382 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15. 



lege, is not in the United States. But even if it 

 is not, I am sure we bee-keepers on this side of 

 the line will be very glad to assist in any way 

 in our power. 



ARBITRATING DISPUTES BETWEEN COMMISSION 

 HOUSES AND BEE-KEEPERS. 



A DIFFICULTY arose between one of our prom- 

 inent commission houses and a bee-keeper. 

 Both parties finally agreed to have the matter 

 arbitrated by the National Bee-keepers' Union. 

 All correspondence was submitted to General 

 Manager Newman, and by him turned over to 

 a board of arbitrators. Each arbitrator turned 

 in his own decision independently and without 

 the knowledge of what any of the other mem- 

 bers had decided or would decide. These deci- 

 sions were laid before the General Manager, 

 with the result that the commission house was 

 to pay the bee-keeper a difference of SIO.OO as 

 settlement. These three or four men, acting as 

 arbitrators, certainly could have no interest 

 one way or the other; and while the decisions 

 would probably please neither party exactly, it 

 is probably as nearly fair as any thing could be. 



It strikes me that this method of settling dif- 

 ficulties between an honest commission house 

 and a bee-keeper equally honest is the way. 

 Very often I have been called upon to act as ar- 

 bitrator in disputes of this kind; and, no mat- 

 ter which way I have decided, I was sure to 

 merit the ill will of one of the parties; but 

 when a body of men reach a conclusion, and 

 unanimously decide upon a certain plan of set- 

 tlement, neither party has much ground for 

 feeling that he was not given fair treatment. 



" BEE PIZEN." 



General Manager Newman does not seem 

 to take it very kindly that the editor of the 

 American Bee Journal, Mr. York, should deem 

 his official acts and utterances as proper sub- 

 jects of criticism; and in replying to an edito- 

 rial on page 348 of the American Bee Journal 

 he uses some pretty harsh language. Refer- 

 ring to the present editor of the paper that he 

 himself once edited, he says: " If the writer in- 

 tended to bo honorable he would not attempt 

 to misinterpret the quotations from my report." 

 Other expressions, such as "bombastic," and 

 "contemptibly mean," are uncalled for when 

 directed at one who worked with him for years 

 in the same office — in the same harness, as it 

 were— striving to make the "Old Reliable" the 

 good paper that it was. In another bee-paper 

 Mr. Newman refers to the publishers of the 

 Bee-keepers' Review and of this journal as the 

 " worst enemies " of the pursuit of bee- keeping 

 —one for one offense, and one for another. 



I remember of once hearing Mr. Newman at 

 a convention recess say that he often found it 

 necessary to withdraw the " stings " from cer- 

 tain articles that were sent in to him for pub- 



lication, as he thought it was unwise and un- 

 necessary to wound; that argument courteous- 

 ly given was more effective. His policy was a 

 good one, and is practiced by many a wise ed- 

 itor. Now that he is out of the editorial har- 

 ness of the American Bee Journal, it seems to 

 me he has forgotten himself. The /orce of his 

 articles would have been very much greater if 

 he had pulled out the stings rather than to 

 have sent them as they were for publication, 

 bristling with "bee pizen." Such violence of 

 language quite defeats its end, and I am sur- 

 prised that Mr. Newman should not see it so. 



PETTIT'S new system of PRODUCING COMB 



honey; experiments at the ONTARIO 



AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



On pages 51 and 160 we have published arti- 

 cles relating to Pettit's new system of produc- 

 ing comb honey, or, rather, a method by which 

 the outside surfaces of the two rows of sections 

 next to the super sides may be filled out as well 

 as the surfaces in the center of the super. Ex- 

 perimenter R. F. Holtermann, in the Twen- 

 ty-second Annual Report of the Ontario Ag- 

 ricultural College, says: "Comb-honey pro- 

 ducers know that, with rare exceptions, in the 

 comb-honey supers now used, sections having 

 their faces to the wood are filled last, and the 

 inner sections have to be left capped and fin- 

 ished on the hive, waiting for the bees to finish 

 the surface of the sections joining the wood." 



The idea of S. T. Pettit, of Belmont, Ont., al- 

 ready outlined in these columns, was made the 

 subject of an elaborate experiment last sum- 

 mer at the Ontario College. The main objects 

 in the experiment, which I give in the lan- 

 guage of the experimenter, are thus set forth: 



1st. To compare the number and size of pop-holes 

 in the sections of supers with the bee-space above 

 and those without. Those without had a quilt next 

 the sections; those with, had a board with ;^-incb 

 hee-space over the super, between the board and 

 the sections. 



2d. To compare comb honey having- the face of 

 the last sections and wood sides of supers separated 

 by only the usual one bee-space, and those having- 

 two or more bee-spaces. The two or more bee-spaces 

 were secured by means of dividers of different 

 construction. Some were of solid boards with holes 

 bored in them. Others were made of strips. The 

 bee-space used was Ji inch in every case, and it is 

 very important that this should be exact. 



Following is the result of the worls of seven col- 

 onies with cloth and no bee-space over the sections. 

 Hive No. 1— An average percentage of pop-holes. 

 Hive No. 3— Same as number one. 

 Hive No. 3— Pop-holes slightly more numerous than 



the averagp. 

 Hive No. 4— Rather better than preceding supers. 

 Hive No. 6— Althougli sections were particularly 

 well filled, the pop-holes were remarkably numer- 

 ous. 

 Hive No 6— A still larger percentage of pop-holes in 



the corners both at top and bottom. 

 Hive No. 7— About the same as No 6. 



The result of experiments with i^-inch bee-space 

 over the sections, nine colonies in the group, is as 

 follows: 

 Hive No. 1-— About 10 per cent fewer pop-holes than 



the average of the above. 

 Hives Nos. 3 and 3— Same as number one. 

 Hives Nos. 4, 5, and 6— About 7 per cent fewer pop- 

 holes than the average of above. 

 Hive No. 7— Still fewer pop-holes. 



