ISSl 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



VIAIiliON'S CANDY. 



HOW IT WOBKS UP TO DATE. 



■inipljOyou know that, after i-eading- my letter in 

 Jlij j) Gleanings, that it looks as if I was asking 



' you to pay for the candy, which was certainly 



not my intention. I suppose you remember that, in 

 the sprins- of 1880, when you wrote to me that the 

 candy was a success, and asked if I had any ol>.iec- 

 tion to gi\ing you the recipe, how I responded, and 

 stated that 1 should be pleased if I could help the 

 bee-keepers in some way, etc. I am well aware that 

 you experimented on the honey candy in 18T8, but 

 you omitted the principal ingredient— flour. Now, 

 if you have lost several valuable queens this season 

 with this candy, the reason must be that the candy 

 was cooked too much, or it may be due to the Peet 

 cage, as I must say that I tind it too shallow, and on 

 account of the tin it is too cold in March, April, and 

 part of May. Well, friend Koot, I wish I were near 

 you, as I would go and make the candy for you, and 

 guarantee every queen you would send out, and you 

 may rest assured that the $100 would be- not called 

 lor. 



There is no greater pleasure for me than to be 

 among my bees and in my orchard. By the way, I 

 have been enjoying ripe peaches since the 2.5th of 

 May, and I wish you were closer to us, friend Boot, 

 as I would have the pleasure of sharing the peaches 

 with you, and also several varieties of plums. 



Jime U(?(.— The above was written just after read- 

 ing Gleanings and laid aside for the next day, and 

 I think I did right in not sending at once, as I have 

 since had two reports of dead queens. Yes, 5 report- 

 ed dead to date; 2 were received very weak, and 

 died next morning or during the night; in one, all 

 the bees were alive but the queen; in another every 

 thing was dead, and but 4 days in route; and in 

 another every thing was dead, and 14 days in route. 

 This is a little over 1 per cent, as so far nearly 400 

 queens have been mailed. Now, this is from all 

 those I have heard from; but I have mailed many 

 queens, not included above, since a week, not yet 

 heard from. 



I did not write the above for publication, but you 

 may speak of my loss of 5 queens, as those having 

 received the dead queens may think it strange that 

 I leave every one under the impression that I lost 

 no queens. P. L. Viallon. 



Bayou Goula, La., June 6, 1881. 



Many thanks, friend \ .. tor your valuable 

 items, as well as for the otter of the peaches. 

 I believe we all know you are one who is 

 working for the good of the people, and we 

 shall call the candy by your name, even if 

 you will not accept any thing more. If you 

 will excuse me for reverting to it once more, 

 1 would say that I did use liour, and aban- 

 doned it because I got an idea that it, like 

 pollen, rather disposed the bees, when con- 

 tined, to dysentery. The queens you have 

 sent us came to hand in such excellent trim, 

 that I have remailed a great number, with- 

 out even introducing them, and I believe all 

 have gone on right. A lot of tive are now 

 near me', from which the address got torn 

 off. and they came back to us. but all lively 

 and in excellent trim. Your candy is cer- 

 tainly a wonderful improvement for queens; 

 but for pounds of bees, we must have the 

 water-bottles also. With a bottle in every 



section, we have had most excellent success; 



but when I tried using only one bottle in a 



cage, losses commenced at once. Can we 



not ascertain why you lost the few queens 



j-ou have mentioned lately? Your cage is 



an excellent one, only that it does not admit 



of being used on thV comb, like tlie I'eet 



c?.ge. 



^ i>i ^ 



FKIEND Bl TTL.ER-S mSHAP, .\ND IIOAV 

 HE DID fiET MARISIED AFTER AI^Ij. 



SEQI'EL TO THE LITTLE STORV ON P. :U2, LAST NO. 



jP>^ INCE I wrote you in regard to that " nucleus," I 

 l^i; was stung by some bees, and, thinking per- 

 '-^ haps you might be amused by reading some of 

 the newspaper accounts, 1 will send you one taken 

 from the Chicago Times, June 1.'), which paper is 

 somewhat mistaken, as you will see by this note: 



WHY HK l)U«N 1 C.KT MARRIED. 



Uloomixgtox. 111., June U.— Tlioma.s Butler, of this city, 

 was to lia\e been uiaivieil this evening-, but tliis afternoon acei - 

 dentally overturned a hive of bees, and was nearly stunjf lx> 

 tleath. ' He is in a dangerous eoudition. 



Isettleda swarmin the top of a tree in my yard, 

 and had the limb cut off, and was coming down very 

 carefully with the bees, when a limb gave way with 

 me and the bees, and I'tried to see which could land 

 on earth the quicker. I think from the number of 

 bees that were mashed, that they fanded first. I 

 wish you could have been near so you could have 

 seen the performance, and you could have had car- 

 toons for some time. My sister took nine stings out 

 of my right ear, and I was stung in the face as badly. 

 This was the 14th, the day I was married. At 13 

 o'clock I had both eyes closed, and at 6 p.m. I had 

 them both open, and was married at 8. The number 

 of stings I received was no more painful than one 

 sting would be, and one sting does me no harm. 



The little "nucleus" is started, and is one of the 

 happiest little colonies on earth. 



Thomas Butler. 



Bloomington, 111., June lit, 1881. 



— ^ i gi ^ 



UNDER THE BOX-ELDERS. 



^T was one of the beautiful mornings of the last 

 Jt|[ days of April, when, as we were passing the 

 — ' residence of our cheery friend Duster, we saw 

 that he had at last set out his bees, and he himself 

 standing among the hives. We were quite anxious 

 to know how his bees had wintered, so we opened 

 the gate, and joined him at once. Friend Duster 

 was evidently in a deep reverie, and a pleasant one 

 too, for a smile was on his lips, and his whole face 

 fairly beamed %vith happiness and satisfaction. Our 

 somewhat noisy morning greeting was the first he 

 seemed to know of our presence. Pointing down 

 the valley where the Inlet, a small sparkling stream 

 of water dodges in and out, its crooked way traced 

 by the large willows overhanging its banks,— 



"See," said he; "was there ever a picture more 

 beautiful than that? I can hardly realize" (and he 

 went on in a sort of musing way; " the change of 

 two weeks when this scene was white — covered 

 with snow. The finger of the great Unseen" (and 

 here he revereiitially raised his hat) " has touched 

 the earth, and the grass springs forth; the trees, 

 and they bud and blossom. To me, this morning, so 

 sudden has it all come, it is a transfiguration, and I 

 bow before its power and beauty. The very air is 

 almost oppressive with fragrance; 'tis the breath of 



