1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



143 





PgDlTORIAC 



^^ C.R. ROOT 



Eight extra pages again this issue. 



The prospects for a crop of honey in Cali- 

 fornia are very poor. Bee-keepers on the 

 coast are looking anxiously for the big rain 

 that has not come. If I understand the situa- 

 tion, if it does not come pretty soon there will 

 be little or no '98 California honey on the mar- 

 ket. 



In our Beginners' Question-box (by the way, 

 questions are being thrown into this box by 

 professionals) some questions are asked with 

 regard to the fence, whether or not the cross- 

 cleats are not too thin to permit the bees to 

 pass between the slat and edge of the section 

 into the next super above ; and as this has 

 come up of late in our correspondence several 

 times, I have taken pains to cover it fully in 

 our Question box, which see. 



BAD SPELLING AND GRAMMAR. 



Mr. Hutchinson, in the Rcviezv for Janu- 

 ary, referring to communications that come 

 from bee-keepers who, though well versed in 

 their business, and able to give valuable facts, 

 and yet hesitate to write because of defective 

 spelling, penmanship, or grammar, says, 

 "Book-learning is good, but it is not every 

 thing." And then he adds: " I hope no one 

 will ever hesitate one moment about writing 

 me because of a lack of book-learning." 

 That is just the way I feel about it. I want 

 ni}' friends to write to me, nomatter what their 

 spelling or schooling has been. Although I 

 have on my desk at this very moment more 

 letters than I can answer promptly, I hope to 

 catch up soon. 



BEES WINTERING WELL ; A PECULIAR WINTER. 

 Bees seem to be wintering well from pres- 

 ent indications. The winter in Ohio has 

 been greatly varied. On the 1st, 2d, and 3d 

 of this month the mercury ranged from (i to 

 10 below zero ; then the weather moderated 

 till yesterday-, the 10th, when, by way of con- 

 trast, we had balmy summer air. Overcoats 

 have been cast oiT, and windows are open. 

 Prior to our zero weather we had several weeks 

 of damp chilh' weather. If you were in our town 

 to-day (Feb. 11th) you would think it ought 

 to be spelled /////^Z-dina. Mrs. R. thinks so, 

 at least when our seven-year-old comes home 

 from school. By the way, if there is any mud 

 to be found, did you ever see a boy who could 

 not find it without Iialf trying f 



A $2.00 SECTION-CLEANER. 

 We have just got on track of a little ma- 

 chine that can be sold for $2.00, for cleaning 

 sections, that I thitik will do the work as well 

 and perhaps as rapidly as any machine ever 



invented. Years ago, when A. I. R., then fa- 

 miliarly styled " Novice," was at work invent- 

 ing his all-metal honey -extractor, he utilized 

 the gearing of a paring-machine to gear up 

 his extractor. Well do I remember the days 

 away back in the early '70's when this first 

 all-metal machine was constructed and put in 

 operation, and of "turning the crank " of 

 the paring machine extractor. 



But what has all this to do with the $2.00 

 sanding-machine or section-cleaner ? Only 

 this: There is a big firm putting out a geared- 

 up emery grinder that, to my mind's eye, with 

 a very slight change, will be " shoost right 

 and shoost de ding" as a section-cleaner. 



the REVIEW OUTSTRIPPING ITSELF. 

 The Review is far outstripping its past rec- 

 ord, excellent though it was, in the way of 

 dishing up interesting and valuable facts on 

 the subject of bee-keeping. The editor has 

 called to his aid the camera; and if any one 

 knows how to use that instrument it is Bro. 

 H. The splendid spurts he has made in spite 

 of recent sorrows are marvelous. I almost 

 wonder if he has not even surprised himself. 

 His work has been so good, indeed, that a ri- 

 val like myself ought to be jealous; but some- 

 how I do not have any inclinations that way 

 at all. I just feci glad of it. If Bros. York 

 and Hutchinson give Gleanings hard com- 

 petition, I will work all the harder to keep up 

 with them, and, if I honestly can, I will try 

 to get a little ahead of them. 



will COMB honey be ridged opposite the 

 SPACES in fences ? 

 Occasionally, in our correspondence, fears 

 are expressed that there will be ridges in the 

 comb honey opposite the opening between the 

 slats in the fences. I have investigated this 

 matter very thoroughly, read every thing care- 

 fully that has appeared on the subject, ques- 

 tioned very closely bee-keepers who have used 

 the fences, and I have yet to find a case where 

 there is ridged comb honey when the slats are 

 spaced close enough. They should not be any 

 iurther apart than the width of the perforated 

 zinc, which in round numbers is fg of an inch. 

 If any thing, the distance should be less rath- 

 er than more. The Danzy fence that we sold 

 last season had slats spaced fi of an inch 

 apart, and in some instances I happen to know 

 the comb honey was ridged slightly, opposite 

 the spaces. Two or three have written us that 

 '4 inch is quite close enough — that there will 

 be no ridges; but we prefer to be on the safe 

 side, and make it j-', instead of ^^. In the 

 slats that go to make up the fences of our 

 Ideal super, we have spaced them only y^ inch 

 apart; the spaces in the fences of the regular 

 super are /^ as nearly as we can get it. 



A complaint against a commission house. 

 On p. 18 of our Jan. 1st issue I had occasion 

 to make favorable mention of two or three 

 commission houses whose names appear in our 

 Honey Column. Among those names espe- 

 cially' referred to was that of R. A. Burnett & 



