1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



403 



HAPE AS A ISEE PLANT. 



The rape I find the best thing to keep the bees 

 from going to the cane-mills in the fall. If sown 

 about Aug. 1st, it blooms till hard freezing. There 

 are four cane-mills within one mile of me. Some 

 j-ears the bees go for them strong. I neglected to 

 save seed, so had to send off for it. 



KOBT. QaiNN. 



Shellsburg, Benton Co., Iowa, May :!0, 18B1. 



TEN DAYS BEFORE DAYIXQ. 



The queen did not commence to Liy for 10 days af- 

 ter she was introduced. Her bees just eonnnenced 

 coming out. James S. Browx. 



Pimento, Vigo Co., Ind., June 28, 1881. 



[We often have rjueens that do not lay for adaj' or 

 two, after a long journey, but not often where it 

 takes 10 days. In view of this, however, I think I 

 should keep a queen 10 days before deciding to de- 

 stroy her, under such circumstances.] 



DRONE BROOD IN THE UPPER STORY. 



Plea.se tell me how you prevent the queen from de- 

 positing eggs in the drone comb that i.s \ised for the 

 extractor. I have them about 1!^ inches apart. I 

 wash them out with the hose when 1 tind them, and 

 then throw the water out with the extractor. 



W. G. Saltford. 



Po'keepsie, N. Y., June 27, 1881. 



[Some one of our number has suggested sprinkling 

 the drone larv:e, while quite small, with a minute 

 quantity of fine table-salt. This kills it all at once, 

 and the bees clean out the cells. I think this would 

 be much less trouble than the plan you use.] 



BEES AND QUEENS FOR SALE. 



Would it not be as well for those who rear bees 

 and queens for sale, to wait until "God has borned 

 them," before advertising? Then there would not 

 be such weary waiting and repining. 



Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Peoria, 111., July, 1881. 



[Mrs. H.. you have hit the nail squarely on the 

 head, and the people are fast learning which ones 

 advertise goods, and don't have them when the cash 

 comes. I do not know but that it might be well to 

 have a growlery. In which folks might growl about 

 other folks besides myself.] 



i 



..^ 



UfCl 



This department is to be kept for the benefit of those who are 

 dlssatistled ; and when .luythinR is amiss. I hope you will ' ■ talk 

 right out." As a riile. we will oiult names and addresses, to 

 avoid being too personal. 



GOOD FOR FRIEND BURCH, BUT BAD FOR U.S. 



f ORDERED three queens of you, to be shipped 

 July 1st. Vou wrote me you would make ship- 

 ment promptly at time I stated, b»it no queens 

 have arrived yet; but in the mean time I have re- 

 ceived a splendid swarm of bees from H. A. Burch 

 & Co. I wrote them some time ago to know if they 

 could ship me a queen by a certain time; they re- 

 plied thej- could not, and said, " If you can find A. I. 

 Root, please stir him up a little, and tell him to hur- 

 ry up your queens; he seems sometimes to get be- 

 hind with his orders, and I guess almost all of us are 

 sometimes unavoidably delayed in making out ship- 

 ments, which annoys us as much as it does the pur- 

 chasers." I have bought a good many swarms of 

 bees, and I must say Burch sent me a rousing good 



swarm. I sold mine down to 20 last fall. I lost all 

 but 3; have increased to 10. Well, friend Root, send 

 the queens as soon as you can. G. W. Kinnicutt. 



Tecumseh, Mich., July i:!, 1881. 



As soon as I liad read the above, I took it 

 directly to the queen clerk, to see what the 

 matter was. Here is her reply: — 



DcdcS/r.— Mr. Root is nowise at fault for the de- 

 lay on the above queens, and I do not wish you to 

 attach any blame to him for the same. The matter 

 was left in my hands, and the delay was caused by 

 my being so careless as to overlook your order. If 

 you will now make out a bill of damages I will will- 

 ingly pav it. I.e., 



Clerk. 



I am very sorry indeed for the 12 days' de- 

 lay on the queens, friend K.; but I confess I 

 felt rather pleasant when I read the letter 

 after all. I am >-ery glad indeed to get such 

 a letter in regard to friend Burch, and I con- 

 fess I am a little proud of having clerks 

 that Avill take the responsibilities of business 

 off my shoulders, as the above indicates. 

 Xotv.ithstanding the heavy trade we have 

 on queens, I do not know that the clerk ever 

 made such a mistake before, and I trust she 

 never will again. I am responsible, though, 

 and always expect to be. for all my clerks- 

 doings in my employ. 



TOBACCO COIiUMN. 



A CALIFORNIAN FINDS VIEWS ON THE SUBJECT. 



fHAVE used both tobacco and whisky, and 

 hardly know which was the worse habit. I did 

 — ' not have much trouble to stop drinking whis- 

 ky, as the habit was hardly estaldished. I began to 

 smoke at about IT, and used tobacco about 13 years. 

 At llrst I thought it ver;/ manly, then I was not com- 

 fortable without an after-dinner smoke. By and by 

 I began to be dyspeptic, and thought tobacco hurt 

 me, so I quit and have stayed " quit," though it took 

 at least two years to outgrow the craving for my 

 after-dinner smoke. Since then I have induced a 

 few to quit, but 'tis slow, up-hill work. Hope your 

 smoker plan will succeed better. Men say they have 

 the right to smoke; yes, perhaps so, on their own 

 premises; again prrliapx jiof.in a moral sense, if they 

 have a wife, and a coming family to inherit the sins 

 and appetites of their parents. I contend that no 

 one has a right to puff tobacco smoke in my face on 

 the street, or in any public place, as a post-office, 

 where people are compelled to go. In the winter of 

 1879 I stopped some months in a town in Ohio. The 

 post-office waiting and delivery room was about 7x9 

 feet, with a low ceiling. Repeatedly I have seen 

 this room so full of tobacco smoke, that one could 

 hardly see or breathe. Yet here were delicate 

 young girls soif for mail, and had the alternative of 

 this smoke or the cold snow or rain outside, and yet 

 we boast of our Christian civilization. Twenty 

 years ago there was a little pamphlet containing :> 

 essays on the evils of tobacco-using; it was the best 

 thing of its size and kind I have ever read. One es- 

 say was by a minister, another by R. T. Trail, M.D , 

 and was sold by Dr. Trail. No. 1.5 Leiglit St., N. Y. 

 Dr. L. M. Holbrok of the above place may have it, 

 or some thing as good, from which you can get argu- 

 ments against tobacco. Fowler & Wells also used 

 to publish some good things against tobacco. 

 Los Angeles, Cal., July 1, 1881. J. H. Bemis. 



