374 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



told me about them last spring, and I have used 

 them considerably this season. I don't suppose they 

 are so good as " punk," but it is very dillicult for 

 some to obtain punli; and to such I would say, try 

 rags soaked in a solution of saltpeter. They light 

 with a match very readily, burn slo^v•ly, don't go out, 

 make a good " stnudgc," and don't stink while burn- 

 ing, like other rags. I dissolve the saltpeter in 

 water, making quite a strong solution, wet the rags 

 thoroughly, wring them out, and then dry them. 



BASSWOOD LATE IN BLOOMING. 



To-day is July 18th, and the basswood-honey har- 

 vest is usually over by this time; but now the buds 

 have just comme need opening ( n a few of the 

 trees; basswoods "holding off" so long is giving the 

 bees a " long pull " on white clover. 



I am very, very busy (I had to get up early and 

 dash off these few lines in the morning, before break- 

 fast). 1 have 34 full colonies, and nearly 100 nuclei; 

 and I am making hives, and starting more nuclei 

 every day. W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Rogersville, Genesee Co., Mich., July, 1883. 



A "MACHINE " TO GET OUT BEE- 

 STINGS. 



ALSO A FEW " HINTS" IN REGARD TO BEING PTDNG. 



- SEND you a Shaker " sting-extractor." It slides 

 below the sack of poison, and takes out the 

 sting, without compressing more of the poison 

 Into the wound. The idea originated by being stung, 

 while taking out a tack^nail with the claws on the 

 end of a hammer-handle. 



SHAKER STING-KXTKACTOR. 



1 have used it for a year, and keep it in my pocket. 

 The little sample I send you will convey the simple 

 principle, so you can work it into shape for the ben- 

 efit of bee-keepers. Use it as you please, and wel' 



come. jAiMES HiGGINS. 



Cleveland, O., June 9, 1883. 

 It will work, without a doubt, friend H. ; 

 and if it were illustrated in some of our bee 

 catalogues, no doubt it wou)d meet with a 

 ready sale ; but for all that, I hardly believe 

 I should use one, even if it were all the time 

 right in a handy pocket. The last time I 

 was stung, I remember wondering if I should 

 use such a machine if I had one, but con- 

 cluded I would not care to wait until it 

 could be got out of my pocket, and opened. 

 I usually escape stings by being about as 

 quick as the bee is ; and as it usually takes 

 them a fraction of a second to get their 

 "machinery" in place and " start up," I al- 

 most always interrupt proceedings about as 

 soon as I feel a slight pricking. I rarely kill 

 the little chaps, how^ever, for we need them 

 all in our apiary to gather honey, or to sell 

 by the pound. I just give them a loving 

 pinch, just enough to make their little '•'ribs 

 crack," and then lay them down in some 

 place where they can rise up on one " elbow" 

 after a while and look at me, and in a wiser 

 as well as sadder frame of mind, conclude 

 to let me " boss the ranche," instead of try- 

 ing to do it themselves. I have never known 

 one to sting me, after this kind of disci- 



pline, although, to tell the truth, I can't say 

 but that they may have done so. By the 

 way, did you ever know how much of a 

 '' mash " a bee will stand, and still get up 

 and tly away, after he gets over it V Well, 

 the bee-sting puller, in cut, is made of a thin 

 strip of German silver, set in a wooden han- 

 dle. You can make one, or send to friend 

 Higgins for it, if you think you w^ould like 

 one. 



BLESSINGS, BEES, AND OTHEB 

 THINGS. 



The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys 

 also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, 

 they also sing.— Ps. 65:13. 



^ AST spring opened up very favorably. From 

 Jjjjji the middle of March until the 10th of April 

 the weather was all that could be desired. 

 Early spring-bloom came on profusely. Brood-rear- 

 ing began early, and by the first of April my hives 

 were full of bees, and every indication pointed to a 

 successful season. I made preparation for extract- 

 ing on the 10th of April; but the cool, frosty weather 

 set in, and continued so for nearly two months. 

 Breeding stopped. The bees would fly out and fill 

 themselves with honey, and become chilled, and 

 perish. My most vigorous colonies fared the worst. 

 By the 1st of June, colonies that had bees enough to 

 cover a dozen frames of brood, could not cover more 

 than four. The prospects were gloomy enough, in- 

 deed. The supply of honey gave out, and I had to 

 go to feeding, to keep my queens from perishing. I 

 had reared half a dozen queens. The bees soon be- 

 gan to kill off their drones, and two of my young 

 queens were a month old before they were fertil- 

 ized. I tell you, I felt badly enough. The farmers 

 were feeling badly too. It was so cold that corn 

 would not grow. The wheat stood still. The cut- 

 wqi-m cut down whatever grew in the fields and gar- 

 dens; and along with the cut-worm came the army- 

 worm, threatening- to destroy all vegetation. People 

 nearly nil began to croak. "A worse failure of 

 crops," they said, "than last year." Seedtime had 

 come, but the harvest would be a failure. 



June came in as cool as May had been. But a 

 change came. Bright warm weather set in; a 

 change was soon apparent; vegetation advanced 

 rapidly, and our farmers have harvested the finest 

 crop of small grain ever raised in the country. The 

 earth is just groaning under the load of grain, fruit, 

 and vegetables. I wish you could see the wheat- 

 stacks, from some high building or point of land in 

 Hill Prairie, Southern Illinois. This part of it is one 

 vast wheat-field. The people's fears have not been 

 realized. The great Itountiful hand of our heavenly 

 Father has showered down upon us an abundance 

 of temporal blessings. What a grand consolation it 

 is that none of his promises fail! Oh if men everj'- 

 where could realize that his gracious promises are 

 more certain, free, and complete, thjin those that 

 relate to temporal blessings! 



My bees have advanced to about the condition 

 they would have been by the middle of April, if it 

 had not turned cold. I am enabled to increase my 

 stock enough to supply orders for bees. I make a 

 specialty of 5-frame colonies with young fertile Ital- 

 ian queen. My bees will be in good condition for 

 fall work. We have a splendid prospect for fall 

 bloom. 



