1881 



GLEANIKGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



203 



Not even yet any Dictionaries, but we bare most 

 excellent promises of some very soon. "We will re- 

 turn the money any time you wish. 



I OMITTED to say, last month, that the price of the 

 book. Barn Plans and Out-Buildings, is $1.50, and 

 that we can mail it on application. 



Ip anv one who advertises in Gi-t;anings does not 

 fulfill all promises and settle up all differences satis- 

 factorily, you will confer a favor by reporting him to 



Friend Biirch, too, reports having wintered every 

 colony in his large apiary; but I really wish he had 

 told us how m;iuy there were. Please say how many, 

 friends, when j ou report. 



Nice, pure, maple sugar, stirred, white, in lib. 

 bricks, at lOc. per lb. Tin-top for bees or children. 

 Nine cents per lb. only, in large cakes, just as we 

 buy it from the farmers. 



TuF. Kansas Bee-Kecper is the iWe of a fair-look- 

 ing little sheet published by our friends Scovillo and 

 Anderson, of Columbus. Kansas. Vol. 1 No. 3 is just 

 on our — corner of the type-writer. 



FuaNiSHiNG bees in the spring months will likely be 

 precarious, and. therefore, ple.ise let us all resolve 

 to bo patient. You can have your money back any 

 time, when you get tired of waiting. 



Our friend R. Wilkin, of San Buenaventura, Cal., 

 has received one order from England for 20 tons of 

 honev. What do you think of that? If all he sends 

 out is as good as the lot he sent us, I don't wonder. 



Do not stand around with your hands in your 

 pockets, and have the neighbors all lausrhing- at you. 

 Go to work, and let the neighbors see that, if a bee- 

 keeper is down, he by no means proposes to stay 

 down. 



Buy your bees and queens of those nearest to j-ou 

 who advertise; but do not send to me, unless you 

 are willing to wait until your turn comes. If you 

 are in a hurry, teli them to return the money, unless 

 they can ship inside of a specified time. 



We shall not be able to send our bees by the pound 

 before Aprin5th, and not then unless the weather 

 is favorable. If you must have them right olf, I 

 think some of the friends in the South will be best 

 able to furnish them. 



After gettingthe engravings made for a sun evap- 

 orator, for ripening honey, we are so unfortunate 

 as to have lost the b-tier that came with ihe draw- 

 ings. May wo trouble the friend who sent the plan, 

 to give us his name once more? 



Sign your name to your letters, or— get some en- 

 velopes and paper with your name printed on them. 

 See how little they cost, by referring to the counter 

 store. Two letters are at hand to-day, containing 

 money, without a scratch to tell who sent it. 



Wk have tried four queens by mail, in the Pcet 

 cages, and all died promptly. At their present val- 

 ue, this is rather expensive business, and I think we 

 shall not try many more before about May, as per 

 our price list. We have sent some cages to a South- 

 ern friend, with instructions to send us one queen 

 at a time until they begin to come through all right. 



Thk willow-tree friend Oulp mentions on pape U. 

 Jan. No., has arrived, and it is a thing of beauty, I 

 assure you. Even some cuttings sent along with it 

 are covered with the white catkins, almost ready to 

 bloom, showing that it blossoms at a very early age. 

 It will be one of the bright objects on our honey 

 farm, when covered with bees the first thing in the 

 spring. 



Save your hybrid queens, and fill up those empty 

 hives. Save all the blacks, and hybrids too, that 

 you can Ity hands on, anywhere about you. Stop 

 buying supplips and high-priced queens, but maue 

 that apiary bring in some money. Atk your wife 

 if she does not think this good advice. 



Put your name and address on your letter, hcforc 

 you write a ivord. If you can not afford to have it 

 printed on, write it. Letters containing money are 

 now of almost daily occurence, without any trace 



to tell who wrote them, or where to send the goods. 

 "Whatever does ail you," to be so careless? I a'nt 

 cross a bit,— only in earnest. " Do you mind?" 



A SWAIIM OF bees HALF A MILE LONG. 



No. no, dear reader, it isn't one of owr swarms, but 

 it Is the Apis dorsofa, where Frank Benton is, in 

 the Isle of Ceyhni. He didn't see them, but a gentle- 

 man told him that, when they swarmed, the swarm 

 was almost half a mile long. I will give you the let- 

 ter telling about it, next month. Don't get uneasy, 

 boys. Frank will take gtiod care of them. 



In giving credit for the tutnbler feeder last month. 

 I should have said Finch & Bartlett. where I said 

 Finch & Crane. This came about innocently, by 

 supposing it was the present partner of Mr. Finch, 

 instead of his former one, Mr. F. J. Bartlett. of 

 Strongsvillo. O. This latter gentleman seems to be 

 the inventor, while Finch only presented the feeder 

 to my notice. I presiune it was also partly, if not 

 all, my carelessness, in getting the idea that Finch 

 was the principal inventor f)f the feeder. I hope 

 both gentlemen will pardon me. 



We have just had a most pleasant visit from Dr. C. 

 C. Miller, of MarCngo, Ills. Friend Miller has declin- 

 ed what most of us would call a large salary, just 

 that he mwy live out in the country, and work with 

 bees. As he raises hcmey and nothing else, he takes 

 just as much pains to keep good hybrids as any oth- 

 er; and I am inclined to think there is a good point 

 for all of us who are honey-raisers. Take good care 

 of the queens you have, instead of wasting time and 

 money, and keeping your hives queenleas, and then 

 perhaps getting a queen that will produce less honey 

 than the ones you took out. 



Several have written me that the Waterbury 

 watches are offered by others at a less price than 

 what I sell them at. 1 admit this; but it is for those 

 sent out untested. We are now testing every watch 

 that we send out, and those we sell singly at retail 

 are all carried in the pocket before being sent you. 

 If we do this, I can not sell them any less than our 

 advertised rates. My experience has been, that 

 none of you are satisfied with a dead watch or dead 

 queen at any price, and I therefore shall not ask you 

 to pay your money for such. Perhaps not more 

 than one in five fail to go right off. as they come 

 from the factory; but nobody that 1 know of wants 

 to be that fifth man. 



Every few days some friend writes an indignant 

 letter, saying he ordered something just as plainly 

 as could be, .and yet we sent some other thing. The 

 letter is lookedup, and the fault was not ours, but in 

 the order. We miiil the letter back, to show we were 

 not at fault, and then comes quite a humble apology. 

 Now, in view of this fact, would it not be well to be a 

 little mild in complaining, and say you think you 

 ordered so and so, instead of being so very posi- 

 tive? Suppose even when you know you are right, 

 you should use the little preface to your remarks, 

 " If I am not mistaken," 1 ordered so and so. Our 

 boys and girls here are trying hard to be faithful, 

 just as you are; but it eases the burdens of life 

 amazingly, to get gentle, kind words. The most of 

 you are gentle and kind; but I think we can all im- 

 prove a little if we try. Do not you? Sometimes I 

 have a dim recollection of something that " sutfereth 

 long, and is kind." Was it you or I, think you? 



GOOD NEWS. 



The American Grape Sugar Co., of Buffalo, N. Y., 

 have at length produced a sugar entirely free from 

 the slight bitter taste that has heretofore character- 

 ized even the best refined grape sugars. It is a pure 

 product of Indian corn, and is as pure and simple a 

 sweet, as the best grades of maple sugar. Just 

 "taste of it yourself, " if you are incredulous. We 

 will mail you a sample for 5c. . which, I think, will 

 settle the discussion. You might as well try to stop 

 the snow from coming down (this 29th day of March) 

 as to try to stop this wonderful new industry of mak- 

 ing good sugar from Indian corn. lustead of the un- 

 kind words in regard to it that have been mostly 

 prompted by ignorance and prejudice, it seems to 

 me more meet we sh luld unite in a prayer of thanks- 

 giving for a blessing s.'^nt to the children of men, 

 hardly less, in its promise, than the one that came so 

 suddenly a few years ago from the depths of the 

 earth, which is even now shedding light through 

 your home, and, for aught I know, illumines strong- 

 ly the pages your eye rests on this moment. 



