1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



387 



indeed for them to speak in public at all. But 

 their bright and smiling faces, after they had 

 borii(> their cross in their own boyish way, 

 would certainly have convinced anyliody of the 

 honesty and sincerity of the work in their own 

 hearts. One young friend, who assists in the 

 counter store, spoke something like this: "It 

 pays to be a Christian, because it makes one 

 fee! happy while about his work, all through 

 the day." Most of the testimonies were about 

 as brief, and much in this line; and when I 

 meet these boys as I pass along through our 

 different departments, the very sight of them 

 does me good. The I'eport comes from the 

 bosses of the different looms, that they could 

 not ask for better boys than we have now. 

 And yet this is the repoit we get of some who 

 had made us the most trouble before our revival 

 meetings. Now, friends, does it very often, if 

 ever, happen that any one starts out to follow 

 Christ before he is old enough? Remember the 

 injunction, "Feed my lambs." 





through their articles. We are much more apt 

 to choose such, when they are plainly written, 

 than we are articles with no head-lines and no 

 indication what tiiey are about. Very often, 

 by glancing through a manuscript, the head- 

 lines give a hint that the article should be used 

 at once, if at all. While there i's such a great 

 stack of uiHised manuscripts, and good ones 

 too, those published will usually be the ones 

 that are prepared and ready for the printer, 

 other things being equal. 



C'IA)SED-KNI> FRAMES FOl! MISSOUKI. 



TnK editor of the Missouri Bee-keeper says 

 that closed-end frames are his choice. He says: 

 " We can handle them better than any hanging 

 frame, and they are always properly spaced." 

 Elsewhere in the same issue he says: " We put 

 a few closed-end frames in our apiary three 

 years ago. and have been increasing the num- 

 ber ever since Our best yield has al- 

 ways been from colonies on closed-end frames. 

 They build up early in the spring. A hive with 

 closed-end frames and winter case is the com- 

 ing hive." Last issue we asked whether closed- 

 end frames were practical in the South, and in- 

 timated that possibly pi'opolis might be so bad 

 as to make them intolerable. As far south as 

 Mis.souri they are not as intolerable as they 

 might be. How is it further south, friends? 



And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. 

 Luke 22 ; 32. 



Bee.s in "our cellar" are doing well — none 

 lost so far, that we can see. April 1.5th may tell 

 a different tale, however. 



Dr. Mili.ek tells how. without perforated 

 zinc, to raise queens in a colony already having 

 a laying queen, on page 270. It's a good sug- 

 gestion. 



We learn from one of our French exchanges 

 that thei-e are in Germany over 2(),()0() members 

 in the various apicultural societies of that 

 country, and that the annual product of the 

 bees exceeds 22 million francs. 



It takes extraordinarily good editing to boom 

 a bee-journal that uses poor papei' and ink, and 

 is otherwise slovenly in typographical appear- 

 ance. Perhaps some of the bee-journals that 

 have started this year may take a hint. Bee- 

 keepers are good judges of printing as well as 

 some other folks. 



EDITORIALS AND .STRAY STAAVS. 



Dr. Miller says, on the first page of the 

 journal, that the editorials are "covering so 

 much ground in an interesting manner that, in 

 a little while, I shall have nothing to manufac- 

 ture Straws from." Why, doctor, you are 

 crowding on one end of the journal, and we on 

 the other. We shall have to quit crowding you, 

 that's all. 



ANOTHER NEW BEE-.IOVRNAL. 



Vol. I. No. 1 of the Missouri Bee-keeper, a 

 monthly edited by E. F. Quigley, is before us. 

 It contains 16 pages, with a neat tinted cover, 

 and its first appearance is good, compared with 

 the way a good many bee-journals start. Let's 

 see: A month ago or so we said we counted up 

 seven bee-journals that had started since Jan. 

 1, and this one makes the eighth. 



THE USES OF BASSWOOD IN LINN CO., IOWA. 



We are informed that there is a county in 

 Iowa, named after the great number of bass- 

 wood (or linn) trees, and it bears, therefore, the- 

 name of Linn Co. Mr. J. S. Stoneking. residing 

 in that county at Bartram, says there is a plen- 

 ty of basswood timber in the county, and. in 

 fact, in all eastei'n Iowa. The railroad com- 

 panies bought at Bartram, his postofifice. 3,500 

 cords of wood, at $2.00 a cord, in 1891, a fourth 

 of which was basswood. It makes the heart of 

 a bee-keeper fairly ache to think of desecrating 

 basswood for cordwood. It is bad enough to 

 use it for sections.' furniture, packing-boxes, 

 and paper. Our correspondent says they also 

 use the wood very largely in his vicinity for 

 making kegs and barrels. This is certainly a 

 better use to make of such valuable timber. 



A SUfiGESTION TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



We should be obliged to the writers for 

 Gleanings if they would scatter head-lines 



LARGE OR S.MALL HEE-KEEPPIUS: THE DIFFER- 

 ENCE BETWEEN THEM. 



We do not despise the small bee-keepers — oh, 

 no! They often give us some of the best ideas 

 and short cuts: but when a large bee-keepei', 

 who owns over .-)(K), (iOi), oi'. if you please, over 

 1000 colonies, is enthusiastic over a certain de- 

 vice, and he knows from long practical experi- 

 ence of its successful working, we feel as if his 

 statement could not be lightly esteemed. Edit- 

 ors have been accused of overlooking the little 

 b(H^-keepers. and seeking articles fi'om the big 

 bee-guns. There is some truth in it, but they 

 naturally go where they can get the best infor- 

 mation—that which rings with experience, and 

 is redolent of the aroma of honey and the wax, 

 and of the much-despised propolis. If a man 

 with his thousand colonies finds a thing to be a 

 success that is a money-maker, it will pmhaJ)!}/ 

 work pretty well, even with as small a number 

 as ten colonies: but, mind you, yon can not re- 

 verse this. What gives good satisfaction with 

 ten or even a hundred colonies may not neces- 

 sarily do for several hundred stocks. 



foreca,sting re.sults IN experimenting: a 

 suggestion for experimental stations. 

 An experimenter should be unbiased. When he 

 starts out on a series of experiments to prove oi' 

 disprove, he should be just as willing to arrive 

 at one conclusion as another. The trouble with 



