Hno 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



UNFAIRNESS. 



ILLUSTRATEII BY "LITTLE STORIES." 



fplE following is from tlie Bci-Kcepa'''s 

 Guide, of July. Friend Jlill, as you ob- 

 — ' serve, begins by copying a paragraph 

 from our price list, 



II yon lairchase only half a pouiul of bt'es with yourqueen ami 

 Inin them loose on one or two of you)' brood combs, when re- 

 ef'ive<l, you have a fair, working colony at once, and the <iueen 

 will Ro riirht to layingr; for we jint them uj) so that she ordin- 

 arily kfcips liivins on the wav, or diirins' transit, I'l'rhaps one- 

 fourth of all the iiueens scdd are lost in introdueiiiK-; .wnl. with 

 the A B ( ' class, I do nnl know luit it sometimes amounts to 

 nearly half. With a i)Mnnd of bees, this loss is entirely done 

 away. 



The prpcediug- statement was made some time ago 

 b.y the editor of (ilraiiiiifi-'i. Queens are cased during 

 thieir introduction fmni twcnt.y-four to forty-eight 

 hours and then released among the bees. Since this 

 is the process to lie gone through each time an intro- 

 duction is made, we can see no reason why the bees 

 will not accept a queen as readily from the hands of 

 a beginner as from a vetei-an bee-keeper. 



We ne^■cr had anj' bees that would show any re- 

 spect for our years of e2fperiouce. We ao not re- 

 member of over possessing any with such proper 

 feelings. We liberate the queens, close the hive, and 

 seldom lose one. 



We have a bo.y who iloes errands for us who knows 

 nothing about cees, and we let him release several 

 queens .just to see if we have any supernatural 

 power, but I guess we haven't, for thev got through 

 all right. 



That old bee-keepers lose one-fourth of the queens 

 they introduce is a monstrous statement. That be- 

 ginners lose one-half is an outrageous one. Had Mr. 

 lioot said one-third it would have been tremendous; 

 had he said one-fourth, experts would not have be- 

 lieved it; had he said one-tifth, the statement would 

 have been incorrect. Usually such statements are 

 not made without an ob,1ect, and very likely the ob- 

 .iect here is to scare unsophisticateil bee-keepers in- 

 to buying a pound of bees with each queen. This 

 would not be so terrible were it not that he charges, 

 for a fact, $3 per pound for his bees. This is at the 

 rate of from ten to twelve dollars per swarm, with- 

 out queen, combs, and hive (first swarms weigh from 

 four to six pounds.) 



We can think of onl.v one other case of equal un- 

 fairness: This is related by Mark Twain, while trav- 

 eling in California. The incident occurred in the 

 mines of a wealthy mining company. A hole was 

 drilled deep into the rocks and a laborer had put in 

 a charge of powder. As he was ramming the wad- 

 ding down with a crowbar, the charge exploded and 

 the man was seen going up \\ith his crowbar, becom- 

 ing a mere speck in the sky and then disappearing 

 from sight. In a few moments, however, he came 

 into view, and returning, lit on the identical spot, 

 resvuuing his labor where he left off, apparently 

 as if nothing had happened. The foreman re- 

 ported the case to the company directors, and after 

 due deliberation, they decided to dock the man for 

 the time he was gone! 



Now, my friends, I want to tell a little 

 story too. A boy was once viewing with 

 much pleasure some pretty birds that were 

 sporting at a little jlistance from the house, 

 and in his eagerness to have one for his t)wn, 

 he appealed to his father, who sat by, to 

 know if it Avere possible to catch them, 



" Oh, yes I" said his father ; "it is the eas- 

 iest thing in the world. Just go, get a hand- 

 ful of salt, and put a little salt on each bird's 

 tail, and it will be just as tame as can be." 



" Why, is that so, father?" exclaimed the 

 boy, and, full of confidence in his father's 

 Avord, he rushed for the salt-barrel, got a 

 handful, and started for the birds. As he 

 ran, however, he all at once began to slacken 

 his pace, and, finally wheeling around, he 

 came back, and once more standing by his 

 father, with a frankness and honesty that 

 Avas touching, said,— 



"O father! won't you do itV Please, you 

 do it; here is the salt." 



Friend Hill, you have spoken unkindly of 

 my way of doing. Noav, ''won't you do itV" 

 Here is the salt, in the shape of a free ad- 

 vertisement, and all you Avill have to do is 

 .lust to sujiply the demand for bees at a fair, 

 honest price. You of course know what 

 that price should be. Send the bees off 

 promptly, even if it is the ruin of your colo- 

 nies; if ttieyare received dead, send them 

 again, and give satisfaction to your custom- 

 ers, and I shall be most happy' to give you 

 all the trade. Again, friend 11., can your 

 boy introduce 37 queens in an hour, so they 

 Avill be filling the combs with eggs in a few 

 hours afterward, as I told you of doing in 

 in this No.y You are Avell aAvare of the 

 magnitude of our business in queens and 

 bees, I suppose, friend IL; and 1 suppose, 

 too, that you know the people Avill send tn- 

 ders to us, Avhen plenty of other advertisers 

 offer the same things at very much loAver 

 prices. Bees have been offered in Glean- 

 ings at one-half or less what I charge, and 

 I inserted these advertisements free of 

 charge too. Shall 1 tell Avhy they do not 

 get trade? It is no secret ; it is simply be- 

 cause they do not fill the orders they get, 

 promptly and carefully ; and when troubles 

 and misunderstandings come, they quarrel 

 with their customers, and sometimes call 

 them hard names. I have prayed (iod to 

 send me orders; and Avhen they came, I re- 

 ceived them as a sacred gift from him. 1 

 have tried, too, to treat his messengers kind- 

 ly who brought these answers to prayer. 

 Friend Hill, if I have not prayed for you be- 

 fore, and for the success of your bee journal, 

 I pray for it now. I pray, too, that Ciod may 

 guard all the bee journals from luikind crit- 

 icisms against each other, or any thing that 

 may set a bad example before those who are 

 looking to us for instruction. 



DEATH FROM A BEE>STIN<>i. 



I INCLOSE an article which attracted my notice 

 this morning, and I send it for your considera- 

 tion and comments in a subse<iuent number of 

 Gle.vnings, if you feel inclined. 



Frank J. Bell. 

 Mooschead, Luzerne Co., Pa., June 27, 1881. 



DE.VTII FROM THE STIXC nl." A HKK. 



Kii n.MoXT), Va., .Time 25.— Last evening:, while Mr .lames 

 Vu\m!^ was e.xamininp a new beehive belonging to his father- 

 in-law. the liev. r. ('. Henkli'. in t'onover. he was s'lins on 

 the bai'k »\ his nci'k bv a bee which Kot behind his collar. His 

 neck swelled rapidly, and the l>oison seemed to (extend all over 

 his body, swellini;- it frreatly. Last iduht he became deliricnis, 

 and so continued until this eveniny. when he clieil. The syniii 

 touts were said to be like those resultini^ from a rattlcsnaki-'s 

 bite. The physicians a.s.scrt this is the lirst case of death from 

 the sting of a bee. Mr. ^'ouiiK was a man of powerful physique. 



The physicans are mistaken in thinking 

 this is the first case of death resulting from 

 l)ee-stings. There are quite a number of 

 them on record. In making this statement, 

 I hope no one Avill be frightened, for Ave are 

 to bear in mind, that, although great num- 

 bers of people are killed almost constantly 

 l)y the use of horses, no one, so far as I know, 

 has ever thought of discarding them as do- 

 mestic animals, on that account. Most cases 

 of bee-stings result from suffocation caused 

 by the swelling, l^erhaps mauy lives might 



