1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1349 



For late feeding after cold weather has 

 set in, it will be risky to feed syrup. Better 

 make a candy, and lay it on top of the 

 frames, as directed in the text-books. 



The reader must not fail to read the digest 

 of the national pure-food law as given in 

 this department. While I do not for a mo- 

 ment suggest or hint that any of our sub- 

 scribers would knoxoinghj violate this law, 

 they might innocently do so, and it there- 

 fore behooves them to understand its provi- 

 sions. 



* 



Gleanings will be represented at the big 

 San Antonio convention bv our junior edi- 

 tor, H. H. Root, and Mr. R'alph W. Boyden, 

 manager of our Chicago office. It will be 

 impossible for me to get away, as the con- 

 vention comes at a bad time for me to leave 

 home. H. H. Root will stay aft«r the con- 

 vention, making a tour among some of the 

 bee-keepers of the State. 



In this issue we introduce a new depart- 

 ment entitled "Told by the Jay." The 

 writer is a real funny man — spontaneously 

 funny. This department will not only be 

 spiced with humor but with practical bee 

 lore as well. The Jay is a man who has had 

 considerable experience with bees; and in 

 his droll way he will tell things that will be 

 interesting as well as useful. 



Mr. Orel L. Hershiser. in this and the 

 last issue, i-ecommends confining cellar-win- 

 tei'ed bees within the hives This I believe 

 to be perfectly practicable, providing a deep 

 space or rim is placed between the hive 

 proper and the bottom-board. Two sides of 

 this rim should be open, and covered with a 

 fine-mesh wire cloth. The reader should not 

 make the mistake of trying to confine the 

 bees in an ordinary hive, for he will be al- 

 most sure to come to grief if he does. 



WINTERING IN CLAMPS IN A CLAY SOIL. 



We have several good articles in this issue 

 on wintering indoors and in clamps. In the 

 article by E. D. Townsend the reader must 

 not forget to note that the latter specifies his 

 bees are buried in sandy soil. In order to 

 make the clamp method of wintering a suc- 

 cess, the pits must be thoroughly drained. 

 A sandy soil will naturally permit this, leav- 

 ing the bees dry and sweet. I would not 

 advise any one to attempt wintering by 

 this method in a clay soil. Indeed. I do not 



know of any one who has made a success of 

 it in clay soil. 



OUR NEW PUBLISHING HOUSE NEARING COM- 

 PLETION; OTHER ENLARGEMENTS 

 AT MEDINA. 



Our new office and publishing house, just 

 across the way from our present quarters, is 

 nearing completion. The walls and floors 

 are all of concrete, and fii-e and eai'thquake 

 proof. The entire structure is roomy enough 

 inside for a fair-sized game of ball, and 

 handsome enough outside for the home of 

 any pretentious magazine. 



We expect to get into our new quarters in 

 a month or six weeks. New machinery and 

 equipment is arriving; and when we finally 

 get fully underway, and in the new building, 

 we hope to make Gleanings blossom as it 

 never did before. 



Our readers will be pleased to know that 

 our publishing department is more than self- 

 sustaining, and fully able to build a larger 

 home out of its own funds, irrespective of 

 financial aid from the supply department. 



Speaking of this latter reminds me that we 

 have added a third story to one of our wood- 

 working buildings, doubled the horse power 

 of our smoke-stack, increased our fire-fight- 

 ing service, and before Jan. 1 all of our de- 

 partments will have exceptional facilities 

 for getting out work rapidly at a minimum 

 of expense. When our general oflice and 

 printing department vacate our present 

 quarters this will give us additional room for 

 manufacturing and storage purposes that we 

 do not now have. 



is it a disease of the brood or NOT? A 



scant supply of stores responsible 



for dead brood. 

 At the Northern Illinois and Southei-n 

 Wisconsin bee-keepers' convention, a sam- 

 ple of dead brood was brought in to be iden- 

 tified. A good many reported finding the 

 same thing in their own yards. It did not 

 seem to be contagious, and appeared only in 

 certain colonies with only a dead larva 

 showing here and there. It was finally de- 

 cided to send a sample of the affected brood 

 to this office, which was done. I have care- 

 fully examined it; and from the reported 

 facts concerning it, and the appearance of 

 the dead larvte, I should say it was nothing 

 more than dead brood as a result of a scarc- 

 ity of nectar supply. Some of the brood be- 

 ing insufficiently fed, it dies. Parts of Wis- 

 consin, where this dead brood was found, 

 had a severe dearth of honey; and any local- 

 ity where this is true is liable to show in a 

 few of the hives an occasional cell of dead 

 brood. The obvious remedy is to feed all 

 such colonies that are running from hand to 

 mouth. It is poor economy in more ways 

 than one to let any colony run shy, especial- 

 ly before the expected honey-flow. Doolit- 

 tle never said a truer thing than when he 

 advised that all colonies in the spring and 

 early summer be "rich" in stores; for that 

 means brood and bees when he harvest 

 does come. 



