1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



99 



Eight extra paj^es this lime. We have so 

 much g<K)(l mailer on hand Ihal we are obliged 

 to give this extra space. 



The subscriplion-clerk tells me that new 

 subscribers are joining our ranks in a way 

 they have not done ior years. Let the good 

 work go on. The more subscribers, the bet- 

 ter we can afford lo make the journal. 



When the idea of grading honey by means 

 of a photograph was first advanced, frien 1 

 Htitchinson though it too fanciful to be even 

 considered ; but the more he has thought of 

 it, the more practical it seein.ed ; and then he 

 adds, " I have not yet forgotten the derisive 

 manner in which I laughed when I first saw 

 and heard of a bee-CsCipe." Neither have I 

 forgotten how I laughed in the same derisive 

 way at Danzenbaker's fence, or, as he then 

 called it, cleated separator. W'l y! to be oblig- 

 ed to fuss with so many little sticks, slats, and 

 nails was simply a'a<ful ; and in my heart I 

 actually pitied some of friend Danzcubaker's 

 (poor deluded) customers. While I hold the 

 same opinion yet in regard to the fussy nail- 

 ing, machinery and glue have obviaied all 

 this ; and his cleated separators, or lences, are 

 not the " awful thius^s " thev once were. 



CONSOI^IDATING THE OLD AND THE NEW 

 UNION. 



It seems as if this question were coming up, 

 and bound to come up. Here is a copy of a 

 letter sent to General Manager Secor, which 

 will explain itself: 



Hon. Eugene Secor: — At the meeting of the Califor- 

 nia Bee-keepers' A-,sociation on tl;e 11th inst., the sub- 

 ject of the old and the new Bee-keepers' Union was 

 taken up for discussion, which resulted in the follow- 

 ing re.'^olutiuns; 



Resol'<'ed, That the new Union should absorb the old. 



Forty-three in favor of, no opp jsitiuii 



Resoh'ed, That the Secretary be instructed to inform 

 the re->peclive managers of tlie Uui' us of this action. 



1 therefore transmit the same to you with the in- 

 closed S>.00, and the names of the following persons 

 for membership. 



Hoping that the succe-s of the new Union is only a 

 question of a strengthening in the way of funds, 



I remain fraternally yours, J. H. Martin. 



I feel sure that this consolidation can be ef- 

 fected in time. The action taken by the Cal- 

 ifornia bee-keepers is in the right direction. 

 If similar resolutions are passed by other or- 

 ganizations it will do much toward bringing 

 about the desired result. But of course the 

 amalgamati(jn, if effected at all, would have 

 to be sanctioned by the members of both or- 

 ganizaiions, otherwise it will be indefinitely 

 postponed. 



In case amalgamation is effected, the 

 thought has occurred to me that there might 

 be two branches of worl- — one lo take the de- 

 fense line, managed by Mr. Newman, and the 

 other take up adulteration, managed by Mr. 

 Secor. I do not know that there could be 



two General Managers; but there could be 

 two officers, and those two officers might be in 

 two different localities. 



THE REV. DR. TALMAGE AND THE BEES. 



Last vSunday, Jan. 2R, Rev. Dr. Talmage 

 preached a sermon on hone_\ , taking as his 

 text I. Sam. 14: 4H, and from it he draws a 

 good many valuable le.ssons ; but it is evident 

 that, in looking up the subject of the architec- 

 ture of the honey comb, he has in his Hbrary 

 some books that have borrowed Irum bee-lore 

 of a century ago, because 1 hardly think that 

 Dr. Talmage would have manufactured the 

 following out of whole cloth. In telling how 

 the bees make honey-comb he says : 



"These winged toilers first make eight 

 strips of wax ; and with iheir antennte, which 

 are to them hammer and chisel and square 

 and plumb-line, they fashion them for use. 

 Two aiul two these workers shape the wall. If 

 an accident happens, they put up buttresses 

 of extra beams to remedy the damage." 



Then a little further on, in telling what 

 causes bees to swarm, he says : 



" 1 he mother-bee starts for a new home; 

 and because of this the other bees of the hive 

 . get into an excitement, which raises the heat 

 of the hive some four degrets, and they must 

 die unless they leave their old apartment, and 

 they follow the mother-bee, and alight on a 

 branch of a tree, and cling tu each other, and 

 hold on until a committee of two or three bees 

 has explored the region and found a hole in a 

 tree (.jr rock not far off froui a stream of water." 



I do not think Dr. Talmage would knowing- 

 ly ut'er such nonsense ; and \)y a careful read- 

 ing of the sermon 1 d j not find that either one 

 of the quotations above is at all necessarv for 

 the elucidation of some of the grand trnths he 

 brings out in the line of lotKhing forbidden 

 sweets. That the good doctor may not fall 

 into a similar error again, we are sending him, 

 complimentary, a copy of our ABC of Bee 

 Culture. We especially commend to his at- 

 tention the article on "Honey-comb," and 

 also the other article, on " Swarming." 



A MACHINE FOR CLEANING SECTIONS; THE 

 ASPINWALI. SUPER AND PLAIN SECTION. 



In the Bee-keepers' Revieiu for December 

 appears a valuable article from L. A. Aspin- 

 wall, of Jackson, Mich., on the subject of 

 plain sections. Mr. A. is one of the pioneers 

 in the use of boxes without bee-wa3's ; and 

 having testi d them most thoroughly he is in 

 position to know something of their value. 

 He enumerates, among their advantages, .some 

 of those I have already mentioned in the va- 

 rious issues, among which he s lys that the 

 " plain s?clion also makes a much nicer pack- 

 age, and the wrapping-paper is less liable to 

 break while being tied. . . That the plain sec- 

 tion also admits of the most perfect and rapid 

 work in cleming by machiner^^ ; " and that 

 " not only every ve.stige of propolis is remov- 

 ed, but also the stains ; " and then he adds : 



The tranFcendent po'iit of excellence, however, is 

 the beauty and attractiveness of the finished product 

 in such sec ions when filled between properly con- 

 .structed separators and .super sides. My honey has 



