1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



341 



ous. How, then, did this spider kill tlie bee 

 so quickly V The bee is quite tenacious of 

 life, as many of us iiave discovered when 

 trying to kill an antrry bee. I know a great 

 many chxim that spiders can bite, and that 

 their bite is prisonous. Prof. Cook declai'es 

 tliis is all fallacy and superstition, unless I 

 am mistaken. 



N. C. MITCHELL. 



GOOD NEWS ! HE HAS tilVEN UP SELLING hWKM- 

 RIOHTS, ETC. 



0ITR older readers will remember that, 

 foi- a series of years, we were obliged 

 to caution the public about sending 

 nu)ney to friend Mitchell. Por four or 

 live years back, however, we have 

 heard but little in regard to him ; but with- 

 in the past few montiis several friends have 

 forwarded us his circular, with a drawing 

 and description of tlie National Bee-house. 

 We notice by this circular that Mr. Mitchell 

 has discontinued selling rights— at least, the 

 circular reads as foUow's : 



NVe tin\e no farm-rights to sell you now at any 

 price, lor the reason that, if we did so, not one of 

 you in five hundred would know what to do with 

 them, and you would be no better off than you now 

 are with the hives that you already have in use. 



This, certainly, is true, and, I believe, hon- 

 est. It does us good to be able to find some 

 point on which we can gladly shake hands 

 with our old friend. He advertises a new 

 honey- extractor, better and cheaper than 

 any othn- in use, for $2,00; also a new appa- 

 ratus for making comb foundation ready for 

 the bfes ; net cost.. SI. 50. We suppose these 

 things are to be sold to the members of the 

 class which he organizes in each place ; and 

 if the customer receives the aiticle as he 

 hands ovei- the money, we do not see that 

 there can be very much fault found. 



Now, 1 wanted to close this notice without 

 finding any fault; but I feel really obliged 

 to say to those who have had no experience 

 with Mr. ^liicheli, be sure and not pay him 

 a cent of money for any thing that is to be 

 shipped you or biought you some time in the 

 future. Below is a letter forwarded to us by 

 one of our subscribers. It was directed to 

 Wat rtown. Washington Co., O. 



To any Ber-kfrjier: — Will you kindly permit me to 

 ask a few questions V 1 spent, last week, a day in 

 Perry County, and was surprised to find your hilly 

 country the frreatest honey-produciug' county in 

 Ohio. I will visit your county soon, with the view 

 of flndinpr a g-ood location to start a large apiary. 

 We want a location where fruit can be had in quan- 

 tities at fair prices, and where blackberries and 

 other wild fruit may begot in large quantity. We 

 are now putting- up fruit canned in honey. If you 

 or any of yoin- friends can give me the desired in- 

 formation you will confer a great favor upon us I 

 never knew until recently of your honey resource?, 

 or I would luive been with you long ago. Address 

 me at Columbus, O. N. C jriTCHEi.i,. 



Columbus, O., Apr. 7, 18S7. 



Canning fruit in honey is surely a laudable 

 undertaking, and we wish o\u- friend success 



in the matter, even if he does teach his pu- 

 pils by classes at a dollar each for a single 

 lesson. 



YOUNG CARP IN APRIL. 



A (.K'lTKH FKOM .Mil, TON )'. PEIKCK, EDITOK OF 

 THE .lOURNAt, OF FISH CULTURE, ETC. 



NOTICE your remarks under the above head in 

 Gleanings for April 1.5th. I think you must 

 certainly be mistaken about those tiny little 

 fishes being carp, for those the size of a cu- 

 cumber seed would ordinarily be but a few 

 hours old, and surely there could not at that date 

 have been any spawning— much less, hatching— for 

 it is even yet too cold at this date (Apr. 20) for eith- 

 er. The conclusion forced upon me is, that they 

 are some small variety of native pond-fishes. I 

 have had many specimens sent to me by mail 

 (dead, of course) for identification, but under the 

 firm belief that they were our food-cariJ- They 

 have always been tiny specimens of native brook 

 or pond fishes. Had your date been one month 

 later, I should not have thought that you had made 

 a very common mistake. 



In regard to sending carp in wet moss: I have 

 several times tried the e.vperiment, not only with 

 moss, but with clean sponge and other apparently 

 suitable material, but only with trifling success. 

 I have, however, during the past winter sent 100 

 very fine-bred, parti-scale carp, in a peculiarly 

 constructed t<ink, to the City of Mexico, a tritle 

 over 3700 miles, and 9,5 of the 100 reached there 

 alive and in good condition. Another shipment, 

 sent this spring, from the same stock atid in the 

 same kind of tank, over the same i-oute (as I sup- 

 pose), certainly by the same exjjress company, 

 were all dead before they had crossed the State of 

 Te.xas. I have for years expressed the opinion, 

 that carp should not be shipped in the spring. 

 Their vitality is at the lowest then; whereas, in the 

 fall and early winter they are in the most hardy 

 condition of any portion of the year. 



I much regret, friend Root, that you, who have 

 SI) excellent an opportunity to aid this promi.=ing 

 industry, do not engage in it in a sj'Stematic man- 

 ner. You have a very good site for the purpose, 

 and ample facilities for a model establishment, 

 such as would induce hundreds of others, not only 

 in Ohio, but elsewhere, to start right, or remodel 

 their present crude establishments. M. P. Peiuce. 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



Thiinks. friend P., and I am sorry to be 

 o'.liged to admit that you are light about it, 

 for I caught some of the minnies and found 

 them to be little lish just like those in the 

 creek. Now, can you tell us liow in the 

 world they got into our pond ? It is so 

 much above the water in the creek, that 

 overflow is out of the question ; and the on- 

 ly way in which I can account for it is, that 

 the brook fish must have got in through the 

 holes the musk-rats cut in the banks of the 

 pond, letting the water out. I suppose the 

 only remedy is to draw the pond dry and 

 killall these spurious tish. The reason 1 do 

 not go into carp as you suggest, is such as 

 is given in my reply to friend Terry, on 

 strawberries. If Blue Eyes. Caddie, or even 

 our four-year-old Huber, should get a fever 

 foi- raising carp, then the way would be 

 open. 



