2U 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUltE. 



Apr. 



hive so as to shade it will often prove a rem- 

 edy. If a few bees go out prematurely, 

 and get lost. I would not mind it. More or 

 less are lost all the while in this way, but 

 we do not notice it very much unless tlie 

 snow is on the ground, so as to make it look 

 more apparent. 



ISEES AND CAUP. 



Our bees had a jsood cleansing flight to-day. One 

 dead, and the other 25 appear to bo in j^ood condi- 

 tion. This is the first good flight lor two months, 

 and the weather has been prettj- cold most of the 

 time. Much of the honey in the hives last fall was 

 thin and watery (it being collected late in the sea- 

 son), and I expected some loss, but am happily sur- 

 prised at what I have seen to-day. The bees look 

 bright, and the colonies appear to be strong. I am 

 very much interested in the articles on German 

 carp, which I read in Gleanings. 1 shall want 

 one of your books on carp culture when it is ready. 

 1 have a pond of about (i acres in extent that I 

 stocked with carp 3 years ago last fall, but have not 

 seen one of them since. There are a few other flsh 

 in the pond. B. Downs. 



Naugatuck, Conn., March 4, 1885. 



OUH TS-CENT telephones. 



The telephone we got of you worked well to our 

 beehouse, 60J feet away. Now our bees are jj'one, 

 we have moved the wire to my brother-in-law's 

 house, about as far again away, but we can only 

 just distinguish a sound, but no words. That, of 

 course, does not suit us. Have you one that will 

 work well 13J0 or 1300 feetv ]Mi!s. J. Hilton. 



Los Alamos, Cal., Dec. 22, 188i. 



I do not believe our little telephone will 

 work well for more than (iOO feet, my friend; 

 and as we keep these principally to tell wlien 

 bees are swarming. I do not believe it would 

 be best for us to go into more expensive tel- 

 ephones. I am some in doubt whether you 

 can get any mund telephone to work suc- 

 cessfully for much more than the distance 

 mentioned. 



way is to broadcast it just before a shower of 

 rain. Seeds that will not readily make their 

 way through grass and weeds had better be 

 started as we do other crops; namely, plow 

 laid harrow your roadsides, and ciiltivate 

 your plants until they get started. It is not 

 very uncommon in oiir vicinity to see a good 

 crop of potatoes raised along the roadside, 

 and I for one like the idea of seeing culti- 

 vated plants take tlie i)la('eof useless weeds; 

 and while you are about it. why not dispense 

 Avith the "fencts, and i)ut your cultivated 

 honey-plants clear up to the wagon-tracksV 

 I do not believe your instrument for stirring 

 up the soil will do very much good while the 

 ground is full of grass and weeds. 



CROWDING OUR CHILDREN XT SCHOOJ-. 



The crowding at school, spoken of bj' Mrs. Chad- 

 dock, on page 50, is a great *vil. and, I fear, a grow- 

 ing one; and it is not confined to examination day, 

 nor to young children. Pride in the progress made 

 by the pupils of the school has much to do with it. 

 One of the celebrated normal schools of the State 

 of New York belongs to this class. Its principal 

 has been heard to say, that if the pupils came out 

 [ alive that was all he cared, and he suits his actions 

 to his words. One, at least, of the pupils of that 

 school, died of overwork, before completing his 

 course — murdered by that merciless system of 

 crowding. And comparatively few, possessing en- 

 ergy and ambition, can complete a course at such a 

 school without shortening life, and rendering it 

 burdensome by means of an enfeebled constitution. 

 I am thankful that this is not a necessary condition 

 of a good education. If it were, I should rather my 

 child should learn only "the three K.'s— Keadin'. 

 'Ritin', and "Rithmetic." Burdett Hassett. 



Howard Center, Iowa, Feb. 10, 1»'5. 



MAKING THE RO.^DSIDES DEAR HONEV-PLANTS. 



It has often occurred to me, that scattering seed 

 of honey-plants by the wayside is very wasteful as 

 regards the seed, as a very large proportion will 

 fail to get a hold, or ever amount to any thing. 

 Would it not be worth while to have an instrument 

 (which might be useful in the garden also), some- 

 thing like a walking-stick, with one or more metal 

 claws, to give the earth a little scrape, and break 

 ground for the seed, which could be contained either 

 in a hollow tube in the instrument, or a barrel at its 

 end, operated on swivels by a wire attachment, and 

 arranged to let loose a certain (luantity at a time, to 

 run into a guide-pipe conducting it to about an inch 

 from the point of the instrument. It seems to me a 

 much larger proportion of seed would take this 

 way; and if we sow seed to beautify the latidscape, 

 we need not do it it surreptitiously. I make the 

 suggestion, so you can take it for what it is worth, 

 as I think you are a very competent judge, and 

 have every faeility for experiment. 



K. W. McDonnell. 



Gait, Ont., Can., March 10, 1S85. 



Friend M., your arrangement would an- 

 swer very well for a certain class of seeds, 

 no doubt ; but for seeds as tenacious of life 

 as clover, for instance. I think the better 



SCORPIONS. 



On p. 9t) you evince a curiosity to know more about 

 scorpions. From the references to them found in 

 the Bible, as well as from writings of travelers and 

 others, I judge that the scorpions of the Old World 

 are much more venomous than those found in 

 Florida and others of our Southern States. The 

 sting is a short, bonj-, curved claw at the extremity 

 of the tail, and is used by striking. Drumming on 

 the table smartly with your bent forefinger will 

 give a very good idea of the rapidity and manner in 

 which they work their tail while stinging. The sen- 

 sation caused by their sting is said to be similar to 

 that caused by the thrust of a redhot needle in the 

 flesh, the pain lasting about a minute only, leaving 

 no other effect after it, as do boc-stings. Old resi- 

 dents of that section dread them but little, simply 

 being careful not to knowingly handle or sit down 

 on them. The presence of one in the toe of a boot, 

 while it is being pulled on in the morning, is pretty 

 certain to give bystanders a chat;ce to laugh tears. 

 If you will send a small wide-mouthed bottle of al- 

 cohol to friend Hurt, I presume he will willingly re- 

 turn it to you with one or more of the little rascals 

 in it. O. O. POPPLETON. 



Williamstown, Iowa, Feb. 5, 1885. 



JNIany thanks, friend P. I am very glad to 

 know that scorpions, at least those with you, 

 are no more dangerous than you put it. It 

 would seem, then, that thereMs no poison 

 exuded by the scorpion — perhaps only a 

 poisonous substance incorporated in the claw. 



