1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



343 



WHAT GLEANINGS SHOULD BE, FROM THE 

 STANDPOINT OF A VETERAN. 



I\Ir. Root:—K% you seem to want a full 

 expression concerning the subject-matter of 

 Gleanings, I might repeat what I once 

 said, but put it in different language. My 

 advice to beginners is to get one or more 

 text -books; next, a few colonies of bees; 

 then one or more papers. Perhaps most of 

 the questions which are asked you as ed- 

 itor can be answered by telling where to 

 find the answer in A B C; if not, it is very 

 important to answer specifically. It takes 

 time to learn to get all needed skill in 

 searching such a work as the ABC book. 



When Gleanings comes I usually read 

 the pictures first; Straws and editorials 

 next; then Pickings; Heads of Grain and 

 answers to correspondents are scanned and 

 partly read, then short articles and new 

 advertisements. The long-winded articles 

 are held over till spare time or indefinitely. 

 Notes of Travel are never left till the last. 

 Home talks are generally left for leisure 

 hours on Saturday. We should miss the 

 illustrations seriously if they were left out. 

 To illustrate mechanical devices, Notes of 

 Travel, etc., adds much interest. The way 

 nearly all eagerly watched for the Ram- 

 bler's pictures proves this. 



You have my thanks for the very appro- 

 priate Watkins write-up on page 187. Per- 

 haps I can show my appreciation of the 

 same in the future. 



One of the best articles for the West that 

 you ever published, in my estimation, is 

 the Aikin article on paper packages for 

 honey. W. A. H. Gilstrap. 



Modesto, Cal. 



robbing hives — the penalty in OHIO. 



My best colony of bees, which gave me 

 from S5.00 to S7.00 per year in section hon- 

 ey, and one to two swarms of bees besides, 

 was broken into one cold spell this past 

 winter, robbed of four frames of honey, left 

 open, and bees froze to death. I valued 

 this hive at $50. What is the penalty for 

 such an act in this State ? 



C. C. Miller. 



Belpre, Ohio, March 23. 



[The penalty in this State is very severe. 

 The statute contemplates not only the loss 

 of property taken away, but the actual 

 damage to property not confiscated. The 

 penalty is fine or imprisonment, or both, at 

 the discretion of the court; and imprison- 

 ment may mean the penitentiary for a year 

 or so until the thief learns the folly of med- 

 dling with bees. What the statutes are in 

 other States I do not know; but the law 

 should be rigid, for the simple reason that 

 the amount of property stolen is usually 

 very small in comparison with the actual 

 damage done. In your case we would put 

 up a sign offering a reward of S50 for the 

 arrest and conviction of the party who has 

 been tampering with your bees. Even if 

 you do not discover the party, it may have 

 the effect of putting him on his guard, as 



well as warning all others against any 

 further meddling. Our hives have been 

 robbed at our outyards; but after putting 

 up a sign of the kind mentioned, no fur- 

 ther depredations were committed, though 

 we never found out who the guilty parties 

 were. — Ed.] 



pear-blight; germs of disease propa- 

 gated only in favorable media. 



I wish to acknowledge my misstatement 

 on page 98, that pear-blight bacteria would 

 originate without any inoculation. It was 

 my intention to say that the disease would 

 originate without any inoculation from any 

 kind of insects. I believe any scientist will 

 agree with me when I say that the presence 

 of even one thousand germs in the nectar of 

 a pear-blossom or even the sap of a tree 

 would not cause disease unless the nectar 

 or sap was favorable to their propagation. 

 It is only when the germs find lodgment 

 in elements which will promote their propa- 

 gation that they will cause disease (blight). 

 We breathe daily thousands of germs of 

 many diseases in the air, but they do not 

 produce disease unless our bodies are in a 

 position to furnish them lodgment and 

 means of propagating. Does any one think 

 that a limb of a pear-tree that winters over 

 the blight would have a perfect blossom on, 

 and the limb and nectar contain the germs 

 to be spread to other blossoms if they did 

 not live in the air? The first blight in the 

 spring would have to be in a process of prop- 

 agation to reach the blossom. If the dis- 

 ease were under such headway there would 

 be blossom on that limb. 



Williamsfield, 111. J. E. Johnson. 



aikin's paper packages. 



Mr. Aikin's article on paper honey-pack- 

 ages is all right, and a hearty vote of 

 thanks should be tendered him for his suc- 

 cessful experiment and invention by prov- 

 ing that honey can be put up in this cheap 

 package. The honeys of the East do not 

 granulate so quickly as the alfalfa honey 

 of the West, so we poor fellows in the East 

 will have to use our old-style packages for 

 a while longer at least. I will, however, 

 put up samples of white clover, buckwheat, 

 and goldenrod honeys this season (provid- 

 ing I get some), and see how these honeys 

 will act in the Aikin paper bags. I cer- 

 tainly am all taken up with the idea and 

 success of the Aikin paper honey-bags. 



Chicago, 111. J. T. Hammersmark. 



WANTS gleanings JUST AS IT IS. 



In response to your wishes in regard to 

 the general subject-matter of a bee journal, 

 I will say that Gleanings is pretty well 

 balanced up. For me to say which depart- 

 ment is the most beneficial to me is hard to 

 do. Aside from the bee literature, I would 

 not think about trying to get along with- 

 out A. I.'s Home writings. It has made 

 me a better Christian and citizen, and a 

 more devoted husband and father. 



