166 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mak. 1. 



through, but very slowly, just as it gets through 

 the woolen clothing on our bodies, through the 

 fur of animals, the sawdust used in an ice- 

 house, etc. Now, if we can make hives with 

 dead-air spaces so as to answer just as well as 

 chaiif, will they not cost more money? and at 

 the same time do we not lose this desirable 

 quality in a bee-hive that we have in the old- 

 fashioned straw bee-hive, and all porous non- 

 conductors of heat, such as I have described? 

 If an ordinary chaff hive will winter bees, and 

 enable them to breed up in the spring during a 

 series of years just as well wWt the chaff left 

 out as with it in. then there is no use of putting 

 chaff in any longer. May be we had bettei' ask 

 the experiment stations to institute some tests. 

 Here is a point for friend Larrabee and Prof. 

 Cook.] A. I. R. 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' UNION. 



SHALL IT HE UNITED WITH THK N. A. IJ. K. A.? 



As a member of the Bee-keepers' Union, I say 

 no. The two associations don't belong togeth- 

 er. The N. A. B. K. A. is composed for the 

 most part of annual members who join when 

 the association happens to meet in their neigh- 

 Ijorhood. There ai'e a few who go every year, 

 but the number is very small in comparison to 

 the number that belong to the Bee-keepers' 

 Union, and the latter has not one-tenth part of 

 the members that it should have. I don't see 

 why it is that .so few bee-keepers ai'e willing to 

 join, when the Union has done .so much to de- 

 fend our rights. Every bee-keeper in America 

 is benefited by the Union. Then why not join 

 and help the good work? Just put in one dol- 

 lar a year, and be in a position so that, if you 

 get into trouble, you can call on the Union to 

 help you to defend your rights. 



There is a great deal of prejudice and super- 

 stition about bees, and many think that the 

 bee-keeper is stealing his living from other 

 people's property. They claim the bees have 

 no right to come on their land to gather honey. 

 The land is theirs, the crop is theii's, the honey is 

 theirs, and we have no business to letour beesgo 

 on to their land to gather honey. If the bees take 

 the honey, the pasture is not as good, or the 

 hay has lost a valuable part of its nutri- 

 ment if the bees take the honey out. Some 

 men kick because the buckwheat failed. They 

 say the bees blasted it by taking the honey; 

 others say the bees have sijoiled the apple crop. 

 Some say the bees injure the corn crop by 

 working on the tassels to gather pollen, and 

 there are a great many other things that I hear 

 advanced every year — just such nonsense about 

 something in connection with the bees. Now, 

 let one of those supertitious men get mad at 

 you. He wants to spite you somehow, he 

 doesn't care how. If he thinks there is a pos- 

 sible show for him to make a case he will sue 

 you for damage done him by your bees. All 

 there was to the Freeborn case was spite and 

 ignorance. The man claimed that Freeborn's 

 bees worked on his clover, and kept his sheep 

 away so the sheep became poor, and died the 

 next winter in consequence. This was the first 

 case that the Union had to deal with, and was 

 thrown out of court, giving the Union its first 

 victory. The Union has had several cases since 

 then, all victorious. If you join the Union, you 

 are entitled to help in case you ai'e sued by any 

 of these ignorant chaps. We ought to have 5000 

 members; then we should have a sum in the 

 treasury that would command respect. Now is 

 a good time to join. Commence with the year. 

 Send your dollar to Mr. T. G. Newman, ;.'46 

 Madison Street. Chicago, and become a mem- 



ber of the Union. Do it now. before you forget 

 it. In union there is strength. A man may be 

 a bee-keeper and be a poor man. Now, you see 

 some of his spiteful neighbors may take a no- 

 tion to pitch into him. knowing he is poor, just 

 to annoy him and make him expense. But if 

 they knew he belonged to the Union, and he 

 had an army of bee-men to fight the battle 

 with him, they would let him alone. Thei'e 

 have already been several threatenings hushed 

 up because the bee-keepers' enemy had to look 

 the Bee-keepers' Union in the face. 



About the N. A. B. K. A.. I think it is a good 

 institution. I am sorry that I have not been 

 able to attend the meetings. But it costs mon- 

 ey to go. and this year money was scarce with 

 us. About a dozen of us tried to get cheaper 

 rates on the railroad, but failed, and so did not 

 go. Next year it is away down in Albany, and, 

 of course, but fcuv from these parts will be 

 there, and so it goes skipping about from one 

 place to another, all ovei- the continent. Well, 

 that is all riglit. The very name of the asso- 

 ciation calls for its moving about from place to 

 place. But, no matter where the meetings are 

 held, we can all get the proceedings in printed 

 form, and I value these very highly. But un- 

 less we attend we miss the social part of the 

 meeting, and the social part would be a big 

 treat to me. But I don't .see how we can mix 

 these two institutions together. They are very 

 different. The Bee-keepers" Union doesn't 

 have to meet anywhere to carry on its business. 

 We pay our dues, and elect the officers by ballot. 

 All is done through the mail. I don't see how 

 the Union could be benefited by a union with 

 the N. A. B. K. A. Will Dr. Miller, or some 

 other one who advocates the plan, explain ? 



HONEY-rAC'KAGES FOR EXTRACTED HONEY. 



In Feb. 1st Gleanings, page 96, Messrs. Hil- 

 dreth Bros. »*t Segeiken recommend kegs, half- 

 barrels, and baiTels, except California, and I 

 don't see why California should be an exception. 

 The editor says, in his remarks, that square 

 cans must be used in California because the 

 climate there will shrink the wooden packages. 

 In fact, kegs would be utterly useless with 

 them. With the experience that I have had 

 with kegs and barrels. I am positively of the 

 opinion that it is a mistake thatCalifornians can 

 not use kegs or barrels for honey. If the bar- 

 rels are made from perfectly seasoned white 

 oak, or some other timber as good, no soft tim- 

 ber, and hooped with heavy iron hoops, then 

 season the barrels six months in an upper story 

 of some good weather - tigiit building, then 

 drive the hoops, and see that the barrel is tight, 

 air-tight (don't ])ut any water into it), you are all 

 right. Now. if your barrel is air-tight you can 

 easily find it out by blowing into it with your 

 mouth through the vent-hole. Blow in all the 

 air you possibly can. and then slip your finger 

 overthe vent and hold it thei'e tightfor a minute 

 or two; then take off the finger. If the barrel is 

 tight, the air will come out whistling. You 

 can put honey in that barrel in California, and 

 ship it or keep it as long as you please. I don't 

 think white-oak timber will give honey any 

 bad taste. I have used it for :.'0 years or more, 

 and have never heard any complaint. Ash 

 timber is not fit for honey-packages. The honey 

 will work through the grain of the timber. I 

 have tried pine and basswood timber for honey 

 packages, but I don't like either. There is 

 nothing that suits me as well as good heavy 

 white oak, with heavy iron hoops. I don't like 

 the <)0-lb. tin cans. I got ten pairs of them a 

 few years ago. and have some of them yet. Two 

 years ago I filled .some of them with honey. 

 They had to be filled full to hold the 60 pounds. 

 Then I had some of them the next winter, and 



