1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



55 



Quite to my surprise, and certainly to that 

 of the bee-keepers of York State, I managed 

 to attend their State convention. 



In our next issue we shall have a continua- 

 tion of the report of the Denver convention, 

 a report of the Michigan meeting that took 

 place at Thompsonville, Jan. 1 and 2, and also 

 one of the New York State convention at Ge- 

 neva. Gleanings does not attempt to go into 

 a full report of conventions generally, but 

 makes an effort to present as far as possible 

 the cream of the discussions — if not of all 

 conventions, some of the most important. 



AT the Michigan State Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion, held in Thompsonville, Jan. 1 and 2, Mr. 

 J. M. Rankin, who has charge of the apiarian 

 department of the Michigan Experiment Sta- 

 tion, reported some interesting experiments in 

 the line of developing bees with long tongues. 

 He found that the average length of the tongue 

 of black bees is 4.5 millimeters; Italians 5.1, 

 while he had several colonies of a strain of 

 bees at the Experiment Station apiary whose 

 tongues measured 6 . 2 millimeters. He be- 

 lieved that, by a process of selection, and 

 breeding with this trait in veiw, a race of bees 

 might be developed which will secure more of 

 the honey from clover-blossoms. — J. T. C. 



300 CARI,OADS OF HONEY FROM ONE STATE 

 ALONE. 



Rambler, in this issue, says that California, 

 in a good season, has shipped out as many as 

 300 carloads. At an average weight of 30,000 

 lbs. per car, this would mean 9,000,000 lbs., or 

 4500 tons ; and this does not take account of 

 the large amount consumed annually within 

 the borders of the State ; but, as Mr. Martin 

 very guardedly says, this is the possible amount 

 in a good year — not an average. 



Colorado, I believe, shipped out of its own 

 borders last year 50 carloads, or 1,500,000 lbs. 

 But the Coloradoans are great consumers of 

 honey, and they have rather made an effort to 

 keep the honey ivithin the State rather than 

 send it out. 



rambler's article in this issue. 



The article in this issue by Rambler is the 

 last one of the present series. Just at present 

 he is engaged in honey production, and will 

 not be able to get out on his regular rambles 

 over the country. He is too versatile a writer 

 to keep his light under a bushel, however, and 

 so we are negotiating with him for another 

 series of articles on a somewhat different line; 

 and in the near future we shall hope to give 

 something more from his pen. 



But referring again to his article in this num- 

 ber, I believe it is no exaggeration to say that 

 this is the best short article on California we 



have ever had. Mr. Martin goes over the sub- 

 ject so carefully that we have decided, as 

 stated on p. 45, to put it in pamphlet form. 



THE reformed SPELLING ; AGREEING OR 

 DISAGREEING WITH THE EDITOR. 



We are getting now a few more negative 

 votes, although the preponderance of expres- 

 sions seems to be decidedly for the shorter 

 spelling. But I am coming to the opinion 

 that those who are opposed to the change hesi- 

 tate to record their opposition for fear we shall 

 not be pleased. If there is any such a one 

 among our subscribers I hope he will be free to 

 send in his vote at once. Alack the day when 

 our subscribers or correspondents shall feel 

 constrained to keep still when they differ from 

 the editor, and only speak out in meeting 

 when they agree with him! It is muchpleas- 

 anter, I know, to agree with a person or with 

 an editor than to take up the cudgel and fight 

 him, because, forsooth, the editor is supposed 

 to have more space at his command, and he 

 can choke the other fellow off whenever he 

 pleases, or at least that seems to be the popu- 

 lar impression. It would be a sorry day for 

 Gleanings if that condition of things should 

 ever control its management. 



We have not yet adopted the shorter spell- 

 ing, because we are still waiting for a further 

 and freer expression; and for fear that there 

 are many who do not favor the change, I 

 am going to ask that each opposer of the re- 

 form send in a postal card expressing his 

 opinion, even if he puts on no more than " Re- 

 formed Spelling, No." Now, if we should 

 adopt the new spelling after an invitation of 

 this kind, and it is not accepted, you must not 

 blame us, for now is the time to exert your in- 

 fluence. 



But it does beat all, asSamantha Allen says, 

 what wrong notions people do get. We never 

 thought of adopting the spelling of Josh Bil- 

 lings, nor did we propose going as far as the 

 American Bee Journal., nor had we proposed 

 shortening more than one class of words — 

 those that have the superfluous letters iigh 

 like though and alt hong h. By the new form 

 of spelling, if Gleanings adopted it, you 

 would see that, hot, tho, altho, thoroly, and 

 possibly half a dozen other words. But as to 

 spelling the word "through" thru, and also 

 the word thruout, that does seem a little like 

 the phonetics of Josh — too much so. We are 

 trying it in our typewritten letters, just to see 

 how it feels. 



Remember, we are still on the fence, await- 

 ing the pleasure of our subscribers. 



Later. — Since writing the foregoing we have 

 received a large number of negative votes, and 

 at this rate the antis will vote down the pro- 

 posed change. If so, it will be all right so far 

 as we are concerned, as it will save us consid- 

 erable inconvenience and more or less confu- 

 sion between the spelling in Gleanings and 

 that in our other publications. This is what one 

 writer says, and there is a great deal of truth 

 in it: 



Responding to your call for votes on the "spelling 

 reform," I vote no. If you could have all your sub- 

 scribers before you, and ask for a show of hands, I 



