384 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



Gleanings for March 1 is quite a pure- 

 food journal, isn't it? All the better. [We 

 have been a little fearful that some of -our 

 subscribers might object to so much pure- 

 food matter in our editorial columns; but it 

 really seemed to us that the very found at io7i 

 of the honey industry, and the prospect of 

 better prices, lies in our State and national 

 pure-food laws; and the more we can publish 

 the fact by getting bee-keepers to talk it 

 among their customers, the better will be our 

 chances of advancing prices. We have more 

 to follow on this subject, with the permission 

 of our readers. — Ed.] 



Beeswax and x'osin to fasten foundation 

 in brood-frames, p. 384. That means rosin 

 in beeswax when the combs become old and 

 are melted. Editor Hutchinson says there 

 isn't rosin enough to do any harm; but I'd 

 like to know what you foundation-men say 

 about it. [Why, the rosin used is not a drop 

 in the bucket, nowhere near it, to the amount 

 of actual comb built in the frame; then when 

 combs are cut out the knife hardly ever 

 cleaves clear close up to the wood, where 

 the mixture of I'osin and beeswax was origi- 

 nally placed. No, we share the view of Ed- 

 itor Hutchinson. — Ed] 



Prof. Wiley, at the National convention 

 at Philadelphia, said in substance, "The Bi- 

 ble says, 'man can not live by bread alone.' 

 That is a mistake; man can live by bi-ead 

 alone." I have never forgiven myself that I 

 did not try to correct him then and there; and 

 now our good Prof. Cook makes the same mis- 

 quotation, page 312. "Man can not live by 

 bread alone ' ' is not to be found between the 

 lids of the Bible. In Deut. 8:3 is found, 

 "Man doth not live by bread only;" and 

 Jesus, quoting, says, "Man shall not live by 

 bread alone, ' Matt. 4 : 4, Luke 4:4. To say 

 you shall not steal or you do not steal is a 

 very different thing from saying you can not 

 steal. 



Speaking of zinc perforations, is it not 

 true that different sizes are needed for dif- 

 ferent purposes? A queen, and especially a 

 virgin, will make desperate efforts to squeeze 

 through a perforation to go with a swarm, 

 but will make very little attempt to go into 

 a super through an excluder. I have seen 

 many a queen make slow work going down 

 between top-bars I inch apart. 



P. S. Since reading what J. A. Green says, 

 p. 339, I don't feel so sure about queens not 

 going into supers through excluders. [J. A. 

 Green is about right so far as our observa- 

 tion goes. — Ed.] 



Now THAT zinc perforations are on the 

 docket again, if they are to be made more 

 than i\,%\ it would be handy to have iVts^oS. 

 for that's exactly J. [There is no advantage 

 in having the width of the slots J inch wide 

 unless that width hap2)e7ts to be also just 

 right for the bees. Perforations i\%% wide 

 that sold a few years ago caused numerous 

 complaints from the usei's of it. The iVo%^ 

 is too near the danger limit. If ^'dVit is slight- 

 ly too small, the increase of even ^-q^^j makes 

 a great big dift'erence — don't lose sight of 



that fact. Our experience shows that 165 

 would be the limit. Zinc now turned out 

 has perforations about rVo'V» while last year 

 it was about i\%%. — Ed.] 



Circuit Judge S. R. Artman, at Lebanon, 

 Ind., recently rendered a decision in which 

 he held that the liquor-trafiic, being a recog- 

 nized menace to the welfare of the commu- 

 nity, has no legal standing as an inherent 

 common-law right of citizenship; therefore 

 the legislature can not license it. Abundant 

 authorities, State and federal, were adduced 

 to show that gambling could not be legalized, 

 and it was declared that these same courts 

 had held the sale of intoxicants to be equally 

 baneful. [This principle is being recognized 

 everywhere now, and this one fact alone 

 goes to show that our country is getting bet- 

 ter. The time is passing when the saloons 

 own the judges in many cities; and the fur- 

 ther fact that brewery stock is falling in val- 

 ue in Ohio, and that the owners of the stuff 

 are unloading for better securities, is anoth- 

 er evidence that a better time is coming; for 

 be it remembered that Ohio has been a strong- 

 hold of the liquor interests. — Ed.] 



W. WooDLEY, British Bee Journal, p. 34, 

 speaking of the effort of the editor of Glean- 

 ings to convince me that English comb hon- 

 ey was selling at 48 cts. per 1-lb. section, 

 says, "I contend that this quotation is en- 

 tirely wrong. . . . The few parcels of 

 English and Scotch honey which change 

 hands wholesale at any thing over 1 s. (24 

 cts.) per lb., ai'e few and far between, either 

 sections or in jars." The bulk of good sec- 

 tions ranges in price from 12 to 20 cents each. 

 The retail price, as proved by prices marked 

 on sections in shop-windows ranges from 18 

 cents in cutting grocery concerns to 24 cents 

 each in tirst-class dairy establishments. [We 

 based our original statement on a controver- 

 sy that appeared in the British Bee Journal. 

 There were a number of reports that seemed 

 to show that British heather honey of best 

 quality was selling much higher than the 

 same quality of honey in America. If we 

 have made a wrong impi'ession we are glad 

 to be corrected. — Ed.] 



Commission men, it seems to be assumed, 

 p. 311, are naturally inclined to " bear" the 

 market. If working on commission, pure 

 and simple, I don't see why it isn't to their 

 interest to "bull " it, for the higher the price 

 the more the commission, [le-s-s. Theo- 

 retically you are correct; but the whole com- 

 mission business is getting to be more and 

 more tabooed, and the actual cash-sales plan 

 is taking its place. More complaints have 

 arisen over honey sold on a commission 

 basis, a good many times over, than on cash 

 sales. As a natural consequence, both sides, 

 as a rule, especially whei-e the parties are re- 

 sponsible and honest, prefer to make an out- 

 right sale. But it sometimes happens that a 

 commission man soliciting commission con- 

 signments will not give the actual state of 

 the market in his published quotations. For 

 example, he may sell the honey for a good 

 deal more than his bee-journal price or the 



