1882 



(JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



243 



We need a little inspiration just now to help us out, 

 and we look imploring-ly to you for help. 

 Hollr, Mich., Feb. 10, 1882. S. D. MOSHEB. 



Friend M., have you not overlooked tlie 

 fact that God grants our requests only when 

 it will be for our own good ? I hope and 

 trust I am widening my tield of usefulness 

 day by day, but I am by no means sure it 

 would result in permanent good to have the 

 bees of careless bee-keepers (like myself) 

 saved from the wintering maladies. We are 

 asking God to help us to understand the 

 mysteries connected with foul brood and the 

 like, and the answer is coming through the 

 voices and writings of many people. Again, 

 you speak of my selling the " secret,"' after 

 God has given it me in answer to prayer. 

 One of the most emphatic injunctions of the 

 Bible is, ''Give, and it shall be given unto 

 you." Some of you have laughed at me for 

 giving away things so freely, and because I 

 have no patents, and trust humanity ; but 

 were you here to-day it seems to me you 

 could not help saying God has given me back 

 "good measu re, "^ pressed down, shaken to- 

 gether, and running over." 



SHEPAnO'S SWARMING-BOX, ETC. 



I have sold 100 colonies to G. W. Stanley, Wyoming, 

 N. T.; will have 3 J or 40 left, if they don't die this 

 spring. That my sight Is failing me some, is one 

 reason of my selling. If I were young, and wanted 

 a business, I should not fook for any thing better. 

 I see a Mr. Jones has been improvina our hiver. I 

 should consider that he had spoiled it, at least for 

 my use. It is always unfortunate, friend Root, 

 when any one attempts to instruct other people 

 about something he does not quite understand him- 

 self. If plenty of holes are bored in the box, the 

 bees will get in fast enough. I always leave one end 

 open, so that the bees can be easily shaken out. 

 When 1 get them to the hive I always keep 5 or 6 

 ready for use on boxes of different lengths. I have 

 had them all full at one time, and all the swarms 

 taken from one limb of the tree. 



Cochranton, Pa., Feb. 20, 1883. N. N. Shepard. 

 Gently, friend S. I should not have pub- 

 lished the " improvement " had not quite a 

 number of others suggested the same thing, 

 and I thought I might answer all at once. 

 The difficulty seems to be that so many will 

 have it that bees must be carried like water, 

 in a pail right side up, while just the con- 

 trary is true. I have often carried bees in a 

 basket, but I did it by keeping the basket 

 always upside down. If I had turned it 

 over in the usual way, they would have 

 crawled up tlie handles, or tlown away. By 

 the way, why would not a '5-cent basket tied 

 to a pole be just about as good as any swarm- 

 ing-box r* The corn-popper recently sug- 

 gested by one of our lady friends will prob- 

 ably soon be tested pretty weU. 



BEES AND — SUNDAYS. 



Please don't be offended with me if I ask you one 

 or two questions. The queen you sent mo last 

 spring was a very nice one. I made 7 swarms of 

 Italians and hybrids. I went into winter with only 

 11 swarms; they are all to-day, strong and lively. I 

 have not, to my knowledge, lost an ounce of bees 

 this winter; but as you admonish people to delight 

 la " God's law " (page 204, April), I wanted to ask 



you if you keep it. Is it your delight to remember 

 the Sabbath day to keep it holy? or do you keep tho 

 pagan Sunday, and so dishonor both the Bible and 

 the God of Israel? Yours in hope of the truth,— 



Alden, N. Y., April 6, 1882. J. C. Clark. 



I trust, friend C, that my delight is in the 

 spirit of God's law, rather than the letter. 

 One of the saddest sights of the present age, 

 to me, is to see Christians wasting time over 

 such (as it seems to me) unimportant mat- 

 ters ; crippling their powers to do good, as 

 it were, while a great nation of people are 

 not onlv almost ignoring any Sabbath day, 

 but on that very day they take God's name 

 in vain, drink, gamble, aUd commit crime, 

 and yet we Christians let it all go by, for fear 

 we are keeping the wrong day for Sunday! 

 When Jesus was on earth he went into the 

 synagogues and taught on the Sabbath ; and 

 the burden of his teaching was to have men 

 repent of their sins; and it seems to me, 

 friend C, that if Jesus should come among 

 us now, he would join in with the customs 

 of the people in such matters just as he did 

 then. 



seeds; now to be sure you send odt good ones. 



Our friends will remember W'e sent out 

 some bad rape seed last season, Weil, we 

 told our enterprising seedsman, A. C. Ken- 

 del, about it, and this is the way they do 

 with their seeds before offering them for 

 sale. 



The bag of rape seed we send you germinated 49 

 from 50. I have set aside 5 bags growing 45 to 48 

 from 50, first count. A. C Kendel. 



Cleveland, Ohio, April 4, 1882. 



You see, they count out exactly 50 seeds, 

 and put them in the hot-house. After the 

 plants are up they are counted, and thus we 

 know just what the seed will do with good 

 care. 



division-boards; an easy way of making. 

 I send to-day one of the cushions at your request. 

 Tbo band, or tape, of this cushion might have been 

 one thickness more, to make it flt snugly. Some 

 prefer to pack, which can be done with any coarse 

 material, without covering the back, the tins being 

 ample to keep it in. I don't tack the tape, or band, 

 to the frame as this is, but just hold it on the frame 

 in place, and slip it in the hive. C. H. Beeler. 



Philadelphia, Pa., March 14, 1882. 



Thanks, friend B. The division-board re- 

 ferred to is made of a common wide frame 

 with the sections removed. The tin separa- 

 tors cover one side, and thin wood is tacked 

 ou the other. The principal feature now 

 comes in here. To make the frame fill the 

 hive and stay in place, a strip of burlap, long 

 enough to pass over bottom-bar and ends, 

 is folded until it gives the requisite thick- 

 ness. Counting the, time required, this lat- 

 ter plan is probably cheaper than the chaff 

 tilling we have used ; but rough frames of 

 lath can be made much cheaper than a good 

 wide frame to hold sections. Where one 

 wishes to get along with much economy, 

 they can, without doubt, use the frames that 

 hold sections in summer, for a division-board 

 in winter ; but the labor of taking off the 

 sides and taking out the chaff, etc., will 

 hardly pay, it seems to me, for general use. 



