1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



387 



Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, up- 

 on them that hope in his mercy. — Ps. 33; 18. 



We oliserve that the markets are ahiiost bare 

 of choice comb honey of last year. Some say it 

 was never so scarce befoie. New honey will 

 begin to come in soon now. 



AVe have had a beantifnl spring so far, and 

 reports are coming in that the bees are doing 

 finely. May l)e we sliall have one of the old- 

 fashioned honey seasons this year. 



When the forms for oui' last issue wei'e about 

 half off. we found we were obliged to make t)ur 

 journal .^ij pages Instead of .53, as announced. 

 This made almost a double number. In this 

 issue we give 1(5 pages extra. 



The third number of the Citlifoniia Bee- 

 keeper i>i n,t hund. and it is making great im- 

 provements. It is not only well printed and 

 typograi)hically neat, but it is well edited. It 

 starts out right, and has begun in a large Held. 

 AVe wish it everv measure of success. 



W. I>. Westcott & Co.. of St. Louis, say that 

 the lower prices on sugar will affect the lower 

 grades of honey. First-class honey is a luxury, 

 so they say, and not a staple, and the tariff re- 

 duction on sugar will not affect its sale. We 

 are inclined to think they are right. 



The Cnnndlan Bee Jcnirnnl seems to flourish 

 in the hands of the senior editor. Mr. D. A. 

 Jones, despite the fact that his best man, Mr, 

 F. H, McPherson, is unable to render his usual 

 assistance on account of the accident, ^Nlr. 

 Jones is infusing into it a good deal of sound 

 practical experience. 



As it is now approaching the time out of all 

 the year when the bees are supposed to yield 

 their owners returns, we must ask our contrib- 

 utors to let the subject of wintering drop for 

 the present, and take up the more seasonable 

 ones of how to get a honey ci'op, taking the 

 same off. and marketing, and what implements 

 or devices are best suited to accomplish these 

 ■ends with the least labor. 



Just after our last issue went to press, \ve 

 learned that George H. Knickerbocker, secre- 

 tai-y of the New York State Bee-keepers" Asso- 

 ciation, lost by tire his honey-house and work- 

 shop, and nearly all its contents, on the morn- 

 ing of April 1, about 4 o'clock. He says the 

 origin of th<' fire is a mystery. Many \)f his 

 books and jiapers were also burned. It was 

 about two-thirds covei'ed by insurance. 



Mr. HrxcHixsox, of the Review, page KM, 

 makes this very kind notice: 



The editorial department of Gleanings has im- 

 proved woiiderfuUy of late. It is no uncommon 

 thing- now to be able to cut out wisdom in solid 

 clmnks like the following." 



And then he quotes our editorial in regard to 

 the large or small bee-keeper, found on page 

 387. Thank you. fiiend H. Such an encomium 

 is appreciated, inasmtich as it comes from one 

 who not infrequently writes '"solid chunks" 

 himself. 



If advertisers would tell how long their ad- 

 vertisement is to run, and how much space it is 

 to occupy, it would save much annoyance and 

 correspondence on the part of our advertising 

 clerk. We speak of this, not in a complaining 

 way, but very few give very definite instruc- 

 tions on these two points: namely, amount of 

 space and length of time to run. If you do not 

 know how long it is to run. say. "Continue till 

 forbidden." This is definite, and then we know 

 what to do. 



The Review indoi'Ses what we said about 

 having not only frames and hives movable, but 

 even movable (tpUiries. Yes, that is what we 

 are coming to. They do not need movable 

 apiaries down, th(>re in Cuba, where they can 

 keep profitably .500 colonies in one location (see 

 J, A, Osburn's" article elsewhere); but in most 

 places of the United States a location will not 

 support more than 100 colonies: and if there is 

 any considerable increase in colonies, they must 

 be put in two or more out-yards. 



BEE-E.SCAPES FOR EXTRACTING IX CALIFOP.N'IA. 



In the Cdliforiila Bee-l<ceper. Mr. J. F. Mc- 

 Intyre says the bee-escapes for extracting have 

 not come up to his expectations. The bees 

 went down as folks said they would. But he 

 says: " I have left the escape "on for three days 

 and three nights: and as only about half the 

 bees wei-e out. I thought it "would be a little 

 quicker to brush them off the combs. So I put 

 the escapes away," Certainly a good many 

 must have tried the bee-escapes last year for 

 extracting, George H, Ashby, of New York,, 

 said at the Albany convention they had proved 

 to be a grand success with him, AVill he please 

 tell us more about it? We should like to get 

 other reports of experiments with the bee- 

 escape. 



r.EAUTIFUI, MAY. 



Now is the time to plant almost every thing 

 that grows in a garden. On our grounds we 

 are not only putting in corn and beans, but 

 squashes, cucumbers, bush lima beans, etc. It 

 it true, some of them may come to grief; but it 

 is only a small job to plant more, and there is 

 quite a chance of getting a crop. Last season 

 we planted Corey corn and kidney wax beaus 

 so early that I myself feared it was time and 

 pains wasted. Well, both made a crop; and the 

 only thing we felt sorry about was that we had 

 not planted more while we were about it. The 

 green corn brought 3.5 cts. per dozen ears, and 

 the wax beans sold for 10 cts. per qiiait. We 

 already have potatoes nearly knee-high. They 

 were started, however, in the greenhouse. We 

 saved them from one frost by bending them 

 over and scraping dirt enough over them to 

 hold them down. And. judging from the cold 

 north wind that is blowing now. we may have 

 to do it again to-night. April 38. Fruit-trees 

 are full of bloom, and MicheTs Early strawber- 

 ries are showing quite a number of blossoms. 

 As we have not had a sprinkle of rain for ten 

 days, we have been having a splendid time for 

 preparing the ground and putting in crops. 



THE N. A. B. K. A. AND BEE-KEEPERS' UNION. 



We wish to correct a misapprehension under 

 which we were laboring in our answer to E. 

 France, to the effect that the Bee-keepers' 

 Union should not be absorbed into the 

 N. A. B. K. A. We see by the American Bee 

 Jounud, "that the Union is already and has 

 been a part and pai'cel of the Association, so 

 far as its influence and protective care are 

 concerned." As the Union has been a great 



