18&1 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



alighting-boards to prevent robbing, keeping things 

 right up, and neglecting nothing that should be 

 ■ done. Hard work, real backache work at times, and 

 your two ABC scholars of two years ago have not i 

 learned it all by a long way, but we have learned ! 

 one thing; as somebody said, it takes eternal vigil- j 

 ance to succed in bee-keeping in Kansas. You have : 

 got to be on hand with your eyes and ears open, 

 and your sleeves rolled high up. 



Now, Bro. Root, I have said tee; but to be frank 

 about it, I am like the fellow who killed the bear. 

 My wife did most of the work in the apiary herself, 

 last season. 



The imported queen and 9 oz. of bees we received 

 from you the 30th of last June built up (m two 

 frames of brood, and gave a surplus of .5 lbs. of 

 extracted honey from the upper story. We think 

 lots of her. They brought in the first pollen of all 

 our bees. Her hive is full of brood. Drones are 

 hatching, and the indications are she will swarm the 

 first of all. The spring is cold and backward; the 

 first pollen came in the 31st of March, 8 days later 

 than last spring. We sold our extracted honey at 

 16 to 20 cts. per lb. ; comb honey from 30 to 35 cts. 

 per lb. All is sold except some we are keeping for 

 feeding. We are going to feed frames of honey in- ' 

 Stead of syrup this year. M. F. Tatman. j 



Kossville, Kansas, April 31, 1884. 



Yes, friend T.. I do think you had good 

 luck ; and what I admire about your article 

 is, that you tell just how your luck came 

 about, and it will be a recipe whereby your 

 neighbors and everybody else may get it. It 

 is true, one has to work and scratch for good 

 luck, but that is the nicest ])cirt of it. 'Mn 

 the sweat of thv face slialt tliou eat bread." 

 etc. 



BEE -FEEDERS, DOCTORS. BEE-KEEP- 

 ERS' HATS, AND . 



[I,I> ANOTHEK 



)EA IX UEGAliD TO HEE-FEEI>E1{S 



Y most satisfactory feeder is a vessel with a 

 float; but as I am not fully satisfied with 

 anj- feeder noticed in Gt.eaktncs, A 15 (', 

 or elsewhere, I have constructed — in iny 

 mind —the " Ideal" feeder — a tin can, long 

 l)Ut shallow, with an outlet for the honey or syruj), 

 i-o large as not to be easily clogged l>y inotes (say ^a 

 inch I. but the outflow regulated by a pinhole for air 

 in the toj) (atmospheric pressure). 



WHAT KINO OF A HAT SHOULD A BEE-KEEPEK USEV 



Some time ago I concluded my bees were degen- 

 erating in amiable traits, so many of them tried to 

 sting me as I sauntered about the hives. Now they 

 are all right again. What is the explanation? A 

 change of hats. Every bee that flew against my 

 straw hat got raving mad, and went for me with per- 

 sistent fury. As soon as I suspected the cause, and 

 substituted an old soft wool hat for my straw one, 

 they would bump and bump against it without los- 

 ing their temper. 



MBS. cotton's $4.00 OUTFIT. 



I fully expected to be in Blasted Hopes; but my 

 few colonies are doing well. The first money I ever 

 spent in bees was $4.00 sent to that Maine woman. 

 That money was " blasted hopes," although I have 

 not tried her system. I could not employ an archi- 

 tect tQ cpngtrugt one, and so lost my money. 



A Begjnnbh, 



Friend B., as a rule I am opposed to theo- 

 ry without in-actice : l)ut this time I believe 

 you have constructed a pretty good thing in 

 your mind. I am going to claim priority of 

 invention, though, after all. Just listen. 

 Years ago, when I had feeding on the brain, 

 to use a little slang, I ptirchased a tight al- 

 cohol-barrel and dissolved a l)arrel of coffee 

 sugar in water and poured into it. I arrang- 

 ed" a shallow tin vessel, perforated on the 

 bottom, and attached to the stem of a mo- 

 lasses-gate, so I could screw it into thebimg- 

 hole of a barrel. While the syrup stood by 

 the side of a bee-hive, this shallow feeder 

 lay just between the upper and lower stories 

 of a strong colony. The idea was, they 

 could help themselves. In course of time, 

 however, the syrup did not get out fast 

 enough ; and to" facilitate matters I bored a 

 gimlet-hole in the upper side of the barrel. 

 Of course, the air went in, and with such 

 force that it made a shrill whistling noise. 

 By plugging this hole I could give the bees 

 feed just when I wanted to. and just as fast 

 as I wanted to. In case it came too fast I 

 had an empty hive underneath, waxed so as 

 to hold syrup, and in it a float. With this 

 arrangement I made the bees build combs, 

 and till them, and seal them over, and these 

 combs were then given to colonies needing 

 stores. The arrangement worked beauti- 

 fully; but as I did not commence it until 

 frost came, a good deal of syrup was con- 

 sumed in keeping the whole establisliment 

 up to blood heat, oi- pretty near that, so as 

 to keep conil)-l)uii(liug going on. Quite ear- 

 ly, during a frosty morning, the vapor would 

 ascend from thishive. as we often see it rise 

 from a manure-lieap. Now. although I dis- 

 covered that letting ;iir in, in the way I have 

 told you, regulated the flow of lioney, it nev- 

 er occurred to me before that we could take 

 advantage of this. If you let syrup through 

 a small orilice it soon becomes cU)gge(l or 

 gummed up, but I believe air Avould pass 

 tlirough the smallest pinhole, and never 

 clog. Who Viil! work out the ideaV 



I believe tlie kind of hat makes a differ- 

 ence, but it seems to me you have got it the 

 wrong way about. A few mornings ago 

 bees flew at my soft drab felt hat. and stung 

 it so full of stings that I meditated pulling 

 them out to sell to tlie doctors. By the way, 

 did I evei- tell you the doctors are buying uj) 

 bee-stings ? Friend House sold louit stings 

 for S5.00 a few days ago, to be manufactur- 

 ed into medicine." I did not taste the medi- 

 cine, but T have no doubt it was good. If 

 doctors are ever in need of something that 

 will "take hold."' I should think "extract of 

 bee-stings" would just do the business. 

 Whether they use it for curing rheumatism 

 or not, I can not say. I throw out the sug- 

 gestion as a new department to our industry. 

 It occurs to me just now, that friend House 

 said I shouldn't tell of it ; but you see it is 

 too late, as I hav(> got it all written down. 

 Now, then, about the hats. What kind of 

 hats are least obnoxious to bees, especially 

 when they are spoiling for some cause for 

 getting ui) a flght V 



I do not know but I might liave said some- 

 thing about yoiu- concluding item, friend B.; 

 but you see you hiwe moved me to talk al- 



