324' 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



very pretty ones with glass on four sides filled 

 with nice clover honey, yet we are unable to 

 get even 15 cents per lb. for them, while the 

 small sections, made of light wood, are in 

 brisk demand at 25. The matter seems to be 

 pretty well -demonstrated, that sections 4I4 

 inches square, holding just one lb. on an aver- 

 age, are going to sell at better rates than any 

 thing else ; tiiere is no chance for argument, 

 let consumers see both kinds, and if they 

 choose the small light package, even at a high- 

 er price, all objectors will soon fall into line 

 no matter what may be their personal views. 



I*ex*talniiig to Bee Culture. 



[We respectful^ solicit the aid of our friends in 

 conducting- this' department, and would consider it 

 a favor to have tliem send us all circulars that have 

 a deceptive api)earance. Tlie greatest care will be at 

 all times maintained to prevent injustice being done 

 any one.] 



SjjpS there such a man as N. C. Mitchell, in Indianap- 

 y olis, Ind. ? I received the Bee-Keepers Directory 

 4^ from such a min advertising a bee hive at §1.00. I 

 sent money f )r said hive but can pet no hive nor an- 

 swer from" him. I have written several times, is it a 

 humbus;.^ He speaks of you in his circular. Please 

 let me .know. H. M. Morris. 



llantoul, Ills., July 9th, 1877. 



We warned our readers nearly four years 

 ago, that sending money to Mitchell was like 

 pouring water into a tunnel ; it is gone, hope- 

 lessly. We have had warning in almost every 

 No. published since then, but complaints like 

 the above are still coming thick and fast. 



DEPOSITORY OF 



Or Letters from Tliosc \l^lio Have ITIade 

 Bee Culture sl Failure. 



M)Y bees are doing splendidly this spring. Had 

 live colonies last fall. Wintered on summer 

 I stands; found all dead this iipring. Bought 



two swarms of Italians, all doing well and have in- 

 creased to six. Plenty of white clover in this section 

 of the country. Am a reader of Gleanings and like 

 it amazingly. H. H. Schwilly. 



Yorkville, Ills., June 20th, 1877. 



Although you have had some very bad luck 

 friend S., it ju,st now occui-s to us you do not 

 belong here, after all, but soniebodi/ must be 

 here or the department would run dowii. 



Your "Blasted Hopes" column was very slim la-st 

 month. 'Evtivy hce 'RQih.e o\ twenty -three colonies. Not 

 uuich honey in prospect for next winter's buckwheat 

 cakes. E. Plowman. 



Lansing, Ills., June 30th, 1877. 



But we want to know how it came about 

 friend P. You are as, bad as the fellow that 

 told the Yankee he would tell him how he 

 lost his arm, if he would promise to ask no 

 more questions. It was bitten off. 



$€H§ and §u^ri^^. 



Seven thousand lbs. honey so far. Will e.\ceed 10,000 

 lbs. this year. J. Oatman & Co. 



• Dundee, Ills., July 10th, 1877. 



I send you a paper, the Valley Herald pu'blished at 

 our county seat which has a little article on "Bees on a 

 rampage." I would be glad to hear your views on the 

 ^ubject. What caused those bees to act so, &c. ? Any 

 thing from you will be read with interest. 



John W. Hoodenptle. 



Looney's Creek, Tenn., July 10th, 1877. 



BEE3 ON A EAMPAGE. 



Mr. Elisha Tate, who lives some fifteen miles from this 

 place on the head of Battle Creek, met with quite a sin- 

 gular misfortune on the liUh inst. He has, or did have 

 at that time, about twenty hives of bees, and on that day, 

 while all were away from the house except a daughter 

 and the baby, the bees became mad from some cause or 

 other, left their hives in large swarms and commenced to 

 sting ever.y living thing on the place. They attacked the 

 daughter, who fled from the house, leaving the babe on 

 the bed. A fine jack was stung to death in the stable ; 

 all the chickens were killed, and a sheep, that was around 

 the' house, was stung so badly on the nose that that organ 

 swelled to huge dimensions, causing death by suffocation. 

 The cries of the daughter brought Mr. Tate to the house, 

 and he proceeded to rescue his babe, which he found lit- 

 erally covered with bees ; and we understand that it was 

 with great ditficulty that its life was saved. Mr. T. at- 

 tempted to ' destroy the bees at night by piling fodder on 

 the hives and setting lire to it, but it only served to again 

 arouse theni and they attacked the family and compelled 

 them to abandon their house and go to a neighbor's. 



No one can account for the strange occurrence. Some 

 think that a snake must have visited the hives, as it is 

 known that bees have the greatest antipathy toward 

 snakes. ' 



[The article is in all probability, considerably exagger- 

 ated, as such things usually are, before they get into the 

 papers, but it affords an excellent lesson nevertheless on 

 the results of letting bees get into a habit of robbing each 

 other, or of finding honey scattered about the premises. 

 1 tried in the A B C, an&eb of bees, to illustrate it, but 

 the above does it still better. The woist season seems to 

 be after bass wood is over, and the bee's seem to get esptc- 

 ially crazy, if they even get a smell of this aromatic hon- 

 ey left cKrelessly about the hives. One who has never 

 seen such a state <)f affairs, can have but little idea of the 

 furious way in which they sting everything, and every- 

 body. The remedy is to get a kettle of coals and put in 

 enough chips or sawdust to make a "big smoke" ; carr.v 

 this out among tlie liives and proceed to close every hive 

 that shows any symptoms of being robbed. Shut up ev- 

 ery bit of honey where not a bee can get at it, and do 

 your work well, for they will at such times wedge into 

 and get through cracks that would make one think inch 

 boards were hardly protection enough. Just before dark. 

 let all the robbers go home, and be up betimes next morn- 

 ing to see that all entrances are close and small, and that 

 all the hives are bee tight. An experienced hand, will 

 restore peace and quietness in a very short time, in mcli 

 a demoralized apiary. Black bees are much worse than 

 Italians, for the latter will usually hold their stores 

 against any number of assailants ; good strong well made 

 hives, of Italians, with plenty of bees and brood in each, 

 will be in little danger of any such "raids," although we 

 have seen the wounded and slain piled up in heaps be- 

 fore robl)ers would desist and give up trying to force an 

 entrance.] 



You cannot look over the back No's of Gleanings 

 or any other Periodical with satisfaction, unless they 

 are in some kind of a Binder. Who has not said— 

 "Dear me what a bother — I viust have last 

 month's Journal and it's no where to be found." Put 

 each No. in the Emerson Binder as soon as it comef. 

 and you can sit down happy, any time you wish to find 

 any thing you may have previously seen even though 

 it were months ago. 



Binders lor Gleanings (will hold them for four 

 years) gilt lettered, free bj' mail for 50, 60, and 75c, ac- 

 cording to ijuality. For table of prices of Binders for 

 any Periodical, see Oct. No., Vol. 2. Send in your 



orders. 



A. I. ROOT, Melina.O. 



ITA1.IA1V QITEENS and Bees for sale, at the 

 laltan apiary of 

 9d E. E. SHATTUCK, Los Angeles, Cal. 



