1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



763 



in their museum, and he can, if he chooses, for making the syrup. Of late, the princi- 

 cut this out of Gleanings to attach to it, pal complaint against her seems to be that, 

 and may be he can give us some additional after she has received $2(1.00 for a colony of 



light in regard to tliis paper not made by 

 hands, 



MRS. COTTON. 



A BKIEF REVIEW OF HER CIKCULAH. 



H.WE lately received Mrs. Cotton's circular, in 

 which I find the fallowing; 



"SPECIAL REQUEST. 



"To my customers.— The unpi-iucipled dealers 

 in bee-hives, books, apiarian supplies, honey- 

 extractors, etc., are resorting to every means to de- 

 ceive the public, and deter bee-keepers from adopt- 

 ing my plan of hcc-Uccpinu" etc. 



I find, also, upon further reading of her circular, 

 that her plan is as follows: 



" In spring I feed lightly to encourage the bees to 



breed rapidly early in the season A few 



days before the harvest from the flowers begins 1 

 feed liberally, to All the store combs of the main 



hive, and to get them started in the bo.xes 



The feed I use costs only about seven cents per 

 pound; and when stored in the combs by the bees 

 can not be distinguished from white-clover honey 

 by the most delicate taste. The bees will build 

 comb from this feed as rapidly as when gathering 

 honey from flowers." 



The above quotations speak for themselves, and 

 it is not strange that every honest dealer should 

 condemn them ; indeed, it would be very strange if 

 they did not. I do not know of any one who con- 



bees, she sends tiieni out without a queen- 

 at least they prove to be queenless, and it 

 would seem as if she knew they were so, be- 

 cause of the very singular instructions she 

 gives the purchaser; namely, not to open 

 the hive inside of ten days or two weeks aft- 

 er it has been received. In that case they 

 would probably have a queen by the time 

 mentioned, if "they had only a queen-cell 

 when sliii^ped. May be we are uncharita- 

 ble ; but if she will "explain her reason for 

 such singular directions, we shall be glad to 

 listen to it. In any case, if she has any de- 

 sire to be considered square, she can stop 

 calling sugar syrup honey. 



TRUANT SWARMS. 



TO GET THEM RECEIVED PEACEABLY INTO 

 HIVES NEEDING THEM. 



HIS was not a very good honey season in my 

 neighborhood, and there was considerable 

 trouble from robbing, toward fall. A pret- 

 ty close watch had to be kept, or they would 

 have ruined each other. In September I 

 had some trouble with small swarms that came to 

 my apiarj-. One came about the first week in ' Sep- 

 tember; svnd as I was working with one colony, and 

 the bees were flying in considerable numbei-s in the 

 air, they mixed in with them, and all forced in that 

 hive. But they stai'ted killing immediately; and by 

 i""".'.? .*!'*'_ *^°"?".'"!''l ".il""-°'"'Ji"'";^ i^„^"f: ! the next morning there were perhaps a quart of 



dead bees in front of the hive. As I had had the 



stroth hive, with frames about 15 x 13 x 14, and is 

 intended to be worked on the side and top storing 

 plan. The fault found with Mrs. Cotton, so far as I 

 have been able to learn, is that she charges an out- 

 rageous price for her goods (which is her own busi- 

 ness), and that she gives the advice quoted at the 

 head of this article. No one can follow such advice 

 without being guilty of gi-oss fraud; what shall we 

 say, then, of the one who deliberately advises others 

 to do so? Mrs. Cotton complains that she is persecut- 

 ed, and that, too, because she is a woman. This is 

 not so; and as proof thereof, we find many women 

 engaged in apiculture, in direct competition with 

 supply-dealers, etc., who are loved and respected by 

 the whole bee keeping fraternity. Should Mi-s. 



same trouble last year, I thought I would try to 

 keep them from killing them, so I smoked and 

 shook them well; but, alas! they killed them all. 



In about a week another small swarm came and 

 went in with one of the weakest in my apiary; and 

 as they had only a few dead bees in front of the 

 hive, I thought they had accepted them all right. 

 In about two weeks I opened the hive, and the bad 

 odor that met me I thought first was foul brood; 

 but by looking in I saw the bottom-board covered 

 with perhaps half an inch of dead and rotting bees. 

 Of course, 1 put them immediately into another 

 hive; but where the bees came from, or what 

 caused them to come, is a mystery to me. You can 



Harrison, Mrs. Jennie Culp, Mrs. Tupper, and oth- , ^^.^^^^^ ^^^^g^ a Christian brother by telling what 

 ers of our female competitors offer publicly such j ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ t^ ^^ ^pjj^^.y^ ^.^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^ 

 outrageous advice as that given by Mrs. Cotton, | ^ake my bees accept them? J. L. Stahi 



they would at once be "persecuted," and justly, too, j 

 by every decent bee-keeper in the land. If Mrs. ; 

 Cotton would walk in the paths of rectitude, and j 

 let her dealings be governed by the strict' code of i 



make my bees accept them? 

 Webster Grove, Mo. 



Friend S., the trouble witii the truant 



swarms you mention is. that they come 



. ^ , , nearly starving. Almost any hive of bees 



honesty and morality, the whole bee-keeping broth- ] ^^,jjj ^yglcome new COmers, providing they 

 erhood and sisterhood throughout the country i ^^^^^ y.^^^ f^^Q^ ^vjth honey ; but a lot of 



would welcome her with outstretched hands to beggars, as they see it, are no sort of use, so 



their ranks; but so long as she prefers to pursue j ^ijgy sting tliem to death to get them out of 

 the course she does, she must expect to be shown yjg way. Smoking is a good thing, but it 



up as what she is, and debarred from the society of 

 those who intend to live a life of honesty and integ- 

 rity. Jos. E. Pond, Jr. 

 Foxboro, Mass., Nov. 4, IfSi. 



I believe it is true, friend P., that Mrs. 

 Cotton, in lier books and circular, always 

 advises feeding bees sugar syrup, and call- 

 ing it honey, after it is stored in combs. 

 She formerly used to charge for the recipe 



should have been followed up with good 

 doses of honey or syrup, setting a tent over 

 the honey meahwiiile, to keep out intruders. 

 Look after them often, to see that there is 

 no unpleasantness, until they get settled 

 down to business as one colony. If your 

 colonics have all as many bees as they need, 

 I should prefer having these truant swarms 

 on a few well-iilled combs c(-utaiuing some 



