854 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



At tilt' close of the essay Dr. Miller said, tliat. 

 whether Prof. Cook's tlieory wei'e correct or 

 not. the result would lie the same. His outlook 

 during the past season had been good— neither 

 too wet nor too dry. Some one asked, '" What 

 was the cause of the failure?" Ih: Miller 

 promptly responded, "I don't know." The 

 doctor managed to bring in this modest sen- 

 tence very adroitly a number of times, and each 

 time laughter and general fun was tlu^ result. 

 A good many stated that they had all the fa- 

 vorable conditions, and yet nectar was wanting 

 during the past season. 



AHE ITAI.IANS OK HYBUIDS PKEFEIJAHI>K IN 

 AN APIAKY KUN FOK HONEY ? 



This was the topic of an essay by C. F. Muth. 

 He gave good proof that Italians' are superior. 

 They are more handsome, they are gentle, and 

 give as good results as any. in' honey. Accord- 

 ing to his experience, the Italians give him the 

 lai'gcst crops. And the pure stock are always 

 best supplied with winter stores after the win- 

 ter season. 



As the time was limited, discussion was cut 

 off. and we listened to tlie report of the General 

 Manager of the Eee-keepers' Union. Mr. New- 

 man showed, by nearly a score of instances, 

 that the Union had always been triumphant. 

 It had either won the suit, or had brought such 

 influence to bear tliat the enemies of the liees 

 dropped the matter without litigation. The 

 most impoi'tant thing of all, it seems to me, 

 was that the hite cases against bee-keepers 

 have been killed by a recent decision of the 

 Superior Court of Ai'kansas. The Bee-keepers" 

 Union has nearly a scoiv of precedeiitx. and the 

 valuable aid which this gives to the industry of 

 bee-keeping in all future litigations can not be 

 overestimated. 



The following officers were elected for the 

 ensuing year: 



President. P. H. Elwood, Starkville, N. Y.: 

 Vice-president. Eugen(> Secor. Forest City, la.: 

 Secretary. C. P. Dadant. Hamilton, 111.; Treas- 

 urer, E. R. Root, Medina, Ohio. The next place 

 of meeting is to be at Albany. 



In conclusion I can not refrain from saying 

 that this jneeting was one of the best, if not the 

 best, in enthusiasm, good-natured banter, in 

 attendance, in the practieal character of the 

 discussions, in the character of the men and 

 vmrnen who went, and last, but not least, in the 

 biif<iness done, and recommendations made, in 

 the history of the association; and I liope this 

 is only a side-show of tiie good times coming, 

 when the association shall be incorporated un- 

 der the laws of Illinois, and when the member- 

 ship, instead of its i)resent floating character, 

 shall be permanent, with a long list of life-mem- 

 bers, and annual members who keep up their 

 dues, whether able to be present or not. 



HEDDON'S HONEY. 



bee-keepers some good by telling them how I 

 came to sell my crop so quickly. 



First. I have learned how to (and do) take' 

 pains to ])roduce and care for my extracted 

 honey, after taking out. in such a mannei' that 

 it is ripe and fully ecnial to any comb honey in 

 flavor and consistency. At least, this is what I 

 aim to do, believe I do do, and nearly all of my 

 customers who have expressed themselves on 

 the subject (and most of them have) say I do: 

 and when they once sell this honey to their cus- 

 tomers, they clamor for more; and nearly all 

 other exti'acted honey found ujjon the market 

 will not till the bill, because it is not I'ich and 

 smooth like thoroughly ripened honey. To be 

 sure, it costs a little more to produce it this way, 

 but not so very much either, when one knows 

 just how to do it. 



Another point is, that, notwithstanding the 

 short crop and scarcity this season,^ I have kept 

 the prices down. Tins has given ine a liroader 

 sale, and consequently a better chanc(^ to intro- 

 duce my goods, wiiich I have found in all lines 

 of business it pays to have of such (jnality that 

 they advertise themselves. Just here let me 

 say to all supply-dealers, no matter what line 

 of goods. I believe the cheapest way to adver- 

 tise and build up a trade is to furnisli such goods 

 as will give the best satisfaction clear to the 

 end. 



I believe I have touclied upon some of these 

 points ill my former articles; but as new bee- 

 keepers are coming into the field, and you are 

 getting new subscribei's among the old "ones, if 

 yon desiie I will furnish you an article on the 

 sut)ject soon, giving a full account of how I 

 manipulate the bees and hives. 



Dowagiac, ^lich.. Nov. 14. James HeddON. 



"WHAT MADP; IT SEI.I, SO FAST? 



Mr. Root: — You rememlier the little adver- 

 tisement I placed in your paper a short time 

 ago, offering my this season's crop for sale. 

 Well, sir, it is all gone: and as I suppose you do 

 not charge any thing for back-action adver- 

 tisements ( I know we do not in our newspaper), 

 I want you to let me say in this article that my 

 cro]) tliis year, of about ;30.000 lbs., is all gone, 

 and I hope all my customers will S(>e this and 

 not put tliemselves and me to trouble and ex- 

 pense by ordering from me this season. If cards 

 of thanks are in order, allow me to thank those 

 who have patronized me. and, at the same time, 

 perhaps I can do your readers and my brother 



EXPOETING QUEENS. 



G. M. DOOI-ITTI>E TELLS VS AVHAT HE HAS DONE. 



A letter came to hand a few days ago, from 

 New South Wales (so I take it from the print 

 on the postage-stamps). The name of the send- 

 er is so poorly written, together with the post- 

 offlce address, that I am not sure what it is; and 

 as the writer says ho is a readei- of Gleanings, 

 I will, with your pei'mission. JNIr. Editor, an- 

 swer through the colnmns of (TLEANL\(iS. Be- 

 fore doing so, howevei'. I wish to say a word or 

 two regarding this matter of writing addresses 

 wh(Mi sending letters. The (tddress is the most 

 important thing in any letter. No matter how 

 important questions may be asked, or how many 

 goods you may order, you can not obtain what 

 you are after unless you fix it so tluit the one 

 who is to accommodate you can make out where 

 to send what you want, so it will reach you. If 

 youi' address is not printed on your envelope or 

 stationery, you should take exira pains to write 

 your address plainly, even if it takes you longer 

 to write that addr(>ss than it does the body of 

 the letter. One thing occurs to me just now: 

 Write your address the first thing in beginning 

 your letter. By so doing you will not forget it, 

 as some are prone to do, and, what is of more 

 importance, you will write it much plainer if 

 written on the start than you will afterward. 

 Many of the letters which 1 receive I can read 

 very well for the first few sentences; but as the 

 writer warms up, or gets tired, as the case may 

 be, he pays less and less attention to his pen- 

 manship, and the last end winds up with little 

 less than a scrawl, name and all. I will say no 

 more on this subject, for fear I may get to 

 scolding, except to say, that, when you get to a 

 point where you have to answer many letters 

 daily, if you ever do. you will look at things in 

 a different light along this line than you do 



