1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



69 



The ticket was scratched, and votes were 

 cast for men pledged to work for prohibi- 

 tion. Revolutions don't go backward; look 

 out for the Sucker State next time. [But 

 the independent spirit among voters m Ohio 

 is very strong. I hope the day is past m 

 our State when Republicans or Democrats 

 will any more accept any candidate, good or 

 bad, that their respective bosses happen to 

 jam through the nominating convention. If 

 ever pohticians in Ohio have been taught a 

 lesson at all it is this: That they must never 

 again allow a boss to jam a candidate on to a 

 ticket when such candidate is not acceptable 

 to the party at large.— Ed.] 



The Root twin mating-box may be no 

 better down south than the single box, but 

 I'm sure it's better up north. And while 

 you're at it, why not have triplet boxes? 

 You could have three compartments like the 

 two you already have, or you could have a 

 middle compartment for only one frame, 

 only in the latter case you must be sure to 

 have the middle compartment at least two 

 inches wide. I'm not speaking at random, 

 but from actual experience, having had fifty 

 such triplet hives in use, only they had full- 

 sized L. frames. [We could make a triplet 

 box, but the middle compartment would 

 have a great advantage over the two outside 

 ones. This, perhaps, would do no harm. 

 The twin box, as it is, is very nearly cubical; 

 and by putting the flight-hole on each diag- 

 onally opposite corner there would be no 

 trouble from the queens mixing. But when 

 we have a triplet box we introduce a com- 

 plication, because we are compelled to get 

 one pair of holes pretty close together. — 

 Ed.1 



I HAD intended to say something about 

 the Chicago convention; but just before go- 

 ing to press I found my space was all taken 

 up with other matter. I will try to give 

 some sidelights in our next issue. 



BENTON IN THE CAUCASUS (RUSSIA) . 



Our readers will remember that the Di- 

 vision of Apiculture, Department of Agricul- 

 ture, Washington, reported last summer that 

 its last imported Caucasian queen was dead; 

 and as there were serious uprisings in the 

 Caucasus regions, in Russia, Dr. Philhps in 

 charge had grave doubts as to whether Mr. 

 Benton, then in Europe, would be able to 

 get any more queens of this race. At all 

 events, he (Benton) it appears pushed on, 

 and, although he encountered all sorts of 

 difficulties, such as detention and actual im- 



prisonment, to say nothing of the risk of 

 life, he secured queens of this race and sent 

 them on to the Department, so that the gov- 

 ernment is well supplied with imported Cau- 

 casians. It appears from the postal card 

 which will be seen on page 92 that Mr. Ben- 

 ton is not entirely through with the difficul- 

 ties of his journey yet. His lightning ex- 

 press train may ditch him yet. 



BEES AND POULTRY. 



Several of our subscribers objected tc 

 the severe strictures placed on the American 

 hen by Mr. Frank McGlade in our issue for 

 Dec. 15, page 1307 ; and from the amount of 

 correspondence that has come in, it is appar- 

 ent that a large number of bee-keepers are 

 poultry- keepers also. It is these particular- 

 ly who think Mr. McGlade has been unfair 

 to the hen. In this issue we are publishing 

 two articles which I hope will help to even 

 up things a little. But our poultry-keepers 

 must not take the statements of Mr. McGlade 

 too seriously. While he states the actual 

 facts in his own experience, yet there is a 

 sort of humor about the whole of it, and 

 this is made the more emphatic by the car- 

 toons by our artist, Mr. Murray. 



I suppose that, as a matter of fact, the 

 great majority of bee-keepers have some 

 other pursuit in connection with their bees. 

 Many keep poultry; many others run a small 

 fruit- farm, and others still have a regular 

 ranch or farm. It is not the policy of Glean- 

 ings to run down any industry that may 

 happen to be run in connection with bees; 

 and we are sure that Mr. McGlade had no 

 desire to do the poultry business an injus- 

 tice. 



THE USE OF A NOM DE PLUME. 



Gleanings admits the use of a nom de 

 plume whenever a correspondent desires, 

 from motives of modesty, to conceal his 

 identity, or in cases where a busy man de- 

 sires to avoid a correspondence more or less 

 voluminous, which may follow in case his 

 name is put before the public. But we will 

 not allow a correspondent who desires to 

 strike back at some one to come out under 

 mere initials or a nom de plume. If he de- 

 sires to score the other fellow he must stand 

 out in open fair fight; and even then we re- 

 serve the right to temper his language or 

 omit it altogether. Gleanings will not be a 

 vehicle for personal quarrels and wrangles, 

 but it will allow fair dignified discussion, 

 the purpose of which is to bring out new 

 sidelights or correct error. Two or three 

 times lately a correspondent has desired to 

 strike back at another one, and requested 

 the use of his initials or a nom de plume. I 

 wish to make the position of Gleanings on 

 this point clear once and for all. 



THE SIMMINS direct METHOD OF INTRODUC- 

 ING QUEENS. 



A CORRESPONDENT in this issue refers to 

 the Simmins direct method of introducing. 

 As some of our readers may be unfamiliar 



