404 



GLEAKINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



the man who files the saws says that, with teeth like 

 the above, one filing will answer for all day, while 

 with the old style of teeth the saws had to be filed 

 about four times a day. Just think of it, friends, all 

 this difference by just having a saw with the right 

 kind of teeth! The ones we used before had about 

 three teeth where you see one in the cut. 



We will pay 10 cents each for Feb. Nos. of Glean- 

 ings, 1883. Put your name on the wrapper when 

 you send it." 



The clerk who hunts up complaints snys, "When 

 inquiring about goods, please state whether j'ou cr- 

 derod them by mail, freight, or express. 



We have to-day, June 38, 5595 subscriber?, which is 

 32 less than we had a month ago, as you will recol- 

 lect, about iSO having expired, who have failed to 

 renew. Nevermind; we shall have the 0000 yet be- 

 fore the year i^ cut, if we have good luck and do not 

 get discouraged. 



Practic.vl Carpentry is another work sent us by 

 the Industrial Publication Co. Although the book is 

 more intended for the building of houses than bee- 

 hives, still it will be quite a valuable work for bee- 

 keepers. Fully illustrated with nearly 300 engrav- 

 ings, with a beautiful set of plates in the back, illus- 

 trating the different methods of "jointing." Al- 

 though the book is considerably larger than the one 

 on saws, the price is still $1.00. We take pleasure in 

 adding it to our book- list. Mailed on receipt of price 

 as above. 



THE FURTHER - ORDER BOX. 



In our office we have what is called the "Further- 

 Order Box." All letters that must await further or- 

 ders from the writers must be deposited here. Well, 

 a few moments ago I was remonstrating at the num- 

 ber of letters that have accumulated there, and I 

 singled out one largo bundle, asking what it was. 

 " Why, Mr. Root, we could not do any thing with 

 these, for they are all letters with no names or ad- 

 dresses." There these have to lie, friends, until 

 some one gets mad and gives us a regular blowing- 

 up, and then he usually signs his name. But, only 

 last week we got a big blowing-up from a man, and 

 he did not sign bis name then. So we had two let- 

 ters from him that are still obliged to wait. Don't 

 you begin to think that it would pay you to have 

 your name and address printed on your stationery? 



When a man is striving earnestly to do right, he 

 generally looks happy: when he deliberately does 

 wrong, he almost invariably looks unhappy. If he 

 does not look so, at least he feels so. Now, it would 

 hardly do, T presume, to say that every man who 

 looks cross and unhappj' has a guilty conscience. 

 But I think it would be true in a great many cases. 

 A few times in my life I have had to do with men 

 and women who had committed deliberate crimes. 

 On looking back and thinking the matter over, it 

 seems to me that these people, almost without ex- 

 ception, showed it in their faces and in their actions. 

 Several times I was led to suspect the guilt, more 

 from their looks and deportment than from any 

 real knowledge in the case; and afterward, when 

 the matter came out (for, you know, '• murder wiU 

 out"), I then remembered my impressions and my 

 convictions. Now, friends, is it not so, that, among 

 all the troubles one meets in this world, a guilty 

 conscience is the worst trouble by far? 



ENCOUKAGING WOKI>S FROM " OUR 

 CliEARING." 



feeding, swarming, new honey, etc. 



^^sp.B begin the season with 35 colonies. We lost 

 w™ two in wintering — wintered on summer 

 stands in chaff packing — and have sold 38. 

 But you thought we intended to reduce our number 

 to 10 ? Yes; but to chacge her mind is one of the 

 inalienable rights of woman. Please do not ask 

 which has contributed most to this result — the 

 difficulty of finding purchasers without advertising, 

 or the suggestions and expostulations of some of our 

 bec-kccping friends. Perhaps it is due to these lat- 

 ter that we (even Nellie) accept the present situa- 

 tion quite cheerfully. It has, assuredly, given us 

 much of grateful pleasure to know that, had we 

 fallen out of the ranks, some of our comrades— and 

 those not the least esteemed — would have missed 

 us. 



FEEDING through BAD WEATHER. 



Two weeks ago we were feeding sugar syrup to 06 

 colonies, giving some only a taste — just enough to 

 prevent destruction of brood — while others, en- 

 tirely destitute, received full rations. Since our 

 first summer in bee-keeping, 18T3, when we found 

 our one beloved colony starving in the middle of 

 June, « e had had no occasion to feed sugar syrup. 

 Not that there have not been seasons of scarcity, 

 but surplus combs of honey have always taken us 

 safely and easily through. Bee-keepers to whom 

 feeding is no novelty would have been amused at 

 our consternation, as we faced the prospect of being 

 obliged to maintain, on sugar syrup, 66 colonies, 

 most of them strong in bees and brood, and tried to 

 compute the expense per week, should the rain con- 

 tinue, or the raspberry -buds be blighted by frost. 



Happily, our fears were not realized. The last 

 feeding was on Sunday, June 10th. I dared not 

 wait till Monday. Tt rained continuously ; but I vis- 

 ited each colony, and made sure that no bee went 

 supperless. On the afternoon of the next day, the 

 first tiny pellets of raspberry pollen were brought 

 in, and we banished all further anxietj-. One week 

 from the rainy Sabbath on which I last fed them, six 

 swarms came out before church time. 



A force-pump fob arresting swarms. 



A lady friend writes me this, apropos of her man- 

 agement of swarms. " I have a force-pump, and it 

 seems as if I can drive them anywhere, and make 

 them cluster just where I want them to, with it. I 

 doubt my handling a swarm-catcher, alone, as easily 

 as I can my little pump." This indorsement of the 

 force-pump as a swarm-catcher may be to some of 

 our sisters, as to myself, of special value, because 

 made by a woman. She is one of the most in- 

 telligent, enthusiastic, and capable lady bee-keepers 

 of whom I have knowledge; and that she finds the 

 foi'ce-pump serviceable, and adapted to a woman's 

 use, has weight sufficient to induce me to try it my- 

 self the present season. I have never seen one in 

 use, but had fancied that it must be too awkward 

 and cumbersome for a woman to manage — that it 

 belonged rather to our brothers. 



SW arming-baskets, etc., IN THE BACKGROUND. 



Allow me to quote from the same friend's letter 

 another paragraph which amused as much as it in- 

 terested me, and which may seem a little startling 

 to some of our sisters — those who are taking their 

 first steps in bee culture, and still handle their pets 

 rather timorously, and always at arms' length. "Mrs, 



