1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



409 



were found by others, we did not think it 

 worth while to get any more of them. 



If later tests of them shall prove that our 

 earlier reports were unfair we shall be very 

 glad to be corrected. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING LAYING QUEENS 

 IN RESERVE TO SUPPLY FULL COLO- 

 NIES IN THE BROOD-REAR- 

 ING SEASON. 



In this issue Mr. E. W. Alexander makes 

 the very good point that he does not 

 like to keep his " full colonies a day longer 

 without a queen than " he can help. This 

 is very important. Just before the harvest, 

 a good colony that is interrupted for a day 

 or two in egg-laying must necessarily show 

 up a deficit in field bees, just at a time of 

 the year when it can least afford it. This 

 all goes to show that the honey-producer 

 ought to have a reserve of laying queens in 

 nuclei ready for immediate service. The 

 little baby boxes of bees described in this 

 issue will meet the emergency most admi- 

 rably; and right here the practical honey- 

 producer should see the value of these min- 

 iature hives for his own use ; in other words, 

 he should rear his own queens, then have 

 them fresh and ready to lay as soon as they 

 are introduced. A queen just from the 

 mail- bags requires a day or two before she 

 can recover from the suspension of egg-lay- 

 ing; and the bee-keeper who is looking to 

 the profit should see to it that his full colo- 

 nies just prior to the harvest be not inter- 

 rupted in their daily accession of eggs and 

 young brood. Brood at the right time means 

 honey, and honey means money, and money 

 means profit. 



THE MISSOURI FOUL-BROOD BILL VETOED BY 

 GOVERNOR FOLK. 



The bee-keepers of Missouri have been 

 putting forth strenuous efforts to get through 

 a foul-brood bill providing an appropriation 

 of $1000 a year and an inspector, a good deal 

 on the plan of the excellent foul-brood law 

 of Wisconsin. The bill passed both Houses, 

 but unfortunately was vetoed by Governor 

 Folk, who, it must be assumed, thought he 

 was doing Missouri a real service. Govern- 

 or Folk is a man whom all good people 

 everywhere in the United States must ad- 

 mire as an honest and fearless servant of 

 the law. His record is something to be 

 proud of. Would there were more like him. 

 But even the best of men make mistakes. 

 The reason given by the Governor for this 

 veto shows that he did not understand the 

 nature and extent of the bee-keeping indus- 

 try; and this only goes to show that it is 

 important that bee-keepers, when a bill is 

 pending in any legislature, also see the 

 governor, if he has the veto power, and 

 make sure he is fully informed of the need 

 and object of the proposed law. If that had 

 been done in this case, Missouri would un- 

 doubtedly have had a foul-brood law second 

 to none of those in the United States. 



We have already written Governor Folk, 



expressing our regrets, but saying at the 

 same time that, if he were ever a candidate 

 for the presidency of the United States, we 

 should probably cast our votes for him, ir- 

 respective of his action in this case, as we 

 believe him to be one of God's noblemen. 

 It is to be sincerely regretted that he did 

 not call in a few representative bee-keepers 

 and inform himself before he took the step 

 he did. 



AN INTELLIGENT AND CONCERTED EFFORT TO 



ADVANCE PRICES ON HONEY; THE HON- 



EY-PRODUCERS' LEAGUE. 



Attention is called to the new Honey- 

 producers' League, a prospectus of which is 

 given on page 437 in this issue. While I had 

 but little or nothing to do with the forma- 

 tion of this new organization, I believe it to 

 be the most intelligent movement yet inau- 

 gurated to remove the false impressions 

 concerning both comb and extracted honey, 

 and to advance the prices on both. While 

 the League has been raising its funds, it 

 has already been doing splendid service in 

 securing retractions and fine write-ups in 

 some of the leading papers, on the general 

 subject of honey. For example, the New 

 York Evening Post, one of the most influen- 

 tial and dignified dailies in the city of New 

 York, published the usual misstatements in 

 regard to the bee business. Two represent- 

 atives of the League called on the editor and 

 publisher and explained the facts in the 

 case, with the result that, on April 6, he 

 published a splendid editorial on the subject 

 of "Zoological Morality." We have not 

 space here to give the whole of the article, 

 but here are a couple of sentences: "A 

 week or two ago the Evening Post, which 

 has only the most friendly feeling toward 

 the honey-bee, was guilty of a grave injust- 

 ice in its treatment of that insect. . . . 

 There is no method for artificially sealing up 

 the comb, and no ingredient can enter honey 

 in the comb without the consent of the 

 bees. ' ' The article all through is written in 

 a most pleasing style, and occupies a great 

 deal more space than the original item ma- 

 ligning our little friend the bee. 



Other articles are in the hands of publish- 

 ers, with a fair prospect of publication in 

 full. You see, here is the point: When The 

 A. I. Root Co. or any other interested party 

 would write protesting, the publisher or ed- 

 itor would naturally suppose there was "an 

 ax to grind. " If he published a retraction 

 at all, it would sometimes be even worse 

 than the first item, or practically shove the 

 poor bee and the bee-keeper from the fry- 

 ing-pan into the fire. 



Perhaps it would be well to explain that 

 the new organization has a new field, and 

 does not in any way encroach on the territo- 

 ry of the National. The two will work to- 

 gether in harmony. If the bee-keepers of 

 the country hold back their contributions to- 

 ward this laudable enterprise they will have 

 only themselves to blame if the honey mar- 

 ket is not matermHy CMfed' up within a year 



