1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1067 



could be obtained, and where prospective 

 customers are allowed to sample the goods, 

 with good clean wooden spoons. Well, don't 

 you think in that case the honey business in 

 that city would receive a wonderful stimu- 

 lus? 



FREE ADVERTISING. 



The great metropolitan dailies would be 

 all agog about it, and the comb-honey lie 

 would go glimmering. I'll have some illus- 

 trations that will show the style of our bee 

 cage, and the crowds that assembled to see 

 "the man get stung." 



CAUCASIANS — CONFLICTING TESTIMONY. 



The American Bee-keeper for October is 

 inclined to regard the Caucasians "as the 

 most worthless race of bees that has ever 

 been offered to the American public;" and 

 it would advise caution on the part of those 

 who think of investing in them. Editor 

 Hill may be right. Dr. D. E. Lyon, on the 

 other hand, who has a colony of these bees, 

 is very enthusiastic over them. He says he 

 can jerk the hive open in cool weather, 

 without smoke, and the bees will not resent 

 it. He regards them as a valuable acquisi- 

 tion. The one or two colonies we have seem 

 to be quite gentle; but the bees were too 

 young at the time of my examination to 

 form any thing like an accurate opinion of 

 their temper. However, Gleanings be- 

 lieves they are worth testing, and looks 

 with much favor on the effort of the gener- 

 al government to obtain them from the Cau- 

 casus, and import them into the United 

 States. One serious objection to them I 

 see is that those we have look so much like 

 black bees (much more so than Carniolans) 

 that it would be almost impossible to deter- 

 mine by their markings whether ihey were 

 pure or not, especially if raised in a vicinity 

 where black drones were present. 



COMB FOUNDATION IN THE UNITED STATES 

 NOT ADULTERATED. 



A WRITER in the American Bee-keeper 

 throws out the insmuation that comb foun- 

 dation made in this country is adulterated. 

 He says he "got ten pounds of thin super 

 foundation from one of the largest firms 

 that makes and handles bee-supplies. It 

 was almost white, and even in the hottest 

 weather it did not get soft. I think it con- 

 tains a pretty large percentage of paraffine." 

 The editor of the American Bee-keeper be- 

 lieves the charge to be "quite unfounded 

 and exceedingly unjust." He does not hes- 

 itate to assert that the whole evidence is, in 

 his opinion, "confined to the mind of the 

 accuser." Quite right, Bro. Hill. Even if 

 the manufacturers of comb foundation had 

 no moral scruples (and I think they have), 

 they are business men enough to know that 

 about the quickest way to ruin their own 

 business of foundation-making would be to 

 adulterate their wax with parafRne and cer- 

 esine. All the manufacturers buy their wax 

 from bee-keepers and others of known rep- 

 utation—at least we do. They might inad- 



vertently get a little adulterated; but every 

 cake of wax that comes into our foundation- 

 room is carefully inspected by an expert. 

 Several times has he rejected suspicious 

 samples. On one occasion he rejected a 

 whole shipment. We compelled the seller to 

 take it back right speedily or stand dam- 

 ages. He took it back. 



The mere fact, as averred by the corre- 

 spondent, that the foundation in question 

 was white and hard only goes to show that 

 it was pure beeswax and not paraffine, and 

 had probably been made for some time, dur- 

 ing which it bleached. Thin super that has 

 been made for six months or a year, even of 

 the purest wax, will be much whiter and 

 somewhat harder than that just from the mill. 



The accuser says the foundation-makers 

 have never denied putting out such an arti- 

 cle. When this matter came up some time 

 ago it was denied most emphatically. For 

 evidence of this, see page 644, June 15. 



SPECIAL ISSUE GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



We are pleased to announce to our sub- 

 scribers that extensive plans are now under 

 way for a magnificent Christmas (Dec. 15) 

 issue of Gleanings. It is planned that this 

 issue shall by far exceed in its wealth of 

 contributed articles, its half-tone illustra- 

 tions, and its cover design, any thing here- 

 tofore attempted in bee-keeping literature. 



The cover is printed in three colors by 

 one of the best color-printing establishments 

 in the United States. We were not satis- 

 fied to attempt this ourselves, and have gone 

 to great expense for the printing of this 

 cover. The design is something unique, and 

 very pleasing indeed. It shows the red clo- 

 ver in its natural colors in all its beauty, 

 and, all together, will make a bee-keeper's 

 magazine that will compare favorably with 

 any of the literary magazines of to-day. 



During the past summer we have had a 

 special artist who has been sent to various 

 points especially to take photographs for us. 

 He has traveled on our account alone the 

 past summer over 4000 miles, and we can 

 promise something very fine in our half- 

 tones for this issue. In this announcement 

 we are unable to specify definitely the sub- 

 jects that will be given, but those who are 

 at all familiar with Gleanings for the past 

 year will know that a treat in illustrations 

 is ii;i store for them. We can definitely an- 

 nounce now that some of the prize photo- 

 graphs in our second photographic contest, 

 American and foreign, will appear in this 

 issue. Our engravings are made by the very 

 finest engravers in the United States, insur- 

 ing first-class work in every respect. 



Miss Bessie Dittmer, daughter of Mr. 

 and Mrs. Gus Dittmer, the foundation- 

 maker, was married, Sept. 20, to Mr. Julius 

 Hammer. Miss Dittmer is a young lady 

 who created a very favorable impression at 

 the Northwestern, in Chicago, last winter. 

 Any man who could win her hand ought to 

 be extremely happy. 



