GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



127 



it. • Only $1.00 a year invested in a bee-journal 

 will save several tinaes that amount in valuable 

 kinks learned during the year, and will enable 

 them to fight shy of the rascals engaged in the 

 business of selling honey. 



Realizing that the patronage of the journals 

 is comparatively small, we have this year put 

 a paragraph in our catalog, that reaches a cir- 

 culation of 150,000 a year, warning our patrons 

 to beware of new and untried commission 

 houses. Usually, firms fromising to do extra- 

 ordinarily big things are the very essence of 

 rascality, and the more aggravating because 

 they are sharp enough to evade the law. Well, 

 it would not be a bad idea if dealers and manu- 

 facturers would advise their patrons in a simi- 

 lar way in their catalogs. Let us leave no 

 stone unturned to post bee-keepers on the ways 

 of these " snide " concerns. 



THE NEW HONEY-LEAFLET BY DR. MILLER. 



Our honey-leaflets are now out, and are en- 

 titled, "Food Value of Honey." The subject- 

 matter was prepared by Dr. C. C. Miller. I 

 gave him the general outlines of what I want- 

 ed, and told him to work the subject over 

 thoroughly, in a way to interest consumers: 

 and this he has done in a mo^t admirable man- 

 ner. The following headings appear through 

 the leaflet: Honey as a wholesome Food; Hon- 

 ey the most delicious Sauce; It is economy to 

 use Honey; Give Children Honey; Honey the 

 best sweetening for hot Drinks; Comb and Ex- 

 tracted Honey; Different Kinds and Flavors of 

 Honey; Adulteration of Honey; Care of Honey; 

 The various uses of Honey; Honey-cooking 

 Recipes. These last have been carefully test- 

 ed in the homes of bee-keepers. Some of the 

 recipes heretofore published make "messes" 

 that are simply vile. The doctor has careful- 

 ly selected only those that are good, many of 

 them having been tested in his own family. 

 Among these is the recipe for the celebrated 

 honey-jumbles. The others comprised various 

 recipes for making honey-cakes, honey-gems, 

 honey cough-cure, summer honey drinks, etc. 



Taking it all in all, I believe this leaflet is the 

 most comprehensive and tnost complete of any 

 thing that has ever been gotten out; and it 

 will do a world of good in stimulating trade in 

 pure honey, providing bee-keepers make an 

 effort to place it among their customers. In 

 fact, we are preparing to distribute it all over 

 our town of 2000 inhabitants. 



We put the price so low— just high enough to 

 barely cover cost — so there will be no reason 

 why bee-keepers can not scatter it far and 

 wide. Price: 10 for 5 cts.; 100,20 cts.; 250,40 

 cts.; 500, 75 cts., all postpaid; lots of 1000, 75 

 cts., postage or express extra. The leaflet con- 

 tains something like 3000 words. It is printed 

 in bold, clear-faced type, leaded brevier, like 

 our ABC book, and the matter occupies four 



pages the size of this. When desired to inclose 

 it in a letter, all that is necessary is to fold it 

 twice as you would a letter. 



I will further make the suggestion that every 

 honey-producer in the country, every time he 

 writes to his customers, inclose one of these 

 leaflets. The price is so extremely low that 

 he can well afford to do it. If the demand 

 shall prove to be great enough, we shall be 

 able to reduce the price still further. As it is, 

 we expect an enormously large demand or else 

 we could not make these prices, for we do not 

 care to make any direct profit on the leaflet. 



HONOR TO WHOM HONOR IS DUE, AND CREDIT 

 TO WHOM CREDIT IS DUE; WHO FIRST US- 

 ED STAPLES UNDER THE PRO.JECTION 

 OF TOP-BARS, AS END SPACERS ? 



Since our last issue, describing the improve- 

 ments on Hoffman frames, as given on page 94, 

 we have received scores of indorsements and 

 orders. I do not know of any thing we ever in- 

 troduced that seemed to have been so instantly 

 accepted as a move in the right direction as the 

 end-spacer to the Hoffman frame. Among 

 those who consider the improvement of great 

 value are two or three who used the idea long 

 before we did. Mr. F. Boomhower, of Gallup- 

 ville, N. Y., a bee-keeper who has figured more 

 or less prominently in the bee-journals for per- 

 haps a score of years, says he has used end. 

 spacers for years, as we have described them, 

 including the wooden gaugj and all. In proof 

 of this he furnishes one of his catalogs, issued 

 in 1893. In this he sets forth the great desir- 

 ability of the improvement. A few quotations 

 will suffice to show how much he valued the 

 idea. He says: " Any one can, for about 3 cts. 

 per hive, add this improvement to his frames 

 which he may already have in use, without 

 changing or getting new ones:" that they " add 

 much to the enjoyment of the operator, and 

 make rapid manipulation a pleasure. . . Any 

 frame or frames can be instantly removed, and 

 at all times, without the use of any knife or 

 pry to remove them, as is the case with the 

 Hoffman or any closed end frame. There being 

 a bee-space between ihe end of top-bar of frame 

 and shoulder of rabbet, in end of hive, there is 

 no possible chance for the bees to apply or de- 

 posit any propolis; and any or part or all of the 

 frames can be instantly shovpd across from one 

 side to the other. . . This arrangement 

 alone is a valuable one, and merits the atten- 

 tion of every progressive bee-keeper." 



The frame that Mr. Bpomhower describes, as 

 will appear from the disparaging reference to 

 the Hoffman, as above given, was 7iot exactly 

 such a frame as we illustrated in Gleanings. I 

 have before me one of his hives and a set of the 

 frames. The top-bar is a bee-space short at 

 each end, and a nail driven in diagonally 

 through the top into the end-bar. These end- 



