1170 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. Vi 



The best grades of table honey should by all 

 means be sold early, or at least not later 

 than Christmas or New Year's. 



In an early issue I expect to show how to 

 make a concrete foundation or concrete 

 walls for a bee-cellar, that will not cost half 

 ^s much as a brick wall, and you can do the 

 work yourself. 



There will be a sort of foul-brood con- 

 tention on the day before the opening of the 

 National (Nov. 7), at San Antonio, Texas. 

 For particulars, see page 1199. By the way, 

 that reminds me that the editor of the Anier- 

 ican Bee Journal is getting up a carload of 

 bee-keepers to go to San Antonio for the big 

 National convention on Nov. 8, 9, 10. For 

 particulars address Geo. W. York, 334 Dear- 

 born St., Chicago, 111. 



GRADE AND SCRAPE YOUR SECTIONS. 



Do not make the mistake of sending your 

 section honey to market without grading or 

 scraping. Take a little more time, as vou 

 will save a good many dollars Ijy putting 

 "fancy" in one lot, '"No. 1" in another, and 

 so on. 



I have before stated that it almost makes 

 me cry to see how carelessly some bee-keep- 

 ers put up their honey. They send it to 

 market in miserable cobbled-up cases with- 

 out scraping the sections, and very poorly 

 graded if at all. The dealer will be sure to 

 knock oft" quite a little from the price; then 

 he will proceed to grade and scrape it him- 

 self. ^^ hy should not the bee-keeper him- 

 self get the benefit of this? 



HONEY PUFFS. 



I HAVE just been eating some honej' puffs 

 for breakfast. They were made by the Na- 

 tional Biscuit Co., and have onlj- recently 

 been put on the market. They are about 

 the finest cake, in my opinion, that was ever 

 sold; and I understand that the general pub- 

 lic is taking hold of them very readily. It 

 behooves every l)ee-keeper to go to his local 

 grocers and inquire for "honey puffs." 

 Keep on inquiring until they carry a stock. 

 If our 30.000 subscribers will ask for honey 

 puffs at every grocery it may be the means 

 of introducing these new goods to 100,000 

 grocei's. That will mean, if it means any 

 thing, a larger output for a medium grade 

 of honey. It might be well for those who 

 travel to inquire for these putt's at hotels and 

 restaurants. 



ANOTHER METHOD OF SUBDUING BEES: GO- 

 ING BACK TO ORIGINAL PRINCIPLES. 



Handling bees inside of a cage at fairs 

 has brought out some methods of subduing 

 that perhaps are not utilized as much as they 

 ought to be in ordinarj^ bee-yartl practice. 

 Too many bee-keepers rely almost entirely 

 on the smoker. Smoke is all right in its 

 place; but if I wishetl to unite two belligerent 

 colonies I would smoke them slightly, then 



I would shake a frame of the one colony ami 

 a frame of the other into a ueej) dish-pan or 

 box, and after I hatl done this with all the 

 frames I would shake the Ijccs up in the pan 

 or box until I had them thorouguiy demoral- 

 ized or frightened. Then I would dump 

 them in front of the hive, their permanent 

 home, and allow them to crawl in. AV'hen 

 once in I would carry them down cellar ami 

 keep them there 24 hours. When treated 

 thus they will be pretty apt to stay in any 

 place, and, so far as lighting is concerned, 

 the general shake-up will take the belligerent 

 spirit all otit of them. 



Of late years we have not practiced drum- 

 ming enough on the hives to induce quiet. 

 Our forefathers used to do a great deal more 

 of this than we of to-day. There are some 

 operations where the drtimming business, 

 especially in the matter of uniting, I fancy, 

 could be practiced with very good results. 

 I believe this pan-shaking will so demoralize 

 them that one can do with them almost the 

 same as he would with a natural swarm. 

 They will not only be tractable, but I think 

 if they be shaken up enough they will 

 stay where they are put. 



GOLDENROD (SEE FRONT COVER PAGE). 



Now is the season for goldenrod for most 

 of the Northern States. It is one of the most 

 important sources of honey during the fall 

 months in many localities in the United 

 States — important, not for any great amount 

 of honey, for there is never enough so that 

 it gets into the market, Ijut important be- 

 cause it comes at a time of the year when it 

 helps to keep the bees busy, and at the same 

 time serves to make up for the loss in stores 

 during the late summer. 



There are something like 80 distinct species 

 of goldenrod in the United States. Of these, 

 some forty odd are found in the northern 

 part of the cottntiy. All of the species have 

 yellow flowers, save one, a slender wand- 

 like plant (>S. bicolor) that has whitish or sil- 

 ver-like flower-heads — a departure from the 

 general family habit. This species seems to 

 be comparatively^ rai'e, and even when dis- 

 covered is not readily recognized as belong- 

 ing to the genus Holidago, or goldenrod. 



The number of species is so very large 

 that botanists have made no attempt to classi- 

 fy all of them. Indeed, some of the species 

 seem to mei'ge so grailually from one into 

 the other that it is ditflcult to distinguish 

 them readily. Even botanists are conlused. 



But there are, nevertheless, pronouncetl 

 differences in the appearance of some of 

 them. There is one species that grows 

 in this locality, Solidago laneeoluta, that, 

 while having the same general leaf-forma- 

 tion, has a different flower from that shown 

 on the front cover. They are grouped 

 in flat top clusters, unlike other members 

 of the family, while the other species like 

 that shown on the front cover ( Solidagu 

 CcDiadetisis), has flower-clusters that termi- 

 nate in a point. This species is more com- 

 mon in our locality. 



