188o 



LEANi:^^GS IX BEE CULTURE 



has done his work well, for he is a man of talent 

 and education, and, I believe, a successful bee-keep- 

 er. One of the new features we find in the book is a 

 home-made circular saw, illustrated and described. 

 The engraver has, however, made very bad work in 

 picturing the implement, and I am sorry to say 

 that his printers have done wretchedly in the get- 

 up of the book. T do not believe it pays, friends, to 

 have books made at offices unaccustomed to such 

 work. Perhaps friend B. will have out a new edi- 

 tion soon, with these typographical errors and 

 faulty presswork remedied. Perhaps these things 

 will not be noticed so much by those who do not 

 make printing a business. The book is mailed, in 

 paper covers, for 50 cts. ; cloth bound, T-j cts. See 

 advertisment. 



THE I'ltOSPECT.S roil ISS-'i. 



Gleanings, with all its faults and failings, even 

 during this time of general depression in business, 

 is already beyond what it ever was before in the 

 way of a subscription list. 1 feel very grateful, 

 friends, to think we are able to start out with the 

 first issue with almost a full subscription list. Our 

 mails are so heavy now that it is about all I can do 

 to read the hmincgs part of it each day, let alone 

 reading the articles that are contributt^d for i)ubli- 

 cation. A great iiortion of these will doubtless 

 have to wait until a little later in the season before 

 we can find a place for them, as has hapi)ened al- 

 most every year of late. When the friends send in 

 their subscription it comes ijuite natural for them 

 to send a report or article, and we are glad to have 

 them do so; and even though we can not use them 

 all as soon as they appear, they are, most of them, 

 just as valuable a few months later. It hlis been 

 the general impression, that 18H4 luid giVen a rather 

 ])Oorcroii of honey; but the reports that come in 

 with the subscriptions seem to me to indicate that 

 the crop has been at least a fair one. There are 

 b(M"-keepers enough in our land to give a fair sup- 

 port to all the journals; and bee-journals, like in- 

 dividuals, dill'er widely. Therefore, friends, if one 

 journal does not please you, quietly drop it and take 

 another. So far as I am concerned I do not e.xpect 

 —in fact, it would be strange if Gi.e.vxi.ngs did suit 

 everybody. For my part I am (luite willing you 

 should take some otlier, if you prefer it; and when- 

 ever I meet you I will try to be just as willing to ex- 

 tend a neighborly hand as if you w(M-e one of our 

 own subscribers. 



i;UOOVING-SAWS THAT SMOKE. 



FiKVF.n ALof the Iriends speak about having troub- 

 le with saws for groi>\ing the ends of the bolt of 

 plank for making section bo.ves. The trouble is, 

 that you have too many teeth in your saws, or they 

 are not filed in the proper shajjf. Now, then, friends, 

 it is very important to have this matter e.\aet. We 

 liav(! had years of experience, and know all about 

 it; and if you do just as T tell you your teeth won't 

 smoke, and one man can push the bolts over the 

 saw, without fatigue either. The teeth must be 

 large. Snuill ones fill with dust, and clog »ip. Kor 

 a si.v-inch grooving saw, the points of the teeth 

 should be fully three-fourths ol an inch apart, and 

 they must be filed so the shape will be according to 

 the diagrams given in the A U C book. We have 

 sent out saws that were not nuvde as they should be, 

 before we knew any better. In many cases the! best 

 way to lix the saw will be to take out every other 

 lootli. If tlifv are :i little mure than tliree-fourths 



of an inch apart, it woukUnot matter. A good stout 

 gummer or emery-wheel is then needed. Where the 

 fault has been ours, I will pay the expense of fix- 

 ing them. 



DAMAGING A ]JeE-KEEP£U\S KEPCTATIOX BY" AC- 

 CUSING HIM Of ADCLTEltATING HIS HONEV. 



My friends, if your reputation is what it ought to 

 be, I do not believe a slander can hurtVou in the long 

 run, to any great extent. Such stories do not often 

 stick long to the name of ajgood^man. Instead of 

 getting greatly stirred up about this matter of 

 adulteration, be so frank and open in your business, 

 and so willing to.let evei-ybody see what you are do- 

 ing, and how you do it, that when any such charge 

 is made against you it will of itself recoil back on 

 the one who started it. I can not remember that 1 

 ever knew a good^man very much hurt by stories 

 circulated about him. There are people in almost 

 every neighborhood, whose standing is such that 

 nobody thinks of accusing them of such work. AVell . 

 your business is to set quietly about it and male 

 yourself one of that kind of people; and then if 

 anybody accuses you wrongfully it will be like 

 throwing muddy water on a duck's back. It will 

 slip off so quick that nobody will notice it, and even 

 you j-ourself will not be conscious of ha\ ing been 

 harmed. 



BEES AND yUEENS DURING 1)SS4. 



OUK queen-clerk reports as follows: Queens" sold 

 during 1884, 3.596. Of the above number, :i-tC8 were 

 untested queens. Pounds of bees sold, 470. As a 

 great j)art of them (perhaps the greater part of the 

 bees and (lueeus) were sold during the spring'months, 

 the average i)rice would be pei-haps $1..50 each for 

 the untested, and, saj', §3.00 each for the tested 

 queens. The average price of bees by the pound 

 was perhaps :?3.tKi, making a sum total of bees_and 

 (pieens about $8586. The tested ;and select tested 

 <iueens were all reared in our own apiary, or in that 

 of Neighbor H.; but it is impossible to say how 

 many of the untested queens we reared, as .in the 

 early spring months we bought ([ueens from the 

 South in;iarge quantities, and introduced them to 

 our hives. Probably one-half of the whole number 

 of untested were of our own raising; therefore if 

 we deduct *18C0 for untested queens purchased 

 from the South, we shall have about !f6T80 as the 

 proceeds of our own apiary, devoted entirely to 

 raising bees>ind ((ueeus for the market. We com- 

 menced the season with about 1.50 colonies.'and add- 

 ed by jiurchase, 125; so you can form some idea how 

 well it pays to rear bees'and queens for the market. 

 Labor all together cost perhaps JflOOO, including cost 

 of correspoi. deuce. 



C.VUP IN OHIO. 



Two or three years ago, Mr. K. IJ. Ulakeslee, a 

 neighbor living within a mile or two, got some Ger- 

 man carp, and put them in apond eontaining'per- 

 haps l^i acres. Mr.'.B. is one of our bee-keeping 

 friends, as many of you maj' remember.l Well, T 

 had not heard about his carp for some time, but to- 

 day he informs me that his pond is so_full there is 

 hardly room for all of them, and that in warm 

 weather they may be seen along the shores in great 

 numbers. If you keep perfectly still, great big fel- 

 lows will rise up in full sight, but disappear at the 

 first movement. And now^ comes the wonderful 

 part of friend B.s fish storj-. If you keep still long 

 enough, you may^often see them stick their heads 

 out of the water along the banks, to pick grass: 



