792 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



tinct to be used for our half-tone work. To 

 get reallv good landscape pictures, exposures 

 should be made on a cloudy day. When the 

 sun shines bright, the contrast between the 

 shaded and brightly illumined parts of the 

 picture is too great, the former being technical- 

 ly "under exposed." and the latter "over ex- 

 posed," and in neither case is there good work 

 produced. If the day is clear, have the photo- 

 graph taken toward evening, when the light is 

 not so glaring. We can use only a small per 

 cent of tlie pictures sent: but what we do use, 

 we should like to have perfect as to the amount 

 of exposure. Show this editorial to your art- 

 ist, and he will understand what we mean. 



DO OI,D UEES SECRETE WAX V 



In another column it will be noticed that E. 

 France has contributed an exceedingly valua- 

 ble and interesting article on wax secretion. 

 Most of us would be satisfied with the almost 

 overwhelming proof that he brings to bear, 

 that old bees can and do secrete wax and build 

 comb when pressed to do so; but with his 

 usual painstaking care and accuracy he is not 

 yet entirely satisfied, but proposes to try the 

 experiment again. We do not know that there 

 is any practical bearing touching this subject, 

 but there has been much discussion, and it is 

 now time that we have a series of facts to 

 prove which side is right. This will be a good 

 experiment for the Michigan Agricultural Col- 

 lege. Let them isolate a swarm newly hived, 

 and take the bi'ood away from them every 20 

 days, each time compelling them to build 

 comb. 



QUEENS TO AUSTRAIAA. 



W^Ei.L, we have just heard from two of the 

 queens that we sent to Australia. They were 

 36 davs on the road. One cage arrived with all 

 the bees alive, but the fittce?i was dead. How 

 provoking! Usually the tables are turned the 

 other way. We often find boxes that have just 

 arrived from Italy with the bees dead, but the 

 queen alive I We feel sure that, if the queen 

 had not been injured in some way, or weak 

 from some cause or othei'. she would have gone 

 through alive. The other cage had all the bees 

 and queens dead: but examination showed that 

 they had been dead only a day or two. and that 

 because of the fact they had receiv<^d a dash of 

 water— possibly sea-water— at an unlucky mo- 

 ment, and this was too much for the candy. 

 We can hardly regard either of these as fail- 

 ures; and the only reason why they were not a 

 perfect success in both cases was due to rather 

 unusual accidents. 



THE TOBACCO COEUMX. 



.SojiE of our readers may wonder why no tes- 

 timonies from tliose ^^ iio have given up tobacco 

 have appeared since the loth of July. The re- 

 ports on pages 747 and "8 will partially explain. 

 But you will need to keep in mind that all 

 these' reports should have been published in 

 July; and my footnote at the end of the testi- 

 monies was written with the supposition that 

 it would appear in the July 1st issue. While I 

 was sick it was crowded out for moi-e impor- 

 tant matter — that is. if there is any more im- 

 portant matter before the American people just 

 now. It does not quite seem to me that there 

 is. Now, please do not think, from the long 

 silence on this subject, that the work has not 

 been going on. for we have another string of 

 testimonies for our next issue. This explana- 

 tion seemed to be due our readers because of 

 my comments at the closing-up on page 748. 



A. I. R. 



LUTHEK W. GRAY. 



In response to my request in our issue for 

 Sept. 15. page ()9."), a pai't of those who sent Mr. 

 G^^y money have replied, staiing how much. 

 Several others have made no response. As it is 

 quite unlikely that Mr. Gray will be able to re- 

 turn the money very soon, we have decided to 

 make good all that our readers have lost by 

 sending money to him, under the following con- 

 ditions: The one who sent money in answer to 

 Ml'. Gray's advertisement must, of course, have 

 been a subscriber to Gleanings at the time. If 

 he borro\v(^d the papei- of a neighboi'. and saw 

 (xray's advertisement, and then sent him mon- 

 ey. I hardly feel that we should pay it. for we 

 decide to piotect only our siihscrlbers. Second, 

 we ask the privilege of paying the amount in 

 bees or queens instead of cash. But we can not 

 furnish tiicm at the prices Mr. Gray advertised, 

 for he quoted very low figures, with the under- 

 standing. I presume, that he was in Florida, 

 where it is summer the year round, and so he 

 could afford to raise queens at a low price. If, 

 howevei', yt)u prefer to take the amount out in 

 Gleanings or ABC books, we will extend 

 your subscription oi' mail the books, and thus 

 have the matter ended. We shall charge the 

 amount to Mr. Gray, and hope he may some 

 time be able to pay it back to us. Our book- 

 keeper will mail a memorandum of credit to the 

 different parties. A. I. R. 



THE APIAKY AT THE HOME OF THE HONEY- 

 BEES CRITICISED. 



During the last three or four days we have 

 had quite a number of visitors here at the Home 

 of the Honey-bees. On going into the apiary 

 they were a little disappointed on seeing that 

 grass had grown some six or seven inches high, 

 and that some of the entrances were somewhat 

 obstructed with grass and weeds. They had 

 read the A B C book, and expected to see nice 

 white sand for dooryards to the hives, and the 

 grass all neatly kept down with a lawn-mower. 

 Perhaps we should explain a little. One of our 

 apiarists left us a month or six weel\S ago, 

 leaving only one man to manage the yards with 

 the assistance we were able to rendei' ourselves 

 whenever we could get time from the ofhce. 

 The consequence was, we were obliged to do no 

 more work than was absolutely necessary. The 

 principal thing we aimed to do was to keep the 

 internal condition of the hives in good working 

 ti'im for queen-rearing. Many of the hives had 

 nuclei. We have found that, while grass and 

 weeds in front of the entrances disconcert rob- 

 bers to a very great extent, they do not very 

 much ti'ouble the rightful inmates of the hive. 

 While it looks untidy in the fall of the year, 

 there is certainly an advantage in this untidi- 

 ness. After all. brother bee-keepers, how many 

 of i/oit have a model apiary with respect to 

 closely mown grass and neatly arranged door- 

 yards to fpcri/ hive? We have some 300 or 400 

 colonies oi- nuclei in the home yard now; and 

 one man has. practically, managed the whole, 

 and he does it largely on the plan we outlined 

 in an editorial on page 749. last issue; that is, 

 diagnosing colonies, and handling hives more 

 and frames less. In our visit to noted apiarists 

 of the country, we rarely found one who kept 

 eveiy thing neat and in apple-pie order, al- 

 though in many cases our visit had been antic- 

 ipated, and things were probably in better 

 shape than they would have been if it had not 

 been known that a bee-editor with a criticising 

 eye was soon to be among them. When our 

 colonies ai'e running for honey, and it is the 

 height of the honey season, we keep entrances 

 clear; but during the fall, for the reason above 

 stated, we let the umiker ones have their en- 

 trances a little bit obstructed with grass. 



