844 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1.5. 



caper. Aflcr that you can imagine I let things 

 alone: and robbing reached such a pitch that a 

 good colony would be attacked and the ground 

 covered with dead l)efore the assailants would 

 haul off. This seemed to be very shocking at 

 the time; but at present I do not regard it in 

 exactly the same light. The bees that got 

 killed trying to rob in the fall are not young 

 enough to last for next spring work, I reckon. 

 It is better that they clean out every thing that 

 can not make a royal fight, than that all these 

 odds and ends of unseaworthy colonies should 

 try the stormy Atlantic of a hard winter just 

 as they are without keeper's care or comrade's 

 cribbage. But of course I was just right in 

 promptly putting each surviving colony in 

 shape to defend itself. And Apiarius had bet- 

 ter be the robber whan robbing needs to, be 

 done. 



THOSE IMPORTED QUEENS IN ftUARANTINE. 



w. r. FRAZiER s experiencp:. 



" Quarantined " was one of the fii'st things I 

 saw in Gleanings of Oct. 1.5th. I had meant to 

 write you that I had found a quarantine not es- 

 pecially conducive to the safe ai'rival of queen>. 

 but had neglected it. I rec«^ived my September 

 importation. It was detained in quarantine 

 about 15 days. There was one queen more than 

 half of them that came through alive. There 

 was quite a number of orders awaiting thi;m. 

 which I tilled on arrival. After all orders were 

 filled I had four queens left, therefore I was 

 obliged to discontinue the sale of them. These 

 queens cost me about $3.00 more tlian I got for 

 them: howc^vei'. that cuts no figure, as such 

 things have happened before. 



There will be considerable hunting to find 

 some one on whom to put the blame for killing 

 the queens. Certain it is, the party in Italy 

 who sent them is not to blame. That impoiaing 

 will be rather risky the coming season, I do not 

 doubt; however, we can all go to breeding the 

 golden bees and make our fortune. 



My imported queens and their daughters are 

 now quiet, clustered, and have ceased rearing 

 brood. I have about five goldens. They have 

 from two to three combs of brood. Whether 

 this is a good thing at this season, I leave for 

 practical bee-keepers to judge. It would not 

 do for me to say. I am prejudiced; I am inter- 

 ested in other bees; I import a few dozen each 

 year from Italy. But, seriously, I have had 

 them for three years, most of the time. The 

 time I did not have them was in the early 

 spring, and they always all died in winter, ex- 

 cept in the season of ISiKD-'iil. I have never yet 

 taken a pound of honey from them, and have 

 nearly always had to feed them. I may be out 

 of luck. May be I get my queens of the wrong 

 breeder: but I have bought of several, and the 

 result has been the same. In the South these 

 bees may do very well; but they don't seem to 

 do here. 



Why can we not have a trial of these bees ahd 

 the daughters of imported queens at some of 

 our experimer.t stations, or by sonu^ of our large 

 honi'y-producers, or both? There would be no 

 use in having any thing but a friendly contest- 

 no use betting, or donating any thing except the 

 queens. If they are better honey-gatherers, or 

 will make more points by the scale as adopted 

 by the North American Association, then I wish 

 to purchast! queens of that strain. If the daugh- 

 ters of imported queens score more, then there 

 can be found breeders who have them to sell. 



Atlantic, la., Oct. 2;.', 1892. W. C. Fkaziei;. 



[We should be very glad to see the imported 

 Italians compared critically with our home-bred 



strains. We have so far found the imported to 

 be the most uniform in mai'kings and general 

 characteristics. With us they are the gentlest; 

 and while, perhaps, not the best honey-work- 

 ers, they are the peers of any home stock. Some 

 may disagree with us; but it should be remem- 

 bered that we have opportunities for compari- 

 son equaled by no others.] 



RAMBLE 72. 



HOW SUNDAY-SCHOOLS ARE A DETRIMENT TO 

 HONEY-PRODIfCriON. 



The above statement may sound somewhat 

 strange: and, though made by the Rambler, 

 who has always been in favor of and has sus- 

 tained the good moral work of the Sunday- 

 schools, it does not follow that he is opposed to 

 Sunday-schools. On the contrai'y he hopes 

 that this ramble will strengthen certain people 

 to help along the moral forces. The fact, how- 

 ever, remains that both the secular schools and 

 the Sunday-school have a potent influence in 

 the above direction. Two miles northeast, and 

 directly in front of the apiary managed by the 

 Rambler, is the embryo town of Blooraington, 

 on the S. P. R. R. When I first went out to 

 the apiary, nearly a year ago, there were only a 

 few scattering houses, or. I should say, cabins, 

 in the brush. Irrigation has been extended to 

 the plac(\ and other houses begin to dot the 

 plain. As soon as there were a few children 

 seen playing around the cabin doors, the par- 

 ents, in most cases, being good eastern people, 

 bethought themselves of organizing schools: 

 and though the children, all told, numbered 

 less than 40, a schoolhouse 18x30— yes. 18x30 is 

 what an eastern community would build for the 

 accommodation of a much larger number of 

 children — but here people seem to have larger 

 ideas, and even the small towns have splendid 

 school-buildings: and Bloomington. not to be 

 outdone by het neighbors, built, not an lSx30, 

 but a •?.3(XX) schoolhouse. two stories in height, 

 .several large rooms, a tower, a bell. Hag- pole, 

 and "old glory " proudly waving above. This 

 new structure for the education of Young 

 America, and the transforming of all nationali- 

 ties into Americans, had scarcely been sided up 

 and the floor laid than the aforesaid Sunday- 

 school put in an appearance. If the secular 

 school had got started first, then my statement 

 would have fitted that: but it seems that tiie 

 Sunday-school is always stepping in ahead of 

 every thing else, and drawing people toward it: 

 and, also, owing to the fact that the weather is 

 not a disappointing factor in relation to out- 

 door gatherings, the .Sunday-school, in the ab- 

 sence of a building, had just as lief organize 

 outdoors. 









STARTING .\ SUNDAY -SCHOOI,. 



In my Sunday-school experience in the East 

 I have heard some well-meaning but purse- 

 worshiping people advertise their disbelief in 



