1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



123 



every one who picks it up will be almost sure to 

 read it through. We have quite a stock of them on 

 hand, and will send it postpaid by mail for $1.25. If 

 you have it put in with goods when you are making 

 an order by freight or express, we will make it an 

 even dollar. It is, in brief, a very plain, clear e.xpo- 

 sition of the Salisbury treatment, which has been 

 discussed so much on our pages for the past few 

 months. 



Kind Words From Our Customers. 



Gleanings has done me more good than any oth- 

 er paper 1 ever took, especially the Home readings, 

 which are as good as going to meeting. 



London, O., Dec. 27^ S. G. Kilgore. 



Ask A. I. how he would like to live on skimmed 

 milk and sassafras tea. That is wliat I get. 



The garden seeds I bought of you last year pi'o- 

 duced flue crops, even if it was dry. 



Parkman, O. F. T. Clark. 



[My good friend, A. I. would have ridden ten 

 miles OQ his wheel cheerfully for the sake of having 

 all the skimmed milk he wanted, and sassafras tea, 

 at the time the doctor was holding him down so 

 closely to just lean meat. So you see he is not so 

 very much better off than you are— at least, some- 

 times he is not.— A . I. R.] 



THE CORNEIL SMOKER. 



Having been from home a great deal lately I have 

 had to delay my report on the Cornell smoker much 

 longer than I had intended. That a good smoker is 

 one of the tnosl important adjuncts to any apiary 

 is settled beyond the need of discussion. The chief 

 and most important features of a good smoker are, 

 good size, to hold a fair supply of fuel; good draft, 

 to produce a large volume of smoke with little at- 

 tention from the apiarist; simplicity and stiength 

 of construction, so as to stand hard usage without 

 getting out of repair; easy access to the fli'e-barrel 

 in replenishing with fuel; lightness, that it may not 

 be cumbersome to handle, and a shape that will 

 keep it in position when set either perpendicularly 

 or horizontally, and that allows of tli rowing the 

 smoke in aluiost any desired direction without 

 cramping the hand or wrist All of these qualities 

 the Cornell smoker i>osse-ses in a high degree, with 

 the additional one that it can bf made and sold at 

 a low price. The one objectinnalile feaiure is* be 

 liability of the sliields fieiting too liot to be touched 

 by the hand. All smokers have this fault in a great- 

 er or less degree, howevei', nnd one soon learns to 

 handle them all so as to avoid trouble from this 

 cause. I find the draft sufficiently strong for any 

 fuel; but where rotten wood or any open fuel is 

 used it is as strong as in any smoker I ever saw. 

 The Cornell is bound to prove a very popular smoker 

 with those bee-keepers who run their apiaries on 

 economical lines, and with profit as their chief aim. 



Hawks Park, Fla., Dec. 21. W. S. Hart. 



THE ABC, AND THE CRANE SMOKER W ITH THE ^ 

 HINGED TOP. r: i I _ J 



Friend Roof .---The new ''A B C" just received, for 

 which 1 sincerely thank you. I have not had time 

 to more than glance at it, but I see that it is much 

 more complete in many respects than my old one, 

 and that is saying a good deal. 



I thoroughly enjoy that hinged nozzle of the 

 Crane smoker. I do not by any means make con- 

 stant use of a smoker when at work among the 

 bees, but I want it all ready when I need it; at the 

 same time, I do not want it burning too last, and 

 getting the nozzle blistering hot, and making a big 

 deposit of tai to stick up every thing; so, when not 

 in use I remove the nozzle. This, of course, keeps 

 it cool and prevents the tar deposit; hut if there is 

 much wind blowing, the fuel burns up too fast. To 

 prevent this I have for some years past been using 

 a damper. This is just the bottom of a tin can with 

 a hole cut in the middle of it; the little flange 

 around the outside serves to keep it in pbice. Of 

 course, the change from damper to nozzle takes an 

 appreciable amount of time, but tlie comfort of the 

 arrangement has paid a hundred-fold for the little 

 time taken. Now, just here is where 1 like the 

 hinge. The damper removed, a touch closes the 

 nozzle (no need to shut it very close), and it is as 

 quickly opened again. C. H. Longstreet. 



Mount Dora, Fla., July 12, 1895. 



A KIND WORD FROM CALIFORNIA. 



Friend Root (at least I think you are my friend):— 

 Ten years ago I bought five hives of bees; and with 

 seven colonies that were given to me I commenced 

 the bee-business. I had never seen a bee-journal, 

 and but one bee-book, which was written back in 

 the forties. My hives were all box-hives. 1 increas- 

 ed that year to 17 stands. 1 bored a hole in the top 

 of each hive and put a box on each. Tlie result was 

 about 2U0 lbs. of honey. 



Well, I thought if that was bee-keeping I did not 

 want any more of it. so I said good by to the bees, 

 and left them to their fate. The weeds grew up 

 around the hives, and there they remained for Ave 

 years. At the end of that time ao old bee-keeper 

 became one of my neighbors. He saw my bees in 

 the weeds, and wanted them; but my mind began 

 to turn toward my neglected little fan)ily, for about 

 this time J. C. McCubbin. the president of our bee- 

 association, loaned me a boxful of back numbers of 

 Gleanings, and then I began to read, day and 

 night. Wife said 1 had "bees on the brain," and I 

 guess she was about right. 1 have heard of the bee- 

 fever, which I think I must have caught. The fever 

 is still on. 



I am now taking Gleanings. Give us more of 

 your Home talks, Notes of Travel, and all the rest 

 of those good things in the back part of the jotir- 

 nal. for your paper is my most welcome visitor. 



I have, in the last three years, increased my api- 

 ary from 17 colonies to 66. My crop of honey for 

 this year is 2000 lbs. comb. 1600 extracted- not so 

 bad for an off year. With 40 strong colonies and 19 

 very weak ones I increased to 80; lost 14 by starva- 

 tion ; came out at the end of the season with 66 col- 

 onies and of good courage, and will go in for twice 

 tliHt number next year. 



Well, friend Root, what is to prevent A. I. from 

 taking in California on his wheel ? We will treat 

 him better than we did Rambler. Whi'U Rambler 

 was here he camped within a stone's throw of my 

 house, and never said a woid. When I he.nd who it 

 was camping so near, and m:iking " night hideous," 

 I just felt like going out behind the bam and kick- 

 insr mvself. Thos. M. Skelton. 



Selma. Cal , Dec. 16. 



A kind WORD FROM TOUNGOO. 



3i,i/ Dear Bro. Boot:— It is about time 1 wrote to 

 thank jou lor Gleamngs, which gladdens my lone- 

 ly missionary life: for you must know that I am 

 alone in my work now, my family being in .America. 

 1 returned io this country fr<im America two years 

 ago last July. 1 went homeiti j890, broken up with 

 chronic diarrhea, and it has clung to me and nearly 

 killed me several times during these years till since 

 April, when I began slowly to improve. This great 

 mission, of which I have written you often, still 

 continues to grow. We have now over 80 churches, 

 Hggregating over 3000 members, with schools, and 

 all mission appliances ofHiV*. But the apple of our 

 eye is a force of about 30 foreign missionaries, so 

 far as these native Christians are concerned, sent 

 out among the wild tribes for the purposes of the 

 kingdom. We fully expect to organize many new 

 churches in the near future. I send you a pamphlet 

 just out of our press (printed by our Karen school- 

 boys), which will show you what we are doing in 

 that line. We have just held our ministers' semi- 

 annual conference, when 143 baptisms were report- 

 ed for the last 8 months. 



It is hard for one at my age to ctit loose from all 

 family ties so long, and know that the little folks 

 are all growing up away from the father; but it is 

 the gospel of Christ that must be preached. I have 

 held on now nearly 30 years, and a few years more 

 will fill up the meiisure of service, and then "like 

 Jesus, for we shall see him as he is." 



I enjoy Gleanings, and especially the Home 

 Papers, very much; and not a little good do I get to 

 pass on to" these Karens. So, Bro. Root, you are 

 preaching to these Karens in Touugoo. We'll re- 

 joice together in the harvest. 



I still am greatly interested in bees; but while I 

 was ill at home the white ants got at my hives and 

 literally ate them all up l)ut one cover, which I now 

 use as a board on which to develop my photos. 



Give my kindest regards to Erne.ct and wife, 

 whose hospitality 1 shared when I called upon you ; 

 also to Mrs. Root, and a thousand thanks and good 

 wishes to yourself. Long may Gleanin GS wave. 



Toungoo, Burma, Nov. 8. A. Bunker. 



