1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



473 



half the bees hero died last winter, and many more 

 will die this winter. Wo have had the poorest sea- 

 son this country ever knew. 



BUYING 22 COLONIES TO ST.VHT WITH. 



Last spring I bought 2 2 colonies of bees, of Hardin 

 Rains, of Vermont, III., which he claimed in his cir- 

 cular and advertisement to be pure Italians, and I 

 sent him his pice for such, but he sent me blacks 

 and hybrid-s. I worked all summer with them, sot 

 200 lb. of honey, bought s queens, tried to Italianize 

 them, went into winter with 42 colonics, and came 

 out with 37. It was a very poor season's work. 

 Then I real In Glkanivgs how much others got, 

 and it made me a little sick; I thought, however, I 

 would mike it up this year, but worse and wors>'! I 

 have fed mv bees nearly all summer. Some have 

 gone, some died, and, after uniting the weak ones 

 this fall, I have 21 left with little to winter on, and 

 not a taste of honey for U3. 



BUYING 4 QUEENS TO START WITH. 



The 5th of last June. I seat friend H. Alley $5.00 

 for queens, 1 tested, and 3 "dollar" queens, but he 

 forgot to sead them until r»o:ne time iu August. 



QUEENS BY MAIL. 



Then he sent 3 by mail, in an envelop, and two 

 died; so I got one and that is a hybrid. I notified 

 him of the fact, and he sent me a card asking if he 

 should send m? triors queens. I told him yes, or the 

 money, but have not heard from him since. 



SENDING $5.15 IN A LETTER. 



Then I sent you $5.15 for goods, and that chap that 

 1 suppose you have looking through the iron bars 

 stole it. You made it all right on the goods, but the 

 money was lost. 



SORREL SEED IN ALSIKE CLOVER. 



Then that clover seed you sent me last fall had lots 

 of sorrel seed mixed with it, so I have nearly as 

 much sorrel as clover, but the bees don't like it half 

 as well. Probably you are not to bl one for that, for 

 you probably bought the seed, but look out next 

 time and not buy of sorrel men. So you see b>-e-. 

 keeping has been rather expensive and a little dis- 

 couraging: but I wish to make one trial more with 

 your discovery; that is the 



GRAPE SUGAR CANDY FOR WINTERING. 



You say bees will winter on it; so I will send you 

 an order for some, as vou recommend it in Oct. and 

 Nov. Gleanings, and try the bee one year more, 

 and if no better, then 'I sells out an goes mit the 

 West." Not "Blasted" nor bursted hopes yet, 



Sumner, III., Nov. 11, 1879. W. Umerick. 



Truly, my friend, it seems you have reason 

 to feel discouraged, if any one has. If you 

 will excuse me. I should say your first mis- 

 take was in buying 22 colonies to start with. 

 If you will look hack over Gleanings, you 

 will see those that have commenced with one i 

 or two colonies have done the best, and they ! 

 seem to enjoy it more, too. I can well re- 

 member when most of our most successful 

 honey raisers commenced with a very few 

 stocks, and worked out the problem and test- j 

 ed their abilities, with those few. Those \ 

 who "are faithful with few, 1 ' very soon be- j 

 come "rulers over many, 1 ' and that, too, | 

 without purchasing. I think you made a : 

 mistake again, in sending for 4 queens. One, 

 or two at farthest, would have been better. I 

 Again; had you read the journals faithfully, 

 . you must have known that our friend Alley 

 has almost always been noted for being be- 

 hind hand in filling his orders, and it was 

 therefore unwise to send to him for things 

 you wanted at once. If this is hard for Mr. 

 Alley, it is kind to beginners like yourself, , 

 friend E. "Whoever has things to sell must '■ 

 build up a reputation for promptness, or i 

 suffer the consequences. Once more, SpS.OO 

 in an unregistered letter was rather careless, 

 my friend. In regard to the Alsike; if it I 

 contained an oz. of sorrel seed in a bushel, I \ 



will return you the money you paid for it. It 

 does not make any difference whether I 

 bought it or raised it, it is my business to 

 have it free from other seeds. You will see 

 from back volumes, that this charge has 

 be.en made before, but it was shown that the 

 sorrel seed was in the ground. Alsike seed 

 is always of different colors, which leads 

 many to think the dark red seeds are sorrel. 

 Count out a dozen sorrel seeds and plant 

 them in a pot. Read what is said to Anna 

 L. Gray, on page 487. Now, friend E., take 

 the best care ot your bees you know how, 

 but stop paying out your money for them. 

 It won't hurt you, and some of the rest of 

 the A IS C class, if you practice, for at least 

 one year, "being stingy" so far as the bees 

 are concerned. I like to sell goods, and I 

 am very much obliged to you for the order 

 you have just sent, but when I hear of one's 

 having such bad luck as you have had, it 

 worries me for fear I am giving you, uncon- 

 sciously, bad advice. Above all things, I 

 want the ABC class to make a sure thing 

 of their bees, even in bad seasons ; to be 

 prompt, and able to pay their debts at any 

 moment. If bee culture will not help them 

 to do this, I much prefer they should give it 

 up, and never send me another copper. 

 Here is another friend in the " same boat ; " 

 listen to him. 



My bees have done poorly during the last two 

 years. 1 have lost $400. worth, t'ause, commencing 

 too heavily in that branch of business. Please send 

 those feeders by rctm n mail and directions if needed. 



Hesperia, Mich., Nov. 19, '79. D. C. Lanphere. 



Ifi« "iwihiru" 



This department was suggested by one of the 

 clerks, as an opposition to the "Growlery." Ithink 

 I shall venture to give names in full here. 



GOOD REPORT FROM CHAFF HIVES. 



WRJHE season has been a very dry one. White 

 jSJI" 1 clover, our main honey plant, was almost a 

 "r^j failure,, hence our honey season was a very 

 short one, not more than two weeks; but it was 

 astonishing what strong colonics gathered in so 

 short a time. I have a few colonies which stored me 

 1001b. in surplus combs. 1 took 60tt>. of section honey 

 from a neighbor's colony which I transferred early 

 in the spring. A few others report d >uble Simplici- 

 ty hives full. This I consider good for the season. 

 Those colonies in chaff hives did far the best. I now 

 have all of my bres in chaff hives. I consider them 

 far superior to any hive that I have ever used. 

 You don't know how comforting it is to me, when I 

 pass my bees these frosty mornings, to know they 

 are all snugly packed away in chatf, and will need 

 no more attention until early spring, when I shall 

 commence stimulating. By the way, your imported 

 queen ha* been filling sheets of comb with eggs this 

 fall. 1 think she means business in the spring. I 

 presume I shall astonish some of your readers at 

 the amount of beautiful dollar queens I will send 

 out next season. Vou may put my name in the 

 dollar list. I shall endeavor to give satisfaction in 

 every respect. Many, many thanks, for the world 

 of pleasure you have opened up through your pub- 

 lications. May the God of wisdom continue to lead 

 you. F. J. Wardell. 



Uhrichsville, O., Nov. 10, 1879. 



Really, friend WY, you make one feel that 

 it is a most pleasant task to edit a bee jour- 

 nal. I think I will turn over to the " Growl- 

 ery' 1 and read a page or two, lest I get proud 

 and puffed up. 



