1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



241 



In bloom, the bees work on it all day. As to the 

 amount of honey they get, I am unable to say. For 

 two or three years I have noticed that it is spread- 

 ing by the seed as well as the roots, little tiny plants 

 appearing at some distance from the place where 

 planted; and last season I gathered some of the seed 

 and planted it. If it germinates I shall try it again 

 this year. It blooms early in the season, and is, as I 

 think, a very pretty plant. D. Norton. 



Galva, 111., Feb. 27, 1884. 



A PROFITABLE SPECULATION. 



Herewith And slip taken from Cincinnati StocK 

 Revieiv of March 7, 1884. I have been troubled with 

 a sore throat lately, and could not swallow that arti- 

 cle yet. Ed. Baggalev. 



Weston, Ohio, March 10, 1884. 



AMERICAN BEES FOB FRANCE. 



" Speaking of how the Americans ai'e becoming exporters 

 instead of importers," recently observed a New-York party. 

 " recalls an incident in my experience. Some time ago I found 



pered in bee culture, and wlien we were in California the last 

 time, I went and saw him. We were about going to Europe 

 then, and he asked mo to take over an American queen. He 

 was confluent that the American que<'n-bee possessed moie 

 vigor than the Italian. I consented, and he improvised a box 

 for it by boring in a piece of wood, put in some honey, some 

 wax, and some of the flowers of Southern California, and gave 

 it to me. Two months later I was repacking our trunks in 

 Boston, when I came across my California bee. 1 said to Miss 

 Morris, ' Well, I guess the (|ueen is dead. I had forgotten all 

 about her.' A tap on the box showed, however, that i he queen 

 wasalive, and when 1 arrived in Paris I presented her to the 

 American Consul, according to instruction, and he sent the 

 bee, as desired, to the Department of Agriculture. Upon re- 

 turning from Switzerland, the Consul said that he had a letter 

 of commendation for me to bear to my California friend, from 

 the Department of Agriculture. The American's claim proved 

 true. It was satisfactorily demonstrated to the Department, 

 that while the Italian (iueens produced but •10 per cent of 

 working liecs. tile Aiiici lean queen's produced Gf per cent. My 

 California man is scinling all the bees he can spare to France 

 now, in little pai Uages by mail that cost him 2 ets. to post, and 

 is getting SO.OO apiece tor every one of them." 



Friend B., it occurs to me my throat is sore 

 too, since reading the slip you send. 



SEPARATORS ARE ECONOMfCAL. 



There is one point I want to mention in regard to 

 using separators. Last spring we bought 13 lbs. of 

 fdn. for sections at one time; at another time we 

 got 10 or 12 lbs., only a part of which we used. I think 

 I would be safe in saying we used 15 lbs., which, at 60c 

 per lb., would cost $9.00. Had we used starters full 

 size, it would have coat us three times as much, or 

 f 37.00 for fdn.; hence we saved $18.C0 in cost of fdn. 

 All the separators wo have cost us less than S14.00, 

 leaving a net profit of $4.00 the first year, $18.00 for 

 the second, and $184.00 for eleven years, and all 

 combs straight. 



AVnO MAY KEEP BEES? 



He who has lived half of his threescore and ten 

 years, and made a success of all his undertakings 

 can safely undertake to keep bees for profit; but he 

 who drags along just a little behind his neighbors in 

 nearly every thing must expect failure, if he under- 

 takes the care of bees. A friend asked me what was 

 the most important to succeed in bee culture. I an- 

 swered, "Eternal vigilance." Perhaps that was put- 

 ting it a little strong. Among those near here who 

 kept bees for from 3 to 6 years, one has none, one 

 has one colony, 3 have some bees, but have made no 

 clear money. There are many ."tarting in who suc- 

 ceed to some extent in raising honey, to whom sell- 

 ing it is a, "bug-bear." Ten cents will buy their 

 comb houoy when it is worth 16 cents on the market, 

 whv.it-o«K ; while the bee-keeper who has worked 

 hard and conscientiously for the trade steps out of 

 the home trade until they have sold all theirs, and 



the grocer orders his at 16 cents. I would suggest, 

 that each bee-keeper ship an occasional case or two 

 of honey to the nearest city market, and let the net 

 price obtained guide him in the price he asks in the 

 home market. 



ARE BEE-STINGS DELETERIOUS? 



We want more light on the effect of bee stings, or 

 poison, on the human system. Does it not cost lame 

 elbows, partial paralysis of the arms and shoulders? 



MOTHS. 



The moths seem to bother, some of the friends. 

 Our experience is, if all colonies are kept strong, 

 and all waste comb put in a tight box, every thing 

 kept neat and clean, moths will do no harm. We 

 put our honey in a tight cupboard, and in shipping- 

 cases, and have no trouble. J. Sykes Wilson. 



Penrose, 111., March 4, 1834. 



Friend W., if you will excuse me, I am 

 afraid your reasoning? is a little faulty. If 

 you used large-sized sheets of fdn. in the 

 sections simply to get the combs straight, 

 your reasoning would be all right ; for sepa- 

 rators are used for getting straight combs, 

 and nothing else. J Jut if the bees lill the 

 sections with honey in much less time from 

 having fdn. than they would if they had to 

 manufacture the wax and build all the comb, 

 this puts a different phase on the matter. If 

 I am correct, the fact that full sheets of fdn. 

 give straight combs without separators, was 

 only one of the reasons for using fdn., and a 

 minor reason at that. — I do not think that 

 lame elbows, arms, and shoulders, are often 

 caused by bee-stings, if ever. Mr. J^ang- 

 stroth got an .idea at one time that the poi- 

 son of the bee-stings was injurious to him ; 

 but he has written me since, saying he 

 thought it was a mistaken idea that he had 

 got. If you will make a little inquiry, you 

 will find there are by far more people suffer- 

 ing from a sort of partial paralysis, who have 

 never been near bees, than there are among 

 bee-keepers. — I agree with you in regard to 

 moths. 



BEE-KEEPERS' TELEPHONES. 



The telephone T got of you in the fall works nicely, 

 when we can keep it together. I have the posts 100 

 yards apart. When we get a heavy wind it breaks; 

 also when we stretch it a little too tight for 450 yards. 

 I have a neighbor who has iron wire, two sizes heav- 

 ier than broom wire; it reaches ]>i mile, and works 

 well. Some say it rusts. He has had it up two 

 years, and it is now apparently as good as ever. 



Millersburg, O., March 10. 1884. C. F. Uhl. 



I believe the annealed brass wire we fur- 

 nish has generally been considered more sen- 

 sitive, friend U., although iron wire will an- 

 swer. As it has to be out in the weather, it 

 should be coated or galvanized, or it soon 

 rusts. The shellac-coated steel wire which 

 we advertise on the lU-cent counter might 

 do very well. The greatest objection I have 

 heard to it is, that it is too stiff to be drawn 

 up tight enough. Ferhaps others can tell us 

 in regard to this matter. The manufactur- 

 ers of the JUiss telephones which we sell, 

 seem to think the composition wire put up 

 with the instruments is the best ; and as we 

 generally sell them to tell vvheii the bees are 

 swarming, this light wire would probably be 

 more sensitive to the bumps they give it. 



