ff; 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



"IlOVIiS" NOT '•BL.ASTED." 



nv A 1 AK.MKU S WIIK. 



^■T^jjUIKNl) NOVICK: -1 woulil like to vvvilc you :i 

 ten Ion;;-, a very Ion;,' liatiT. iiml tell you all ahoiU my 

 "•) cxiu'i-iciici! Uiis v(!ar. but I will cndcavoi- lo lie 

 \>'n'i\ if I cMii, Tor when I ^'('1 lalkiii;,' or writiii;,' about 

 ;>('(',s I <loirt know when lo stoo. Now il I coulil just 

 see vou, ami liavc- a ;;oo(l talk, lliat woiiM l>c' real com- 

 forl", to me at least, lor I ean talk at Hm; rate of forty 

 miles an hour, so my husltaml .says ami he oii^^lil lo 

 know. (;i.i;A.Nl.\<is has been a ^r'at liel]) ami eoml'ort 

 lo me, IVu' if m\' name niiiKl be reconltMl in llie «'olumn 

 of "IJlasteil Mopes," I like lo reail of llie success of 

 otlierri, and il, .L?i\('s me laitli lliat "what man lias 

 (lone, man may do." And I like to read about Novice's 

 o.xpevimenlH, and Ihink what a eondort it must be to 

 have a work-shop, and tools, ami vnao-lf lo usj lliem, 

 iliid bi! able to woi'k out inventions and improvements. 

 Ah Mr. Novice just liiink how yon w<ndd fe(d with 

 your head lull of all IIh; makin'^, inodeliiiic, expcri- 

 meiitiuf;, buildin;;- and jilanning, of hives, frames, (ex- 

 tractors, and the otiier numerous articles, thai you 

 have Kuccessludy irnrkcd mU since you commenced 

 bee-k(H;i)in^c; just iimiKini^ I say, how you wmdd feel 

 if yftu ha<ln t •'•tlic x/rcii</lh of (t 'raV ami liail lo liire it 

 alt done, or lei, it go. If you never r(eali/cd it before, 

 be l/iiuik/al UuUi/ou lire uin<(n., and be very j;ood lo 

 your wife, because she is unfortunate enouj;ii to be a 

 ■woman. 



Out (d' ei^dit, colonics of blacks Dial I bought last 

 H|irinK 1 have put live in the cellar; finn- Italiain/ed 

 and one willi black Queen. Had lo feed Ihem sugar 

 Byrup liu' wiidei' stores. Don't think I fed eai'ly 

 enough or fast enough for they did not get more than 

 ()n(!-third of it sealed. IJiitriind thai souk; of llui 

 syrup llial w:-;s Icfl in th(Min that I made it in, has 

 not can<lled in Ihe least, so I ho|ie it will be all riglil. 

 1 am (d'l'. (i's opinion, lliatsyru|) is better to b(e boiled, 

 for when 1 did not boil il, il wouhl eiiiiili/, or sii</(ii; on 

 the liieders. I liave one colony of very nice marked 

 Italians Imt Ihey are very weak, only cover three 

 Combs, lliink I shall hav(! lo itnile them in llu' spring, 

 ought lo perhaps this I'all but liail hardly failli in my 

 own jud;.;nu'ML and let it go. If we don't havie a far 

 (liilei'eiit sjiiing next year, from what we liad last, I 

 liave every reason lo .sui)po.se that my success will 

 still be in a decreasing ratio, lor this |)ast year lias 

 been a hard one for bees lunc, cold and backward 

 Kpring, di ought and iiu lumey after basswood season. 



1 lliirik lliat this is not a very good iilace for bees for 

 liaslurage is /(;(* .srcr//('/'/;i!/. W'liite clo\'iu- only on llu; 

 roati siile. liasswood scattering u)) and down IIk; riviu' 

 Iroiii a half a mile upwards, and but lew scattering 

 trees at Ihal. \ little llmdiwheal is sown withii! a 

 half mile. I\ly liusbaml has just bought a farm, and 

 has promised lo m'X out some basswoods, in the spring, 

 and wishes lo take llie J'rnhie l''<iniiei-. 1 wish he 

 could take something lo giv(t him failh in bee-keeping, 

 Jor lie has no more in 11 lliait 1 have in perjielaiil ino- 

 tion. linl my faith Is like a mouulaiii, and 1 am bound 

 to xueeeeii. 



1 hav(! not written on one side of the iiajxir for 

 lliis is not a lellcr lo an Isdilor, but lo IViend Jyovice, 

 Willi whom I feel aci|uiUMlei| and who I hope to see 

 sometime and also llltU^ "ISlue Kyes" and I*, (i. 



IMu.s. i:. M. J\1i':civI,i;k, .Manchester, 

 Delavaii ('o., Iowa. Dec. -JSlh, 1871. 



Now Mrs. M., perhaps it is very IbrtuiKilt! 

 tliat you i-amiot sec us and have a ",i>'oo(l talic" 

 for to be candid, wt; shoiihl (|uan-el avvriilly 

 tmlcss you would ^ive up some oftiie ideas you 

 liave just expn^ssed, and a woman never "yives 

 lip" esi)ecialiy irslie is wro/i;/. 



In the (Irst piatie, l)eii;,i<in,n- VDur parihni, we 

 don't l)('!ieve a woi'd about your not liavin^^the 

 "streiiiijtli of a rat" iiiid to i)rove our jiosition 

 W(; will appeal to your Jiusband especially 

 wlu'u you wisli to accomiiiisii soiiudliinn' tliat 

 has had just eiiouuli opposition, to arouse your 

 niubition. Your iietlinn' an idea tiiatyou have 

 no strenirtli, may l)e your worst weakness. We 

 Kiiau't admit tliat Mrs. N. is unrorlunate at all 

 in bei/if/ a ■iooiiiaiii but we should consider it a 

 threat misforlunce ifshe should i^et tiie idea that 

 her sex in any way ,u'ave her a less chance of 

 being useful to her lellow beings. \vv\ likely 

 the more you talk to your husband, the more 



firmly he will l)ecome set in his incredu- 

 lity, husbands are much like wives sometimes 

 in this respect. Just droj* Ihe subject until you 

 can show him 51) or 100 lbs. of honey from a 

 colony. Don't let the idea is^et into your head 

 thiit your locality is at fault. The admission 

 that you fed late makes us think tlu; fault is 

 all y(Hir own. Do not l)e in a hurry to increase 

 your number of stocks; on the c(jntrary en- 

 deavor to keep them all in om; hive as loiiii; as 

 possible; after you can show a good report 

 from a few, and iiave got she upper hand, then 

 you can think of increase. Boil the syrup l»y 

 all means if you prefer to. 



We fear the above doi'x almost look "quarrel- 

 some," but then Mrs. JVI. the very best friends 

 we have in the world are the ones with whom 

 we have had the "biggest (luarrels," and wc 

 earnestly hope to see you not- only convince 

 your iiusbaiul, but other folks too, that women 

 can succeed as bee-keejiers and that they hitve 

 as much strength of brain if not of muscle as 

 the other sex ; at any rate their power to make 

 mankind better, which is a far more important 

 thing than either, we honesMy l)e'ieve to be far 

 in excess. Did you really get no honey from 

 your eight colonies V and what have you done 

 with the other three':' If your experience has 

 so far been all outlays, and wo income, we 

 would reverse it next season at all hazards. 

 You have hives enough and if you can't do any 

 better, lake out comb honey in frames, until 

 they can pay for an extractor themselves. Be 

 independent, and make your bees be indepen- 

 dent- also. Pecjple that pay for everything as 

 they go along, aie the happiest, and ha\e the 

 best right to be the sauciest ^if tliey wish to be) 

 of any ill tlu; world. 



It just now occurs to us that this letter was 

 not intended for i)rint. Will you not excuse 

 us Mrs. M. ':* Renieniber you have a nation of 

 sistei's who are laboring against similar dis- 

 advantages. 



S'B'IS A \V m A'B'.S. 



^jqijjROM J7r/r'v Florid Guide No. 8, 1874, we 

 iJ. i extract the following: With many this 

 is a month of leisure ; of course the size of the 

 mats will need some modillcation to adapt 

 them ti) Hee Hives. Every body knows James 

 Vick, of Rochester, N. Y., we suppose, if they 

 do iKn tliey should at once send tor his incom- 

 parable catalogue for 1875. 



The straw mats, which we have referred to for cover- 

 ing Uie iiit, are also very useful articles for the garden- 

 er in shailing his lorcing IVanu^s or protecting them 

 from the cold in nighls of early Spring. These mats 

 are easily ma<le and oiu; can limploy his liiiui upon 

 them in Very cold (M- stormy wealher, when nothing 

 can be dom"^ to ailvanlage ("uilside. In order to make 

 a good arlicle and lo work to advanlage it is best lo 

 eiii[)loy a frame, siudi as shown in Kig. 1. 



FIG. 1. 

 This frame may he made of I wo by lour .vtulfldi- llie 

 ■lides, ofthe length reiiuircd for ihe mal, and of two 



