188-4 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



817 



you have any of the seed left, I can prove to 

 you that it is all alsike, or you can do it 

 j'oiu'self by sowing it carefiilly in some 

 ground in the house. Bake the ground first 

 in the oven, to be sure that all seeds of 

 weeds are killed, and sow your alsike on it, 

 and see if any sorrel shows itself. ' 



SWAUJIING IN NOVEMUEH. 



Just at sunset yesterday evening I had a swann 

 of bees come out, and they settled exactly as they ! 

 do in swarming in the pi-oper season. Did you 

 ever know bees to gwarni so lateV I put them in a j 

 small colony, smoked them well, and chopped up j 

 an onion, and put it with them; this morning- they j 

 had brought the onion out, and seemed to be well 

 satisfied. They came out of a strong colony that 

 was well supplied with honey. Now, what do you 

 think could have caused them to swarm? The bees 

 here have gathered but very little honey since last 

 spring. There are a great many bees in this section 

 of country. I am just beginning, and have 17 

 colonies. 



Hulto, Tex., Nov. 3, 1884. J. T. Meger. 



Friend M., either your bees have been get- 

 ting stores without your knowing it, or else 

 the colony sending ont this swarm has su- 

 perseded their queen, and in raising a new 

 one they got two instead of one. This will 

 often cause a swarm to come out at an un- 

 seasonable time. It is not only singular 

 that the swarm should come out in Novem- 

 ber, but it is more singular that they should 

 come out at sunset, and this would lead me 

 to tliink it was on account of the loss of the 

 old queen, as I have mentioned above. 



WANTED, A QUART STKAWBERUY-BOX THAT HOLDS 

 A QUART. 



I want to get some one-quart boxes in the flat for 

 strawberries. Do you make them, or arc you going 

 to make them, and what are they worth per 100? 

 What boxes I have do not hold a quart, and I never 

 saw any that did. I believe all, or nearly all, who 

 buy a box of strawberries, growl because the box 

 they have bought does not hold a quart. If it had 

 been sold to them for five cents less a box because 

 it did not hold a quart, yet they would not have 

 been satisfied. They want a quart, and I want 

 th«m to have a quart. I do not want any boxes be- 

 fore spring, and then 1 am going to order some 

 frames, and then they all could come together. 

 AVhere one docs not have too many bees to attend 

 to, sti-awbcrry culture with bees /Is profitable. My 

 strawberries pay me a great deal better than my 

 bees. R. N. Leach. 



Humphrey, Neb., Nov. 4, 1884. 



Friend L., we do not make strawberry- 

 boxes, and we can not make them at the 

 prices they are furnished, without special 

 machinery. Several of our readers, doubt- 

 less, can furnish you with what you want ; 

 among them we may mention the Berlin 

 Heights Fruit-Box Co., Berlin Heights, Erie 

 Co.,0. In regard to none of the boxes hold- 

 ing a quart, is it not true that they will hold 

 a full (luart when heaped up, and that, as 

 they very soon commence to settle, the term 

 quart is very indefinite, because of the con- 

 stant shrinkage V Strawberries seem to l)e 

 one of tiie commodities tiiat are ditticult 

 to measure exactly. 1 think with you, 

 however, that the box should be made so 



that each one contains a full quart when 

 they are first packed for shipment— that is, 

 so that a quart can be put in wliile the bas- 

 ket is crated, ready to send out. If it is a 

 fact, that none of the boxes marked a quart 

 hold that much, in the way you have stated 

 it, we truly need a reform. One instinctive- 

 ly feels as if he were being imposed upon 

 when he finds that what he purchases does 

 not hold out. It is not altogether a disposi- 

 tion to cheat, however, that bi'ings about 

 this irregularity ; for tin pails, as they usu- 

 ally come from the factory, overrun, "some- 

 times almost half, while tin pans always run 

 under. We have had to have oiu- pails made 

 specially to order, to get them to hold exact- 

 ly what they are called. When competition 

 becomes close on certain commodities, the 

 temptation becomes very strong for tlie deal- 

 er to say, " I can let you have the goods at 

 the price you insist on, by giving you scant 

 measure,'"' and then some one suggests that 

 probably no one will notice it any way, and 

 thus the evil creeps in. But it seems to me 

 that every honest man wishes to have his 

 goods hold out so well that he can tell any 

 one to weigh or measure, without any fear 

 of consequences. I have just measured 

 some baskets we bought berries in, and they 

 hold ixfidl quart, level full. 



thieves in the apiary. 



On page 734, Nov. 1, friend Hutchinson says that 

 his apiary was visited by thieves, but they did not 

 seem to be very luckj% so they thought they would 

 move down and see me, I guess; any way, they 

 have been here, and taken away with them a good 

 lot of honey. On the Enight of Nov. 3d, while we 

 were gone to a political meeting, three of my best 

 swarms were robbed. They were packed for win- 

 ter, with from 7 to 8 frames; they had taken the 

 caps off, and taken four frames from each hi\e. I 

 do not know whether the queens were taken or not. 

 I should want my gun to my shoulder, and finger 

 on the trigger, instead of a string, friend Hutchin- 

 son. Can't we hav€ some good plan for a honey- 

 house in Gleanings this winter? A. Smith. 



South Lyon, Mich., Nov. 6, 1884. 



P. S.— To-day I find one more swarm with five 

 frames taken. A. S. 



Friend S., see Avhat I said about guns in 

 the last issue. Would you feel happy after 

 having killed a man for stealing your honey? 

 I am sure the great ditliculty in the ques- 

 tion is a wrong state of atfairs in your vicin- 

 ity. Some kind Christian wants to look up 

 tliese people, and find out how it comes that 

 they can enjoy eating honey that has been 

 stolen from their honest," hard-working 

 neighbors. It is surely ignorance, and a 

 want of education and cultivation. It is 

 done by boys— boys who want to be got into 

 the schools, and taught average common 

 sense and average Ciiristianity. May be 

 they are foreigijers ; perhav)s they do not 

 speak our language; but in any case they 

 should be reachecl— not with guns, but by 

 Christianizing inlluence. In the abstract, 

 there is no disagivement in this matter; 

 everybodyagrces with what 1 have just said. 

 But when it comes to losing our own honey, 

 we get impatient; these remedies seem too 

 slow, and hu:.:an nature prompts us to want 



