88 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



Seventy swarms of bees in excellent condition op 

 to date; 4 years of success in wintering. 



L. D. Gale. 

 Stcdraan, Chautauqua Co., N. Y., Jan. 10, 1882. 



GIVEN IN CALIFORNIA. 



I think I have improved some since I came here. 

 I like this climate very well. D. S. Given. 



Los Angeles, Cal., Dec. 10, 1881. 



Bees have not done much this year -not much 

 over $3.00 per hive in spring; 4 stolen, 8 brimstoned, 

 and, say, 100 or more to bo killed, if I can not sell 

 them off somehow. D. McKenzie. 



Carrollton, New Orleans, La., Dec. 21, 1881. 



[Won't somebody buy these bees at some price, 

 and thus save them from such a fate?J 



THE MAN WHO DID NOT SIGN HIS NAME. 



Received Gleanings all right, and will take ev- 

 ery thing back that I thought about you. Can't 

 think how it happened, that I did not sign the letter. 

 You will hear from me again soon. Wm. Env. 



Leamington, Ont,, Can., Dec. 28, 1881. 



You will please find inclosed , for which send 



me one of the latest and best smokers. It i3 rather 

 distressing that I neither smoke nor chew, and have 

 to pay for it. C. M. Davis. 



Lemoore, Tulare Co., Cal., Dec. 20, 1881. 



[It is a little sad, friend D.; but you know you 

 can afford it better than those who smokc.l 



A singular fact. 

 I have found an excellent way to keep my bees 

 from troubling the neighbors. Just put a 1-lb sec- 

 tion on the Christmas-tree for each family in the 

 neighborhood. My bees do not seem to be half so 

 mischievous since I tried the above plan. 



Jas. Bolin. 

 West Lodi, Seneca Co., O., Dec. 21, 1881. 



I have my bees all packed in chaff. I had 23 

 swarms in the spring, and got about 3000 lbs. of hon- 

 ey, and increased them to 54. Our great bee-man, 

 Mr. O. O. Poppleton, from Williamstown, took one 

 of his queens (got married), and started for Florida 

 a few weeks ago. We wish him much happiness. 



John Kress. 



New Hampton, Chick. Co., la., Dec. 28, 1881. 



"DUNNING" FOLKS TO MAKE THEM TAKE WHAT IS 

 DUE THEM. 



Friend Root, j-ou have sent me a postal card for 3 

 or 4 years, to let me know that there was 25 cents 

 placed to my credit on your book. And that last 

 hit, see page 568, 1881, that settles it. 



A. S. Davison. 



AuUville, Lafaj-ette Co., Mo., Jan. 12, 1882. 



[Glad it did, friend D., begging your pardon.] 



A GOOD REPORT FROM FRIEND HAYHURST. 



I am well pleased with Gleanings; it has made 

 me money. Last year I sent on to Mr. E. M. Hay- 

 hurst for one Cyprian queen, with a pound of bees, 

 and some Italian queens with a pound of bees to 

 each queen. What I got in June weighed this fall 

 about 100 lbs. to the hive, and every que sn proved 

 to be pure. F. H. Braning. 



Kent, Union Co., Iowa, Jan. 12, 1882. 



I have 37 colonies of bees reposing quietly in the 

 cellar. It is very cold here at present. After sell- 

 ing off my bees last spring I commenced the season 

 with 9 weak swarms. I bought a choice queen, and 

 increased to 27 good strong Italian swarms, with 



plenty of honey in the hives, besides selling about 

 $75.00 worth of queens and honey. I didn't think it 

 very bad, considering the season. 



L. E. Welch. 

 Linden, Genesee Co., Mich.. Jan. 9, 1882. 



help in the APIARY. 



My daughter and I have extracted and done all the 

 work in the apiary; began with (iO colonies, in- 

 creased to about 100, and extracted about 7000 lbs. of 

 very line honey; besides, I attended and did all the 

 work necessary on plantation (mechanical work), 

 laborers doing the cultivation of land, and made 44 

 hogsheads of sugar, and over 90 barrels molasses. 

 B. Marion NEAux. 



riaquemioe, Iberville Par., La., Dec. 24, 1881. 



Bees have done well this season, but not nearly as 

 well as at Borodino. Please ask Mr. Doolittle to tell 

 us bow he managed his bees to get such a yield of 

 honey. There must be something wrong in my way of 

 doing things,as I got only 1000 lbs. of comb honey from 

 30 swarms, while he got over 3000 lbs. from the same 

 ninuber. My bees were in good condition last spring. 

 I lost only 4 out of 40 the last winter. v''. Page. 



Kennedy, N. Y., Nov. 24, 1881. 



[Read up friend Doolittle's articles in our back 

 volumes, friend P., and j^ou will see how he does it.] 



mR. MERRYBANKS AND HIS NEIGH- 

 BO IS. 



The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad 

 for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom 

 as the rose.— ISA.. 35:1. 



W BELIEVE 3'ou have never liatl a near 

 ^ view of our friend Merry banlvs. Well, 

 — ' perhaps I ouglit to apologize a little for 

 bringing him before you with his hat and 

 overcoat on ; but you see, some of his exper- 

 iments are working nicely just now, and I 

 wanted you to see him when he was looking 

 so bright and animated. It Avas on a bright 

 sunshiny Saturday, just before Christmas, 

 and he has been calling to his neighbor, 

 through the new telephone they liave just 

 got put up and in working order. ]\rr. Jones 

 made the heads of the telephone on his lathe 

 I have just been telling you about. They 

 are turned out of two-inch black-walnut 

 plank, and something like an hour-glass 

 with both ends open, only the end you speak 

 in is much larger than the other. Across the 

 small end is tacked a piece of very thin jap- 

 anned sheet-iron, such as can be had of pho-_ 

 tograph artists. A sheet, 10 x 14. costs 15 

 cts. A wooden ring is put over the thin 

 metal, to make it very hrm, for it has to hold 

 a very heavy strain, to get the wire as tight 

 as it should be. The two houses are con- 

 nected by No. LIo annealed brass wire. Brass 

 is better than copper because it is tougher, 

 and will stand a heavier pull, while it is 

 much cheaper, as a smaller wire than copper 

 will answer. No. 23 brass wire is worth 

 about 40 cts. per lb., or, in small quantities, 

 say 10 cts. per hundred feet. Tne wire at 

 each end is put through a small hole in the 

 thin metal disk, and twisted around a short 

 thick wire, to prevent pulling out. At every 

 one or two hundred feet the wire is support- 

 ed by loops of leather string, not unlike a 

 common leather shoe-string. The wire must 



