188.^ 



GLEAI^INGS I:N BEE CULTURE. 



37 



They are all wool, and the very best yarn that goes; 

 so I hope you will try to do something for me, while 

 it is all that I can do. C. P. Imhoff. 



Paradise Hill, Ohio, Dec. 16, 1882. 



Now, friends, if any of you want a pair of 

 woolen socks, here is a chance to get them, 

 and help an afflicted brother at the same 

 time. Those sent lis are very nice, and I 

 find that the postage on them will be only 4 

 cents ; so all you need to do is to tell friend 

 I. how many inches of "understanding" 

 you have, send him 40 cents (you see this 

 will give him one cent to get a stout wrap- 

 ping-paper with), and he will just make 

 them for you to order, 1 always like to help 

 one who is trying to help himself, and I 

 shouldn't wonder if we might make his 

 heart glad before he hardly knows it. Let 

 us watch for his report from the stocking 

 business, next time we hear from him. 



COMMENDATORY. 



I am much pleased wiih Gleanings, as there is so 

 much in it that is instructive to the bee-keeper, and 

 those instructions are so plain they are generally 

 easily understood. I must say, that I do commend 

 "Our Homes;" that is, the spirit manifested, and 

 trust It may be productive of much good. 



OTHERWISE, AND SOMETHING ABOVT THE TOBACCO 

 COLUMN. 



It is no doubt very commendable, the spirit that 

 prompts you to offer a smoker to those who stop 

 the use of tobacco; but is it not disgusting to read 

 those communications, informing you they have 

 stopped using tobacco, and apply for a smoker? If 

 they were poor, and not able to buy, it would seem 

 different. Would it not be well to give a lesson in 

 •'Our Homes" on cultivating a spirit of manhood, 

 self-reliance, in opposition to depending on others 

 for what we can and should do ourselves,— especial- 

 ly to endeavor to do ourselves good in that which it 

 is a duty for us to do, and not expect a sugar-plum 

 because we try to be good children? 



SOMETHING ABOUT "FRIEND."' 



Again, do you and some of your correspondents 

 belong to the religious society of Friends? The oft 

 recurrence of the word "friend" makes me fear 

 that, unless you have a large supply of those six 

 letters that constitute the word, that Gleanings, 

 which has arrived so promptly this year, may fail, 

 for want of type, to be ready to visit us as promptly 

 as in the past; and — well, I don't know what would 

 be the consequence. No disrespect to Friends is in- 

 tended. I can trace my ancestry on my father's 

 side, unbroken, to the time of George Fox, members 

 of that society. t). Binns, 



Addison, Lenawee Co., Mich., t>ec. 15, 1883. 



Friend B., t do try to encourage a spirit of 

 independence and self-reliance ; but perhaps 

 I have not dwelt enough on it. There are 

 many men of many minds, you know, and 

 what would have no effect on one would, 

 may be, take right hold of another. I do 

 not think it is the value of the smoker, but 

 rather because it serves as a sort of binding 

 of the contract, just as a man pays ten dol- 

 lars down to bind the bargain, when he de- 

 cides to buy some property. After the smo- 

 ker is received, the receiver is in honor 

 bound. One writer in this number, as you 

 will see, sends me a dollar; and sometime 

 ago a good friend who thanked me for get- 



ting him to leave off tobacco, sent me a set 

 of studs and buttons made of solid 18-carat 

 gold. Meanwhile the work goes on, and 

 more and more are giving up tobacco, as you 

 will see by reading their letters. — 1 know I 

 use the term friend quite often; but I don't 

 think I use it unless I really have a friendly 

 feeling toward the one I am addressing, and 

 desire to have him feel the same toward my- 

 self. Oftentimes what I have to say might 

 be taken unkindly, were it not for this little 

 prefatory word, and I am sure the readers 

 of Gleanings all know that I never use it 

 unless it comes sincerely from the heart. If 

 I am a Quaker, it is in spirit. 



WHY FRIEND POTTER HAD THE BLUES. 



Friend Root, I see from Gleanings it is fashiona- 

 ble for all bee-keepers to make a report to head- 

 quarters, so I shall endeavor to make a short one, 

 and on a small scale. I commenced in the spring 

 with 2 stands of hybrids, and inci-eased to 9, and lost 

 one swarm, all natural swarms; I took about 200 lbs. 

 comb honey, and sold 3 stands for S21 00, and have C 

 stands fixed up snug on summer stands, and well 

 packed with straw; so I am not a fit subject for 

 Blasted Hopes. But I had the blues once pretty 

 badly when I undertook to take some of their hon- 

 ey, for the little fellows took it into their heads to 

 have a spree, and I tell yoii they made it lively for 3 

 or 3 days. They cleared the yard of chickens, dogs, 

 and every thing that undertook to cross the yard. 

 They made me take to brush twice before I got the 

 honey. I went at them with my little smoker, and 

 that only made them more hostile, and I had to put 

 on my screen and tie up my hands with gloves and 

 rags so they could not reach through, and had to 

 make a smoker by taking an old pot with a good 

 bed of coals, and then piling on weeds and wet 

 chips, and that made a smoke like an engine, before 

 I conquered them. Now, friends, you say in Glean- 

 ings you can work with any bees, and hardly ever 

 get stung. Now, I thought of you when I had that 

 "brush;" and, not wishing you any harm, I would 

 have given — a nickel to have seen you launch out 

 among them. It is my opinion, you would have had 

 to " brush " it, unless you had been well protected. 



J. L. Porter. 



Pleasant Dale, Seward Co., Neb., Dec. 20, 1882. 



It isn't well to boast, friend P.; for folks 

 who boast, often turn out wretched failures. 

 But I would certainly have given another 

 " nickel " to have been there and shown you 

 how I would handle those hybrids, without 

 any " screen " or any thing on my hands or 

 face either, and I think I should have done 

 it with the aid of a oO-cent smoker, and 

 nothing more. Experience does wonders in 

 almost any thing, and it does wonders in 

 handling bees. I don't believe I should 

 have got stung at all, for I should not have 

 tried to open their hive or take away their 

 honey until I had got them so perfectly sub- 

 dued that each individual bee would have 

 folded his hands and begged pardon. May 

 be I am mistaken ; but it seems to me I 

 could do it with any kind of hybrids. If it 

 were a colony of Cyprians, I shouldn't feel 

 quite so sure about it ; but if you will let me 

 have the management of them right along, I 

 think I could handle them also, and not get 

 stung. 



