462 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



My Italians are doing well, the queen laying- rap- 

 idly; the bees are mild and peaceable, and I think 

 they must have come from " Conny's hive," so you 

 must fork over the money to her, 



Antoine, Ark. .7. B. Rountree. 



IS AILANTHCS HONEY POISON.' 



I would like to ask you if the honey gathered 

 from ailanthus-trees is poisonous. There are a 

 number of trees of that variety near where my bees 

 are kept, and they are at work on them by the thou- 

 sands. Philip H. Lucas. 



Mount Vernon, N. Y., June 33, 1884. 



[There has been some talk of the above honey 

 poisoning the bees, but I am inclined to think it is a 

 mistake, and I have never heard that it impaired 

 the quality of honey for table use.] 



Gleanings in Bee Coltdre, 



I'ltblished Senii-Mouthl;/. 



.£^. X. I^OOT, 



EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, 



MEDINA, O. 



TERMS: $1.00 PER YEAR, POSTPAID. 



For ClnbWng Eites, See First Page of Eeidir- ilatter. 



;^EfIINDE^Y. 



SUPPOSE a great lot of the friends are I 

 in the midst of basswood bloom. At ] 

 present it does not yield very much here. \ 

 See that your bees have plenty of room, i 

 but do not be in too great haste about 

 dividing, as we did a month ago. AVhatever [ 

 you do, keep your bees strong, and able to | 

 protect themselves from robbers, and provide 

 them with abundant stores. Of course, in j 

 many localities the honey-yield will be much | 

 the same as it was in June. Do not let the | 

 weeds or grass grow in front of the entrances i 

 of the hives. Be sure that every colony has 

 a fertile queen. Do not let any thing go at 

 slip-shod, or have any guesswork. Have j 

 your hives stand square to the points of the 

 compass, and have them leveled u]) where 

 they are intended to be level. To make ; 

 queen-rearing a part of your business, be ' 

 sure that every hive at all times contains 

 unsealed brood, whether they have a queen i 

 or only a queen-cell. If honey stops coming, i 

 keep things lively by judiciotis feeding. We 

 can raise queens and make it pay, if the 

 weather is so dry the bees are not gathering 

 a drop of honey. When your honey-yield 

 begins to close up, be careful about having | 

 too many untilled sections lying over for an- j 

 other season. The same witli empty frames, j 

 or frames filled with fdn. Give the bees 

 more room just as fast as they need it, but 

 not much faster. Do not board a lot of use- 

 less drones when you do not want drones. 

 Make your bees pjiy expenses. Do not have 1 

 honey lying around doing nobody any good, i 

 Clear up all the remnants. Fix it up nice, 

 and get it off your hands. If honey is left 

 at the stores to be sold on commission, keep i 

 an eye on it. Friend Hutchinson has told I 

 you all about it. If you sell hives and fix- t 

 tures, have them ready so that you can set j 

 them right into your customer's wagon just ! 

 the minute he drives up. Put up a neat lit- \ 

 tie sign near the gate ; and when you get a ; 

 customer, treat him in a neighborly way, so 

 that he will like to come again, lie up in ! 

 the morning ; and after you get up, keej) so | 

 busy that Satan Avill never find any mischief : 

 for "you to do. Set an example to tlie neigh- ' 

 boriiood round about you, and,— i 



Whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do it all in the 

 name of the Lord Jesus. ' 



FOUNDATION-MILLS AND COMB FOUNDATION. 



As we are now ahead on both of these, we will, 

 until further notice, make a discount of 10 per cent 

 from our printed list; and we can fill any order, 

 with but few exceptions, by next train. 



IMPROVEMENTS ON FOOT-POWER BUZZ-SAWS. 



Our foot-power buzz-saws are now all made with 

 an extra mandrel, so that we can change from rip- 

 saw to cvit-otr without unscrewing the saw from the 

 mandrel at all. Price, as heretofore, $35.00; or with 

 small scroll attachment, S40.00. Special discount is 

 made for cash with order. 



The editor of the A. B. J. sends us a very pretty 

 little book, e/ititled " Bee-keepers' Convention 

 Handbook." It contains all information necessary 

 in regard to starting bee-keepers' conventions, and , 

 so far as I know, the book seems to cover the whole 

 groundofparliamenta*y rules especially required in 

 associations of every kind. Price .50 cts. We can 

 mail theip on application. 



OUR PRICE LIST. 



We have printed lists of names to whom we send 

 our price list once or twice a year, amounting to 

 something like 300,000. Now, if you want your name 

 in this list, provided it is not already there, just in- 

 dicate it when writing, or drop us a postal card, and 

 we will sec that your price list goes regularly, about 

 as often as we got out one, with any ^•ery great 

 changes in it. 



HONEY FROiM THE WILLOW. 



Friend J. C. Towson, of New Madrid, Mo., sends 

 us a sample of willow honey. The color is fine, and 

 the flavor very nice, only it has a little aromatic 

 taste that savors of the willow bark or willow twigs 

 when one hajipcns to chew them. Friend T. has 

 about 1330 lbs. of the same. On the whole, I should 

 say the honey was pretty nearly equal to clover and 

 basswood. 



BE CAREFUL HOW YOU HANDLE POSTAGE-STAMPS 



Our Clerks are greatly annoyed by postage-stamps 

 sticking fast to letters. Sometimes the letters have 

 to be soaked in water for v.n hour or two; and if 

 the ink is poor, we may be unable to over read it at 

 all. When you send postage-stamps in a letter, 

 wrap them in a separate piece of paper, and be care- 

 ful about handling them when your fingers are 

 damp or sweaty. 



We have to-day 6930 subscribers. You see, v,^e 

 have not quite made the 7000 yet ; but as a good many 

 subscriptions expire with the July number, and as 

 the honey season is, with a good many, mpgtly over 



