1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



371 



and run many apiaries and succeed; bringing- up 

 the theoretical possibilities of income pretty high. 

 The conclusion ot the whole matter is, that if you 

 have the bee fever, and have it bad, past all cure, 

 don't stand groaning, but plunge in — and the editor 

 and his correspondents, they'll hold your bonnet. 



INEFFICIENT EXPRESS AND RAILROAD 

 OFFICIAliS. 



WHAT i^ITALL WE DO WITH THEM? 



®y FRIEND wrote ns that his missing 

 ^^h^ goods were found at a station beyond 



' his own, and I asked if it was througii 



any fault in the address, or in shipping, lie 

 replies : 



Diar Sir: No fault of yours. I think your injunc- 

 tion to push through without delay was fu Hilled to the 

 letter, but carried past the station to one 10 miles 

 below, and used, no doubt, as a foot-stool by ollice 

 loafers for a month. When we commenced to com- 

 plain, then "Benton" was notified and I got my 

 goods in good order. Perhaps a whipping-post along 

 this express line would be of use. 



June 13, 1883. W. B. B. 



Gently, friend B. I know how annoying 

 such things are, and I know it does seem 

 sometimes as if it would be no more than 

 simple justice, that a whip should be taken 

 to one so fearfully dead to the interests of 

 his fellow-men, as to let valuable property 

 lie, day after day, without taking a thought 

 or care as to what ought to be done about it. 

 Just last summer, a barrel of valuable oil 

 lay by our station in the hot sun, montli 

 after month, until the oil ran out and made 

 a greasy mud-hole, and yet no one took the 

 pains to notify the sliipper where it was, or 

 what the trouble was. Could I have found 

 a mark on the goods, I would have sent a 

 notice myself. Cases of this kind are not 

 uncommon, either; and meanwhile some- 

 body is probably sending tracers, and having 

 lots of trouble, waiting and waiting for the 

 goods that never come; and the railroad 

 company, after another long delay, pays for 

 them, because they cannot be found. Oh 

 how this world needs faithful men, who will 

 look after the property of others as they 

 would look after their oton property ! or, in 

 other words, who have it in their "hearts to 

 " love thy neighbor as thyself."' It isn't 

 whipping they want, friends; it is patient 

 and kind teaching, and the spirit of Ilim 

 who M'ept over the sins of poor, sluggish, 

 indolent humanity. 



DO SWARmS GO OFF WITHOUT CLUS- 

 TERING? 



ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE. 



WILL count one of a score who have seen the 

 first swarm come out and go off without alight- 

 ing. And in order to be short, I will just say 

 that, in the year 1839, I commenced keeping house 

 with a number of bees in what we called "gum" 

 hives. I had been taught, that in order to have 

 good luck with bees we would have to brimstone 

 one-half the increase, and that bees never go to the 

 woods without first alighting. Now I'll testify. 



In the spring of 1810 I was called from home in 

 swarming-time ; left the bees in care of my wife. 



I came home at noon and found her gone ; in a few 

 minutes my wife came in, pretty well warmed up. 

 She said the bees swarmed, and did not alight, but 

 that she followed them to a tree about half a mile 

 from the house. I chopped the tree down in the 

 evening, sawed it off, drew it home and saved the 

 bees. So you see I was half ready to believe that my 

 bees WLuM swarm and go to the woods without 

 alighting. 



About ten years passed away, and during that time 

 the number increased to about 50 hives. I made it a 

 point to wa(ch them closely, in order to avoid 

 doubling up. One day while sitting und- r a thadc- 

 tree in the bee-yard I saw a swarm come out, and 

 just as soon as all were out they look a bee-line for 

 some timber about a mile from home. I followed 

 them to their home in a tree. 



These two cases satisfy me that bees will swarm 

 and go off without alighting. And still fuither: I 

 have had a swarm leave me since I have lived in 

 Wisconsin. And for other proof, see T. B. Minei's 

 American Bee-keeper's Manual, page 285. 



From my own experience I am led to believe that , 

 when bees have selected a home, they go to it with- 

 out clustering; and that, when thej- swarm out and 

 alight, they send out scouts to hunt up a home. For 

 this reason, I believe that it is well to hive as soon as 

 they ha\'e clustered, and move them to their stand 

 before the scouts get back. 



Bees have dwindled very badly this spring. Some 

 of my friends arc ready to give up keeping bees. 

 Some lost one-half; othcr,^ lost all. As for myseif, I 

 put 30 hives in the cellar last fall, and still have that 

 number in good condition. I have no swarms at 

 this dale. Some queen-cells are started. 



JOH.V Cr.INE. 



Faj-ette, Wis., June 1?, 1883. 



PATENT DIVISION-BOARDS. 



ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT DEE-HIVE 

 GENERAL. 



PATENTS IN 



^PI^N page 329 of Gleanings I see that Mitchell's 

 IIJj)) patent division-board is once more referred 

 to. That Mitchell has a patent on a division- 

 board, m y be true; but that his patent covers ^/ic 

 division-board, is not true. So has Forncrook a 

 patent on a one-piece section ; but his patent does 

 not by any means cover ilic one-piece section. It 

 will be observed that the words a and the have some- 

 times quite a different meaning. When a patent 

 simply covers a thing, and not the thing itself, it is 

 generally of very little value, except for black-mail- 

 ing purposes; timid people being very easily fright- 

 ened. 



I wish now to call special attention to a fact that 

 seems to have been overlooked by some, to-wit: A 

 division-board patented to Rev. L. L. Langstrotb, 

 Oct. 5, 18.52, No. 9300 — over 30 years ago! — said 

 device being almost the only divider now in use. 

 Please turn to page 407, 3d revised edition of Mr. 

 Langstroth's work on " The Hive and Honey-Bee," 

 and read carefully the 3d claim in the L. patent, as 

 follows: 



"A divider, substantially as described, in combi- 

 nation with a movable cover, allowing the divider 

 to be inserted from above, between the ranges of 

 comb." 



Directions for making this division-board maybe 

 found on page 376, same book, as follows ; 



