340 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



July 



CLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



-A.. I. HOOT, 

 EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, 



MEDINA, OHIO. 



TEKMS: $1.00 PER YEAR, POST-PAID. 



FOR CLUBBING RATES, SEE FIRST PAGE 

 OF READING MATTER. 



IVEIEZIDXlXr A, JUIjY X, I88O. 



Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.— Matt. 

 xix. 19. 



PAINTING HIVES. 



Since printing the article on this subject, on page 

 r>28, we learn from friend L., that the proportions 

 for mixing paint there given, are wrong. Instead 

 of 4 and :5 gallons of oil, read 5 and 4 gallons. 



I expect it will take all summer to get this "ink 

 business" straight. The June Exchange says I claim 

 never to have sent any ink by mail. I have never 

 sent 2 oz. bottles of ink, but I do send "little bits of 

 ones' Mn a block of wood, and, should the bottle be 

 broken, as the wood in any case would soak up 

 every drop of ink, and more too, I think it in strict 

 compliance with the spirit of the law. So also is the 

 water in the tin bottles; and I never meant to im- 

 ply otherwise. I am very glad indeed that the Peet 

 introducing and shipping cage has proven a success. 



charity. 

 Just now, it seems to me, the most prevailing sin 

 I know of among us is a want of charity. Why do 

 we, so many of us, persist in saying athing was done 

 purposely, when it was entirely unintentional. No 

 matter how many times we have found that no 

 wrong was intended, the very next time, we take it 

 for granted that our friend made a mistake in his 

 own favor just because he wanted to put in his own 

 pocket a few cents that belong- to us. For variety's 

 sake, if nothing' more, let us try how it will work to 

 give a brother more credit for good intentions than 

 he probably deserves. 



Editors should be servants of the people; at least 

 it seems to me, from the nature of things, they 

 ought. If this is so, then they ought to be very ac- 

 commodating, especially to the people who send 

 them money. In view of the latter point we have 

 just made arrangements to receive Canada money 

 and Canada postage stamps at par. Although the 

 banks refuse to take it except at from 3 to 5 per cent 

 discount, we have no trouble at all in getting full 

 value by sending it by registered letter to a friend 

 in Canada, who does the business, solely for the sake 

 of accommodating his countrymen. 



When you are ordering odd sized sections, frames, 

 separators, etc., please give the exact dimensions of 

 what you want. Do all the figuring yourself, and do 

 not leave computations for myself or clerks to do. 

 The dimensions of your hives are of no possible use 

 to us at all; if you give them to ask my opinion and 

 advice, I can tell you that before hand. I would 

 burn up the best hive I ever saw or heard of, or give 

 it to the first man who would wheel it away without 



asking questions, if it did not hold the regular 

 standard Langstroth frame. If your hive will hold 

 these, it will hold the regular standard goods all the 

 way through; but if it will not, the quicker you 

 throw it away and commence in the beaten track 

 with the rest of the world, the better. 



Sometimes our friends say, "The colony will die, 

 if I do not get that queen right away," and, if I re- 

 collect aright, one or two have complained that their 

 colonies did die because those who advertised queens 

 did not send them. Of course, queens should be 

 sent promptly, and I would not, for a moment, try to 

 excuse these vexatious delays; but, my friends, you 

 certainly make a grave mistake when you leave a 

 colony in such a shape that it must stand still and 

 die, if the queen does not come just as you want her. 

 Give them some brood or eggs, and let them be at 

 work, and then, when the queen docs come, they 

 will be right in the line of business, and in very 

 much better trim to receive a queen than if left to 

 suffer and, possibly, have a fertile worker" in her 

 stead. If you have a queenlcss colony, give them a 

 comb with eggs in, at least once a week, or you are 

 hardly tit to be a bee-keeper. 



On humanity, humanity, why will you be so care- 

 less! It is said the world now moves in waves; first 

 it surges in one direction, and then in another. The 

 latest "surge" in business seems to be a propensity 

 to say that a part of the goods ordered were not in 

 the package; but some of our clerks have become 

 so keen and sharp on that point, of late, probably 

 because of sore experience, that they are generally 

 able to say whether the goods were in or not, and 

 when they are sure the articles were put in, we 

 write back to look more carefully. To my surprise, 

 at least, quite a number of replies show the clerks 

 to be right. Here is one: 



A. I. Root:— 1 found the block several days since, and this 

 morning found win' at tin/ bottom of tin- last box. 

 Johnstown, Ohio, June 5, 188). J. M. Brown. 



I do not mean to complain, my friends, but I want 

 you to be mild when saying goods were omitted. I 

 presume you, like ourselves, are crowded and hur- 

 ried, but let us all take time enough to have "lots" 

 of charity, one for anolher, and to be slow in censur- 

 ing each other too severely. 



Our advertising clerk, as a general thing, is very 

 reliable; in fact, it is so long since she has made a 

 mistake, I hardly took the trouble to review her 

 work as I do some of the rest, but in our June No., 

 it seems that things got bungled badly, somehow. 

 Some advertisements were put in that were not 

 wanted, and, worse s' ill, two or three were left out 

 that were wanted, and I do not know really whom 

 to scold, for all that were in any way connected with 

 it show very good reasons why they were not at all 

 to blame. I guess it must be myself, and I am not 

 only very sorry, but I will pay damages on receipt 

 of bill, if our friends will "think gently of the err- 

 ing." Our friends Scovell & Anderson were one of 

 the parties who were used so badly, and our old 

 stand by, Hayhurst, was another. I do not know 

 but friend H. thought I did it out of spite, for if 

 there is any one man who can beat us in putting up 

 and shipping a queen and a pound of bees, it is 

 friend H. himself. Look at his advertisement, and 

 then try him. Friend Parker also, who invented the 

 beautiful machine for putting in starters, had his 

 advertisement left out of May No. by mistake. 



