1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



2] 



Prospects look a little discouraging after 

 all, in California, in spite of what is said on 

 page 18. A later note from Mr. Martin says 

 there was no rain last year, and but little up 

 to date this year, comparatively. But it is an 

 old adage with the West Coasters that they 

 never have two dry seasons in succession, so 

 there is still hope. 



Friend Dadant, in his article in this issue, 

 last paragraph, asks some pertinent questions. 

 I do not know that I care to have them ans- 

 wered in Gleanings, as we really have not 

 space for social and political discussions ; but 

 one can not help smiling when he thinks of 

 the various foibles that cling to the twentieth- 

 century civilization. 



In our last issue, in reference to the fence 

 question I spoke of Mr. Holtermann's having 

 borrowed certain cuts from our catalog and us- 

 ing the same in his journal as a boomerang on 

 the Root Co. After the matter had gone to 

 press, and too late to make the change, I dis- 

 covered my error. The cuts were bought out- 

 right, and I cheerfully make the correction as 

 simple justice to Mr. Holtermaun. 



The prospects in the supply line look al- 

 most as flattering as last year; indeed, our new 

 engine, that we supposed to be ample for our 

 work, is now pretty well loaded down. We 

 shall have to speed it up and increase the boil- 

 er capacity in order to be able to handle our 

 factory. We shall be taking, during the next 

 three months, nearly 300 horse power, and 

 nine-tenths of all our work relates to bee- 

 keeping. 



There seems to be a demand for a slatted 

 separator — a separator made of slats the same 

 as the fence, but without cross-cleats, so that 

 it can be used with old-style sections. We 

 shall be able to offer these to our customers, 

 as well as the fences. While they will, no 

 doubt, be an improvement over the plain solid 

 separator, they probably will not give the re- 

 sults secured by the fence and plain section in 

 combination. 



INVENTING NEW HIVES. 



In the Revue Internationale for November, 



Mr. Ulr. Gubler, a distinguished bee-keeper 



of Europe, has the following to say in his 

 " Advice to Beginners :" 



The bee-keeper who knows how to handle tools 

 likes to try to make his own hives, and therein we 

 have only words of encouragement. But let him con- 

 fine himself to systems approved by the experience of 

 our masters. Refrain from a tendency to make new 

 things, to introduce pretended improvements, before 

 knowing thoroughly the nature of the bee and its 

 needs. The hives that we posst ss are the result of the 

 studies, the experiments, and the discoveries of a 

 great number of bee-keepers ar.d experts of all lands: 

 and to desire to make new is simply to render oneself 

 liable to pay dearly for the experiments that others 

 have made before vis. 



JOURNALISTIC COURTESY. 



In the last Am. Bee Journal Prof. Cook re- 

 fers to the time in the early GO's when even 

 the fair name of Langstroth was traduced, and 

 bee-periodicals were casting serious reflections 

 upon each other. He tells how, in these later 

 years, this thing has disappeared ; and al- 

 though he does not refer particularly to the 

 present time, I am rather of the opinion that 

 the article would not have been written except 

 for some things that have appeared in our late 

 current literature. 



If the bee-journals of to-day are showing a 

 tendency to degenerate into the ways of old, let 

 them mend their ways at once. I always be- 

 lieve in fair honest criticism, even to the ex- 

 tent of plain talk when the exigencies call for 

 it ; but this latter should always be used spar- 

 ingly. 



Mr. York, of the Am. Bee Journal, in com- 

 menting editorially on Prof. Cook's article, 

 says : " We think all apiarian editors, not ex- 

 cepting ourselves, need to devote a little more 

 thought to this matter than, apparentlv, has 

 been given to it in the past few months." I 

 will subscribe to the statement. I will do all 

 I can, so far as our publication is concerned, 

 in making 189!) a new year. Nay, fuither : I 

 am not ashamed to make reparation if I have 

 wronged a brother. 



THE ASPINWALL MACHINE SECTION- 

 CLEANER. 



In our last issue I spoke of the fact that we 

 were considering the manufacture and sale of 

 a machine section- cleaner. The fact that it 

 was invented by L. A. Aspinwall, that Jack- 

 son bee-keeper who produces such fine comb 

 honey — the man who is the inventor of sever- 

 al useful agricultural machines, also inventor 

 of the Aspinwall hive, separator, and super — 

 is evidence sufficient, to my mind at least, that 

 he has a machine that is a success. Here is 

 what Mr. Aspinwall says of it in the Review : 



Referring to section-cleaners and section-cleaning, 

 the plain sections offer obvious advantages in favor of 

 their adoption. However, the wonderful success of 

 my present machine is certainly greater than I first 

 anticipated, it being adapted not only to plain but to 

 old style sections. The speed attainable in cleaning 

 plain sections is far greater than I first supposed could 

 possibly be. The highest speed I have thus far attain- 

 ed was at the rate of 192 sections per hour, being up- 

 ward of 2000 per day. The test of speed, however, 

 was upon a few , and possibly with a larger number I 

 should have failed to maintain that record. Still, I am 

 by no means an expert as yet; but I believe that, in 

 the hinds of such, 100 sections could be cleaned per 

 hour. 



Mr. Aspinwall, I believe, has it nearly per- 

 fected. As soon as it is he is to send us a 

 machine, and then we will see what we can do 

 about putting it on the market, if all goes 

 well. 



NUMBER OF COLONIES AT THE HOME OF THE 

 HONEY-BEES ; WHY WE WINTER OUT- 

 DOORS. 

 WE now have in the apiary, safely put away 

 in winter quarters, 2o2 colonies. A part of 

 this number is made up of colonies from the 

 out-apiary, which this year were brought home 

 to avoid the depredations of thieves. 



We winter wholly outdoors in double-walled 



