GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1. 





Mr. B. K. S. Bennett, editor of the Pacific 

 Bee Journal, who published some reflections 

 upon the character of one of California's prom- 

 inent bee-keepers, Mr. Geo. W. Brodbeck, ref- 

 erence to which has already been made in our 

 columns, has, in his January number, publish- 

 ed a retraction expressing his regrets, as Mr. B. 

 is willing to forgive and forget. We are glad 

 to announce this happy termination. 



THE NEW DRAWN FOUNDATION. 



We are receiving quite a number of testimo- 

 nials expressing appreciation and surprise at 

 the success we have achieved in producing the 

 new article. Here is a sample of how a bee- 

 keeper who not only knows what he is talking 

 about, but who is well known to the whole fra- 

 ternity, writes: 



The sample of drawn comb is this day at hand. 

 Thank you. I must say that it exceeds my expecta- 

 tions, and I predict great things for it it it can be 

 put on the market at a reasonable price. I have 

 had considerable experience with combs, and know 

 their value. E. T. Flanagan. 



Belleville, ril., Feb. 23. 



LOW PRICES ON HONEY, AND WHY. 



It will be noted in another column that Cali- 

 fornia produced in one year about 425 carloads of 

 honey, not including small amounts consumed 

 locally. Arizona and Colorado are coming up 

 rapidly to the front as honey-producing States; 

 and one of the bee-keepers wrote the other day, 

 " Look out for Colorado when our honey gets on 

 your eastern markets." With continuous hon- 

 ey-flows from three to six months, is it any 

 wonder that our western brethren can produce 

 honey cheaply? Of course, the West has to 

 contend with the freights; but even then, with 

 their 600 or 700 cars of honey that is liable to 

 appear at some seasons of the year, it is not 

 much wonder that prices have had to drop 

 some. We are in hopes that the new comb will 

 help bee-keepers produce honey more cheaply. 

 We shall see. One thing, however, is very grat- 

 ifying. The fact that such vast amounts are 

 produced and consumed yearly, shows that hon- 

 ey is coming to be more and more a staple arti- 

 cle somewhere; for it is practically certain that 

 no such amount could have been carried twen- 

 ty years ago, even in proportion to the popula- 

 tion at that time. 



THE NEW HOFFMAN FRAME, AND JULIUS 

 HOFFMAN. 



Some days ago we received a letter from Mr. 

 Julius Hoffman, after whom the Hoffman 

 frames were named. Here is what he says : 



Mr. Root:—l have noticed in Gleanings, page 94, 

 that you are doing your best to improve the Hoff- 

 man frame, and think the change will be a success. 

 As for me, I still use and make it as I had it at first. 



but make liive and frame 1V2 in. shallower than be- 

 fore, as I now raise comb honey principally. I am 

 wintering 800 colonies. They seem to winter excel- 

 lently. Julius Hoffman. 



Canajoharie, N. Y., Feb. 11. 



Mr. Hoffman has for a good many years, in 

 effect, secured the same results that we sought 

 to obtain as set forth on page 94; namely, pre- 

 venting the end-sticking of the top-bars. He 

 long realized the necessity of keeping these in- 

 tact, but he does it in an entirely different 

 way. The hive-rabbets are shallow and nar- 

 row, and the frames come flush with the top of 

 the hive. The ends of the top- bars are widened 

 the same as the end-bars, and are entirely cov- 

 ered, so that the bees can not get at them to 

 chink in propolis. But the general construction 

 of the Dovetailed hive, or any hive based on 

 Langstroth dimensions, made it necessary to 

 depart from the original Hoffman somewhat. 



Eight hundred colonies in winter quarters! 

 Well, that is the kind of bee-keeper Mr. Hoff- 

 man is. The fact that he was so extensively 

 engaged in bee-keeping, and that his appliances 

 worked so well, led us to believe that he was a 

 safe man to follow, and we did. The conse- 

 quence is, we have pushed the Hoffman frame 

 so that it is now used very largely all over the 

 United States, when formerly it was used only 

 In certain sections of New York. 



APIS DORSATA AT THE LINCOLN CON\'ENTION. 



One of our cotemporaries, in criticising the 

 action of the Lincoln convention regarding 

 Apis dorsata, jumped to the conclusion that it 

 was at the instigation of a so called "ring," 

 made up of Drs. Miller and Mason, and York 

 and the Roots. This is what the editor of the 

 Nebraska Bee keeper says on the subject. 



I have been reading with some interest the discus- 

 sion, pro and con, of the action of the Lincoln con- 

 vention In regard to the importation of Apis dorsata. 

 Now, 1 wish to say that 1 think but one or two gen- 

 tlemen know that such a resolution was thought of 

 until I read it and moved its adoption. As to the 

 why I feel opposed to the Importation of Apis dor- 

 sata by the general government at this time and in 

 the manner askpd for by the Ontario County Bee- 

 keepers' Association, I will say: 



Fii-st. I do not think it is a bee that would do us 

 any good. A score of years ago we had in our em- 

 ploy a bright yonng man. A year or so later found 

 him on his way as a missionary to Africa. Three or 

 tour more years pass along and he revisits his boy- 

 hood home and parents in our town. While here 

 he described animals, insects, and bees, as found in 

 that far-off land. Although not particularly inter- 

 ested in Apis dorsata at that time, yet from his de- 

 scriptions, and those read later, I think they may be 

 identical, or nearly so, and I at present believe 

 worthless to us, other than as curiosities. * * • 



Now, gentlemen, instead of growling, and throw- 

 ing stones and slurs at "Root, Miller, York, or Ma- 

 son," who did not introduce the resolution at the 

 Lincoln convention, throw them at some one out in 

 the Paeiflc Ocpan. If Root or Miller or York had 

 needed Apis dorsata in their apiaries, like gentle- 

 men they would have inclosed a $10 bill with a well- 

 provisioned queen-cage to some agent or missionary 

 in far-away lands, and had Apis dorsata queens to 

 sell to their customers before the government agent 

 could pack his gripsack ready to start. Whenever 

 we have learned that Apis dorsata is any thing desir- 

 able it will get here. 



01 wish all of our bee-keeping friends could not 

 only hear but see Mr. Whitcomb give expression 



