1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



541 



bee near. A few bees were then about noon on the 

 Spider plants. When the Simpson and Spider plants 

 first began to bloom, 1 could, every forenoon, shake 

 the drops of honey out of both, but lately could find 

 it in neither. This morning I went earlier than usu- 

 al to examine them, while yet the sun lacked a 

 half-hour of rising, and found the bees already 

 there, but no ants, yellow-jackets, or bumble-bees 

 then. They doubtless came in time to smell where 

 the honey had been. 



MOLLIE HEATH PLANT. 



Please tell us just how to grow this plant. I have 

 put the seed in the hands of a florist three times to 

 start for me, and but one seed germinated. Your 

 directions, "Stand seed on end," was closely ob- 

 served, and one seed sent up a plant, but the little 

 thing refused to "stand on end" after a few days. I 

 again obtained two seeds, as the plant had "damped 

 off." These I placed in the opini ground, and said, 

 "Take care of yourselves." No return from them. 

 Please direct us more fully, and describe the plant 

 and its bloom. 



SECTION BOXES. 



We have received samples of these from several 

 parties. Do they all send a fair sample of what we 

 may expect if we order a thousand? I received from 

 you a sample section very much smoother inside 

 than the thousand I received from you. Those 

 bought were satisfactory, but I think the sample 

 should always fairly represent the goodts. 



Oxford, Pa., July 15, '80. S. W. Morrison, M. D. 

 I have never yet seen a Mollie Heath hon- 

 ey-plant in bloom. We have one in our gar- 

 den, but, although it is 3 or 4 feet high, there 

 are no blossoms as yet. We too had trouble 

 in getting it started, but the beauty of the 

 foliage is well worth the trouble, after all. — 

 Samples of sections should certainly be no 

 better than the regular run ; but, our stock 

 of seasoned lumber giving out last season, 

 obliged us, against our will, to send out 

 work not quite as nice as samples sent in the 

 spring. 



RHEUMATISM AND BEE-STINGS; A GOOD REPORT AT 

 LAST. 



I noticed friend Lemmon's questions in September 

 Gleanings, and forgot to give any answer until I 

 saw it in the Oct. No. Seven or eight years ago 1 

 was struck down with neuralgia, or acute rheuma- 

 tism. I suffered all that it is possible for a mortal to 

 suffer and live. I tried all the liniments I could get 

 hold of, but with no effect. Since then I have han- 

 dled bees all the time. The doctors tell me that is 

 what is curing me. I can't tell how many stings I 

 get a season. I transferred 428 swarms this season, 

 and did not get stung except when I hurt the bee. I 

 often do not know when I get stung. 



Enfield, 111., Oct. 8, 1880. A. W. Dalzell. 



3 more colonies for a new start. In the meantime, I 

 got the ABC and Gleanings, and I now have 6 fine 

 strong colonies, each one with a fine large Italian 

 queen, which I raised from a queen I got from Hay- 

 hurst, all in L. Simplicity hives. I have received 75 

 lbs. of section honey so far, and $100 worth of expe- 

 rience. While I am writing, I would like to say two 

 things; i. e., the Hs story, to hold 28 sections, I could 

 not use, on account of the fact that the sections 

 would get gummed so fast to the broad strips that I 

 would often pull the bottoms oil' and otherwise dis- 

 joint them in trying to get them off; and then, 

 again, the bees will get on the strips and get mashed. 

 Second, I have some trouble by getting the comb 

 in sections stuck to the tin separators, and thus pull 

 the capping off when I go to remove them. 

 Austin, Texas, Sept. 29, '80. James G. Taylor. 

 I think your trouble with the 4 story, friend 

 T., lies in not knowing how to handle them, 

 in some way, for we have sold thousands of 

 such hives, and no one else has made such a 

 complaint. Find a section somewhere that 

 will come out easily, and you can then very 

 readily take out the rest. Drive the bees 

 out of the way with smoke when you wish to 

 replace sections. I fear you have not used 

 fdn. starters, if your bees stick the honey 

 fast to the separators. 



SOME OF AN A B C SCHOLAR'S TRIALS. 



I am getting along very well in bee-keeping, con- 

 sidering this is only my second year, and hardly 

 that. Up to the middle of last year I didn't know a 

 bee from a blow-fly. It was then I accidentally got 

 a swarm, or, rather, two. which 1 soon after made 

 one. That was 1 he time I sent to you for the first 

 queens I ever saw. ' The man I got the bees from 

 cheated me. There was not a quart of bees in both 

 hives put together, and, of course, in my greenness 

 these soon dwindled down to "M. T." hives, or, rath- 

 er, logs; for they were in logs. Last winter I bought 



GRAPEVINES FOR SHADE, ETC. 



I got one of your ABC books last summer. I be- 

 gan with two colonies, and now I have an increase of 

 six. I use the L. frame and the Simplicity hive. 

 This was a poor season for bees. All the honey 

 they gathered was in August. But my object in 

 writing to you is to say something about the grape- 

 vines. You told us in your ABC book to plant the 

 grapevines under the central wire, and then you 

 said that you had your entrances in all directions of 

 the compass, and I can't understand. It seems to 

 me the vines will be in the way of the bees if the en- 

 trances are turned southward. I would like to fix 

 my apiary in the same way, and I don't know how 

 to get at it. And something else I would like to 

 know: Don't you ever work up the ground around 

 the vines? It seems to me that if the ground never 

 gets worked up they can't grow; and when the 

 ground is worked and hoed up, it spoils the apiary. 



Berne, Ind., Oct. i, 1880. David Schwartz. 



The bees fly right out under the grapevine 

 trellis, without the least trouble in the 

 world, friend S., and we do not dig up the 

 ground around the vines, because we do not 

 want a very vigorous growth, where a vine 

 is confined to such narrow limits. I discov- 

 ered, by accident, a plan for making the 

 vines bear, at least on our soil. Last season 

 we prepared one of the seven apiaries 

 for setting out the hives, by spreading a 

 bank of coal cinders on the north side 

 of the vine, preparatory to setting out 

 hives. This spring we were astonished to 

 find this one apiary of about 60 vines full of 

 blossoms, while the rest had almost none. 

 When they were loaded with ripe fruit, it 

 was a sight indeed to see such a marked dif- 

 ference. A farming friend, on looking at 

 the matter, and hearing me defend coal ash- 

 es as a manure, asked if we did not burn 

 some wood with the coal ; and, when told of 

 the sticks and shavings that some days al- 

 most run the engine, gave it as his op'nion, 

 that it was only owing to the well-known 

 virtue of wood ashes instead of coal cinders. 



