328 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



This nearly or entirely prevents all mixing 

 of bees, so that one colony is no stronger in 

 bees, nor weaker, than it was when in the 

 cellar. Some think that each colony should 

 be set on its old stand of the fall before, as 

 I just said; and where colonies stand close 

 together, and are set out all at once, so 

 that many colonies standing side by side 

 are in full flight at the same time, I think 

 it would be well to set them on their old 

 stands. But with my plan of setting out, 

 all this inconvenience is avoided." 



"Thank you. I will be going now, as I 

 see by the sun it is nearly noon." 



There ought to be a heavy demand for 

 bees this spring in the form of nuclei and 

 colonies. Queen-breeders will do well to 

 cater to this trade. We believe there is 

 good money in it. 



The failure of the honey- crop in Califor- 

 nia and Cuba, and the heavy winter losses 

 in the lake regions in the northern parts of 

 the United States, ought to have a toning 

 efl'ect on the market for new honey. 



One of the finest honey confections is 

 solid candied honey, cut into cubes about 

 an inch square, dipped into hot chocolate. 

 As chocolate will keep these in good condi- 

 tion, there is no reason in the world why 

 such confectionery should not have a good 

 and permanent demand. Already one of 

 our subscribers is making this wire cutting 

 a success, and he reports that the product 

 moves off readily. It is something new and 

 nice. 



THE relation OF BEES TO FRUIT-GROWING. 



This is the title of an address delivered 

 by Mr. Wilmon Newell before the Georgia 

 State Horticultural Societ3' last August. 

 It seems to be the most thorough treatise on 

 this subject yet published. As any thing 

 like a condensed review of it would be out 

 of question here, and as the whole pamphlet 

 can doubtless be had by asking for it, we 

 will simply give two of Mr. Newell's most 

 important propositions: 1. Insects are essen- 

 tial for the pollination of fruit-bloom; and 

 the honey-bee does this more thoroughly 

 than any other insect; 2. Bees take part in 

 disseminating pear- blight and brown rot, 

 but these would be practically as prevalent, 

 even though there were no bees. 



THE OHIO FOUL-BKOOD BILL. 



The Ohio foul-brood bill is still hanging 

 fire in the legislature. It seems that, after 

 it passed the House, and was in the hands 



of the committee of the Senate, it was discov- 

 ered there was one little feature of it that 

 was unconstitutional, otherwise it would 

 have passed the Senate. From the latest 

 advices the bill had gone back to the House, 

 with the probability that it would pass. 

 The bee-keepers of the State sent such a 

 fusillade of letters into the Senate that the 

 measure is quite sure to pass that body. 

 Those who are back of the bill are "stand- 

 ing pat," awaiting developments with the 

 confident assurance that the measure will 

 become a law as soon as the necessary pro- 

 ceedings have been gone through with. 



FREE-HANGING VS. SELF-SPACING FRAMES. 



In the Question-box department of the 

 American Bee Journal, in which the opin- 

 ion of some thirty or more different bee- 

 keepers have been called for, the question 

 is asked, "If you were starting anew, 

 would you use a free hanging frame? and 

 if so, why?" The opinion seems to be about 

 evenly divided between the loose unspaced 

 and the self-spacing frame in a way that 

 would almost seem as if the latter type of 

 frame were not as popular as one would 

 naturally suppose. But if this same ques- 

 tion had been asked some twenty years ago 

 the answers from almost these same people 

 would have been almost unanimously against 

 the self- spacing frame in any of its forms. 

 The tide seems to be turning. If the read- 

 er could look over our order-books he would 

 be surprised to see that the automatic 

 spacer in some of its forms is called for 

 nearly ninety-nine times as often as the un- 

 spaced, and we sell different styles of them. 



Some have imagined th^t the self- spacer 

 frame was not practical for extracted hon- 

 ey; but there are some large producers who 

 do use them, and will have no others, and 

 this seems to indicate they can be used suc- 

 cessfully too. The notion that a Hoffman, 

 for extracting, can't be spaced wide to get 

 thick combs is wholly wrong, as I know by 

 personal observation in some large apiaries 

 of men whose colonies run over the thousand 

 mark. In Cuba, for example, where we 

 tried to push the unspaced frame, and 

 where there is more extracted honey pro- 

 duced per square inile than anywhere else 

 on the globe, the Hoffman self-spacer is 

 used almost exclusively. 



Of course, to the manufacturer it makes 

 no diflerence which frame (spaced or un- 

 spaced) is sold or preferred, for there is 

 just as much profit in the sale of the one as 

 the other. 



WINTER LOSSES UP TO DATE VERY SEVERE 

 IN THE LAKE REGIONS. 



On p. 277 of our previous issue I gave a 

 summary of the hundreds and hundreds of 

 reports that had been received from all sec- 

 tions of the country within a radius of a 

 thousand miles of Medina. More reports 

 have come in, largely confirming those first 

 received— namely, that the winter losses for 

 outdoor bees (not indoor) have been excep- 



