264 



GLEAKlNGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Apr. 



REPORT FOR 1885. 



Packed In chafit' hiv-es, 47 colonics, fall of 1884, all 

 well supi)lictl with flrstclns;" white clover honey. 

 Spring- of 1885, all booming' with bees, e.vcopting- 

 one colony, which died. ] considered that quite a 

 success when thei-o was such a general mortality 

 among- the bees that winter; yet no honey came of 

 any account; at least, not enough to winter them 

 without the aid of sugar. Wherein have I failed, if 

 the fault is in the bee-keeper? I put into winter 

 quarters 47 colonics, fall cf 18S5; two weeks ago 

 they were all alive, and had a good fly; but for the 

 first lime since being- engaged in the business, I 

 await the outcoming- with fear and trembling. 



Is it true, the Ohio bee-keepers have had their con- 

 vention in the city of Columbus, and I have missed 

 attending? I certainly should have been there had 

 I known of it. Also, what has become of Mrs. C? 

 Did she get her situation? Is she selling honey for 

 some one with that mule team, wrapping oranges 

 down south, or feeding ducks and chickens some- 

 where on the line between here? I have been real 

 uneasy about her ever since I saw her advertise- 

 ment, for fear that she, with her overstock of am- 

 bition, would Anally land in the lunatic asylum. I 

 am told here in the Ohio L. A. there are more farm- 

 ers' wives than any other class of women; and I 

 can account for it in no other way than in this: We 

 arc very ambitious, as a class, and we take too little 

 time for recreation; consequently our ambition 

 runs away with our strength, and we break down 

 nervously. I feel condemned when I think of her, 

 that I did not write and tell she needed rei^t, abso- 

 lute rest, worse than she needed anything else in 

 this world, judging from her writings. 



Mits. Jennie Cui^p. 



Hllliard, Ohio, Mar. in, 1886. 

 Mr jTootl friend Mrs. Culp, 1 glory in your 

 ambition and energy. Tlic wheelbarrow 

 you speak of is exactly the thing for a wo- 

 man ; but I notice in your order that you 

 mention the large size. VVe do not dare dis- 

 obey orders, but I wondered why you chose 

 the large one when the small one seems so 

 ])articularly designed for women, especially 

 for small women like yourself. — I agree with 

 you, that it is your privilege to have as many 

 whims as you please, providing you pay for 

 them, as we know you of course do ; and I 

 want'to say, for your encouragement, that 

 it is not women only who have l)een treated 

 as you have been, but I ofteil find men who 

 are employed here on our grounds who re- 

 fuse to do what'-I order them to do— or, at 

 least, won't do it without a controversy, be- 

 cause they thiidv it is one of my wliims, even 

 when I am perfectly at home iii tlie matter, 

 and they don't know any thing about it at 

 all. I suppiise there are extremes both ways; 

 but I think a mechanic not only stands in 

 his own light, but is a little out of liis head, 

 when he objects to doing wliat he is paid 

 for doing, because, from his standpt)int, it 

 looks like somebody's whim. — In regard to 

 rest, 1 do not believe I quite agi'ee with you, 

 my good friend. May be farmers' wives get to 

 the asylum because they are held by force 

 of circumstances down to a sort of work 

 that is to them drudgery ; but I think these 

 same women would "get mental health 

 and happiness by a change of work that 

 might require more.physical exertion than 

 what they liave been having. I, too, am 



small foi" one of my sex, and people talk to 

 me continually about rest— yes, doctors too ; 

 but they are mistaken. I know perfectly 

 well what kind of rest I need. A few days 

 ago, after I had been reading letters longer 

 than I ought to have done, I felt as if I were 

 all coming to pieces, and as though my last 

 days were near at hand. I took a brisk walk 

 in tlie open air. but it did not seem to do a 

 bit of good. But I found something that 

 did cure me i)erfectly, and in less than half 

 an hour too. What do you suppose it was ? 

 AVhy, I Avent and got a potato-fork that is 

 just to my notion, in weight and make, and 

 then I went out into the garden where the 

 new agriculture is just beginning to " bud 

 and blossom," and I spaded the dirt for half 

 an hour. By that time I felt perfectly well, 

 full of spirits, reaily to fight (in any good 

 cause), or jump over a picket fence. Do you 

 know why? Why, 1 simply needed muscu- 

 lar exercise, coupled with some kind of work 

 that my heart was in. Tlie siglit of my 

 beautifully growing cabbages, lettuce, rad- 

 ishes, etc., and the thought of what that gar- 

 den is going to be this spring and summer, 

 gave enjoyment in the exercise, and made 

 me well, when I was ready to take up the 

 duties of the office until I was ready to take 

 some more of the same kind of '' rest.'" 



EGG-LAYING OP QUEENS. 



FRIEND HAYUUnST GIVES US SOME MORE PITZ- 

 ZMNG FACTS. 



safe to say any thing further; but with such a 

 brave leader as Chas. Dadant, I believe I will ven- 

 ture a few suggestions. 



On page 14, Prof. Cook says: "The fact that wor- 

 ker-eggs are often laid in cells which arc hardly 

 more than commenced; .... the fact that im- 

 pregnated eg-gs are laid in lai-ge queen-cells." Are 

 these facts? It is true, that, when comb-buildirg- 

 is in i)rog-ress, the queens will sometimes lay eggs 

 along- the edges in cells scarcely begun; but I have 

 seen no evidence that these eggs are ever developed; 

 indeed, I have learned to my cost that eggs laid in 

 cells not over one-eighth of an inch deep will not 

 produce queens. I stock iny cell-building colonies 

 with eg-gs laid in newly drawn-out foundation, and 

 have repeatedly failed to get queens from the very 

 shallow cells, and T ascribe the failure to eggs not 

 being- impregnated; so that now I do not use combs 

 for this purpose in which the cells arc less than 

 one-fourth of an inch deep. 



It is not to be denied, that the (jueens generally 

 deposit the eggs in the queen-cells when the bees 

 are preparing- to swarm; but 1 have frequently no- 

 ticed, wlien examining- colonies in this condition, 

 that the unoccupied queen-cells have their opening- 

 reduced to about the worker size; these are after- 

 ward enlarged to accommodate the growing larvae. 

 One comb will often exhibit a number of cells in 

 the various stages of growth, from those not yet 

 tenanted to those from which the young queens 

 are nearly ready to hatch. 



The mother-wasp, referred to by Prof. Cook, has 

 the opportunity of enlarging or reducing the size 



