1880 



GLEANINGS UN BEE CULTURE. 



557 



bees with our Cyprian colony; but he says all the 

 smoking- you can get up won't make any difference. 

 They stung and carried out every last bee. Not 

 much chance to rob "'them fellers." We have given 

 them frames of candy, and they are now rearing 

 their own bees bravely. 



FEEDING EXTlt ACTED HONEY, TO GET THE BEES TO 

 FILL OUT SECTIONS. 



We have had some statements made recently in 

 regard to the matter, that are so different from my 

 own experience (in regard to the loss of honey by so 

 doing), that I would suggest an experiment. Get 

 a pair of platform scales with a dial, capable of re- 

 cording lull lbs. Set a hive of bees on the platform, 

 and, in the third story above the frames, put a tin 

 pan full of honey. If there is a loss, the hand of the 

 dial will record it while the bees are taking the hon- 

 ey out of the pan. I have made exactly the above 

 experiment, and the whole apparatus weighed just 

 about as much when the honey was down in the 

 combs as it did when in the pan. I gave the colony 

 50 lbs. of thick honey, and they weighed so nearly the 

 50 lbs. more, that there was practically no loss. If 

 you doubt it, try it yourself. For all that, I would 

 not feed to get comb honey, for the reasons I have 

 given in recent numbers. 



— H i m> 



EXPRESS CHARGES. 



Will the friends be careful about sending us 

 things by express that we do not order? If you pre- 

 pay the charges, all very well; but even then it 

 would be better to ask first if we would care for such 

 a thing or article. 1 know you mean it in kindness, 

 and I presume you do not consider that the charges 

 often amount to nearly a dollar on things that may 

 be of no value to us. 



One of you sent us a box of roots by express, on 

 which the charge was 80c' I did not order them, and 

 I do not want them. If I refuse to accept them, the 

 express company will have to lose it, unless our 

 friend will lose it himself. He, knowing my zeal for 

 new honey-plants, in the generosity of his heart sent 

 me a whole box full of roots, not thinking, apparent- 

 ly, of the charges, or that I might preter to try a 

 single plant first, to ascertain whether it would 

 thrive on our soil. Shall I let him suffer, or even the 

 iDnocent express co? Another friend sent by ex- 

 press some back volumes of Gleanings, on which 

 the charges are, I think, 45c. We have tons, almost, 

 of the same already. Shall I pay the charges? 1 

 said once I wouldn't; but I guess I will, after all. 

 But, please be careful, my friends, will you not? 



THOSE $1.00 WATERBURY WATCHES. 



My friends, we can not very well be disappointed 

 on these right away, for we have just opened a box 

 containing a whole gross; yes, 114 of these beautiful 

 stem-winding watches. We shall have every one 

 carefully regulated an.1 tested before sending them 

 our, and every one that does not please you may be 

 sent back any time within :S0 days, you paying nil 

 postage. This will save all need of a long descrip- 

 tion of them. I carry one myself, and it gives me 

 more pleasure than any watch I ever before owned. 

 If yon wish, you can have the one in my pocket. By 

 buying so many. I am enabled to furnish them, by 

 the dozen, for $36.00, by express. Not less than a 

 whole dozen will he sold at this price; but. for ac- 

 commodation, I will sell two watches for $7.50; three 

 for $11.00. or six for $20.00. You may say my con- 

 science allows me more profit on these than it did 

 on the honey; very true, for I have to be responsi- 

 ble for their " good behavior," tor 30 days. It you 

 will take all the risks. I will make any watch 25e 

 cheaper, except tnose sold by the dozen or half -dttz. 

 For every wa\ch wanted by mail, you must send 15c 

 extra, for postage mi 1 registering. A watch will be 

 sent free to any one sending us $12.00 for 1:.' subscrib- 

 ers, and asking no other premium. 



SOME MOKE BUSINESS TROUBLES; OK. (II VSl.'s If E- 

 CEIPT-BOOK. 

 A customer asked if we could furnish him Dr. 

 Chase's receipt-book, and if so, at how much. We 

 replied. #2.00 for the new edition, just out. He sent 

 the money, and we wrote the publisher to mail it to 

 his address, and send lis bill; or, if he chose, to send 

 us bill first. No reply but a printed circular. We 

 wrote again, and he said he couldn't furnish it for 

 less than $2.00 to anybody, and he must hav« cash in 



advance. We sent the money, telling him to be sure 

 and mail it to our customer direct, as he must be 

 impatient at such delay. He mailed it directly to us 

 instead. I therefore had to sell the book at cost, and 

 pay a heavy postage on it besides. But, worst of all, 

 come to look it up, our clerk had kept no record of 

 the transaction, and there was no way but to go to 

 the publisher again after the address. This pub- 

 lisher's name is K. A. Beal, Ann Arbor, Mich. 1 ex- 

 plained to him we were publishers, and that it was 

 ptettyhaidto do business without a commission, 

 and then pay for his blunders besides; but he seems 

 to be happy for all that,— at least, he does not say he 

 is sorry. Dr. Cha«e used to give us an excellent re- 

 ceipt-book fora little money; but now his $2.00 one 

 has the whole fore part of it occupied with his pat- 

 ent medicines that he will send for 50c. a box, or a 

 dollar a bottle. I do n^t mean to say this spitefully, 

 but to warn you that, if you send for the book, you 

 will pay $2.00 for a patent-medicine almanac with a 

 little about bees, in very small type, at the back part 

 of it. 



— -e».-S>.<3»- 



ARE THERE BLACK BEES IN ITALY? 



Friend Jones assures us there are; but when 

 questioned further, if I am correct, says he could 

 find none in the districts where Tremontani, Bian- 

 concini, and Fiorini are located. You will remember, 

 we have purchased queens from these parties only. 

 I should think we have imported from 500 to 1000 

 since I began the importing business. The greater 

 part of these have been introduced and tested in our 

 own apiary. Not one of all these has ever produced 

 bees that did not show the three yellow bands, under 

 the test given in the ABC. Of those sent out to 

 other parties, we have had perhaps a half-dozen 

 cases where they called them hybrids. Of course, 

 more than that number have been called hybrids by 

 inexperienced persons; but, all but about a half- 

 dozen, as nearly as I can judge, have afterward ac- 

 knowledged that the bees were all right, according 

 to the ABC test. Of the half-dozen, at least half of 

 them at first pronounced the queen's progeny all 

 right, but after a time, sometimes the next season, 

 they pronounced them h\ brids. I can not but think, 

 and I believe they are inclined to agree with me, 

 that the queens in these cases migtit have been 

 changed by some of the various means that have 

 been so of ten mentioned of late. Notwithstanding 

 this, I have, in most instances, if not all, given them 

 another queen. I did this because I would rather 

 lose myself, where there is even a small probability 

 of my wronging somebody else. One or two of the 

 three have afterward voluntarily paid a part of the 

 value of the second imported queen. This leaves 

 three cases unexplained. If I am correct, two of 

 these were queens that produced three-banded bees 

 in our apiary, but did not after being introduced in- 

 to other hives. I can not hut think that in these 

 cases, there is a possibility that there was a queen 

 left in the hive where they were introduced, and 

 thus they were replaced. What do you think about 

 it, after the facts I have given? We have one case 

 remaining, where an imported queen was sent out, I 

 think, right from the box she was imported in, and 

 she produced hybrid bees. I sent another, but the 

 trieud who received her agreed with me that there 

 was a possibility, at least, that, she was replaced, but 

 that he saw her so often, he could hardly think such 

 was the case. He paid me part of the price of the 

 second one. 



Why do we not clip their wings? Because we 

 should catch "Hail Columbia" from a great part of 

 our customers, if we clipped all our queens as soon 

 as introduced. We might clip them as wesend them 

 out, when requested to do so; but as a queen, after 

 being clipped, is excited, and possibly suffers pain, 

 she is not in the best condition to bear the hardship 

 of a long journey. Besides all this, it is no positive 

 proof if your queen is clipped ; for queens, after be- 

 ing balled, frequently have their wings bitten off, so 

 that it would be difficult to tell whether her wings 

 had ever been clipped or not. Look and see how 

 many of your old queens have stumped and jagged 

 wings. What shall we do to be sure we have always 

 the same original queen we purchased? I do not 

 know; but we arc now making a test ol aniline on 

 their wings. 



Mr. Jones says he found plenty of black bees in the 

 vicinity Of Home, if I am correct. He also said there 

 had been much complaint of the queens sent by Po- 

 metta. It may be well, when buying an imported 

 queen, to know who sent bur out. 



