20 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



this time on the top of the hive, but no sooner had 

 she lit than the bees rushed at her, and caught her 

 by the legs and wings; in fact, they did. not seem 

 particular where they got hold, so thai each had his 

 grip upon her. I killed the queen on the top of the 

 hive where she had lit, and removed her body out 

 of reach. The bees clustered where the queen was 

 killed, and remained there until about sundown, 

 when they pushed their way into the hives near by. 



R. B. Bobbins. 

 Bloomdale, Ohio, Nov. 23, 1879. 



I have noticed pretty much the same thing, 

 friend R., and have been not a little puzzled 

 to know why bees should ball their own 

 queen, just because some other happened, 

 by some accident, to get into the hive. Bees 

 do often, when demoralized by want of food, 

 lack of numbers, or lack of protection, ball 

 their own queen, as if she, poor thing, was 

 responsible for all these things; and I have 

 sometimes thought it was a kind of way they 

 had of doing when anything unusual turned 

 up. Why that murderous jack-knife, friend 

 R.? I should take a queen cage, and put 

 the offending queen into it, and perhaps 

 some neighbor might want her. 



Pertaining to Bee Cnltur-e. 



[We respectfully solicit the aid of our friends in 

 conducting this department, and would consider it a 

 favor to have them send us all circulars that have a 

 deceptive appearance. The greatest care will be at 

 all times maintained to prevent injustice being done 

 any one.] 



M BROTHER bee-keeper thinks T ought 

 M to be put in Humbugs and Swindles. 



— ' He gives, as a reason, the following 

 extracts which were taken from a letter from 

 one of his customers. Very well ; I am will- 

 ing to go any where, where my friends 

 think I belong : 



You ask me where I got my five queens; T got 

 them from Root, Medina, O., and he swindled me 

 out of my money. He may be a particular friend of 

 yours; if so, 1 can't help thinking that he is a fraud. 



******* 



I ordered 3 for my neighbors, from Root last year. 

 They were of no account, so I paid them back their 

 money. A. H. 



Nov. 13, 1879. 



Before replying to this, I wish to make a 

 few general remarks. Where one succeeds 

 nicely with a purchased article, he feels 

 pleasant toward the man he purchased of, 

 and everybody else ; at least, such is the gen- 

 eral tendency. If he has bad luck with his 

 purchase, I "believe he is usually inclined to 

 feel cross toward the one who sold him the 

 goods. Years ago, before I ever thought of 

 selling queens, a neighbor who had just 

 commenced to keep bees sent off for an Ital- 

 ian queen. I had been over to see him, help- 

 ed him transfer, etc. ; and one day, on meet- 

 ing him, I asked him if his queen had come. 



"Yes sir; she came all right, is introduc- 

 ed, and laying." 



" Well, neighbor B., you are getting to be 

 quite an expert, if you are so far along al- 

 ready. Did you have no trouble in finding 

 the old queen?" 



" There was no old queen in the hive ; we 



looked it through and through, and knew 

 there was none, and then introduced the 

 Italian.' 1 



"And were you so reckless, as to risk let- 

 ting her out, without finding the old one at 

 all ? She is surely killed." 



"But we found fresh eggs, so she must be 

 there." 



"Why, friend B., those eggs were from 

 the old queen that you had overlooked. I 

 will go right over and find her for you." 



Sure enough, there was the old black 

 queen, doing her work, as if nothing had 

 happened. Now for the lesson in human 

 nature. 



"Well, the queen was a swindle anyway; 

 she was nothing but a hybrid." 



"Why, friend B., why do you say that?" 



" Well, I know by her looks she wasn't 

 pure." 



My friends, what do you think of that? 

 Most of you know how little we can tell 

 about any queen, after a long journey, and 

 how much less we can decide whether she 

 be hybrid or pure, judging from her looks. 



Now, in regard to the letter above ; I have 

 looked up the correspondence, and here is a 

 part of it. 



Mr. Root :— The queens I ordered of you came to 

 hind all right. I rec°ived them in just one week 

 from the day I made my order. They were as lively 

 as though they had not been confined and hustled 

 around on the cars. They were fine queens. I intro- 

 duced my"&3.00 queen into a nucleus, and thought I 

 was doing all right. I confined them for the first 

 day, and when 1 looked at them at night, I found 

 them all dead. My hive was too warm. It smoth- 

 ered them all, and melted the comb all down. So 

 much for the first tr al. 



I introduced the two $1. queens, and they are all 

 right, and doing well. The bees in this section of the 

 country are not doing any good. There is no honey 

 for them to get. 



Tell me how late you send out queens. I am a be- 

 ginner, and want some one to set me going in the 

 right way. I want to get rid of the common black 

 bees as soon as I can. A. H. 



I do not mean to insist that all of the 

 queens I sent him were in no way in fault, 

 for I do not knoAV that positively ; but, as 

 they were dollar queens, they were bought 

 with the understanding that some of them 

 might not turn out first class. I know, too, 

 that friend II. did not expect his letters to 

 come up thus in print. I hope he will ex- 

 cuse the liberty, inasmuch as it may prove a 

 good lesson for us all. We shotild beware 

 about writing or speaking to anyone in a 

 way we would not do to the individuals 

 themselves. I can not see, friend II., why 

 you should pay the money back to your 

 neighbors, if you delivered to them untested 

 queens in good condition. If I should war- 

 rant dollar queens to you and not to others, 

 I should be doing an injustice. 



TIN PAILS AND BOXES FOR EXTRACTED HONEY. 



Some time ago I wrote you in regard to some tin 

 boxes and pails for extracted honey, but did not re- 

 ceive any answer until I read it in the Dec. No. of 

 Gleanings. I put my honey up in 5 and 10 b. pails, 

 but had to pay considerably more here than your 

 price. I have nearly sold out, having only about 200 

 or 300 lb. left, or I would give you an order. I still 

 think those tin boxes would be nic^, but it would 

 hardly pay to give an order now with so little honey, 

 it is only basswood honey that is fit to go into those 

 tin boxes. Chas. Oliver. 



Springboro, Crawford Co., Tcnn , Dec. 11, 1879. 



