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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



horizontal frame, this to be placed inside of 

 a wire- cloth cage; then people could see the 

 whole inside of the hive, practically. I be- 

 lieve that we can refute comb-honey lies un- 

 til the end of time, and it will make but lit- 

 tle difference as to increasing its sale. You 

 see, a letter to an editor who has printed a 

 canard almost seems to take the semblance 

 of a petition, or, if you please, a half- apol- 

 ogy to the editor for asking him to contra- 

 dict himself. Editors are human, and they 

 don't like that sort of thing, considering 

 the fact that the canard itself made ' ' mighty 

 interesting reading " for the ignorant public, 

 and the petition doesn't make "mighty in- 

 teresting reading." 



A good many think so many new bee- 

 keepers being made is the cause, or one of 

 the causes, why honey is not more in demand ; 

 and it has been hinted, in one of the journals, 

 that a great effort was being made by a 

 large supply house, giving a very rosy hue 

 to apiculture in its advertisements. I pre- 

 sume The A. I. Root Co. was the party the 

 writer had in mind, or one of them, for I 

 have seen its advertisements in the farm 

 papers. It is claimed that this advertising 

 makes more bee-keepers, thereby depressing 

 the market. Now, I for one don't believe 

 that it does depress the market. I believe 

 The A. I. Root Co. ought to be commend- 

 ed by the larger bee-keepers for thus in- 

 creasing the number of bee-keepers. Why, 

 the more bee keepers we have, the more 

 mouths there will be to tell the truth about 

 honey, even if the proprietor of that mouth 

 owns but one colony of bees. I believe if it 

 were not for the many small bee-keepers 

 (and they are not so frightfully numerous 

 yet, either) that more people would believe 

 the comb-honey stories. The public wants 

 all the honey, and more, that is produced; 

 but it wants the satisfactory knowledge that 

 what goes down their throat is the simon- 

 pure article, and there you are back to the 

 old question again. 



I remember that, a year or so ago, a fel- 

 low traveling- man and I were taking a rath- 

 er long jump on the train (traveling quite a 

 long distance), when we got to talking about 

 bees. He said he was very fond of honey, 

 as was his family; but he had read and heard 

 80 much about honey being made by machin- 

 ery, and that there was something crooked 

 about it (there you are again) that he had 

 not bought any in some time. Well, we had, 

 he and I, a heart-to-heart talk about the 

 habits of bees, and, of course, the produc- 

 tion of honey. That it had its effect is cer- 

 tain; for when I saw him a few weeks ago 

 he said he had been buying comb honey now 

 by the case instead of by the section, and 

 said his family consumed about fifty pounds 

 last year. 



Randolph, N. Y., March 21. 



• 



[Your ideas seem very sound. I know that 

 the manufactured-comb- honey stories are 

 believed by a larger percentage of the pub- 

 lic than most bee-keepers have any idea of. 



I have never been able to see why the 



mere fact that bee-keeping is recommended 

 as an occupation should have any thing to do 

 with the honey market. If the market is 

 injured at all by the small producer I should 

 say that the one to blame is the man who 

 keeps bees in the old-fashioned way, and 

 who will sell honey in any kind of shape, at 

 any kind of price, because he is not up to the 

 times and knows nothing concerning either 

 modem methods or prices. It certainly does 

 the industry good rather than harm to get 

 hold of such a man, and teach him modern 

 methods. Why is not the market value of 

 the poultry products lowered because of the 

 amateurs who are encouraged to go into the 

 business?— Ed.] 



IF I WERE TO START ANEW, WHAT 

 STYLE OF FRAMES, SUPERS, AND AP- 

 PLIANCES WOULD I ADOPT? 



Standard Eight-frame L. Hives with Hofiman 

 Frames and Beeway Sections Preferred; 

 the Opinion of a Veteran of the East 

 and the West owning a Thou- 

 sand Colonies. 



BY M. A. GILL. 



[Perhaps it would be well to state that Mr. Gill was 

 not among the original number selected to discuss this 

 subject, else it might appear that he was chosen be- 

 cause of his endorsement of the eight-frame Dovetailed 

 hive and the short-top-bar Hoffman frame, originally put 

 out by the publishers of this journal. As Mr. Gill is a 

 man of large experience we are glad to have him join 

 the number. What he says will be an encouragement 

 to the user of standard goods obtained at any factory. 

 —Ed.] 



Dear Mr. Root:— Your remarks with re- 

 gard to what kind of appliances to use if 

 just starting in bee- business interests me to 

 such a degree that I feel like writing my 

 personal experience and ideas upon that sub- 

 ject. 



I will say, first, I have been a constant 

 subscriber to Gleanings for twenty-six 

 years, and have always been an admirer of 

 the Roots and Root's goods, but not to the 

 extent that I wanted every thing they made 

 just because they offered it for sale— for in- 

 stance, your old Clark smoker and your old 

 (so-called) Simplicity hives with their beveled 

 comers and edges, with a flimsy slatted hon- 

 ey-board to go imder those half-inch T-tin 

 supers, and covered over by an outer shell. 

 Those hives should have been named "Com- 

 plexity :" and what an abomination they were 

 as compared with your modern Dovetailed 

 hive and supers, and your new Cornell 

 smokers! 



You know there are many writers who, 

 for some unknown reason, have always tried 

 to down the Langstroth hive and Hoffman 

 frames, and have blamed manufacturers for 

 their being so universally in use. 



Now, is this not a left-hand compliment to 

 practical bee-keepers who should, and I be- 

 lieve do, know what they want, and will in- 

 sist upon having what they want, irrespec- 

 tive of what the manufacturers have offered 

 in the greatest bulk upon the open market? 



I have never seen the time when I could 



