GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



TWO SIDES TO BEE CCI.TURE. 



Certainly there are, as I know from experience. 

 Two years ago I tools about 25 lbs. of honey from 10 

 colonies. I never for an instant had the least no- 

 tion of reporting my failure in the bee journals. 

 That is the way with thousands of others. On the 

 contrary, if a good crop of honey is gathered, the 

 bee journals hear it, publish it, and make a fuss 

 over it, as if there were nothing but success in the 

 profession. A poor man gets a sample copy of the 

 journal, reads the grand reports, and in the distance 

 a mountain of gold rises to his view. The next 

 spring finds one novice more in the profession, with 

 the bee-fever, an empty pocket, a head full of bees. 

 bee literature, bee-men, and perhaps a dream of 

 honey by the ton, bees by the thousand, and a home 

 in a tropical climate, where the sun always shines, 

 and bees gather honey all the year. Result: The 

 pocket remains empty, perhaps blasted hopes, and 

 as friend Hutchinson says, trade those bees off for a 

 song; or he will make a success, as a great many do, 

 then all is well. Now, Bro. Root, is it right to thus 

 give but one side of the question? H. W. Simon. 



Youngstown, O.. Dec. 10, 1883. 



I know what you say is true, friend S. ; 

 but it is also true in almost every industry. 

 There is a class of people who are changing 

 their business every little while, in the vain 

 hope of finding something better, but who, 

 perhaps, end their lives after all only as 

 Blasted Hopers. I have always felt sad to 

 see any one go into bee culture who could 

 not afford to lose all he invested, without 

 getting into trouble ; that is, I advise, as 

 you well know, commencing with one or 

 two stocks, and not investing very much in 

 the business until one has proved by experi- 

 ence that his locality is right, and that he is 

 right. Meanwhile, let him keep on with his 

 regular timployment till he can safely make 

 bee culture his sole business, if he wishes to. 

 This may be called amateur bee culture, and 

 it is the very kind I would advise for the 

 great masses. Again, is it the fault of the 

 bee journals if those who fail will not re- 

 port V I do not know how it is with the 

 other journals, but Gleanings always has 

 a Blasted Hopes department open, and has 

 had for years. Would it not be well, friends, 

 for those who criticise so severely, to look 

 over our price list and A B C book, and see 

 if Gleanings and its editor are guilty of 

 the charges several times made recently V 

 Note the caution on page li of the price list, 

 just after the index. This caution has been 

 kept in plain sight for the past ten years, and 

 all who get one of our price lists can hardly 

 fail to read it. 



A TEEDER FOR SPRING FEEDING. 



I have used almost every kind of feeder, and all 

 were unsatisfactory, and many stings and much 

 trouble for my labor. So, thinks I to myself one 

 day. I'll make a feeder to suit my wants, and I did, 

 and here i* a sample — one of 72 I used last spring. 

 To use it, place the block in the corner of your hive, 

 after pulling back the corner of burlap, permitting 

 the bees to come up to the wire cloth covering the 

 hole in the block, but not far enough to let them in- 

 to the hive above; All your tumbler, and invert it 

 over the wire cloth, covering the hole in the block, 

 and place on your cushion. When feeding the sec- 

 ond time, simply raise the corner of cushion; lift out 



tumbler, fill it, invert, and place back; no bees to 

 sting, none to get in the way, and none to get drown- 

 ed. Almost any child can do the feeding, and do it 

 quickly and safely. The cushion being left on the 

 hive, the syrup will be carried down on the coldest 

 day in spring or fall. Now, friend R., put this feed- 

 er on a hive, and try it, and then make a dozen more 

 and try them, and then you can tell us how you like 

 it. In every way it is the best feeder I ever used. 

 Geo. F. Williams. 

 New Philadelphia, O,, Oct. 6, 188:3. 

 I shall have to explain to our readers, that 

 the feeder that is alluded to in the above is 

 nothing particularly new. It is simply a 

 common tin-top jelly-tumbler, such as we 

 sell at 5 cts., or less by the quantity, and 

 with the tin cap punched full of holes. I 

 should think, by the looks of the holes, that 

 friend W. punched them with a square-point- 

 ed nail, taking a square piece of tin out each 

 time. I suppose you have all used feeders 

 like this. Now the problem is, to get it over 

 the bees without uncovering the brood-cham- 

 ber so as to let a draft of air through. I once 

 killed a weak colony by turning up the quilt 

 to set the feeder on. A cold night came, and 

 they froze up solid — bees, queen, brood, and 

 all. Had the mat been down over them so 

 as to confine the animal heat, they would 

 doubtless have stood it all right, for it was 

 in the spring. Well, friend \V. fixes it this 

 way : He takes a three-cornered block, large 

 enough to invert the tumbler on, cuts a 

 large hole through, and tacks wire cloth over 

 it. The three-cornered block will just fit in 

 one corner of the upper story, and you can 

 turn back the burlap sheet or carpet, folding 

 down the corner so as to make a close fit, 

 bee-tight, without cutting or mutilating 

 your carpet or mat The feeder can now be 

 set over the hole, right on the wire cloth, so 

 as to close that down tight. Bees can get 

 their food through the meshes of the wire 

 cloth, and can not get up to sting or bother 

 you when you remove the jelly-tumbler to fill 

 it up again. Of course, the device is all old, 

 with the exception of placing it over a block 

 in one corner ; and this latter point is no 

 small matter, when you come to think of it. 



HONEY FOR MEDICINE. 



Tried remedies for colds and coughs.— Liriseed tea. 

 —Take 2 tablespoonfuls of flaxseed (imground); 1 

 quart cold water; heat to a boiling-point, then add 

 the juice of 1 large lemon. Sweeten with honey. 

 Do^e, 1 wineglassful every hour or two. 



No. 2.— Take 1 teacupful of hops, 1 pint of water; 

 steep slowly about half an hour: strain while hot; 

 add juice of one large lemon; sweeten with honey. 



iVo. o.— One large handful of boneset (use leaves, 

 blossoms, and stalks); add 1 quart of boiling water; 

 steep awhile; strain, and add juice of 2 lemons and 

 12 ounces of honey while hot. Dose, 1 tablespoon- 

 ful 4 or 5 times a day, before eating* 



Battle Creek, Mich. B. Salisbury. 



EARLY-AMBER SUGAR-CANE SEED; A GOOD REPORT. 



Dear Sir : — I wish to say a word in regard to that 

 cane seed which we purchased from you last spring. 

 We planted 1 lb. June Ist, which sprouted and grew 

 one inch above the ground in 6 days. Well, fo sum 

 it all up, in the fall we had 51 gallons of splendid 

 syrup; 25 gallons of it we sold for §20.00, and we have 



