1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



44!) 



THE NEW GRAPE SUGAR CANDY FOR FEEDING BEES, 

 ETC. 



If you deem this of the least importance, you may 

 insert it in the ' Growlery," for in it I have seen 

 many things (like this production) to which I should 

 be very much ashamed of annexing my signature. 



The grape sugar came in good condition, and is 

 far superior to any we have ever seen. We tind it 

 an excellent article for fall feeding and brood rear- 

 ing; in short, it does exactly what you recommend 

 it to do. The plan for making candy, found in the 

 October issue of Gleanings, works admirably; at 

 least, the bees say it is a very nice article. How do 

 we know that they say so? We know it from the fact 

 that they sip it up very readily, and by their buzzing 

 and flying about us they seem to say, "Good morn- 

 ing; thank you very much for what you have done 

 for us. We will not sting you rudely as we used to 

 do, for we are wiser now, and know that you take an 

 interest in our welfare." Isn't this lust conclusive 

 enough that they say all this, and much more that 

 would benefit us all greatly, if we were only wise 

 enough to comprehend it all. 



Friend Moot, you have truly said that patience is 

 required in an apiary; at least, we have found it so 

 in every department. By patience we have learned 

 to work about bees without a veil over our face, and 

 even to feed them from our hands, and lay the 

 smoker aside in ordinary cases. We now do things 

 with them that we would not have done six months 

 ago. for love or money, all of which (and we consid- 

 er them great achievements compared with what we 

 formerly knew) we have acquired by reading Glean- 

 iNGS(in our leisure hours), by experience, and by 

 patience. 



We also raised five tested Italian queens. The 

 sixth one received seme injuries frcm the bees, 

 when only a day or two old, at which time we saw 

 them ball her. We then gave them smoke, but after 

 all they ruined her left wing. Now we should like 

 to know if she will become a laying queen. She is 

 now 19 days old, and no eggs are to be found in any 

 of her domain. What is your opinion, friend Root, 

 in regard to her broken wing, &c? X. 



North Lima, Ohio., Oct. 17, 1879. 



Many thanks, friend X, I would willingly 



give you room in the growlery, but ahem, 



you see another man got the place before 

 you applied. If your queen can't fly back to 

 her hive when you toss her up in the air, she 

 is "no good at all, at all.'' .1 am very glad 

 you like the grape sugar candy, and my hopes 

 are strong that it can be given to a destitute 

 colony, and, so long as there is candy in the 

 tray above the cluster, there will be no dan- 

 ger of their dying. 



BEES KILLING A SPAN OF HORSES. 



My bees killed a team of horses for a neighbor, 

 while working in his own field adjoining my apiary. 

 What I want to know is, can he recover damages of 

 me? Is there any rulingof the courts tothat effect? 

 Any information you can give me will be thankfully 

 received A. Hunt. 



Peoria, Iowa, Oct. 7, 1879. 



I know little of law, friend II., but I do 

 know this, I think, that it will pay neither 

 you nor your neighbor, to lose any more mon- 

 ey or property by paying it to lawyers. I 

 would have a friendly talk with him, and if 

 you could not then see things alike, I would 

 call in some of your neighbors, and each of 

 you state the case, and agree to abide by 

 their decision, making up your mind that it 

 is far better to bear wrong of a neighbor, 

 than to wrong him. 



There is one point I would suggest, as it 

 may be overlooked. The community, as a 

 general thing, are much more inclined to be 

 hostile toward bees, than to other domestic 

 animals. What I mean is this ; that almost 

 all of your neighbors will be inclined to look 

 at the matter differently from what they 

 would if it was a horse or cow that had kick- 

 ed or gored your neighbor's horses. People 



are killed every little while from being kick- 

 ed by horses, or thrown from vehicles, but no 

 one ever, on that account, said that horses 

 should not be kept. Well, once in a great 

 while, we hear of persons or animals being 

 killed by bees, and there is then a great up- 

 roar, and many declare bees should be banish- 

 ed from civilized life. Ask your neighbors 

 to decide the matter as they would an acci- 

 dent among the cows or horses ; but if they 

 will not, 1 would pay over whatever they 

 thought right, friend II , far rather than to 

 go to law about it. If it were my case, I 

 would at once go for the minister of my par- 

 ish. Ministers are a great deal cheaper, and 

 far healthier for a community, as a general 

 thing, than lawyers. What do we pay min- 

 isters their salaries for, if not for their advice 

 in settling such matters in a Christian and 

 neighborly way V Do not, I beseech you, do 

 any thing that will cause you to be on un- 

 friendly terms with your neighbors, any of 

 them. 



THE QUARHEL ABOUT THE "SUNSHINE." 



On page 402, Oct. Gleanings, I see Mr. N. R. Fitz 

 Hugh, Jr., disputes my assertion, that the summer 

 sun shines more on the north side of a hive in N. Y., 

 than in Mississippi. Now this is not a vital ques- 

 tion, but as its discussion may interest your young 

 readers, and awaken some thought and study, i hope 

 you will allow me a little space to explain. First, I 

 want it understood that I do not claim it is warmer 

 in N. Y. than in Miss. I know the contrary. A few 

 years ago, I rode across Ohio, in March, and I saw 

 the people riding in sleighs, while heavy snow banks 

 lay along the fences; and three days afterwards, I 

 caught a beautiful butterfly in the moss draped 

 w Is of Madison Co., Miss. 



What I do claim is this: as we travel northward, 

 the summer days grow longer, and the days length- 

 en at the ends; so that, as the sun only "shines on 

 the north side of a hive in the morning and evening, 

 if the mornings and evenings are longer in the 

 north, then the north side of an object gets more 

 sunshine there than in the south. I see by my al- 

 manac that the sun rises here, on the 20th of June, 

 29 minutes earlier, and sets 39 minutes later, than it 

 does in Miss. If, during those 68 minutes, "old Sol" 

 is not looking at the noith side of things, will friend 

 Fitz Hugh tell us what he is up to, or up for. If you 

 should put your hive in Greenland for several days 

 in June, the sun would shine 12 hours on the north 

 side, and wouldn't go down at all. If you still trav- 

 eled northward, the north side would be illuminated 

 more and more until you reached the pole, when 

 your hive would all at once cease to have a north 

 side, and every side would be south. What a strange 

 place that must be? no north, no east, no west, but 

 only one vast, universal, solid, south! 



J as. E. Dean. 



Fishkill, N. Y., Oct. 20, 1870. 



Gently, my friends. I tell the girls here 

 in the office that when they are ?-en/ positive, 

 they are (always, I had almost said, but I 

 think I will say almost alwaysoil shall be in 

 the same boat) almost always mistaken. 

 Now, friend Fitz Hugh, do you not think, on 

 looking back at page 402, that men, as well 

 as women, are almost always mistaken when 

 they are very positive V I am sure you will 

 own up good naturedly, if you are wrong, 

 since you are right here before us all. 



A SWAHM OF BEES IN OCTOBER. 



I had a bona fide swarm of Vices this month. I 

 found them on the 10th, in a box where they had 

 hived themselves. They had 8 sheets of comb, re- 

 spectively 5, 0, and 7 inches long. The box was over 

 some old honey boards. I wanted the honey boards, 

 and upon lifting the box, out dropped about l k lb. of 

 bees. I put them in a frame hive, and they are 

 doing well. Rees are doing well on fall flowers. 



( 'arrollton, La., Oct. 18, 1879. D. McKenzie. 



