550 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



the same. He will then send them to N. E. 

 France, who will also mark them. The arti- 

 cles receiving the highest marking in the 

 aggregate will be used, and its author paid 

 $5.00. Everybody is invited to contribute. 

 No limit to number of articles each person 

 may send in. Perhaps 30 or more articles 

 will be used. Please write plainly on one 

 side of the paper, or, better still, use a type- 

 writer if possible. 



( N. E. France, Platteville, Wis. 

 - Com. < W. Z. Hutchinson, Flint, Mich. 



( R. L. Taylor, Lapeer, Mich. 

 March 1, 1907. 



S'he foregoing statement from the Gener- 

 anagerof the National Bee-keepers' Asso- 

 ciation should have appeared in our last is- 

 sue, but it was overlooked. It is very im- 

 portant, as we regard it; for now that honey 

 will not have a serious competitor in the shape 

 of glucose mixtures to contend with, the fu- 

 ture for pure honey is very bright; and the 

 right kind of advertising and publicity work 

 will do wonders in helping trade and in ad- 

 vancing prices. We are informed that the 

 National is in a very flourishing condition; 

 but if it had more members and money it 

 could do more for the general interest of bee- 

 keeping. We believe that every one of our 

 subscribers should join for the good it will 

 do to the general cause of our craft. 



Referring to the subjoined statement we 

 hope that a good many will avail themselves 

 of the opportunity of winning the prize. In 

 the meantime we should like to suggest that 

 answers be based on the fact that honey ad- 

 vertised as such can be depended on to be 

 pure, because the national pure-food law as 

 well as the State laws makes it practically im- 

 possible for the adulterated goods to mas- 

 querade under the name of "honey;" and even 

 if it were possible to manufacture comb hon- 

 ey, such stuff would be effectually barred by 

 the national law, or, rather, we would say, 

 the sales of such goods would never be able 

 to find an outlet in this country except in 

 some States where there is no pure-food law; 

 and such sales would have to be confined 

 strictly within the State — a thing practically 

 impossible, and no one would take the chance. 

 —Ed.] 



RAILROAD TIES OUT OF HAND-PLANTED 

 TREES THAT PRODUCE HONEY. 



According to report in the press, the 

 Santa Fe railroad management has secured 

 a ranch near Oceanside, Cal., which will be 

 planted at once with eucalyptus- trees. The 

 ranch has an area of 9000 acres, all of which 

 will be planted as fast as men and money 

 can do it. Already 700,000 seedlings of red 

 gum, sugar gum, and ironbark, are being 

 transplanted, and will be planted 1000 trees 

 to the acre. In five years this would furnish 

 1000 ties to the acre; but the company intends 

 to wait till the trees (most of them) are 15 

 years old, when each tree will furnish five 

 or six ties. This will afford an excellent op- 

 portunity for a few bee-keepei'S, as the forest 

 will be continuous or everlasting. 



TEN THOUSAND BEES, TEN THOU- 

 SAND MILES. 



Some Interesting Observations. 



BY EDWARD F. BIGELOW. 



[As many new subscribers are coming in at a 

 rapid rate, perhaps it would be well to state that 

 Professor Bigelow is one of the editors of St. Nich- 

 olas Magazine, having charge of the Nature Study 

 department. He lectures extensively on nature and 

 science studies, and is well known to the teachers 

 of the country. The present article is unusually 

 bright and breezy, and we are sure our readers will 

 be glad to peruse it carefully.— Ed.] 



My bees may have been a few more or a 

 few less, and we may have traveled a little 

 more or a little less than ten thousand miles. 

 But what matters a few hundred more or 

 less, either of bees or of miles? I use the ti- 

 tle because it sounds well, and because it 

 comes reasonably near to exactness. I like 

 it because it is euphonious, and I like the 

 bees because they have, by their companion- 

 ship and musical humming, made enjoyable 

 many miles of traveling, at all hours of the 

 twenty-four, and in all sorts of conveyances. 



It came about in this way: Bees have al- 

 ways appealed to me as among the most in- 

 teresting form of animal life, and most ex- 

 cellent objects for nature study. At first I 

 tried to take them for short distances in a 

 crude, single-frame, old-fashioned observa- 

 tion hive. I say crude, and it was crude, al- 

 though I didn't desire it to be so, for I order- 

 ed from the The A. I. Root Company the 

 best then obtainable. But styles of observa- 

 tion hives have changed within a few years, 

 and that I have been an important factor in 

 changing these styles is to me a matter of no 

 little pride and pleasure. 



But even my finely made Educational bee- 

 hive, with all its elaborations for pleasing 

 appearance, and its various appliances for 

 experimental purposes, seemed not quite 

 adapted to a nomadic life. So I dreamed 

 again, and for days and days planned how 

 to simplify, modify, and, I may say, even in- 

 tensify, so as to bring the best features of 

 that hive within the limits of two dress-suit 

 cases. The result was a set of plans from 

 which The A. I. Root Company prepared an 

 outfit admirable both in appearance and con- 

 venience. This article is the first printed 

 announcement that I have made of what I 

 call "The Bigelow Traveler's and Lecturer's 

 Hive." With this new contrivance 1 have 

 carried a colony of honey-bees — one frame 

 with as many extra bees shaken in as pos- 

 sible — together with two sections (full 4X5 

 size) super, and magnifying feeder, the last 

 being the only part that is made exactly the 

 same as the larger and regular Educational 

 bee-hive. Both this and the super are fitted 

 with the well-known devices of the larger 

 hive for filling and emptying without liberat- 

 ing the bees. This is by combination of long 

 slide over a plain opening and a Porter bee- 

 escape. Slide out, bees go in or out; half in 

 (over the plain slot), bees go out only (through 

 Porter escape); and all the way in, the bees, 

 of course, go neither in nor out. 



