68 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15 



tight, as you say, there will he propolis 

 streaks along the edges as you describe. 

 -Ed.] 



What answer, Mr. Editor, is to be given 

 to South Georgian, who wants to know, p. 

 24, whether the Danz. 4X5Xli section holds 

 a full pound at Medina? A 4x5 section has 

 11.3 per cent more surface than a 4jX4i 

 section; and if a 4JX4J section holds 15 oz., 

 a 4X5 section of the same thickness ought 

 to hold nearly 16.7 oz. But, S. G , if your 

 observations were for only one season you 

 mustn't count them too conclusive, for an- 

 other year the bees may put more honey in 

 the same sections, fl was surprised that I 

 had not answered South Georgian's ques- 

 tion so plainly asked. In answer I may say 

 that the 4X5X11 section will not average a 

 pound in Medina. The " fancy" will weigh 

 practically a pound. But, doctor, your fig- 

 ures are a little misleading. When you com- 

 pare the 4X5X11 section with a 4| square, 

 you are assuming that the latter is If thick, 

 which is not the fact. As a matter of fact, 

 the 41 square plain is Ih thick. So far as I 

 know, there are no 4i plain If thick; there- 

 fore it does not follow that the 4X5 should 

 hold 16 rV ounces unless it is 1^ inches thick, 

 and it is not so made except on special order. 

 You can not, of course, compare any plain 

 section with one having bee way s . The cleats 

 on the fences are {-. thick, while the beeways 

 on the slotted sections are i% wide; so that, 

 in the case of plain sections, a small part of 

 the bee way is in the section. Therefore it 

 follows that a li beeway section has slightly 

 more capacity than the Ih plain, although 

 they both hold approximately the same. 

 -Ed.] 



Marbach's metal spacer is an improve- 

 ment over the regular Hoffman by just the 

 amount less of contact surface, and that's a 

 good deal. It can be used interchangeably 

 with the regular Hoffman; but it must be 

 remembered that a hive filled with each kind 

 alternately would be no better than to have 

 all regular Hoff mans— possibly not so good— 

 for there would be a space of /'. which the 

 bees would be sure to fill with glue. [Pos- 

 sibly the space of b\ would be filled up in 

 your locality in time. Yes, I know it might 

 in time in a good many places; but it would 

 be the work of just a moment to take a 

 knife or, perhaps better, some blunt instru- 

 ment and scrape out the propolis between 

 the projecting points when it is warm. In 

 some locaHties I have seen even the tin rab- 

 bets on the hive filled level full, but we 

 have never seen any thing of the kind around 

 here. But say, doctor, if you will get rid of 

 those hybrids, and put in all pure Italian 

 stock, the same as our friend Alexander and 

 most of the bee-keepers in York State are 

 being forced to do on account of black 

 brood, you will have a great deal less of 

 that propolis, I think. I used to notice when 

 we had black bees how they and their cross- 

 es would fill up every thing with bee-glue 

 where Italians would jpave the same things 

 reasonably clean, or at most smear them 



with a red stain. Come, now, doctor, will it 

 not pay you to rear pure Italian queens, and 

 requeen every colony that does not have 

 pure yellow blood? I remember that one 

 time you bred purposely from a hybrid be- 

 cause she was a great money-getter. — Ed.] 



The question of filling the vacancy in 

 the Board of Directors in the National is a 

 rather ticklish one. There seems ground 

 for saying States should be represented on 

 the Board according to proportion of mem- 

 bership. But with only twelve members on 

 the Board, strict justice can not be done on 

 a representative basis, for not more than 

 twelve States can be represented at best. 

 It has rather seemed that we were better 

 off when the Board was only half as large 

 as now. With so small a number there 

 could be no thought of sectional representa- 

 tion, and no feeling of jealousy in that 

 regard— the only thought being to get the 

 best men, no matter where located. On 

 the other hand, local representation has its 

 advantage in local interest. Genuine repre- 

 sentation would demand a member of the 

 Board from each State, with an additional 

 member of the Board for every so many 

 additional members in each State. But that 

 would make a board very cumbersome. In 

 fact, it is too cumbersome now for prompt 

 expedition of business, seeing the business 

 must be done by mail. Possibly a plan 

 might be devised to have a large lepn sent- 

 ative board, this board to select a central 

 committee to do most of the business. 

 [This is one of the questions that was 

 brought up at the last National convention; 

 and after an hour of talk we practically got 

 back to where we started. This is a matter 

 that, in my opinion, should be discussed 

 through the bee journals so that the entire 

 membership can have a hand in it if it de- 

 sires, then vote intelligently on the fropo- 

 sition when it is put to them in concrete 

 form.— Ed.] 



You Buckeyes seem to be doing a good 

 bit of crowing because you're getting the 

 upper hand in the fight with boss Cox and 

 the rest of the whisky gang. I don't blame 

 you the least bit; but I want you to under- 

 stand that you're not the only pebble on the 

 beach. At the last session of the Illinois 

 State Legislature three of its members were 

 Prohibitionists, and there is a fair prospect 

 that the number will be largely increased in 

 the next session. I don't think you can 

 match that in Ohio, nor for that matter in 

 any other State. It doesn't mean that the 

 third party has become so wonderfully 

 strong. These three men were the nomi- 

 nees of the Prohibition party, but they were 

 by no means elected by a third-party vote. 

 A lot of clean men in the old parties have 

 gradually become so restive under the party 

 yoke that they finally said, ' ' Put clean men 

 on the ticket, men who will work against 

 the saloon, or we'll bolt the ticket." The 

 party machines counted on that as mere 

 talk, and put on men who would stand for 

 the saloon. Then the unexpected happened: 



