130 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



HOW TO GET SPIDER AND SIMPSON PLANTS. 



I am going to get my Sunday-school class to rais- 

 ing- spider plants. So, look out for them. 



E. W. Hale. 

 Wirt C. H., W. Va., Jan. 13, 1880. 



HONEY-GATHERING IN JANUARY, IN THE STATE OF 

 OHIO. 



W. S. Boyd, Hamilton, Butler Co., Ohio, sends us 

 some soft-maple blossoms, with the following ex- 

 tract from the Hamilton Daily News of Jan. 28: 



The singular spectacle of honey-bees storing honey 

 in the month of January is one of the phenomena of 

 this exceptionally warm winter. 



A CHANGE IN CIRCUMSTANCES. 



Last year, I was not able to take Gleanings. This 

 year, 1 am not able to do without it. G. W. White. 

 Victor, Iowa Co., la., Jan. 12, 1880. 



BLUE thistle; a caution. 



A. I. Root:— Beware of that blue thistle. It is a 

 real nuisance in Loudon and Fairfax counties, Va. 

 In fact, I am informed on good authority that it 

 takes possession of the land in places. Please in- 

 quire into its nature at least. J. S. Wilson. 



Sterling, 111., Feb. 5, 1880. 



SAWS THAT ARE TOO HARD. 



The last file you sent me is no better than the first. 

 I filed 13 teeth in a thin 6 inch saw, and the corners 

 are entirely worn out. I mailed you both to-day. 

 The one with the ink mark is the last sent. 



Tiffin, O., Feb. 5, 1880. Marcus Holt. 



[The files our friend returned are of the best grade, 

 Johnson files, and so we carried them to our saw- 

 filer to try. He pronounced them of excellent tem- 

 per, but said he thought they had been used on a 

 saw too hard for any file. As we have had one or 

 two such irom our friends, Simons Manufacturing 

 Co., we shall have to give them notice to be a little 

 more careful in tempering their excellent saws. 

 Such a saw would do excellent service, but it would 

 be a task to put it in order, unless one used an 

 emery wheel.] 



RUBBER GLOVES. 



I wonder why you protest against rubber gloves, 

 since one does not want to be stung. 



Miss Mary F. Eastman. 



Tewksburg, Mass., Feb. 9, 1880. 



[Just because "one does not wish to be stung." I 

 think our A B C class will be stung more with rub- 

 ber gloves, or gloves of any kind, than they will 

 without them.] 



FROM CALIFORNIA. 



We have just now got returns from our honey 

 sent to England 17 months since. Bees are probably 

 reduced one-half from what they were in Southern 

 California, at this time last season. What are left, 

 are weak. The unprecedented, hard freezing of the 

 past few weeks retards breeding, but there is rain 

 sufficient to ensure a crop of honey. I had 80 hives 

 of bees set in a newly plowed, sandy field; a strong 

 east wind blew the sand into the hives, closing the 

 entrances, and smothering about 30 colonies. 



San Buenaventura, Cal., Feb. 2, '80. It. Wilkin. 



BEARING EACH OTHER'S BURDENS. 



I live in the mountains, and have been sick since 

 last June. For weeks, the Dr. gave no hope of my 

 recovery, and I am still weak, and so helpless that I 

 cannot yet use a pen, and my writing is difficult to 

 read. I feel in better spirits for trying to write, 



which I know will make ijou glad for me. I have 

 just read what you say about sage. If I am well 

 enough next summer, I will get you plenty of white 

 sage, at a price you can afford to pay, and will do it 

 willingly too. Then hurrah! for Gleanings and a 

 smoker. Mrs. W. W. Wilson. 



San Dernardino, Cal., Jan. 31, 1880. 



[God bless you, my friend. It has done me good 

 too, to read your letter, even if the letters are a lit- 

 tle tremblingly made. The thought that Gleanings 

 has cheered you while sick and away off in the 

 mountains, makes me thankful not only for health, 

 but also for the ability to cheer anybody. I am glad 

 you feel better and pray that you may have health, 

 and, with it, the will to cheer others about you, and 

 —to send us some sage seeds.] 



CLARK'S COLD BLAST SMOKER. 



Does the nozzle point right? It looks to me like a 

 "breech shooter." I should prefer to have the 

 smoke go in the opposite direction when operating 

 the bellows, and think I would order one, if made in 

 that way. I think I would prefer it to the Simplicity. 



Francis Baker. 



Marcellus, Onondaga Co., N. Y., Feb. 9, 1880. 



[The original Clark smoker did have the nozzle 

 pointing the other way, but I changed it, thinking 

 the present arrangement more compact and con- 

 venient. It seems I also got an erroneous idea of 

 the way in which friend Clark used his cold blast 

 smoker; for, in a recent letter, he says he lays the 

 smoker on its side when not in use, allowing the 

 smoke to go out of the draft hole instead of the noz- 

 zle. There are difficulties in the way of such an 

 arrangement, that 1 have not succeeded in obviating 

 to my satisfaction, and so have allowed the smoker 

 to remain as it is, for many think it now the best 

 smoker in use.] 



FASTENING COMBS FOR TRANSFERRING AND SHIP- 

 PING. 



Tie the lower ends of two sticks together so as to 

 just lit the bottom bar. Bring them up, one on each 

 side of the frame, and fasten at the top. If it is well 

 done, and the sticks are of the right size, it will ef- 

 fectually prevent all breaking down of combs in full 

 frames, or crushing of bees. The sticks should be a 

 little back or forward of the sticks on the next 

 frame, so as not to come in contact with each other. 



Cassville, Mo. Mary A. Terry. 



[Your plan, though old, is a very good one, friend 

 Mary. The principal objection is, that it is rather 

 more trouble than some of the modern appliances.] 



HOW MUCH DO BEES PAY? 



Can you tell me what the average profit has been, 

 on 10 or more hives of bees, for— say 10 years, in any 

 case that has come to your knowledge? 



Newark, N. J., Feb. 10, 1880. Wm. Earle Cass. 



[Several reports from a series of years have been 

 given in our back Nos. The results are so very di- 

 verse, lhat it seems to me. it is the man, and not 

 the bees, that is to be considered. The locality and 

 1he race of bees have something to do with it, but 

 the man that owns them, far more. At a very rude 

 guess, I misht say that I think the readers of 

 Gleanings would average, year after year. $5.00 

 per colony, including the A B C class, Blasted Hopes, 

 and all, and that, too, after paying th< m for all the 

 necessary work ihey do with their bees at the usual 

 wages among farmers.l 



