1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1417 



face has the present foundation, Mr. Editor? 

 [There are 5 cells to the inch; but Cheshire 

 showed that there were over 25 cells to the 

 square inch, or approximately 37. Our own 

 worker foundation is based on 5 cells to the 

 inch, or as near natural comb as we can 

 make it. I think it will run about 37 cells 

 to the square inch. 



Referring to the question of the size of a 

 cell, and its relation to the size of bees that 

 hatch from it, Mr. W. K. MoiTison, who is 

 with us, states that, for the purpose of exper- 

 iment, he spaced a lot of his combs IJ from 

 center to center, instead of the regulation 1^ 

 or 1^, as we tinil in nature. It had the eiJect 

 of reducing the length of the bees hatched 

 from the cell, something on the principle that 

 a Chinese lady's feet are I'educed in size by 

 shoes too small for her. But Mr. Morrison 

 thinks it would be unwise either to reduce 

 or enlarge the cradles of baby bees. Too 

 much development in too large cells might 

 result in too many laying workers, he thiuKS. 

 I do not know ho\^ that would be. — Ed.] 



The glucose people are said to be "'up 

 against" 500 lawsuits in the State of New 

 York on account of sugar sold to confection- 

 ers, grocers, and others, which did not meet 

 with the requirements of the pure-food law. 



We have a larger amount of good copy on 

 hand, awaiting publication, than we ever had 

 before. 1 make this statement so that some 

 of our friends who may be awaiting the ap- 

 pearance of their communications will under- 

 stand why they have not appeared before. 

 We are enlarging our journal again, and 

 hope to catch up soon. 



The old reliable firm of Montgomery Ward 

 & Co., of Chicago, advertise to sell only pure 

 cane sugar. This is a very satisfactory thing 

 in more than one sense, and it is a tribute 

 to the spirit of the age, which demands "^no 

 substitution." When people want a pure 

 article they ought to be furnished that arti- 

 cle, and not a substitute. Some of us would 

 like to know why Montgomery Ward & Co. 

 dropped beet sugar and glucose sugar from 

 their list of sugars. 



Algerie, under French rule, is a good 

 field for bee-keeping. The number of bee- 

 keepers, according to the census of 1903, is 

 as follows: Europeans keeping bees, 915, 

 with 9389 hives. There are 24,000 native 

 bee-keepers with 163,379 hives. Algerie re- 



ports about 170,000 lbs. of wax per annum. 

 Both the native Arabs and the Jews are said 

 to be fond of honey, which may in some 

 measure account for the athletic build and 

 fine physique of these people. 



Bee-keepeks residing in Southern Califor- 

 nia where the rainfall is small should make 

 some inciuiries about the Chilian algarrobil- 

 la, a shrub (Ci«salpinia brevifolia), the pods- 

 of which furnish a very valuable dye-stuff. 

 The chances are it would prove a very use- 

 ful bee-plant besides. This offers a splendid, 

 opportunity for utilizing much wild land in 

 this country. It is also probable that the al- 

 gorobas of the Southwest can also be util- 

 ized in the same manner. Here is a chance 

 for the Department of Agriculture, at VVash- 

 ington, to do the bee-keepers a great service. 



LOSSES IN bees IN EARLY FALL. 



We had been having several dark days, 

 raw and chilly, when one day the sun shone 

 out and it looked as if it were going to warm 

 up. Thousands of bees thought so too and 

 came out; but the air was so chilly that many 

 of them could be seen scattered all over the 

 ground on the sidewalks, numb with cold, 

 so chilled they would probably never take 

 wing and get back to the hive. It was too 

 early in our locality to put the bees into the 

 cellar, and consequently the bees of the 450 

 colonies at the home yard had a chance to 

 fly if they would. 



The loss must have been somewhat heavy; 

 and yet we have days, quite a few of them, 

 like this, all through the seasc-n — the same 

 kind of days that bee-keepers all over the 

 United States, south as well as north, have. 

 It is these days that often do more damage 

 than several days of actual zero weather. 



the effect of the new national pure- 

 food LAW on the comb- 

 honey CANARDS. 



When the new pure-food law as given on 

 page 1350 of our last issue goes into effect it 

 ought to silence for ever the stories that come 

 up every now and then about manufactured 

 comb honey. Any newspaper or magazine 

 should know that, even if it were possible to 

 manufacture comb honey artificially, it would 

 be risky for the venders to put the stuff on the 

 market, for the reason that they would be up 

 against heavy penalties and a possible jail 

 sentence. 



These comb-honey stories will probably 

 continue to go on for a time, but the bee- 

 keeper can now set up the argument that 

 there is no such thing, because its sale would 

 be against the law. When any ' ' smart aleck ' ' 

 clerk in a grocery claims he has the two 

 articles for sale, the real and the bogus, just 

 tell him that you will put the United States 

 officers on track of him or his proprietor, 

 and you will find that he will get over his 

 "smartness" instanter. 



