18S0 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



533 



against it they have increased to 9 strong - colonies, 

 and the largest swarm I ever saw went to the woods 

 and Ig-ot some honey besides— perhaps CO lbs.— while 

 my neighbors have had no increase nor honey. 



ITALIANS VS. BLACKS. 



As for the comparative merits of the Italians and 

 blacks, they will not bear a comparison, and 1 do be- 

 lieve, with my little experience, that for real "vim," 

 "get up," swarming, and gathering honey, the hy- 

 brids are the best. 



HATCHING QUEENS FROM DRONE EGGS. 



I wish to say to friend B. F. Pratt, p. 477, October 

 Gleanings, that I know he is mistaken about rear- 

 ing a good queen from drone brood. The thing is 

 contrary to nature, reason, and— my experience .The 

 latter, however, would not amount to much, al- 

 though I have tried it in 3 different hives. But this 

 is my principal reason: All worker bees have im- 

 perfect female organs. So says the throng. The 

 work the bees do to make a queen is to so manage to 

 feed the lame as to perfectly develop the organs; 

 then she becomes capable of propagating the spe- 

 cies. But nothing less than the power of God can 

 change the male organs to female. 



The species of flgwort which friend Demaree 

 speaks of grows here abundantly, but I have never 

 seen bees on them. 



PROPOLIS, AND WHERE IT COMES FROM. 



Friend S. H. Lane thinks he has discovered where 

 the propolis comes from. It comes from the sweet 

 gum in this country. The "wee ones" get a wad of 

 chewing wax every time I open a hive. I have 

 watched them taking it off. It is so sticky and 

 tough that it seems difficult to get off; yet they get 

 it and pack it in their baskets. 



STINGS AND RHEUMATISM. 



I have tried the bee-sting for rheumatism, suffi- 

 ciently to know that it is the poorest patent medi- 

 cine that 1 ever saw. 



Yours for 1881, B. F. Carthy. 



Cabot, Lonoke Co., Ark., Oct. 8, 1880. 



f ftg '%rcMwu>" 



This department is to be kept for the benefit of those who are 

 dissatisfied; and when anything is amiss, Ihope you will "talk 

 right out." As a rule, wo will omit names and addresses, to 

 avoid being too personal. 



f] HE latter part of April last, my wife ordered 

 some bee fixtures of you, which she received 

 — ' the first week in June. While she was wait- 

 ing for them she lost 3 swarms of bees, Italians, for 

 the need of hives. You must have known, when 

 you placed the order on your books, that you could 

 not send in time for spring wants. To be on the 

 safe side for next season, I persuaded her to order 

 her next year's wants in August, and so be sure of 

 them when needed. She accordingly sent you an 

 order the last week in August. The goods were re- 

 ceived Sept. 10th. When your Sept. Gleanings 

 came to us, we saw your offer to allow 10 per cent 

 discount for goods ordered during the month of 

 September. I told her it would apply to her order, 

 as a matter of course, and she accordingly wrote 

 you, and T inclose your reply. 



She is considerably out by your short-comings, 

 and I insist that she has good reasons for claiming 

 the discount. She has great faith in you— I should 

 have more; but my experience, made up of 27 years 

 in active and successful business, is, that those who 

 mix up their religious matters with their business- 

 bear watching.— The biggest loss I ever sustained 

 ($1700 cash lent) was by a man of this stripe. I 

 should think you would want to make amends for 

 the loss caused. I am sure I would. I do not ask it 

 as a favor, but claim it as a right. Think it over, 

 and let me know 3'oui conclusions. E. B. H. 



Oct. 4, 1880. 



Aly friends, I should not have given the 

 above, were it not for the paragraph that re- 

 fers to the faults of those who profess to be 

 Christians, and especially to those who have 

 the courage to carry their religion into busi- 

 ness ; who are not afraid to say before men, 

 that they are trying to follow' their Savior. 

 Jt is a sad thing for anybody to take a fellow- 

 being's money without rendering an equiva- 

 lent ; but, my friends, it is a far sadder 

 thing for one to do it who professes to 

 try to do right in the sight of God. I fear 

 these things do exist, at least to some extent, 

 or we should not so often hear of it ; and it 

 is that we may do better that I have brought 

 this matter up to-day. If everyone would 

 do a little better himself, we would have a 

 reformed world. If it seems to us that we 

 are doing about right already, let us, in view 

 of the selfishness that we are forced to ad- 

 mit exists in us all, try to do a little more 

 than "about right.'' If we each decide to 

 do this, we shall, in .all likelihood, even then, 

 do only about what is just. 



When I made the offer of 10 per cent off, 

 in our Sept. No., the clerks asked at once if 

 they should allow the same discount on or- 

 ders received in Aug. I replied that most of 

 the August orders were for the fall crop, and 

 would not have to be held over for another 

 season ; and, as there must be some detinite 

 time for the discount to take effect, it would 

 probably be as well to have it commence the 

 first day of the month. The above order 

 was received in August and filled in Sep- 

 tember, which, perhaps, would alter the case 

 somewhat. To be on the safe side, we will 

 allow the discount. It will be remembered, 

 that I asked our friends who suffered from 

 our being behind hand in the spring, on page 

 248, June No., to send in their bills for dam- 

 ages. So few sent in such bills, that I not 

 only felt deeply grateful to those of you who 

 have suffered, but gained a new faith in my 

 fellow-men, and once more decided that this 

 world is not a world of "•selfish and grasp- 

 ing'' people. You know, my friends, some- 

 thing of the trials and struggles I have 

 passed through in trying to get selfishness 

 out of my own heart. Well, the result is, 

 that I have not only found that Christian 

 people are trying to be fair and honest, but 

 that those who are skeptical are also, as a 

 rule, trying to do the same, where misun- 

 derstandings and differences of opinion do 

 not conflict. Now, in regard to the three 

 swarms of bees that were lost. I think I am 

 willing, friend II., to pay you for the loss, 

 whatever amount you may think right under 

 the circumstances! 



