1883 



JUVEKILE GLEANINGS. 



681 



SENDING QUEENS TO FLORIDA. 



I received the queen yesterday all O. K. I gave 

 her a new house to live in, with three frames of 

 hatching brood, without one old bee. This morning 

 she has a family of 500 young bees; and in addition 

 to all of this, this morning I shook off from two 

 frames the bees from a queenless colony. It is now 

 8 o'clock; and every thing is lovely with the queen. 

 She is walking around as proud as can be, with a 

 train of beei following behind. She is rather dark, 

 but I suppose you will vouch she is pure Italian. I 

 want to Italianze my 60 colonies. The bees that 

 came with the queen look well. Are they of her 

 progeny? F. B. Sackett. 



Titusville, Pla., Aug. 4, 1883. 



Now, friend Root, 1 have a great fault to find with 

 you for cheating me so badly. I sent In June for a 

 tested Italian queen, and now she has filled the hive 

 of 9 frames full, and I started her on two frames, 

 and don't you think I can handle them without 

 smoke? and they are all so yellow that I need no 

 artificial color tor them. Now, if you "cheat" me 

 again like this, I don't know but I shall tell every 

 one who sees them where I got them. I shall take 

 them to the State Fair; and chen you will be expos- 

 ed, of course. We talk about you a great deal now; 

 and unless you conduct ditferently, I don't know how 

 you will come out. 1 like an all-wood frame best, as 

 they stay in place better when taking otf cases or 

 cloths. Elisha p. Churchill. 



North Auburn, Me., Aug. 17, 1883. 



A KIND WORD IN VERY TRUTH. 



Juvenile comes to us this month, in what— a new 

 dress, or is it the old gown of its senior? Well, 'tis 

 a great improvement over the old style, and is now 

 of itself a first-class journal, and a wonder to all 

 how two such journals as Gleanings and Juvenile 

 can be published for the small sum of one dollar a 

 year. I must express my admiration and approval 

 of the poem by Miss Lu, "The Early History and 

 Life of Gleanings." 'Tis a just tribute to the 

 founder of what is now a first-class bee journal, 

 ranking in the very first rank with all the publica- 

 tions on bee culture in the known world. Long 

 may Gleanings and Juvenile live, and Novice and 

 Lu be spared to watch over its destinj', and steer it 

 clear of that ri ck, fihancial ruin, that hi^s wrecked 

 so many of its sister-ships! A. W. Osbuhn. 



Water Valley, N. Y., Aug. 30, 1883. 



what's the matter? 



Infant Gleanings doesn't come for this month. I 

 miss its prattle very much. What is the matter? 

 " Has hers fall down and bumped hers head or sum- 

 fin else badder?" S. L. Haskin. 



Chandler's Valley, Pa.. Aug. 20, 1883. 



Friend H., none of those awlul things have hap- 

 pened at all. I guess the only trouble is, you bee- 

 folks have ordered so many labels to take care of 

 the great crop or honey, that the printers have not 

 had time to get the Juvenile out on time. Besides 

 she has grown larger, you know, and a little harder 

 to manage. We hope to be able to get her in the 

 new harness all right, however, and we trust she 

 will make her appearance hereafter a little nearer 

 on time. You see, if we do not pay any thing for 

 the Juvenile, she considers herself a privileged 

 character, and takes a little more liberty in coming 

 and going than her mother would think of doing. 



I am a firm believer in the doctrine of compensa- 

 tion, even in the affairs of this world. Yesterday I 

 took 08" a case of 28 sections, and did not have one 

 empty ooe to replace them, and my bees hard at 

 work; and to add to my dilemma, my Clark smoker, 

 old style, collapsed— spring broke (a steel strap), 

 and In getting to it I ruined the leather of the bel- 

 lows. Well, in less than half an hour a message 

 came from the depot that your last shipment had 

 arrived. I felt grateful ; and within two hours, over 

 a hundred nice new white sections with good start- 

 ers were on the hives. I had an old L. C. Koot smo- 

 ker, but [ could not keep a fire in it, so I had a hard 

 time, until I thought to send to Dr. Temple to bor- 

 row his until you could send me a couple. I tie my 

 cases to hold sections with hard-spun white-flax 

 twine, and find it preferable to wire. 1 nes^er had 

 any true conception of a "honey boom " until now 



this season. White clover, sourwood, cr>rn, sumac, 

 etc., are and have been booming. I have taken 

 nearly 1700 B>s. of honey. In following your advice 

 to get read!/, I have my reward in a fine harvest of 

 pure while honey. Goods all right and very satisfac- 

 tory. L. M. Shumaker. 

 Danville, Va., July 20, 1883. 



SHIPPING BEES TO CALIFORNIA. 



I received the queen and bees Aug. 3 at 2 o'clock 

 P.M. It appears you sent the queen and bees July 

 20, and notified me by card the same day. The bees 

 came 3 days before your card. There were about 150 

 dead bees in the cage. The bees had more honey 

 than they needed. The comb was in good order; 

 and when I examined the card with wire in to keep 

 it straight, and the care you had taken to pack, to 

 come stich a long road, I must siy you understand 

 your business. To-day I opened the hive for the 

 first time, and the queen had improved, and is a 

 be;iuty. The bees had greatly improved too, and 

 are vtry nice large ones. I would not take ten dol- 

 lars in gold for the queen. Jacob Wolfe. 



Lathrop, Cal., Aug. 6, 1883. 



The above were sent in a nucleus hive on a wired 

 comb of new clover honey. And, by the way, if I 

 can have such a comb of new honey, I do not know 

 but I like it better than any thing else that can be 

 devised for shipping bees long distances. The rea- 

 son why I emphasize new honey is, when first 

 brought in and stored in open cells it contains quite 

 a quantity of water not yet evaporated; and this 

 water is la just the right shape to sustain the bees in 

 such a journey as they have in going to California, 

 Texas, and other remote points. 



some kind words very plainly SPOKEN. 



I do not claim any damages on hives, as the entire 

 amount is but a trifle; but is it not for jour in- 

 terest to have every thing: in good order, and as 

 nearly right as possible? If I ask some foolish ques- 

 tions, do not be impatient, as I am inexperienced in 

 this business. I like the ABC book very much, but 

 would like to know which is right — the goods as 

 they are sent out, or the book. I find one inch space 

 in the hive after the 7 wide frames are in; the book 

 says there should be but fi inch space after the 

 frames are wedged. I find the boxes are not all of 

 a width, but of several widths. The book says they 

 should all be of one width. It also teaches absolute 

 cleanliness, which I admire; but I found about one- 

 half of the tiu separators smeared with grease and 

 dirt rubbed in so it was nearly impossible to clean 

 them. Now, which of these were right? If I bad 

 any idea the book was wrong, I could have rubbed 

 the others with grease and stove blacking with less 

 trouble than cleaning them. I expect to order quite 

 a lot of hives next winter, but would like to be start- 

 ed all right before that time. Would it not be a 

 good idea to publish a revised edition of the book? or 

 if the other things are wrong, revise them. 



Bennington, Vt., Aug. 1, 1883. J. N. SCRANTON. 



Friend S., perhaps some of the friends may think 

 this letter does not belong here, but I think it does. 

 I presume your wired frames had shrunk consider- 

 ably. However, an inch will do no harm; and as 

 bees would not be very likely to build a comb in an 

 inch space, even that would be no material harm. 

 The same is true in regard to sections. Last spring 

 we were obliged to give you half-seasoned sections, 

 or none at all; and as the edges of the boards would 

 be seasoned much more than the middle, when they 

 came to dry all together, these varying thicknesses 

 would occur. I can not explain how the separators 

 catne to be greased, unless the oil from some of the 

 machinery got dropped on them, [t ought not to 

 have been so, and I will willingly pay for the trouble 

 of cleaning them up.— Friend S., it would be a good 

 Idea to have every thing in this world all right; but 

 where so many people come to me to have me do so 

 much for them, I tell you it is a pretty hard matter 

 to send them all away well pleased. Thanks for 

 your crlticiams, given In such a vein of pleasantry. 



