94 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



From Different Fields. 



bunker's improved simplicity feeder. 



fjlAKE a common pie-plate, or any shallow dish; 

 set it on the mat over brood-frames; fill it 

 with whatever you desire to feed ; spread over 

 it a thin cloth large enough to extend over the sides; 

 turn up one corner of the mat , and it is done. There 

 is no daubing around. The cloth settles as the 

 bees take up the fluid; there can not a bee get 

 drowned; and when you desire to ascertain if they 

 need more feed, lift the cover of the top story, and 

 you can see at a glance. You may publish this won- 

 derfully simple plan to the world or not, as you see 

 fit; I don't intend to get any patent on it. 



T. C. Bunker. 

 El Dara, Pike Co., Ill, Jan. 7, 1884. 



Friend B., your feeder is substantially 

 the bread-pan feeder, though on a smaller 

 scale. I prefer the bread-pan because it 

 holds more than a dozen pie-plates— does not 

 cost any more, and when you are done with 

 them they nest together in a very small com- 

 pact space. I prefer a feeder square, so it 

 can be set up against the side of an upper 

 story, or, what is better, right in the corner, 

 then the bees can crawl up the wooden sides, 

 and easily go out and in. One friend sug- 

 gests painting them and dusting them with 

 sand, so the bees can hang on better ; but if 

 the piece of cloth laid over the syrup is large 

 enough, they can easily get up there How- 

 ever, I would much rather have a feeder like 

 the Simplicity, that does not require any 

 cloth. The cloth is in a very little while un- 

 tidy, tangles bees, and is a bother to take 

 care of. 



WHO SHOULD PAY THE 55 CENTS? 



Friend Boot:— Will you please give your opinion 

 on the following? Last April I ordered 20 hives 

 from a dealer. After acknowledging the receipt of 

 money, I could hear no more from him till he 

 shipped, which was in June. Freight charges were 

 15.84. The goods came in good condition, but four 

 pieces were missing. I informed him of the fact, 

 telling him I thought he should send them prepaid, 

 which he did not do, and I had to pay 55 cents ex- 

 press charges. Now, what I want to know is, who 

 should have paid the 55 cents? Should I have paid 

 for his mistake? Until I am convinced that 1 am 

 wrong, I can not, nor can I recommend anyone else, 

 to deal with him. If I am wrong, I would like to 

 know it; if he is wrong, I should like him to know 

 it. Please reply in next issue of Gleanings. 



Bluffton, Ind., Jan. 17, '84. D. F. Valentine. 



Why, friend V., I should say the question 

 was very plain and simple. If a dealer omit- 

 ted the pieces, I do not see how he can es- 

 cape all the necessary charges to make good 

 your loss. The bother of having to send for 

 more, I should think, was enough for you. 

 Of course, if you counted awkwardly, and 

 imagined they were missing when they were 

 not, you ought to pay for the pieces, and all 

 expense.s. However, I believe it is custo- 

 mary among business men to be a little mer- 

 ciful to one who has been so unfortunate as 

 to make a mistake, and kind o' divide up 



the loss. Though if you insist on your 

 rights, I should say he is bound to pay the 

 55 cents. I am sorry to say, friend V., that 

 very many business men have a fashion of 

 slipi)ing out of the consequences of their 

 blunders the way you state, and I am afraid 

 if you leave the friend whom you have men- 

 tioned, and open trade with somebody else, 

 you will fare much in the same way. In 

 lines of business where competition is sharp, 

 however, you may find men who hold their 

 customers by making every such little loss 

 good, to the very letter. I have been won- 

 dering while you were giving the circum- 

 stances, if it were not possible that it was 

 myself who was the guilty one. I shall not 

 take back any thing that I have said, even 

 if I am ; but I think I shall pay that 55 cents 

 very quickly. 



THE ground-cherry, OR STRAWBERRY TOMATO. 



Deal- GUaniniis:—\ had the pleasure through your 

 kindness last spring, of sending to quite a number of 

 your readers some of my ground-cherry seed, which 

 was received with much favor. Some years the bees 

 work on the bloom almost constantly; at other times, 

 but little. It is a fruit well worth cultivating, and 

 the wonder is it is not in every garden. I think it 

 can not be generally known, for every one who has 

 it values it highly. They take the place of other 

 fruit, and are particularly valuable when other 

 fruit is scarce or likely to fail. They grow well any- 

 where—yield abundantly, and will keep (if left in 

 the husk) till mid-winter, if desired. They are nice 

 for pies, and many other uses, and I esteem them 

 above any other fruit for canning and preserving. I 

 have saved a nice lot of seed, and will gladly send a 

 packet to any of your readers, if they will write me 

 and send stamp. A. T. CoOK. 



Clinton Hollow, N. Y., Jan. 10, 1884. 



DIVISION-BOARDS AVITH FELT LINING. 



I want to describe the division-bonrd I use; and if 

 it has already been described, it will do no hurt any 

 way. I use a common plain board, except I run a 

 groove in each end and the bottom, and draw and 

 tack in strips cut from old hats, letting them project 

 sufficiently to make them perfectly tight when in the 

 hive. This makes the best division-board I have 

 found, and is easily done. There is no use of any 

 hangers at the top, for it will stay just where you 

 put it. D. w. Bellemey. 



Vienna, Ills., Jan. 16, 1884. 



Your idea is not exactly new, I believe, 

 friend B., although I do not remember to 

 have heard of felt hats before for the same 

 purpose. Unless the felt is pretty stout and 

 firm, I fear the bees would propolize it fast 

 to the hive, and then it would be torn in 

 moving your division-board. Quite a num- 

 ber of the friends use a strip of rubber put 

 in, in that way ; and some of them with a 

 fold made by doubling the rubber. We 

 have found a little difiiculty in packing chaff 

 behind such division-boards, because they 

 were so easily pushed over against the brood- 

 combs. 



our friend D. S. given, of THE FOUNDATION 

 PRESS. 



At the closing-up of a very pleasant letter 

 from friend G., we find these words : 



My health has not improved any for nigh two 

 years; but the dread disease is pulling me down, 



