464 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



J I'NE 



the time, except shutters. It was very dark when 

 the door was shut. The combs did not mold. I set 

 my bees out Jan. (j, and Feb. 12 I left them out two 

 days and then it turned cold, and snowed. I took 

 1000 Ibf . of honey, top storage. I don't think it was 

 the cellar, but the warm winter, and honey-dew. 

 I will give you some of the losses: 



Cellar. Left. 



John L. Van Olindo, 117 3 



Peter Livingston, 60 4 



W. S. Ward, 30(1 150 



I. Hallenbeck, 20u loss heavy 



W. Wright, 4(10 



H. Martin, 70 " " 



H. Bradt, !»0 6 or 8 left. 



These were all in cellars that have wintered well 

 heretofore. 



If you want definite statistics I will try to get 

 them. There are others who have lost. It is wet, 

 cold, and backward for bees. L. Markle. 



New Salem, N. Y., May 32. 



TOO SMALL AN ENTRANCE FOR THE CHAFF HIVE. 



I like the Dovetailed hives to hive in; but with no 

 bee-cellar to put them in for wintering, I will take 

 the chaff hive all the time for the permanent home 

 of the dear little bees. I have tested it, and found 

 but one fault; and that is, the Sx% entrance is too 

 small for hot weather, and I often have to raise the 

 cover to keep the bees from clustering outside. I 

 should like to tell you how much good Our Homes 

 talks are doing, but I have not time. May God 

 ever be with you. Lucinda A. Zinn. 



Philippi, W. Va., May 3. 



We formerly made the entrance to the 

 chaff hives only 8 in. long. Others have 

 mentioned that this was too short, and our 

 own experience convinced us as much. We 

 have recently made the entrances full width 

 of the hive, and we believe the change will 

 be appreciated. 



SELLING SECTIONS BY WEIGHT. 



I object Strongly to your statement that section 

 honey is sold by weight. Everywhere I have been 

 — Boston, New York, Washington, and even our 

 own little local traders, invariably sell them (at re- 

 tail) by the piece, no matter whether 13, 14, or 16 

 ounces, at the same price. I have no doubt that 99 

 out of every hundred retailers do the same thing all 

 over the country. E. C. Newell. 



Brookfleld. N. H., Apr. 30. 



Eriend N., I do not know that I ever 

 went into a grocery in any town or city 

 where they sold sections as you say, without 

 putting them on the scales. Why, the very 

 Idea of selling three-fourths of a pound at 

 the same price as a pound, or even a pound 

 and a quarter, seems incredible. Honey 

 commands pretty nearly the price of butter. 

 What would become of the grocer w^ho 

 would attempt to put off 12 ounces of butter 

 for a whole pound ? Perhaps we had better 

 settle this question through the Question- 

 Box. 



LOSS IN MINNESOTA. 



There was very serious loss in this county, from 

 dysentery, caused by honey-dew. Some localities 

 did not suffer so much as others. Colonies were 

 left in very weak condition. While 1 lost but one 

 colony in 40, I should estimate my loss in bees at 10 

 per cent. Others have lost 50 per cent in colonies, 

 and 75 per cent in bees (estimated). 



N. P. ASPINWALL. 



Harrison, Minn., May 20, 1890. 



SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR A. I. ROOT, AND HIS 

 FRIENDS WHO LOVE TO RAISE CROPS. 



MARKET-GARDENING JUNE 15. 



In my last I considered at considerable 

 length what we should do with such a sur- 

 plus of water as we were then having. Well, 

 almost before my letter was in print it 

 stopped raining and we have had warm 

 sunshiny days almost uninterruptedly until 

 the present time. I thought that, with the 

 amount of rain we had had, we certainly 

 could stand a couple of weeks, or even a 

 month, without suffering. I soon found 

 out my mistake, however. The ground had 

 been so thoroughly soaked that our clay soil 

 settled dow^n about as hard as if it had never 

 been plowed. Then when the drouth came, 

 the ground cracked open until the cracks 

 through the strawberry - bed were large 

 enough and deep enough to drop strawber- 

 ries—that is, little ones— clear out of sight. 

 When a little rain came, the water just ran 

 into the cracks and seemed to do very little 

 good, comparatively. Our transplanted cel- 

 ery and cabbage did not prosper at all, un- 

 less the beds were heavily sprinkled with 

 water from the windmill, and then loosened 

 up by a sharp steel rake. This saved them, 

 but it was almost more work than the plants 

 were worth. Under the circumstances, about 

 the only course is level culture, and plenty 

 of soft mellow dirt. With the soft mellow 

 dirt we can fix the ground so it would stand 

 a drouth of two weeks, or a month, easily. 

 The ground that was planted before the ter- 

 rible rains, amounted to but little ; I put in ■ 

 the potatoes as nicely as I ever did; but 

 there came up a great wetness, and settled 

 the clay down so solid it was like a brick. 

 The potatoes tried to get up through the 

 crust, but gave it up, and a great part of 

 our potatoes on the creek-bottom land are 

 under the crust yet. Cultivating between the 

 rows fixes the dirt between the rows well 

 enough, but it does not help that around the 

 potatoes, so our first planting will be a fail- 

 ure. Ground that had not been planted was 

 plowed up, rolled, harrowed, then rolled 

 and harrowed again and again, until we had 

 fine mellow soil. Corn, beans, peas, etc., 

 planted in that fine mellow soil, without 

 even a drop of rain, came up and grew to 

 my full satisfaction. Without this fine mel- 

 low soil and perfect tilth, it is almost im- 

 possible to get a decent crop, no matter how 

 much manure or phosphate or any thing 

 else you put into it. To sum up the matter, 

 when we have such heavy rains as we have 

 had during the past spring, I do not know 

 what to do. Does anybody else? True, we 

 can wait until the rains are over and until 

 the ground is dry enough to pulverize prop- 

 erly; but we shall have to go without early 

 stuff. Sandy loam, with a gravelly subsoil, 

 would probably help the matter greatly; 

 but I fear that underdrains and overdrains 

 are both inadequate for such severe rain- 

 storms. We can. however, rejoice at the 

 excellent prices. June 10 there was scarcely 

 a strawberry in Medina, and whoever had 

 them to put on the market could get his 

 own price. We still get 20 cts. per lb. for 



