IS'.f." 



(.i-KANiN(;s IN iu-;k ('llI/riI|{K. 



275 



■• Well. Cluiilo. laUiiiLT all thing's lotiftlicr I 

 WKuliI ailvist' yoii to riMuo\c Ilii- qiiciMis in pn-f- 

 •Toiu't' to oaniiijr tliciu; liowt'vcf. yoii iniRlit cx- 

 pcriiiii'iit ill cajriiiK a fi'sv. ]iy so doing you 

 niijrlit (iiscovcr sonu' \(M> imiiorlaiil points 

 wliii'll would lit' liciicliciai to oilier hcc-Urciicrs. 

 It is not for one person to disi-ovcr or know all. 

 We oiiii all help a little. Tliere is a larj^e lield 

 of knowledge In nature lliatis yet nndisi-overed. 

 with room (Miougli for all to work in. llenee 

 let us all take a hand in the work and then 

 roinpare notes." 



•■ \Vell. well. Mr. I'ox ! walk in. (."harles and 

 I are liaviiiiT a oonveiuion all by ourselves." 



" Ves. 1 .see. Manuiii: and I am sorry I did 

 not eome in sooner, riiarles living so near you 

 he can stej) in and talk liees at any time; but I 

 am so far away 1 have to be satistied with what 

 I find in (.Ji.k.winus. I t-anie in. Manuin. to 

 iisk if I LH)uld see your new feeder that I lii'ar 

 so much about amonff hee-kee[)ers. and to ask 

 if it gives you siitisfaciion." 



"(Hi! yes. Mr.-<'ox: you can see it. and here 

 it is." 



" Why, Maiium. it is a dift'en^nt-looking thing 

 from what I supposed it was. Wliyl it is a 

 regular box. Won"t it leak?" 



"No. not if properly made — at least. I am not 

 troubled with their leaking; as vou will see. 

 they are thoroughly made." 



"You use them. I hear, for feeding back ex- 

 tracted honey. How do you do it?" 



"There. Mr. Cox. you see they are just the 

 width and length of my clamps; and by placing 

 one on a clamp of sections you will see that it 

 is so arranged that the bees can pass nj) from 

 the sections into the feeder and back again, no 

 matter how many tiers of sections are on the 

 hive; just place the feeder on the top tier, and 

 it will work like a charm." 



■"How much does the feeder hold?" 



" Well, those made for my siz(! of claniiJ hold 

 U) pounds of extracted honey. You know my 

 clamps are only half size — in other words, it 

 lakes two to cover the top of my brood-cham- 

 ber; hence when I wish to hurry up matters I 

 put on two feeders." 



■'Charles, have you tried these feeders " Mr. 

 Cox asked. 



'• Yes," said Charles. " I have 20 of them, and 

 intend to make KJo more. They are the best 

 feeder I ever saw. My man told me last fall 

 that he wished I would give away all my old 

 feeders and replace them with Manum's new 

 kind. I have urged Manuin to have them pat- 

 ented, but somehow he dot^sn't .seem to care for 

 patents; whatever he invents he (jives to the 

 public." 



Mr. Cox asked. " Now. Manum, there is anoth- 

 er thing I want to ask you. What do you think 

 of the Porter escape? Have you ever used 

 them?" 



" No. I have never used them. Mr. Porter 

 s<'nt me two last fall, but too late in the season 

 to give them a trial, hence I can not s))eak from 

 experience. But simjily seeing them convinces 

 me that they are a good thing— yes, a perfect 

 escape." 



" Now. Manum. why is it that we heard noth- 

 ing from you through (tI,kanin'os for so long a 

 time?" asks Mr. Cox. 



••'I'he fact is. I have l)een \eiv busy since last 

 May. as you must alreadv know. Hesidiis the 

 care of all my bees I have had to look after and 

 ship my crof) of honey. pn>par<' and feed the 

 IxM's for winter, and, in addition to all this, 1 

 ha\e made extensive repairs on my house; and, 

 furthermore. 1 felt it a duty to entertain the 

 iinr iiuicti — a |)leasant duly, which, of course, 

 I did not neglect. I hop<' now. however, to be 

 able to talk to tiie readers of (Ii.K.VNt.NCi.s s<!ver- 

 al times before the busy season is upon us. 1 

 will add. before you go. Mr. Cox, that the new 

 ■(lueen " (Mrs. Manum) manifests much iiitei'- 

 est in bees; and tli«^ symptoms are that she will 

 be a great acciuisition to our calling, inasmuch 

 as she proposes to actpiire a knowledge of the 

 btisinc'ss and take an active part in the apiary. 



Bristol, Vt.. March •.'.{. A. K. Mani'.m. 



[We are glad, friend Manum, that you have 

 given us more light on this (inestion of caging 

 queens or removing thtnn to prevent swarming. 

 There is a great deal of disagreement (jn this 

 subject, and we need more facts. Still, there 

 are "those who make it a success, as you do. In 

 regard to the feeder, if we understand it. it is 

 very much in principle like the one introduced 

 by Dr. C. C. Miller, and bearing bis name. The 

 thing has since then t)een iin)ii()\cd at the 

 Home of the Honey-bees, although the princi- 

 ple is kept the same. It is an excellent feeder, 

 and we don't wonder that you and your neigh- 

 bor like it: that is. if it is the same feeder. 

 We have no doubt that you originated your 

 feeder without the knowledge of the one gotten 

 up by Dr. Miller, or at least you had not taken 

 particular notice of it when it was illustrated 

 and described.! 



WRITING FOR THE BEE-JOURNALS. 



ANSWEIUNG QUESTIONS OVEI! AND OVEK AG.VIX 



BY LETTER THAT ARE Al.READY COV- 



RKEl) IN THE TEXT BOOKS. 



Only a little over 30 years have passed since 

 the advent of the first "bee-paper in our country; 

 but what a chang(> has been wrought along the 

 literary lines of our pursuit I Thirty years ago 

 scarcely a dozen could be found who would even 

 dan' to write on the subject of bees for publica- 

 tion; but now we have hundreds who so write; 

 and we find that the matter has a.ssumed such 

 proportions that a whole number of one of the 

 leading bee-papers (the Review) is devoted to 

 the discussion ot the importance of" writing for 

 the bee-journals." But I did not start out to 

 tell who should or who should not write for the 

 bee-papers; butofsomeof the things which a 

 writer to such papers has to encounter by be- 

 coming prominent in this respect. In that 

 memorable issue of the Revieir alluded to above. 

 Mr. Clark says. "Mr. Doolittle writes too 

 much." and I Innc about come to that conclu- 

 sion myself, and Iku'c pro|)os(> to tell the readers 

 of Gleanings some of tlie things which have 

 driven me to that conclusion. I have written 

 to the extent of answering ev(^ry letter and pos- 

 tal card that has ev<'r come to me so far; but 

 just how long I shall keep it up. I do not know, 

 for I have of late been im[)ressed with the idea, 

 that, after keeping this thing up for fifteen 

 years. I ought to have a vacation. Here are 

 some of the things which have caused these 

 thoughts to come to my mind: 



A person in Florida writes, "In a back num- 

 ber of Gi-EANiNCis I saw an article from your 

 Een about the different kinds of willows. As I 

 ave embarked again in bee culture. I should 

 like for you to send me cuttings of all the differ- 

 ent kinds of willow in ymir vicinity. Please la- 



