426 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



^El'T. 



does the work rapidly and Avell. I presume 

 extra dies for different-sized round holes 

 could be furnished cheaply. The postage on 

 it will be about 2oc. This will make ic S 1.25, 

 postpaid. Orders may be sent us. or to 

 friend I). 1 presume he ought to have an 

 order for lUO, to make them at this price; 

 but I can hardly afford to order so many un- 

 til we know how many want them. 



]adk§' §^f^iU^. 



A THOrSAND TOSS OF HONEY. 



^njpS»EAK FRIEND ROOT:^Your journal comes 

 JPjIJy ) gliding iato the parsonage every month, 

 — awakening no little amount of interest. At 

 first I was disposed to lay them upon the shelf until 

 ihey had accumulated in suflicient numbers to make 

 a good lire some cold morning. That , hoivcvcr, was 

 nocrtixL I took up the first journal a few evenings 

 after it had been received, and glanced over its 

 pages. I became interested, and now look lor its 

 <!omiug as 1 would for a friend. May the Lord bless 

 you in .\our efforts to satisfy all the cravings t)f 

 your n\inierous readers! also to bear the burdens 

 which "Blasted Hopes" would place upon you 

 from month to month. You are doing a noble work, 

 and, I should judge, a self-sacriflcing one, if 1 may 

 judge from your liberality. I have just read the ac- 

 count of your visit to Detroit. Why did you not 

 come to the northwestern part of Michigan? You 

 have some very warm personal frisnds in this re- 

 gion. I have just returned from paying a visit to 

 one of .\our lady friends. On entering herhi.me she 

 said, " You nuist excuse the looks of things to-day, 

 for I ha\e been very busy, and could not attend to 

 my housework. Come, sec what I have been do- 

 ing." 



She led mc into a room. On the table was a large 

 wash-tub, ontaining 1.50 lbs. of extracted honey. 

 She then led me into another room, in which was 

 honey in every kiml of conceivable vessel. The 

 crowning point to ail surprise was a statement, made 

 by the good lady, as follows: " I have extracted a 

 thousand tons of honey this season, lacking half a 

 pound." No wonder she had put honey ia every 

 conceivable vessel, from a broken tea-pot to an im- 

 mense wash-tub. She meant to say a thousand 

 pounds. I'lace her in the column of " IJright 

 Hopes," if you have such in your journal. She 

 oomnuinced with five hives; now they number fif- 

 teen, all healthy and strong. She proves to be one 

 of the most successful managers in bee culture in 

 this part of Michigan, an<l a very warm friend of A. 

 I. Hoot. James Davies. 



Atwood, Antrim Co., Mich., Aug. IG, 1881. 



Mr. Merrybanks and his neighbor is crowded out 

 this month by other matter. 



SO-ME one of you has sent us a beautiful sample of 

 thin fdn, folded in a thin piece of dark paper. On 

 the paper is printed, with cheirograph, " Thin mold- 

 ed fdn. for comb honey, 50c per lb." The sample 

 has very nice side walls, on both sides. Who did it? 



J. B. Lamo.ntag.n'E, of Montreal, sends us a bee 

 book in French. As we can onlj' review it by look- 

 ing at tlie pictures, about all we can say is, that it 

 seems fully up to the times. The engravings are 

 most of them from our modern bee-books, and the 

 book has 188 pages and 100 engraving?. 



Our copper wire. No. 2.5, is exactly right for tele- 

 phones. Price per lb., 45 cents. 



The Burch matter has occupied too much space 

 already. I hope you will excuse me for declining any 

 more (ii-ticUs on the matter. 



Every thing is drying up here, as it is with almost 

 all of you, 1 suppose; but, strange to tell, the bees 

 are still getting all they consume, and we get on 

 with queen-rearing almost as well as we did at any 

 time, although the queens are slower in becoming 

 fertilized. I presume the honey comes from the 

 seed crop of the red clover. 



FANCY SECTIONS FOR HONEY. 



Has any one of you had good success in getting 

 these filled, and do they look nicely when filled? I 

 ask this because wo sell a good many, but I can not 

 remember that 1 ever had a report in regard to them; 

 and if they do not please. I wish to take them out of 

 our price bst. 



The following is from the Cincinnati BvVctin : — 



If n lice is )iiiii-hcil 1)\ voii. aiiil .'<tiiifrs vou 'Hi the lianil, ic- 

 niiivr till' stiiiir witli vcnii' lliiinih iiHil,:i;i;i siii^k tlic pluci- In- 

 twei-ii till' lips, and don't halloo '■Uiii-li!" liki- an idiot. .>r lie so 

 reckless as to tlxiust tlic same liand liaek amonj,' tlie hees im- 

 mediately. 



I Should give the same advice, with the exception 

 of omitting the sucking. It takes time, and docs no 

 good that I can see. 



It is a little amusing, nowadays, to have custom- 

 ers ask how soon we can send, a queen. Whj', my 

 friends, we have had queens by the hundred waiting 

 for customers, for the past.six weeks. In fact, the 

 clerks are standing ready to grasp each letter almost 

 the minute it is out of the envelope, pleased at the 

 chance of sending you by next train almost any arti- 

 cle mentioned in our price list. Any one who is be- 

 hind on orders in August or September ought to be 

 ashamed of himself. 



The following from the Iiidknia Fainter is a little 

 suggestive, and, strikes at just about the real state 

 of the matter: 



That the best honey iu the most marketable 

 shape will alwavs bring the best price, has never 

 been more fully exemplified than in a case which 

 was brought to our notice a few days since. W-hile 

 down street, within a stone's throw of the Fanmr 

 office, at a fancy grocer's, two lots of honey were 

 brought in. As for the honey, it was all very white 

 and nice, but one lot was in a "skip" which held 

 something over 20 lbs., and must be cut out and sold 

 in chunks. The other 25 lbs. in 1':; lb. sections, all 

 encased in a nice shipping-case. The latter brought 

 23 cents per pound, while the former lot brought 

 only 12! i cents, and the grocer could hardly be in- 

 ducc'l to take it at that price. 



Our ingenious friend Scovell of Columbus, Kan., was 

 the one alluded to in our last number, who invented 

 the new way of grooving the Peet cages for the tins, 

 at the same time friend Foster did. It is, in reality, 

 the same thing as the cage I paid him S35.O0 for a few 

 years ago. Friend S. also sends us :i plan for wiring 

 frames, without the necessity of making any holes 

 for the wire. Take :i thin board, say Vi or "■» thick, 

 and saw grooves in it, as fai- apart as you want the 

 wires.- These grooves are to go just half through 

 the board. Now rip off strips from this board, and 

 you have places for the wires in each strip. The 

 strips are of such length that one may be tacked 

 under the top-bar, and over the bottom-bar of the 

 frame. It is ingenious, but I think rather more 

 work for us tb.p,n o\ir usual way. 



