V78 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



bees. Perhaps, taking it all in all, it would 

 be better for you to wait till next spring be- 

 fore you transfer. If you do not change to the 

 other hive, you would need to make sure that 

 the old one has stores enough to carry it over 

 till next spring. 



On the afternoon of the 24th of October 

 there arrived at the home of the editor of the 

 American Bee Journal a beautiful baby girl. 

 Both mother and daughter seem to be doing 

 well. We extend to Bro. York our heartiest 

 congratulations. Give the baby a kiss for us 

 Medinaites. 



^-^ 



The writer or editor who furnishes the mat- 

 ter for " Beedom Boiled Down," in the Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal, is doing some good work. 

 The items are not only carefully sifted, but 

 clearly and forcibly put. I think I recognize, 

 not the handwriting, but the earmarks of the 

 writer. _^^ 



Information has come to us that J. H. 

 Martin, so well and favorably known to our 

 readers, is now very sick. We hope the re- 

 port is either not true or 

 else that our friend the 

 Rambler has passed the 

 danger-point. J. H. Mar- 

 tin was first heard of in 

 York State. He then 

 became known to the 

 hee-keeping world as an 

 '^'" inventive genius. Later 



'in he began rambling 

 throvigh the East for 

 J. H. MARTIN. Gleanings, and his arti- 



cles appeared in these colunnis. His rambles 

 among bee-keepers extended finally across the 

 continent to California. Later on a serial 

 story, so fresh to all our readers, came forth 

 from his pen. 



NIVER AND HIMSELF. 



Among the bee-men whom I met recently 

 in York State was S. A. Niver, to whom I 

 have already referred as being the chap who 

 had a tongue that was ' ' balanced in the mid- 

 dle." Well, with this facile tongue he knows 

 how to sell honey, and get bigger prices, I am 

 told, than almost any one else, even selling 

 the same goods. Mr. Niver generally styles 

 himself " Morton's brother-in-law." Morton, 

 you know, is the bee-keeper, that inventive 

 genius to whom I have already referred, and 

 it is he who produces the honey. It is Niver 

 who sells the goods. 



It is with peculiar pleasure that I introduce 

 to you in another column "S. A. Niver and 

 himself." Among Niver' s other accomplish- 

 ments is guitar-playing; and the picture else- 

 where shows him not only playing the guitar 



but looking at himself in another chair. In 

 other words, Mr. Niver appears to be one of 

 those remarkable chaps who are able to do 

 two things at once — sit in two places at a time 

 — that is to say, in this case at least, is able to 

 assume the role of beginner in guitar-playing 

 and instructor in the same art at one and the 

 same time. 



I need hardly say this is accomplished by a 

 trick in photography. Two " exposures " are 

 taken on the same plate. When the first sit- 

 ting is taken the negative in the camera is 

 covered with black paper, just half way; then 

 an exposure is taken on the uncovered end. 

 A second exposure is then made, but the oth- 

 er end of the negative is then covered. 



Mr. Niver, besides being a glib salesman, is 

 a real fun-maker. To illustrate: At one of the 

 county bee-keepers' conventions which I at- 

 tended, while we were enjoying the picnic 

 dinner a certain 3-oung man had just deliv- 

 ered a " drive " on his friend Niver. Quick 

 as flash, Mr. Niver, with eyes beaming with 

 earnest S3-mpathy, turned about and said to 

 the rest of us in a confidential tone, " Oh, yes! 

 Harry is an awful good bo}\ He has onl}' one 

 fault. When he eats pie he zvill muss his 

 ears;" and Harry was eating pie just then. 

 Of course, this raised a roar of lauahter. 



FOUL BROOD INCREASING IN THIS COUNTRY. 



We are receiving, almost daily, suspected 

 samples of brood which we are requested to 

 diagnose. In nine cases out of ten they prove 

 to be foul brood. To-day (Oct. 20) I opened 

 a sample of one of the worst cases I have ever 

 seen. The odor from a colony affected would 

 be sufficiently strong, I think, so that it could 

 be detected several yards from the apiar}-. At 

 all events, it was the " loudest "-smelling 

 sample I ever came across. This almost daily 

 receipt of samples of affected brood from all 

 parts of the country is alarming. 



I have already found where this disease is 

 making headway in portions of the United 

 States that have more colonies and more bee- 

 keepers to the square mile, I beheve, than any 

 other place in this country. In fact, the dis- 

 ease is api^arently starting up all over the 

 land, and it will need some vigorous mea- 

 sures and some good legislation to keep the 

 disease in check. I would suggest that, in 

 those States where there is no foul-brood law, 

 bee-keepers send in a big petition to their 

 next general assembly, asking for the needed 

 legislation. 



A foul-brood inspector (N. E. France, of 

 Platteville, Wis. ) has been appointed for Wis- 

 consin. A law was recently enacted ; and 

 with the State back of him the inspector pro- 

 poses to make a clean sweep of the State. 



The good work done by foul-brood inspect- 

 or McEvoy, of Canada, is too well known to 

 need mention, and now the Canadian bee- 

 keepers are practically masters of the disease. 



We on this side of the line can not afford to 

 let it get the start of us. Our catalog, our 

 ABC book, and, in fact, nearly all of the 

 text-books on apiculture, give good methods 

 of treating the disease. 



