190< 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



415 



the best plan will be to arrange with the farm- 

 er to have some member or members of the 

 family watch for swarms, and allow half a 

 dollar to a dollar for evei'y swarm hived. 

 But be sure in any case to have each swarm 

 placed on the stand of the riiolher colony, 

 the mother close beside it, and a week later 

 the mother moved to a new stand. That 

 will make the swarm strong for section work, 

 and be pretty sure to prevent second swarms. 



The likelihood, however, is that, in run- 

 ning for comb honey, and leaving colonies to 

 swarm naturally, there will be so many 

 swarms that the better way will be to hire a 

 hanil for the swarming 'season to make a bus- 

 iness of watching for swarms and hiving 

 them — either a meml)er of the farmer's fam- 

 ily or some one else — and for such service you 

 ought to pay what would be a fair price for 

 day labor of the ordinary kind. It will be 

 lighter work than an ox'dinary day's work, 

 because swarming doesn't usually last more 

 than half the hours of a day's work, and the 

 watching part is not very severe labor; but 

 you should have some one thoroughly faith- 

 ful, and that faithfulness has a money worth 

 to you. 



Now, I'm not sure whether I've met the 

 case exactly; but I take comfort in the thought 

 that I'm not likely to mislead very much, 

 f(n* the keen eyes of the editor and others 

 will scan carefully what I have said, and 

 make any needed corrections. Moreover, if 

 I've failed to give light upon any point upon 

 which you desire light, ask again and I will 

 tell you as far as I know. 



Marengo, 111. 



That Jay is a jay indeed; but if I were in 

 his place I should want to shave — seep. 1567. 



Dr. Phillips seems to be the right man for 

 the place he occupies, and is doing good 

 work. He gave me no little assistance in se- 

 curing such information as I sought. 

 ,^ 



The wire cage for keeping bees in their 

 hives in winter seems to be a step in advance 

 of former methods, worthy of the careful 

 consideration of bee-keepers, especially in 

 the North, and perhaps middle sections of 

 our country. 



I was surprised, in looking over the mar- 

 kets -in New York a few days ago, to see 

 how the tall sections have gained on the 4^ 

 by 4i style in the past six or eight years. 

 Fully one-half or more of the honey 1 saw 

 in the market was in tall sections, I think. 



I found light Cuban honey selling at 16 

 cts., and here in the city of Washington I 

 find it selling at retail for 20 cts.; yet it 

 seems doubtful if it ever comes into compe- 

 tition, to any extent, with our northern 

 honey as it does not come on to the market 

 till late in the season, after all or most of 

 our white honey has been disposed of. 



I did not mean to say that soil is responsi- 

 ble for all the failures f>f flowers to yield 

 honey. We know the weather has mu h to 

 do with it, also climatic conditions, of which 

 we know Ijut little. I wish we knew moie. 

 Here in Washington, where Washington's 

 birthday finds me, I am told that clover 

 rarely yields much honey. 



I was informed in New York that the 

 trade in •' coinpound''' honey was very dull, 

 as it was quite uncertain how the new law 

 would affect such goods. I saw enough, 

 however, to lead me to believe that the 

 business of adulteration will not die without 

 a struggle. Yet here in Washington I found 

 the chemists busy in preparing to meet not 

 only present adulterations but those likely to 

 be practiced in the future. 



J. A. Green tells how he had some sections 

 where the cappings wei"e colored by lamp- 

 black. During the past season I had a large 

 number of sections ruined where they were 

 covered by enameled cloth by the bees gnasv- 

 ing through the cloth and using the bits of 

 cloth and black enamel for coating the cap- 

 pings, and I have begun to wonder if there 

 were not something better to use for this 

 purpose. 



.^ 



Dr. Miller suggests the value of honey for 

 fattening cattle, and Mr. Boomhower has 

 proved its value for swine. My son was re- 

 cently visiting up in Maine vvhei'e the gentle- 

 man with whom he was staying tokl him 

 how he was using up his poor honey by 

 feeding it to his horse; while at our house 

 (honey-house, I mean), when bottling honey, 

 if any gets spilled on the floor we have a 

 dog that is always ready to remove it very 

 quickly. Surely the outlets for honey are 

 increasing. 



By the way, I wish all the bee-keepers, 

 farmers, fruit-growers, stockmen, and all 

 others who follow agricultural pursuits, 

 could know what the government is doing 

 for them. Already the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment is one of the most important of the 

 government. The white marble walls of a 

 new building are now rising for the use of 

 this department, which will, when complet- 

 ed, cost some $5,000,000; yet it seeius doubt- 

 ful if even this great building will hold all 

 the difiei'ent bureaus and divisions of this 

 department. 



It would be interesting if one could write 

 up all the government is doing for the peo- 

 ple, but it would require a volume, and then 



