5(3(5 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1. 



so fast that, the two nights he spent with us, 

 we talked till midnight and after, and then 

 wanted to converse longer. Why is it that a 

 couple of bee-keepers like to talk so long? 

 Ramblei" had that mysterious and ever-present 

 camera with him. Don't know whether he 

 used it or not. We'll see. 



The Report of the 32d Annual Convention of 

 the New York State Bee-keepers' Association, 

 held at Albany last January, in pamphlet form 

 is before us. Price 25 cts. It can be had of the 

 Secretary, G. H. Knickerbocker, Pine Plains, 

 N. Y. 



When you receive queens, be careful not to 

 lay them on a shelf where ants can get at them. 

 A customer just writes that the queen he re- 

 ceived was a nice one, and he was well pleased 

 with her. He laid the cage containing her and 

 the attendants upon a shelf temporarily; and 

 when he went to get her she was covered with 

 small ants, dead. This has happened more 

 than once, and hence this caution. 



By request of W. I. Buchanan, Chief of the 

 Department of Agriculture for the World's 

 Columbian Exposition, the editor of the Amerir- 

 can Bee Journal has prepared a list of all the 

 apicultural societies in the United States, and 

 published them, with the name and address of 

 the secretary. There are HI in all in the list. 

 As there are so many, thei-e may be some errors, 

 and the editor requests that corrections be 

 made at once, so that he may be able to present 

 a full representation before the directors of the 

 World's Fair. 



Our thanks are due to Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson, 

 editor of the Review, and the stenographer who 

 is taking down these words, for the kind things 

 said in a well- written biographical sketch that 

 appeared in the last Review, relative to E. R. R. 

 It was a complete surprise to him. If we have 

 said any thing of a complimentary nature in 

 reference to Mr. Hutchinson's new book on the 

 next page, it was said solely on the merits of the 

 work, not because we desired to reciprocate. 

 Our conclusions as to the excellent character of 

 the new book were already formed before the 

 Revlcto with the sketch came to hand. 



There has been some complaint because our 

 index has been left out for several months. 

 The idea of omitting it was that we might, at 

 the end of the year, be pi-epared to make a more 

 complete index of the whole volume. When it 

 is made up just before going to press, justice 

 can not be done it; and we thought that we 

 would try the experiment of leaving it out 

 without saying any thing about it. Well, as 

 some have complained, we rencnv it again in 

 this issue. One or two. for some unaccountable 

 reason, seemed to take the omission as an insult 

 or injury. We hope this explanation will satis- 

 fy all. 



THE MICHAEL STRAWBERRY. 



In my sti'awberry report I neglected to men- 

 tion the Michael's Early. It is a splendid grow- 

 er, and we could furnish any quantity of plants 

 with very little trouble: but I very much fear 

 that, like all the other extra-early strawberries, 

 it is not a good bearer. As the frost killed most 

 of the bloom in consequence of being so early, 

 we have decided to give it a trial another sea- 

 son. We have also tested Lovetfs Early; but 

 as these were put out late last fall, we can not 

 say much about them. The fi'uit is of good 

 size, and I am inclined to think it will give us 



more berries than Michael's Early. We shall 

 have to wait another season before we can say 

 any thing definite. We have a great quantity 

 of plants of Michael's Early to spare; but at 

 present I prefer not to offer them for sale unless 

 it is to somebody who has already grown them, 

 and who feels satisfied they will produce fruit 

 in abundance during a favorable season. A. I. R. 



THE BEST METHOD OF FASTENING FOUNDA- 

 TION IN SECTIONS. 



The Hayes foundation-fastener, and the Ar- 

 thur C. Miller machine, on the same principle, 

 are far ahead of any pressure methods of put- 

 ting starters into sections. The scheme of hav- 

 ing a heated plate or a heated tongue held for 

 a moment in contact with the edge of the start- 

 er, and said plate then drawing back suddenly, 

 leaving the melted edge of the starter to stick 

 on the section, is vastly ahead of any other 

 method; and it seems hard to undei'Stand how 

 any one can come to any other conclusion after 

 having tried it faithfully. When we visited 

 Dr. Millei' a few months ago. we saw an Arthur 

 C. Miller foundation-fastener hanging up on 

 the rafters of the honey-house, unused. " Why. 

 doctor, why haven't you tried it?"' we asked. 

 " Never had the patience to get it down and 

 fuss with it. The Clark fastener is good 

 enough." Doctor, you want to pull that fasten- 

 er down and try it: and if you don't reverse 

 your judgment, it will suiprise E. R. R. 



FIVE-BANDED VERSUS THREE-BANDED BEES. 



W. J. Ellison, in the Bee-keepers" Review, 

 says, "1 have several colonies of five-banded 

 bees; and if they do not do better another sea- ■ 

 son, they will have to take the next seat lower. 

 . . . . They surpass every ihing in beauty; 

 and the question now is. Shall we raise these 

 queens because they please our customers, even 

 though we feel that we have their superiors in 

 three-banded bees?" In a letter just received 

 from Mr. Ellison he reiterates in substance the 

 above, and then adds: "I have three-banded 

 Italians that can outstrip the five-banded bees 

 altogether in honey-gathering. Some of them 

 are also very irritable, and unpleasant to han- 

 dle, and the crosses are not as easily discovered. 

 A colony of hybrids from five-banded stock 

 may be called three-banded pure." Oui- yellow 

 bees were the first to die off, and some of them 

 have been very irritable, and we attribute it to 

 the fact thai they were bred from Cyprian or 

 Syrian bees. Let customers who want beauti- 

 ful bees have them, but let them be acquainted 

 with all their qualities. While we believe it is 

 possible to breed both for utility and beauty in 

 one bee, the tendency in such breeding is to sin- 

 gle out color, and let eveiy thing else go. Breed 

 for energetic workers, and you have a quality 

 in bees that is valuable — that is, a money- 

 maker. If we can add beauty at the same time, 

 then we are so much ahead. Mr. Doolittle 

 thinks we can do this. 



THE CANDY-MAKER AND THE BEES; A VIC- 

 TOI'.Y FOR THE ITNION. 



The Bee-keei'ers' Union has scored anoth- 

 er victory. At Easton, Pa., a certain candy- 

 maker (as we learn from the American Bee 

 Jour)ial) took measures to have the council 

 prohibit bees within the corporation. Before 

 this body took any action, however, C. G. Beitel, 

 a bee-keeper of that place, requested a hearing. 

 He used the argument of Judge Williams in the 

 Arkadelphia case, and theii showed the com- 

 mittee that his' bees were witiiin one thousand 

 yards of the city limits. As the city is only two 

 miles across, moving them only a thousand 

 yards would make no practical difference; and, 



