224 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



if you request it, I think the f rieuds generally will 

 accede cheerfully. My own report is this: I com- 

 menced, May 1st, 1879, with 154 stocks, increased to 

 250, taking about two tons of comb honey. The last 

 50 stocks were unwisely made, as I doubled up after- 

 ward and had left to put in cellar, 230 stocks. Nine 

 died in the cellar, and I expect to double up some 

 more bringing the number to perhaps not much over 

 200 by May 1st. Till then, I must sign myself— 

 Marengo, 111., April 5, 1880. C. C. Miller, 15t. 



LOCATING NEAR A BARNYARD. 



I have located my bees near a barnyard. A friend 

 says that it is not a good location on account of the 

 effluvia from this source. Is this so? 



Hudson, N. Y., Mar. 22, '80. J. McNeill. 



I should like the barnyard above all things, 

 friend M., and if I could not take care of the 

 effluvia, by converting it into a fertilizer for 

 honey plants, I should consider myself help- 

 less. Of course I would not have the hives 

 where the occupants of the barnyard could 

 get at them, for you might then have a scene 

 like our last month's cartoon ; but I would 

 have a nice barnyard, and a nice apiary too. 



A NOVEL WAY OF FEEDING BEE CANDY. 



As to your point of giving bees water, I make a 

 trough of flour candy, brush the inside of trough 

 with melted beeswax, lay it on a thin board or piece 

 of tin, place it on top of the frames under the quilt, 

 fill the trough with water, lay 2 or 3 little sticks 

 across the trough that bees may get at the water, 

 and the consequence is that now, in my hive which 

 has this arrangement, the bees are eating up the 

 trough finely and taking the water, and that very 

 few bees can be seen flying from that hive at any 

 time, even when others are out very strong. 



T. L. Vondorn. 



Omaha. Nebraska, Jan. 24, 1S80. 



Thanks, friend V. Since you have men- 

 tioned it, it has just occurred to me that I 

 can have the girls leave a cavity in our ma- 

 ple-sugar bee-candy bricks, pour in some 

 wax, and then pour it out again, so that the 

 cavity will hold water ; give the bees a brick, 

 pour in some water, and let them eat it up, 

 feeder and all. 



GOOD FOR A MICHIGAN SCHOOL-MA'AM. 



A young lady school-teacher in the town of Speak- 

 er, while picking wild berries, found a swarm of 

 hybrids on a bush. Not liking to lose the prize, she 

 loosened her skirt, fastened one end, shook the bees 

 in, carried them home, and, for aught I know, is to- 

 day a prosperous apiarist,— a good sight for some 

 young ABC bee scholar. J. B. Graves. 



Richmond, Mich., Jan. 16, 1880. 



No wonder Michigan has the leading ag- 

 ricultural college of the U. S., when even 

 the school-ma'ams have energy and determ- 

 ination to perfom a feat like this. I am 

 afraid some of our Ohio school-mistresses 

 would not even know what a swarm of bees 

 was, if they should find one. I knew of two 

 women who let a swarm hang on a tree in 

 their garden all day, and afterward said they 

 did not know they were of any value to any- 

 body. Has any other state a school-ma'am 

 that can equal Michigan's daughter? Per- 

 haps I am mistaken, and there are lots of 

 them equally smart, but nobody knows 

 about it. 



THE MINISTER AND HIS BEES. 



Friend Root:— I suppose you think by this time 

 that you have "got rid of me," as my subscription 

 expired with the Dec. No.; but you are mistaken, 

 for here I am again, and here is my dollar for anoth- 

 er year, beginning with Jan. You see I made about 

 $40.00 with my bees last season, and had I not read 

 Gleanings for several years, it is very likely that I 

 would have been minus that amount, not to speak of 

 the pleasure I have derived from devotion to my 

 little pets. I enjoyed those cartoons very much; es- 

 pecially some of the first, for they hit me pretty 

 close. I wonder, however, if some of the fraternity 

 havn't had a little of our experience? 



One day I came home, and found my wife a little 

 "out of sorts," for you sec she had been hanging out 

 the clothes, and the bees objected, and (like the 

 "rooster" we read about in the school book) drove 

 her "out of the yard." This recalled to my mind a 

 nursery rhyme and I said: 



"The maid was in the garden, 

 A hanging out her clothes, 

 Wlien along came a 'honey bee' 

 And 'stung her on' her nose." 



Then she ordered me to get my smoker and keep 

 the bees away until she finished her work, and so I 

 did; but I thought to myself, wouldn't I enjoy a 

 scene like this, if some one else was in my boots? 

 But it is time to stop this foolishness, so send along 

 your Gleanings for I'm getting hungry for some- 

 thing new. L. S. Jones. 



New Philadelphia, O., Jan. 23, 1880. 



HIRING BOYS TO TAKE CARE OF THE BEES. 



I have 17 colonies of bees on summer stands. Will 

 it pay me to hire a boy to attend to them? As I am 

 blacksmithing, my bees don't get the care they 

 should have. Have you some boys that have learned 

 to handle bees who could be got? and what would 

 be the wages? Chas. Brelsford. 



St. Paris, Champaign Co., O., Jan. 23, 1880. 



I£ you have plenty of work to do yourself, 

 I think a boy could be made quite profita- 

 ble, but, in all probability, you could get one 

 right near your home, just as good, and a 

 great deal cheaper than one we could send 

 you from Medina. You will have to look 

 over his work often; you will have to be 

 kind and patient with him, and be his 

 friend, and he will be worth a great deal to 

 you, and you will likely be worth a great 

 deal to him. Be cross to him, and scold 

 him when he does things exactly as he was 

 not to do them, think him a fool even if you 

 do not call him so, and he will not be worth 

 4 cents a day. 1 have tried both ways, and 

 know. Almost any boy who is not really 

 vicious or lazy can be taught to like bees, 

 and to enjoy working among them; and, 

 when he does this, he will be profitable at 

 the wages boys ordinarily receive. 



WIRE-CLOTH SEPARATORS. 



My wire separators did well, —better than the tin 

 or wood, as they allow the heat to be more freely 

 diffused, and the bees to pass and work more widely 

 on the startcis, over the wtiole of the sections, as 

 though they were working in one large empty box. 

 The open wire also enables you to see at all times 

 what they are about, even better than if divided 

 with glass. I am satisfied that strips, or ribbons, of 

 wire woven with meshes — say from J.i to l A inch sq., 

 out of very fine wire, would make the best and the 



