4G1 



GLliiAKlNGS IK h^i& CULTUll^. 



Jt^Y 



you might tell us how to set out these flgwort atld 

 spider iihints— how far apart, and when, and all 

 about it. W. A. Lower. 



Maywood, Lewis Co., Mo., .Tune 10, IXS,"). 



Friend L., Avhen the little plants come up 

 very thickly, Ave take tliem u]) when they 

 begin to have the second set of leaves, and 

 plant tliem abont an inch apart, in good soft 

 ground in the greenhonse. or outdoors as 

 soon as t lie weather will admit. Here they 

 stand until they are three or four inches 

 liigli, and then "we i)lant tliem in the open 

 ground about as far apart as hills of corn. 

 The cultivation afterward is just about the 

 same as for corn^ 



A C.\MKORNl.\ BEE-KEEPER WITH 41)0 COLONIES. 



I received the package of Geeaxinos a few days 

 ago, and I was just delighted witli them. The 

 weather down here is awfully dry, but still mj- bees 

 are working on very well. I have about 400 colonies 

 in bo.\ hives, invented by >Ir. J. S. Harbison, of San 

 Diego, Cal. The section boxes used here by almost 

 all the bee-men of this county are ditferent fi-om 

 those ill your catalogue. They contain about 2 lbs. 

 of honey, and are put together eight in number, and 

 fastened so that each one can be taken apart. We 

 pack four such boxes in a case, or '.]'Z sections, mak- 

 ing in all about 70 lbs. to the ease. I am glad to see 

 that Gr.EANiNGs comes out twice a month instead 

 of once. H. (". North. 



Engineer Springs, San Diego Co., Cal., June l.'i. 



THE SEASON OF 188.'). 



liees have done nothing but raise brood. Out of 44 

 good strong stocks, most of them extra strong, I 

 have had two swarms; and they have on an aver- 

 age about 2 lbs. of honey to the hive, and no pros- 

 pect that they will more than make a living for a 

 few days, as clover is dried up on account of the 

 drought. If we have rain soon we hope for a fall 

 harvest, which generally commences about the 10th 

 to the 15th of August. We had five days in fruit- 

 bloom in which bees worked and gained several 

 pounds per hive; since then two or three days 

 they have gathered a little moie than a living. 

 With fall lioney selling in New York as low as 7 cts. 

 per pound for box honey, it looks rather discourag- 

 ing, and beginners should examine well before in- 

 vesting largely, as it is reiy difficult to sell (nit, 

 without loss. .loHN IJ. Cask. 



Ifaptisttown, N. J., June 22, lf-8,"). 



Friend ('., I do not believe tliat nice comb 

 honey in one-ponnd sections has ever been 

 sold ;it the price you mention in Xew York 

 city. These discouraging i-eports, when 

 sifted down, almost invariably jirove to be 

 the result of careless iiianageuient.— We are 

 surprised to hear that you have been troub- 

 led with drought. Here in Ohio. and. in 

 fact, fi-om most points where reports have 

 come in, there lias been almost a superabun- 

 dance of rain— in fact, so much rain, that 

 some comi)lainl has been made that the 

 honey was washed out of the clover before 

 the bees had time to gatlier it. 



WAS IT COOP El'( K^ 



I bought .') colonies of bees from 1). L. Carpenter, 

 of Seneca, Illinois, last May; three in your 2-story 

 chatr hives, and two in what he called your Sim- 

 plicity hives. The bees increased so that 1 went 

 into winter quarters with 14 colonies; went through 



the winter all right; lost one this spring by robbing, 

 and two by dwindling; they have bred up well, and 

 I think most of them are about ready to swarm. I 

 had one swarm on Sunday. All but three were 

 wintered in Simplicity hives packed with leaves. I 

 think r had good luck, as three of my neighbors 

 lost nearly all of theirs. One lost all, 2.'); another 

 lost l.J out of 14; another 21 out of 22; and the oldest 

 bee-keeper, about three miles from me, lost 50 out 

 of .5ti; of 50 put in cellar, one saved six ; six on sum- 

 mer stands lost all. Mine were all wintered on sum- 

 mer stands. Don't you think I had good luck with 

 mine'/ Jesse Bradv. 



Little Rock, 111., June 10, 1S85. 



PERTAINING TO DEE CULTURE. 



MRS. COTTON, AGAIN. 



K publish the following, just as it 

 came to ns. 



Some dime ngoo 1 got a paper from a 

 vooman by ze name of Lizzy Cotton, and 

 she said wcnild sell ine a hive that bees 

 would make two hundred iKiunds honey of; sol 

 sent ze moneys; it was 3 dollers, and I paid one 

 dollor and fifteen cents for ze expresman on it, and 

 It was nodding boot a leetle hive, so big az 6 inches 

 one way 24 inches de odder, ant she sent me 

 a great big paber. I send him to you. Vat shall I 

 do now'/ My moneys gon out, no hive but ze.leedle 

 bit of a hive, not so big as our eoffy-mill. Mine na- 

 bor saj's you will make her sent it back to me, for I 

 am poor, mit lots of leedle babies to eat honey. 

 Mr. Uoot, tell us what to do, then I can read it in 

 that leedle book mine nabor calls Gleanings, vat 

 you sent out. Herr CEABUERDEnosH. 



Aytalan, Wis., June 10, l!-85. 



Aly good friend, I am much obliged to 

 yonr neighbor for his conlidence in my abili- 

 ty to straighten up wrongs in bee ciiltiu'e ; 

 but Mrs. Cotton is a woman, and I can not 

 do any thing with her. any more than to 

 publish yoiu' letter as a warning to others 

 who might be likely to send to her. Where 

 a man is in business, and advertises imple- 

 ments in bee culture that do not give satis- 

 laction. we can generally make Inm do the 

 fair thing by telling hitii he will have to be 

 pnblislied if he does not make liis transac- 

 tions satisfactory. But ^Irs. Cotton evident- 

 1> does not care whether her wares give sat- 

 isfaction or not. 



MRS. ( OTTON TAKES Jf20.00 FROM A I'OOK WO.MAN 



WITH BUT ONE AR.M, AND THEN SENOS HER A 



I'ARr OF A HIVE l'ONT.\INING FEW BEES 



.\N1> NO gCEEN. 



Last week I was seiit for by a lady actiuaintance, 

 who lives about half a mile from me, to "look at a 

 colony of bees " that she had bought of Mrs. Cotton 

 in one of Mrs. C.'s " Controllable" hives. The lady 

 had received the bees ten days before, but had de- 

 layeil having them examined till tlie expiration of 

 that time, in accordance with Mrs. Cotton's instruc- 

 tions. An examination showed three frames witli 

 fair combs, two with inferior combs, mended and 

 fastened in tlie frames with sticks, and one frame 

 occupied with a sheet of foundaticHi. I found bees 

 enough for a small two-frame nucleus; no unsealed 

 brood, and about as much sealed brood as would 



