1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



211 



die, when you once get them into your hands. 

 AVe have those among our readers, who 

 scarcely ever fail in what they undertake 

 because they won't let a failure occur. Doo- 

 little and Hayhurst are men of that stamp ; 

 your humble servant is sometimes, when he 

 gets waked up, but I am sorry to say a great 

 many times, he lets things "slide," or rather 

 takes the risk, as you did when you left your 

 queen without reinforcing her nucleus 

 strongly with frames of hatching brood from 

 your other hives. I do not want to see any- 

 body brag, but I do like to see a man who 

 can winter every colony in a hundred, or 

 who is not afraid to take a valuable queen, 

 and say, "Yes sir, I can introduce her for 

 you, without any chance of a failure," and 

 then to see him set right about it and do it, 

 and have his actions prove his words, every 

 time. Boys you can make yourselves mas- 

 ters of these things, and when the world 

 finds you don't make mistakes, you will be 

 wanted every where. Come now, brighten 

 up, roll up your sleeves, and show us what 

 you can do. Do not try to grasp too much 

 at first; take a little, be faithful in a few 

 things, make your one colony just "climb," 

 and then be sure you make all the rest, when 

 tbey come, do just the same. I declare I 

 had almost forgotten we were in Blasted 

 Hopes. 



I have had bees two years, but never got a pound 

 of honey. Not very encouraging; is it? But I will 

 succeed this time, or try mighty hard. 



D. B. Davenport. 



Atchison, Atchison Co., Kan., Mar. 14, 1880.' 



I have tried to keep bees for 2 years, and spent 

 over $100.00, and not a cent have I received, and but 

 little honey to eat. So you see I have been in Blast- 

 ed Hopes all the time. My wife says I am like the 

 man that made his living by farming, and always 

 bought his bread and seed. Well, if you do count me 

 in Blasted Hopes, I am not discouraged. 



Joseph Vanbuskirk. 



Clyde, Ohio, April 8, 1880. 



BEE dysknteky. 



A LITTLE BIT OF A CRITICISM ON ERIEND DOOLITTLE. 



fjj? SEE this subject discussed in different papers 

 I and bee journals, and have noticed one piece in 

 particular, from Bro. Doolittle, of Borodino, 

 N. Y. Now I consider Mr. Doolittle head and shoul- 

 ders above all other apiarists; indeed, so much do I 

 think of his common sense and straight forward 

 practical talk, that I have gathered up all the writ- 

 ings of his I could get, and placed them in a book, 

 which I call my " Doolittle book." But I saw a piece 

 in the Arm rican Bee Journal of December, 1879, from 

 his pen, from which I must dissent, as it is contrary 

 to all my experience. 



On p. 541, of the bee-journal, he says: "Is there 

 such a disease among bees as dysentery? I answer, 

 No. Do we see bees soiling their hives and combs 

 nt any other time, except after a long continued 

 confinement? If we had July weather steadily for 

 one year, would the bees die of the so called dysen- 

 tery, as they did last winter and spring? Of course 

 not," etc., etc. Now, friend Doolittle, in regard to 

 this as a bee disease, you are correct; you and I 

 agree exactly. But listen; In 1865, I had 3 good 



swarms in the King hive, which were just alike as 

 far as I could see. About the 20th of Nov., 1 fixed 

 them up for winter. I took out the honey boxes and 

 put two layers of burlap over the frames above the 

 bees. 1 filled the space above of the first with corn 

 cobs; of the second with chaff; for the third, I cut 

 up a square piece of sod right under my feet, and 

 put right on the burlap over the bees, and filled up 

 with earth. What ignorant mortals we are! There 

 was a one inch auger-hole in front of each for ven- 

 tilation. 



Well, about New i'ear's, on a pleasant day, the 

 bees were flying nicely. I walked along in front of 

 them, and saw a few sickly looking bees crawling in 

 front of the hive where I had put the sod. They 

 were all daubed with their excrement. "Hallo! 

 something wrong here," I said, and opened the hive 

 immediately. Such a case of dysentery may it never 

 be my lot to look upon again. The combs and bees 

 were literally covered with their excrement. I took 

 them out and put them in another hive, but it was 

 too late; they all died with dysentery, brought on 

 by my stupidity. Well, the other two cume through 

 in splendid condition, aud gave me two swarms each 

 the next summer. Dysentery is brought on more 

 by the condition of the hive than by long confine- 

 ment. In the fall of 18T0, on thf 15th of Nov., I put 

 3 swarms in thp cellar. I gave them plenty of ven- 

 tilation, kept them in until the 10th of April, with- 

 out giving them a fly, and they came out tip-top, 

 never having soiled their combs in the least. Now, 

 if Bro. Doolittle is correct, will friends Burch, Hed- 

 don, Clute, Shane, and some more of the bee dea- 

 cons arise and explain. J. Elliott. 



Easton, Wayne Co., O., Mar. 8, 1880. 



Very likely the sod killed your bees, friend 

 E., but how do you know but that somebody 

 else might try the "sod plan," and have 

 them come out finely';' I, too, in reading 

 friend D.'s article, noticed the point you have 

 taken up, and it looked very much as if he 

 meant to say that bees died of confinement, 

 very much as human beings would, were 

 they similarly confined ; but still, 1 do not 

 think he meant to have it so understood, but 

 rather this: if the weather were so warm 

 that the bees could fly freely every day, we 

 should have no dysentery ; therefore it must 

 be the effect of confinement to their hives 

 by cold weather. At the same time, confine- 

 ment to their hives by cold weather does not 

 necessarily always produce dysentery. 



HOW THEY USE HONEY IN LOUISIANA. 



tE use a great deal of honey in cooking. For 

 all molasses is so cheap with us, honey is 

 cheaper. It stews pumpkin deliciously; 

 preserves peaches, apples, oranges, quinces, figs, 

 both Lisbon and Japan, and makes the most deli- 

 cious "butter scotch," as we school girls of Cincin- 

 nati used to call it. The extracted honey is praised 

 by every one who sees it, above the old-fashioned 

 strained honey. I have you to thank for my ever 

 doing anything with bees out of the old routine. 



HOW TO EXTEMPORIZE A "HAND RIPPER." 



I have not told you that the saws you sent are run 

 by an old straw cutter that was idle, and does splen- 



