1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



919 



£>zaZzjvjG& 



'<*MOM OUR NEIGHBORS FIELDS. 



Says yellow bee, " When I was young, 



And worked for A. I. Root, 

 The nicest gift in all my sock 



Was a well-formed baby foot. 



(to 

 CANADIAN BEE JOURNAL. 



The December number is a beautiful one on 

 account of 16 pictures of prominent Canadian 

 bee-men which grace its pages. The sturdi- 

 est-looking one among them seems to be Wm. 

 Couse, and yet in another place I find he has 

 just left the hospital after a long and danger- 

 ous struggle with typhoid fever. The first 

 four shown feem to represent the Ontario 

 B. K. A.; the next six, the Brant Co. B. K. A.; 

 the remaining six are connected with the On- 

 tario Agricultural Experiment Union. This 

 is the best showing of bee keepers I have ever 

 seen in one issue of a bee-journal. Thanks, 

 Mr. Craig. 



(to 



In my last Pickings I adverted to the fact 

 that Mr. Taylor was skeptical as to the foun- 

 dation used in contrast with the Weed. Quite 

 in line with what I surmised, Mr. Shaver says: 



Critic Taylor, in the Bee-keepers' Review, has made 

 some statements regarding my experiment with the 

 old and new process foundation, as written in the 

 Canadian Bee Journal and copied by Gleanings. He 

 says that the ordinary foundation which I used "has 

 no pedigree." I am not at liberty &t present to dis- 

 close the name of the manufacturer of the ordinary 

 foundation, not having obtained his permission; suf- 

 ficient to say, he is well and favorably known among 

 the Ontario bee-keepers, and has a reputation for the 

 production of section foundation. I shall be very 

 pleased indeed to forward a sample of the foundation 

 used, to Mr. Taylor or any others who may be intei- 

 ested. Tet me also here state that my experiment 

 was conducted without prejudice, and given out in the 

 interests of bee-keepers. James H. Shaver. 



Cainsville, Ont. 



(to 



The question seems to be discussed in Can- 

 ada, whether the Ontario B. K. Union shall 

 buy the Canadian Bee Journal, and run it as 

 an organ of that society, or simply speak 

 throueh it as a private enterprise. While " lo- 

 cality " might have something to do with such 

 matters, generally speaking a journal is better 

 in private hands. Nothing can be more dis- 

 mal than religious and political journals 

 owned by large societies. 

 (to 



The printer, by a funny division, makes the 

 writer of Notes and Pickings say, "The pro- 

 duction of honey-dew by ap-hides and other 

 insects is a fact fully established." You 

 mean aph-i-des (af-i deez), Mr. Typo. What 

 wondrous things sometimes hide in a little 

 word ! 



(to 



Credited to the Hamilton Spectator I find 

 the following: 



_ William McEvoy and E. Dickenson, two enthusias- 

 tic bee-men of Wentworth County-, are rejoicing over 

 the results of the sale of a big honey shipment they 

 made some time ago to Liverpool" The shipment 

 amounted to 10,000 pounds, and was handled bv com- 



mission men, the profit to the shippers being about 

 nine cents per pound after all expenses were met. 



I infer this was comb honey. 

 (to 

 AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Jamaica has 4207 square miles, and is 90 

 miles south of Cuba. It has a population 

 consisting (1891) of 14,692 white; 122,000 hy- 

 brids ; 488,700 blacks ; 110,116 coolies ; 480 

 Chinese. The country is too small to be a 

 competitor of American bee men. It belongs 

 to England, not Spain. Men's wages is 24 

 cts. a day; women's, 12 to 18. 



(to 



Mr. M. F. Reeve gives reasons for spraying 

 grapes svt different times. He says the grape- 

 growers have reason to spray when the vines 

 are in bloom. Before growth begins it is nec- 

 essary to spray in order to kill fungus and 

 mildew growths on the vine. When the 

 leaves start, another spraying is necessary to 

 kill the countless insect enemies that would 

 otherwise kill the leaves. When the fruit be- 

 gins to set, another spraying is needed to pre- 

 vent the destruction of the branches. Doubt- 

 less there is much in this, and, as Mr. Reeve 

 says, the grape-growers are entitled to a hear- 

 ing. 



(to 



Last summer a person writing for the Am. 

 Bee keeper seemed to convey the idea that a 

 tall section is more liable to be broken at the 

 sides than a square one. An explanation from 

 the editor put this in a different light. In 

 answer I asked, " By the way, how should 

 comb honey be served on the table? Some 

 put a little on a dish at each plate, while oth- 

 ers put it all on one large dish, and let each 

 help himself. But is not the shape of the 

 whole chunk, as it leaves the section, entirely 

 lost by cutting the comb into smaller pieces? 

 People should be led away from what is a 

 mere whim ; but if they insist on the whim, 

 and are willing to pay for it, let them have it." 

 The editorial reply is too good to abbreviate : 



" Now, here is another problem into which the mat- 

 ter of " locality " enters with great effect. In the vi- 

 cinity of Chicago, for example, it appears that a sec- 

 tion of honey may very properly be cut and the pieces 

 subdivided, the degree of propriety increasing with 

 each slice, thus reducing the " whole ball of wax " to 

 innumerable pellets of correspondingly less magni- 

 tude, while years of life on a bee-ranch, particularly 

 when hot biscuits or pancakes are served therewith, 

 has demonstrated the fact that, with a moderate re- 

 serve centrally located on the table, one well filled sec- 

 tion at each plate is quite the proper thing. We have, 

 of course, a few disciplts of Epicurus who find one or 

 two sections of nice mangrove verv refreshing between 

 meals, but these are the exceptions. Ordinarily one 

 pound of choice honeys is sufficient.: 



That is, in the city enforced economy, un- 

 der the guise of " style," gives us a cell of 

 honey, or just a taste, while the farm hand is 

 entitled to a whole section — something on the 

 plan of serving coffee in diminutive cups, and 

 half filled at that, and then marking a man as 

 a bore if he, like Oliver Twist, should dare to 

 call for " more." 



(to 



Mr. Hill, the editor, gives us a fine view of 

 the apiary of John Newton, Oxford Co., Onta- 

 rio, the boyhood home of Mr. H. It shows an 



