1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



969 



'■green-goods" circulars that are being sent 

 through the mails. The blackmailers pretend 

 to be your friend, and that, if you keep the 

 thing a secret, they will give you a pile of 

 counterfeit bills that can not be told from the 

 genuine, for about a tenth of their donomina- 

 tional value, in t/oofZ money. If you are fool 

 enough to be " taken in " they will meet you at 

 a certain point, show you the "'green goods," 

 wliich you would say look like the genuine. 

 You purchase a box of them, and before you 

 get away they manipulate the box and you get 

 one of sawdust. This you discover, too late, 

 and your good money is gone. Several of these 

 schemers have been arrested; and their plans, 

 which are essentially the same, have been ex- 

 posed through the great dailies of the country. 



Our friend J. M. Jenkins, our Southern sup- 

 ply-dealer at Wetumpka. Ala., has been passing 

 through deep waters. It is only recently that 

 he lost a child; and now the companion of his 

 home, his wife, is taken aw'ay by that dread 

 disease, consumption. A letter just at hand 

 tells its own sad tale: 



Friend Rant :~Aftvv n years sufTering-, my belov- 

 ed wife passfd from flcatli unto life tliis morning-. 

 She died as she liad lived— liappy, and full of faitli 

 and love and peace. " Blessed are the pure in heart, 

 for they shall see God." J. M. Jenkins. 



Wetumpka, Ala., Dec. 2. 



The brotherhood of feeling is so strong among 

 bee-keepers that we are sure that we voice the 

 sympathy of them all. Friend Jenkins is an 

 earnest Christian, and kno\\'S how to take these 

 trials. 



It was intimated, at the Northwestern con- 

 vention, at Chicago, Nov. 19 and 20, that com- 

 mission men — at least some of them — are in the 

 habit of quoting a lower i)rice in their market 

 reports on honey than that at which it is actu- 

 ally sold. There is a chance and a temptation 

 here for a little dirty business, we know; and 

 while we are sure that most of our commission 

 men would be fai' above such deception or theft, 

 there may be a few who are guilty of it. This 

 is something that bee-keepers themselves 

 can determine without very much trouble, if 

 they have a mind to. If there are any such 

 (and we hope there are none who do it), and we 

 get the proof of it, we will give them a little 

 free advertising — not of the agreeable sort, 

 however. We have cai'efully looked into the 

 responsibility of every one of our honey-mer- 

 chants (those who report in Gleaxings), and 

 we do not b(^lieve that any of them are guilty of 

 any such disreputable piece of business. If 

 there are any such, however, let the facts be 

 known. Of course, wiiere a honey-merchant 

 buys the honey outright, that is a different 

 matter altogether. Our remarks apply only to 

 those who sell on commission. 



FOUNDATION AND FOUL BROOD. AGAIN; IS 

 THt:RE DANGER OF INFECTION? 



In the American Bee Journal, page 713. Mr. 

 S. Corneil, of Canada, a gentleman for whom 

 we have a very high personal i-egard, both as a 

 scholar, scientist, and bee-keeper, still insists 

 that foul brood may be spread by foundation, 

 although the whole bee-keeping fraternity 

 seems to be against him. Prof. Cook has often 

 said that, when science is at vai'iance with 

 practice and experience, we should reject science 

 and accept practice; but experience says, " No, 

 no!" If we understand the matter, science is 

 not at variance with practice in the case in 

 question. The long-continued heat to which 

 the wax is subjected in the process of clarifying 

 in making foundation is sufficient to sterilize 



the most resistant germs, as Mr. Newman 

 shows. INIr. Corneil, however, in commenting 

 on this point, thinks we are liable to dip out 

 infected wax that has been put in as a supply, 

 that may have been subjected to a high tem- 

 perature for only a short time. In reply to this 

 we would say that this contingency is exceed- 

 ingly improbable. All the wax, before we re- 

 ceive it. is supposed to be sterilized; and the 

 chances that it should be diseased in the first 

 place are not as one to a thousand. Another 

 thing, the fresh supplies of wax are usuallv put 

 in the night before, and there kept at atem- 

 perature of 180 all night. Seldom is wax added 

 during the day to our large melting-vats, unless 

 it be foundation clippings that are already 

 clarified from dirt and impurities, and these 

 clippings are certainly sterilized. The reason 

 we put the wax in at night is to allow the dirt 

 that may be in the cake to settle, and not be- 

 cause we fear the germs of foul brood. Mr. 

 Corneil also thinks that the disease originated 

 in our apiary, not from purchased honey, but 

 from foundation which we had put in the 

 apiary, said foundation having been previously 

 made from infected combs. Friend C. misun- 

 derstands us. We never put foundation made 

 from known diseased combs in the apiary until 

 after we had had foul brood; so it is improbable 

 that the disea.se could have originated in the 

 way he suggests, in our apiary. The founda- 

 tion under discussion was put in another por- 

 tion of the apiary, in clean hives; and to-day 

 those hives — every one of them— are perfectly 

 healthy. 



Ml'. Corneil further argues that, inasmuch as 

 the disease starts up in different parts of the 

 country, and for which the source of infection 

 is unknown, therefore the disease might come 

 from foundation. We know of quite a number 

 of apiaries where the foul brood originally 

 started whei-e foundation was unknown. It 

 started in the apiaries of Moses Quinby and G. 

 M. Doolittle before the days of foundation. 



Again, foundation is being used more and 

 more, and yet, in the United States at least, foul 

 brood is becoming less and less frequent. If 

 foundation carried infection, the disease would 

 be on the increase; but. on the contrary, it is on 

 the decrease. 



THE DEATH OF A BEE-KEEPER AND A HERO — 

 GEORGE H. ASHBY. 



A VERY neat and tasty card has just come to 

 hand, which reads as follows: "In loving re- 

 membrance of G. H. Ashby. died Nov. 1(3, 1891." 

 Mr. Ashby was quite a prominent G. A. R. 

 man, a bee-keeper, and a fun-raaker at conven- 

 tions. That his death was rather sudden is 

 evidenced by the fact that he was one among 

 the number who wrote they would be pi-esent 

 at the North American at Albany. His name 

 appears among the list of other bee-keepers, as 

 published in our last issue. He was not only a 

 bee-keeper of some note, but he was also a 

 brilliant soldier in the late "irrepressible con- 

 flict." He bore in his side a bullet, and the ef- 

 fects of the war showed only too plainly upon 

 his constitution. We all admire acts of bravery, 

 no matter whether we are of the North or of 

 the South; and just at this time it might be 

 proper to give one little incident illustrating 

 his life as a soldier. 



While before Vicksburg, under Gen. Grant, 

 he was captain of a company of artillerymen. 

 But before this city was captured the besieged 

 made one desperate attempt to route the Union 

 forces. In this battle. Captain Ashby took a 

 conspicuous part. The enemy wei-e approach- 

 ing, and it looked as if they were about to carry 

 the day. While his company of men were 

 shelling an advance column, word came to 



