18S1 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



S85 



been shipped, in about four cases out of five, will kill 

 a young virgin queen as soon as introduced, and 

 probably the same day a fertile worker will usurp 

 the place of a genuine queen, and render subsequent 

 efforts to supply said nucleus with a queen useless. 

 But when a queen is safely introduced she flies from 

 the hive about the fifth day, and repeats the excur- 

 sion nearly every day for a week or more before she 

 returns fertilized, and about two-thirds or three- 

 fourths of them get lost during this ceremony. 

 Then the Cyprians arc undoubtedly hardy— perfect- 

 ly impervious to smoke, bell-ringing, and all such 

 foolishness. In order to get them to gorge them- 

 selves sufficiently to obtain a pound for shipment, it 

 is actually necessary to kick over a hive; and then 

 Hayhiu'St says they will find a smaller hole in a pair 

 of pants than any insect he ever saw. Several times 

 they have not only driven him into the honey-house, 

 but out of that and through the yard Into his cellar. 

 Subjugation is ne.xt to impossible, and coaxing not 

 much better. He rais'ed a frame, well covereil with 

 bees, very carefully; got them in proper position 

 above his trap, thinking to secure half a pound at 

 least; gave them the important shake, and, presto ! 

 every bee went into the air, " zip!" 



"I'll sell that imported Cyprian queen for half 

 price, and throw in all her progenj', if anybody can 

 catch them," said he. 



He wanted me to take some of the queen-cells 

 home and rear them for experiment : but about 

 this time his confounded Cyprians had found my 

 horse, more than 200 yards distant, and were paying 

 unappreciated respects to him. I concluded not to 

 wait for cells, and the unusual activity of my horse 

 about this time soon removed me from the vicinity 

 of Hayhurst and his Cyprians. 



S. W. 8.4LISBURY. 



Kansas City, Mo., June 27, 1881. 



-^ ••• ^ 



MRS. liUCINDA HARRISON ON GRAPE 

 SUGAR. 



^IRIEND BOOT: -I extend unto you my right 

 jlH J^~ in token of approval of your present po- 

 — ' sition on that vexed glucose question. Your 

 former one was always a sore trial to nie, for I was 

 fearful that the tnonci) that was in it, so warped 

 your better judgment that you could not see It in 

 its true light. When ynu invoked the blessing of 

 Heaven upon the Buffalo Sugar Co., it was a dose 

 too great for me to swallow; and the longer I 

 chewed, the bigger it got. 



Hamlin, who is the principal member of the Buffa- 

 lo Co., has large works here (Peoria, 111.), and has re- 

 cently purchased an extensive tract of land in the 

 vicinity of I)es Moines, Iowa, to erect glucose works 

 there. He has acres upon acres of lime-kilns to 

 manufacture that compound for his manufactories. 

 He knows no God and no Sabbath. His employees 

 are not freemen, but slaves, compelled to work ev- 

 ery day in the year, with the eye of a watchman up- 

 on them lest they cease from their toil, and watch- 

 men over watchmen, with small wages; and when 

 he walks through his vast works, an armed guard 

 protects him. The smoke from those vast chimneys 

 never ceases, nor does the deadly waste that pours 

 into our magnificent river, to be the certain death 

 of the finny tribe. The fumes that are wafted over 

 our city, from the boiling vats of corn starch, con- 

 taining deadly chemicals, can be compared to noth- 

 ing else than to pens where a million pigs are kept 



and fed on distillery .slops. We who have braved 

 the privations of frontier life to obtain a home have 

 no redress — for there are millions in it. Car-load 

 upon car-load of lime, nitric and sulphuric acid, are 

 daily used in the manufacture of glucose. There 

 have been syrups sold in this city that have eaten a 

 hole in a table-cloth I This company have bought 

 chemi.^t!s as well as nitric and sulphuric acid. 



But the people are awakening. They are inquir- 

 ing why they feel so strangely after eating sugar 

 and syrup, and what makes the little one's lips bo 

 black, as if it had been licking the ink-bottle after 

 its meal of bread and syrup — clear as honey. 



Brother Root, j'ou are a busy man, I know; but 

 take time, and if you can't get time on a week day, 

 do it on Sunday. Tie up your handkerchief full of 

 your best Buffalo sugar; sit down bj' a pail of water, 

 and wash it; and when you are through, tell us 

 what you have left, and whether the water is sweet 

 or not, — and what kind of stuff is left in your hand- 

 kerchief. Be candid, and tell us all about it, if it 

 does hurt worse than any bee-sting you ever had; 

 and whether you would like to give it to Blue Eyes 

 or the baby to eat. 



I can not call down the blessing of Heaven upon 

 the Buffalo Co. ; but may Almighty God bless good 

 father Langstroth, and continue unto him the use of 

 his mental powers ! May he long stand upon the 

 watch-towers of this great industry, that he has giv- 

 en his lifetime to promote, and run up the signals 

 of alarm in full view of his hec children, warning 

 them of the vagaries of such impulsive persons as 

 A. I. Root and— Mrs. L. H.\hkison. 



Peoria, 111., July, 1881. 



Many thanks, my good friend, for the facts 

 you have given us. I sliould have suggested 

 that you were going as much one way as I 

 did tlie other ; but as you close by putting 

 you and my poor self both in the same cate- 

 gory, I guess I won't say much. The things 

 you speak of are of course awful ; but are 

 you sure all sugar refineries do not present 

 some thing of the same state of affairs, both 

 in the way of chemicals and a disregard for 

 the immortal souls of the employees V Are 

 you not going a little on the same strain j^oit 

 did when you denounced comb fotnidation 

 and all who made and recommended it, a 

 few months ago ? Begging your pardon, my 

 kind good friend, while we are in the way of 

 confessing our mistakes, would it not be 

 well for you to recall some of those hard ex- 

 pressions you used there, to the effect that it 

 was all done for the sake of the money that 

 could be made at it? Most heartily do I 

 join hands with you in all you say of our 

 good friend JVIr. Langstroth. In fact, I can 

 join hands with you in the spirit of all you 

 write. 



DON'T DISTURR THE REES AFTER 

 COIiD AVEATHER. 



AN IDEA IX REGARD TO THE MATTER OF LEAVING 

 THE SECTIONS ON ALL WINTER. 



fHAVE just been reading your May No., and I 

 have an idea in my head why some have good 

 — ' success in wintering bees with sections on, and 

 others don't, and why so many fail in wintering in 

 any of the common ways some years, and other 

 years winter successfully, and why one swarm win- 

 ters well, and another, treated just the same, dies. 



