170 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Apr. 



There is another matter I wish to mention; in fact, 

 it is what I have beea trying to come at; but I 

 thought it best to give you the "tafify," as you did 

 Mrs. C. before commenting on her bools. 



I enjoy a good " yarn " or joke as well as the next 

 man. Why, sir, it makes me feel good for half a day 

 to take a good hearty laugh. Of course, I believe in 

 them; and, friend R., if you disagree with me, I 

 must beg of you not to publish such "funny" things 

 in Gleanings. "Old Zach Brown," for instance; 

 trying to hive the handsome widow's bees, and the 

 part " Crony " took in the affair! Fancy painting is 

 my favorite, and while reading of the affair, as I 

 rode over on the car, I could see the participants as 

 distinctly, from that vivid pen-picture, as if it had 

 been on canvas. I never was so "wrenched" in all 

 my life; burst, I wanted to; but the surroundings 

 were unfavorable. I realized the impropriety of 

 such a thing in a car full of passengers. 



Cleveland, O., March 10, 1881. D. C. Shull. 



If <a faith in God should not make one 

 cheerful, friend S., I do not know what 

 should ; but we should be very careful that 

 our enjoyment or pleasantry is never the 

 means of giving some one else sorrow. Many 

 thanks for your very kind words and good 

 opinion. 



BASKET WIL,I^OAVS — " T'OTHER SIDE." 



2PJDIT0R GLEANINGS: You ask, on page 01, 

 'm " Who will tell us something about willows? " 

 Well, sir, we will, all we know; and no one 

 ever lived in Michigan without knowing something. 

 There are at least fifty acres within two miles of our 

 apiary. They yield almost incredible quantities of 

 pollen just at the time when new pollen is most 

 needed; also secrete a vast amount of the worst 

 smelling, worst tasting honey that your humble 

 servant was ever so unfortunate as to taste, and yet 

 the bees like it, and it does them good. In fact, the 

 impetus that willow pollen and willow honey gives 

 to brood-rearing just at the right time has done 

 more to enable us to make a good report the past 

 two poor seasons than any thing else. Good for bas- 

 kets? Yes, first rate; makes best kind; best thing 

 out for tying up bundles of nursery stock, or for 

 making withcsfor anypurpose. We usethemlargc- 

 ly for tying up corn stalks into bundles, etc. But 

 for all their good qualities, willows are considered a 

 nuisance, and farmers, laborers, bee-keepers, and 

 everybody unite in waging a war of extermination' 

 against them; but they seem to hold their own pret- 

 ty well yet. They are ten times harder to get rid of 

 than Canada thistles. Cut off a sprout, and ten will 

 spring up in its place; and as for grubbing them out, 

 we give it up in disgust. If any enthusiast wants to 

 plant a few acres, all he will have to do is to stick a 

 row of cuttings through the center, and some fine 

 morning ho will wake up and find he has that worst 

 of all pests, a " willow swamp. " 



Now, if any one wants a car load of cuttings, come 

 to Plainfield; we haven't got much, but we've got 

 willoivs, that's a fact. We'll give you all of them 

 you want; and if that is not enough, we'll furnish a 

 man to help you, and foot j'our board-bill. You need 

 a piece of wet ground to grow willows to perfection. 

 If you haven't got it, come to Michigan — lots of it 

 here. F. L. Wright. 



Plainfield, Mich., March, 1881. 



SHAIiIi ^VE GIVE UP BEE-KEEPING ? 



eUR neighbor Shane has wintered all his 

 bees as usual, losing only about three 

 or four colonies out of something like 

 160. Neighbor Rice has lost two colonies 

 out of 10:2. His were wintered in the cellar, 

 while neighbor Shane's were wintered out of 

 doors. Friend Rice's wife raised some 

 queens for us last season, and I asked him 

 how his wife succeeded in wintering the 

 hives she raised the queens from. If I am 

 correct, he said she doubled them up into 

 four strong colonies ; but out of this four, 

 she had lost three in wintering. He says he 

 is satislied that an apiary can not winter well 

 that is used for queen-rearing, no matter 

 how well they are doubled and fixed up. 

 Neighbor II., whose report will be found on 

 another page, although he raised queens 

 largely, — in fact, did nothing else. — has lost 

 only about 2o out of 145, leaving 120, as he 

 gives it. (Juite a number of these (in conse- 

 quence of the young Holy-Land queens rear- 

 ing so much more brood than Italians), 

 were lost by starvation. This does not look 

 as if queen-rearing was so very bad, after 

 all ; but his queen-rearing nuclei were kept 

 so strong as to be almost full hives during 

 the whole season. 



Tlie encouraging part of it is, that our old 

 veterans are succeeding, year after year, al- 

 most witliout exception, and every year we 

 see additions to the number who say joyful- 

 ly, '' I, too, have succeeded." The doleful 

 reports of losses, if not all from the A B C 

 class, are a large part of them from new be- 

 ginners, or an unfortunate class who seem to 

 be so careless that they fail, or partially fail, 

 in almost all kinds of business they xuider- 

 take. This may seem a little rough, but is 

 it not true, and will it not be helpful to us if 

 we face the music? I am one of the unfor- 

 tunate ones, for I have lost now about a 

 third of my apiary, but it was because we 

 reared queens so much, and also because we 

 failed in selling about 50 queens in Novem- 

 ber, that we should have sold if the winter 

 had not come on so suddenly, Now, a little 

 helpful advice : If you fail "in wintering, go 

 and see some one near you who does not, 

 and do just as he does. I think it will do 

 me good to go and see neighbors Rice and 

 Shane about next November. One winters 

 in the cellar, and the other out-doors ; but 

 both of them always succeed. I know how 

 already ; but still such is the force of exam- 

 ple that I think it will do me good to go and 

 see th«m. Will not a similar visit do you 

 good too, my friend? It has been said, and 

 perhaps truthfully, that the old hands do 

 not report their losses. Well, let us make 

 them report, as we have Doolittle. I want 

 to hear from all those who have large crops of 

 honey to sell, year after year. Of late, when 

 I get a letter telling of great losses, I have got 

 into a way of thinking, "'Well, now, this is' 

 one of our new hands," and on turning to 

 the signature, sure enough so it turns out 

 almost every time. Another thing : An old, 

 well-established colony that gives a yield of 

 honey year after year is almost sure to win- 

 ter; the old tough combs and the well 

 waxed-up hive may have something to do 



