18S.5 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULtUIiE. 



:j3/ 



occasion, get costive, and void impacted matter, is 

 possible. That they do so in our best wintering is 

 certainly not true so far as I have examined. 



Let brothers Cornell, Tinker, Clarke, or any other 

 doubting Thomas, investigate this matter fully, and 

 he will doubt no longer. No. wonder the late Mr. 

 Quinby, and Mr. Abbott, of England, thought these 

 feces. 1 felt sure, when I just trusted to my un- 

 aided eyes; but full investigation showed that I 

 was wholly wrong. Shut bees up in summer, and 

 these pellets will fall thick in the hive, as the bees 

 gnaw hard on wire gauze and wood, in hopes to 

 escape. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich., April 25, 188.5. 



HELP FOR THE SUFFERERS. 



SELLING BEES BY THE POUND AT LOW PRICES. 



T HAVE received a shower of letters and postals, 

 (mP asking questions about my bees, such as these; 

 ^t " Have you any foul brood among your bees, 

 ■^ and did you truly buy imported stock to breed 

 from? " "It must be your bees are in poor 

 condition, you advertise at so low figures." "Send 

 me 30 swarms C. O. D. ; and if the bees are all right, 

 and have queens all right, I will keep them." 



Christopher Grimm, of Jefferson, was here to see 

 me the 4th day of Maj% and he went out among the 

 bees and he said he never saw so manj- swarms to- 

 gether in such perfect condition. 



And now, friend Root, this 9th day of May I send 

 you by express one of my pure Italian swarms, 

 daughter of the imported queen I bought of you in 

 188'J; and what I wish of you is to examine this 

 swarm, and pass judgment on it, and then insert a 

 slip in Gleanings, as to whether they are good or 

 poor, or whether it is wor(h if5.00 dollars or not; 

 and after deducting all e.vpense, you may give me 

 credit for what you think they are worth, or you 

 need not allow mo any thing. I leave it to your 

 judgment. The reason I send this swarm in this 

 way is, it will help people to have more confidence 

 in my honesty. I want to sell my bees, for the rea- 

 son I am confined to the house with a chi-onic difli- 

 culty. .1. H. Hkeu. 



Milford, Wis., May it, 188.-). 



Friend K., 1 knew you would liave a 

 shower of applications, and 1 hope j'ou have 

 bees enough to lill all your orders. By the 

 way, where advertisers offer bees below 

 usual prices, 1 think it would be a good 

 thing for them to stale how many colonies 

 they have to draw from, so that applicants 

 may calculate what the probal)i]itifs are of 

 their shipper being overrun Willi orders. In 

 our price list we have stated that we can not 

 send queens C. O. D. This ('. O. D. is a 

 bad business any way, for the reason that 

 there are always more or less people who 

 will be short of money, or change their 

 minds when the goods get to theirstation. 

 Bees are perishable property, and it is a 

 good deal of work to put them up ready for 

 shipment, to say nothing of express charges 

 both ways. Certain kinds of goods can 

 be sent C. O. D. without much ditiiculty, 

 especially where there is considerable value 

 in very small compass. A watch, for in- 

 stance, may be sent to the purchaser, and he 

 may be allowed to examine it before paying ; 

 but to think of doing the same thing with a 



swarm of bees is out of the question. The 

 shipper ought to have the cash in his pocket, 

 or an order from some good reliable man, 

 before he even puts them up.— I am much 

 obliged indeed, friend R., for the sample 

 colony you shipped us, but I am sorry you 

 thought best to take all this trouble.— In re- 

 gard to the foul brood, it is understood that 

 no man advertises bees for sale, or offers 

 them in any other way, who has foul brood 

 in his apiary. If any one who reads the bee- 

 journals knows of any such thing being 

 done, he should notify' the editors at once, 

 and have it put down. 



In regard to whether the bees be Italian or 

 hybrids : When anybody buys bees by the 

 pound at half the usual price, or less, he cer- 

 tainly ought not to ask whether they are 

 j blacks, hybrids, or Italians ; and. in fact, at 

 this season of the year, when bees by the 

 I pound are bought for building up colonies, 

 I it does not make any great difference what 

 race of bees they are, for the queen will fix 

 I the purity of the colony in a very short time 

 herself. We have nothing but pure Italians 

 in our apiary, and do not expect to send out 

 ! any other kind of bees by the pound ; but 

 ' our prices are very much liigher than what 

 I you put them, friend R. 

 I Later.— Vhe bees are at hand, and we call 

 , them line Italians, and worth a good deal 

 j more at this present crisis and season than 

 1 what friend Reed advertises them for. 



TeB^oce C0MMN. 



vino w tobacco after isino it for forty 

 years; what a little girl can do. 

 Y pa t;.'kes Gleanings, and he keeps bees. 

 He has 48 colonies. He has been feeding 

 waste honey, but he carries it about three 

 hundred yards away from his apiary, to 

 prevent robbing. We live on a farm. I go 

 to school, and like my teacher very much. Grand- 

 pa and grandma Vive with us. Grandjia has used to- 

 bacco for forty years, but has not used any now for 

 three months, and says he is not going to use it any 

 more. Don't you think he deserves a smoker? I 

 am going to have my Hower-garden close by the 

 bees this summer. I have already set some honey- 

 suckles and jasmine to make shade for them. We 

 had lots of honey-dew honey last year. I do not 

 like it. I am starting some watermelon-plants for 

 early use. I fill an egg shell, and place the shells in 

 a box of dirt; and when they aro nicely up, loosen 

 the shell from the dirt, and transplant to the gar- 

 den, without disturbing the roots. They will not 

 stop growing. May Sigle, age 12. 



IJutler, nates Co., Mo., April 19, 1885. 

 To be sure, your.grandfather ought to have 

 a smoker, friend .May. and I am very glad of 

 the opportunity of sending him one. — Tour 

 idea of starting watermelons is a real good 

 one. We have been at work on the same 

 thing with thin paper boxes, but the Aveath- 

 er has been so cold we could not set them 

 out. and our melon-plants got pot-bound. 



I am just commencing in bee-keeping, and I 

 le arned from Mr. AVood Trenor that you would give 

 any one a smoker who would quit chewing tobacco, 

 and I will say this: If you will send me one I will 



