668 



GLEAiSiKGS IK BEE CULTUEE. 



Kov. 



rounds through the papers. Any person desiring 

 Buch a recipe for preserving eggs can get one by 

 paying 10 cents for a specimen copy of the Farmers' 

 Magazine, that contains several of them that are 

 selling at five and ten dollars apiece. 



J. F. Fletcher. 

 West Monterey, Pa., Oct. 24, 1883. 

 Gently, friend F. You are certainly right, 

 however, in suggesting that it is time some 

 explanations were made in regard to the un- 

 settled accounts of the Exchange. Perhaps 

 our good friend Teet can give us some light 

 on the subject. It seems to me, also, that 

 our old friend Nellis, even if he has sold out, 

 might assist in having justice done to his 

 old friends and patrons. Letters have come 

 to us for some time back, saying that Mr. 

 Nellis seemed to be in some way connected 

 with the Exchange and its business, even long 

 after he sold out ; and those who went there 

 to see about their accounts, after he sold out, 

 say they found him there, apparently direct- 

 ing affairs. It strikes me, that if 1 were in 

 his place I would at least make a suggestion, 

 especially as the accounts all together do 

 not amount to a very large sum, if I am cor- 

 rectly informed.— In regard to the preserv- 

 ing compound, I have been pretty severely 

 cudgeled already for refusing to publish an 

 advertisement of the secret. In times past 

 I have several times invested considerable 

 sums of money in secrets and recipes, and 

 I have never yet received one that was not 

 already in public print, either in recipe- 

 books, or in class journals belonging to that 

 particular industry. 



BEES IN THE SOUTH. 



A TRIP TO LOUISIANA. 



SjM^EVER before, Mr. Root, did I realize the true 

 Jp^ spirit of your talk about tobacco while trav- 

 — ' eling on the cars. Oct. 10th I boarded the 

 cars at Greeneville for Louisiana. Every thing was 

 fresh and clean — no sign of the use of tobacco. At 

 first I wondered how it was that you had found so 

 much fault with the traveling public for using this 

 poisonotis weed; for I traveled all day without seeing 

 any one using tobacco. However, at night I chang- 

 ed cars at Chattanooga, and I found, when I entered 

 the car, that it was almost full of emigrants, bound 

 for Arkansas and Texas. Well, the whole of it is, 

 the air was Just suffocating on account of tobacco 

 smoke and the smell of liquors. But, people who go 

 west are people who are dissatisfied; and people 

 who are dissatisfied are, as a rule, to blame for their 

 own dissatisfaction, as they don't conduct them- 

 selves in life so as to bring upon themselves happi- 

 ness. I have come to the conclusion, that, as a rule, 

 the use of tobacco is confined to the lower class of 

 people; and it is certain, that no one can fight too 

 hard against Its use. How can man keep clear the 

 mental faculties (the greatest earthly possession) 

 that God hath given him, with his whole system fill- 

 ed up with the filthy and poisonous juices of this 

 *' master of man " and brother and partner of Satan? 

 Ah I got the juice of Satan in him. Mr. Root, you 

 and all who are engaged in this fight are doing a no- 

 ble work, and richly deserve God's blessing. 



A VISIT TO AMOS ABRAMS. 



Friday evening brought me to the house of our 



good friend Capt. Abrams. I was truly glad to meet 

 with him, as some considerable dealing had already 

 made us good friends. Mr. Abrams is quite a little 

 (?) man. I believe he said he weighed only 243 lbs. 

 However, notwithstanding his " dwarfy " size he is 

 a whole-souled man. His bees number about 225 

 colonies; and from the indications I get, they have 

 been doing him good service. I suppose, from what 

 he says, that he has already taken 6000 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted honey, and most of the hives are chock full 

 of honey, some of them having at least 200 lbs. From 

 what 1 can glean, the Red-River Valley is a No. 1 lo- 

 cality for the bee business. 



ABOUT HIVES AND FRAMES (SAVINGS). 



For the first time in my life 1 had the opportunity 

 of working with the Root make of hive. I must say 

 that the work is good, but the frames are not heavy 

 enough. A great many of them fall to pieces be- 

 fore they will come out, and all of them sag down in 

 the middle, both top and bottom bar, when full of 

 honey. The most satisfactory Irame 1 ever had was 

 some I made of pieces Yi inch thick. They never 

 gave way. I think at least the top-bar ought never 

 to be under V2 inch thick. Now, I have some of 

 Langstroth's frames made fifteen years ago; they 

 ai-e much heavier than the Root frame; and in addi- 

 tion to that, they have a block in each corner. They 

 have been used a great deal, but are as good as ever. 



AN IMPROVEMENT ON THE CLARK SMOKER. 



My experience is, that the greatest objection with 

 the Clark smoker is its getting so badly stopped up, 

 and the difficulty of getting it unstopped. Why 

 could not a block be put on the under side of the 

 bellows, justopposite the crooked spout, and through 

 this have a hole so we could clean the crooked spout? 

 The block would make the wood thick enough to 

 screw a stopper in so there would be no trouble 

 about the air getting out. I think, too, that it needs 

 some kind of shield, as I have more than once burn- 

 ed myself pretty severely. Perhaps you may say 

 'twas carelessness. Perhaps so; but I dislike to 

 have to spend time being careful about a thing that 

 can be remedied otherwise. Chas. Kingsley. 



Greeneville, Tenn. 



Friend K., it is cheerful to think we agree 

 so nicely on tobacco, even if we do not on 

 frames. I wonder if it is not getting to be a 

 fashion to be a little vehement when criticis- 

 ing your editor of late. We sell frames by 

 the carload, but I confess it is almost a new 

 thing to be told they are not heavy enough ; 

 and in regard to pulling them to pieces, you 

 surely do not mean to say you pulled metal- 

 cornered frames to pieces, in taking them out 

 of the hive. Our all-wood frames, when put 

 together and nailed, ought not to pull apart 

 either ; but I have heard of friends who just 

 pushed them together with their hands, and 

 never thought of nailing, liut it does not 

 seem to me that our friend Abrams would 

 do such a trick as that. In regard to the 

 sagging, you seem to overlook the fact that 

 the greater part of our frames are now 

 wired ; and with the diagonal wires, sagging 

 is next to an impossibility. — Thanks for the 

 suggestion in regard to making the Clark 

 smoker easier to clean. I do not know how 

 we could keep it from burning the fingers, 

 without adding to the expense. Fifty cents 

 is a pretty close price. Perhaps a shield 

 might be added, so as to let those use it who 

 care to. We shall see. 



