AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



233 



bee-keeping States, instead of having a 

 station in each, thus doubling the expense, 

 it would be better to have one, and let a 

 little more money be spent on that one than 

 would be spent on each one separately, if 

 there were two. 



But there are a good many things to be 

 considered before settling down upon any 

 given number of stations in the United 

 States as the most desirable. In the first 

 place, we must do as we can. Legislatures 

 are not always easily handled just as one 

 would wish, and it may be that an appro- 

 priation can be had in some of the States 

 and not in others. We should be willing to" 

 take whatever we can get, and not always 

 insist too strenuously on what we would 

 like. If bee-keepers had insisted that 

 Michigan should unite with three or four 

 neighboring States in establishing the 

 station now in existence, it is just possible 

 that the effort would have failed, whereas 

 by having it a purely State institution it 

 was obtained. 



A single experiment station for the whole 

 of the United States could be made of great 

 value, if rightly conducted. Indeed, I am 

 not sure that a one-horse affair in each of 

 the States would be as useful as to put all 

 the money into the one now under the con- 

 trol of Friend Taylor, so that he could de- 

 vote his whole time to it, employ all the 

 assistaftce needed, and go into experiments 

 to the fullest extent upon every unsettled 

 point of importance. Upon many points 

 experiments in one State would be equally 

 conclusive for all. If experiments were 

 needed to prove that eggs are laid by 

 queens, and not drones, it would hardly 

 matter whether such experiments were 

 made in Maine or Texas. 



As to many things, however, conclusions 

 reached in one section would not be of very 

 great value in another. I am not specially 

 interested in determining the value of some 

 Southern honey-plant which I could get to 

 live only in a green-house, however val- 

 uable it might be to some one in Florida. 

 And when you come to plant stations in 

 different localities, basing the locations on 

 the difference of localities, it is a little 

 doubtful if four or five would be found 

 enough. Possibly one or more head stations 

 might do to work out general problems per- 

 taining to locality. 



There is an advantage in" having more 

 than one station that is not to be despised, 

 even although nothing but general prob- 

 lems are to be solved. It is that a series of 

 experiments conducted at one place might 

 have some element of error about them 

 that would not exist in a series conducted 

 at a different station, and thus one station 

 be a check upon another. Besides, a larger 

 number of experiments is often more con- 

 clusive than a smaller one, no matter how 

 carefully made. 



In two important respects the station of 

 Michigan has set the right pace. First, it 

 has at its head a genuine bee-keeper, and 

 not a man who has never before been heard 

 of as such. Second, the head of the station 

 is in close touch with bee-keepers, com- 



municating directly and constantly with 

 them through the medium of bee-journals 

 obtainable by all, and not obliged to wait 

 and make out a report to someone else, a 

 report which bee-keepers cannot readily 

 obtain. 



I may as well own up that I have no very 

 fully matured plan as to just what a bee- 

 keeping station should be and do. beyond 

 the thought that it should help to solve the 

 thousand and one questions that are con- 

 stantly coming up, and that individual men 

 are now trying to solve for themselves at 

 great cost and inconvenience. But it will 

 do no harm for us to talk the matter over. 

 Michigan has done a grand thing. If all 

 the States should chip in and make the 

 Michigan establishment a national one on 

 a broader basis, it would be greatly to our 

 advantage. If. on the other hand, three 

 other, or a dozen other, like concerns 

 should be started, that would be a thing of 

 great advantage. Keep the ball rolling, 

 and let us hope good will come of it in some 

 direction. C. C. Miller. 



Care of Honey and Combs. — Hon. 

 R. L. Taylor, in the Bee- Keepers" Beview. gave 

 the following directions for the keeping of 

 comb honey, which it will be well to heed : 



After the honey is off the hive, it is 

 highly important that it should be well 

 cared for. I pile it up on end, that is, put 

 the cases on end so as to be fully open to 

 the circulation of the air in a warm, dry 

 room — the warmer and drier the better, so 

 that it is not warm enough to cause the 

 wax to yield. Unless one allows the wax- 

 moth to breed extensively about the premi- 

 ses. I think there need be no fear of its 

 doing injury to the comb honey. I never 

 knew any injury from this cause when dis- 

 posed as I have indicated above. 



I consider it important also that it be 

 allowed to remain in the cases until it is to 

 be put on the market. It is better there 

 than inclosed in shipping-crates, besides the 

 comb is more liable to injury than when it 

 becomes thoroughly ripened, and the 

 weather somewhat cooler. 



It is always timely in warm weather to 

 utter a warning against the danger of in- 

 jury to combs from the wax-moth. They 

 may be safely kept for a time in a very cool 

 cellar. If kept where it is warm they must 

 be kept separated an inch or more, and 

 where the air has free circulation, but on 

 hives where bees can care for them, is the 

 best place of all. 



Honey as Food and jfledicine is 



just the thing so help sell honey, as it shows 

 the various ways in which honey may be 

 used as a food and as a medicine. Try 100 

 copies of it, and see what good 'sales- 

 men " they are. See the third page of this 

 number of the Bee Jouhital for description 

 and prices. 



