88 



GLEANINGS IX BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



satisfied with suppressing- bees, are they now en- 

 deavoring- to suppress the bee hooks? Perhaps the 

 offieials fear the "wood cuts;" and how soon may it 

 be ere they (the cuts) are not mailable, on account 

 of a bee paper's becoming; unwrapped, and some 

 tender official reporting- at headquarters, the fact 

 that one or more of the wood cuts in Gleanings, 

 were "loose" and rampant, in the mails? How long 

 may it be, I say, ere these things come to transpire? 



Query again: "Bee" these postolfice people do- 

 ing their duty by us poor "beeings?" You mailed 

 me 3 or 4 copies' of the Jan. No. of Gleanings, and 

 accidentally I got one of 'em. 



On the 20th of Jan.. you say you sent the ABC, 

 parts 2d and 3d. Well, I havn't seen them yet, and 

 am fearful I never will see them, at least till you 

 send a doz. or so. Perhaps I might then get one, by 

 accident ! 



Let me advise you, to put a printed label on the 

 outside of the wrapper, in future, at least on my ar- 

 ticles ordered through the mails. There are 15 peo- 

 ple here who have the honor to bear your humble 

 servant's surname, and it's my private belief that 

 these people get many of my papers, &c, &c. 



Now, my growl is over, I feel better, anil if you 

 consign this, with me, to the (irowlery column, I 

 shan't growl about that. H. C. Taylor. 



Wilmington, N. C, Feb. 8, 1879. 



In the matter of queens by mail, we should 

 try to bear in mind, my friend, that we are 

 all of us interested parties, and can hardly 

 be expected to take an unbiased view of the 

 matter. Shall we not try to think that the 

 P. M. G. is possihly all right, and that we 

 are all wrong? The losses by mail about the 

 first of the year, were quite serious, but it is 

 pretty much over now. We have some neat 

 little gummed labels, and one is put on ev- 

 ery article of any value sent out. Below is a 

 sample. 



| TO THE POSTMASTER. J 



k Should this package miscarry, or remain jg 



uncalled for, will you kindly notify us of the m 



fact, and we will send you postage necessary _J 



k for its return to us. ffl 



** A. I. HOOT, J 



m Medina, Ohio. <$ 



Those of you who send off things by mail 

 will find them a great convenience. We can 

 fmTiish them for $1.00 per thousand, with 

 anybody's name and address on them. 

 Thank you for your confession at the end of 

 your "growl," friend T. I suspect that 

 many of our troubles come about from the 

 same cause; viz., from the fact that there 

 are others of the same, or nearly the same 

 name, at your P. O. When anything is lost, 

 will not our friends take particular pains to 

 enquire very carefully into the matter, at 

 their P. O. 



I would like to know what is the matter, that you 

 don't send my goods. I ordered them on Jan. 27th, 

 1879, and have written to you since, but have re- 

 ceived no answer. I need the goods sent at once, or 

 wish you to return the money so that I can get them 

 somewhere else. G. K. Fagely. 



Meiser, Pa., Feb. 15, 1879. 



Gently, my friend. You did not stop to 

 consider that, possibly, the fault might be 

 yours. Your order was received, with the 

 money to pay for it, and we were very much 

 troubled to find no trace of a name on the 

 letter. We first looked to see if we had any 

 subscriber at your post-office, and finding 

 none, we wrote once to your P. M. to see if 



he could inform us of the writer; there be- 

 ing nothing more we could do, we were 

 obliged to lay the letter aside, and just wait 

 until the complaint came, hoping to get the 

 name with it. Now we can ssnd your goods, 

 without further delay. 



DEPOSITORY OF 



Or Letters from Those Who Have Made 

 Bee Culture a. Failure. 



N the 1st of March last. I had 12 colonies; but 

 Hw during March, April, and May, they dwindled 

 &J down to 2. They were chaff ' packed, and all 

 had plenty of honey. The 2 left were very weak; 

 one lias not swarmed, and none have made any sur- 

 plus honey, but all are now strong, and have plenty 

 of stores for winter. Why the dwindling? 



.). A. COXTRTRIGHT. 

 Duck Lake, Mich., Dec. 23, 1878. 



I do not know, my friend, what made them 

 dwindle, if you had them all properly pre- 

 pared as you say, unless it was because they 

 had the "dwindling." 



PEACHES FOR BEE FEED. AND WHAT CAME OF IT." 

 ALSO MAPLE SUGAR FOR FEEDING BEES. 



I fear I shall have to go into Blasted Hopes. 

 Last spring- my son and I started in the bee bus- 



, iness, with 7 log and box hives. We bought lum- 

 ber, made hives, transferred, bought bees, and in- 

 creased to 28 colonies. It was a bad honey season, 



, and late in the summer, bees fed largely on peaches. 

 We thought they went into winter quarters with 

 stores enough to take them through. We spent 



! about $15.00 besides our own labor, and everything 

 went on swimmingly. About Dec. 1 st, cold weather 

 set in and continued until about the 18th inst., when 



I it moderated and the bees dew out in great numbers. 

 But, Oh ! such a smell and such a sight ! They dot- 

 ted the snow around for several yards, perfectly 

 thick. I suppose it was dysentery; they looked 



j swelled perfectly tight, and scarcely able to fly un- 

 til they unloaded themselves. Ten of the 28 colonies 



I are dead, and the others greatly depopulated. It is 

 now warm, and they have had i days of good dying. 

 Some are rearing- brood and all seem to have a good 

 deal of energy. I hope they will not all die. I think 

 they have stores plenty. 



Had we better feed them? and if so. what? Will 

 it do to feed them syrup made from the sugar ma- 

 ple? Italian colonies raised from queens sent by 

 you, Hayhurst, and others, 5 in all, are all alive, and 

 do not seem to have suffered as much as the blacks. 

 Is it because they are hardier? Was it dysentery 

 they had? If. H. Fox. 



Tribulation, Mo., Jan. 22, 1879. 



I believe, my friend, that peaches, cider 

 mills, or fruit diet of any kind, generally af- 

 fects the bees about as you describe. Some 

 kinds of fall honey seem to have much the 

 same effect. The warm weather will make 

 things all right, and I trust no more will die, 

 even though you do live in the town of Trib- 

 ulation. Good maple sugar or syrup will 

 answer excellently for bee feed, and when 

 the price is low enough, I always use it. If 

 placed in small lumps or cakes right over 

 the cluster, under the chaff packings, the 

 bees take it as well as the usual bee candy, 

 or even better than that. For brood rearing, 

 it would be much improved by the addition 

 of about 1-5 Hour; and now I think of it, I 

 will, this minute, set about seeing if I can- 

 not make such a mixture grain, so it may be 

 poured into slabs like the candy. Hurrah 

 for maple sugar and flour candy ! 



