1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



139 



them open their eyes during a poor season. 

 Raise queens, and bees by the pound. This 

 Avill pay for the feed yon may have to buy. 



"JIANV MEN OF MANY MINDS." 



How much per hundred do you charge for drilling- 

 holes in L. Irames to receive wires? Have tried 

 several kinds of fdn., including Given and flat-bot- 

 tom wired, and it has all proved to be a delusion 

 and a snare. I want to try hand-wired next. 



• M. Frank Taber. 



Salem, Ohio, Jan. 30, 1882. 



Why, what a fellow yon are, friend T. ! 

 Fdn. '• a delusion and a snare "? The above 

 illustrates how differently we look at things, 

 if notiiing more, and sliould, I think, help us 

 to have more charity for each other. 1 

 would just like to come to your house in 

 ''honey time," and show you what I could 

 do with either the Given, ilat-bottomed, or. 

 In fact, any other fdn. on the market, that I 

 know of.— We consider it worth about :i5 cts. 

 per hundred frames to drill the holes, with 

 the gang of drills we have for the purpose. 



QUEENS REARED OUT OF SEASON, ETC. 



I must say, that I feel very much encouraged. My 

 bees, 26 colonies, to-day, Feb. 8, arc flying briskly, 

 and are bringing in great loads of pollen. I have 

 just finished examining them, and find they are in 

 fine condition. 1 have brood in every colon j'; 7 had 

 spread their brood on 5 frames; 9 on 4; 5 on 3, and 5 

 nuclei that were packed on two frames, each had a 

 good-sized batch of capped brood on each frame. 

 Some of the queens that are la the nuclei were 

 reared in September, and saved on account of their 

 fine points. Now, friend Hoot, what are such queens 

 worth? I sec that some queen-breeders claim that 

 queens reared out of season are not as good as when 

 reared in the swarming-iime. Why are they not? I 

 have one in my apiary that was reared between the 

 3d and 25th of September, 1877, and she is as good, or 

 superior, to any I have that were reared in April or 

 May, the swarming months in this latitude. Now, if 

 cueens reared in September produce worker bees 

 that live as long, and gather as much honey as 

 queens reared in April or May, why not rear our 

 queens later in the season, so as not to disturb our 

 bees at a time when they should be storing large 

 quantities of honey? W. S. Cauthen. 



Pleasant Hill, Lan. Co., S. C, Feb. 8, 1882. 



I do not know what such queens are worth, 

 friend C. ; but I will give you ^±00 apiece 

 for a dozen such that produce pure Italians. 

 Or 1 will give $1.25 for all dollar queens any 

 of the friends in Florida or elsewhere can 

 deliver to me alive this month. We have 

 been sending out queens already, and a good 

 many of our colonies are queenJess. 



A KIND WORD FOR GEORGE QRIM.M. 



As per promise, I will now report my last year's 

 success wiih bees. But first I will say, that J. & I. 

 Crowfoot lost all of their bees except thirty swarms 

 in the years 1880 and 1881, of which I took three, and 

 bought of George Grimm 22 and Increased the 25 to 

 over 200, of which nearly all are now alive and 

 strong, with plenty of honey to carry them through. 

 I am wintering on summer stands, and shall never, 

 hereafter, winter otherwise. If it were not looking 

 too pauch like advertising for Mr. Grimm, I would 



say that he has got his bees bred up for business, 

 and not for looks. I was at his place twice last 

 spring, and I see that he inherits the principles of 

 his father; that is, give every man what he pays 

 for. I got from the 25 swarms about 3000 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted honey. I. S. Crowfoot. 

 Hartford, Wis., Feb. 14, 1882. 



THE HONEY-BEES. 



Of all the insects which God in his wisdom has 

 created, there is none that is so industrious, and use- 

 ful to man, as the honey-bee. From early morning, 

 imtil late at night, they are busy bringing sweets 

 from the flowers, with which to enrich their stores; 

 and when night with her sable robes comes on, they 

 do not, like us, cast aside their labors, and lie down 

 idle, to sleep away the hours of darkness, but, 

 rather, they work all the night, and place in order 

 what they have accumulated through the day. What 

 an example they place before us! We never were 

 created to live a life of idleness, and the honey-bee 

 was given us as an example of industry, which we 

 should do well to imitate. Like the honey-bee, 

 our lives are short at best; and if, like them, 

 we strive to improve each shining moment, we shall 

 in the end reap a most liberal harvest. By furnish- 

 ing them with our improvements in hives, frames, 

 boxes, and the like, we aid them in carrying on their 

 work with more system and expedition; and in the 

 fall, when they are obliged to rest from their labor, 

 and we take from them their store, we are proud of 

 them; and if the little things had ears, they would 

 hear some good words of praise and commendation 

 for their energy and zeal, throughout their season 

 of work. So is it with us. God gives us just such 

 improvements to aid us throughout our lives, by 

 furnishing us with the means whereby wg may im- 

 prove our minds, and duties for us to perform, 

 which, if we suffer to remain undone, will cause us 

 to fall far below the honey-bee in the estimation of 

 our great Master. If misfortune comes, and our 

 bees suffer from it, and we meet with losses which 

 greatly impoverish us, do not let us despair, and place 

 curses upon our little helpers, but assist them to 

 build up their forces and give them a new start, 

 trusting and feeling that it is all for the best, that 

 God gives us all these trials and disappointments 

 for our especial good. Let us ever be as diligent and 

 persevering in all our efforts as these little workers. 

 Long live the honey-bee ! Hybrid. 



Bees are wintering well here, and prospects are 

 good, for strong colonies at least. To commence 

 the season with, we shall start with about 150 or 200 

 colonics, and shall try the real merits of the Italians 

 pretty thoroughly, as we shall have a fine lot of 

 early queens to breed from. Last winter we lost 85 

 out of 89 colonies, and the 4 that were left were very 

 weak; outlast night we saw some hives with eight 

 spaces crowded with bees. We have just received a 

 letter from a man from whom we bought a large 

 amount, saying that his 135 swarms are all living, 

 and in fine condition. G. W. Stanley & Bro. 



Wyoming, N. Y., Feb. 17, 1882. 



BEES IN A GREENHOUSE. 



Bees commenced bringing in pollen, Jan. 3, and 

 are now bringing in some honey, which is enabling 

 them to build rapidly up. About Jan. 15th I put a 

 very fair colony of bees on foundation only, inside 

 our greenhouse, and so arranged them that they 



