1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



queen being- sufifocated in a ball is all 

 right. (I do not see how it is possible to 

 know whether the queen is stung- when she 

 is in the ball. But I remember once pull- 

 ing a ball to pieces and finding the queen 

 almost lifeless, with a sting in her side. 

 Possibly she was stung before she was 

 balled. It is true that, when the bees ball 

 a queen, the tails are out and the heads in, 

 as if they were trj'ing- to get hold of her 

 and pull her to pieces. We have had one 

 queen crippled by having one and possibly 

 two legs pulled off. After her experience 

 she would fight any bees that showed fight, 

 and we could introduce her to any hive. 

 She was a regular tartar. We used to 

 pick her up and give her to aqueenless col- 

 colony. The3' would pitch into her, but she 

 would meet the onslaught. We would close 

 up the hives, and in a few days she would 

 be laj'ing as serenelj' as ever. The trouble 

 with average queens is, they will throw up 

 their legs in utter helplessness, and squeal; 

 and that is enough to make almost any bee 

 enraged. — Ed.] 



After talking about some changes that 

 should be made regarding N. B. K. A. af- 

 fairs, page 225, j-ou say, Mr. Editor, that 

 "the time to talk about this matter is not 

 now, but some three or four months before 

 the next election." I don't know, I don't 

 know. I don't believe we'd get any too 

 much light upon it if we began right now. 

 [But is it not true that bee-keepers are 

 tired of this? Would it not be a relief to 

 drop the least suggestion of our old trou- 

 bles for the time being, then when cool so- 

 ber judgment reigns supreme we can dis- 

 cuss this matter better? If we go to talk- 

 ing publicly about the constitution now, we 

 shall discuss it all summer; and I am 

 sure we will disgust most of our readers, 

 who do not know any thing about the con- 

 stitution, and care less. Members of the 

 National Association constitute but a small 

 percentage of the subscribers of the average 

 bee paper, and there is probably' not over a 

 tenth of the membership itself that will be 

 interested even then. The place to discuss 

 this is in committee, or by actual corres- 

 pondence among those who are interested, 

 or are \)y experience competent to advise; 

 then when the crude ideas are evolved 

 into something tangible, present it to the 

 readers of the bee papers next fall. There 

 is another thing: If we go to discussing the 

 constitution now we shall put too much em- 

 phasis on those features of the old consti- 

 tution that were the cause of "our late un- 

 pleasantness," and very likely some other 

 important things that may lead to future 

 trouble will be slurred over or omitted. I 

 am firmly convinced that bee-journals are 

 not the place to discuss constitutions — at 

 least just now. But I would agree with 

 you that the Board of Directors and the 

 Executive Committee should take the mat- 

 ter up immediately, for it will take time to 

 carry this thing through by correspond- 

 ence. — Ed.] 





The following beautiful and graceful 

 tribute to the memory of the Rambler comes 

 from my friend Dr. Frederick Webley, of 

 Santa Rosa, Cal. I have never seen the 

 doctor, but I call him "friend" on account 

 of some pleasant correspondence from him. 

 He will be remembered as the author of 

 "The Humming of the Bees," page 652 

 of last year. 



Good by. Rambler ! 



Oft have we fared together, 



In pleasant and in stormy weather — 



You with one constant quest in mind, 



A land of honey and a home to find. 



I,ost are the tales, the lore you had to tell, 



Of nature and the craft you loved so well. 



Good by. 



On this last ramble, fare you well; 

 Where you have gone, no longer need you roam. 

 There is the land of promise and of home. 



\b 



There is to be a great international api- 

 cultural exposition in Vienna, Austria, be- 

 ginning April 4, and lasting till the 26th. 

 Every thing pertaining to bees that can be 

 found by ransacking the different countries 

 of Europe will be on exhibition. It is un- 

 der the auspices of the Emperor Francis 

 Joseph, one of the most liberal and pro- 

 gresive rulers of Europe. His wife, who 

 was murdered two years ago in Italy by 

 an anarchist, was a verj' active friend of 

 all that pertained to the welfare of her peo- 

 ple. It is a pity we can not have a Dadant 

 or a Miller to make a report for us, for it 

 will doubtless be a very interesting affair. 



Since giving the names of the principal 

 bee jotirnals published in French and Ger- 

 man, I have found the following additional 

 ones, most of which do not come to this 

 office. It is really surprising to see what 

 a vast literature the bee has gathered 

 around itself. 



Bienenvater aus Boehniefi, Tetschen, Aus- 

 tria. 



L' Abeille et sa Culture, Ampsin, Bel- 

 gium. 



De Bieenvriend, St, Ghislain, Belgium 

 (Dutch). 



Die Bie, Herenthals, Belgium (Dutch). 



Abeille de I'Aisne (French), address un- 

 known. 



Bulletin de Rucher des Allobroges, ad- 

 dress unknown. 



L^ Abeille Luxembourgeoise, French. 



U Apicoltore, Milan, Italy. This last is 

 one of the greatest and best bee journals 

 published in any land. 



Swedish Bee Journal, Jampoking, Swe- 

 den. 



I was just about to express a regret that 

 Russia was not represented in bee journal- 



