1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



337 



full of bees and brood to overflow iug'. I had a queen 

 of my own importation that died in April, over four 

 years ago, and as her stock was weak I thought the 

 queens they would reiir at that time of year would 

 be poor things. Two queens were reared— one light 

 and the other very dark. They were both prolific, 

 and both lived till this spring, when one died for 

 want of bees to protect her, and the other is still do- 

 ing as good a job at filling csmbs with brood as any 

 queen could do, and her bees are the best of workers. 



We have had a splendid yield from the locust 

 bloom. White clover is now abundant, and with 

 seasonable showers this will be a "boss" bee year. 

 The two last numbers of Gleanings are grand - 

 crammed full of interest. John A. Buchanan. 



Holliday's Cove, W. Va., June 3, 1881. 



Now, friend 13., I will tell yoii what I par- 

 ticularly like about your letter, and it is a 

 feature that is too seldom found in commu- 

 nications. You do not start out to make 

 any particular point, or to defend any pet 

 idea of your own. You just give, plainly and 

 honestly, the facts as you have found them, 

 let them hit where they may.— After what 

 you have said in regard to grape sugar, I 

 would advise all to be careful that it in no 

 way enters into the stores for winter. At 

 the same time, we have had a multitude of 

 reports indicating the superiority of pure 

 cane sugar over natural stores of honey, as 

 well as over grape sugar. It may be that, 

 in your locality, bees sometimes will not 

 make a living ; "but how is it that Doolittle 

 always has a surplus?— There is some thing 

 in the fact, that bees often seem to winter 

 better for having a crack, or opening, right 

 through the hi\'e ; but then, you found other 

 apiaries, iu the same condition, all dead. 

 It begins to look very much as if we wanted 

 chaff hives with a good-sized air-hole, open 

 all winter, right over the brood-nest. I 

 agree with you, that a great deal of the talk 

 about poor queens and impure queens is 

 nonsense, as you term it. This season, ev- 

 ery thing in the shape of a queen is being 

 bought up at some price, and utilized; and, 

 so far as I know, the cheap ones are, many 

 of them, doing about as good service as any. 



UEPARTOTENT FOR FOLKS WHO DON'T 

 SIGN THEIR NAIUFS. 



TOIJ) you in May No. of a man who was 

 holding a queenless colony, but who did 

 not sign his name to his order for a 

 queen. Well, he waited 17 days, and then 

 he wrote the following: — 



I sent to you for a black queen a few days ago. 

 Why is it you don't send it to me? If not, send the 

 money back. A. F. Eilenbergek. 



Laddsburg, Pa., May 14, 1881. 



Moral.— When you start out to complain, 

 always reflect whether it is not possible it is 

 just your own self who is at fault, and no- 

 body else, and sign your name to it. We 

 will forgive you, friend E. 



After my respects to you, you may send me the 

 amount due me in registered letter; take register 

 fee off. I think that I shall not invest in bees this 

 summer — will see if they do any better. My losing 

 over a hundred dollars last winter runs me ashore 

 financially, as my means are very limited. 



Shannondale, Pa., June 1, 1881. 



After the clerks had exhausted all their re- 

 sources, and given him up, they brought the 

 letter to me, saying it would have to go into 

 the proper box, to await his writing again. 

 Now, although we often have to do this, I 

 very much dislike to do it ; and, as a further 

 effort, I reasoned that, if he lived iu a small 

 town, we might try writing to his postmas- 

 ter. So a letter was despatched as follows: 



" Mr. P. M.— We have received a letter from your 

 P. O., written with a blue pencil, from some; one 

 who seems to have money deposited with us, which, 

 he wants. If you know of any bee-man who has 

 had deal with us, it would be a favor, both to us and 

 himself, if you would give us his address." 



You see, the man may be a regular cus- 

 tomer, and we may have quite an account 

 with him on our ledger, if we only knew his 

 name ; but as our customers run up into the 

 thousands, it is out of the question remem- 

 bering, and also out of the question to hunt, 

 without even the initials. Again, we can 

 not expect postmasters to answer even such 

 questions, unless we pay all postage, so we 

 must take a stamped envelope, to inclose a 

 postal directed to ourselves, and this is mon- 

 ey out, besides the time of an expert clerk to 

 handle troubles of this kind. Why do we 

 go to trouble and expense for people who 

 are so careless? Because I always feel sorry 

 for careless people, and, to tell the truth, I 

 am naturally very careless too. 



" Forgive U3 our debts as we have forgiven our 

 debtors." 



Friend " What's-your name," do you not 

 think it pays, in the general business of the 

 world, to have your name printed on your 

 stationery? 



• — ♦ » 



CALIFORNIA ITEMS. 



Here comes a friend who without doubt 

 has the best intentions in the world, and 

 also, without question, has money in our 

 possession, to be used at pleasure, by simply 

 dropping us a postal card ; but here is every 

 jscrap we can find oji the sheet of paper. 



ALSO SOME KIN.D WORDS EROM AN OLD FRIEND. 



/i^UITE likely you have forgotten me, but I shall 

 Wrjy) not soon forget my pleasant three days' visit 

 ^5=^ with you and your kind social helpers about 

 the last of January, 1880. I came here the next 

 April; have worked a little among bees, and been a 

 good deal with bee-men in this and San Bernardino 

 counties. The year 1880 was called a " poor year; " 

 but some took 200 lbs. to the hive, and doubled their 

 stock; but that is above the average. I worked for 

 a man who took 24,000 lbs. of honey from about 300 

 stands. His "top-bo.\es" had been on all winter, 

 and he never looked into the lower story, or real 

 brood-chamber. It is quite the fashion to leave on 

 the upper stories through winter, as it saves work, 

 and the bees keep the moth from the combs. A few 

 take them off a while during spring breeding, but 

 many do not. 



MR. HARBISON ON FOUL BROOD. 



Last Oct. I heard Mr. Harbison give his method of 

 dealing with foul brood, and will give it as nearly as 

 possible from memory. Move the hive, and put an 

 empty box in its place; shake the bees into it, and 



