456 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



June, 1917 



H 



C 



LJT 



new idea — 



one that 

 might get r e- 

 sults, which is 

 more than can be 

 said of a lot of 

 " ideas." It was 

 written to a bee- 

 keeper friend of the M.-A.-O. (it was writ- 

 ten in deadest earnest, too) and its gen- 

 erally business-like air and all-pervading 

 benevolent spirit justify its reproduction 

 here — so here it is : "I have bees in out- 

 yards and thefs have stolen 5 hives and rob- 

 bed others to the extent of 215 lbs. of 

 honey. It is impossible to watch them, and 

 I ask what do you think might be the re- 

 sults of the law if I would place arsnic be- 

 tween the midrib or between two sheets of 

 foundation and place them in eirtin hives 

 espesliialy for thefs and if they should 

 stealit from the bees, eat it and die and it 

 should be proved just as I have stated do 

 you suppose I would be in any danger of 

 loosing my scalop." How direct and clear 

 the thought ! How simple in conception ! 

 How bold and yet artful in strategy ! How 

 calculated for the general weal as well as 

 for the intestinal linings of honey-thieves ! 

 I must say that I like it — its general sans 

 froid and lofty jDurposefulness. The other 

 editors of Gleanings don't agree with me — 

 but I do. I can't help believing in the 

 man's sincerity. Just one caution, how- 

 ever, viz. : Never mind your " scalop," but 

 pay considerable attention to avoid getting 

 those " hives espeshialy for thefs " mixed 

 up when it comes to saving out honey for 

 home consumption. 



* * * 



A visiting beekeeper a few days ago 

 blurted this right out in the office : " A 

 beekeeper, if he isn't being stung by a 

 honeybee or a honey-buyer, is trying to 

 sting some other beekeeper." Wasn't that 

 a devil of a thing to say right in The A. I. 

 Root Co.'s office? Yes, sir, despite dear 

 old Mr. A. I. Root's possible objection to 

 the strong word, wasn't that the very devil 

 of a thing to say right in the office here? 



• • * 



Just to show how honey-producei's them- 

 selves contribute to the demoralization of 

 the honey market and prices: A honey- 

 producer in western Ohio last winter 

 sold his big honey crop at retail for $1.00 

 per gallon in cans — a net price of less than 8 

 ets. per pound. Extensive honey-dealers 

 had then been paying more than this in car- 

 load lots. Another honey-producer — al- 

 most & neighbor of the one afor3:r.en'.io -cd 



AROUND THE OFFICE 



M.-A.-0. 



W^^^^^^^^ 



■ — sold his crop 

 in 10-lb. pails at 

 $1.25. The cur- 

 rent retail price 

 Ihen — and easily 

 obtainable — was 

 $1.75 per pail. 

 A group of 

 honey - produc- 

 ers selling in territory close to this man — 

 but who knew their business — sold their 

 honey in 5-lb. pails at $1.25 per pail. The 

 uninformed honey-producer is the man who 

 knocks down honey prices. He's the fellow 

 that spills the fat in the fire every time. 

 He's also generally the chief high squealer 

 about low honey prices and the poor op- 

 pressed beekeeper. 



The Man-Around-the-Office didn't fully 

 expect to get it past Mr. A. I. Root — I mean 

 the cuss words in the letter of that fellow 

 that wrote a big supply house about failing 

 to send the crank with his extractor and 

 added a postscript saying that he had just 

 found the crank in the bottom of the box. 

 It was no use explaining to A. I. Root that 

 the cuss words had to be used to illustrate 

 the kind of man that would write such a 

 letter. Nosiree. " Uncle Amos " was on to 

 me and my flimsy argument, and he kept on 

 me till I wished that he would get off. 

 I also wished that I had'n'adidit. I guess, 

 too, that he was right about it. But that 

 mad-all-over letter (cuss words and all) 

 of the fellow who didn't find the crank the 

 first thing in the top of the packing case, 

 tickled me so that I couldn't resist the temp- 

 tation to pass it along to the unregenerate 

 readers of Gleanings. I won't do it again 

 — not while Mr. A. I. Root is anywhere this 

 side of Bradentown, Fla. 

 * * * 



Most of those delayed orders for the de- 

 layed ABC and X Y Z of Bee Cultures 

 have been filled — thanks be ! But the mails 

 or freight or some other agency of the Old 

 Nick occasionally still delay one longer 

 even than the printer did, and then the A. 

 I. Root Co. gets a whack that is a real 

 whack. This came from a mad man down 

 in Massachusetts who had had a copy prom- 

 ised him in March at latest, and had not 

 got it by May 1 : " Perhaps if you do not 

 March in April you May in June and don't 

 Ju-lie about it." Yet some people imagine 

 the lives of these Root persons to be all 

 happiness, ice cream, and chocolate sundaes ! 

 How would you like to get one like thaf? 

 And this isn't saying anything about what 

 Ernest got for printing the information that 

 dandelions " produce little or no honey." 



