324 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr, 15 



One who reads the American Bee-keeper 

 from time to time can not help feeling- im- 

 pressed with the fact that its editor, Mr. 

 Hill, is a practical bee-keeper himself. He 

 is an adept in swinging the queen's Eng- 

 lish. I envy him his talent. 



HO FOR California! 

 I have been informed that the next meet- 

 ing- of the National Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion will be held in Los Angeles. The 

 National will follow its old custom by fol- 

 lowing the G. A. R. Low rates have been 

 promised, and the Californians will be able 

 to entertain right royally. Further partic- 

 ulars will be given later. 



ENCOURAGING FOR CALIFORNIA. 



Prospects for a honey crop this season in 

 California seem just now to be exceptionally 

 good — just the year for holding the next 

 National convention at Los Angeles. Mr. 

 Hubbard writes: 



Dear Sir: — We have been having some splendid 

 March rains, and I con.Mder the prospects for honey 

 as bright as the year 1894, which was the best I have 

 experienced in ten years. It is the late rains that 

 count for a honey harvest; and so much of this sea- 

 son's rainfall has been at the best possible time for 

 honey-plants. Orangeblo.ssoms are now beginning 

 to come, and the rains will insure a good flow from 

 the hills mountains, and plains after they drop. 



Riverside, Cal., March 31. G. K. Hubbard. 



S. L. WATKINS, AGAIN. 



In our issue for March 1, we stated that 

 Mr. S. L. Watkins, of Grizzly Flats, Cal., 

 had been obtaining queens from several of 

 the best breeders, ordering them in half- 

 dozen and dozen lots, without paying for 

 them; that his promises were always good, 

 but that the fulfillment of them was very 

 bad. It seems that Mr. Gilstrap, of Cali- 

 fornia, and Mr. Laws, of Texas, were 

 unfortunate enough to lose through him. 

 The following, from another queen-breeder, 

 Mr. F, A, Lockhart, is another case in 

 point, and speiks for itself: 



We noticed your editorial about Mr. S. I,. Watkins, 

 Grizzly Flats, Col , not paying for queens ordered of 

 queen breeders in different part*! ot the country, etc. 

 We would add that, during 1901, we sent him ten 

 queens. He made all kinds of good promises, but as 

 yet has failed to keep them. For the past six months 

 he has made no reply to letters 



Caldwell, N, Y. F. A. Lockhart & Co. 



If Mr. Watkins deliberately intends to 

 get something for nothing, the queen-breed- 

 ers of the country should be warned. If 

 he is really unfortunate, and really can not 

 pay for the (jueens, then he should make a 

 statement, which statement we will gladly 

 place before our readers ; but in either 



case he has no business to order queens 

 when he is owing for stock already pur- 

 chased. 



A TEASPOONFUL OF HOT PARAFFINE FOR 

 SHIPPING- CASES, VS. A PAPER TRAY. 



On page 159 Dr. W. O. Eastwood, of 

 Whitby, Ontario, Canada, suggested pour- 

 ing a little stream of hot paraffine (only a 

 teaspoonful) in one corner of a shipping- 

 case, then tilting the case around in such a 

 way that the paraffine would flow along 

 the line of the crack formed by the bottom 

 and the sides and ends of the case. This 

 will be all right if the bottom is of one 

 piece, and even then the dividing crack can 

 be closed in the manner stated, with a lit- 

 tle more paraffine. In my footnote I rather 

 discouraged the plan, but the more I have 

 thought the matter over, the more I have 

 concluded it may be practical after all. 

 Dr, Eastwood pronounces it good; and un- 

 doubtedly it is good if the manufacturers of 

 bee-supplies would make their shipping- 

 cases perfectly tight, or so they can be 

 made tight when put together. 



LIPPIA, OR BERMUDA GRASS — WHICH? 



Referring to the new honey-plant men- 

 tioned in our issue for March 15, Mr. E. J. 

 Wickson, of Pacific Rural Press, writes: 



Mr. Root: — I apprehend that, in your article on car- 

 pet grass, on page 22S, March 15, jou have confused 

 Bermuda grass with Lippia. Your description of 

 what you encountered at Nicolaus fits Bermuda grass 

 exactly, but I apprehend that nobody would have such 

 feelings upon lying down upon a growth of Lippia, 

 for that is not grasslike at all, but more like a small- 

 leaved prostrate shrub with small woody stems. Lip- 

 pia may be a good honey-plant, but I have never heard 

 it mentioned in that connection. F). J. Wickson. 



San Francisco. Cal., March 25. 



Mr. Wickson is probably in position to 

 know that there is possibl}' and probably a 

 a confusion in names. I am sure of this: 

 That the carpet grass that I referred to is 

 very springy and spongy under foot. I 

 should be glad to have Mr. J. H. Erich, of 

 Nicolaus, Cal., where I saw the plant, send 

 a sample of the grass or leaves to Mr. Wick- 

 son for identification. It would be a joke 

 if we have been talking about two different 

 things. 



FOUL BROOD IN THE HUMAN MOUTH (?). 



I LEARN through the American Bee-keep- 

 er that I am credited with saying that the 

 germs of foul brood exist in the human 

 mouth. This interesting piece of " news " 

 comes clear from Ireland. What I did say 

 once was that, in my younger days, when I 

 was studying with the microscope, I used 

 to examine some forms of bacteria as found 

 in the human mouth. "Bacteria" is a 

 general term for microscopic life, some of 

 which is of a disease-breeriing character; 

 and the editor of the Irish Bee Journal ap- 

 parently makes me coincide with the no- 

 tion that foul brood exists in the human 

 mouth, because, forsooth, Bacillus alvei, 

 the microbe of foul brood, is one of the bac- 

 teria. I found bacteria in my mouth, er^o 

 my mouth contained foul-brood germs. The 



