1.S87 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



393 



"Very well. I care nothing for their condition," 

 said the old man, as he paid the boy and received 

 the cards. 



The boy was at first delighted with the trade; but 

 upon seeing- Mr. R. take out his pocket-knife and 

 begin to cut the cards into snaall bits, he, in sur- 

 prise, exclaimed, " Mr. K., what on earth do you 

 mean? Did you not just pay me a dollar for those 

 cards?" 



" Yes, my boy, but these are the very cards I 

 wanted; and the only purpose I had in buying 

 them was to get them out of your possession. I 

 have seen for some time what a disadvantage they 

 were to you, and what a trouble to your mother. 

 Vou know, Thomas, how poor I am, and how hard 

 it is for me to earn money. Now, if I can make this 

 sacrifice for you, can you not resolve to buy no 

 more, and never to play them again?" By this 

 time the boy was in tears; and while I do not know 

 that he made a in-otnisc. lie acted ever after as 

 though he did; and when he had grown older he 

 joined the chm-ch ami lias since lived an active and 

 consistent member. aiwa\s taking a lively interest 

 in the welfare of the young, to whom he often re- 

 lates the incident given above. W. H. Gkker. 



Paris, Tenn., Apr. 11. 1887. 



Well done, friend G. I don't remember 

 ever having mentioned the matter in print, 

 but I always feel greatly worried and tron- 

 bled whenever I discover that any boy, or 

 girl either, is learning to play cards or is at- 

 tending card-parties." When I started plant- 

 ing my basswoid orchard a young couple 

 rented'a f;irm jnst across the road. They 

 were a nice, bright young couple ; but it sad- 

 dened me to see that they thought it was 

 the thing to have their young friends visit 

 them and have card-parties ; and CMrd-play- 

 ing got to be S) much the order of the day 

 that on one occasion these yonng friends 

 wasted one bright summer forenoon in their 

 card-playing Oiir young farmer never liitcli- 

 ed up liis team, althougli the weatiier was 

 beautiful, and the season at just such a 

 point when eveiy farmer, young and old, 

 ought to be just jumping to get the work 

 along, and his wife left her breakfast-table 

 without evfu wasiiing rhe dislies until it 

 was dinner time. The next year they rent- 

 ed another farm, aiul they rbay be both in 

 the county intirmary by this time, for aught 

 I know ; for it is a fact, that one little fool- 

 ish b;i(l iinbit like this may wreck a life. No 

 wonder the boys did not prosper with their 

 farm work. 



i to buy comb honey to sell again, unclean sections 

 have been the one great drawback for me to do a 

 ■ successful business at it. A great many bee-keep- 

 ers do not think this matter of having clean sec- 

 tions -.iround their honey makes much difference; 

 I but I know this one thing has done a great deal to- 

 i ward lowering the prices of comb honey. Even 

 j storekeepers have fallen into this same rut. Go 

 into almost any store in any town or village where 

 honey is sold, and you will find it, nine times out of 

 ten, just as it was taken from the hives. Wake up, 

 ] brother bee-keepers I put your comb honey on the 

 market looking neat and clean, in small clean pack- 

 j ages, and you will find less trouble in selling at 

 I much better prices. I should like to ask if any one 

 I has ever tried the perforated zinc for separators. 

 ! W. H. Shiki.ev. 



! Mill Grove, Allegan Co.. Mich., Mar. 22, 18H7. 



j Very true, friend S. ; but Dr, C. C. Miller 

 I claims that he can get just as clean or clean- 

 er sections from the T super when the slat- 

 I ted honey-board is used, than from wide 

 ! frames. If we are correct, he told us that 

 I the sections, when taken from the T super, 

 take less cleaning than the sections when 

 taken from the wide frames. 



BEES AND BAILRO.AUS. 



I have lately noticed in Gleanings several ingui- 

 ries about keeping bees near a railway, mill, or fac- 

 tory, the idea prevailing that the noise and jar are 

 prejudicial, especially in winter. I give my experi- 

 ence. I have kept bees for the past four years near 

 a railway, notfourrodsdistant, with a roller-process 

 gristmill within four or five rods, and T can sec no 

 difference between my bees and my neighbors' as to 

 wintering, etc. I believe the bees get used to the 

 noise as we do. Eveiy train through the night used 

 to wake me, no matter how soundly I slept; but 

 now I never hear them. The soil is a firm clay, and 

 the road-bed is level and solid, with good rails; but 

 there is a large traffic, and heavy trains. My bees, 

 60 colonies, are wintered on summer stands clamped 

 in sawdust, but so the entrances are open. They 

 are in fine condition. E. J. Buhgess. 



Tilbury Center, Ont., Can., Apr. 32, 1887. 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS, 



WIDE fka.mes vs. cases; cleaner sections fkom 

 the EOK.MEK. 

 HILE surplus cases are under discussion I 

 should like to put in a word for wide-frame 

 single story eases. It is impossible in this 

 hjcalityto produce gilt-edge honey unless 

 the sections ai-e protected on all four sides 

 When tny honey is ready for market, the sections 

 look almost as clean as when first put on the hives. 

 This will not be true where cases are used without 

 wide frames, except in rare instances. I know by 

 experience that this is so; for wherever I have tried 



HOW TO GET H[U OE A HYBRID COLONY. 



r^ast summer, having a black hybrid colony of 

 bees that I desired to get rid of, I took brood from 

 them three or four times, each time leaving a comb 

 of eggs. I used the brood to build up a nucleus of 

 pure bees. When I found a choice pure colony su- 

 perseding their (lueen I inserted one of their queen- 

 cells in this black colony, after taking out their 

 queen. As I was busy I did not again go to that 

 colony for several days. When I did go T found a 

 beautiful Italian queen. As I had no other place to 

 use her I built up the colony with brood from other 

 colonies that could spare it, the colony being now 

 the size of a strong nucleus. When fixing up for 

 winter I found them a fair colony; but as soon as 

 set in winter quarters they began to die off. At the 

 end of a month, as there were so many dead bees 

 thrown out of the entrance, I marked them dead. I 

 could not imagine what could be the matter with 

 them, as most of the other colonies were so quiet, 

 and were throwing out so few dead bees. As their 

 hive was at the bottom of a pile of colonies, and in 

 the center of the cellar, 1 could not very well ex- 

 amine them. After six weeks or so they seemed 

 quiet — in death, as I supposed. But when set out 



