144 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15. 



No national law on this subject will evet fully meet 

 the views or satisfy the desiies of all the many States 

 and Territories of this great country. 



I do not bel'eve it pos ible that such law can do so. 

 The critics will say the law is imperfect and we an- 

 swer: " We are awaie of that.'' They tell us the law 

 has its defects, and we reply: " Show us a law that 

 has not " 



The measure as it stands now is a long, sturdy step 

 in the right direction; a strong pi op upon which to 

 hang our hopes; a substantial foundation upon which 

 to erect a magnificent structure. It will effectually 

 stop many evils with which we contend: right many 

 wrongs, tnus bringing justice whete justice isa stran- 

 ger, and protecting those needing protection yet utter- 

 ly unable to prottct themselves It will render adul- 

 teration difficult, detection sure — a more effective rem- 

 edy than any which has been proposed, considered, or 

 enacted. 



It represents the concrete experience of many years, 

 and the best thoughts of studious minds. 



It embodies the compromise views of those who 

 have long considered the important and far reaching 

 questions with which it deals. I do not hesitate to say 

 it is a compromise measure; all such laws are, and 

 always must be compromises. It must be expanded 

 and contracted to meet the composite mental struc- 

 ture which gives it being and stands sponsor for its 

 necessity. 



It is important that it should be made a law during 

 the present Congress. I therefore urge you to be on 

 vour guard against proposed amendments. Scan well 

 their origin, and consider long their purport. Be not 

 moved by shallow sentiment, nor turned by loose 

 light logic. I adjure you, my friends, to stand as one 

 man for the main features of this measure. 



There is good reason for the adoption of this mea- 

 sure. No city or hamlet is free from adulteration, and 

 one of the peculiarities of the business is that, the 

 further away from home an adulteiation gets, the 

 more respectable it appears. There is need for this 

 bill from one end of the country to the other. 



PROSPECTS GLOOMY ; DRY WINDS IN CALIFOR- 

 NIA, AND NO RAIN ; AN UNPRECEDENTED- 

 LY LOW TEMPERATURE OVER THE 

 CENTRAL AND EASTERN STATES ; 

 FEARFUL WINTER LOSSES 

 EXPECTED. 



I have just received word from J. H. Mar- 

 tin (Rambler), stating that the Calif ornians 

 are getting to be anxious again for rain, as it 

 is nearly a month since their last downpour, 

 and the time is getting short for rain to do 

 them any good tor the coming year. I have 

 written to Mr. Martin to let us know by wire 

 in case the long-expected rain does come. 

 You may wonder why I am so anxious to get 

 that information. For the reason that it will 

 make a great difference with buyers in the 

 East and with those on the Pacific coast wheth- 

 er the honey crop in California is assured or 

 not ; and the sooner we can get the informa- 

 tion the better. 



Since writing the foregoing we have heard 

 from Mr. M. H. Mendleson, one of the big 

 bee-kings of California, who writes under 

 date of Feb. 6 : 



We are now having a fearful drying wind, and it 

 has been blowing very badly for the past week or ten 

 days, making the present prospects poor again for 

 another year. The surface of the soil is getting dry 

 and hard. I give up the season, although late rains 

 may save us. 



He further adds that some of the prominent 

 bee-keepers are preparing trips northward to 

 look for locations where their bees can fill up 

 for another winter. 



This is a gloomy outlook indeed for Califor- 

 nia — a failure of honey last year, and a prob- 

 able one this year. But while they on the 

 western slope are drying up, we of the central 



and e.'.ste n portion of the country are freez- 

 ing up (i. e., our bees). There has been an un- 

 precedented]}- low temperature of a large por- 

 tion of our country. Even in that mild and 

 balmy State of Oregon a subscriber, on Feb. 

 7th, writes that it has been 18 to 24 below 

 zero. In Northern Michigan it has been 50 

 below, and in States where it rarely has been 

 below 20 above it has been down to zero, and 

 staying there. 



All this means fearful losses in bees if there 

 is not a change soon for the better. Early in 

 the year prospects (by the way the orders 

 were rolling in) seemed to indicate that this 

 season would be as heavy as last in spite of 

 last year's general failure of honey. But if 

 half the bees die off there will be a lot of dis- 

 couraged bee-keepers and supply dealers. No 

 one can determine just yet what the outcome 

 will be. 



But it's an ill wind that blows no one any 

 good. The heavy winter losses, if they do 

 occur, will not be with the provident and bee- 

 journal readers. They will winter their bees 

 and they will get the crop this summer if 

 there is any honey, and they will have all the 

 markets to themselves. It is the careless and 

 go-it-as-easy-as-you-can bee-keepers that will 

 have a tale of woe to tell. It is they who will 

 get no honey, even if there is a good s< ason. 



Later; — After the foregoing was in type the 

 following came to hand: 



I report at this date over half of my bees dead. The 

 hives are full of honey. The inside is daubed up bad- 

 ly, and full of frost. It looks as if there would be a 

 shortage of bees next spring. W. D. Soper. 



Jackson, Mich., Feb. 11. 



When a man like \V. D. Soper has lost half 

 his bees, then the case is much worse than I 

 thought it would be ; for if the up-to-date bee- 

 keeper is going to lose so heavily, how many 

 bees will the go-as you-please take-it easy bee- 

 man have iv xt spring? If they do not have 

 an almost total lots they will have hardly any 

 thing hut nuclei. It begins to look now as if 

 there would be a great demand for bees by the 

 pound and nuclei next spring. Here is a 

 chance for somebody to ntake some money. 



Still later: — To-day, Feb. 15, it is warming 

 up, the mercury standing at the freezing-point 

 (32). This will, perhaps, give the bees an op- 

 pe>r.unity to change their clustering-nest; and 

 if it does it will sive possibly thousands of 

 colonies. 



DELIVERING HONEY TO MARKET ON A BI- 

 CYCLE. 



AFTER my editorial on the subject of wheels 

 for out-apiaries had gone to press I received 

 the following from a bee-keeper who not only 

 uses his bicycle for apiary work, but actually 

 carried over 3000 lbs. of honey to market on 

 it. Here is what he says: 



You speak of the wheel as being very useful in the 

 apiary. This is my second season in the bee business, 

 and I have delivered 3200 lbs. of honey on my wheel 

 I take as much as 40 pounds at a time in o and 10 

 pound p'xils, as I retail it all. I am ve y much in love 

 with Gleanings, and alwavs await its coming. 



St. Thomas, Ont. W. J. Robb. 



We are just making preparations to put in 

 a 350-horse-power boiler. Our present boilers 

 are inadequate for the work we have to do. 



