GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jak. 



Or Letters from Tlioee Who have Mnde 

 Bee < iilture a Failure. 



BLASTED HOPES IN RHYME. 



BE Blasted Hopes better than uo hopes at all? 

 I can furnish you plenty of that kind this 

 fall. 



For the visions my fancy presented last spring 

 Are gone; not on wings, but for want of a wing. 

 Like " Jack's bean," they grew in the morn of the 



year; 

 Like frost-bitten plants they lie withered and sear. 

 No pictures so bright adorn Memory's halls 

 As those which Hope hung on my ap'ary walls. 

 My hives were all honey, my bees were all wing, 

 For fancy had kindly extracted the sting. 

 But nature, resenting the slur on her art, 

 The venom replaced, in its natural part— 

 At the last, and I felt it in heart and in purse. 

 And still I can feel it — in fact, it grows worse. 

 E'en Memory blends in the sorrowful cup 

 But one drop of comfort, the memory of hope. 

 My seven and twenty swarms dwindled to six; 

 Only three of that number in very good fix 

 To resist the stern blasts of old Boreas' breath. 

 What did it? The arm of the conqueror. Death. 

 But they fell at their posts. One bright August day, 

 With a hum of delight they all took their way 

 To the field, to the mountain, to river, and glen; 

 But few e'er returned; and the next day again. 

 They gloomily went and more wearily came. 

 And every day's programme repeated the same 

 Sad story. But none could tell whither or why 

 They were gone. Did they pine for their own na- 

 tive sky? 

 *I called Dr. Virgil, their countryman, in 

 To aid me; but all of his knowledge was vain. 

 I sought through the Gleanings for help in my 



grief, 

 But e'en Dr. Root gave no Kind of relief; 

 And the hunter's sole comfort my solace has been — 

 Go ahead, " Pick your flint, and then try it again." 

 And I'll try it again and again; if I fall, 

 A blasted hopo 's better than no hope at all. 

 So, while in the future no sunshine I see. 

 The song of Scotch Robbie my own song shall be: 

 " I whiles clan the elbow o' troublesome thought. 

 But man is a sojer, and life is a fought. 

 My mirth and good humor are coin in my pouch. 

 An' my freedom 's my lairdship nae monarch dare 

 touch." 



Mrs. a. C. Mosher. 

 San Marcos, Texas, Dec. 21, 1883. 

 I am very sorry indeed, my friend, to hear 

 of your loss ; still, 1 am rejoiced to see you 

 take it with such a cheerful, hopeful spirit. 

 You surely have abundant reason to feel 

 discouraged, if anybody has. and your warn- 

 ing may be a timely one to others. The 

 first thing that comes before tis is to con- 

 sider whether a remedy may be possible for 

 such contiiigences Only one course occurs 

 to me at present, and that is, to fasten the 



bees in their hives with wire cloth until the 

 rain shnll come to wash off the poison. If 

 the weatlier is hot, and the hives are full to 

 overflowing, put on an extra upper story, 

 and cover both top and bottom with wire 

 cloth. Then, if need be, set them in a cellar. 

 We know it can be done, because we have 

 shipped full colonies of bees, even during 

 tlie hottest months of the year ; and such a 

 course would certainly be better than losing 

 them. 



BLASTED nOPES, BUT NOT DISCOURAGED. 



Here is our report for 18H3: Nov., 1882, we put 115 

 stands in winter quarters. March 13 and 14 we car- 

 ried them out of cellar; found two dead. Average 

 consumption. G'/s lbs. March 18, bees gathered hon- 

 ey from maple. April 2i, from fruit-bloom, April 29 

 heavy fost. May 11 first white clover, which finds 

 us with 109 stands; doubled back to 75. Proceeds, 

 7500 lbs. extracted, and 500 lbs. of comb honey, and in- 

 crease to 154. We were making ready for — , which 

 did not come; will live in hopes of doing better next 

 time. MoLLiE O. Large. 



Millersville, 111., Dec. 5, 1883. 



* I suppose they were all poisoned, as the honey- 

 dew wa-i so thick on the cotton that, when the farm- 

 ers sprinkled Paris gr. en <>n it (to destroy the 

 worms), it stucK fust to the leaves; and after the 

 first good rain, they stopped dying. Nearly all my 

 pejghbors lost theirs in the eamo way. 



^llQ, '^rcMms" 



This departmpnt Is to be kept for the benefit of those who are 

 dlssatislied. and when anything is amiss. I hope you will ' • talk 

 right out. " As a rule, we will omit names and addresses, to 

 avoid being too personal. 



f WROTE you to know how I could fix the metal- 

 corner frames so they would keep iu place 

 — while I moved them half a dozen miles; but it 

 seems you stuck up your nose, and threw my letter 

 into the waste-basket for a reply. My necessity has 

 driven me to rack my brain to that extent I have 

 invented a machine for that purpose, that I think 

 will go ahead of any thing you have in that direc- 

 tion; nor do 1 think you will ever be able to come 

 down to it, or compete with It, as it is so simple you 

 will be hardly able to come in sympathy with It. It 

 is cheap — handsome, han^'y, takes up no room, kills 

 no bees, is stationary, holds the frames to their 

 place, if there is but one, and that in the middle of 

 the hive. It is beyond description, with a head no 

 larger than mine; and better than all of this, it is 

 eternal, everlasting, with but one end to it. What 

 do you think about you and I getting it patented? 

 Syracuse, N. Y., Dec. 4, 1883. John Do. 



Friend D., I did not stick up my nose, 

 nor throw your communication into the 

 waste-basket at all. L do not ever stick up 

 my nose at anybody or any thing ; and in re- 

 gard to throwing letters into the waste-bas- 

 ket, I do not think I very often do that, and 

 J certainly do not treat inquiries from bee- 

 friends iu that manner. On page 2i of our 

 price list you will see spacing-boards for 

 this very purpose; and I think I remember 

 your inquiry, and tliat 1 penciled on the 

 margin of Die letter, tliat tlie clerks should 

 refer you to that. When I get letteis from 

 somebody who wants to adveitise a lottery 

 scheme, or something ot that ilk, 1 believe I 

 do sometimes throw them into the waste- 

 basket, i was going to add the same in re- 

 gard to those wiio wanted me to go into the 

 patent-right business, but I think I won't, 

 on account of your coucludiug sentence. 



