970 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



unprincipled ; and it would be a sad thing indeed, 

 if it were true, that God blesses frauds in that line, 

 as he does in the line of honest investigation. The 

 Bible says, " Blessed is the man that walketh not in 

 the counsel of the ungodly." It also says, further 

 along, in speaking of the same man, " He 6hall be 

 like a tree planted by the rivers of water; and 

 whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Now, the 

 progress of the JOth century has not, and never 

 will, set these old Bible teachings aside; on the 

 contrary, if we look carefullj w e shall find it is ex- 

 actly in a line with them. 



.MAILING BEES BY THE POUND. 



We notice that friend Doolittle considers the 

 matter practicable, and defends it. In the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal for Nov. 16 he enumerates some of 

 the benefits that would accrue if it should be ac- 

 complished. Now, I think I can see more impor- 

 tant results, even, than he mentions, if this were 

 possible. A great many people of limited means 

 ask the question, "How cheap can I get a start in 

 bees?" Some boy or girl, or perhaps a widow of 

 small means— one who has leisure, and who has be- 

 come greatly interested in the industry, would like 

 to know if a start could be made by getting a 

 queen-bee and a few attandant bees by mail. Again 

 and again we explain to them that it is impossible. 

 Then comes the question, " If they order by ex- 

 press, what will the express charges be?" Very 

 often, more than the bees and queen. Now, then, 

 if half a pound of bees could go along with the 

 queen. $2.00 would cover the cost of the start, 

 transportation and all; and from this investment 

 of $2.00 a whole apiary might be built up; for with 

 careful management during the month of Mayor 

 June a queen and half a pound of bees could be 

 built up to a good colony, and that, too, without 

 any comb or brood. May be it could be done with 

 a quarter of a pound of bees; but it would, perhaps, 

 be a little doubtful. I thought of this years ago— 

 yes, when I first commenced sending out little 

 swarms of bees in the wire-cloth basket; but I have 

 always finally decided, as I do now, that no kind of 

 cage can be made, stout enough and still light 

 enough, to make it safe to risk by mail, as there is 

 so much throwing and banging, the way our mails 

 are handled. I am, however, open to conviction. 



SEEDS OF HONEY-PLANTS. 



The trade in these has dropped off greatly. In 

 fact, it has been dropping off for two or three years 

 past, and I am very glad of it. It really gives me 

 pain to get a letter from a beginner in bee culture, 

 indicating that the writer has an idea that, because 

 he has half a dozen colonies of bees, he must 

 "plant something" in his garden so as to furnish 

 honey for them. Quite a few seedsmen have been 

 encouraging this idea, prominently among them 

 being Mr. Samuel Wilson, who has recently recom- 

 mended and brought out under a new name our old 

 well-known spider plant. Every effort that I know 

 of, to raise plants exclusively for honey, has failed, 

 and 1 think must fail. If you have only half a doz- 

 en colonies you need at least an acre of the plant in 

 question to do any good. Now, if said plant gives 

 you a profit for seed or for hay, aside from what 

 honey it furnishes, well and good; but please do 

 not plant an acre, or even a little patch in the gar- 

 den, exclusively for honey. If you can arrange with 

 the farmers around you to grow buckwheat, alsike, 

 or rape, well and good; for an acre of these may be 



worth four or five dollars to you. At the same 

 time, it may not benefit you at all. If circumstances 

 are such that you can not plant your bees beside a 

 field of a hundred acres of buckwheat or alsike or 

 rape, or even teasel, there is quite a chance that 

 you may get honey by the ton, from these sources 

 alone; but if instead of a hundred acres you say a 

 thousand, then there is a chance for something 

 worth while; and our friends in Nevada, Arizona, 

 and other western points where alfalfa is raised by 

 means of irrigation, are doing just this very thing. 

 If sweet clover could be made use of for some pur- 

 pose besides the honey it furnishes, there would be 

 a possibility of profit in that direction; but I do not 

 see how anybody can raise sweet clover or any 

 thing else, simply for the honey it furnishes, and get 

 his money back. 



gPEeiTm ]^e¥icEg. 



ADVANCE IN WIRE NAILS. 



Owing to large advance in cost of raw materials, 

 we have to pay higher prices for wire nails. There 

 will be no change in the 1 and 10 lb. rates, but we 

 can not sustain the 25 and 100 lb. rates in our cata- 

 logue. 



ALSIKE AND WHITE DUTCH CLOVER. 



If any of our readers have for sale any choice 

 seed of alsike or white Dutch clover, will they 

 please send us small samples, and say how much 

 they have, and what they want for it? We are en- 

 tirely out of white Dutch clover, and should like 

 some of that as soon as we can get it. 



ADVANCE IN PRICE OF TIN. 



Tin plate has already advanced about 50c a box 

 on 14 v 20 size, and at the same rate for larger sizes. 

 The prices don't seem inclined to stop advancing 

 yet. We were fortunate in having contracted for 

 most of our supply for next season before the ad- 

 vance, and therefore we will ask no more than our 

 catalogue price at present; but we can not discount 

 these prices for early orders. 



VANDEDSEN SPACING IRON CORNERS. 



The?e corners were illustrated in Gleanings, 

 page 514, 1889, and a number of readers have in- 

 quired where they could get them made for 1%- 

 inch spacing, the original corners being made to 

 space 1>< inches. We are at present working on a 

 pattern, and expect soon to have corners to offer 

 for sale that are made to space 1 3 8 . As soon as we 

 have them ready we will mention it in this depart- 

 ment, giving the price. 



ANOTHER REDUCTION IN THE PRICE OF WIRE 



NETTING. 



We omitted to mention, in last number, that you 

 would find on the last cover page of our premium 

 list our new and reduced prices on poultry-netting. 

 We are now selling a single bale at the same rate as 

 we sold 10 bales, which, for 2 inch. No. 19, 4 ft. wide, 

 in rolls 150 ft. long, is $4 00 per bale; 5-bale lots, 

 $3.75; 10-bale lots, $3.60. We make this big redu3- 

 tion, too, in spite of the recent large advances in 

 the cost of steel and wire goods. 



JAPANESE BUCKWHEAT. 



In my plea for seedsmen, in our issueforNov. 1, 1 

 tried to tell you why they should have a good mar- 

 gin for their seeds. Well, we are just now pretty 

 well stocked up with a great lot of Japanese buck- 

 wheat that cost us over a dollar a bushel. We 

 thought that it would certainly be sat'-- to lay in a 

 good lot at that price; but we now find that the 

 supply is so great that we should be very glad in- 

 deed to close it out for a dollar a bushel, you to pay 

 for the bag. A good-sized bag, suitable for ship- 

 ping two bushels of grain, is worth 20 cts.; one 

 bushel, 15 cts. ; half-bushel, 10 cts. Of course, there 

 may be a reaction; therefore, if you want to avail 

 yourself of this offer, you must take it between 

 now and the first of January. 



