43S 



GJ.EANINGS IN BEE CUJ.TURt:. 



Sept. 



yon not see that an intemperate man might 

 easily say, I»y carrying yonr ligure only a lit- 

 tle t'luthei-, that he would prefer a drnnk- 

 ard's grave to being deprived of his daily 

 drinks that are sending him there V As a 

 servant of the I^ord Jesus Christ, I feel 

 myself commissioned to try to save all man- 

 kind from the consequences of their sins. 

 Now, when I give a man a smoker forgiving 

 up tobacco, it is expressly understood that 

 he can dissolve the contract at any time by 

 simply handing over to me the price of the 

 smoker. Do you think a man is under very 

 much bondage, or that I am very cruel, when 

 the price of his freedom and honorable dis- 

 charge is only a dollar or less V Tobacco 

 s(tothes a man's spirits and trials, it is true ; 

 and I have sometimes thought it might 

 soothe him into idleness when, his honest 

 debts were remaining impaid. If tobacco 

 has this effect, would he not be better and 

 hap])ier in the end without it V I would 

 most assuredly advise the giving-up of tea 

 and coffee, or any thing else, wlien we dis- 

 cover it becomes a task to get along without 

 it. I w^ould teach our hoys to be free in 

 every sense of the word, from every appetite 

 or habit, and bow in obedience to God and 

 none else. 1 am sure, friend N., you approve 

 of the frnits of my work, if you do not of the 

 ways in which 1 arrive at it, for you have 

 said as much in the fore part of your letter. 



I am really sorry tt) appear disobliging to 

 so kind a friend as you have been, friend 

 N. ; but from what I have heard of honey- 

 wine and metheglin, I have thought it best 

 not to have recipes given for making them, 

 just because some of our bee-men might 

 drink too much. Some of the smartest tal- 

 ent we have had in our ranks has gone down 

 into obscurity on account of intemperance, 

 and nothing else. 



I think I can send a queen to you, but it 

 will have to be very carefully done up, and 

 it may not be possible to get it through by 

 mail. I will make the trial, however, and if 

 she reaches you alive, there will be no charge. 

 Y'our letter was 41 days in coming to us. 



A LETTER FROM NOVA SCOTIA. 



ALSO SOME THING ABOUT HUCKLEBERRIES. 



easily when berries are ripe. What do you think? 

 I woiiltl have to move them on a wagon. 



How do yon get your sections of honey without 

 having the cappings gnawed otf by bees tilling them- 

 selves? A. L. Etherinqton. 



Milton, Queens Co., N. S., July 21, 1881. 



I would by all means move some bees 

 over to that berry tract, friend E. I think 

 our l»ee-men many times miss it by trying to 

 raise ])lants for bees, when by carrying the 

 bees a few miles they might iind the honey- 

 farm already in full blast, prepared by the 

 bountiful hand of dame Nature.— Take off 

 each section as soon as sealed, and you will 

 not have the bees in that greedy state that 

 causes them to uncap their sealed stores 

 when disturbed. If you wait until the hon- 

 ey-yield has passed, and have blacks or hy- 

 brids, I do not know how you will obviate 

 this difficulty, unless you open the hive very 

 quickly and then scramble for the hlled sec- 

 tions before the bees can get the cells open. 

 Full-blood Italians are much less prone to 

 this kind of mischief. 



FRIEND CASE AND HIS BEE-KEEPING. 



HOW HE DOES IT. 



SF I were an old bee-keeper, and could get off a 

 pretty interesting and instructive letter from a 



' Nova Scotia apiary, I would have written; but 

 this is only my foiu-th year. I wintered 64 colonics— 

 42 in bee-house, 22 on summer stands, packed 

 with sawdust 3 inches on all sides; entrance through 

 the outside case to permit them to tly when weather 

 permitted. Those wintered on summer stands win- 

 tered well. The 42 in bec-honse came out without 

 losing one. There were several needed feeding (5 or 

 (i), and one queenless, and considerable signs of dys- 

 entery, while the 21 on summer stands had no signs 

 of dysentery. Out of 64, 1 didn't lose a hi\e in win- 

 tering. Up to datel ha\ e lOOhivcs. The season was 

 a fortnight later than last year. 



The sample huckleberry honey W.P. Wcmyss sent 

 you (page 334) set me thinking whether it would pay 

 to move bees 16 miles where there are miles of bar- 

 ren covered with blueberry blossoms so abundantly 

 that an ordinary picker can pick 10 quarts an hour 



S' SEE in l:ist Gleaninc^ j'ou have the 

 RASPBERRY FEVER.* 



' As a honej-plant it is hard to beat. I have a 

 row about ten rods long; when they were in blow 

 the bees just swarmed on them from sunrise to sun- 

 set, and now we have picked about 200 quarts of the 

 largest, finest berries I ever saw; and as they are 

 what is called an ever-bearing varietj", the new 

 gr.iwth is just beginning to ripen its fruit. Per- 

 haps I ought to say that my row is nearly three feet 

 thick, and as dense as a hedge, for they withstand 

 the deep snows best when grown in this way. 



You inquire about theCuthbert raspberry. It is 

 kHown by this name, and also as the "Queen of the 

 Market," and " Conover," too. It is, a very fine 

 berry -firm, and good for shipping. 



Well, the honey season is past, and a very poor one 

 it has been in Lewis County. I had more honey in 

 18T8 from 45 colonies than I have since had from 100. 



TENT FOR WORKING WITH BEES. 



Last season I saw your description of the frame 

 covered with mosquito netting that you use to work 

 at your bees with after the honey season is past. 1 

 w?.nted one, but I thought the one you described 

 would not be largo enough to use when taking off 

 honey, as I use a box to put the sections in, a basket 

 with unused ones, and waiited room for unfinished 

 sections, etc. ; then, too, if I wanted to extract a few 

 frames, or take a frame of brood, it would let the 

 robbers in to raise the frame of netting, as I would 

 have to when I went for the frame of foundation to 

 replace it with. Well, I made one 5'/2 feet in height, 

 4 feet wide, and 6 feet long. I find this not too 

 large, and in one end I have a door 3 feet wide, cov- 

 ered with netting, and easily fastened shut, outside 

 or in. I find it works well with this. lean take off 

 honey all day long, and bid defiance to all the rob- 

 bers in Christendom. 



HOW I EXTRACT, FEED, ETC. 



About the first of August, as I am taking off the 

 white honey, I look the brood chamber over, and if I 



