isyi 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



[W,o aiv glad to gia this testimony against 

 rubber gloves: and it has been agreed so nni- 

 fonnlv. that they are not suited for bee-woik. 

 There has been' a protest incur catalogue all 

 along, but still a good many customers buy 

 them. Something cheap would be better: for 

 when they get too badly worn or soiled they 

 can be thrown away. • 



I always use a seat while working among the 

 bees: but I don't want any thing to lug around 

 all day. so I sit on the hive-covers, and I don"t 

 want any thing better. I will shortly illus- 

 trate how I manage.] E. R. R. 



BEE-KEEPING AND HOUSEWORK. 



SUNDRY ITEMS FROM MRS. AXTEI.I.. 



'Women who make bee-keeping a business, as 

 well as others, should learn how to make their 

 housework light and easy. No work is more la- 

 borious than our washing. I have tried many 

 ways of doing mine, and I find that a good 

 washing-machine that covers up and keeps the 

 suds hot is a great help: also borax dissolved in 

 the water, a piece as lai-ge as a hickorynut. for 

 a small washing, or a piece twice or three times 

 as large for a large washing, with plenty of soap, 

 will loosen the dirt and cause the clothes to be 

 white and clean, and not injure the fabric. It 

 causes flannels to be soft and clean. I buy bor- 

 ax by the pound, and u-^e it in preference to any 

 kind" of washing-lluid or patent soaps. 



SHORT vs. ABUNDANT STORES. 



The talk about short winter stores being a 

 saving seems very nice to the bee-keepei-: but 

 the bees are like a man with a pocketful of 

 money — he is in better condition to take advan- 

 tage of the times, and make more money, than 

 one living from hand to month: and just so I 

 think it is with the bees — they make us more 

 money with their jjockets tilled: or. in other 

 words", with plenty of honey at all times, when 

 not able to gather it from the (lowers. An old 

 and experienced bee-keepei' might be able to 

 make more from his bees by keeping them with 

 short stores at certain times of the year if he 

 has i)lenty of time to be tinkering with them: 

 but beginners would let them starve. They 

 would be m.ore likely to waste a pound to save a 

 penny: and also those who have much other 

 woi'k to do had better not try to see how short 

 of honey they can run their bees, or they will 

 forget and run them oveiboard. 

 out-apiarip:s. 



Considerable has been written ujjon out-apia- 

 ries. The first object sought should be a good 

 location, which generally is best neai' swampy 

 or pasture lands: yet in this vicinity, where the 

 most of the land is worked and planted to corn 

 and oats, we often have rich fall crops of smart- 

 weed that comes up after the oats are harvest- 

 ed, and in thin places in the corn. The next 

 oljject should be to plant the apiary in a per- 

 manent location whei'e the man owns tiie prop- 

 erty, and is not likely to move away: also, that 

 the people are obliging, and likely to be patient 

 with the bees. It is extremely unpleasant if the 

 people are afraid of them, and all the time com- 

 plaining of them. 



shade, and WH.\T MRS. AXTELL RECOJt.MENDS. 



I would not be so very much influenced by the 

 matte)- of shade, as to where to plant my bees, 

 if all things else were satisfactory: but I would 

 secure it atonce: and immediately, whether fall 

 or spring, plant out quite thickly some fast- 

 growing trees, such as soft or ash-leaved ma- 

 ples — some call them box-elders. I would not 

 plant fruit-ti'ees. even in a home apiary, as 

 thev are almost sure to be barked and killed. 



and are of too slow growth. I should plant the 

 tices twice as thick as I wished them to be 

 when grown. One will be surprised to see how 

 much shade they will make, even the lirst sea- 

 son, if they are" planted carefully, and. if dry 

 weather sets in. are mulched. The large Rus- 

 sian sunflower will mak(» a nice shade for the 

 first season, if planted so as to throw its shade 

 directlv upon the apiary in the InnU of the day. 

 The only objection to it would be the large 

 (piantities of propolis it secretes. It is visited 

 by the b(vs moi'e for its propolis than lion<>y, 

 I think, and more by the common small wild bee 

 than the honey-bee. One of our neighbois had 

 his apiary thus shaded, and, when in bloom, it 

 was quite picturesque. If the apiarist has any 

 doubts of being able to secure a i)ermanent 

 place for the apiary, he should not build a 

 house, but use empty hives to hold what arti- 

 cles need to be covered: or I would build a small 

 house that could be easily moved by placing it 

 upon a sled in winter time. 



HOW TO MAKE THE WORK EASY FOR WOMEN. 



But it is a great convenience, if a permanent 

 location can be secured, to have two houses — 

 one a small plastered one. with a window, a 

 bee-escape, and a tight door, to keep all the 

 honey and combs in. and another that a small 

 stove can be set up in, where the apiarist can 

 warm his coffee and dinner, and rest in cool 

 days. It need be but a small room with only a 

 ])ane of glass in the dooi-. with no furniture but 

 the stove and what can be made of the bee-fix- 

 tures: and yet it adds greatly to one's comfort. 

 Such a i-oon") we have. When we go to our out- 

 apiary to work \^•e do not try to rush through 

 the work so hard that our help will never want 

 to go again, but we take along our reading, and 

 rest awhile at dinner lime. and either read or 

 chat, and generally try to have a good dinner, 

 so that our li(>li) often say they would rather go 

 to the out-apiary to work than to woi'k at 

 home. Indeed, nearly all our girls (and I do 

 myself) look forward to a trip to the out-apiary 

 as' a soi't of picnic: then we try to get home so 

 early in the evening as to be not too much fa- 

 tigit"ed for the next day's work. In the course 

 of time we accomplish more irnrh by not crowd- 

 ing our help or ourselves too much. If we 

 push bee-w(.)rk too hard, and the help gets vexed 

 by the stings, it makes it more difficult to hire 

 help to work with the bees: but if they have it 

 rather easy, and a good time with the work, but 

 siiil have' the stings to endiu'e. they will be 

 more likely to excuse the stings, either in work- 

 ing with tiie bees at home or at out-apiaries. 



HAMMOCKS. niTCHING-POSTS. ETC. 



A hammock, too. is a great comfort to the api- 

 arist, or. what I like blotter, a small bench with 

 a raised head-board, that I can carry to any 

 part of the apiary. A hammock swings too eas- 

 ily—one can not rise quickly from it to catch 

 queens in swarming time: and in an out-apiary 

 it tempts children to come there for a swing. 



Last, but not least, should a good strong feed 

 and hitching post be put up for the horses, un- 

 der tlie shade of a tree if possible. If a feed- 

 trough is just in front of the hitching-post they 

 stand miich more contented, and I know of 

 nothing more annoying in connection with out- 

 apiaries than to have the horses uneasy, and 

 sometimes break away, and oblige one to leave 

 the apiary with half a dozen or more bees fol- 

 lowing, to run to catch the horses. As Miss 

 Wilson says. " It is the little things that help to 

 make our work hard or easy." 



Mrs. L. C. Axtelu. 



[I heartily indorse what you say in regard to 

 these little conveniences in the apiary: and 

 they make all the difference between hard and 

 pleasant work. In regard to hitching-i)osts. I 



