1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



413 



We have been informed that there has 

 been a general good rain throughout the 

 honey section of California, and that the 

 prospects for a fair crop of sage and alfalfa 

 are good. 



HEAVY WINTER LOSSES IN KANSAS. 



We have received numerous reports from 

 Kansas of heavy winter losses, indicating a 

 mortality of from 30 to 75 per cent. So far 

 we have received no unfavorable reports from 

 other sections, yet we are fearful that the 

 mildness of the fore part of the winter, fol- 

 lowed by a cold March, will result in a large 

 amount of brood- rearing and a heavy con- 

 sumption of stores and starvation. The cold 

 snap, coming on just when brood-rearing 

 was at its best, would probably kill a good 

 deal of brood as well as cause the chilling 

 of a good many bees trying to hover over 

 the brood. 



LATEST FROM THE CABIN ON THE ISLAND OFF 

 FLORIDA. 



We have received a card from A, I. R., 

 since the matter he wrote elsewhere in his 

 department went to press, saying that he 

 now has four young queens laying, of Cau- 

 casian blood, and that the old Caucasian 

 queen has her hive so full of honey that th^y 

 are preparing to swarm, and that her colony 

 is far ahead of the Italians and hybrids. 



Our Caucasian breeder is an imported one 

 that we secured direct from Russia; and on 

 the island we are endeavoring to inbreed, to 

 pick out the best individuals from such in- 

 breeding. A. I. R. has, of course, trapped 

 out all the hybrid and Italian drones, and is 

 rearing only Caucasian, so that the queens 

 from the imported ought to be just as pure 

 as the mother. Later on, if the plan works 

 well, we shall get some other pure imported 

 Caucasian stock from other regions in Rus- 

 sia to tone up any loss due to inbreeding. I 

 anticipate that, on the island, we shall be 

 able to solve practically the problem of 

 breeding from select drones. 



We have no Caucasians for sale at pres- 

 ent, and may never have if the stock should 

 not show up well later on; so, don't ask just 

 now for queens. 



THE HONEY- PRODUCERS' LEAGUE NOT RE- 

 SPONSIBLE FOR THE PUBLICATION 

 OF PAMPHLET ATTACKING 

 PROF. WILEY. 



A SHORT time ago the Honey-producers' 

 League was credited through the general 

 press with sending out an elaborate pam- 



phlet giving the history of the "Wiley lie," 

 so called, and attacking Professor Wiley him- 

 self. The League, as I happen to know, had 

 nothing to do with the preparation of or the 

 sending-out of the pamphlet under consider- 

 ation, although at the last meeting of the 

 Board of Directors at Chicago they were 

 approached by certain interests, and request- 

 ed that the League father the pamphlet, 

 with the understanding that these "inter- 

 ests " would pay all expense of publication, 

 as well as postage. The matter was discuss- 

 ed, and by a unanimous vote it was decided 

 to do nothing with it, as it was not known 

 what these certain "interests " represented. 

 The president, Dr. Miller, assures me that 

 no further action was taken. It was the 

 feeling on the part of some of the Board 

 that the "interests" back of the pamphlet 

 were the brewers and distillers who were en- 

 deavoring to "get back at" Wiley for his 

 strenuous attitude on the subject of a nation- 

 al pure-food law. If that were the fact the 

 League felt that it could not be used as a 

 club to pound Wiley, because bee-keepers 

 stand for pure food. 



THE OHIO FOUL-BROOD LAW AND THE SPE- 

 CIAL TAX OF ONE CENT PER COLONY. 



This was duly signed by Governor Patti- 

 son, and has already taken effect; but, con- 

 trary to what I had supposed, the expense 

 for the enforcement of such a law is provid- 

 ed by a tax of one cent on each colony in the 

 State. Where one has 100 colonies he would 

 be placed on the tax-dupUcate for $1.00, as 

 I understand it, in addition to the regular 

 tax on his bees. 



If the assessment of one cent per colony 

 will be the means of checking the disease 

 and otherwise keeping it out of any given 

 locality, the money will be well invested. 



Perhaps some bee-keepers in the State 

 may claim that they can take care of their 

 own foul brood, and that the tax of one cent 

 per colony is exorbitant and unnecessary, 

 because of the fact that only a few localities 

 will be affected. In this they may, perhaps, 

 be mistaken. The disease is all around us. 

 Black brood and foul brood exist in York 

 State; foul brood has gotten a good headway 

 in Michigan, and in some localities in Canada 

 it still exists. With foul brood all around us 

 it is high time that we had an effective work- 

 ing law in Ohio, and I believe we have it 

 now. 



After the amended foul-brood bill passed 

 the Senate (the special tax of ten cents per 

 colony being stricken out) I received word 

 from our Representative, Mr. Woods, that 

 there was a disposition on the part of the 

 House to kill the bill because of the expense 

 it would involve to pay inspectors out of the 

 regular covmty fund. I suggested then that 

 he see the author of the bill and ask if there 

 would be an objection to putting back the 

 special tax but only half a cent or one cent 

 per colony. I heard nothing more of the 

 matter until I saw the bill had passed both 

 Houses; and the fact that the one- cent tax 



