154 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



A. I. ROOT, Sir :— The Alsike clover }'0u sent me is 

 full of sorrel, ami any one havinjc eyes can see it, too. 

 Now, Mr. lioot, if you don't send me one jjound of 

 pure Alsike, I will advertise you in every Bee Journal 

 in the United States. The land on which we sowed it, 

 never produced sorrel and now the ground is covered 

 with it, and scarcely a clover plant to be seen. I pull- 

 ed two bushels of soiTel out ot the patch in about live 

 weeks after it was sown. I don't care for the money, 

 but would give $j.00 to have the land rid of the sorrel. 



I thought you were honest but find you not. I was 

 about to send for your Gleanivgs, but linding you 

 dishonest I don't want to read it. 



M. E. LoEUR, Palestine, Ind., Xov. 1st, '75. 



We have raatiy tlmB^ spoken with pride, of 

 never having had one unreasonable customer 

 in all our dealings with bee-lveepers ; tliat is, 

 after we had shown a spirit of liberalitj' in 

 settling all misunderstandings. Oar experi- 

 ment on humanity depends on the decision of 

 our friend who writes the above and his 

 reply will be given next month. 



We can find no sorrel seed with the clover, 

 nor does any sorrel appear when the same 

 seed is sown on our soil, yet we will pay Mr. 

 Loehr for the seed, as we proposed long ago, 

 and will also pay him whatever damage he 

 thinks is right, if he fitill insists on it. The seed 

 we sell was raised in our own neighborhood, 

 and we don't know where to get any better. 

 We have sold it extensively with no other 

 complaint. 



A. I. ROOT, The Medley of pictures of Bee-Keepers 

 which you so kindlj' sent'nie, came duly to hand, for 

 which please accept my thanks. Your picture pre- 

 sents an arrav of earnest workers, alike creditable to 

 the cause and to the enterprise of getting up the same. 



I note the niche with a name therein. It wei-e well 

 to leave a niche for the persou who may hereafter ad- 

 vance the cause of bee culture, l)ut it certainly is 

 premature to thus insert a nauie. 



I am pleased to note the improvements made from 

 time to time, in the matter of vour Journal. 



J. S. H.vuiuso.v, San Diego, Cal., Xov. 2d, '75. 



Whatever may be Mr. Harbison's opinion in 

 the matter, we feel sure that the l>ee-keepers of 

 our country would be very glad indeed to have 

 the privilege of placing friend H's photo in the 

 vacant niche. " 



I am a subscriber to Gleanings, and have read it 

 carefully this summer and fall, with a view to making 

 a start next spring as nearly right as possible, with 

 the experience of others as "my guide. My great 

 trouble is to decide upon a hive and the dimensions of 

 my frames. You talked the "Simplicity" into me, 

 then upset my convictions on ttiat point, with the 

 Standard or long hive, with small frames, (as per 

 Lithograph rec'd). I hear a good deal of Moon's 

 improved (Thomas) hive, and am examining that. 

 The more 1 look into the (juestion, the more befogged 

 1 become. And now 1 ask you, shall I take the Sim- 

 plicity, or long hive ? The Jj. frame was thought best 

 in a northern climate. Would not a smaller size be 

 better here, where less stores are needed to carrv a 

 swarm through the winter? I can get the material 

 (including IG frames) for a two story S. hive for less 

 than a dollar. Can put it togetlier myself. I will not ! 

 look further, if you will advise me decidedly. \ 



Of course I want Italians. Shall I get aii imported 

 queen from Dadant next spring, or trust to cheaper 

 stock ? I have 10 black colonies and can buv as many 

 more as may be necessary at a low price, in box 

 hives, etc. 



Excuse me for troubling yo)i, but I am new in the 

 cause, and I see yoti sometimes very kindly auswer 

 very simple (to you) questions. 



R. Thomson, Terry, Miss., Nov. Otli, '75. 



The question in regard to hives is one that 

 troubles all, we Ijelieve, unless it be those Avho 

 are tied to some particular one by a patent or 

 some motive of self-interest. If we mistake 

 not, our ablest minds have decided that it 

 makes very little dirtercncc to the bees what 

 the hive is, providing it bo made c:)mfortable 



for them, i. e., we maj' have good results from 

 any or all the frames in use, and we may have 

 the hive spread out, or two story, as we line! 

 most convenient, providing we give them a 

 convenient entrance, an amoitnt of room suited 

 to their numbers, with more space as fast as 

 increasing numbers demand it, shade, venti- 

 lation, etc., so that finally, all we have to de- 

 cide, of any moment, is what hive will best 

 enable their owner to give them these little 

 attentions with the least labor. Now if any 

 one can tell us whether the demand in future 

 is going to be for comb, or liquid honey, wo 

 can tell very quickly what hive icc would ad- 

 vise. For the exclusive use of the extractor, 

 the Standard hive without hesitation ; but if 

 Mr. Long's x'"oundations arc to prove all that 

 they promise, we should go back to the good 

 old Langstroth frame, and in fact all things 

 considered, we believe that whatever can !)•.> 

 done with any frame iwi}^ also be done with 

 this. If it shall be demonstrated that side box- 

 es have really a positive advantage over top 

 boxes only, we can make some of our hives 

 double width and two story ; when we have 

 then placed the brood combs in the middle of 

 the lower story, we shall have room for our 

 section boxes, both at the sides and on top. 

 We have used nothing as convenient for new 

 swarms and for wintering, as the one story, 10 

 frame Simplicity hive, unless it be the house 

 apiary. With this you can put on boxes or 

 sections, as you wish, and have no outer case 

 whatever to bother with. Don't buy (ini/ 

 "rights." 



I have had an imported queen. Got her about tho 

 15th ot July and introduceil her to young bees am! 

 brooil only : but they commenced ciueea raising at 

 the start and kept it up. I took out some cells, cut 

 out some and united, and took only young bees and 

 brood again; but they kept it up andbeat me at last. 

 In about a month she was gone and they raised anoth- 

 er one. Now, why was it so ? We poor fellows feel a 

 '■'leetle blue'''' to pay $10. for a queen and keep her only 

 a mouth. Tell us" in Gleanings how to do better. 

 Bnt I must have another from somewhere for she laid 

 more eggs in 30 days by odds than any other queen I 

 ever had, and she was one of Oadant's blank ones at 

 that. J. J. WiiiTSON, Valley Mills, Ind., Nov. 3d, '75. 



We cannot answer the question as to why 

 they sometimes persist in trying to supersede 

 a very prolific (jueen. This season \y& found 

 a lot of queen cells in a hive, and a young- 

 queen just hatchad — concluded we had lost 

 the (jueen while extracting, but while we 

 were hunting up the young queens, we found 

 eggs and brood, and linally the old queen 

 herself. To test the matter we kept her fo r 

 several months after, and she proved herself 

 as prolific as usual to the last. We killed her 

 a few days ago because she was over 3 year.s 

 old, and we feared she might die before spring, 

 but we are still feeling sorry we did so. 



MR. A. I. ROOT:— .Vbout that extractor you sent me 

 last Sept.: it came all right except a few slight bruis- 

 es. I took it home and trioil it the same" day, and 

 wh.it do j'ou think it did? Well sir, the way it slung 

 the honey was a caution to the— bees. It is a little too 

 nice for "me to describe on jiaper, it works like a 

 charm. I am so well pleaseil with it I have to show it 

 to all who come, and all the bee men here who have 

 seen it say the.y will liavo one. I think you will get 

 orders for several from this vicinity next .season. 



The honey knife also does nice work without hot ov 

 colli water." Tlianks for the sample frame with metal 

 comers. I think they are a great improvement. You 

 wjU i)robably get orders for some of them ne.xt spring 

 if bee.« don'tall die this winter. 



Jno. J5i:iN tnall, Hudson, Il'.s., Oct. ilst, "7.>. 



