758 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1 



READING BEE-JOURNALS. 



Importance of being Posted in the Late Develop. 



ments of One's Business; Comments on Late 



Items in Gleanings by perhaps the most 



Extensive Bee keeper in the World. 



BY W. L. COGGSHALL. 



Mr. Root: — When I see a g-ood labor-sav- 

 ing- device it makes my heart g-lad; or when 

 some bee-keeper writes an article that gives 

 a shorter cut for doing- any thing it pleases 

 me, and I say to myself, " He is a benefac- 

 tor." To be an up-to-date bee-keeper he 

 must read every thing between the covers 

 of the bee- journals, advertisements and all. 

 Don't skip a thing- if you are starting- in to 

 make money out of bees. You must know 

 every writer and his address, so if there is 

 any little thing- in his article 3 ou can send a 

 stamp and find out something- that will be 

 worth dollars to you. Write questions so they 

 can be answered by yes or no; then you will 

 get a prompt reply. 



Out of the fifteen young- men who have 

 worked for me at bees, twelve are still do- 

 ing so for a living. The most successful 

 ones are farmers' boys who were willing to 

 do any kind of work on the farm. The 

 most successful ones are those who read the 

 most, and talked bees at all times and 

 places. 



I wish to emphasize the fact that a desire 

 to talk bees is important. It is better to have 

 it as a hobby if one would succeed. One of 

 my bee- students said to me while going to 

 an apiary: 



" In your opinion, will John make a suc- 

 cessful bee-keeper?" 



" I hardly think he will." 

 " Why not?" 



"Because he is more inclined to read 

 story-books and daily papers." 



"Yes, but he does read bee-papers." 

 "I know it; but he prefers books and 

 daily papers. You ask him if he has seen 

 the scheme of Mr. G. B. Howe, of Black 

 River, N. Y., for setting drawn combs in 

 under the brood-nest to stop swarming; or 

 Mr. W. K. Morrison's article on shallow 

 hives, and he will probably say, 'No; which 

 paper was it in?' and to the last one, by 

 Mr. Morrison, he would say, ' Yes, but I 

 did not think it amounted to much.' / 

 thought there were some good points in it; 

 also drawn combs instead of foundation. 

 Lewis, did j'ou notice when I asked John 

 how the second chaff hive from the bee- 

 house did last night (the Robey queen), if 

 it had any more honey than the rest?" 



" Yes, I did, and was surprised when 

 John said he did not see any difference. It 

 was always fuller when I emptied it." 



" Say, Lewis, did you notice Mr. Grei- - 

 ner's way of wiring frames in last Glean- 

 ings? What do you think of it?" 



" I can wire four to his one, your way, 

 Mr. C., when you wire 100 or 200 wires on 

 a board, and cut them off just the right 

 length." 



"Say, Lewis, what did you think of the 

 Hochstein device for putting a comb on a 

 stretcher to uncap it?" 



" I could uncap one side before he got it 

 on the stretcher, with one of your little hon- 

 ey-knives that I. L. Schofield gave you." 

 " They are dandy. I wish he had open- 

 ed his heart and given me a dozen." 



" That knife is 28 or 30 years old. He 

 got a blacksmith to make it!" 



" Say, Lewis, did j^ou notice what Prof. 

 W. Newell, of College Station, Texas, said?" 

 "Yes, I did, Mr. C., and also the foot- 

 note where the editor recommends rotten 

 wood and dry maple wood. The only rea- 

 son I can see why the editor recommends 

 ha- d maple wood is because his customers 

 will burn out more smokers, and then he 

 can sell more — burn up more chaff hives, 

 etc." 



"I have a notion to send the editor a sack 

 of my saltpetered burlap, all tied up ready 

 for the smoker — just the right size. It goes 

 oft" like excelsior, and lasts four times as 

 long, and gives no heat, no sparks, is very 

 light to handle; smoker will last for ever; 

 is ready in twenty seconds. Did you no- 

 tice in H. G. Osburn's article, page 670, 

 where he said he got 73,000 lbs. from 6000 

 hives ? I think there is a mistake here. I 

 believe he meant to say 600 colonies." 



"Mr. C., what do you think of the editor's 

 idea about Cuban honey in American mar- 

 kets?" 



" I think he is off. He will have to wait 

 only one or two years before he will see the 

 effect of it. It will surely depress our mar- 

 ket. I have run up against it in Philadel- 

 phia. Before the war I saw 50,000 lbs. on 

 the wharf at a time. ' We use Cuban honey, ' 

 would be the reply; 'it is cheaper. Labor 

 is cheaper there — four to eight dollars a 

 month.' " 



"Mr. C, did you see how Mr. Burnett 

 went for New York buckwheaters and the 

 lightning operators for taking honey off be- 

 fore it was capped? What do you think of 

 it?" 



" Yes. Not much escapes my eye that is 

 printed in the journals, and I am glad to 

 see you notice all these things." 



" Well, it is a good thing for Mr. Bur- 

 nett that all the lightning operators are all 

 out of the buckwheat State. There is S. 

 A. Niver. He alwa5's calls himself a buck- 

 wheater. He is right within arm's length 

 of Mr. Burnett." 



" I should think he would take Mr. Bur- 

 nett into one of those dark alleys for a few 

 minutes. But, laying all joking aside, the 

 article will do young bee-keepers a great 



