822 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



mer is expensive, and besides we have no 

 proof that soap is obnoxious to bees. — Ed.] 



Dr. Bruennich, one of the best authori- 

 ties on the other side of the water, quoting 

 Doolittle as authority for letting bees do their 

 own superseding, says in Bienen Vater that 

 Doolittle is an investigator of bees for whom 

 he has extraordinary respect, counting him 

 one of the greatest lights among bee-keepers 

 in the whole world. It seems good to find a 

 man broad-minded enough to recognize worth 

 in whatever country it may be found. 



" Section " is a word likely to be over- 

 worked it sectional hives come into pi'omi- 

 nence. On page 766, Fig. 3 shows a "section 

 filled with brood-frames," and Fig. 2 a sec- 

 tion filled with sections. Isn't there too much 

 "section " about that? Why not use " a story 

 of brood-frames " and "a story of sections " ? 

 [We can not see how there could be any con- 

 fusion, as the context will almost invariably 

 show what is meant. We have many sam- 

 ples of the same thing in our common Eng- 

 lish of every-day life.— F]d.] 



Apicultural-experiment stations num- 

 ber 33 in Austi'ia; in Switzerland, 38; in U. 

 S. — ? [Our dear Uncle Sam is doing a gi-eat 

 deal for us now; but, say — it is not true that 

 he has no stations for the study of apiculture. 

 Besides the one at Washington, D. C, there 

 is a sub-station at Chico, California, in charge 

 of J. M. Rankin. Already much and impor- 

 tant work has been done, especially in the 

 line of original investigation of bee diseases. 

 A multiplicity of stations may not do the 

 work of a couple of good ones.— Ed.] 



Dr. Bruennich [Lcqjz Bztg., p. 42) takes 

 Americans severely to task for their unscien- 

 tific methods in bee culture, i"unning all over 

 the world ' for new varieties, and mixing 

 blood indiscriminately, instead of persisting 

 in the pure culture of some one variety. ■ The 

 rebuke is merited, doctor; but please remem- 

 ber that conditions here are not the same as 

 in Switzerland. You have found that the 

 native bee is better for you than any foreign 

 variety, and you are wise to persist in its 

 pure culture. We have found that for us a 

 foreign variety is better than the native, and 

 as yet are not entirely sure that some other 

 foreigner may not be still better. Do you 

 blame us for scouring the world for that pos- 

 sibly better variety? 



The fear that bees would gnaw around 

 foundation splints has prevented your enthu- 

 siasm, Mr. Editor, p. 755. Will that fear be 

 removed if I tell you that my bees never gnaw 

 around them? In the thousands of splints I 

 have used I never saw one gnawed around — 

 no, not the fraction of an inch. Your fears 

 are not well founded when based upon ex- 

 perience with tin bars not coated with wax. 

 A 32 wire may be the largest bare metal they 

 will stand, but I'll agree to put in a coated 

 wooden splint a full inch wide, and there 

 shall be no gnawing. Please don't base your 

 fears upon imagination. [We take it all 

 back, doctor; but now can you get up some 

 satisfactory machine or method for making 



the splints? Whenever we get an order from 

 you for them our workmen have a regular 

 time of it. They are exceedingly difiicult to 

 make; and if we were to charge what they 

 are worth it is a question whether the public 

 would buy them. Broom-splints of the right 

 size have been substituted, but they are ir- 

 regular. — Ed.] 



If any proof is needed that the new local- 

 option law in Illinois is a good one, here is 

 that proof from a Chicago daily, it being a 

 special from Peoria, 111., dated May 14: "The 

 liquor interests of the State have formed an 

 organization to fight the local-option law in 

 all its features. Distillers, brewers, and sa- 

 loon-keepers from every part of the State 

 have been implored to join the organization 

 for their own protection." [The value of 

 new temperance legislation can be gauged 

 pretty accurately by the subsequent actions 

 of the liquor interests. It is the "hit bird 

 that flutters, " you know. You will note 

 that, every time any new important piece of 

 temperance legislation is enacted, the brew- 

 ers and their allied interests get busy. — Ed.] 



The interesting matter about wax-ren- 

 dering in Gleanings, June 1, raises the ques- 

 tion whether is will not be better to have 

 wax-rendering a specialty in the hands of a 

 few to whom others shall send old combs, etc., 

 just as foundation -making is a specialty. 

 [There are two objections to this. One is 

 that the sending of combs indiscriminately 

 over the country, especially those that are 

 discarded because they were filthy or possi- 

 bly diseased, will be likely to spread serious 

 contagion. Second, combs are very bulky. 

 The boxes would be large and unwieldy, and 

 the freight would be high. We have in some 

 cases solicited consignments of old combs; 

 but there is so much dross and filth that we 

 don't encourage the practice of sending them 

 except for experimental purposes. The pro- 

 cess of wax-rendering is not so difiicult as it 

 might seem. All there is to it is plenty of 

 hot water and frequent squeezings of the 

 slumgum, followed by thorough washing. 

 But when it comes to reading over the mass 

 of details of various writers one is liable to 

 become confused. — Ed.] 



The apiary shown on the front caver page 

 of this issue "is that of W. Z. Hutchinson, at 

 Flint, Mich. 



We have been advised unoflici ally that the 

 next convention of the National Bee-keepers' 

 Association will be held at Harrisburg, Pa. 

 We presume we shall hear from Mr. France 

 direct. In the mean time we would state 



