1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



613 



whoever he may be, will occupy both offices. 

 The wax chandlers are as old as the hills, 

 and are merely honorary in their nature. 



The next National Ii'rigation Congress 

 will be held at Sacramento, Cal., the first 

 week of September, and promises to be the 

 greatest yet held, and, moreover, the most 

 interesting. We mention this because our 

 western i"eaders are largely dependent upon 

 irrigation for their success in producing 

 honey, and a larger area of irrigated land is 

 one of the certainties of the future. 



The bee-keepers of Minnesota are rejoic- 

 ing over the fact that they have at last se- 

 cured a foul-brood law. In brief, it provides 

 for the appointment of an inspector at a sal- 

 ary of $1000 a year. The other provisions 

 are about the same as those in the celebrated 

 Wisconsin law. The Minnesota bee-keepers 

 have tried hard and long for this; but, un- 

 daunted, they kept hammering away at their 

 legislature until their efforts were crowned 

 with success. 



HOW THE MASSACHUSETTS PUKE-FOOD LAW 

 IS WORKING. 



The pure-food law amounts to something 

 in Massachusetts, for during the month of 

 January there were twenty-seven successful 

 pi'osecutions for violations of the law in 

 Boston. One of the principal grocery con- 

 cerns of the city, with a great name, it is 

 stated, was convicted of ten violations of the 

 law. The tines imposed for the month 

 amounted to $1565, so that the law must be 

 nearly self-sustaining. 



FOUL - BROOD LEGISLATION IN PENNSYL- 

 VANIA. 



Referring to the foul-brood bill that is 

 now pending before the Pennsylvania legis- 

 lature at Harrisburg, the president of the 

 Pennsylvania Bee-keepers' Association, Mr. 

 H. C. Klinger, I'equests all bee-keepers of 

 his State to write to their senators and rep- 

 resentatives to support the bill; otherwise it 

 may fail for lack of interest, a,s there are 

 other bills on the calendar that are crowd- 

 ing and may push this aside unless its 

 supporters get busy. The bill has been re- 

 ferred to the Committee on Agriculture, 

 which has been given a hearing before Prof. 

 H. A. Surface and the president of the asso- 

 ciation, Mr. Klinger. It has been reported 

 favorably, and it is now very important that 

 the Pennsylvania bee-keepers write to their 

 State legislators at once. 



PLANTING honey-bearing TREES FOB FENCE- 

 POSTS. 



Carl Sonderegger, who surely ought to 

 know, advises the farmers of Nebraska, Kan- 

 sas, Oklahoma, and Texas to plant for fence- 

 posts and other uses the following honey- 

 bearing trees: First, the black oryellowlocust; 

 secomi, catalpa; third, Russian mulberry; 

 fourth, the honey-locust. This looks like 



good sound advice, for at the present rate of 

 increase in the price of lumber it looks as 

 though each farmer would require to grow 

 his own lumber or do without it. We endorse 

 his selection. 



BETTER PRICES ON PURE SYRUP. 



The Florida Agriculturist is quite enthu- 

 siastic over the prospects of the cane-syrup 

 industry, which, it claims, can command a 

 price of 75 cents to $1.00 a gallon. Probably 

 this is true; but if it were not for the nation- 

 al pure-food law the syrup-owners could not 

 get such prices, for glucose would keep the 

 market down to a ruinously low level, and 

 we know considerable mixing was done un- 

 til lately. If Florida is anxious to supply 

 the United States with good syrup, a State 

 pure-food law working in conjunction with 

 Uncle Sam is a necessity in this case. 



NEW MAILING- WRAPPER FOR GLEANINGS. 



The reader's attention is drawn to the 

 ■fact that, beginning with last issue, we are 

 mailing Gleanings m flat wrappers. The 

 increased size of the journal, together with the 

 higher quality of half-tone paper necessary 

 for bringing up the engravings, made it neces- 

 sary for us to change the form of wrapping. 

 We believe now there will be no further 

 complaints of missing numbers or of miss- 

 ing sheets from any number. While this 

 will cost some extra, the increasing prosper- 

 ity of Gleanings renders increased expense 

 imperative. Verily, Gleanings was never in 

 a more prosperous condition than it is now. 



ALFALFA W^ITH YELLOW^ BLOSSOMS. 



It is stated that Prof. Hansen, an agricul- 

 tural explorer of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, has brought to this 

 country a quantity of seed of a new species 

 of alfalfa with yellow blossoms, which is 

 said to be very hardy, withstanding a tem- 

 perature of 40 degrees below zero. Experi- 

 ments will be commenced at once with the 

 new plant. 



We think the great trouble with novelties 

 is to get the farmers to take hold of them. 

 Sainfoin, which is quite common in Eng- 

 land, Belgium, and France, and produces 

 hay of very high quality, is almost unknown 

 to the farmers of this country. Any way, we 

 bee-keepers will be glad of a new alfalfa if it 

 yields honey as its sister does. 



RECOMBING AND DISINFECTING. 



While we have no foul brood in Medina, 

 yet we have taken precautions to give our 

 empty hives a hot steam bath and a painting 

 inside with crude carbolic acid, and, what is 

 more, we are fumigating all empty combs 

 with formaldehyde. Any combs not perfect, 

 or that are old, are melted up into founda- 

 tion. As we have before remarked, we are re- 

 combing and almost constantly disinfecting. 



We consider it very important that any 

 queen-breeder or shipper of bees should 



