74U 



GLEANINGS IN HEE CULTUKE. 



Oct. 



swanns, sprJns- count, 1 have taken a little over 900 

 lbs. of honey, nearlj- all extracted, and increased to 

 It). Of I hat amount, the two chaft' hives g-ave 440, 

 leaving- less than .")00 for the cellar colonies. The 

 best yield for a short term was J I lbs. per day for 

 tlve consecutive days from alsike. The larjj-est sur- 

 plus for the season was taken from a hybrid stock. 

 One chaff hive ('ontained a pure queen. The other 

 was from a pure mother, but mated with a neigh- 

 bor's blacks. On the 30th of .lunelhad taken TSO 

 lbs. from the Italian stock, and 127 lbs. from the 

 hybrid stock, so yon see it was nip and tuck be- 

 tween them, but the Italians swarmed first and got 

 behind, f find a ready home market for what hon- 

 ey 1 have to dispose of, at ten cents per pound. 



Nearly all my swarms require feeding. Since the 

 basswood ceased to yield honey it has been very 

 poor for the bees. Most of the queens have quit 

 laying-. Less than an acre of buckwheat kept 

 brood-rearing- booming through August, (ioklen- 

 rod was very little good, owing- to the extreme 

 drought which still eciutinues. W. H. Tayt.ok. 



Derryville, Ont., Can., Sept. V>, 1887. 



CROSSNESS SOMETIMES A BORN 

 TRAIT IN BEES. 



SOMKTHI.Ntl bTHTHEK ABOUT THAT SI'HINC. 



0N page ti82, Ernest says: "Bees maybe made 

 cross by one of two ways; namely, roblnng 

 and r<nigh handling." Vcs, and bees are 

 sometimes cross without any robbing- or 

 handling of any kind; they are born so. 



1 liad a colon,\' of bees t)nce (I bought the queen of 

 you) that stung people, chickens, dogs, and cats, if 

 it they weni within ten I'eet of the hi\e. It was 

 during a good honey-yield, when rol)bing does not 

 occur, and the bees had not been handled lor, 1 sup- 

 l)ose, at least six wc-eks. This was the colony that I 

 tried carbolic acid on, and that stung me till my 

 lingers swelled up as hard and stiff as hoe-handles. 

 Some bees are like some children, naturally cross. 

 If I were giving advice to a beginner who Iuk^ cross 

 bees, I would say, " Don't let them whip you out; 

 stand over them and smoke them till they surren- 

 der. Bees that follow one around had better be 

 killed, as recommended. The loss is nothing. 



Vou say, on page (597, " I had not dared to ask God 

 to send me a spring where there were no indications 

 that there might be one; but in his loving kindness 

 he had given us something we did not even ask for." 

 Mr. Root, your account of the finding of the spring, 

 your thankfulness, and all the uses you have made 

 of it, read like a psalm. It is beautiful; but down 

 deep in j'our inner consciousness, do you not know 

 that that water had been stored up there tor hun- 

 dreds, perhaps thousands of years/ And as you 

 were not then in existence, how could it have been 

 put there lor you? I like to read those papers of 

 yours; you have faith enough to almost move 

 mountains, but of course .\ou know that, when the 

 wild Indian roamed over Medina Co., if there had 

 come a drought, and he had been digging around 

 with his hatchet, and had happened to strike the 

 right place, the spring would have burst forth for 

 him just as it did for you. Mahala B. Chaddock. 



Vermont, 111., Sept. 21, 1887. 



I declare, Mrs. Chaddock, 1 thought I had 

 hit the nail on the head the last time. Well, 

 I will try again. Bees may be made cross in 



one of three ways— namely, robbing, rough 

 handling, and, as -Tosh Billings says, a "bad 

 horning."" Now, if anybody else makes a 

 suggestion, I just wont say that bees may 

 be made cross in one of four ways. 



Ernest has answered you in regard to the 

 cross bees, but the part in regard to the 

 spring is referred to me, of course. Why, 

 bless youi- heart, my good friend, you are aV- 

 guing on the same side of the question, and 

 yet you don't seem to know it. To be sure, 

 the water, as well as the coal and oil and 

 gas, has been stored u]) in the ground for 

 thousands of years, waiting for God's chil- 

 dren to get it out : but are they any less 

 (iod's gifts to his loved ones?" We have 

 neither time nor space to go into the doc- 

 trine of election and foreordination, but i 

 think my reasoning is good. To put it the 

 other way, God knows the future. He knew 

 just what sort of a chap I would be. and, in 

 accordance with it, ]tlaced these things where 

 r would lind them, e\en though he did it 

 ages and ages ago ; or. if you choose, put it 

 ;mother wa> , and say that, in answer to m> 

 prayers, he impressed it on my mind to go 

 and look in such and such places for his 

 gifts. It does not make any difference to 

 me what doctrine some of rny friends hold. 

 God ans\\ers my prayers, and fills my life 

 with blessings like the spring and these oth- 

 er things 1 have told >ou of. But these are 

 all treasures of this earth. On another page 

 1 have tried to tell you something about the 

 treasures of the woild to come. 



l^EPBOTg ENcea^^Gip. 



EN('Ol'R.\01Nn INUEEU; I. U. GOOD'S KORTITNES 

 HAVE CHANGED. 



[p BOITT one week ago, many of my bees were in 

 a starving condition, the strongest having 

 but a very little honey. Boneset and sonu' 

 of the early varieties of goldenrod were in 

 full bloom, but there was not a drop of hon- 

 ey for the bees to gather. The wind was from the 

 north, and the weather very cool. Several nights 

 there was almost a frost. About that time I went 

 up town and ordered some sugar for winter stores 

 for my bees; but before I commenced feeding, the 

 wind changed to the sovith, and the weather grew 

 very warm. Yesterday it was 00° in tlie shade, and 

 such a honey-How as we have had for the last four 

 days I never saw at this time of year. Many of my 

 colonies have more honey already than they need 

 for winter stores, and 1 am extremely happy. A 

 few days more of favorable weather, and they will 

 all ha\ e a great plenty to winter on, and Mrs. G. can 

 take the sugai- to make syrup for the babies. I 

 shall get no surplus honey worth syeaking of, but 

 up to date 1 have sold over ftiOO worth of bees and 

 queens, and I shall have about 40 more colonies to 

 go into winter quarters than I started with in 

 spring. Last year, nice comb honey went begging 

 at from 8 to 10 cents per pound. Our merchants 

 are now offering from I.") to 18 cents, but can't get 

 any at even that price. I believe the scarcity of 

 honey this year is a blessing in disguise to the bee- 

 keepers, r. H. Good. 

 Nappanee. Ind., Sept. 5, 1887. 



