170 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mai:. 1. 



Nothing short of an actual test should satisfy. 

 Obtaining the real hives with all that pertains 

 to them, place them side by side in the apiary, 

 put equally strong colonies in the difterent 

 kinds: in tliis way, after a suitable length of 

 time, each could decide for himself what would 

 suit him best. No supplies for sale. I do not 

 make hives, nor keep supplies for sale. Please 

 do not send to me for hives or frames for pat- 

 terns. L. C. AXTEI.I.. 



Roseville, Warren Co., 111., Feb. l:^ 



[I am glad of your cautiou. It seems to be a 

 fact. that, when the merits of a new thing or an 

 old thing revised are discussed, some one — yes. 

 perhaps a good many, will rush headlong into 

 it. I have suggested the wisdom sevei'al times 

 of going slow. Some one will say. " Keep out 

 the discussion altogether." That would not do. 

 It is the business of bee-journals to bi'ing up 

 these things.] E. R. 



[Permit me to add my most emphatic emplui- 

 sis to the excellent points you make, friend A.] 



A. I. R. 



GLOVES FOR BEE-KEEPERS. 



MRS. IIAURISOX GIVES US SOMK OF UKI! EX- 

 PEKIEXCE. 



In Gi.EAXiXGs for Feb. 1. Emma Wilson re- 

 quests those who have had experience with 

 rubber gloves to tell how they like them. In 

 the early days of my bee-keeping I asked a 

 saleslady whom I knew, what kind of gloves 

 they had. suitable for me to wear in an apiary. 

 She placed before me a box of rubber gloves. 

 saying, ■• Mrs. Harrison, this is exactly wluit 

 you want — see how nicely they tit : just the 

 thing for driving, and they will sweat your 

 hands, i-emoving all tan. and make them so soft 

 and white." I paid the modest sum of •'?1. "■.■>. 

 and went home rejoicing, and told the Ix'es 

 that I had gloves now that they could not sting 

 through. 



The weather was very warm, and I pulled on 

 my gloves with a deal of pomp and ceremony, 

 and went to work with tlie bees. In a short 

 time I realized that I was very uneomioi-table, 

 and knew not why. I was very much interest- 

 ed in my work, and paid little attention to my- 

 self; and when I had tinislied I drew olf the 

 gloves and found tiiem diip))ing wet. With a 

 few times wearing they rotted out: and when I 

 tried to mend them the stitches bi'oke out: and 

 ever since, when I se(> tiiem advtM-tised by sup- 

 ply-dealers. I feel like accusing them of fraud — 

 they are a delusion and a snare. 



I then procui-ed the best-titting pair of buck- 

 skin gloves, with gauntlets, that I could tiiid. 

 and sewed denim on ihem and an elastic. 

 which keeps them in i)iace. and bees from 

 crawling inside. When these gloves get heavy 

 with propolis I pick it off. whicii can be done 

 easily with a little practice. When they wear 

 through I mend them with soft leather cut 

 from an old kid shoe. The wear all comes in 

 the same place: and when th(> jjatches wear 

 through, rip them off, pick off the propolis, 

 mend up again, and they are good for another 

 long season of wear. Whenevei- 1 work in the 

 apiary without gloves I repent it: for if I am 

 not stung, my hands ai'e stuck up with propolis. 

 and under and around my fingei'-nails: ;inil u-^- 

 ing soap to remove it discolors my hands, and 

 makes them rough and uncomfortable. 



I had a friend who always wore linen mittens 

 while working with bees, as bees do not sting 

 through brown linen. I prefer gloves, and I 

 would make them as a friend of mine did. She 

 ripped up a pair of old gloves, for a pattern. 



Then she first cut out a pair from old muslin, 

 sewed them up and tried them on. When she- 

 had them to tit exactly, she used them for a 

 pattern and cut out a pair from brown linen. 

 She wore them for driving: they could be 

 washed and boiled: and as she had several 

 pairs she always drove from home with clean 

 ones. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Peoria. 111., Feb. 4. 



[O Mrs. H.! you have closed up your article, 

 and did not t(dl us whether the rubber gloves 

 took off all the tan or freckles, or not. How 

 roulil you omit such an exceedingly important 

 item? and who knows what a wonderful trade 

 might have been worked up in rubber gloves if 

 we could only have had a testimonial from you 

 on this most exceedingly important point? May 

 be I am mistaken, however, after all. Perhaps 

 it was when I was a boy that our girls used to- 

 be so exceedingly afraid of tan or freckles. 

 Well, I hope so. If you will n'fer to our price 

 list you will see thai we have continually, year 

 after year, put in a protest. For some lime I 

 refused to offer them for sale at all. feeling so 

 sure they were not needed. Notwithstanding- 

 this protest, however, there is (piite a large 

 business in rubber gloves, indicating that they 

 are found valuable for at least some purposes. 

 The driving gloves. I know from personal ex- 

 perience, are many times worth all they cost, 

 where one is obliged to be out in cold wet 

 storms: and since the matter has come up, I 

 sho)ild be glad to have some brief testimonials 

 from a great many, especially those who con- 

 tinue to use rubl;er gloves when handling bees. 

 For keeping off propolis it occurs to me that 

 cheap cotton gloves might answer, and perhaps 

 tli(»y could be bought so cheaply that we cau 

 throw them away wlu^n they get badly soiled. 

 If tiu> (juality will wairant, they might be 

 washed in benzine and afterward in water, as 

 you suggest in your closing paragraph. I never 

 have bees sting my hands unless something 

 oliliges me to handle them at a time when 

 they ought not to be handled.] 



THE OHIO STATE BEE-KEEPERS' CONVEN- 

 TION AT TOLEDO. 



-V FEW NOTES HY ERNEST. 



Very inifortunately, my note-book gives only 

 a few and scattering memoranda of the pro- 

 ceedings: and. moj-eovei-. oui- forenuin of tlu^ 

 printing department says I must be brief, as 

 our space is all tilled u|) alicady: and then he 

 looked at the great pile of copy on the hook, 

 not yet set up. Our friends of tiie convention 

 will therefore please pai'don me if it is short. I 

 am comi)elled therefore to omit a good deal. 



As soon as 1 airived at the convention room I 

 inquired whether Hutchinson and Hasty were 

 present, and I was answered by being presented 

 to the gentlemen in question. It was a rare 

 pleasure to me to meet the one wiio had in 

 years gone by made such b(>autiful translations 

 of VirgiTs treatise on bees, and one whos(» spicy 

 writings never fail to give delight. As for Mr. 

 Hutchinson, he is so full of enthusiasm and 

 practical sense, that there were many things 

 which I wished to talk to him about between 

 sessions and at other times. He had betaken 

 himself to an easy seat, and very evidently pro- 

 posed to have a good time. At almost every 

 convention he has ever attended, he has acted 

 as reporter, but this time lie pi'opo.sed to be re- 

 lieved. 



These were not the only bee-keepers I hoped 

 to meet: but they were the ones I feared might 

 not be i)resent. and whose presence we could 



