GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



letn worked upon has been fully conquered 

 and solved ? And are not the discontented 

 ones of our day those who are eating their 

 bread from the sweat of the faces of others? 

 No, no! there comes no real joy in rolling 

 around in luxury while others toil to supply 

 that unearned luxury which we are trying in 

 vain to make ourselves believe is true happi- 

 ness. 'Tis far more to our usefulness and 

 happiness to ' ' wear out instead of rusting out. ' ' 



[It appears to me, friend D., that you have 

 overlooked in the discussion above a very 

 important factor in the whole problem, and 

 that is the one of locality, else perhaps you 

 would not be so ready to pronounce the opin- 

 ions and practices of others "fallacious." 

 Last week I called upon Mr. S. A. Niver, who 

 is at present managing the estate of the late 

 Miles Morton. Said he, " Doolittle's methods 

 may be all right for his locality, but they 

 would not answer at all in this vicinity. Miles 

 Morton used to say that many a bee-keeper, 

 if he were to remove to Tompkins Co., would 

 have to unlearn many of his old methods and 

 acquire new ones." In a bee-line there is a 

 distance of only about 17 miles from Borodino 

 to Groton. What must be the difference 

 between other localities separated by hundreds 

 or even thousands of miles? You have no 

 buckwheat worth mentioning, in and about 

 Borodino. Your main dependence is upon 

 clover and basswood. In Tompkins Co., later 

 in the season buckwheat is one of the main 

 crops. 



Ev^en at our out-yard, only two miles north 

 of us, I can see a difference in the conditions. 

 Our north yard is near a river, with an abun- 

 dance of fall flora. ■ Our home yard has noth- 

 ing of this sort to fall back on. 



Now, if there is indeed so much being said 

 in favor of large colonies, and a consequent 

 reduction of swarms, there must be some 

 localities favoring such colonies. There could 

 hardly be .so niiich smoke without some fire. 



And there is still another factor I think you 

 have not fully considered. If you were run- 

 ning a hundred or a thousand colonies 3'ou 

 would have to operate quite a little differently 

 from what you now do. W. L. Coggshall, 

 whom I also saw last week, and who runs 1300 

 colonies, reiterated a former statement, that 

 he could not afford to spend much time with 

 individual colonies. He had to work on the 

 wholesale plan. It was results he was after, 

 in the shape of dollars and cents. 



You say large hives do not make large colo- 

 nies any more than large hats make large 

 heads, as if you felt that some one had been 

 holding to the affirmative. But even if large 

 hats do not make large heads, may it not be 

 true that bandaged feet may, as in the case of 

 Chinese girls, make a nation of limping wo- 

 men? and, similarly, may not small hives 

 make scrimpy colonies ? I think it is quite 

 easy for us to combat opinions that are not 

 entertained by anybody. Critic Taylor, of 

 the Revieiv, tried to make it appear that I 

 believed that large hives would make large 

 colonies, and you remember I said (page 519) 

 that could be no more true than that big shoes 



would make big feet ; but it is true that big 

 shoes allow feet to grow to their proper size. 

 —Ed.] 



THE DOUBLE DECKER A SUCCESS. 



I have taken off about .35 supers of nice rich 

 honey from 13 colonies. We gave one swarm 

 an extra body in spring when we took off 

 winter cases. We ju'^t put it on top of an 

 empty body, and gave a deep entrance to all 

 the hives at that time. Our double decker 

 gave us 7 supers solid full of honey; and after 

 the supers were taken off there were so many 

 bees we had to give them an empty super 

 before they could all get in. We do not think 

 that hive swarmed. 



We like the deep entrance very much. Our 

 bees used to send out about four swarms each, 

 per season, some so late they would not live 

 over winter, and we could get scarcely any 

 honey from them. We think the new plan 

 fine. I will have them all double another 

 year. I was telling Uncle Thomas about the 

 double-decker hive. He said, " Why, that's 

 nothing. When I was down south during the 

 war I saw the old farmers tip an old salt-bar- 

 rel on top of their bee-hive. The bees would 

 fill it full of honey, and then the owner would 

 smother the bees and take the honey." 



I don't see how a man like Dr. Miller can 

 think it nice to winter bees in the cellar. Any 

 one who can write so beautifully about roses 

 and sunshine, and all that, and then condemn 

 the poor bees to pass the long winter months 

 in a cellar, is downright cruel. The idea of 

 sweeping them up by the bushel from the cel- 

 lar floor ! For seven winters we have never 

 lost one good strong swarm, that had enough 

 to eat, by leaving them out in their winter 

 cases. They have a good airing every sunny 

 day. Of course, a good many fall on the 

 snow, and die; but after all it is not so dismal 

 as to die in the cellar. Do try to convert Dr. 

 Miller to outdoor wintering. I believe he 

 would feel a lot happier. S. A. ROBERTS. 



Racine, Wis., Sept. 28. 



[I tried to do it several years ago, but he 

 would not turn from the error of his way. — 

 Ed.] 



BEE-KEEPING MORE THAN SIXTY YEARS AGO; 



A LITTLE SKETCH OF MOSES OUINBY 



IN OLDEN TIME. 



Dear Brother: — I am now an old man, and 

 have handled bees most of the time for sixty- 

 five years. I took my first lesson in improved 

 methods in bee-keeping from Moses Quinby, 

 of St. Johnsville, N. Y. I had heard of 

 him and of his improvements in hives, etc., 

 so I left my home in Massachusetts, and came 

 to Troy, N. Y., trying to find Mr. Ouinby. I 

 learned that he lived up in the Mohawk Val- 

 ley. I took a boat on the canal, and, after 



