390 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



Just 90 more subscribers, aud we shall be up to 

 TOGO, for the first time In the life of Gleanings. 



THE PURPLE BASKET. 



I TELL you, friends, this little device has done ex- 

 cellent service during these busy days. Several 

 times within a week our mails have brought over 

 300 letters a day, besides a great number of postal 

 cards. Now, if there is any thing you are very de- 

 sirous indeed to have answered by the first mail 

 leaving, mark it "Purple Basket" at the top of the 

 letter, and I can almost always get some kind of an 

 answer back to j'ou. 



HONEY FROM THE FOLIAGE OF THE SUGAR-MAPLE. 



On the morning of the 2.5th of May the bees were 

 roaring through the foliage of the maple-tree tops, 

 almost as thickly as they had been but a few days 

 before on the apple-bloom. The leaves had shiny 

 spots on them, made by a sticky liquid. A neighbor 

 of ours said that his bees were working strong, and 

 storing white honey in section boxes, which he sup- 

 posed came from this source. I presume the honey- 

 dew was owing to the presence of the aphides. 



40 HOURS WITHOUT SLEEP. 



If any of our friends think we are not working 

 hard to keep up with orders, let me tell you that one 

 of our boys worked forty hours in succession, tak- 

 ing time only for his meals. It was our friend Jacob, 

 of whom I have told you. When I found it out I 

 gave him a good scolding, and made him go to bed. 

 He has to mind when I tell him, even if he is getting 

 to be larger and stouter than I am. Sometimes he 

 obeys reluctantly, but he always does it good- 

 naturedly, for he knows I am anxious for his best 

 welfare. 



SENDING GOODS BACK. 



With the great roar of business, it is nothing 

 strange if we send you a wrong thing once in a 

 while; but please don't, dear friends, add to our al- 

 ready heavy load of cares and expense by being in 

 haste to hustle goods back, even if they do not seem 

 to be what you have ordered. Sometimes a neigh- 

 bor has asked to have them included in your goods, 

 and we have neglected to explain. Notify us 

 promptly, of course, aud then hold them until fur- 

 ther orders; for we can often save a heavy ship- 

 ping - bill by sending the article to some one near 

 you who Ones want it 



LAZY PEOPLE. 



The clerk who opens the letters informs me that 

 she has five envelopes containing postal money-or- 

 ders—probably to pay accounts; but the friends 

 who sent them were too lazy to even scrawl their 

 names on the outside of the envelope, and the post- 

 master who sold the notes says he can not tell who 

 it was that sent them. Of course, we can do no bet- 

 ter than to let them lie, and very likely the ones 

 who sent them will get a smart dun from the book- 

 keepers, and then declare they sent the money long 

 ago. Would you really suppose we have so many 

 people who are too lazy to write their names when 

 they are sending money? 



A PRESENT FOR YOUR WIFE. 



We are just in receipt of a new book from the O. 

 Judd Company, published during this year, 1884, en- 

 titled " Household Conveniences." The book is full 

 of excellent hints and ideas, as well as being full of 

 pictures. It seems to me, that on first running 

 over the leaves my eye caught on at least a dozen 

 things, each one of which will, in a little time, save 



the price of the book. I earnestly commend it to all 

 our readers. As a present for a housewife, I do not 

 know what can be prettier. The paper is fine and 

 strong, the printing beautiful and clear, aud the en- 

 gravings superb ; and on the front cover is a medley 

 of carpet-sweeper, tub, wash-bench, bucket, and oth- 

 er things suggested by the contents. Price, by mail, 

 $1..50; If ordered by freight or express, with other 

 goods, $1.40. 



IMPORTANCE OF STANDARD GOODS IN PLACE OF 

 ALL SORTS AND ALL SIZES. 



DuiiiNG this present awful rush for section boxes, 

 one of the pacliers remarked, that while our saw- 

 room could turn out from 20,000 to 30,000 Simplicity 

 sections in a day, yet if each thousand were to be 

 made of an odd size, about 10,000 would be the best 

 we could do. Still worse, it is impossible to pick out 

 lumber so as to make exactly the quantity of odd- 

 sized goods needed ; therefore we have to make a 

 surplus every time, which is worth only so much 

 kindling-wood, unless our customer will be kind 

 enough to take the surplus; whereas on regular 

 standard goods, what is left over one of man's order 

 is exactly right for the next, and so on. Losses, de- 

 lays, and troubles without end, are the result of 

 going on your own hook, and having your bee- 

 hives and frames different from what anybody else 

 has. 



COOK'S MANUAL. 



While I write, the boys have just finished un- 

 packing and storing awaj' in the vault, 2.50 new 

 Manuals, ready for delivery. The present edition 

 differs from the previous one, only in a little change 

 in some of the engravings. The fact that the book 

 is the work of Professor Cook should be enough to 

 make it find favor with every bee-keeper; for who 

 has not at one time or another fM like saying out 

 loud, if he didn't say it, " Thank God that we have 

 such a man in our land as Prof. Cook "? When 

 friend Jones was here with us he said he regarded 

 Cook's Manual as the best book on bees in the world. 

 Now, friend Jones knows all about the A B C book, 

 for we had just been discussing it; but for all that, 

 I rejoiced to hear him speak as he did, for it showed 

 that he had sufficient confidence in me to know that 

 I would not feel hurt at what he said. May be he 

 added some sort of qualification; but if he did, I can 

 not remember it now. The book is a good nice large 

 one, full of pictui-es of every thing about bees, and 

 full of friend Cook's hearty good nature. If you 

 want to see how prompt we are in sending goods by 

 mail, just send us $1.2.5 for the Manual. After you 

 have bought one, and can get orders for them of 

 jour neighbors, we will allow you 25 cts. for doing 

 the business, and will mail them to you or your 

 neighbor, as you choose. The ABC book will be 

 sent on the same terms. 



CONVENTION" NOTICES. 



A SENSIlSr.K CONVENTION NOTICE. 



The members ami rrlcnds oT the Northern Michi- 

 gan Bee-Keei)ci-s' Society will hold a basket picnic 

 at the apiary of ^liss T. A. Bellani.\-, one mile west 

 of Tonia, oii the liith of June. Teams will be in 

 waiting to conves' all who wish to attend, froin the 

 morning trains, free, to the a])iary. Purehas(> your 

 tickets to loMia, l)ut leave the cars ni)iiositc the 

 prison-grounds. Miss 15. ie(|uests that yoii bring 

 your wife or luisband. as the ease may lie, and also 

 that you send her a i)ostal, notifying her of your in- 

 tention to be i)resent, in order that ample provision 

 may be made to convey all from the trains. 



S. J. YOUNGMAN, PrCH. F. A. PALMER, S(C. 



