1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



185 



manufacturing: Bee-Supplies.— As illustrating 

 the difficulty of getting supplies made at home, G. C. Greiner 

 tells in Gleanings about going to a planing-mill where they 

 readily agreed to plane lumber exactly to any required thick- 

 ness. But the first board was too thick or too thin, some- 

 times 1/16 out of the way. Then change of planer, fol- 

 lowed by one edge of the board thicker than the other, or the 

 middle thicker than the edges. The same thing occurred at 

 other mills. What they had always considered exact work 

 wouldn't be considered so in bee-supplies. He found the only 

 satisfactory way was to get supplies from those who made it a 

 special business, and were provided for the exacting require- 

 ments of matters pertaining to bee-hives. Home-made work 



hardly pays. 



<-.-»■ 



Asking: Questions is all right. We want o.ur read- 

 ers to feel free to ask for information, but we will have to 

 draw the line for awhile on asijing and answering over and 

 over the same questions, week after week. We think the 

 trouble is that beginners are not careful enough to read every 

 question and every answer fouud In Dr. Miller's department of 

 the Bee Journal each week. Hence it is that they keep on 

 asking about " transferring," " what to do with unflnisht sec- 

 tions," etc. — questions that Dr. Miller has answered " forty- 

 'leven " times (more or less) the past three months. We think, 

 in order to save space, and also to get caught up, we will have to 

 ask Dr. Miller to simply give the previous page numbers 

 where can be found replies to repeated questions. 

 ••-»-* 



Alfalfa for Hay. — Mr. E. S. Lovesy, who lives in 

 the great alfalfa region of Utah, refers thus to Prof. Cook's 

 statement about alfalfa, as found on page 97 : 



I agree with Prof. Cook when he says that our lucern 

 secretes honey liberally In dry weather ; but when he says 

 that it is better for hay to cut it just before it blooms, I can 

 say that my experience is the opposite. I believe there is iu 

 it much more virtue, nutriment or strength when cut after it 

 has been- in bloom a week; some here claim to have tested 

 this. As I have always agreed with Prof. Cook in all else, I 

 would like to ask him if he has tested this matter, or does he 

 give it as common custom or belief ? Sometimes this proves 

 a common error. E. S. LovEsv. 



He Never Smokes.— A supply-dealer was in his 

 store with a beekeeping customer, and when passing a shelf 

 on which were piled nee-smokers, the following short conver- 

 sation took place : 



Supplt-Dealbr — Wouldn't you like a smoker? 

 Customer — No, thank you. I never smoke. 



This smoker anecdote we donate to Mr. Bingham, of bee- 

 smoker notoriety. We know when and where it really oc- 

 curred. We only wish that every bee-keeper could honestly 

 make as good reply, and still use a (bee)-" smoker." 



Bee-L,iterature (?).— E. E. Hasty will be sad. Not 

 long ago he mentioned the ■departure of a certain order of lit- 

 erature from bee-journals, fondly hoping it might never re- 

 turn. Now has Rambler in Gleanings rambled clear out of 

 sight and sound of bee-keeping, and discourses upon the difli- 

 culties of pleasing an ailing wife in the proper selection of a 

 chicken to be killed for Thanksgiving. Fortunately it doesn't 

 come in the busiest time of the year. 



Bee-Keeping: for Beg:inners is the title of a 

 llU-pagebook just out, from tne pen of that expert bee- 

 keeper of the South, Dr. J. P. H. Brown, of Georgia. It 

 claims to be " a practical and condenst treatise on the honey- 

 bee, giving the best modes of management in order to secure 

 the most profit." Price of the book, postpaid, 50 cents. Or, 

 we will club it with the Bee Journal for one year — both to- 

 gether for $1.4:0; or, we will mail it as a premium to any of 

 our present subscribers for sendiug us one new subscriber to 

 the Bee Journal for a year (at Sl.OO), and 10 cents extra. 



Mr. B. Frank Hoover, of Whiteside Co., III., wrote us 

 recently : 



"I'm glad you have adopted reform spelling. Conlfinue, 

 and if anything become even more radical, and adopt even a 

 greater reform. Our reforms come thru our papers." 



14: 



Mr. W. W. Whipple, of Arapahoe Co., Colo., wrote Feb. 



" I think after reading five numbers of the American Bee 

 Journal for 1898, that it is worth its weight in Gold, with a 

 big G." 



Mr. Claude Stert, of Uvalde Co., Tex., writing us March 

 7, said : 



" We are shortly expecting a fine crop of honey from a 

 shrub abounding on these low hills, called ' gwahilla ;' but 

 some times that dread enemy, " a late frost,' puts an end to 

 our expectations." 



Mr. p. G. Herman, of Bergen Co., N. J., wrote us March 

 7, when sending $1.00 for the Langstroth Monument Fund ; 



"Bees commenced carrying pollen today, just two weeks 

 earlier than any previous year. We are having an early 

 spring. I trust we shall be smothered in honey this year." 



Mr. O. O. Poppleto!^, of Dxde Co., Fla., wrote us as fol- 

 lows, March 8 : 



" The honey-flow so far this winter is not so good as 

 usual, but yet enough so that nearly every warm day I do a 

 little fooling with the extractor. I have out about 1,000 

 pounds only. Prospects are good for a strong flow from saw 

 palmetto in April and May." 



The Canadian Bee Journal publishers had a fire to 

 break out in their establishment, March 3, which ran through 

 the entire main building of their works, and practically 

 totally destroyed their bee-goods, and otherwise did great 

 damage. The fire caused a slight delay in getting out the 

 March number of the Canadian Bee Journal, but everything is 

 running again on extra time. 



The Carleton Family, of Anoka Co., Minn., are well 

 represented in the Langstroth Monument Fund. Here they 

 are: Mrs. J. A. Carleton, 50 cents; Will Carleton, -SL.OO ; 

 Rose E. Carleton, 50 cents ; and D. L. Carleton, 50 cents. 

 Also the first two of this quartet of Carletons have become 

 members of the New Union. That's the way to support good 

 causes. There is room for plenty more people like the Carle- 

 tons, both in the Langstroth Monument Fund and in the New 

 Union. And we are ready at all times to receive their money, 

 and turn it all over to the proper authorities. 



Mr. E. S. Lovesy, of Utah, writes thus in reference to 

 the Langstroth Monument Fund : 



"I read with some encouragement what Mr. Cameron has 

 to say on this subject, on page 10-t. I agree to Mr. C.'s sug- 

 gestion, to be one of 100 to give .S5.00 each. I have agitated 

 this matter considerable, because I believe it to be a laudable 

 object. As bee-keepers, let us not procrastinate in this any 

 longer, but let us have ' a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull 

 all together.' This will be a credit to ourselves and an honor 

 to our dear departed Langstroth." 



The Leahy Mfg. Co., like others, are on the jump to 

 fill their orders for supplies. Here is what they wrote us 

 March 11 : 



"This is a great year for trade. We have been running 

 our factory 22 hours a day for over a month now. If bee- 

 keepers would take bee-journals like they buy bee-supplies, 

 there would be fun in running a journal." 



Yes, that's so. There would be fun as well as money in 

 running a bee-paper if all who ought to subscribe would do so. 

 Wonder what can be done to induce them to see their duty 

 and need. Here's a problem to solve for any one who wants 

 to earn some good money. 



