1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



381 



ers should so request it, I will, during the 

 winter months or wlien I have more time, 

 take the specimens which I mounted during 

 that weeks vacation, stand over our engrav- 

 er, and have him reproduce them upon the 

 block for print. 



In addititm to the above remarks by Er- 

 nest, I would say that I liave watclied bees 

 for hours through the glass of an observato- 

 ry hive, and I have seen them build the 

 cells, till them with honey, and cap them 

 over, but I never saw any movement that 

 would indicate that the bee was ever in the 

 habit of using the sting at all, or to indicate 

 that he remembered he had a sting, whiie 

 engaged in the business of capping over 

 newly gathered honey, and I liave seen them 

 put on the last tinish'ing touch. 



A PLAN FOR MAKING ARTIFICIAL 

 SWARMS. 



ALSO 80MBTHlN(i AB(1UT HOUSEHOLD CONVKN- 

 lENCES. 



T F Tom, Dick, and Harry (and two other fellows), 

 jd? all living- in different places, would each give 

 ^l me a frame of black brood, covered with bees, 

 •*■ could T unite them in an empty hive with a 

 frame of Italian brood, with a capped tjueeu- 

 cell from my own liive. and thus form a Kood work- 

 ing colony? 



I was just remarking-, that I found it next to im- 

 possible to get honey now that tasted like that 

 eaten twenty-tive or thirty years ago on the old 

 farm. Seeing the article about lioney remaining in 

 the hive to ripen giving it an improved flavor, sug- 

 gests a possible explanation. Oris it because the 

 honey eaten in those days was eaten while two 

 little bare feet dangled under the table, while now 

 I wear boots and walk with a cane, while one pair 

 of hands that dished out that honey has rested 

 under the snows of over twenty winters? 



Relating to your suggestion about providing 

 labor-saving machines for the housewife, let me 

 say a word. Washing-machines are generally 

 voted a nuisance. I had no faith in them. My 

 mother-in-law tried an improved "Western Wash- 

 er," of Jamestown, N. Y. When she used it a .year 

 she said it was a grand success. T then risked 

 getting one tV)r my wile. She also says it is a suc- 

 cess. If you or your readers wish to try one of 

 these machines, by all means get the number 3. It 

 costs two dollars more, but it will wash bed-clothes. 

 If we can find any thing to tighten poor tired 

 women's work on washday, we should publish the 

 good news. We also have an Empire clothes- 

 wringer. They are double-geared, and easily 

 turned. There is continual complaint about this 

 make of wringers getting out of order. It is 

 the fault of the manipulator or washwoman. It is 

 so easy to turn, that the operator will run sheets 

 or table-cloths through on the same adjustment 

 they use for towels and napkins, thus bursting out 

 the rolls. By .all means if et the easy-running Em- 

 pire make, then teach the girls how to use it. Now, 

 do not think I am securing a free advertisement 

 tor any appliances. I am simply trying to en- 

 courage an effort to lighten and facilitate work. 

 Instead of beating our eggs with a spoon we use a 

 Dover egg-beater. Our butter is churned in about 



twenty minutes with a Union churn from TilVm, 

 Ohio. The churn is worked with a crank. The op- 

 erator can sit down and read Glkaninos while 

 making the cream fly for butter. Some years ago 

 when I was a drug clerk 1 learned many useful 

 things. I learned the value of Basilicon ointment 

 (accented on the second syllable). It is good for 

 burns, bruises, healing, boils, or sores of almost 

 any kind. Once a lady had erj sipelas on her arm. 

 She used this, and the arm got well. Whether the 

 ointment cured it or not, I could not say without 

 further trial. It is good to keep in any house 

 where there are children. It can be sold for about 

 five cents an ounce. Perhaps it would help bee- 

 stings. I never tried. It is not a quack medicine, 

 but a recognized pharmaceutical preparation. 

 Pittsburgh, Pa., May, 1S8;. P. S. Dii.worth. 



Friend I)., your plan will work tiptop, 

 even if you doii't bother the '• two other fel- 

 lows '■ at till. In fact, it is almost identical 

 with one of my favorite methods, as given 

 in the A B C Ijook. When you get tliose 

 combs covered with bees, however, look 

 sharp that you don't take the queen. The 

 only safe way is to find the queen before you 

 take this frame of brood and bees.— I think 

 you have hit it exactly in your suggestions 

 as to why the honey tastes dilferient now 

 from what it used to.— I am glad that you 

 and yom- wife have found a washing-ma- 

 chine tliat pleases you. We have tried, 1 do 

 not know how many; but Mrs. Root always 

 votes them " too much machinery ;" that is, 

 sooner or later she decides it is more bother 

 to get the thing out, get it ready, then wash 

 it up and put it away than it takes to do the 

 work with a good tiib and one of our best 

 stoneware washboards. Your suggestions 

 in regaid to the use of wringers would ap- 

 ply. I tliink, to the use of almost any of 

 them. — I am glad to know that our neigh- 

 boring town of Tittin makes cluirns so good 

 that they get away off to Pennsylvania.— 

 Although I don't believe much in medicines, 

 your Basilicon ointment may be excellent 

 where such a thing is needed." The price is 

 certainly in its favor; but 1 dont believe it 

 will make a particle of difference with a 

 bee-sting. 



HO'W TO RAISE CORN. 



PKOF. COOK GIVES US SOME IMPORTANT SUGGES- 

 TIONS IN REGARD TO THE MATTER. 



TT may seem a little presumptuous for a 

 m bee-journal to take up a subject of such 

 ]ji magnitude, especially while there are so 

 ■*■ many papers devoted to the great 

 staples. Well, there are several reasons 

 why I asked Prof. Cook to give us his ideas 

 on corn culture. In the tirst place, we are 

 all of us interested in every thing that 

 fiiend Cook writes, no matter whether it is 

 b(^es, corn, or kitcliens. Friend Terry has 

 given us a book on potato culture that has 

 interested both >oung and old. 1 think the 

 following in regard to corn culture will be 

 received much in the same way. 



PROF. COOK'S METHOD OF R.-VISING CORN. 



As per your request, I will detail the method that 

 ray brother and I use in raising our most important 



