1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



79 



A view of John Brown's house and apiary 

 in Cornwall is given. The house is made of 

 stone, and what would be the " front porch " 

 in this country is covered entirely with glass, 

 making a pretty little greeuhouse at the front 

 door. That's a good idea, and I hope it will 

 go " marching on." Perhaps a little diploma- 

 cy will enable us to show the picture itself. 



In regard to the folly of putting very poor 

 honey on the market, the following is a case 

 in point, copied from the leading editorial in 

 the issue for Jan. 4 : 



In 1(S98 the small crop secured was so deteriorated in 

 quality by the general admixture of honey-dew that 

 it would have been greatly to the advantage of the 

 craft if the whole crop so damaged had been left with 

 the bees and not forced on the market at all. Many 

 bee-keepers, however, chose to put up their poor stuff 

 for sale, and no doui>t hundreds of buyers got a taste 

 of British honey such as they will not forget in a hur- 

 ry. This has probably told more heavily than many 

 suppose in lessening the demand for table honey ; 

 and, in order to sell at all, prices have been brought 

 down to a point low enough to cause much natural 

 grumbling. 



Mr. J. E. Roden wanted some honey, and 

 advertised for samples. His success is thus 

 graphically described : 



The thinnest sample of all was in a bottle minus 

 cork or stopper, but tied over with tissue paper, which 

 on arrival was nothing more than pulp, of course. 

 There were also several very thin glass bottles, which 

 had been entrusted to the tender mercies of the post- 

 office, wrapped in a sheet of ordinary paper only, 

 with the stamps affixed to the parcel itself instead of 

 to an attached label. The result of obliterating the 

 said stamps had been to smash the bottles, thus pro- 

 ducing a sticky mess of honey mixed with broken 

 glass, torn paper, and bits of string, etc. And, with 

 a few exceptions, many of the samples suffered from 

 a regrettable lack of strict cleanliness, while others 

 contained particles of foreign substances, and some 

 had been so badly managed as to be in a state of active 

 fermentation or worse. 



What rafi'^ be mailed in England? Such 

 packages in the United States would never be 

 admitted to the mails. 



Is this the first year of the century ? That 

 is what agitates the British mind. Lord Kel- 

 vin says " time is counted from 0, and for the 

 first 365 days we are progressing from zero to 

 one year. The first century began with 0, and 

 ended Dec. 31, 99." That is, if I owe 100 

 cents, payable a cent a day for 100 days, I 

 make a payment of cent, and stop at 99, and 

 begin a new dollar with the 100th cent. Would 

 Lord Kelvin call that a dollar? The era did 

 not begin with the year nor with any other. 

 It was iDegun about A. D. 535 on the false as- 

 sumption that Christ was born in the year 1 , 

 and we shall have to hold to that idea, al- 

 though as a basis it should be 4 years earlier 

 than it is. France calls this the last year of 

 the century. When a year is counted it is a 

 mere atom of time, having no beginning or 

 ending. A child born Dec. 31, 1900, has seen 

 /kis year as truly as one born Jan. 1. 



Just here comes a German bee-paper called 

 Bienen- Vaier, and it speaks of being at the 

 end of the century, but immediately adds, 

 " Even though the 20th century should begin 

 with 1901, Bte?ien-raier means when one be- 

 gins to wri/e a new century, then it should be 

 celebrated." 



Further, the Centralblatt^ of Hannover, 

 says, " Two naughts. That is the end of the 

 19th century." 



And here is the settler itself : 



Ed. Chicago Tribune: — The 20th century begins Jan. 

 1, 1901. It has been agreed to call the first year of the 

 Christian era 1 and not 0. This was decided in Glas- 

 gow, April 1.5, 1S70. W. H. M. Christie, 



Astronomer Royal. 

 \kl 



In the Isle of Man, in cutting a tree the 

 woodsman was surprised to find an immense 

 bees'-nest. As soon as a hole was made the 

 bees poured out for two hours. Over 70 lbs. 

 of honey was secured. 



It; 



British bee-keepers are bothered by a little 

 bird called " tit." One bee-man placed strips 

 of brown paper covered with bird-lime on the 

 alighting board and caught two birds at once. 

 By the way, how is bird-lime made ? 



There, now, after writing the above I find 

 that David Ross, of Kansas, on p. 903 of this 

 journal for 18<S7, tells all about it. I believe I 

 will give the recipe next time. 



LE RUCHER BELGE. 

 This superb French journal, for 1900, is 

 printed on new type, heavy face, presenting a 

 most beautiful appearance. For ten years it 

 has been ably edited by Mr. A. Wathelet, at 

 Liege, Belgium, and is fully up to the times. 



CANADIAN BEE JOURNAL. 



A far better and brand-new type is used now 

 on the Canadian Bee Journal ; the uncouth 

 side-heads and border decorations have been 

 discarded, and the whole journal presents the 

 inviting appearance that might be expected 

 from a Londonderry man. Mr. Craig and his 

 readers are to be congratulated. Speaking of 

 one kind of "honey dew," the editor says : 



Men have been rejected in considerable numbers 

 who sought enrollment in the U. S. army, because they 

 have what is called a "tobacco heart." There are 

 man}' evil fruits which flow out of '' small vices," un- 

 wisely adopted and needlessly continued. 



VALUE OF BEES IN FRUIT-ORCHARDS. 



New Light through the Efforts of Fruit-growers ; 



the Effect of Cross-fertilization in Enlarging 



Fruit as well as Seeds. 



BY J. E. CRANE. 



It is not my object in this paper to thrash 

 over old straw, but rather to gather some gold- 

 en grains of truth from a harvest of facts that 

 has ripened since the memorable discussion 

 of this subject a few years ago, and gathered 

 into a most interesting symposium. 



Perhaps nothing in that symposium was 

 more noticeable than the difference of honest 

 opinion held by many intelligent observers, 

 and for good reasons as the sequel will show. 

 It is an interesting fact that the new light on 

 this subject has come through the efforts of 

 the fruit-growers rather than the bee-keeper, 

 and that the solution of the problem is a most 

 complete proof of the value of bees to the 

 fruit-grower. 



