484 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



foolishly accused of mean little things like this 

 when the bare suggestion is an absurdity. I 

 know that we sometimes meet with shocking 

 cases of depravity; yet the men who write 

 good books, and who occupy prominent posi- 

 tions in society and in the literary world do not 

 do such things. The idea that a man could 

 build up a great business, employing more than 

 a hundred hands, and be guilty of cheating in 

 small matters, would seem to indicate that hon- 

 esty is 7wt the best policy. Did -anybody ever 

 build up a great business by cheating or de- 

 frauding? Surely not. The business man who 

 deliberately takes *1.3.5 for a thing which is 

 worth only 70 cents, is on the road to finan- 

 cial ruin. If he persists in it he will soon have 

 neither store nor clerks. The tramp who goes 

 from house to house begging for cold victuals 

 would be quite likely to do things of this kind, 

 for it is right in his line. Sometimes a man has 

 money left him. and for a little time he im- 

 agines he may do business, and hold trade and 

 keep customers, by cheating; but very soon 

 every man or woman, even those who are dis- 

 honest and depraved, turn from him in disgust. 

 '■ Be sure your sin will find you out." This is 

 as true now as it was in Bible tim<'S. One rea'- 

 son why I have had much charity for the man- 

 agers of large institutions where capital is em- 

 ployed, is because I have felt sure there must 

 be some kind of honor and truth about them or 

 they never would have become a great concern 

 or even capitalists. In the first Psalm there is a 

 promiseending, "And whatsoever he doeth shall 

 prosper." Does this refer to people who cheat? 

 By no manner of medus. Again, it tells us of a 

 sort of people which are " like the chatf which 

 the wind driveth away." What sort are these? 

 They ai-e the ungodly, of course— those who de- 

 liberately commit wickedness. 



THE KEROSENE EMULSION. 



PHOF. COOK CORKECTS HIS FORMULA, AS GIVEN 

 ON PAGE 420. LAST ISSUE. 



After the above was in print, friend Cook 

 wrote us, asking us to substitute ihe formula 

 given below, which we take from Bulletin 73 of 

 the Michigan Agricultural College. April, 1891: 



My formula recommended for lyears i.s this: Dis- 

 solve in two quarts of water one quart of soft soap 

 or oue-fourtli pound of liarci soap, by heating- to tlie 

 boiling-point, tlien add one pint of kerosene oil. and 

 stir violently for from tlu-ee to five minutfs. Thisjs 

 best done Ijy pumping the liquid into itself through 

 a small nozzle, so that it sliall be thorouglily agitated. 

 This mixes the oil Toeymaneittlylfiit that it wiU never 

 separate, and can be diluted easily, at "pleasure, by 

 simply shaking or sliglitlj^ stirring after adding^the 

 water to dilute. I have often statiid that it was not 

 necessary to use so much soft soap, but was better, 

 as it insured a perfect emulsionjeven lupon dikition, 

 and the soap itself is an insecticide, ''and valuable, 

 aside from its emulsifying power. 1 also have stat- 

 ed that, in using soft soa.u, a quai't of water would 

 do. I prefer, howevei-, tne two quarts, as the emul- 

 sion is more sure, and the thinner material permits 

 more ready and more speedy dilution, especially in 

 cold weather. I have always placed soft.soap first, 

 as most farmers have it; and convenience is^very 

 important in such matters. A farmer will make and 

 use an article when all the ingredients are at hand, 

 whereas he would not do so had he to go and pur- 

 chase them for tliis express purpose. 

 ClThe agitation should be violent, but need not be 

 k)ng. We have formed a i)erfect emulsion in one 

 minute, even with cold water. 



We notice that there is a great scarcity of 

 first quality of comb honey. It is thought that 

 the prices will open up good and strong. 



We are rearing cells a la Doolittle. His ar- 

 tificial cell-cups work very nicely; and, in fact, 

 during this season of the year it has been about 

 the only way we could gets cells at all. 



A BILL for the suppression of foul broud and 

 the appointment of an inspector did not pass in 

 the Wisconsin State Legislature, as we stated 

 in last issue. It passed the Senate, but failed 

 to pass the Assembly, for the want of votes, 

 much to the regret of the bee-keepei's of the 

 State, so says a correspondent from VVisconsin. 



The slatted honey-boards have gone out of 

 sale entirely in our establishment. The new 

 top-bars have made it take a ])ack seat. The 

 slatted honey-board was a good thing, and 

 served its purpose well. But something vastly 

 better has taken its place — at least, so say our 

 customers. Queen-excluding honey-boards are 

 as popular as evei\ 



At this season of year a good many bee-keep- 

 ers come to visit ou)- yards as well as to buy 

 supplies. We take pleasure in showing them 

 the Hoffman frames in the apiary; and, with- 

 out an exception, they are jjleased with them. 

 These frames do not kill bees as they thought 

 they would. If handled hurriedly or clumsily, 

 they may kill a few. 



The Punic bees are a new race lately intro- 

 duced in England, and are shortly to be intro- 

 duced into this country. We have no doubt 

 that they are the same bees that have been 

 described by some African missionaries. They 

 are said to surpass in good qualities all other 

 known races of bees. As usual they are painted 

 in rather glowing colors. It is admitted that 

 they are bad propolizers. 



We have just received a Benton cage full of 

 beautiful yellow Italian bees and drones, from 

 J. F. Michel, of German, (). We unhesitating- 

 ly pronounce them the yellowest bees we ever 

 saw. On some the whole abdomen is yellow, 

 except the tip, which is black. In fact, they 

 have more yellow on them than the beautiful 

 bees sent out by Timpe and Hearn. May be 

 they are bees that came fiom them. 



My statement, that fixed frames could be 

 handled as rapidly as loose frames, and, in some 

 cases, more so. has been challenged once or 

 twice, although I have as good authority as 

 Mr. Elvvood, Mr. Hotfman, and others to back 

 me. On page 473, this issue, Mr. J. A. Green 

 says it takes about twice as long to handle 

 metal-cornered loose frames as it does fixed 

 closed-end frames, and then gives his reasons. 

 This fact must not be overlooked: They have 

 tried both kinds — loose and fixed frames. 



E. R. R. 



We have just had sonu^ hard lieating rains. 

 Immediately after one heavy dash we went out 

 into the yard and looked into a number of Dove- 

 tailed hives with fiat covers. There was not 



