E 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



JANUARY, 1920 



1 



EDITORIAL 



A New Old Way 

 of Wiring Comb 

 Foundation. 



IN AN EAELY ISSUE we expect to give 

 •'a trick of the trade" in wiring foundation 

 that one man esti- 

 mated would be 

 worth $1,000 to 

 him. It will en- 

 able the beekeeper 

 to increase the size of his regular hive so 

 far as breeding capacity is concerned, with- 

 out enlarging the hive, and at the same time 

 will enable him to get a better control of 

 swarming. The beauty of the "trick" is 

 that it has been tested for several years by 

 hundreds of beekeepers, and it works. 



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JUST AS GLEANINGS is going to press, 

 we receive a characteristic letter from Dr. 

 C. C. Miller. While 

 Dr. MiUer the message will 



Writes Adieu. bring deep regret 



to that great host 

 of friends and readers who have so long en- 

 joyed the Doctor's wisdomful writings, be- 

 cause now these can be expected no longer, 

 yet the letter itself brings assurance of the 

 longer sparing of his life. That is much to 

 be thankful for. 



The Doctor writes to us as follows: 



Marengo, 111., Dec. 16, 1919. 



Dear Folks: — I had some confidence that I could 

 get out a bunch of Straws for January Gleanings, 

 and, as usual, depended on the reading of the De- 

 cember number for inspiration for the most of them. 

 But when I had finished reading the December niun- 

 ber I had just one straw.' 



So it seems it's no go, and Straws may be con- 

 sidered a thing of the past ; for, even if I could do 

 the work, it would be thru too much effort, and extra 

 effort, either physical or mental, is taboo under 

 penalty of being thrown back where I was two 

 months ago or worse. 



.Anyway, I've had a good time in the past, and 

 since I've been sick the kind words from Medina 

 and elsewhere have been very precious to me, my 

 only regret being that I cannot personally answer 

 each one. If the next world is any better than this 

 — and I'm sure it is — it must be a very fine world. 



With very best wishes to every one, I am 

 Cordially yours, 



C. C. Miller. 



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IT IS GENERALLY considered that there 

 is an indirect relation, or, perhaps, more ex- 

 actly, a ratio, be- 



Price of Sugar 

 and Honey. 



tween the price of 

 sugar and the price 

 of honey. If this 



is true it means tliat one is somewhat the 



competitor of the other — that is to say, both 

 are supplying the demand of the public for 

 something sweet. As the price of sugar goes 

 up, especial^ if it is hard to get, other 

 things being equal, the price of honey may 

 become firmer even if it does not advance. 

 This does not always follow, however. There 

 are other factors that enter into the general 

 proposition — so much so that it is very dif- 

 ficult to forecast what the price of honey 

 will be, based on developments in regard to 

 sugar. 



During the last few weeks sugar has been 

 becoming more and more scarce, and the 

 price has been advancing. Sometimes there 

 has been the belief that sugar would go 

 down, especially after the holidays, when, 

 it is said, there would be large supplies. One 

 of the uncertainties has been whether the 

 Sugar Equalization Board would be continu- 

 ed. If it should lapse by virtue of limita- 

 tion January 1, it has been predicted that 

 the price of sugar will mount rapidly to 15, 

 20, or even 25 cents a pound. 



At this writing, (December 15), the Mc- 

 Nary bill, which extends the life of the 

 Sugar Equalization Board thru 1920, has 

 passed the Senate. It is the belief that the 

 House will pass it likewise, with the result, 

 if the President approves, that the Board 

 will be continued. In the meantime we are 

 told that the chairman of the Board says he 

 will resign, if the Board is continued, as it 

 is too late now to put in restrictions on the 

 price and distribution of sugar. Just what 

 is going to happen seems to be all in a mud- 

 dle. 



From the United States honey market re- 

 ports, published in the Honey Column, it ap- 

 pears that the market on honey is slow, and 

 this in spite of the fact that sugar has been 

 trj-ing to climb upward, and doubtless will 

 climb, if it gets a chance. Why has not hon- 

 ey taken a similar course? 



Senator Pomerene of the United States 

 Senate claims that the administration took 

 the advice of a political economist, who ad- 

 vised against the purchase of the entire 

 Cuban crop when it could have been bought 

 at 6y2 cents, instead of taking the advice of 

 a practical InisiMOSs man who would have 

 urged the purchase of this sugar. It is on 

 account of this, he says, that millions of 

 pounds of Cuban sugar went to Europe in- 

 stead of coming to this country. Would 



