498 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



would give for the best quality of clover. We are 

 very glad indeed to know that there is a Southern 

 honey which can rival the Northern clover, so just- 

 ly praised. 



DISCOUKAGINO INDEED. 



We take the following from the Saginaw Courier 

 of May 6. As it is very discouraging indeed, we 

 thought best to reproduce it. We are glad to know 

 that our friend John Rey is not discouraged. Many 

 of our best bee-keepers have been obliged to pass 

 through, some time in their career, a similar experi- 

 ence: 



The weather this spring has been unusually se- 

 vere on bees all over this section of the State. John 

 Rey, the well-known apiarist of this city, was very 

 unfortunate, losing llti swarms, wo>th about .^700. 

 Mr. Rey, from a small beginning a few years ago, 

 has become one of the most extensive bee-cultiva- 

 tors in this part of the State; but his heavy loss has 

 not discouraged him, and he proposes to make pur- 

 chases to replenish the losses. 



from the country years ago. Now, 1 do not want to 

 be uncharitable; but if there are any such frauds 

 going on in our line, or in any other connected with 

 the honey business, we want to ferret it out and let 

 daylight shine in upon it. If Mr. Hoge is doing an 

 honest business, we will give him every chance in 

 the world to advertise it. 



DANGEROUSLY STUNG BY BEES. 



The following item from the N. Y. Weekly Post has 

 been passing the rounds of the press for the past 

 two or three weeks: 



Xenia, O., May 33.— George Hamill, a young farm- 

 er residing two miles north of this city, was attempt- 

 ing to hive a swarm of bees j'esterday when they 

 settled on his head, face, and neck. He began to 

 fight them, and they began to sting. In a short time 

 he was on the ground writhing in terrible agony; 

 and when his wife and mother came to his aid with 

 brooms, he was nearly dead. He became uncon- 

 scious, and remained so for some time, his head and 

 hands swelling up so as to make him unrecogniz- 

 able. He is in a serious condition. 



We do not know how much the above report has 

 been exaggerated. In any case, it was very unwise 

 in the young farmer to strike at and flght the bees 

 as he is reported to have done. If they started to 

 cluster on his person he should first attempt to jar 

 them oft gently, and then walk quietly away tor the 

 time lieing until they found some other object on 

 which to cluster. A few puffs from a bee-smoker 

 would also have removed them. We thought best 

 to insert the item, to warn our friends against strik- 

 ing bees, or fighting them when there are so many 

 in the air that they can do a great deal of mischief. 

 We presume the young farmer recovered, as we 

 have seen nothing in i)rint to the effect that he did 

 not. 



WILLIAM hoge. 

 After our inquiry on page 437, one of our sub- 

 scribers forwarded us a letter-head, which reads as 

 follows: 

 Hoge's Hoarhound Honey. A Cough Cure. 



Fig Honey, the Prince of Pleasant Purgatives. 



EASTERN agency, 



264 Willoughby Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y. 

 Above the printed matter is a picture of boxes 

 and barrels, and jars of honey. At one side, in 

 small type, are the words, " Apiaries, Ventura.Cal." 

 Will somebody in the vicinity of Ventura tell us 

 if they know of any such apiaries? See page 436. 

 Mr. Hoge sent to our informant for a boxful of 

 dead bees, by mail. Perhaps the dead bees were to 

 be crumbled up and sprinkled in the hoarhound 

 honey, to convince customers who might be incred- 

 ulous, that it actually came out of bee-hives. When 

 C. O. Perrine did such a large honey business in 

 Cincinnati years ago, he just sprinkled on the sur- 

 face of his manufactured honey, fragments of dead 

 bees and crumbled-up dry honey-comb, to make it 

 resemble the kind our forefathers used to bring in 



WHAT TO do. 

 The St. Louis Journal of Agriculture gives us a 

 very pleasant notice of our new book of the above 

 title; but they criticise the book a little because It 

 does not tell people what to do unless they have a 

 little bit of ground to work on or with. To which I 

 reply, in the first place, that I do think every hu- 

 man being ought to have access to at least a little 

 patch of old Mother Earth. Everybody is supposed 

 to have a home; and where that home is, whether 

 it is a boarding-place or even a hotel, there is 

 ground adjoining somewhere, if I lived in a large 

 city where there was not any ground, 1 believe I 

 would have a garden on the roof of the house, as 

 the orientals do; and I think one could keep busy 

 and make money with such a garden. In the sec- 

 ond place, if our friends of the Journal of Agricul- 

 ture will read the book more thoroughly they will 

 find there is a multitude of instructions for those 

 who hire out in our work-shops and factories. I 

 tried to make my instructions so full and complete 

 that the one who is working out by the day will not 

 only get a permanent place, but better wages; and, 

 best of all, be able, by and by, to get a little piece 

 of ground, and work for himself. 



surplus of good matter for public.vtion. 

 It is getting to be now a real pi-oblem as to what 

 matter we shall use in Gle.\nings, as there is such 

 a very large amount to select from. We try to car- 

 ry out the rule of the survival of the fittest; but 

 for various reasons it is impossible to do so in all 

 cases. Some good articles are held over to await 

 their turn; and when their turn comes, the subject 

 they discuss is old. We do not know what can be 

 done, unless we have shorter communications. In 

 asking questions, put them as briefly as possible. 

 Questions oi'dinarily ought to be stated in one or 

 two sentences. We have just been looking through 

 the drawer containing copy for the department of 

 Reports Encouraging, and there is such a raft of it 

 that we do not know how we can possibly give 

 place to it, unless we cut the letters down to four 

 or five lines apiece, and it is too liad to mutilate 

 to that extent; we would therefore request those 

 who send in Reports Encouraging, and expect to 

 see them inserted, to reduce them down to about 

 100 words. If the report contains something of 

 more than usual interest, such as a large yield, use 

 more space. We hope our friends will try to bear 

 in mind that our subscription-list is very much 

 larger than it has ever been before. There is con- 

 sequently such a large family, and so many to re- 

 port encouraging and discouraging things, that 

 the necessity of being lirief is greater than ever. 

 The value of this department depends more upon a 

 large number of brief leports from all over the 

 country than upon a few occupying the same space 

 long drawn out, detailing that on Sunday it rained, 

 on Tuesday it was cool, or that colony No. 1 has a 

 queen-eell, colony No. 5 swarmed on the 38th, etc. 

 You must discriminate between important and un- 

 important details, if you expect to see your report 

 in print. 



