196 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



Its mischief can be prevented only by fencing it 

 out. The perforated zinc would shut It out, and 

 still permit the exit of the bees. A. J. Cook. 



Lansing, Michigan, Feb. 37, 1883. 



Or Letters from Tlioi^e Who liavc Made 

 Bee Culture a. Failure. 



FROM A REAL, LIVE, AND DESERVING " CANDIDATE." 



!jHEN one is a candidate for admission into 

 Blasted Hopes, I suppose that a recital of 

 his woes is the " open sesame " that gives 

 him entry into that doleful company. When I read 

 in Gleanings of the enormous yields of honey the 

 "blessed bees" have honored some of my fellow- 

 Texans with, I am convinced we have either the 

 greatest honey country in the world, or the cham- 

 pion exaggerators of the age. I asked a friend who 

 knows one of these "bee ranchers " well, how it was 

 about Blank's big honey yarns. "Oh!" he replied, 

 "he draws on his imagination for his facts, and his 

 drafts are never protested." 



Having had moderate success with bees in box 

 hives for a number of years, I took the bee fever 

 (and you are the man who gave it to me), and invest- 

 ed about seventy-five dollars In the business, and 

 went at it "scientifically," "sorter." I increased 

 last spring from 18 to 40, and sat down in the shade 

 to wait for the profits. Being a patient man, I am 

 waiting yet. I now have 25 colonies; my extractor 

 is rusty for lack of use, and my disgust at the little 

 winged idlers is so great that a wholesome dread of 

 after-claps is all that prevents my kicking the hives 

 when I pass them. Out of the queens you have 

 sent me, I have only one left, and she Is mother of 

 as predacious a set of yellow rascals as ever vexed 

 an apiary. They excite my admiration — some- 

 times, and jxiintcdly too. Set a pan of scraps of comb 

 down anywhere, and it will soon be covered with 

 bees; but after half an hour there will be no bees 

 around that pan but Italians, except a few black 

 bees that have the very " solidest " reasons for re- 

 maining. Why, an Italian, to show his contempt for 

 the natives, will alight in front of a black hive, and 

 bite e^ery bee that comes in. I wouldn't be at all 

 surprised if they should take to waylaying the other 

 bees, and just squeezing the honey right square out 

 of 'em. ' 



But I have not told of my success yet, or, rather, 

 want of it. While the Navarro man and the Hal- 

 lettsville man and others were getting seven or 

 eight hogsheads of extracted honey from a single 

 colony every week or two, I was moping around, my 

 mouth watering for a single hitc. I think if they 

 don't do any better this year, I'll get out a writ of 

 " rouster," and eject the last rascal of 'em. They 

 are worse tenants than the " man and brother," for 

 you can get a little rent out of the darkey — some- 

 times. When a man has to g-o round with his eyes 

 swelled shut, his hands as big as hams, and his lip 

 looking like a "damaged sausage," he feels that a 

 little pecuniary solace would beat soda as an anti- 

 dote for bee-stings. 



We have had a very cold winter. This remark 

 may not be original, but it is true, nevertheless. 

 We had the thermometer IS" below freezing, twice. 

 The fruit-trees are In bloom, as well as elm, wild 

 peach, etc., and I see the bees are busy bringing in 



pollen; but that doesn't interest me. I don't like 

 pollen as a diet, and I can't sell it. Honey is what 

 I'm after, and its rhyming friend — money. I have 

 a mate for Meyer's "moth-trap-ketch-'em-alive 

 hive," that rests in such inglorious easeln the fence- 

 corner. Mine is not tenentless, however, although I 

 have not sampled its sweets in going on two years. 

 But my "jeremiade" is growing tedious. Adios, 

 amigo. W. P. Laughter. 

 Morales, Jackson Co., Tex., March, 1883. 

 Very good, friend L. I am glad you got 

 up and spoke your piece. Here is a $5.00 

 bill placed to your credit for giving the boys 

 so timely a warning, and for doing it in such 

 a cheerful way too." Now don't borrow trou- 

 ble, but just keep right on, let the bees 

 gather pollen ; and if you don't ere long 

 have cause for rejoicing,"we shallhave a reg- 

 ular contributor for this department, and a 

 good one too. 



I have received the sample copy of Gleanings you 

 sent me, and am well pleased with it; and from now 

 on j'ou can count me a regular subscriber. I have 

 had some experience in bee-keeping, but not with so 

 good reports as some of your readers have had. In 

 Dec, 1878, 1 bought two stands of bees, and in April, 

 1879, they died. In 1880 I bought one swarm which 

 swarmed two times, and the next winter they all 

 died. I have spent $25.00 for bees and hives, and 

 have not received one cent in return. I think this 

 will counteract some of the reports in your paper; 

 but as I see my friends have done so well, I have re- 

 solved to try it again; and if I live till next winter I 

 may report the results to you. J. H. Rolwer. 



Mt. Carroll, 111., Feb. 26, 1883. 



I thank you, friend R. When I first read 

 your letter I was congratulating myself on 

 having got a real good one for this depart- 

 ment; but now I see that you have not been 

 a subscriber until recently, and that spoils 

 it all. You see, we want to get all of these 

 dismal reports we can in here, from those 

 who are right among our ABC scholars, 

 and who are taking Gleanings right along. 



I have had very poor success with my bees. I 

 have now four stands alive, and in good shape; but 

 I have taken but very little honey from them. I 

 generally have to feed them more honey than I get 

 irom them. I have them in the Simplicity hive. I 

 don't think that I shall ever succeed with them so 

 as to have any such luck as some of them claim to 

 have. It may be they make from one thousand to 

 fifteen hundred pounds of honey from 4 or 5 stands, 

 and increase to 18 or 20; but if they do, it is all right; 

 but they look like "fish stories" to me. I have 

 black and yellow bees, and they seemed to be very 

 strong; but they can't carry such loads of honey as 

 some of those fellows in Gleanings claim. Well, I 

 will keep my bees just to see them around, and I 

 will take Gleanings just to see how other folks 

 manage their bees, and hear the yarns they tell 

 about getting honey. So, send It along; and if I 

 don't got honey I shall have bees and Gleanings. 

 George W. Brown. 



Anderson, Ind., Dec. 20, 1882. 



Friend B.. 1 should say you needed afresh 

 supply of all three of the Christian graces ; 

 vi/., faith, hope, and charity. Do you not? 

 Keep working, and hold on a bit, and you 

 will soon see. 



