1877 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



161 



|5c% and imm§' 



OUT of 89 swarms packed in chall", they are all 

 ) alive and In jrood sha'.ie, ivitlwut a single excep- 

 „ tio)i. Tlicy all have brood in all stages, and are 

 busy carrying in natural pollen. F. 11. Shaw. 



Chatham, Medina Co., O., April 19, 1877. 

 [If friend Shaw lias not had experience in losses in 

 wintering and sjiringin^, we do not know who has, 

 and we can heartily rejoice with him in his success.] 



Mortality among bees in Michigan within the past 

 six months is fnllv 50 per cent. G. E. Cokbin. 



St. Johns, Mich., May 24, 1877. 



My bees are all O Iv; wintered on summer stands; 

 I never have lost any in wintering, or from any other 

 cause whatever. I have OG colonies, and design on 

 increasing some little eacli year; it is a paying busi- 

 ness for me. E. LisroN, Virgil City, Mo., Apr. 11th. 



[You can "go up to the head," friend L., if you have 

 never lost a colony at all.] 



We are well satislied with "Gleanings" as an ad- 

 vertising medium. C. F. Lane. 

 KoSHKONONG, Wis., April 5, 1877. 



[Heigho! We have one complaint of the fdn. after 

 all, and it is a heavy one too, but GLE.VNINGS must 

 be a faithful chronicler, no matter who sutlers.] 



What is the matter with your fdn.? Confident of 

 success, I put starters % wide in 500 frames, inserting 

 them in a groove in top bar Si wide and lastenlng 

 nicely. I now find that not one has been used, the 

 hees eating them all out and starting on their own no- 

 tions as suits them. Is fdn. a humbug: ? If you know 

 of any way ih which it can be used please let me know 

 as I am at my "wit's end" with the stuli; and have IZ 

 or 14 dollar's worth of it on hand. 



O. Brumfie;d, Brumfield Station, Ky. May '2(!th, '77. 



[Now we haven't an idea where the trouble can 

 be, and have written for a sami)le of the fdn., top bar 

 and all, for it does seem as If the trouble must be in 

 his having used something offensive to fasten his nar- 

 row strips into the frames. By the way, friend B., 

 wliat possessed you to cut strips only }„ wide ? Didn't 

 the bees "get ni.ad'' because you gave them so little? 



Listen to what this next friend says.l 



The fdn. received of you last fall is splendid, and 

 the queen lays in them as well as any other comb. 



They neither sag nor bulge. Send the same kind if 

 you have it. 



D. Strecter Milliard, O., May 16ih, '77 



Enclosed find $3,75 (or 5 lbs. yellow fdn. worker size, 

 the sheets to be cut just right for L. frames. The lb. 

 sent me a short time ago workecl like a charm. 



L. K. Leutz, Ullin, 111., May 21, 1877. 



[That is the way to do; order a single lb., to try it, 

 and then if you or your bees are awkward, hold on a 

 bit; if all goes right, order more. Wc do not wish 

 you to be (lisappointed in any way, If it can possibly 

 L,e avoided.] 



I hived my flret natural swarm on the Kith of May; 

 have hived 14 uji to d.ite, and there is prospects of 

 hiving 100 more inside of 3 weeks. This may seem 

 strange to you. but if facts are what vou want, here 

 they are. Hikam Koop, (.'arson CIty,"MIch., May 19. 



tWhy, Iriend R., you and your bees "do heat all."] 



The chaff hives stand the hot weather beautifully, 

 thus far. 



From Different Fields. 



^ SENT you a long letter some time siuca with a stamp 

 j?|| enclosed, asking about the fdn., how to use it, &c.. 

 »!^ also .some other ([uestions. 1 expected to get a fath- 

 (!rly letter in return but instead I received a postal card 

 with a few lines. My disappciiitmeiit was great as 1 had 

 formed an opinion of you as one having a large heart and 

 wanting to help overylmdv along. 



D. K. Jones, Watertown, Wis., Mav lllh, 1877. 



Bless your heart my friends I do want to 

 help everyone along but you have failed to 

 consider that your letter is but one amona; 

 thousands and that to pive the answer you 

 ask for, to everyone, would be one of the im- 

 possibilities ; it takes a great part of the time 

 of three different clerks to give answers to the 

 kind letters even on postal cards, and for 

 matters of such general interest as the fdn., 

 you certainly would advise us to put the mat- 

 ter in print and thus give all the benefit of it, 

 would you not friend D. ? Every experiment 

 I have made, and all I know about the fdn., as 

 well as every other matter connected with bee 

 culture, is carefully given in Gleanings, and 

 when I sit down and deliberately prepare mat- 

 ter for print it is much more accurate than 

 auy answer I could give you if you should pay 

 me a visit. 



It seem!? hard to be disobliging dear friends, 

 but wheu one has the care of a manufactory, 

 an apiary, and the publishing of a journal be- 

 sides, there is very little time left. I feel that 

 I shall do most good all round, by giving my 

 best efforts to GLEANiNos, and then you all 

 will have the benefit alike. To do this well, I 

 must spend much of my time in the apiary or 

 I i^hould be in danger of giving you theory in- 

 stead of practice ; again if you send me orders 

 for goods, it is my duty to show the hands just 

 how they should be made, as well as to try 

 them iu my own hives and see how they work, 

 otherwise I should be taking your money 

 without giving you a fair equivalent. I will 

 read all the letters you may send — at least I 

 am going to try to — but I am sure you will 

 excuse me from trying to write kind answers 

 to you all, will you not"!* I will also read all 

 the cards that are sent you, and nothing shall 

 be sent out in the way of replies that I do not 

 endorse. Ifyouwishto hear from me indi- 

 vidually, please read your Gleanings with 

 more care. I am very anxious to help and to 

 please you all, am studying nearly all the time, 

 plans to make your hives, extractors, fdn., &c., 

 cheaper, simpler, and plainer for you to un- 

 derstand, and 1 take a rare pleasure iu telling 

 you each month what I Imve discovered, and 

 in getting your postals telling me how you 

 have succeeded. 



SMOKERS. 



Provided the Bingham smoker sent you was as good .as 

 the one I have your remarks are entirely misleadmg. The 

 impression that you convey (but do not say so) is that 

 they are a poor thing— that you could make and sell them 

 for 50c. If ilmt be true you are helping a swindle on the 

 public by puffing the Quiuby smoker. I bought one ftcm 

 you last year and it is not worth 10c in comparison with 

 Bingham's. Kin? makes a good Quinby smoker for $1,00, 

 at least the one he sent me is a good one. I say. and the 

 bee-keepers will say Bingham's is away ahead of atiy oth- 

 er smoker in the market and they did expect of you a fair 

 and square criticism. I never saw Bingham, have no in- 

 terest in any smoker, but I believe iu giving everyone his 

 due. Give unto Ca'sar the things that are Caesar's. 



The Simplicity hive is good, particularly the cover. I 

 tliink there should be a small entrance. The sections arc 

 ahead of any I have .seen. 



Chas. J. Quinby, White Plains, N. Y. 



It really does seem that there is to be as 

 great a difference of opinion in regard to smo- 

 kers as in almost any other one thing. The 

 greater part of our customers are well pleased . 

 with the Quinby smoker, and some of them 

 are extravagant in its praises ; but a few, seem 

 just as much against it. The Bingham srao- 



