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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15 



Our apologies are due to our subscribers 

 for the lateness of our last issue. Two at- 

 tacks of the grip at just the wrong time 

 kept E. R. R. at home when he could nei- 

 ther attend to editorial matter nor write the 

 index. I am glad to report that I am very 

 much better, and none the worse for the 

 grip. 



The Central CaHfomia Honey-producers' 

 Association voted to disincorporate, not be- 

 cause of any lack of success or confidence in 

 the management, as was stated in an ex- 

 change, but because its members desired to 

 put themselves in close touch with a larger 

 organization, national in its scope, now in 

 process of development. Inquire of F. E. 

 Brown, Hanford, Cal. 



IS IT HERESY? 



The question now up for discussion is, 

 whether mid-winter flights, toward the lat- 

 ter part of winter, of cellared bees, are ad- 

 vantageous or not. For many years the old 

 heresy that a sick man needed to be bled 

 until he had lost half his blood continued to 

 hold full sway. Another old dogma was 

 that patients suffering with fever should 

 not be allowed to have water to dnnk. 

 There is no doubt that the old physicians 

 killed many of their patients by keeping 

 both water and ice away from them. A cer- 

 tain dogma may have the indorsement of 

 all the "authorities" and yet be all wrong. 

 For years and years it has been considered 

 bad practice to give cellared bees a mid- 

 winter flight on a warm day, for cleansing. 

 It is high time that we determine whether 

 or not this teaching is like some others that 

 have done such fearful mischief in times past. 



THE BANNER HONEY COUNTY OF NEW YORK. 



Tompkins Co., so I understand, has the 

 honor of being the banner honey county of 

 New York. Its output was over 236,000 

 lbs., or, figured in cars, it would be between 

 seven and eight. When it is remembered 

 that that county is only about 20 miles 

 across it either way, these figures are some- 

 what remarkable ; but perhaps it will be 

 better understood when it is known that the 

 largest bee-keeper in the world, probably, 

 at the present time, Mr. W. L. Coggshall, 

 has something over 20 apiaries within its 

 borders. There are other counties in the 

 United States that will show a larger output 

 of honey, but these counties are as large as 

 some whole States in the East. I refer to 

 Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and San Diego, 

 in California. All these central counties in 



New York yield immense amounts of honey. 

 The territory is already overstocked, and it 

 would be useless for an outsider to try to 

 squeeze in. 



honey-dew in honey. 

 In one of Dr. Miller's Straws in this issue 

 he strongly protests against a proposed defi- 

 nition that is now being seriously considered 

 by the leading chemists of the country, that 

 excludes honey-dew from honey. If such a 

 definition is adopted it will be a most severe 

 blow to the bee-keeping industry. There 

 are many bee-keepers in the country who 

 get a little honey-dew every year, and more 

 still who get it occasionally, and it would be 

 simply impossible to keep it out of their 

 honey. A small amount of it does not hurt 

 the flavor in the least. But honey contain- 

 ing such small amounts would be classed by 

 the chemists as adulterated, and both the 

 producer and the seller would as sure as fate 

 come under the ban of the pure- food law. 

 Such a condition would work untold harm to 

 thousands and thousands of innocent people, 

 and I hope our subscribers will utter a most 

 mighty protest. Don't write to us, but to 

 the chemists (see Straws), and ask them to 

 leave the definition as it was, and tell them 

 that honey- dew where it is gathered can 

 not be kept out of pure bee honey. It will 

 not do to delay this matter one minute. 



I suggest that, in addition to the leading 

 chemists, the government apicultural expert, 

 Frank Benton, should be written to, for he, 

 I am sure, would present the protests to the 

 proper authorities at the Department. Ad- 

 dress him, care Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington, D. C. The chemists are our 

 friends, and are willing to serve us ; but 

 they must be enlightened, and that speedily. 



S. A. NIVER AND HIS NEW QUEEN ; THE ORI- 

 GIN OF THE FENCE SYSTEM. 



Cards are out announcing the marriage 

 of Mr. S. A. Niver, the honey-man, and 

 Mrs. Alfaretta Hull Jahnke, on the 26th of 

 December last. Mr. Niver, it will be remem- 

 bered, was associated with Mr. Miles Mor- 

 ton, the man who for many years used the 

 fence separator, and from whom the Root 

 Company obtained the basic principles of 

 the fences now sold by all the supply-manu- 

 facturers. It was Mr. Niver who, at the 

 Buffalo convention, insisted I should go and 

 see Mr. Morton. I protested that I hadn't 

 time. "But you must come," he urged; 

 ' ' Morton has something that the bee-keeping 

 public ought to know about," and I went. 

 But for this visit the fence and plain-section 

 system might not have been cataloged as 

 they are in nearly all the supply catalogs of 

 the country. Niver as well as Morton has 

 contributed to the bee-keeping world some- 

 thing of great value. 



Niyer's specialty now is selling comb and 

 extracted honey direct to consumers, more 

 particularly to the foreign class. He told 

 me when I saw him last he could make any- 

 where from five to ten dollars a day. So 

 muc"h for Niver. We do not know any thing 



