1882 



GLEANIKGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



537 



are excellent; for they prevent lawsuits like the 

 one of a rich lady against a postmaster for six cents, 

 which, going from court to court, ended with $300.00 

 costs. These laws would also prevent such monop- 

 olies from exacting money without a shade of hon- 

 esty, as, for instance, the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific, 

 and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, did in a law- 

 suit just pending against us. We received 1050 

 fence-posts by these railroads. Not contented with 

 asking a rate of freight 2.5 per cent higher than is 

 allowed by the laws of Illinois, they also increased, 

 by a stroke of the pen, the weight of the posts from 

 26,500 lbs. to 30,000 lbs., asking $43 00 more than was 

 legally due. We remonstrated, but in vain. Finally 

 we replevied the posts, and won before the justice 

 of peace. We won again before the county court, 

 for they appealed; and now we wait for a new ap- 

 peal, for their attorney told our lawyer that, if we 

 dared to prosecute them, every post would cost us 

 one dollar; they intended to make us serve as an 

 example, by giving us a good lesson. 



Of course, we are a little venturesome about play- 

 ing chess with Jay Gould; but we are tired of high 

 rates; of losing by breakage; by goods stolen on 

 the way; of delays in delivering, etc., and all that 

 withotit obtaining any redress. 



You think that the rates of railroads are too small 

 to guarantee rapid transit on small packages. Let 

 us see. There are, from Medina to Hamilton, 600 

 miles. Accoi'ding to the French law, the transit 

 ought to be made, at the rate of 125 miles a day, in 5 

 days; the day of the remittance and of the delivery 

 are not counted. The railroads can bring your 

 package from Medina to Cleveland in one day, 1; 1 

 day at Cleveland, 1; from Cleveland to Chicago, 1; 1 

 day at Chicago, 1; 1 day from Chicago to Hamilton, 

 1; total, 5 days. 



The only thing needed is, that your packages do 

 not remain In a depot for several days, by the neg" 

 lect of the agent. Don't you think that an agent 

 can find, during a whole day, a smallminute to make 

 the bill and send the parcel? 



In France there are no express companies. The 

 agents of the railroads do all the work, and this work 

 is made with the cheapness, promptness, and the 

 regularity of the postofHco. But as long as our rail- 

 road magnates will swallow some hundred millions 

 in a few years, they will be unable to pay for in- 

 spection, overseeing the manipulation of our goods, 

 and preventing the breakage, the opening of cases 

 to steal part of their contents, and punishing agents 

 for neglect in forwarding the goods as soon as they 

 arrive in their hands. This state of affairs has al- 

 ready lasted too long. But I see people everywhere 

 awakened, forming anti-monopoly leagues, and I 

 foresee that all these evils will be mended before 

 long; for the monopoly question will be t/ic platform 

 In a few years. Chas. Dadant. 



Hamilton, Hancock Co., 111. 

 I do not see that sealing up honey so it 

 will not candy is in any sense making it un- 

 natural or altered, friend Dadant. It is 

 simply treating it in the natural way, as the 

 bees do when they seal it up in their combs. 

 Very likely some will prefer it in the candied 

 form, and I presume friend White supplies 

 it in either way. Friend Muth said, when 

 we were at the convention, that sometimes 

 honey would candy in spite of the sealing ; 

 and again, the same lot would not candy 

 when sealed. Friend Jones agreed, and 



both said, also, that now people no longer 

 object to the candying, which I think is so. 

 —I accept your apology, friend D., on the 

 railroad matter, and I should be very glad 

 indeed if sometliing could be done to pro- 

 tect us from the often grievous .losses we 

 have to bear on accotmt of heedless railroad 

 employees. I fear you are a little unchari- 

 table, but 1 know, too, that we have much 

 to bear. When I went to Cincinnati, a bag- 

 gageman pitched my trunk clear over the 

 truck on which he should have placed it at 

 a transfer ; and as it struck on one corner 

 on the platform, it was burst open, and my 

 things scattered everywhere. lie made no 

 apology, nor did he seem to care for the ruin 

 he had made. Neighbor 11. thought the 

 case one where all process of law should 

 be waived, and a proper chastisement be 

 given then and there on the spot; and, to 

 tell the truth, I can't even write about it 

 now, without a something coming up in my 

 breast that I feel ashamed of. I found out 

 who he was, but I had no time then to try 

 what might be done with him, in case a 

 proper remonstrance were unavailing. What 

 ought to be done in such cases, friends? 



^ i»i ^ 



the: shepard swarihing-box. 



MOBE ABOUT IT. 



fWAS quite interested in Mr.E.E. Hasty's article 

 about swarming, for I did not know that any- 

 — ' body's bees swarmed this year very much. I 

 want to say a few things about that "hiver of ours." 

 As I am said to be the inventor of this, I suppose I 

 ought to understand its value in an apiary, and how 

 to use it. Friend Hasty says he " had 12 swarms in 

 one day, and 5 swarms tangled up in one mess." 

 Now, I have had 15 in a day, all first swarms, andlnone 

 targlcd up together. Six of these were taken from 

 one limb of an apple-tree. Thanks to the "hiver." 

 If it had not been on hand and rightly used, I should 

 certainly have had six together, and perhaps more. 

 At that time I had, I think, over 100 colonies. 1 had 

 6 hivers, and hooks to match, and I had these all full 

 at one time before I could get time to hive any. One 

 was carried into a barn; some were laid down and 

 covered with a sheet; some stood leaning ajrainst 

 trees 50 or 100 yards away; but they all had their 

 own queen with them, and remained quiet till I 

 could attend to their case. 



But, says one, what do you do when two or more 

 swarms start at once? I stop them up and make 

 them wait a minute or two till I can get most of the 

 swarm on wing into the hiver; then I open one, and 

 sometimes they will come along, and sometimes they 

 will pout over being stopped up till next day, and 

 then come along. And now I have come to this con- 

 clusion: That, with plenty of hivers properly used, 

 there is no need of swarms getting mixed up or go- 

 ing back to the old hive. If your queen's wing la 

 clipped, or if she can not fly from any cause, cage 

 her; then put the cage In a hiver, and set it up In 

 a tree where they are seeking a place to alight, and 

 they will soon gather to the hiver. I agree with 

 friend H., that they feel better about going to a 

 tree than going back to the old stand. 



Again, with plenty of hivers I never climb trees ot 

 cut off limbs. I place all my hives beforehand right 

 where I want themt then carry the swarm to the 



