952 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



Don't fail to read the article by E. France 

 in this number. It's long, but it is good in pro- 

 portion to its length. 



We clip the following little gem from the 

 Bicyling World: A. I. R. 



Advertise honestly. It takes live minutes to dis- 

 appoint a customer; five years to reassure him. 



The following note was just received from 

 Mr. F. A. Salisbury: 



Ernest:— 1 see by the last issue of Gleanings you 

 made me say tliat I secured a big crop of honey 

 while some of my neighbors secured little or none. 

 If I said that, it was a slip of the tongue. I do not 

 think any more honey can be got by keeping bees 

 in a house-apiary than outdoors. It can be har- 

 vested with considerably less labor. 



Syracuse, N. Y. V. A. Salisbury. 



I should more think it was a slip of the ear 

 than of the tongue, therefore I father the mis- 

 take myself. 



Complaint has been made that we have of- 

 fered special inducements to new subscril)ers, 

 but none to those who stood by us year by year. 

 As there was a shade of truth in this, last year 

 we offered the Farm, Journal and Gleanings 

 to old subscribers for the regular price of 

 Gleanings alone, providing they would renew 

 before January before the time paid for was 

 out. This offer is again made, but expires by 

 Jan. 1. Don't forget that, if your time is not 

 up yet, you can still get the Farm Journal free 

 by sending in the dollar in advance for another 

 year. As it will be during this month that a 

 large number of subscriptions expire, we hope 

 our friends will take advantage of the situation 

 at once. Suitable blnnks will be sent to all 

 whose time is up. Notice also, in another col- 

 umn, the low clubbing offer for ABC; viz., 

 Gleanings and the A B C in paper postpaid 

 for $1.55. 



QUEEN-BREEDEIIS AND BEE-PAKALYSIS. 



In our issue for Nov. 15, page 872, I asked for 

 a show of hands of all queen-breeders who sell 

 queens, who would agree to destroy the first 

 case of bee-paralysis within twenty-four hours 

 after its discovery. Some have responded, 

 but not all. In many, and in most cases, it is 

 true, we are able to cure paralysis, and, per- 

 haps, the queen-breeder thinks it would be too 

 bad to destroy a good colony, and possibly a 

 valuable queen, so long as there is a probabili- 

 ty of cure. But knowing, as we do, that the 

 disease can be carried by queens all over the 

 country, and while impotent in one place works 

 fearful havoc in another, it seems to me that 

 every queen-breeder should be willing to take 

 radical measures, not for his own sake but for 



others'. Such a course would surely stamp it 

 out entirely in a few years. The reason why 

 the disease has been getting a foothold was be- 

 cause we did not recognize its danger The fol- 

 lowing have so far held up their hand: 



W. H. Laws, Lavaca, Ark. 



J. P. Mooi'p, Morgan, Ky. 



J. J. Hardy, Lavonia, Ga. 



¥. A. Lockhart. Lake George, N. T. 



r. B. Yockey, Noi'th Washington, Pa. 



H. G. Quirin, Bellevue, Ohio. 



As bearing on the eight-frame hive discus- 

 sion, the following editorial in the Progressive 

 Bee-keeper will give a little comfort to the ten- 

 framers. and we are glad to place it before our 

 readers for what it is worth: 



Which is the more profitable hive to use— eight or 

 ten-frame ? Mrs. J. M. Null, when at St. Joseph, 

 said she had some ten-frame hives in her apiary, 

 and she always found they had plenty of honey to 

 winter them. Our own experience has been the 

 same. When we changed from American to Lang- 

 stroth frames, we made ten-frame hives. Later, we 

 sold the ten-frame hives to our neighbors, and adopt- 

 ed eight-frame hives. These hives of our neigh hors 

 had had no attention but putting on surplus cases. 

 They turned oflf more bees to a swarm, and when 

 fall came we were called on to take off the honey. 

 We always find a good lot of honey in these hives 

 whenever there is any honey gathered by other 

 bees around them. Our observation of the above 

 was for four years in succession, and we have to 

 admit that our own colonies in eight-frame hives, 

 with good management, did not give us as large an 

 amount of surplus honey. 



LARGE ANT) SMALL HIVES, AGAIN. 



It is a little confusing to read over the dia- 

 metrically opposing experiences of some of 

 those who have written on this question. But, 

 one thing seems to be coming out; and that is, 

 that bee-keepers have been, for the most part, 

 trying to get along with too small brood-nests. 

 And it is possible that this may partly account 

 for the poor honey crops of late. While some 

 think a ten-frame hive is the thing, and large 

 enough, from the evidence that has been receiv- 

 ed, and from my own experience, I am coming 

 more and more to believe that, while ten-frames 

 may give slightly better results, a twelve or 

 sixteen frame brood-nest would give still better 

 results. I may be wrong: but in my own mind 

 I have decided that, inasmuch as the eight- 

 frame size body full of combs is not too large to 

 lift, two stories of this hive will give a brood- 

 nest ample for all purposes and for all seasons. 

 Then in poor seasons, and with poor queens or 

 with poor localities, one of the eight-frame 

 bodies may be quite large enough. Hence I 

 have and still favor the eight-frame size for 

 hive bodies. A couple of valuable articles will 

 be found in this number on the subject. 



In this connection I may remark that Ob- 

 server, in Progressive Bee-keeper, wants to 

 know whether I am paving the way for a new 

 hive for poor benighted bee-keepers since I am 



