726 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



duce the picture on a little smaller scale. 

 Elsewhere in this issue I present to you the re- 

 sult, reduced to a size so as to go into our new 

 honey-leaflet, for there will be in it other com- 

 panion pictures representing familiar scenes 

 among the bees. 



Let us now turn over to the picture. The 

 humor of it is somewhat quaint as well as fa- 

 miliar. A lean, lank rustic is the "star" of 

 the scene. Those hob-nails in the shoes ; the 

 toeing-in of the left foot ; the wrinkles in the 

 pants ; the patch in the upper elevation of the 

 same ; the strings around the ankles ; the ax 

 under the arm ; the Crane smoker emitting 

 volumes of smoke ; the Manum swarmer, the 

 cover of which goes flippity-flop back and 

 forth at every long stride of the runner ; the 

 bee-veil flowing backward over the shoulders, 

 fanned by the artificial breeze ; the old vest, 

 ripped partly up the back, and unbuttoned in 

 front ; the belt that encircles the long lanky 

 waist ; the swarm in the distance hanging in 

 the air, and the men urging greater speed — all 

 these, and more, suggest scenes that are more 

 or less familiar. 



The man who, with brush and pen, made 

 this specimen of awkward dexterity is, to my 

 way of thinking, a real artist — far better than 

 those who give us the so-called specimens of 

 "art." 



For aught I know, the long stepper may be 

 in quest of Apis dorsata, for I can imagine 

 nothing else that would cause any bee-keeper 

 to take quite such long strides as our friend in 

 Australia is taking. That he " will get there," 

 there is no question, unless — unless he catches 

 one of those hob-nail stogies in the under- 

 brush that seems to be in his way. 



Speaking about the honey-leaflet reminds 

 me that I have a picture of a beautiful girl 

 holding a swarm of bees, taken right from na- 

 ture itself, with a camera. This and several 

 others will be companion pieces to the run- 

 away Australian, the purpose of which will be 

 to illustrate bee-keeping in its various phases. 

 Now that the A B C of Bee Culture is off my 

 hands I shall have more time to work this up. 

 The new leaflet will, as I have said, be printed 

 in the finest style of the art, be mostly pic- 

 tures, and will be entitled " Honey, from the 

 Hive to the Market." 



PHILADELPHIA CONVENTION NOTES. 



Mr. W. A. SELSER, the expert honey-man 

 who has probably traveled more miles in 

 quest of good honey than perhaps any other 

 bee-keeper living, almost startled the conven- 

 tion in the course of some of the discussions 

 by stating that, in his opinion, the sweet-clo- 

 ver plant was a "curse to the bee-keeper." 

 A perfect buzz of surprise and protest imme- 

 diately made itself manifest. Some even 

 wanted Mr. Selser to recant ; and then Dr. 

 Mason, after his usual style, fired shot after 

 shot at him; but still Mr. Selser stood invin- 

 cible. He had sold large quantities of honey, 

 and whenever there was the least amount 

 of sweet clover in it, it spoiled it for his mar- 

 ket. Dr. Mason exhibited a sample of what 

 he called genuine sweet-clover honey. Quite 

 a number of us sampled it, and considered it 



first-class. But still Mr. Selser insisted that 

 he wanted none of that in his. He could not 

 sell honey that had a taint of sweet clover in 

 it. He wanted pure clover and nothing else. 

 In fact, I know personally that he paid 11 cts. 

 for such an article when he could have bought 

 clover with a little basswood in it for two or 

 three cents less. There is no denying the 

 fact that Mr. Selser has built up a demand 

 for a gilt-edged article of comb honey, and 

 especially for extracted honey in bottles. 



HONEY FOR BREAKFAST. 



At one of the sessions Mr. Francis Danzen- 

 baker, of Washington, D. C, said it was get- 

 ting to be quite the fashion in official families 

 to have honey for breakfast As Washington 

 sets the pace for the rest of the United States, 

 hope was expressed that the custom might 

 grow over the country generally; and Mr. 

 Danzenbaker was kindly advised to encour- 

 age the custom all he could. 



ADULTERATION, AND A NATIONAL PURE-FOOD 



LAW. 



Much was accomplished at this meeting in 

 the way of setting on foot certain plans calcu- 

 lated to further the cause of a national pure- 

 food law. A most valuable paper was read by 

 E. T. Abbott, of St. Joseph, Mo., setting forth 

 the result of his visit before the last pure-food 

 commission ; for it will be remembered that 

 he and two or three others were appointed by 

 the United States Bee-keepers' Union to rep- 

 resent bee keepers at that time. Mr. Abbott 

 placed great emphasis on the point that it was 

 folly to ask for special legislation. What we 

 need is a general pure-food law that would 

 cover all forms of adulteration, so that all 

 classes could unite in demanding its enact- 

 ment. He explained further that a national 

 law, even if passed, could not prevent adulter- 

 ation within the States, but it could prevent 

 the traffic in adulterated goods from one State 

 to another. In other words, the New York 

 concerns dealing in glucosed honey could not 

 ship the stuff into another State. If there 

 were no State law they could manufacture and 

 sell within the borders of the State just the 

 same. It was, therefore, necessary to see to 

 it that anti-adulteration laws were passed in 

 every State in the Union. 



This paper called forth a most substantial 

 indorsement from the members of the conven- 

 tion. A general desire was expressed by every 

 one to have the same published as widely as 

 possible in the great dailies of Philadelphia. 

 A reporter of the Daily Call, who was present, 

 and who manifested much interest in the pro- 

 ceedings, was appointed a committee of one to 

 see what could be done in the way of getting 

 this paper of Mr. Abbott's published, in whole 

 or in part, in the dailies. 



Mr. Selser, of Philadelphia, showed that a 

 good State law, backed by honest officials, 

 would almost entirely wipe out adulteration 

 within the confines of the States. There was 

 a time when honey was adulterated extensive- 

 ly in Philadelphia and throughout the State. 

 Within the last three or four years there had 

 been scarcely a sample of adulterated honey 

 to be found anywhere in the stores because an 



