1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



847 



We have been having beautiful October 

 weather in Northern Ohio, so far without a 

 frost to speak of. 



Mr. Frank Rauchfuss, of Denver, Col., 

 who has just imported two Caucasian queens 

 from Germany, sends us a mailing-cage con- 

 taining a few of their bees. They seem to be 

 smaller than the ordinary black, hybrid, or 

 Italian bees with which we are so familiar. 

 They are quick and nervy in their movements, 

 and quite distinct in their general appearance 

 from the ordinary black bees. 



Now that producers generally over the coun- 

 try have sold out their honey, we are in better 

 position to judge of the honey season. The 

 great bulk of the honey this year was produc- 

 ed in Colorado and Michigan. A considerable 

 amount was produced in Texas and in 

 some parts of Florida. Taking it all in all, 

 I think we are safe in concluding that this 

 has been the poorest year — even more so than 

 last — that we have had for thirty years. 



Bee-keepers from various portions of the 

 country are sending in to us almost daily sam- 

 ples of bees which they say are extra honey- 

 gatherers, and the tongues of which they 

 desire us to measure. In nearly every in- 

 stance we find the reach of tongue is jy^, 

 which is much above the average, ^jj% being 

 the length of reach in ordinary bees. There 

 is no question but there is a very intimate 

 and close connection between long tongues 

 and the big records of honey-gathering. 



Of two wintering-repositories, the one that 

 is entirely under ground should have the 

 preference. The one that is described by T. F. 

 Bingham, in our issue for March 1, p. 174, is 

 ideal. The main thing in a bee-cellafis uni- 

 formity of temperature during winter. The 

 mercury should not vary much, even when it 

 is very warm outside. If the repository is en- 

 tirely under ground, instead of being two 

 feet or more out of the ground, as in the case 

 of the ordinary house cellar, the temperature 

 inside will be very much less subject to out- 

 side variations. It is usually not practicable 

 to winter indoors in localities where the win- 

 ter is somewhat open; but indoor wintering 

 will be perfectly practicable if the repository 

 can be so far under ground that the tempera- 

 ture in it will not vary from one month to 

 another more than four or five degrees. 



A WRITER in the Heads of Grain depart- 

 ment in this issue asks a question which I 

 failed to answer; viz., as to where he can get 

 the necesssary implements for measuring 

 bees' tongues. As I have already explained 

 in these columns, we ate prepared to furnish 



steel rules, graduated 'o hundredths of an 

 inch, that will measure the tongues of bees. 

 The only other articles nece.ssary are a pair of 

 tweezers, a small bottle of chloroform, and a 

 good magnifier. With this outfit one can do 

 his own measuring. The price of steel rules, 

 if they can not be purchased elsewhere, is ?,r> 

 cts. postpaid. 



ONTARIO BEE-KEEPERS' .ASSOCIATION. 



The annual convention of the Ontario Bee- 

 keepers' Association of Canada will be held 

 at Niagara Falls on the 4th, 5th, and 6th 

 days of December. I expect to be at this 

 convention with my stereopticon, and on the 

 evening of the 5th I will present many of the 

 views that were given at Chicago at the great 

 National convention. At the close of the 

 stereopticon work there will be a banquet in 

 honor of the presidents and ex -presidents of 

 the Association. I am requested, in behalf of 

 the Association, to extend a very cordial in- 

 vitation for the bee-keepers of the United 

 States to attend. Next to the great Chicago 

 meeting this will probably be the largest bee 

 convention held this year. All should go who 

 can. 



THE PRESENT ST.ATUS OF THE CASE OF 

 UTTER VS. UTTER. 



General Manager Secor is still at work 

 on the case of Utter vs. Utter. The attorneys 

 in the case are Messrs. Baker & Merritt, of Go- 

 shen, N. Y., who have been retained to defend 

 the bee-keeper Utter. 



In this connection I am pleased to stale that 

 the Rural New - Yorker, one of the very best, 

 cleanest, and most reliable agricultural papers 

 published in the world, is greatly interested 

 in this case. I have seen a personal letter 

 from the editor of that journal, expressing 

 the hope that bee-keepers would leave no 

 stone unturned in reversing the absurd deci- 

 sion of the justice of the peace before whom 

 the case was originally tried. 



I have also been informed that some evi- 

 dence, very valuable to the bee-keepers, was 

 suppressed by the aforesaid justice. He made 

 much of the testimony of a certain bee-keep- 

 er who averred that bees could bore holes 

 through boards, and would therefore puncture 

 fruit. The fruit-grower, Mr. Utter, testified, 

 as I understand, that bees stuvg his trees and 

 killed them, that they ate up his fruit, etc. 

 Such rank nonsense should be corrected, and 

 I believe it will be by the higher court, where 

 we shall get full justice. 



THE GREAT CONVENTION AND THE liRASS 

 BAND. 



The last convention of the National Bee- 

 keepers' Association was probably the great- 

 est in point of attendance and enthusiasm of 

 any meeting ever held in the history of the 

 organization under its different names. The 

 Chicago Bee keepers' Association, which en- 

 tertained us so roj-ally, first arranged for a 

 small hall, but finally at the last minute they 

 found it was necessary to secure a hall that 

 would seat comfortably 500 people ; and the 



