82:{ 



GLRAKINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dkc. 



SOMETHING FROM ONE OF OUB BOYS 

 WHO IS AWAY AT SCHOOL. 



EN( OUKAtilNG WORDS FROM ONE AVUO LOVES NA- 

 TURE AND NATURE'S GOD. 



the following was evidently not 'in- 

 tended lor print, I am taking a liberty 

 in publishing it : but I presume my 

 good friend Earl will excuse me wiieii 

 I assure him that it \\ill be perhaps 

 an encouragement for other youu§ men, be- 

 sides the valuable facts it gives us in several 

 points. I may explain, that the writer used 

 to have charge of our apiary. 



Myoftcn-rcmcmhered Friend and Helper: —I now 

 wish to have a little chat with you, to let you know 

 1 am still alive and putting- in my time at my much- 

 loved natural-historj- work. The more I study it, 

 the more its vast scope impresses me, and keeps 

 urging- me on to know more of these wonderful 

 forms Dame Nature so bountifully spreads all 

 around us. Even a burdock leaf, if studied thor- 

 oughly, becomes a machine outrivaling-, in beauty 

 of workmanship and delicacy of the different parts, 

 any instrument of which man can boast. 



My college life is one of work— more hours a day by 

 several than is the usual allowance at the factory; 

 but 1 enjoy it, and that leaves no room for home- 

 sickness and "sich truck." 



We have quite a thriving- natural-history society 

 among- the students interested in the work, and at 

 our next meeting- your humble servant proposes to 

 torture the audience on the subject of bee-keeping-, 

 hence the small order for necessaries for the lecture. 



You remember I was quite interested in taxider- 

 my; well, I am now putting- in all my spare minutes 

 at taxidermj' for the University, so you see my 

 pickod-up trade was not a bad investment after all. 



We have had very nice weather for bees here for 

 the past few weeks, as they could fiy out nearly all 

 day; and only last week, asters were brought in by 

 some of the students in botany. Most of the bees I 

 have seen here were blacks or hybrids, and to-night 

 I saw some section honey in nailed sections, and the 

 /(Oiifi/ seemed decidedly the color of darkness also. 



I think the bee-industry of this section needs de- 

 veloping, for the hives are mostly old box hives, 

 with a place in the top for boxes or dravrers. 



Prof. Lazenby is a Cornell graduate, and 1 believe 

 Prof. Cook was here a year ago last winter, working 

 in the laboratory, and getting new ideas generally. 



W^e have a very nice greenhouse in connection 

 with the botanical part of the Universiti-, and a few 

 weeks ago there were two large banana-plants 

 there— one with a stem of ripening bananas, and 

 the other just in bloom, and the honey just dripped 

 from those blossoms in great thick drops, which 

 made every thing sticky under the bunch, and made 

 a feast for the bees and wasps evei-y time the door 

 was left open. E. H. Sargent. 



Cornell University, ithawi, N. Y., Nov., 188t. 



In regard to the honey from that banana- 

 plant, can't some of our friends in the trop- 

 ics tell us why bee-keeping is not a great 

 success w^here bananas are grown largely? 

 By the way, Avhere do bananas grow, and 

 are there any bees kept there? Friend Earl, 

 we trust you will furnish the people around 

 you with information on the subject of bees 

 and bee culture. Less than a week ago your 

 humble seivant talked bees to a mucli-inter- 



ested audience for about an hour, and after 

 that they occupied a full half-hour in plying 

 him with questions. It seems to me, the 

 question part was the best part of it all ; 

 ai:y w-ay, it seemed to be a very pleasant 

 evening" all around. 



DEPARTMENT FOR THOSE WHO SAY GOODS 

 WERE NOT THERE. 



} ORDERED a honey-knife when I ordered goods 

 in July (I think), and ha\e never received the 

 knife. I think T ordered the "Novice." The 

 l)rice was 70 cts. Mr8. W. H. Siott, Jr. 



West Union, Iowa, Got. lU, 1884. 



On receipt of the above card we looked up 

 the order, and found that all we sent Mrs. iS. 

 was 1000 sectijons and 'd lbs. of fdn., and the 

 knife. The order was plainly made out, and 

 the three articles were carefidly checked, so 

 it seemed next to impossible that the knife 

 coidd have been omitted. The clerk replied 

 as follows : 



We ha^■e looked up your order, and find that the 

 honey-knife is checked otf by the clerk who picked 

 up the goods. Have you opened and examined 

 carefully the box of fdn.? If not, please do so, as it 

 may have been put in there to prevent its being lost. 

 You are rather late with your complaint. Did you 

 not note our ncjtice on caution label sent with the 

 goods, that all complaints must be made within 10 

 days after g-oods w-ere received? Of course, if you 

 do not find the knife we will do what is right. 



Oct. 15, 1S84. C.'K. 



After reading the above reply I felt it w^as 

 a little rough on our friend : for if she or- 

 dered only^three articles, it would seem 

 strange that she could overlook one of the 

 three. However, I let the reply pass, and in 

 a few days got the following : 



I had examined the fdn. and section box before 

 writing, and the knife was not with them. 



Oct. 37, 1834. Mrs. W. H. Scott, Jr. 



Of course, we sent another honey-knife on 

 receipt of the above card, but I felt a little 

 sad at the time— not because I was probably 

 70 cts. out of pocket, particularly, but be- 

 cause it seemed such a very difficult matter 

 indeed to do business without tliese annoy- 

 ing complaints of shortage. Who is at fault? 

 Well, in a couple of weeks more came 

 the following. And this is the point of the 

 whole moral I wash to make. Read it : 



I recei\ed your card of Oct. 31, but have not been 

 able to ans. until this time. When my sections were 

 brought home the bo.x was placed on a rack in the 

 bin of the granary, where they remained until they 

 were all used. When the last were taken out the 

 knife dropped down, and remained on the floor 

 with pieces of farm machinery, and was not seen 

 until the bin was emptied for grain. 



Please excuse me for the mistake being made. 



Nov. 14, 18S4, Mrs, W. H. Scott, Jr. 



Xow, my friends, the moral for us is this : 

 When you get a box of goods, before you 

 I commence to open it, keep in mind what 

 ' troubles have come by accidents. By no 

 means open the goods iii a corn-crib or gran- 

 ary, or any such place. Do not open them in 

 I the grass, or in the shop where there are 

 shavings. I should say, take your box tato a 



