598 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Two Good Things. 



Aug. 1. 



THERE are two good things that I am working hard 

 to sell to bee-keepers. They are the Bee-keepers' 

 Review and a superior strain of bees. I will can- 

 didly admit that the hope of profit is the main- 

 spring that moves me in this course. At the same 

 time, it is none the less true that my patrons receive 

 greater benefits than I do. 



The Review is a bright, clean, handsome, progres- 

 sive, wideawake, up-to date, practical journal, with- 

 out a dull line in it. Time and again has some sub- 

 scriber written that some article was worth to him ten 

 times what the Review cost him. 



Allow me to mention just 

 one article from each number 

 that has been issued this year. 

 Remember that there are 

 many other most excellent 

 articles in each issue. 



JANUARY has a five-page 

 article by Miss Pickard, of 

 Wisconsin, on the production 

 of extracted honey. She began 

 with taking bees out of cellar, 

 and went over the ground 

 thoroughly until the bees 

 were again in the cellar. The 

 frontispiece shows her out - 

 apiary, with wooded hills for 

 a background and a little 

 brook for the foreground. 

 There is a portrait of Miss 

 Pickard, a description and 

 picture of her bee-brush, the 

 best thing of the kind that I 

 have ever seen, also a picture 

 of her wintering-cellar with 

 the boys carrving in the bees. 



FEBRUARY has an article 

 from Herbert Clute, who was 

 brought up in the bee-busi- 

 ness by that old veteran, 

 Frank McNay, and who, dur- 

 ing the five years that he has 

 been in business for himself, 

 has produced about 75,000 lbs. 

 of extracted honey, built up a 

 nice apiary, honey-house, and 

 wintering-cellar, all of which 

 are illu.strated and described. 



IN MARCH I attended the 

 convention of the Wisconsin 

 bee-keepers, held at Madison, 

 wrote up all of the bright 

 things that were said, and 

 printed them, together with 

 a. full-page illustration of the 

 men who said the bright 

 things. There is also a cut 

 and description of the best 

 section-press and foundation- 

 fastener I have ever seen. 



THE APRII, frontispiece 

 showed the wintering-cellar 



THE PICKARD 

 From Janua 



and apiary (300 colonies) belonging to John F. Otto, 

 of Wisconsin. For 14 years Mr. Otto has devoted 

 himself exclusivelv to the production of comb honey, 

 and, in the April Review, he describes the novel and 

 practical methods whereby he invariably secures very 

 populous colonies during the honey harvest. 



With this issue of the Review I began offering a 

 prize of $.5.00 for the best article. H. D. Burrell, c f 

 South Haven, Michigan, got the prize on an article 

 entitled, " The Production, Care, and Sale of Extract- 

 ed Honey." It is one of the best articles I have seen 

 on the subject. 



THE MAY edition was a 

 special-topic number devoted 

 to queen-rearing, containing 

 numerous illustrations and 

 more than 50 pages. The 

 prize was awarded to W. H. 

 Pridgen, of Creek. N. C, who 

 furnished one of the most 

 comprehensive articles on 

 queen-rearing that it has been 

 my lot to read. Beginning 

 with this issue a new cover 

 was put on the Review. It is 

 a bright beautiful goldenrod 

 in color. 



JUNE opens up with a pro- 

 fusely illustrated article by 

 that king of bee-keepers, N. 

 E. France, of Wisconsin. He 

 manages his out-apiaries in 

 the most systematic manner 

 of any bee-keeper whom I 

 have visited, and in this article 

 he describes not only his sys- 

 te, but them hive, implements, 

 and methods that have en- 

 abled him to produce 300,000 

 pounds of extracted honey at 

 the lowest possible cost. 



In this issue was discussed 

 the question of " Which is the 

 most Hopeful Field?" That 

 is, in which direction is com- 

 mercial bee-keeping suscepti- 

 ble of the greatest improve- 

 ment ? Some very interesting 

 views were brought out. J. 

 E. Crane, of Vermont, was 

 awarded the prize. 



The Review is only a 

 monthly, and the price is 

 $1 00 a year ; but when it 

 comes to the matter of fur- 

 nishing valuable, practical in- 

 formation, such as is really 

 helpful to bee-keepers, it is 

 not one whit behind its com- 

 petitors. It is boiled down. 

 Some subscriber often writes : 

 "It is the one bee-journal of 

 which I read every word." 



BEE-BRUSH 



ry Review. 



SOME SUPERIOR STOCK. 



No experienced bee-keeper needs to be told that 

 there is a difference in bees, and that superior stock 

 in the apiary is fully as desirable as in the pasture or 

 in the poultry-yard. If the surplus is increased only 

 ten pounds per colony, by the introduction of superior 

 stock it means a gain of 1000 pounds in an apiary of 

 100 colonies. While I have done much good by the 

 dissemination of knowledge through the columns of 

 the Review, I believe that I am now doing still greater 

 good by sending here and there, all over this land, 

 queens of a really superior strain of bees — a strain 

 that has been developed by twenty years of the great- 

 est care in breeding — by crossing and selection — from 

 the best stock obtainable. Time and again have I 

 tried queens of this stock, and always found their 

 bees to be ahead of everything. They are gentle to 



handle. They store more honey than other strains 

 that I have tried. They cap their honey very white. 

 They are hardy, and winter well. I have been selling 

 this stock for only one year, but already reports are 

 coming in telling how it has forged ahead of other 

 stock. As a bee-keeper you can never invest a small 

 sum of money to better advantage than by introduc- 

 ing some of this stock into your apiary. 



The price of these queens is SI. 50 each. This may 

 seem like a high price, but the man who pays it will 

 make dollars where I make cents; and when you 

 come to read the conditions under which they are sold, 

 they will not seem so high. The queens sent out will 

 all be young queens, just beginning to lay ; but as 

 there are no black bees in the vicinity it is not likely 

 that any will prove impurely mated. If any cjueeu 



