36 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JaJJ. 



of bees. I thought at first it was a swarm, but soon 

 found out they were working on the white-oak tree. 

 To make sure of the matter, I climbed up in a tree 

 and watched them alighting- on the little acorns. I 

 secured some of them, and found the sweet liquid 

 oozing out of them. They reminded me of the gum 

 blossoms, the honey standing- in little drops. But 

 this tree must be different from Texas oak. 

 Flat Ridge, ( )., Dec. 7, 1881. A. H. Duff. 



BEE-KEEPKRS' CONVENTIONS. 



I have been reading the journals very closely, and 

 I notice that there is a great interest being taken in 

 the bee-keepers' conventions throughout the United 

 States. I notice that Michigan has six associations; 

 and if Michigan can have six, it looks as if Indiana 

 could afford to have one; and I think that it would 

 get the bee-keepers acquainted with each other, and 

 enable them to discuss the best method of handling 

 and wintering our little pets, and getting them as 

 strong as possible by the time the honey crop comes. 

 I would like to hear from the rest of the bee-keep- 

 ers of Indiana and other States, for I think we can 

 have a convention that will be interesting and bene- 

 ficial to all who attend. Mr. Root, I would like to 

 hear from you on this subject, and would like to 

 know if you will help us all you can in trying to get 

 up this convention. Bee-keepers of Indiana, let us 

 all try to see if we can get this association started, 

 and have a meeting this next spring. Let us hear 

 from all who are interested in the welfare of bees, 

 through Gleanings or any other journal. 



George W. Baker. 



Lewisville, Ind., Dec. 8, 1881. 



I will gladly do all I can, friend B., con- 

 sistent with the best interests of our large 

 circle of readers, for I am well convinced 

 that conventions, like the one 1 have recent- 

 ly attended, will be productive of much 

 good. Please bear in mind, that we wish to 

 have these pages tilled with matter of gen- 

 eral interest to all its readers, as much as 

 possible, and that it would hardly be fair to 

 take much space for any thing of interest to 

 any one special locality. We mean to an- 

 nounce all conventions ; but please bear in 

 mind, that for rea&ons above given, we can 

 not give very much space to each. 



FROM BLASTED HOPES TO 8M1LERY. 



I am not a new subscriber to your magazine; my 

 time ran out last spring, and I thought ray bees were 

 going too. I put 16 swarms into the cellar after a two- 

 week's zero freeze, and came out in the spring with 

 9, and felt quite discouraged ; but God in his good- 

 ness has increased them to 31, and gave us (I should 

 say us instead of me, for my wife is a worker in the 

 apiary with me) 585 lbs. of honey, mostly in 1-lb. 

 sections, and have sold most of it at 17 and 20 cts. per 

 lb. We have missed Gleanings very much. 



Waupaca, Wis., Dec, 1881. J. B. Green. 



FRIEND HAYHURST'S " TIN'PAIL STORY." 



The consignment of pint pails that you refer to on 

 page 578, Dec. Gleanings, was duly received, and 

 they outsell any package I have ever used. The 

 freight bill was $1.81, making the total cost to me 

 $14.56 — just $6.44 less than the lowest figures that I 

 can get, in our city of nearly 100,000 inhabitants, for 

 the same article; I begin to think that some of us 

 fellows out here hail better start a tin'Shop. I thank 



you from the bottom of my — boots for your prompt 

 way of doing business, not only in shipping without 

 delay, but in nlwan^ acknowledging receipt of orders. 

 Your style of packing is excellent; not one of the 

 whole 300 pails was injured in transit. If we Kan- 

 sas City folks get a good crop of honey next year, 

 and do not have our tin-shop stai'ted, " John" will 

 have a big stock of pails to make for us. 



E. M. Hayhurst. 



P. S. We (wife, babies, and self) are wonderfully 

 pleased with the little pails. E. M. TI. 



Kansas City, Mo., Dec. 15, 1881. 



OR HONEY PLANTS TO BE NAMED. 



|P|IIAS. E. McEAY, Canon City, Colora- 

 njj do, sends us a beautiful-looking blos- 

 ^^ som, whicli lie describes as follows : — 



It is in blossom all summer, and bees work on it 

 almost as they do on mignonnette. 



Canon City, Colorado. Chas. E. McRay. 



As it was beyond our experience, we sent 

 it to Prof. Beal, who names it as follows : — 



This is Pctalostemon macrof<ta(hyus. I have had 

 two other species sent in as bee-plants. It is nearly 

 related to the clovers, and several of them are called 

 prairie clovers. W. J. Beal. 



Agricultural College, Lansing, Mich., Nov., 1881. 



}adi^^' §qjiavliff0it 



fpIE following is credited to Mrs. Harri- 

 son, but as til e sciap of paper I found 

 " — ' it on told no more, 1 do not know how 

 I shall be able to give credit any further. 

 See if it does not sound like her. 



Bee-keeping, although a laborious employment, 

 demands no great outlay of strength at one time. 

 It embraces the performance of many little items, 

 which require skill and gentleness more than muscle. 

 The hand of woman from nature, habit, and educa- 

 tion, has acquired an ease of motion which is agree- 

 able to the sensibilities of bees, and her breath is 

 seldom offensive to their olfactories by reason of to- 

 bacco or beer. 



Women have demonstrated that the making of 

 hives and surplus boxes is no objection, as they 

 have ])urchased them in the flat, nailed, and painted 

 them. The hiving of swarms is neither more diffi- 

 cult nor dangerous than the washing of windows or 

 milking. The right time to extract honey, or to put 

 on, or take off surplus boxes, requires no more tact 

 or skill to determine than the proper fermentation 

 of bread, or the right temperature of the oven re- 

 quired for baking. She is in her allotted sphere 

 while raising queens and nursing weak colonies, or 

 caring for the honey when off the hive. 



The most powerful argument in view of the suit- 

 ableness of bee-keeping for women is this: that it is 

 something she can do at home, and not interfere 

 with her domestic duties. Many women of small 

 means have young children depending upon their 

 exertions for support, and remunerative work to be 

 performed at home brings very little in the market 

 of to-day: for instance, the making of overalls at 



