glea:m:ngs im bee culture. 



May 



THE A B C OF CARP CULTURE. 



I HAVE often decided that 1 would never again 

 advertise a book oi- any thing- else until I had got it 

 in my hands. Well, the above book was so near fin- 

 ished, months ago, that the greater part of the 

 proof-sheets were in my hands. For some unknown 

 reason it does not make its appearance. The A B C 

 of Potato Culture is having a nice sale, for which 

 we extend thanks. 



TOBACCO. 



After the doctors decided that Gen. Grant could 

 not get well, he just went and got well himself; or, 

 at least, he is able to be around, as I suppose you all 

 know. I presume you all know, too, that he has 

 stopped using tobacco; and may it not be that the 

 discontinuance of tobacco of itself has had some- 

 thing to do with his recovery? I have been wonder- 

 ing whether he ought not to have a smoker with the 

 rest of the brethren; but then, I do not know wheth- 

 er he is a bee-keeper, and so I have uot as yet de- 

 cided to send him one. 



PACKING PLANTS NICELY TO GO BV .MAIL. 



Our thanks are due to C. Weckesser, of Marshall- 

 ville, O., and A. T. Cook, of Clinton Hollow, N. Y., 

 for sample plants. The fli-st was thi-ee Miner's Pro- 

 lific strawberry-plants, that opened up as fresh as 

 they w#re when taken from their places in the gar- 

 den; in fact, one could almost imagine that the 

 dew yet lingered on their bright-green petals. 

 Friend Cook sends us some splendid specimens of 

 Houghton gooseberries and Golden - Cluster rasp- 

 berry-plants. I should saj-, that both of the above- 

 named friends understand their business of mailing 

 plants, to a dot. 



COMBS where the BEES HAVE DIED. 



Some of the veterans may get tired of hearing 

 this old story over and over again; but there 

 are others, a host of ABC scholars, who keep in- 

 ([uiring about it every spring, especially after such 

 a mortality as has just come over our land. Your 

 combs are just as good as they ever were, even if 

 there are dead bees in the cells, and the combs 

 have been neglected until they smell badly. Just 

 put such combs, one at a time, in the center of a 

 good strong colonj-, and the bees will fix it in a 

 twinkling. Don't put too nianj- in a weak colony, 

 at one time, or the bees may get disgusted and 

 swarm out. But a strong colony will take one or 

 two at a time, and make them nice and sweet in 

 four or five hours. It is a good plan to shake the 

 dead bees out of the empty hives, so far as you can 

 handily. Don't melt your combs up for wa.v, if 

 thoy are good straight worker-combs. The honey 

 that is contained in them will come in excellently 

 for building up new colonies; and if you do not 

 think it is wholesome for another winter, manage 

 so as to have the stoi-es consumed in rearing young 

 bees. _^ 



OCR OWN APIARY. 



At this date. May 6, the bees are getting loads of 

 pollen and considerable honey from the soft-ma- 

 ples. We usually have fruit-trees in bloom by May 

 1, but this year they will be a week or ten days later. 

 I5y the way, it seems to me due credit has never 

 been given the maples, for the reason, probably, 

 that we so seldom have our bees strong enough to 

 do justice to them when they are in bloom, and 

 nianj- times thoy come in i)retty nearly with fruit- 



bloom. Yesterday, while we were plowing down by 

 the creek, with our new plow, " Solid Comfort," the 

 bees were just roaring among the maple-trees. It 

 seemed almost as if we were at work in an orchard 

 in full bloom. When a thunder-cloud came up, the 

 bees poured toward the apiary so as to make a good 

 deal such a roar as in basswood time. I tell you, it 

 is pleasant to ha\e a hundred or two of sfroni; col- 

 onies at a time when we used to have spring 

 dwindling. Our bees have no disease of any kind, 

 and we have not had a dwindle, unless it was a col- 

 ony that got soaked by a cold rain when a cover of 

 the hive blew off, and even that was carelessness. 



May 14.— Here it is, and not a fruit-bloom yet to be 

 seen; but the bees are just roaring on the hard-ma- 

 ples. Two hundrrd booming colonies get up quite 

 a roar in the month of May, I assure you. The 

 pounds of young bees that have to be shaken from 

 their combs, however, to be put aboard of every 

 train that leaves our depot, effectually extinguishes 

 any thought of swarming. With the amount of 

 business we are doing in bees by the pound, I fear 

 our 200 colonies will not keep their strength very 

 long; no, uot even with another hundred purchased 

 from neighbors Rice and Shook to back them up. 

 We shall soon begin to have reinfoi'cemcnts of new 

 swarms from the farmers round about, however, 

 and we hope to keep up our reputation for prompt 

 shipment. 



BUCKWHEAT FOR SEED. 



Just about this time of year our troubles com- 

 mence on orders for buckwheat. Do you want to 

 know why on buckwheat more than other seeds? It 

 is because it is quite bulky, and of but little value. 

 We offer common buckwheat for seed now for ?1.25 

 per bushel, or 35 cents per peck. Somebody away 

 down in Texas orders half a bushel; it weighs 2.5 

 lbs., and is worth only about 65 cents. If we send it 

 by mail, it would take over S3.00 worth of postage- 

 stamps; if by express, the charges would be from 

 $1.C0 to fl.50; by freight, perhaps as much. The 

 best way we could fix it, the charges would be a 

 good deal more than a bushel is worth; and we 

 have been obliged to make arrangements with all 

 railroad and express companies, to pay all charges 

 when our customers refuse to pay them, to prevent 

 having them stopped on the way. Whatever is 

 shipped with a card on, showing that it came from 

 A. I. Root's establishment, we want every express 

 company and railroad company in the world to un- 

 derstand that A. I. Root is good for the charges, 

 even if the man to whom it is sent is not. Now, 

 then, what are we going to do? It is quite custom- 

 ary to order seeds by express, after the ground is 

 all ready; and sonic men always take whatever they 

 order, no matter if the express charges are $2.00 on 

 50 cents' worth of seeds. But there are other men, 

 generally those new to the business, or those who 

 are not very well posted in regard to business rules, 

 who will let a thing lie in the express office until it 

 is sold for charges, whenever such charges are more 

 than they expected. If the one who orders such 

 bulky seeds that cost but little would just add, "I 

 know the express charges will be heavy, but I am 

 prepared to jiay them," how pleasant it would make 

 every thing ! Do you not see the point, friends? 

 We like to serve you; it is a pleasure to jump and 

 run to execute your oiders; but we hate to be bui-- 

 dened with heavy losses as the I'cward of our alac- 

 rity. 



