1104 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1 



footnote referring to the matter I said, ' ' I 

 doubt if there are many localities in the 

 United States that will support so many 

 bees without cutting the average per colony 

 down to an unprofitable basis." While this 

 does not at all detract from any statement 

 Mr. Alexander may have made so far as it 

 relates to his locality, the opinion expressed 

 is most decidedly that a large number of 

 bees in one locality is, as a general thing, 

 unprofitable, and therefore not to be ad- 

 vised. I have run through hastily some of 

 the other bee journals, but do not find such 

 indorsement as Mr. Doohttle speaks of, and 

 therefore I am all curiosity to know what 

 editor is commending such a proposition. 



I have written a good deal about bees, 

 and perhaps on some page I may have made 

 a misstatement or a statement that is capa- 

 ble of a misconstruction. If so I should be 

 glad to have the same pointed out. 



I have always believed, and I think our 

 columns will bear me out, that not over 100 

 colonies as a rule can be kept in one locality, 

 and I have often advised not over 50 or 60. 

 I know of only two localities that will sup- 

 port 500 colonies all in one yard in the Unit- 

 ed States. One is in California, and the 

 other is in New York ; and even these would 

 not begin to do this were it not for expert 

 management. — Ed.] 



Owing to some unexpected advertising 

 coming in late we have been obliged to leave 

 out our usual installment of Heads of Grain. 

 We are preparing to enlarge our journal; 

 and possibly in our next issue, certainly in 

 the one following, we will give a great deal 

 of extra matter to make up, at which time 

 an unusual amount of questions and answers 

 will be given. 



CONVENTION DATES. 



It would be a good thing if those who 

 have to do with fixing dates for conventions 

 would arrange them so they will not conflict 

 with some other convention date, so that 

 one or more speakers can attend them all. 

 For example, the Illinois State convention 

 conflicted with the one at Toronto, Canada. 

 Editor York had intended to go to both, but 

 of course could go to only oue. I am ar- 

 ranging to go to Chicago to attend the 

 Northwestern, Nov. 30, and go to Cincin- 

 nati Dec. 2, then am compelled to retrace 

 my steps, and go back to Chicago to get to 

 Minneapolis, the 7th and. 8th, making double 

 mileage. If the matter were put in the 

 hands say of the General Manager of the 

 National, he might suggest a set of dates 



so that he himself and the editors of all the 

 bee-papers could attend all the conventions, 

 and at the same get the the mileage down to 

 a minimum. Such an arrangement would 

 often make it possible for an association to 

 get an outside speaker when it could not 

 otherwise. 



GIVING BEES MID-WINTER FLIGHTS. 



I BELIEVE it was decided years ago that it 

 did not pay to give bees in the cellar a mid- 

 winter flight; that the slight gain resulting 

 from such flight would not compensate for 

 the labor involved. Of course, a good deal 

 depends on the locality, the kind of cellar, 

 the temperature that it is possible to main- 

 tain in it, irrespective of outside weather, 

 and, in general, the winter itself. But I am 

 satisfied that, in our own locality, one and 

 possibly two mid-winter flights when the 

 weather permits not only pays but pays 

 well. In half a day's time two men have 

 taken out of our cellar 200 colonies, allowed 

 them to fly, and put them back. The bene- 

 ficial effects were immediately noticed. While 

 the bees prior to removal were uneasy, they 

 became perfectly quiet after being put back, 

 and continued so for several weeks after. It 

 may be that in some cellars, in some locali- 

 ties, with a uniform temperature, the bees 

 can be kept so quiet, so dormant (bordering 

 almost on a stage of hibernation), that the 

 mid-winter flight is not necessary. 



FLOATING APICULTURAL EXPOSITIONS IN 

 RUSSIA. 



I DESIRE to call special attention to that 

 part of Mr. Titoff 's report on Russian bee- 

 keeping referring to the floating expositions 

 illustrative of apicultural progress in Russia. 

 I am of the opinion that something of the 

 kind could be instituted in this country, and 

 perhaps Uncle Sam some day will foster 

 such an enterprise. If a good big barge 

 could be chartered to go down the Mississip- 

 pi with a floating apiary, extractor, extract- 

 ing-house, and comb-honey equipment, with 

 competent men in charge to illustrate each 

 process, it would have a most wonderful 

 educational effect. It might stop at all the 

 principal places; and if a similar barge were 

 floated on the Ohio River, another on the 

 Columbia for the Northwest, every one 

 would have an opportunity at very little cost 

 for railway fare to see the latest methods 

 actually put into operation. 



IGNORANT, FOOD COMMISSIONERS. 



At the St. Louis convention Prof. E. N. 

 Eaton paid his respects to the ignorant or 

 incompetent food commissioners who every 

 once in a while will break loose i;i the papers 

 about some impossible adulterations, alarm- 

 ing the public with a story that will travel 

 from ocean to ocean. It is high time that 

 some one should call down some of these 

 people for the senseless blunders they are 

 making in the name of the great common- 

 wealths they are supposed to represent. 



For example, one of our food commission- 



