do not mean to discourage 

 one-insertion advertisements, but usually they 

 do not pay unless some special inducement is 

 offered in the way of extra quality, extra low 

 price, or something novel, that everybody wants 

 to see and get. But even then a plurality of 

 insertions is far more liable to get better returns 

 for the money invested. 



WHY large colonies; have we been shut- 

 ting OUR EYES to facts '? 



I can't help believing that the Dadants are 

 right in their advocacy of large colonies, and 

 that such colonies, as a general rule, will se- 

 cure the most honey, will swarm but little, and 

 require little if any feeding in the fall. But I 

 don't think it necessarily follows that such a 

 colony shall be all in one large hive, or, speak- 

 ing more exactly, in one large single chamber, 

 and on frames large enough to reach clear to the- 

 bottom and across said chamber. So far as I 



