188S 



GLEANINGS IN JiEE CULTURE. 



309 



to accept, nor yet to reject; but It certainly appears 

 reasonable that he bears this cog-nomen. One thing 

 is certain: Jack thrust his ugly phiz into our cellai-, 

 and glared at us several times last winter. 



I have not seen a more graphic account of the 

 severity of the past winter than one that I read this 

 morning in the Rural New Yorker. It was written 

 by Chas. W. Garfield, the genial secretary of our 

 State Horticultural Society. I quote as follows: 

 " We have had a terrible winter. Peach-trees on 

 niy place are killed; tender varieties of apples dis- 

 colored; all raspberries and blackberries killed to 

 the snow-line; plum wood is injured. I went into 

 the woods to see how the oak grubs stood it, and 

 found the young twigs on last year's growth in low 

 places materially injured. I have not examined 

 fence-posts yet, but it must have been ' tough on 

 'em ' in the hollows." As Prof. Cook remarks, in 

 an excellent article in the same number of the 

 R. N. Y., " What is packing in such a winter as this'r" 



Well, my friends, packitiy, or something, has again 

 enabled " Cyula Linswik " and her sister to success- 

 fully winter their entire apiary of 61 colonies. 

 Please don't say it is locality, because nearly all 

 the other bees in that vicinity are dead. 



The majority of our 40 living colonies are, appar- 

 ently, healthy, and strong in numbers. It seemed to 

 be something like this: If a colony was going to 

 live, it lived; if not, it died; there was no gradual 

 dwindling away; every colony that was strong and 

 healthy the middle of the winter has remained so. 



I must thank Prof. Cook for liis criticisms of one 

 year ago upon my articles in favor of burying bees 

 in clamps. Had it not been for this light touch of 

 the spur I niiulit not have l)uried any bees last fall. 

 I will confess that I did not bury the bees because 1 

 expected them to winter any better than any of my 

 bees, but rather to add another example to the 

 number that are necessary in making a real demon- 

 stration. I expect to eventually adopt cellar win- 

 tering, not because bees can not be as successfully 

 wintei'i'd in clanips, but because it involves less 

 labor. 



Kil,l,I.t(! HKKS WHI..\ ITTTI.NC ON THE COVER. 



I fail to catch youi- meaning, where, on page 214, 

 you infer that Mr. Heddon or his students smash 

 hundreds of bees when they place the cover back 

 on the hive in a hurry. If you should raise a Sim- 

 plicity hive off the bottom-board, and then replace 

 the hive, would you kill many bees? I think not. 

 The cases are almost parallel. 



I'lXTUUKS vs. DISPI-AV. 



I do not agree with Mr. Snow, on page 275. A de- 

 scription of fixtures is of more importance than a 

 description of some honey-show. Of what irnl 

 benefit is the latter? And why does Mr. S. indulge 

 in such ajtino at the Heddon fixtures'!" has he tried 

 them, and does he know what he is talking about'/ 



THE CONTENTS OP lJEE-.]()UHN.\r-S. 



Mr. Smith, on page 266, very nearly expresses my 

 ideas in regard to the contents of bee-journals. If 

 a journal is going to be a bee-Journal, let it be a 

 bee-journal, and not a mixture of bees, religion, 

 strawberries, poultry, carp, silkworms, rabbits, to- 

 bacco columns, smileries, growleries, etc. I do not 

 object to a discussion of any of these topics, if it is 

 done in the proper place; but I do not consider a 

 bee-journal the proper place in which to discuss 

 them, and I have heard many others express sim- 

 ilar views. IfGLEANiNdS could only be ;iHed with 

 such articles as those given us in the last two num- 



bers, by Mr. Doolittle, Prof. Cook, Dr. Miller, and 

 Mr. Heddon, it would tower head and shoulders 

 above its competitors. Perhaps it would be as difii- 

 cult to receive a sufficient number of such valuable 

 articles to fill Gle.\nings as it would to induce its 

 editor to make the desired change; and we shall 

 probably have to try to be satisfied with Glean- 

 ings as it is, and thankful if we are allowed the 

 luxury of expressing our opinions. 



r-w. Z. Hutchinson, 68—40. 

 Rogersville, Mich., April 17, 18?5. 

 Friend II., I am very sorry to hear you 

 have lost again so heavily, and yet I am glad 

 to see you come out and own up as usual. 

 Was it not the extra care that Cyula and her 

 j sister gave their l)ees that brought them 

 through the winter so safely V Do you know 

 what troubles we have had in wintering our 

 beesV Well, lately we have had little or no 

 trouble, and it is, "in our opinion, and in our 

 apiary, only a matter of careful i)reparation. 

 Now," why your bees should die when I am 

 (luite sure you gave them this careful atteu- 

 ; tion. as well as tlie rest of us, is something 

 I tliat stumblfs me ; I can not tmderstand it. 

 , Cellar wintering in our locality would proh- 

 j ably be a saving of stores, but I can not 

 ' thiiik it would give better results otherwise 

 than we get witii oiu- chatt" hives. -^In re- 

 gard to killing l)ees wlieu putting on the 

 covers. 1 replied to tliis in another <'oliimn. 

 We can not raise a Sunjijicitv hive from the 

 bottom-board, and put it back, without kill- 

 ing many bees, yet the Simplicily hive has 

 ! the bottom edges narrowed down to almost 

 a knife-edge, as you are probably aware. 

 Whenever we raise the Simjtlicity hive from 

 the bottom-board in warm weather, him- 

 dreds of bees immediately cover it on all 

 sides. If it were as light "as tlie cover, by 

 j taking i)ains we coidil induce them to get 

 I out of the way ; but a hive full of combs 

 always crushes" more or less. Of course, it 

 can be slid back and forth to open and close 

 the entrance; but this propolis we have 

 spoken so much about greatly hiudeis this 

 operation, and recpiires the "use of a long 

 j screw-driver as a lever very often to get the 

 hive even started. 



' Perhaps lu) other apiary in the world of its 

 size has bees handled as much as ours are 

 handled, for we raise more (jueens than any 

 other apiary in the world, if I am not mis- 

 taken. Well, I am glad to be able to say 

 that we handle our bees without killing 

 them, even If a man's time (n worth more 

 than the bee's life : and if any of the breth- 

 ren or sisters can lake out more queens and 

 send them off in a day than we do, we shall 

 be glad to see them, or have them call and 

 see us. I thought of this when I read what 

 some of the brethren said about the melal 

 corners.— Friend II., Gi.kanin(;s is not de- 

 voted entirely and exclusively to bees. If 

 you look on the cover you willsee "^ Peace on 

 earth, good will toward men," standing out 

 over and above the bee on the wing ; and. 

 CJod helping me, this little motto shall stand 

 over and above all other things on earth so 

 long as (kul gives me strength to manage 

 business. Whenever I think " peace on 

 earth, good will toward men."' can be better 

 enhanced by bees, strawberries, poultry, 

 rabbits, or tobacco, I. shall take them up 



