1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



299 



Prof. Cook paints a sorry picture of the Cal- 

 ifornia pros- ects for 1899.; but the late rain- 

 fall has spoiled his article, much to his de- 

 light, probably. A slight change of Cowper 

 fits the case : 



Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take ; 



The sky that long was red 

 Is dark with rain clouds that now burst 



In fatness overhead. 



m 



The Illinois foul-brood bill will probably be- 

 come a law, as it was reported to the Senate 

 with the recommendation that it pass. It 

 seems strange that so reasonable a measure as 

 that and others do not emanate from our law- 

 makers themselves. Why should they be 

 urged in such a matter, while others of a 

 doubtful and even evil character are some- 

 times granted at once? 



ib 

 T. F. Bingham, of smoker fame, is an ad- 

 vocate of wide and deep entrances, summer 

 and winter. He writes that his bees have 

 wintered nicely, notwithstanding his entrances 

 are 12xj/$ high the year round. Wide en- 

 trances are rapidly working their way into 

 favor, because it becomes evident that many 

 of the veterans have been using such en- 

 trances for years — long before we began to 

 advocate them. 



»»/ 

 " Alright " is referred to as being possibly a 

 new word. That's alwrong. Poor spellers 

 often use it, supposing it follows the analogy 

 of already. It is an eyesore to have such 

 things thrust before us. But it is no worse 

 than sometime as a word ; as, "He was here 

 sometime ago." Sometimes (an adverb) is al- 

 ways one word ; but some time is an adjective 

 and a noun. Sometime is obsolete. It used 

 to mean former or formerly ; as, "Monroe 

 was sometime (once) president of this coun- 

 try." Also someone., noone, andanyone, in place 

 of somebody, nobody, and anybody, are gross 

 blunders. If used they should be separate 

 words. 



Mr. Secor says there is $275 in sight for the 

 Langstroth fund. That's a small sum indeed 

 for that purpose. If the _papers of Dayton 

 could be informed of the great benefit con- 

 ferred on the world by Mr. Langstroth, I be- 

 lieve they would gladly help swell the present 

 sum to ten times what it now is. Mr. Secor 

 is the man to broach the subject. People 

 build finer monuments in honor of the dead a 

 century after the death occuts than the co- 

 temporary generation would erect. Boston 

 has a superb monument, I am told, in memo- 

 ry of Wm. Lloyd Garrison, but he was mobbed 

 there in 1835, as a kind o' starter, I suppose. 

 It takes time to measure a man. 



Ten cities strove for Homer dead, 



Through which the living Homer begged his bread. 



THE BUSY BEE. 

 Concerning wintering, Mr. Abbott says he 

 had another chance to test his pet theory, 

 " plenty of food in the right place," this win- 

 ter. He started a colony into the winter with 

 no honey, but with a large sugar cake directly 



over the cluster, and when they last reported 

 a few days ago, they were in fine condition. 

 He lost only one colony, and they starved 

 from pure neglect. His bees are on the sum- 

 mer stand, with no protection, and he is now 

 thoroughly convinced that a c'uster of bees 

 with full honey-sacs will not freeze. 



vfc 



In regard to amalgamation, the editor says 

 that General Manager Newman, of the Nation- 

 al, in a letter to General Manager Secor, of 

 the U. S. Association, makes such demands as 

 a condition of the union as are never likely to 

 be assented to by the General Manager and 

 directors of the United States Bee-keepers' 

 Association, and there the matter rests. Mr. 

 Abbott says that, as a director of the last- 

 named society, the union will never take place 

 by his consent on the conditions set forth by 

 General Manager Newman. 



\i, 



AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 

 Henry Alley seems to be down on new 

 things, and on some things that are not so 

 new. He says, " Down with a hive, a smoker, 

 a section-case, and all other clap-trap fixtures. 

 Give me things most convenient and inexpen- 

 sive. Scientific bee-keeping in any branch of 

 apiculture is a nuisance." Bro. Alley seems 

 to want "liberty or death," but prefers the 

 former. 



Mr. Doolittle says a wooden paddle about 

 5X7 inches is the thing to kill cross bees that 

 follow one around the yard. He once tried 

 a paddle made of fine wire cloth stretched 

 over a wooden frame, something like a sieve. 

 But he sajs he can hit a bee just as well with 

 the solid paddle as with one that allows the 

 air to pass through. The latter sometimes 

 only stuns the bee, while the solid one always 

 kills it. 



m 



A correspondent asks Mr. Hill how a glass 

 hive would work. The reply is, " Glass, be- 

 ing a conductor of heat and a non-absorbent 

 of moisture, it would seem it is not so well 

 adapted to the requirements of bees in winter 

 as would be a hive of wood, the character of 

 which is, in these important respects, directly 

 opposite. We have, however, for a number 

 of years, successfully wintered a colony of 

 bees in a glass hive, in a warm room." 



An interesting letter from Chili, by the ed- 

 itor of the Chilian Bee Journal, is given, 

 together with a picture of the writer, Mr. 

 Lafitte himself, and two Chilian apiaries. 

 His journal comes here, and I have noticed 

 with much pleasure the excellent and pro- 

 gressive qualities of it in every respect. He 

 says the general aspect and climate of Chili 

 are especially adapted to bee-keeping. Some 

 of the farms cover 40,000 and some 80,000 

 acres, and some are thirty or forty times as 

 large as that. There is an enormous con- 

 sumption of wax there for tapers in the 

 Roman churches. One of the largest apiaries 

 consists of 700 frame hives, 400 of which are 



