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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



last twenty years, and the loee-keepers of this 

 country stand a chance to gain all they have 

 lost, and more too, l)y the passage of pure- 

 food laws in all the States of the Union. 



But our old enemies are very active. Sen- 

 ator Proctor, of Vermont, a friend to pure 

 food, alluded in the Senate the other day to 

 a very powerful lobby which is being maia- 

 tained in Washington to throw obstacles in 

 the way of food reform, one result of which 

 is the Tawney amendment mentioned in our 

 last issue. 



President Roosevelt himself is preparing a 

 message to the people on the "States' rights " 

 aspect of the question, as that is the way our 

 enemies are working. They are seeking to 

 create the idea that the national law inter- 

 feres in matters left solely to each State to 

 legislate upon. 



Gleanings has always taken an advanced 

 position on this subject, and we feel it our 

 duty to keep our readers informed of the 

 trend of events. It is absolutely useless to 

 talk of better prices for honey until the adul- 

 teration evil has been scotched. 



We presume the company will continue to 

 do business as heretofore. 



Mr. Baumer left a wife and five children. 

 Pneumonia was the cause of his death. 



THE DEATH OF A LARGE BUYER AND CON- 

 SUMEK OF BEESWAX. 



The name of Anton F. Baumer, who died 

 at Syracuse, New York, January 26, was not 

 generally known to bee-keepers, though the 

 company of which he was the leading spirit 

 and vice-president is one of the largest buy- 

 ers of beeswax in the woi'ld. We refer to 

 the Will-Baumer Candle Company, of Syra- 

 cuse, who manufacture vast numbers of bees- 

 wax candles for use in churches of the Cath- 

 olic and Greek faiths. The company also 

 prepare wax for other uses. 



Mr. Baumer was not an old man, having 

 been born in 1862, but he led a strenuous life 

 as vice-pi'esident of a concern doing a large 

 business in this and other countries. In the 

 course of his career he traveled a great deal 

 in the interests of his company. ' ,h here 

 and in Europe, and, being socially mclined, 

 he had many friends and acquaintances. He 

 was a native of Syracuse, his father having 

 founded the great candle-factory befoi-e he 

 was born. When the Will and the Baumer 

 interests wei'e consolidated he virtually be- 

 came the predominant head of the concei'n, 

 with the position of vice-president of the 

 company, so that Syracuse loses by his early 

 demise one of its Ijrightest and most popular 

 business men, for apparently every one there 

 knew him or knew of him as one of the city's 

 foremost citizens. 



It does not seem possible to a bee-keeper 

 who produces a few pounds of beeswax each 

 season that a large business could be built up 

 in wax candles alone; but this goes to show 

 the value of probity and honor in conducting 

 a business, for Mr. Baumer was always known 

 for straight and above-board business meth- 

 ods. He did not endeavor to piece out the 

 beeswax with paraffine; on the contrary, the 

 candles of his making were certain to be 

 made of beeswax and nothing else. The re- 

 ult was, the church authorities everywhere 

 could implicity rely on his goods being pure. 



ELECTRIC FANS FOR VENTILATING BEE-CEL- 

 LARS; OTHER MEANS FOR COOLING OFF 

 AND FRESHENING UP CELLARS THAT 

 ARE TOO W^ARM. 



We have before referred to the fact that, 

 when our machine-shop cellar becomes too 

 warm, we turn on an electric fan to change 

 the air; and. presto I how quickly the temper- 

 ature drops and the atmosphere sweetens up I 



Early in the season we reported that our 

 machine - shop - cellar bees were not doing 

 well. At first we were inclined to believe 

 that the trouble was owing to the fact that 

 they had been shut in, a la Hershiser. But 

 we have since learned that this was not the 

 cause of the trouble. A large number of col- 

 onies were put into the inner inclosure, but 

 without the usual ventilation we had given 

 in former seasons. The bees became very 

 uneasy, and bumped against the wire cloth 

 of the special bottom- boards in their vain en- 

 deavor to escape. In the course of a month 

 some colonies gave the unmistakable odor of 

 dysentery. Conditions seemed to presage 

 disaster for all the cellar-wintered bees, un- 

 less something were done, and that right 

 speedily. This was the first of January, 

 and there were at least three months ahead 

 of us. 



The first warm day that came we took the 

 bees out and gave them a flight. Then we 

 put them back just as they were, but this 

 time we set half the bees in another com- 

 partment of the cellar, the other portion go- 

 ing into the regular inner bee-room. We 

 then connected a six- inch galvanized iron 

 pipe from the window to this inner compart- 

 ment in such a way that the air from outdoors 

 would be sucked in The outer room was 

 larger and more ventilated. The bees in 

 both compartments were confined on the 

 wire-cloth-inclosed bottom-boards, as we have 

 frequently explained. An inspection of the 

 cellar on this 5th day of Mai'ch showed they 

 were in good condition — no signs of dysen- 

 tery, and on opening up some of the hives 

 they seemed to be snappy and bright. 



About three weeks ago we noticed that the 

 air in the inner cellar would become a little 

 bad again. The temperature would rise to 

 60 degrees, and the bees become uneasy. We 

 put a little electric desk-fan directly in front 

 of the opening to the galvanized pipe, by 

 which the air was brought into the room, 

 and set it a whirling, and it has been whirl- 

 ing night and day for a couple of weeks 

 back. The bees quieted down, and the con- 

 ditions now seem to be perfectly ideal. The 

 air is fresh, and the temperatui'e has dropped 

 to 45. 



"But," the I'eader may retort, "what good 

 is an electric fan to me if I have no electric 

 current in the house? " Ay, there's the rub. 

 Such a fan is not available to the average 

 bee-keeper. Then why do we refer to it here '.' 

 Simply because it shows the value of a rapid 



