404 



fHE AMERICAN BEE JOLiRNALo 



June 30, 



but the course pursued by nearly all who practice coutraction 

 is to enlarge the brood-nest again in time for the colony to 

 build up for winter. 



If the locality is such that there is a continuous flow 

 through the whole season, or If the main flow comes in the 

 fall, as is the case in many localities, it will be readily seen 

 that little or nothing would be gained by contracting the 

 brood-chamber of swarms. There would be time in which to 

 fill the brood-chamber and be all ready for the fall flow when 

 it came. 



Mr. Root speaks about the small crops of honey that have 

 been secured, that perhaps 25 or 30 pounds were the average, 

 and that some Michigan bee-keepers thought that they were 

 doing well if they got 10 pounds to the colony, and he rather 

 intimates that these are the results of coutraction. He well 

 knows that we have been having some very poor seasons of 

 late, with the exception of the last year or two, and it seems 

 scarcely fair to attribute them to contraction of the brood- 

 nest. I have been practicing it now for at least 15 years. 

 One year I got no surplus, and neither did those who did not 

 practice contraction. By the way, I did not practice it that 

 year, as there were no swarms to practice it on. Other years 

 my surplus has varied from 10 pounds a colony to over 100 

 pounds. Perhaps the average would be about 60 pounds. 

 Both Mr. Heddon and Mr. Taylor have practiced contraction 

 for years ; and it does not seem as tho bright men like these 

 would continue a practice that they did not find advantageous. 



But let us not forget in this discussion that there is a dif- 

 ference in localities, as I have mentioned. This is really very 

 important. It is so difficult for us, sometimes, to comprehend 

 conditions with which we are not personally familiar. Mr. 0. 

 P. Dadant and myself used to have arguments over the size of 

 hives; and I can see now that we were both right, according 

 to our localities and methods. 



Since the foregoing was written. Gleanings for June 1 

 has put in an appearance, and I notice that Mr. E. R. Root, in 

 his advocacy of large brood-nests, says that some one else says, 

 "Oh, yes, every one believes in two or more stories when run- 

 ning for extracted." Then Mr. Root says, "Well, try it for 

 cumb honey ; it will cost you nothing." Suppose, Mr. R., that 

 you try a few colonies with two or more stories for a brood- 

 nest in working for comb honey, and see what it will cost you. 



As I have said so many times In reference to these " fads," 

 if you must try them, do it on a small scale first. If you And 

 it is profitable to double or triple the size of your brood-nests 

 do it by all means, but first find out that it does. 



Just one more word : If many, or any, of the experts 

 who formerly practiced contraction as I have explained it, 

 have "gone back on it," as Mr. Root says he believes they 

 have, let us hear from them, with the reason wliy. It matters 

 little which of us, Mr. Root or myself, is right, if we only get 

 at the truth. — Review. 



"California Squalls," for a Change. 



BY SKYLABK. 



Mk. Editor: — We have "California Notes," "California 

 Echoes," and why not " California Squalls ?" 



TO FACE OR NOT TO «"ACF. ? 



I am now squalling for Mr. Doolittle. Altho they have 

 wallopt him unmercifully; altho they have torn his shirt, 

 pants and vest to tatters ; altho his face and hands are be- 

 grimed with mud and dirt; altho his foes have wiped up the 

 whole country with him, I will not desert him. Never, never ! 

 Come over here, Mr. D., and see how beautifully your excel- 

 lent doctrine pans out. Here is a sack of potatoes. The com- 

 mission man has never opened it, and won't, if he can help it. 

 Large, smooth, and beautiful, they bulge out of the sack — 

 hardly held in by the strings. Bottom and top and sides are 

 alike — XXX. But throw off 6 inches from the top — do you 

 suppose you will find XX ? Not much. The whole center of 

 the sack is filled with the merest scrubs — away down to z — ero 

 — buckwheat honey ! Is this honest? Of course it is — they 

 are shipt by the thousand sacks on commission ! — and the un- 

 suspicious tenderfoot is beguiled. 



No. Let us be honest. I was raised and have been in 

 commercial pursuits nearly all my life. I have not the least 

 hesitation in saying that Mr. D.'s way of packing honey — or 

 anything else — would be lookt upon as an intentional fraud. 

 I am sorry — no, glad — very glad, Mr. D., that you have come 

 out of this battle with your masts shot away, your engines 

 disabled, and your hull torn into smithereens. It was only a 

 slip of the tongue— or pen I Come to my arms ! Poor boy ! 



THE NATIONAL PURE FOOD LAW. 



The sending of Secor and Abbott to the Pure Food Con- 

 gress was a master stroke of policy. It is fraught with 

 greater good to bee-keepers than any act performed by any 

 association since apiculture became a regular pursuit. It will 

 be recognized, in the coming pure food law, as an industry to 

 be fostered and protected by National law. National protec- 

 tion is very different from that of the State — no matter which 

 one. Evil doers are much more afraid of National law than 

 any other. The Government does not give up the hunt for a 

 criminal just because he is not at home, or that he has gone 

 around the corner to sharpen his crowbar, to break open 

 another mallbag. The United States Is not a boy of that 

 kind. Here Is a case in point : 



On a stage-route from my native city to a little country 

 village the stage was held up and the mall robbed three suc- 

 cessive nights. A detective was put on, and found out the 

 robber only got altogether $15, and that it was a boy 18 

 years old ; out he followed him — followed him from city to 

 city, and from State to State ; followed him for three years! 

 Finally he treed him in Florida and brought him home to 

 Pennsylvania. He got 15 years in the penitentiary. Fifteen 

 years for the paltry sum of $15! This was the most out- 

 rageous time-card I ever got. Fifteen dollars! 



Now, Mr. Editor, I don't want any of your suspicions, 

 innuendoes, or insinuations. I never was in the penitentiary 

 in my life — but once — and then I went to collect a bill for 

 $34, which was paid on sight. There, now. 



But this is the way the United States executes her laws. 

 No expense is spared to detect the criminal, and his punish- 

 ment is sure. Therefore, if we can get a National law against 

 the adulteration of honey, it will settle the price of it, as dis- 

 tinguisht from glucose. I have no doubt that the extracted 

 honey of the whole country is just doubled by glucose. Now 

 cut off the glucose, and honey must and will go up. The most 

 astonishing thing to me is, that bee-keepers should be so blind, 

 heedless and penurious as not to see this and join the United 

 States Bee-Keepers' Union. It has now more members than 

 the other Union, but it has a wider range of usefulness, and a 

 greater mission to accomplish. 



The bee-papers should all make a rule to exclude the 

 articles of all writers who are not members of the United 

 States Bee-Keepers' Union. This would more then treble the 

 membership, for what won't a man do to hear himself howl ? 

 I know this proposition will bring down an avalanche of in- 

 verted applause. But let it come ! I have 300 battleships, 

 600 gunboats, and 900 torpedo boats and destroyers ; and I 

 can whip the united world — on this subject. 



Squalltown, Tenderfootland. 



A Bee-Keeper In Bad Luck- 

 Incident. 



-A Laughable 



[A German bee-journal. Blaster fur Bienenzucht, has the 

 following story which has been translated into the French 

 Revue, and is good enough, I think, to have an English set- 

 ting. — Dr. C. C. Miller, in Gleanings :] 



At the apicultural exposition at B., Antony Bumke be- 

 came the happy possessor of an Italian queen. How he ad- 

 mired it with its eyes of gold, and its abdomen of yellow and 

 black rings ! In order to take it to his hive he made a box like 

 a Swedish match-box, only, instead of a wooden cover he used 

 a cover of paper pierced full of little holes. With the queen 

 he Imprisoned four workers. "She'll not be so lonesome," 

 said this sensible young man. 



What fine things he promist himself with the progeny of 

 this queen, and with what joy he felt the little box in his 

 trousers pocket ! But he must, before taking the train for 

 home, send a telegram to his betrotht and his future mother- 

 in-law, whom he expects to greet for a few moments as the 

 train passes the second station. Time presses, the train is 

 about to start. The engine whistles, Antony makes rapid 

 strides across the platform, and jumps into the first coach he 

 comes to, the coaches being still of the ancient pattern that 

 contain only a few passengers, these few being lockt in by the 

 guard, like so many prisoners. In his headlong haste he 

 stumbles over the extended legs of an old gentleman, and his 

 head strikes forcibly against the sharp knees of a precise- 

 looking spinster, whose fright is exprest by loud cries. With 

 a thousand apologies he succeeded in seating himself, when 

 he overhears the hardly surprest remark, "The fellow Is 

 drunk," a remark which only deepens the blushes of the bash- 

 ful young man. 



He seeks, by his tranquility and upright bearing, to efface 



