1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



179 



black here, and I will try to send you some next fall. 



L. L. Botler. 

 Los Gatos, Cal., Jan. 2T, 1880. 



PAPER FOR SMOKERS; AND ONE BINGHAM SMOKEK 

 FOUND AT LAST THAT "GOES OUT." 



Friend Root:— As you seem to know everything 

 (with a little help from your wife, when you get in a 

 corner where you can't wiggle out), I would like to 

 know if paper, such as Mr. Nellis recommended last 

 season, is a success to use in smokers. What do 

 Doolittle, Cook, and other extensive honey-produc- 

 ers use for their smokers? I have a Bingham, but 

 It sometimes "fizzles " when loaded with stove-wood, 

 and makes me feel like choking Bingham (but then, 

 you know, if I should see him I would run). Last 

 season was a poor season, but my bees are all strong, 

 and have plenty of honey. D. G. Webster. 



Fark's Corners, III., March 8, 1880. 



[To be frank, I have never tried paper for smo- 

 kers, because it is too expensive. Our paper, even 

 the poorest old scraps, is worth several cents per lb., 

 while rotten elm wood can be gathered almost any- 

 where by the wagon-load. Would it not be better, 

 friend W., to feel like getting a load of wood and 

 drying it, in place of choking anj body? When these 

 tempers of ours come up, they can be made very 

 useful if they are only switched around into some 

 useful channel, such as getting a load of wood and 

 the like.] 



STENCIL PLATES FOR MARKING HIVES. 



Tell A. H. Duff to cut his stencil plates out of a 

 sheet of good writing paper. If he can't cut nice 

 letters, he can get some schoolboy to do it, who will 

 just think it fun. Of course, they won't last like 

 metal, but, after he gets one plate, he can make im- 

 pressions on paper, and make a new plate from 

 that, by cutting as at first. H. C. Johnson. 



Reesville, O., March 6, 1880. 



[Very good, friend J. The large, printed letters 

 which graced your sheet in the form of a pretty 

 scroll seem, at first sight, as if they must have been 

 made with a printing-press; but since you mention 

 It, I remember that the boys in our japan room 

 make the lettering for our honey-pails in much the 

 same way, except that they use a peculiar kind of 

 hard, stiff paper, that looks something like thin 

 parchment. A great many of these things can be 

 made at home evenings, just as well as to pay others 

 a big price for doing it.] 



HOW OUR FRIEND GOT SICK. 



I shall subscribe for Gleanings just as soon as I 

 can get on my feet again. I am sick. Eudorsing- 

 notes-for-other-parties is what ails me. 



Henry J. King. 



Charlotte, Eaton Co., Mich., Feb. 21, 1880. 



[Cheer up, friend K., and get well as fast as you 

 can. Your experience m»y be providential after all, 

 in warning some of our A B C boys against similar 

 mishaps. Pay as you go, and it will then be an easy 

 matter to advise others to do the same.] 



A WORD DIRECT FROM OHR OLD FRIEND' LANG- 

 STROTH. 



I am still suffering so much from my head as to 

 be unable to take any interest In my old pursuits. 



Oxford, O., Mar. 2, 1880. L. L. L. 



[Thank God, friend L , that you arc able to write 

 thus much. We will pray that you may be spared 

 to enjoy work with the bees again this season, and 



that we may have some more of your kind cheering 

 letters again. Now, a word to our readers: Friend 

 L., when he is able to write, can get a moderate sal- 

 ary from his pen. When his health fails, that salary 

 stops, unless he is remembered from time to time, 

 by some of his old friends. Suppose we give him a 

 small salary any way; and, to start it, I will send 

 him $10.00 the first of Jan. every year. Who will 

 send it for Feb., and so on? Of course, several will 

 club together, where they choose. In paying our 

 ministers it has been found much better to get a 

 subscription of so much a year, right along, than to 

 get irregular sums, given as one happens to feel like 

 it. How much will you give friend L. a year?] 



SPIDER AND SIMPSON PLANTS. 



Friend Root:— If M. Riser (page 125, March Glean- 

 ings) falls short of plants of " Simpson" or " Spi- 

 der," we can bring up the rear with a few thousand. 

 We have transplanted plants of both now in good 

 condition, March 19th. Three Sunday-school schol- 

 ars here send greetings to brother Hale, of West 

 Virginia, and his class, on the Spider and Simpson 

 plants. They take a hand at other plants besides. 

 One is in the ABC, and she is going to make an ex- 

 pert. G. W. Thompson. 



Stelton, N. J., March 19, 1880. 



[Thanks. Although our greenhouse is doing won- 

 ders, or at least we inexperienced ones think so, I 

 fear we shall not raise as many as we wish for our 

 own use. 



Friend J. K. Greenough, of Mechanicsburgh, Cham- 

 paign Co., O., also writes us that he intends to have 

 Simpson honey-plants and Spider plants ready for 

 sale by the 1st of May, I presume at about the prices 

 given by M. Riser, p. 125, March No. Who else has 

 some ready to send out?] 



FOUNDATION FOR SURPLITS BOXES. 



Some say 8 ft. to the pound is light enough for sur- 

 plus section boxes, where the section is to be filled 

 nearly full. I have heard quite a number say the 

 thin, flat-bottomed fdn. would sag very badly in hot 

 weather. I ihink the fdn. 12 feet to the pound too 

 light for any kind of use. How would 9 feet to the 

 pound do? Also, would you prefer triangular or 

 square pieces as starters in sections? 



D. W. Fletcher. 



Lansingville, Tompkins Co., N. Y., March 17, 1880. 



[The matter is very much undecided, but I feel 

 quite certain thnt anything thicker ihan 10 or 12 ft. 

 to the pound will be liable to show itself in the 

 comb honey. Where the hives are not to be shipped 

 after being put up, we can nearly fill ihe section. I 

 have never known the bees to stretch fdn. in the 

 surplus boxes to do any harm; but if the very light 

 fdn. should thus stretch, triangular pieces would 

 give a larger base of support in proportion to the 

 amount of surface covered by the bees, and would, 

 without question, give additional security.] 



T have got through the winter, so far, without the 

 loss of a single colony of bees; and I attribute it to 

 the fact that thev were well supplied (for the first 

 time) with pure, sealed honey. D. B. Teague. 



West Milton, Miami Co., O., March 12, 1880. 



Ono-half of my bees have already died this winter. 

 They were in the Mitchell hive. I am out only $4.00 

 for the patent, and the making of a few hives. 



N. J. Morton. 



Otto, Cattaraugus Co., N. Y., Maroh 18, 1880. 



