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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



There was a large amount of clover all 

 over the country last fall. The heavy pre- 

 cipitation of snow, affording both moisture 

 and protection, is a favorable omen. 



In many localities it will probably be ad- 

 visable to give the indoor bees an outdoor 

 flight the first warm day, and put them back 

 in the cellar until there is settled warm 

 weather. 



Every thing is looking favorable for a 

 good flow of honey in Southern California 

 this season; but it is not too late yet for an 

 entire failure, for the rains to insure the 

 crop are yet to come, if I understand it. 



Our readers may not have observed the 

 fact, but we are giving them right along as 

 a regular diet 104 pages a month; and it 

 looks now as if we should have to increase 

 that number, at least temporarily, until the 

 large amount of matter we now have on 

 hand is used up. 



It appears from newspaper reports that a 

 glucose-mixer at Gloversville, N. Y., was 

 convicted of selling honey made of 75 per 

 cent glucose and 25 per cent honey, and was 

 fined $50. It is said this was the first pros- 

 ecution under the new anti-adulteration law. 

 The moral effect of this first conviction will 

 be good. Let the good work go on. 



THE RUSSIAN TIN BOXES FOR CHUNK HONEY. 



We are getting a good deal of correspond- 

 ence in regard to the Russian tin boxes for 

 holding comb honey, as illustrated and de- 

 scribed by A. E. Titoff oti p. 19. It is a lit- 

 tle surprising to see how many are interest- 

 ed in the possibilities there presented. Not 

 a few wish us to secure boxes for them, and 

 just now we are corresponding with various 

 makers of stamped ware, and hope to be 

 able to give prices later. 



HONEY MARKET UNUSUALLY DULL. 



The cornb-honey lies that cropped out so 

 frequently last summer and fall, and the 

 talk about adulterated honey in the maga- 

 zines and health journals, have done their 

 deadly work, for the honey market seems to 

 be in a very bad way throughout the coun- 

 try just now. We expect, however, that 

 conditions will improve as soon as new hon- 

 ey is out. There is usually a stagnation in 

 prices at this time of year; but this spring 

 they seem to have dropped to a lower level 

 than usual, notwithstanding the supply of 

 last season's crop was not large. 



winter LOSSES. 



It is too early yet to predict what the 

 winter losses will be in the Northern States. 

 Thus far the winter has been no severer 

 than the previous one, and in many in- 

 stances much milder. But even if it were 

 just as severe, the bee-keepers a year ago 

 learned a lesson on the need of thorough 

 protection for the outdoor bees; so it is 

 probable that such bees this winter will 

 fare much better. 



Reports show that the country between 

 parallels 35 and 40 has suffered from the un- 

 expected cold. As a general thing, bees in 

 Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missou- 

 ri do not need a great deal of protection; 

 but when an unusually severe cold wave 

 comes, lasting a week or more, there are 

 liable to be heavy losses. There will be no 

 losses to speak of in the extreme southern 

 States; and in the extreme northern States 

 the mortality of the bees will be somewhat 

 greater than the average, but probably not 

 as severe as last winter. 



more comb-honey yarns. 



These are beginning to come to the fore 

 again, and are hurting the honey market. 

 The New York Tribune, one of the best 

 newspapers in the whole country, in its is- 

 sue for Feb. 19, under the head of ' ' Sac- 

 charine Adulterations," in speaking of the 

 various foods that have been adulterated, 

 makes this statement: 



Honey is also adulterated in the comb, the comb being 

 made in part of paraffine, and saturated with a mixture 

 of glucose and syrups. 



We have already written the publishers, 

 protesting, and offering $1000 reward for 

 proof that there is such a thing as manufac- 

 tured comb honey on the market. We also 

 referred them to Frank Benton, apicultural 

 expert at Washington, D. C, and to the ac- 

 tion taken at the last St. Louis convention, 

 denying the existence of manufactured comb 

 honey. But a mere protest from ourselves 

 will not mean much unless thousands of our 

 readers write immediately to the editor of 

 that paper, presenting a courteous protest, 

 and denying most emphatically the truth of 

 the statement under consideration. 



EXTRAVAGANCE IN ADVERTISING, ETC. 



I PRESUME our readers are all aware that 

 I do not like the extravagant advertisements 

 that are now getting to be so much the rage; 

 and perhaps some that are accepted for 

 these columns are not entirely free from this 

 fault. We have offended some by refusing 

 to accept their advertisement. Dr. Miller 

 pleasantly calls our attention to some of 

 them as follows: 



" Fifty dollars in gold for three cents" will be found 

 in Gleanings for Dec. 15, page 1141. On a par with 

 it. Jan. 1, page 9, is "$5000 worth of live stock to be 

 given away." It's strange that so good a paper as the 

 Epitomisl should resort to that sort of thing. I have 

 some doubt of the truth of "$5,00 worth of seeds free," 

 page 42; and if not true, Henry Field is unwise to say 



