1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



231 



Perhaps our readers have noticed that of 

 late we have been bringing in short sympo- 

 siums on some subject relating to bee-keeping. 

 In this issue we have three different ones; 

 namely, Cuba ; proper pronoun to apply to 

 bees ; comb foundation. 



In our last issue I promised to give some- 

 thing more in regard to the matter of killing 

 the germs of foul brood by boiling. A little 

 symposium on this subject will be found on 

 another page. I would call Mr. Taylor's at- 

 tention especially to the article by Prof. Hodge. 



Some of our readers, I believe, will enjoy 

 Stenog's usual introductory lines in Pickings. 

 These are original, on the order of the bur- 

 lesque, and were, he says, "written on the 

 spot." I did not know before that he was a 

 poet, or I should have had him " lining " be- 

 fore. 



Later reports seem to indicate that winter 

 losses will be heavier this year than for the 

 three or four years preceding, at least. Very 

 few report more than 25 per cent loss. The 

 principal losses this year will occur from bees 

 wintered outdoors in single-walled hives. So 

 far as I know, there has been very little mor- 

 tality where bees have been put up as they 

 should have been. Those in good dry frost- 

 proof cellars, or in double-walled or chaff 

 hives, are doing well everywhere, so far as I 

 know. 



The editor of the Review has just gotten 

 out a handsome prospectus entitled " Some of 

 the Characteristics of the Bee - keepers" Re- 

 view ; " and in the line of fine-art printing it 

 excels any thing that has heretofore been got- 

 ten out relating to bee culture. The Review 

 is Hutchinson's baby, his only hobby, his spe- 

 cialty; indeed, his whole heart and soul are in 

 it. He started with a little unpretentious pa- 

 per, without any capital save the good will of 

 bee-keepers, and now has a journal of which 

 he may be proud. 



In the new magazine, entitled What to Eat, 

 we find an article, " Honey as a Food," that 

 is strangely familiar. It is none other than a 

 liberal extract from Dr. Miller's honey-leaflet. 

 This article appearing in a handsome maga- 

 zine, and one that is undoubtedly authority on 

 the subject of what to eat, will receive the rec- 

 ognition it deserves. I am glad that public 

 sentiment is being awakened enough so that 

 now there is actually a field for a magazine de- 

 voted exclusively to the subject of foods that 

 are fit for human consumption. 



Present indications go to show that the 

 last edition of 10,000 copies, making 62,000 

 sold, all told, of the ABC book, will be ex- 



hausted long before a new edition can be 

 printed. We are running our $2500 press at 

 its highest speed night and day, to print off 

 some 200,000 catalogs, keep up our regular 

 edition of Gleanings, of 10,000 copies, be- 

 sides a multitude of little jobs. To print an- 

 other edition of 5000 copies of our 400-page 

 book, in addition to the above, means that 

 our press has got to put in extra full time. 



On account of the great crowd on our col- 

 umns, as spoken of elsewhere, I find it neces- 

 sary to reject all articles bearing on the Dick- 

 el theory versus parthenogenesis. This sub- 

 ject is now occupying the attention of the 

 foreign journals; and as there seems to be 

 such a diversity of opinion among scientists I 

 hardly think it will be profitable to take up 

 space that we can devote to other matter that 

 pertains more directly to the dollars-and-cents 

 side of our pursuit. When the Dickel theory 

 is settled, buried, or proven, then I think we 

 can afford to give our readers the conclusion. 



Notwithstanding we have been printing 

 eight extra pages since Jan. 1, I find that I 

 have a whole drawerful of excellent articles 

 ( sifted from a bushel more that have gone 

 into the "waste-basket") that I should be 

 glad to publish if I had room. Perhaps a 

 little later I can find the space for them. For 

 the present, at least, I should be glad if some 

 of our correspondents would not shove their 

 copy in quite so fast. In justice to the great 

 mass of our readers I try to keep before me 

 this one point; namely, to spread before them 

 the very best I have; but very often I find that 

 I am holding back matter just as good as I 

 give to the public, for the reason that the line 

 has to be drawn somewhere. 



HONEY-LEAFLETS IN OTHER FORMS. 



In our last issue I referred to the suggestion 

 of a correspondent, that the facts in the hon- 

 ey-leaflet shovdd be put on a label, said label 

 being large enough to go around the can. At 

 that time I was not aware that any one had 

 put the idea into practice ; but I find that Mr. 

 York, of the Amer. Bee Journal, has been do- 

 ing this very thing. He sends me a sample 

 of a very neat and pretty label designed, I 

 judge, to go around tin cans. One portion of 

 the label is devoted to the subject of honey as 

 food ; another sets forth the contents of the 

 can, and the third and last portion has to do 

 with honey-cooking recipes. 



Mr. York also sends me his 1899 Honey Al- 

 manac, a booklet of 32 pages. Every alter- 

 nate page is devoted to the calendar — the oth- 

 er pages being taken up with matter from the 

 honey-leaflet by Dr. Miller. For further par- 

 ticulars apply to G. W. York & Co., 118 Mich- 

 igan St., Chicago, 111. 



CHEAP VS. HIGH-PRICED QUEENS. 



I have just been wondering whether there 

 would not be a call for $5.00 and $10.00 queens. 

 Such queens should be tested, not only for 

 purity of the bees, but for the even run of 



