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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Wavelets of News. 



Essays at Conventions. 



Short, pithy, well-written essays, sug- 

 gestive of several good points, are always 

 in place at conventions : long-winded 

 ones, never. A long essay, however, may 

 be valuable in proportion to its length. 

 But it taxes the nerves a good deal more 

 to listen to something read than some- 

 thing given off-hand, in animated, con- 

 versational style. — Gleanings. 



Influence of Free Sugar on Honey. 



After April 1 next, the present duties 

 on foreign sugar, which average 2}4 

 cents per pound, will no longer be im- 

 posed, and a bounty of 2 cents a pound 

 will be paid on sugar made in this coun- 

 try. This will certainly lower the price 

 of sugar, and probably have some effect 

 upon the price of honey, more particu- 

 larly upon the lower grades of extracted 

 honey, now used by bakers and other 

 manufacturers. Comb-honey is a thing 

 of itself ; in one sense it has no competi- 

 tor, in another it has. Cheap sugar will 

 encourage the production of fruit pre- 

 serves, and they will compete, to a cer- 

 tain extent, even with comb-honey. 

 There is also another light in which this 

 matter may be viewed. Sugar may be- 

 come so cheap that it will be more profit- 

 able than ever to force all the white 

 honey into the sections, and feed sugar 

 for winter stores. I know from experi- 

 ence that, with the proper methods of 

 management, and the right kind of 

 feeders, this can be done very easily 

 and cheaply. The obstacle in the way 

 of using sugar for winter stores 1uis been 

 its high price. — Review. 



To Keep Bees from Watering-Trouglis. 



Among some of the good things we 

 learned at Keokuk, last Fall, was a little 

 hint worth remembering, from A. N. 

 Draper. He is an extensive honey pro- 

 ducer — a man who owns several out-api- 

 aries. Said he, "People have had a good 

 deal to say about keeping bees away 

 from watering-troughs. I will give you 

 a secret that is worth them all. Take a 

 weak solution of carbolic acid, and pa'nt 

 it around the edges of the trough, and 

 then they will not botheryour neighbors. 

 If you get them out of the habit of visit- 

 ing such places, they will stay away." 

 We have used enough carbolic acid in 



the apiary to feel pretty tolerably cer- 

 tain that this will work. Put this down 

 in your note-book, and try it next season 

 and report. — Oleanings. 



Sweet Clover for Honey. 



M. S. Eoop, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, 

 writes us that bees are wintering very 

 well in his vicinity. He says : " I have 

 reports from about 20 bee-keepers, and 

 their loss will not exceed 5 per cent." 

 " Do you have any of the sweet clover 

 growing in your country, it is the best 

 honey plant in America." "It is as 

 much ahead of alfalfa as alfalfa is ahead 

 of buckwheat." — Nebiriska Bee-Keeper. 



Only Straight Combs for the Market. 



It does not seem as though very much 

 of a summing up is needed upon the 

 separator question. I think all will admit 

 that only straight combs ought to be put 

 upon the market. If the condition of 

 the honey flow and colonies, or of the 

 management, result in straight combs 

 without separators, then they are a use- 

 less expense, otherwise they ought to be 

 used. Combs need not necessarily be as 

 straight as a board, but so straight that 

 they may be readily removed from the 

 case without injury. If a bee-keeper 

 can secure nearly all straight combs 

 without separators, and has a local mar- 

 ket — in which he can sell direct to con- 

 sumers — for the few bulged combs that 

 he may have, separators would be a use- 

 less expense. — Bevieiv. 



Dadant's Langstroth in French. 



We notice, by the last Revue Intema- 

 tionale, that this great work of our es- 

 teemed and celebrated co-laborer is at 

 last ready for the French-speaking peo- 

 ple of the world. It will be ready for 

 sale on the first of March, just as this 

 reaches our readers. We are informed 

 that it will not be simply a word-for- 

 word translation, but an adaptation of 

 the book as a whole to the people of 

 France, Mr. Dadant's native country. 

 We predict that it will create a great 

 stir, if not a revolution, in at least some 

 districts of France. We have not learned 

 the price of the book here in America. 

 The price is 73^ francs in Nyon, Switzer- 

 land, at the office of the publication 

 named above. — Oleunings. 



The Rains in California have greatly 

 improved the honey-crop prospect. 



