7T8 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



to do good?" (Luke 6:9). Friend Root, would 

 you dare say that, to help the toilers to have 

 some pleasure, or to get some iustruction on 

 Sundays is not to do good ? Chas. Dadant. 

 Hamilton, 111., Aug. 10. 



[God forbid, my good friend D., that I should 

 cause Christianity to appear intolerant of any 

 thing but evil, or that I should judge my broth- 

 er. No doubt the people of your native village 

 who used to spend Sunday afternoons playing 

 cards and nine-pins on the villa'ge gi-een may 

 have been perfectly honest, and never thought 

 of robbing any one: and yet it remains true 

 that any man who uses the time of Sunday for 

 his own pleasure, while he helievefi that it 

 should be devoted to God, is violating his con- 

 science in thus lobbing God. and is in a tit state 

 of heart to rob his brother also, if circumstances 

 and motives should conspire to tempt him. 

 Yes. the God who is "the same yesterday, to- 

 day, and for ever," instituted the sabbath — the 

 "rest" day — long before Moses' time, for the 

 goodoi man. Now, the question is. How shall 

 we keep it holy, sacred, set apart for man's 

 greatest and highest good ? How shall his body 

 get rest, his mind relief from care and worry, 

 and his soul freedom and opportunity to feed it- 

 self upon the glorious works and character of its 

 Creator, and take a lookout above and beyond 

 its narrow work-day horizon? Whatever con- 

 tributes most largely to this end is what we 

 want, is it not? and what God wants for us in 

 giving the command. " Remember the sabbath 

 day, to keep it holy."] 



LADIES' G0N\^ERSAZ18NE. 



WEAK COLONIES. 



THE ADVANTAGE OF HAVING GOOD QXTEENS. 



Mrs. Axtell's article, page 4(59, pi'ompts me to 

 ask whether we might not have; fewer loenk 

 stocks by timely and proper attention to queens. 

 If a good queen can and does bring a colony 

 through in a flourishing condition for two or 

 three successive seasons, under the same condi- 

 tions that other stocks in the same yard have 

 barely survived, why not endeavor to have 

 more of these worthy queens and fewer of those 

 whose families require so much nursing? 



This has been a discouraging season with us, 

 not realizing more than 20 lbs. (average) to the 

 colony, to date, in our yaid. But while some 

 stocks have produced much more than this, 

 others have stored only the brood-chamber. I 

 blame the queens, for aU had the same stimu- 

 lative feeding in early spring. The weak were 

 I'einforced by the strong until I was tired of it: 

 and what have I now fi'om these for all this 

 work? Not even a swarm. So. now. while we 

 have a fcnv sunny days and a little honey com- 

 ing in. I am busy taking the heads olf these 

 unprolitable mothers, and introducing new 

 blood: and as soon as I am convinced that any 

 of these successors are unworthy theii' house 

 and home, aliens from right principles of duty 

 and tidelity. they shall be beheaded, as any un- 

 faithful (iiieen should be. This decree is estab- 

 lisln^d in the dominion of our apiary. 



We had one colony witli a fertile worker, or 

 workers, (which is it?) which became almost 

 depopulated of working bees. I gave them 

 some brood and embryo queen-cells three differ- 

 ent times. The last time they concluded to 

 rear a queen, and the result is astonishing. 

 Their hive is already running over with bees 

 and honey, and they are now at work in the 

 super — a good queen, you see. 



I want to tell you, Bro. Root, of some new- 

 fashioned sections which I saw the other day, 

 and which you will have to compete with — at 

 least, we know we have to compete with the 

 honey in them. They are pieces of unplaned 

 lath nailed together, forming a frame about 

 7x9 inches. Some of them were bulged on one 

 side, and an extra tapering slice or comb built 

 in on the other side. They were broken and 

 mussy looking, and put on the market here to 

 sell at 10 cts. Honey is honey here — no differ- 

 ence what grade, and we have much of just 

 such competition, so that I almost heartily 

 wish that everybody would let bees alone who 

 does not, can not, and will not do the business 

 up right. Mrs. Mii,ton Cone. 



Chillicothe, Mo., Aug. 4. 



THE RECOBD-BOOE. 



SOjrE QUESTIONS FOK MISS WILSON TO ANSWER. 



Miss Wilson: — This record-book subject is a 

 very Intei'esting one to me: but I wish you 

 would tell us whether you cai'ry your book with 

 you from hive to hive all day and how you 

 manage when you and Dr. Miller are both at 

 work in different parts of the apiary. Do you 

 keep the book and does he call out to you what 

 to write, or the reverse? Do you not some- 

 times forget to make a record of some hives? 

 I know we do. We have a board nailed against 

 the bee-house, about two feet wide and three 

 feet long, drawn otf' in squares like a checker- 

 board, representing our apiary. Our hives 

 stand three on a stand, seven stands in a row, 

 and seven rows in the apiary. The squares 

 represent the hives, and in the squares is where 

 we keejj our record. We abbreviate about as 

 you do, having copied from " A Year among the 

 Bees." by Dr. Miller. We plane the board off 

 every spring. We have used it three seasons, 

 but i do not like it a bit: and about every year, 

 especially in swarming time, the board, or we, 

 would get all mixed up. It took much time in 

 running back and forth to make a record, or 

 else we had to use a piece of section until we 

 filled it and then we had to take it to the board 

 and copy it off. I discarded the board altogeth- 

 er this summer; but Mr. Tittsworth sticks to 

 the board, and I use th^ hive - cover. One 

 glance at the cover tells what was done last 

 without having to walk back to the record- 

 board. 



Bricks or stones are very useful sometimes. 

 We found them so this season, in requeening. 

 We place a brick in the center of the cover, to 

 mark it queenless; then when our queen is 

 hatched in the nursery, one glance told where 

 she was wanted. Then after we gave the vir- 

 gin queen we moved the brick to the front of 

 the cover and took it away wIkmi she was lay- 

 ing, and clipped her. 



That reminds me of your once saying in 

 tri.EANiNGS, that sometimes you cari'jed a 

 queen to Dr. Miller to clip. Y"ou just try clip- 

 ping a queen without catching her at all. 

 There is not so much danger of injuring her 

 that way as thei'e is by catching them. I have 

 never injured one yet, and I have clipped over 

 a hundred this summer. I use a small pair of 

 embroidery scissors. You just try it once; and 

 if you are not a nervous person (which I don't 

 think you are, for it takes some nerve to work 

 with bees as you do) you will never carry a 

 queen to Dr. Miller again, and you will also 

 find fewer queens killed after being clipped, as 

 I used to when I caught them. 



This has been a very poor season in this 

 neighborhood — no surplus lioney at all, and we 

 shall be thankful if we don't have to feed our 



