260 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



Apr. 



enced person can best detect it. If in or about the 

 middle of such hatched sheets one or more scattered 

 cells remain closed, look for them, and see; if their 

 covers are caved in, with a small opening in the cen- 

 ter, there is foul or failing- brood of some kind, if 

 not the worst. You will not likely find any old 

 enough to have turned to brown jelly as yet. If, on 

 the contrary, no such described cells are found, nor 

 iQ 10 or 20 days after (at which time they should be 

 looked oVer again), your bees are likely all right, and 

 aa expert with bees and the working of foul brood 

 would have now settled his mind about it. But as 

 you claim to be one of the ABC class, I would, be- 

 sides the above, adopt a more sure and simple proof, 

 which costs Eo extra time, and the bees prosper all 

 the same, if they are sound. 



After you have proceeded as above, you can add 

 empty combs or foundation to strong colonies when 

 needed, until they have eight, when you should give 

 them no more. You will thus compel all your strong 

 colonies to swarm early naturally, which is a sure 

 proof of their health, and you can then do with 

 them as you like. If any are too weak to swarm, 

 keep them and their surplus separate; and in the 

 fall, after breeding is over, and when you prepare 

 for winter, look all carefully over for any remaining 

 cells, as every bee-keeper should do, and as we al- 

 ways did. 



I do not consider it necessary here to describe the 

 way you can best get rid of it, in case you should be 

 so unfortunate as to discover foul brood among 

 your bees, as friend G. W. House not long ago de- 

 scribed in Gleanings, if I am correct; if not, I will, 

 if you need and desire it. If you can, please find out 

 whether the bees in question surely had foul brood; 

 and, if possible, where and how it originated. 



Philadelphia, Pa. C. H. Luttgens. 



A SPECIALIST. 



A MEDLEY OF THOUGHTS FROM FRIEND MARVIN. 



^«iESSRS. Langstroth, Quinby, Heddon, and 

 M/M. Root, are no more specialists than some of 



' our would-be beginners. The capacity of 



keeper, with locality and other fitting circumstanc- 

 es, will pi-oduce the entii-e specialist. The times 

 and conditions are at hand in many locations, and 

 lack but one, or at most two points, to produce 

 them in others. How are they made? The man 

 who lias to sell his surplus honey is not a specialist. 

 The two who used to spend their winters in social 

 discourse on their specialty, were nearing the point. 

 One of them used to sell surplus bees; now, by 

 doubling and other ways, he stops the produce of 

 new bee-keepers. We should like Mr. Q. to make 

 sections; R. to publish papers; D.,fdn.; G., presses. 

 I will raise honey as I have done for thirty years, 

 and improve the bees that gather it, so as not to be 

 a "specialist." Uncle Sam has many acres unoccu- 

 pied; a keeper places stock enough to take the feed 

 going to waste on the field. Is it policy to place too 

 many on the same field, or go beyond the unoccu- 

 pied place? The fittest will survive. Who succeed 

 best? Is it always the specialist? 



Mr. Langstroth was a good inventor, but too mod- 

 est to be a good salesman, as was Mr. Otis— who was 

 aspecf'aitst who has done more in his time to intro- 

 duce the use of the movable principle than all oth- 

 ers combined. How many points do the above par. 

 ties lack of being specialists? The humane society 



of this State will not allow the misuse of stock, by 

 starving or otherwise. I therefore advise not to run 

 the risk, but "go west," as others have, who could 

 not compete. Is it best to advise the thirty bee- 

 keepers who used to try to keep bees in this place, 

 to go in again, and ruin or lose as they did, and do 

 now in other places? If Mr. P. wants to show how 

 easily he can succeed, let him come in my range, 

 and fail, as one of us is sure to do; or let him earn 

 or buy the range or route, as other trades do; i, e., 

 the milk routes; start fair, and lose less. 



Wanted, an apprentice to learn to be a '■^special- 

 ist." J. M. Marvin. 



St. Charles, 111., Mar. 28, 1884. 



Friend M., we are much obliged for your 

 suggestions, even though they are dropped 

 in a little abruptly, some of them. But we 

 should be glad indeed to have you tell us 

 something about your yield of honey during 

 the past season, and 'how you secured it. 

 You strike one point there that ought to be 

 considered. The beginner would not be 

 likely to succeed in your immediate neigh- 

 borhood. It is just so with us. Our 400 or 

 500 colonies during the height of honey har- 

 vest cover our tields so well that those who 

 try bee culture within a mile of our apiary 

 are apt to stand a rather poor chance. On 

 this account I believe most of them have 

 moved away or given it up. 



THE INDIANA BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCI- 

 ATION. 



WE BE BRETHREN. 



fHAVE waited for some one to send you a report 

 of our very interesting meeting held in Indian- 

 ' apolis, Jan. 15 and 16; but as nothing has yet 

 appeared in Gleanings in regard to that conven- 

 tion, I beg for a little space, just to tell your readers 

 that our fifth annual convention was well attended, 

 from 75 to 100 being in attendance, the most of whom 

 are members. Tne discussions were lively, and gen- 

 erally of interest to all present; and although, as 

 usual, there was a difference of opinion on some 

 points, yet the tone of the discussions was in the 

 spirit of " We be brethren." If any other spirit pre- 

 I vailed, I failed to discover it. 



On the afternoon of the second day we had an ad- 

 dress by Gov. Porter, who, for the past three or four 

 years, has favored the meetings by his presence. 

 Perhaps a " new departure " was the election of Mrs. 

 Bobbins, of Indianapolis, for president. As a body 

 of busy "workers," why not have a "queen" to 

 rule us? C. F. Muth, of Cincinnati, was there, as he 

 always is, and he never fails to come with valuable 

 information, and just such advice as will benefit all 

 progressive bee-keepers. In marketing their honey 

 crop, our Indiana producers have learned, and are 

 practicing one very important point; that is, to sell 

 their honey as near home as possible, putting it on 

 sale in the towns and cities around them; and it is 

 astonishing what an amount is sold in that way. 

 Statistics gathered by the assessors show the num- 

 ber of colonies in this State one year ago to have 

 been 78,000; this year will show a very large increase. 

 The entire proceedings of our convention will be 

 published in pamphlet form, and you will no doubt 

 receive a copy from our worthy secretary, who is do- 

 ing much to keep up the interests of the association. 

 And now. Brother Root, I want to as^ you in time, 



