102 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Feb. 



We have been shipping bees to Florida to-day, this 

 29th of January. So far as we have examined, our 

 bees have g-one thus far through the winter beauti- 

 fully. 



Did you ever! " Willie " tells us we have now 5823 

 subscribers, and it is not j-et quite the first of Febru- 

 ary, either. You have given us over 1500 names dur- 

 ing the month of January. Well, well! We shall 

 have to print a larger edition, and shall also be able 

 to make some other improvements for your benefit, 

 which we had intended. Many thanks to you, each 

 and all. 



THAT G-HORSE-POWEB ENGINE AND BOILER. 



The one we mentioned last month was sold almost 

 as soon as the journal was out, and two more friends 

 wanted It. Well, after some correspondence with 

 the manufacturers, I have been enabled to offer a 

 brand-new one, same kind, for $335. It is all fitted 

 out with governor, pump, check valve, lubricator, 

 oil-cups, glass gauge, heater, stack, and spark-arres- 

 ter; and while it gives fully 6 horse-power, our pony 

 Jack drew it easily over the snow on a pair of bobs. 

 It Is a vei-y pretty-looking machine, and we consid- 

 er it a bargain at the price mentioned. 



In C. C. Miller's remarks in regard to narrow sec- 

 tions without separators, he discussed Heddon's 

 crate against the wide frames; and although he does 

 not say so, I presume he means to include all other 

 crates, as well as Heddon's style of crate. Our own 

 crate, figured in our price list, which we have sold 

 for years, has always been furnished with separators 

 or without, as customers prefer. We can also make 

 them, with very little trouble, with narrow sections, 

 to be used without separators. To do this, we make 

 sections about 1 11-10 inches wide, and thus get 8 

 rows of sections Instead of 7— or :J3 sections to the 

 case. All the change needed is to have 8 bottom- 

 bars to the case, instead of V; and any case already 

 in use can be easily changed over, if narrower sec- 

 tions are found preferable. For the present, the 

 price of these narrower sections will be the same as 

 the regular width— 1 'a inches. 



BOUND BACK VOLUMES OF GLEANINGS. 



In moving a great stack of these we found that 

 we have quite a quantity of volumes 1, 2, and 4, of 

 Gleanings; Each volume is well bound together 

 with brass clips. They are in a veiy convenient 

 shape to read, and contain some excellent commu- 

 nications, besides many illustrations, volume 4 be- 

 ing fully illustrated on the cover, as some of the 

 friends may remember. Now to get these out of the 

 way, we well sell them, as long as they hold out, for 

 35 cents per volume, postpaid. They are for the 

 years 1873. '74, and '76, respectively. If they are 

 wanted by freight or express with other goods, only 

 25 cents pen volume. 



OLD BEE-.JOURNALS AT 3 CTS. APIECE. 



We have bushels and bushels left yet, dear friends, 

 and many of them contain very valuable articles 

 from some of our best contributors. They are also 

 illustrated with engravings that cost hundreds of 

 dollars. Now, we are glad to let you have them at 3 

 cts. apiece, and we will sort them, also, so that no 

 two are alike. But we can not very well sort out 

 special numbers here and there, at this very low 

 price. Perhaps the better way would be to send 

 about the money you want to expend on them, and 

 we will forward them, no two alike — that is, pro- 

 viding you do not send for more than about $3 GO 

 worth at a time. 



Since the article on page 89 was written, we have 

 received, through the kindness of W. P. Henderson, 

 " Huber's Natural History of the Honey Bee." On 

 the first page are some most excellent steel-plate 

 engravings, colored, of the queen, drone, and work- 

 er. In fact, I doubt if there is any thing so good in 

 any modern work on bee culture. Underneath the 

 cutsisthe following: "A new edition, with a memoir 

 of the author, aud appendix. London: Printed for 

 Thomas Tegg, 73 Cheapside, 18U." The appendix is 

 by Peter Huber. Is it not possible that there are 

 some descendants of Huber still living? The maid- 

 en name of Huber's wife should have been printed 

 LuUin, instead of the way we did last month. We 

 had to "guess" at it. 



WPTAT man has DONE, MAN CAN DO. 



Our reports in the "encouraging department" 

 I are encouraging in this way: They show not only 

 [ what one man has done, but they show what many 

 I boys and women have done, aud that, too, with but 

 ! little experience. It is true, they had the teachings 

 I of the ABC book, or some other manual or journal; 

 but the fact that great numbers report having made 

 I a good paying result, even from a first season's 

 work, and often with only a single colony for a start, 

 points unmistakably to the fact that thousands can 

 gain the needed outdoor exercise, and take recrea- 

 tion in the open air, without the probability that it 

 will be a dead loss of time. It also demonstrates 

 ! that there are localities scattered here and there all 

 over our land, where bees may do splendidly. 

 Though these reports, as you will observe, seem to 

 be confined to no particular State or climate, they 

 are to me exceedingly encouraging, and 1 thank God 

 over and over again as I read them. Not only do 

 they tell of health and happiness, but of the bounti- 

 ful rewards for the labor that has been bestowed; 

 and through it all there seems to be a spirit of thank- 

 fulness to the Giver of all good. • 



send in your orders now. 

 There is a letter on my table now from a friend 

 who accuses me of being the means of causing him 

 to lose his honey crop, because his order was delay- 

 ed 15 days. He admits it was sent us in the height of 

 white-clover bloom. Now, friends, there is a moral 

 here. If you wait till white clover is fully in bloom, 

 I can by no means agree to be responsible for the 

 consequences of delays of 15 days, or twice that, for 

 that matter. Our price list, since it was first pub- 

 lished, has notified you that we could not be respon- 

 sible for delays on orders received during the honey 

 months. If you order now, however, we can usual- 

 ly send the goods with reasonable promptness. 

 Will it not be best to have things ready long before 

 the honey season commences? Of course, we shall 

 do our best to be prompt at all seasons. We have 

 stock of almost every thing likely to be needed, 

 stacked up in our new rooms, and in the warehouse, 

 equal to all that will be wanted during the season — 

 or, at least, we thlQkso. Thereis going to be trouble 

 on sections again, for we can not get our basswood 

 seasoned during the winter months. We have a fine 

 stock of beautiful sections piled up in the ware- 

 house; but the way they are moving off, they can 

 not last very long. Better send in your orders pret- 

 ty soon, if you do not want to be troubled by delays. 



