GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE, 



July 1 



{Airmrican Be^ Journal, ASQ) . And please 

 don't forget that these non-conducting covers 

 are just as much warmer in winter as they 

 are cooler in summer. [Why not go one bet- 

 ter, and have the deep telescope cover? They 

 not only protev^t the thin inner cover, but 

 the sides of the hive clear down two-thirds 

 of its way as well. This protects the hive 

 against the sun',' cool summer nights, and bad 

 weather in a backward spring. It costs 

 more, but it will pay for the extra cost in one 

 season. — Ed.] 



C Krueger, himself a countryman of 

 D,zier'zon, sajs {L''A])ictiUeur, 3), "It is not 

 corriect, as the Germans say in all their man- 

 uals of apiculture, that Dzierzon was the 

 fiather o^f mobilism; his part in that was more 

 modest. But, on the other hand, he wielded a 

 most facile pen, and from 1845 he wrote in the 

 two bee- journals then existing, and for more 

 than a half-century he ceased not to make a 

 propaganda for mobilism, but for mobilism as 

 he understood it, and which has nothing in 

 common with that of Langstroth-Dadant so 

 universally adopted. . . His hive was ap- 

 proved by only a very- limited number of 

 friends, whilst Langstroth had the satisfac- 

 tion of seeing his own generally adopted. 

 But that whicn will immortalize the name of 

 JoUn Dzierzon is the discovery of par^Ae?io- 

 genesis inlSSS.''' Delightful it is to find on 

 the European continent a tendency to give 

 Langstroth his tardy meed of praise. Per 

 contra, let us hope that in this country bee- 

 keepers in general shall learn to know more 

 of their debt of gratitude to the grand old 

 bee-master Dzierzon. [Huber invented the 

 first movable-comb hives about the year 1789. 

 Bar hives were in use long before that time, 

 particularly in Scotland. I can show you il- 

 lustrations of very good bar and frame 

 hives Which were in use long before D2;ier- 

 zo,u was old enough to have any bees. — 

 W. K. M.] 



For some years I had been breeding from 

 my best gatherers without regard to color, 

 and my bees wei'e hustlers. But they were 

 cross, and no mistake. Last year a certain 

 editor insisted in a rather toplofty manner 

 that I could have just as good workers of 

 pnre stock, and not get so many stings. I 

 challenged him to furnish the queens of pure 

 stock, and I'd give them a fair comparison. 

 He seemed inclined to flinch, but finally came 

 up feo the scratch, and I now have 18 colo- 

 nies headed by queens of his choosing or 

 their royal progeny. An inventory of the 

 strength of colonies the first week in June 

 showed the new stock to have a larger acre- 

 age of brood than the old stock. Now crow, 

 Mr. Editor. No, don't crow just yet; wait 

 till I tell you how they compare as to amount 

 of honey stored when the harvest is over. 

 Remember that the most prolific queens and 

 She largest crops don't always go together. 

 [We shall be greatly interested in the fur- 

 ther performance of these bees. You are right. 

 It is the honey-gathering qualities that should 

 count. But plenty of good brood at the right 

 season of the year is a good omen. — Ed.] 



New Jersey now has a pure-food law 

 which takes effect October 1, 1908. It cor- 

 responds with the national law on the same 

 subject. It may seem odd that the law is 

 dated so far ahead of time; but New Jersey 

 has a food law now in force, passed in March, 

 1901. The new law does not supersede the 

 old one, but brings it in line with the United 

 States law. As early as 1886 the State had a 

 law to pi'event the adulteration of butter, and 

 the regulation of butterine and margarine. 



THE LACK OF PURE-FOOD LEGISLATION IN 

 THE SOUTH. 



We have had no good news from the South 

 regarding the passage of pure-food laws cal- 

 culated to help the producers of genuine 

 foods. Practically the entire tier of northern 

 States has wheeled into line under the pure- 

 food banner, and the honey-producers and 

 others are now well protected against an in- 

 sidious enemy who threatened to destroy our 

 industry. We can not feel entirely safe till 

 the. South has joined us. A pure-food law 

 is praeticallyself-enforcing — at least the actu- 

 al cost of administering it is small, and the 

 amount received in fines reduces the cost to 

 a mere trifle. 



NAILS IN NAIL-SPACED FRAMES A NUISANCE 

 IN UNCAPPING. 



Referring to a footnote to" a Straw on p. 

 754, Mr. Leslie Burr, of Berthoud, Col., refers 

 us to the illustration on page 765 of Glean- 

 ings for 1903, where is shown a very fat nail- 

 spaced extracting-comb taken from an eight- 

 frame extracting-super where only six frames 

 were used. The illustration shows how the 

 capped comb had gone clear over the nail 

 spacei's, and Mr. B.. very pertinently asks 

 whether the nails would interfei'e in uncap- 

 ping such a comb. We shall have to ac- 

 knowledge, in this case, he has the best of 

 the argument. But there are very few who 

 believe it would be good practice to run six 

 extracting-frames to an eight-frame super 

 Mr. Holtermann, who uses metal spacers, has 

 no trouble. 



In this connection it might be well to ask 

 whether the honey in these very fat thick 

 combs is as well ripened as that in thinner 

 ones. We should be glad to leai'n the expe- 

 rience of all practical honey-producers on 

 these points. 



NOT ALL EXTRA-YKLLOW BEES LACKING IN 

 HARDINESS. 



DooLiTTLE & Clark, who are doing quite 

 an extensive business in queen-rearing, in 

 referring to a recent editorial on the hardi- 



