THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



83 



it. Since theu the Keview has liept this 

 gradiug staudiug at the head of its market 

 column, and it is printed on the blanks sent 

 out to dealers for their use in giving quota- 

 tions, and quotations are given in conform- 

 ity with that gradiug. The editor of (Jleau- 

 ings suggests that we take up the Miller 

 grading and use it, and says that Gleanings 

 stands ready co-operate with any of its co- 

 temporaries. Good. But why adopt the 

 grading of a private individual ( unless it is 

 better) when that adopted by the leading bee 

 keepers' society of this country has been in 

 use three years by one journal, and during 

 that time not one criticism has been made 

 by dealers or shippers ':' If that adopted by 

 the North American has any faults, let them 

 be pointed out and have them corrected at 

 its next meeting, but don't encourage the 

 use of different sets of rules for grading and 

 thereby bring in "confusion worse con- 

 founded." 



AMALGAMATION. 



The proposed amalgamation of the North 

 American and the Bee Keepers' Uiio" seems 

 to be receiving considerable opposition of 

 late, and some are asking why the frie' ds of 

 the scheme do not come forward and defe d 

 their position. They t/id do so mof'ths ago, 

 so long ago that those who are now opposed 

 to the plan seem to have forgotten the rea- 

 sons that were given in favor of amalgama- 

 tion. Money, or the lack of it, seems to be 

 at the bottom of the opposition. The mem- 

 bers of the Union seem to feel that " We 

 have accumulated this money and we don't 

 propose to let the members of the North 

 American come in and enjoy it. " It is evi- 

 dent that if the North American had a big 

 " wad " of money there would be a different 

 feeling. The North American was tot 

 created for the purpose of laying upmorey. 

 Its whole object was to meet socially aid 

 discuss apiarian subjects for mutual im- 

 provement. Sufficient morey to defray the 

 expenses of these meetings was all the mon- 

 ey that was needed. The need for conven- 

 tions for the dissemination of knowledge is 

 now little needed, thanks to an excellent 

 and cheap literature. The social feature 

 is still as attractive as ever, but times are 

 hard and honey crops very uncertain, and 

 there is a feeling that if there were only one 

 Natio-'al Association it would receive a bet- 

 ter support and do more good than would be 

 the case when the energies and money are 



divided. Practically, the North American 

 agrees to disband ad join with the Union, 

 helpii'g to make the latter a greater power 

 for good; but no, the members of the Union 

 say, in substance, " Get out of here you beg- 

 gars, we want none of you. " And so long 

 as this feeling exists, o'ly trouble could 

 come from an amalgamation. 



WHY HONEY AGREES WITU PEOPLE BETTER 

 THAN IT DID YEARS AGO. 



If you will stop to think about it a mo- 

 ment, I think you will admit that you don't 

 hear so much about honey not agreeing 

 with people as you did in the past. Years 

 ago, a great many people " Couldn't eat 

 honey, " because it — distressed them so. I 

 never thought about this cry as dying out, 

 neither should I have imagined the cause of 

 it, had not Mr, John Andrews, of Patten's 

 Mills, N. Y., written me about it. Every bee 

 keeper who has had occasion to handle bees 

 when the weather is a little cool, or, if he 

 does not use much smoke, has seen the bees 

 elevate the tips of their abdome-^s, thrust 

 out their stings, a"d on the tip of each sti' g 

 seen a minute droplet of poison, Mr. 

 Andrews asks " Where does this poison go? 

 Does it go back in the sac V " He says not ; 

 and it does not look reasonable that it should. 

 He says that it eventually gets spread around 

 on the combs, a^ditis this poison that causes 

 the " gripes. " We all know that honey 

 taken from a " bee tree " is much more 

 likely to cause unpleasabt symptoms than is 

 the case with other honey. In this case the 

 bees are greatly disturbed, a' d many of 

 them crushed in the honey. As Mr. Andrews 

 says, " The uncapping k ife and the bee- 

 escape have laid this trouble on the shelf." 

 He says that men who once said to him " I 

 can't eat honey, " have now become good 

 customers as a result of findi"g out the 

 cau'eof their former trouble. Perhaps here 

 is a point that ought to go into a leaflet. 



BEES WORKING ON RED CLOVER. 



Red clover furnishes an abundance of 

 honey, but the tubes of the blossoms are 

 usually so deep that the bees cannot reach 

 the honey. I have often picked a blossom, 

 and, pulling out some of the tubes, squeezed 

 them through the ends of my fingers and 

 seen a minute drop of honey ooze out from 

 the end of each tube. Putting these little 



