1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



317 



having only about one-fourth of an acre as 

 yet. 



RAPE. 



22nd. — We have tried rape again this year, 

 as we have most other years, but it was a 

 failure again from the same black Ilea, ex- 

 cept one corner of the patch, where I found 

 the bees working so busily on if. about the 

 20th, that I decided a whole held of thrifty 

 plants would be one of the best honey crops 

 Ave can get. You see they had deserted the 

 clover for it. To-day, they have deserted 

 the rape. 



TIME OF BASSWOOD BLOOMING. 



I went up where the men were working in 

 the apiary, and asked if they had smelled 

 any basswood honey yet. They said they 

 had not. One of theni raised the cover to a 

 hive that had been left over night without a 

 mat. I saw some tins of comb on the cover. 

 A little honey was in it. and it was basswood, 

 pure and strong; so I knew basswood was 

 out. Afterward, I went into the woods and 

 saw the blossoms just unfolding. This is 

 about a week earlier than it ordinarily 

 blossoms. 



23d. — At 5 o'clock this morning, the bees 

 were roaring out and in their hives; this in- 

 dicates basswood, for they seldom commence 

 Avork on clover before the sun is Avell up. 

 What an exhilarating scene it is to see such 

 bustle, rush, and activity! Bees are drop- 

 ping in front of the hives on every side, ex- 

 hausted with the heavy loads they carry. I 

 have not seen the basswood orchard for over 

 a month; in fact, I dare not take the time to 

 go to it. If one of you should find me else- 

 Avhere than at my post tilling your orders, I 

 should feel guilty, almost, of a crime; and 

 God sees even if you do not. Motherwort is 

 full of bees, in spite of the bassAA r ood; and I 

 tell you a plat of cultivated motherwort 

 plants is a pretty sight to see. The catnip 

 plat adjoining is so tall and so full of buds, 

 you would hardly recognize it as catnip. 

 Melilot, too, is full of buds, and now and 

 then a fiOAA*er is out. The late Simpsons, 

 some of them, now sIioav buds. All these 

 Avillbe out just about the time when the 

 basswood closes. Amid all the cares and 

 din of business, the thought and sight of 

 these honey plants, so fresh and green and 

 thrifty, is more of a comfort and joy to me 

 than I can well tell. 



~Wi. -"hoity-toity!" Basswood honey is com- 

 ing-, in a perfect tiood. Although the boys declared 

 every hive was given plenty of room only day be- 

 fore yesterday, I thought I would take a look my- 

 self, and the first hive I found was crammed full. 

 Next I looked at the red-clover queen's hive, and al- 

 though they said she had ii empty combs just given 

 her, I found every cell full and the cells lengthened 

 out to their utmost. We have been buying new 

 h warms at 75c. per lb., and hiving them on wired 

 frames of fdn., and it is just handsome I tell you. 

 Beautiful, straight combs that can't break or sag 

 arc being made at the rate of hundreds a day. Is it 

 possible that this is a reality, and not some fairy 

 tale? Little did I think, when I fussed and sweated 

 and almost cried over my experiments a few years 

 aero, that such beautiful creation* were eventually 

 to be the result of it all. 



Pertaining to Bee Cultrui-e. 



MRS. COTTON. 



8T seems that Mrs. C. does sometimes till 

 orders after all ; here is a report in re- 

 — ' gard to the outfit : 



We have one of Mrs. Cotton's victims here in our 

 place. A widow lady and her daughter saw her cir- 

 cular which tells about making $50.00 from one 

 swarm in a season. They sent her $20.00 for a 

 swarm of pure Italians, and hive complete, and 

 feeder. They got the bees last Friday. The next 

 morning they sent for me to let them out. I went, 

 and found a hive without cover, boxes, or feeder, 

 with five frames having brood scattered around in 

 three of them, and one frame only half full of comb. 

 I looked the combs over carefully, and so did Mr. 

 Chapman, who was with me ; we found three or four 

 qupen cells started but no queen. There was about 

 half a cupful of dead bees. Mrs. Cotton says in the 

 place of the boxes, feeder, and top of hive, she sent 

 diagram of her hive, which I would not give one 

 cent for, she asked 4 or 5 dollars for it. I don't know 

 what she will put in place of the queen. If there is 

 any way to stop Mrs. Cotton from swindling, I think 

 it is time to do it. E. A. Robinson. 



Exeter, Me., May 24, 1880. 



The fact that she does occasionally send 

 something, friend R., will do much toward 

 preventing her being classed with those to 

 Avhom the department refuse to deliver 

 mails. 



MITCHELL. 



Last week we had an "angelic" visit to our town 

 by one of N. C. Mitchell's agents selling his patent 

 bee hives, etc. He claimed that the patent was up- 

 on the division board; and, upon learning that I 

 was using the division board in my hives, he asked 

 what authority I had for using it. I told him it was 

 upon the authority of A. I. Root's publications. He 

 told me I would be attended to, upon which he took 

 my name and address, giving me the enclosed no- 

 tice, and saying he would turn over my case to N. C. 

 Mitchell. Dr. H. J. Peters. 



Rogersville, Ohio, June V, 1880. 



Thanks. The paper you send is only 

 another of Mitchell's schemes to scare those 

 Avho are so thoughtless as to be intimidated 

 by such foolish threats. The man who 

 handed it to you can be arrested for an at- 

 tempt to obtain money under false preten- 

 ses. The paper itself, which is in substance 

 the same as the extracts I gave on p. 155, 

 April No., has the stamp of an absurdity on 

 its face. This paper, too, says that, grant- 

 ing it to be an old device, the patent laws 

 are such that he can recover damages all the 

 same. What a beautiful system of equity 

 such an arrangement would be for a free 

 country. 



I saw some of Mrs. Cotton's advertisements in the 

 Youth's Companion of Boston, published by Perry, 

 Mason, & Co., and so I just clipped some extracts 

 from Humbugs and Swindles, concerning her, and 

 sent them to Perry, Mason, & Co. They thanked me 

 for it, and stopped her advertisement. She has not 

 sued me for slander, and I guess she won't. 



Andrew Smilet. 



Housers Mills, Monroe Co., Pa., June 17, 1880. 



Bight, friend X.; you did your fellow men 

 and your nation a service, by trying to re- 

 press fraud, and to protect our people from 

 dissappointment and losses. Never fear the 

 threats of evil doers, Avhen you know you are 

 right. 



