1878, 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



61 



Why not use this in place of the saws, do 

 you ask V Well, because it is too slow, and 

 <3annot well be made as nice and accu- 

 rate. Friend P. says he cini cut 4 in a min- 

 ute ; with the gang of saws in good order, 

 our boys should cut a whole bundle of 100, 

 in a minute. You need not be discouraged 

 at this ; running a shop full of machinery is 

 very expensive, and the profits must be pret- 

 ty large to cover expenses. I have no doubt 

 that you could do nice work, and mak $3 or 

 $4.00 per day, witJi the machine Friend Prud- 

 , den luis described. If there are not bee- 

 keepers all round you who would buy the 

 work, there very soon will be if you are a go 

 ahead bee-keeper. At this date — Jan 5th, — 

 we are receiving orders almost as if it were 

 May or June, and an order for over $100.00 

 worth of hives and section boxes has been 

 lianded me since I sat down to write. Good 

 nice work is what advertises business, and 

 we have sent out so much that has not been 

 wliat I call nice, that I almost wonder that 

 my friends patronize me so much as they do. 

 I believe I have shown you all the pictures 

 I have prepared for this ''visit,'' and I think, 

 have pretty nearly said all I have to say. 



TKOUBLE. 



flWO of our family, that is, our "bee family," 

 have g'ot into a quarrel, and, as they are both 

 . very good friends of mine, I have tiied e\ery 



way I knew, to make them stop; and h;n e finally 

 "scolded" them both, pretty severely. I blame them 

 all the more, for they have both had excellent bring- 

 ing up (they have had Gleanings to read for the 

 past ever so many years, and it says on the front 

 cover, "Peace on earth and good will towai'd men"), 

 and yet they will quarrel. I know they have been 

 exposed to unusual temptation, and on that account, 

 we can freely excuse them if thej' will shake hands, 

 ■and di-op it all, right where it is. "But Mr. Glean- 

 ings, what has all this to do with us?" Nothing at 

 ail, had not a part of the trouble, appeared in two of 

 our Journals, in a way that does at least one of the 

 parties, a grievous wrong. I have plead and entieat- 

 . ed to have this righted with no interference of mine, 

 but as it has not been done, I see no other way, but 

 to do it ns best I can. 



In our Oct, No. of last year, I warned you to keep 

 away from bee Conventions held in large cities. 

 "Therefore Mr. NoA'ice it was none of your business 

 what thev did there, and you would better let it a- 

 lone." Well, I think you are right in the main, but 

 for all that, I feel that I may do good just now, by 

 speakinjr. A f50.00 Gold Medal was offered, as you 

 know ; if I am correct, those who competed forthe 

 Medal, furnished the money to pay for it, by paying 

 $7.00 each for the privilege of competing. That our 

 friend "John Long" of Comb Foundation notoriety 

 figured largely in the enterprise, was one reason why 

 I warned you to stay away. "What have I ag-ainst 

 him ?" Nothing only that he has never paid back 

 the monev that was sent him in all good faith. I 

 could, perhdps, pardon his wrongingour own country- 

 men, but his ttnisliing operation of keeping over 

 ^100.00 that was sent him by our English friends has 

 T fear embittered them against the whole nation of 

 "swindling yankees," as they term us, and perhaps 

 with justice. If Mr. Wm. Hoge, as his real name is, 

 is poor and cannot pay it, it may be all right ; but 

 even then we can, I think, find some one to represent 

 the bee interests of our country, whose name is un- 

 tai-iiished liy any such record. I care not bow many 

 milliuns tlie comiiany he represents is worth, nor 

 how high a pcsilinn in society the rest of the world 

 are willing to allow him ; nor does it make any diff- 

 erence how plesisiintly and kindly he has always 

 treated me individually ; in behalf of the brothers 

 he has wronged lidth here and in England, I demand 

 that he psiv up, before we trust him or have confi- 

 dence in him. 



A number of our bee-keepers put in $7.00 each, and 

 then one draws the whole, or at le.ast $.50.00 of it in 

 the shape of a Medal. IJIo not know how they con- 



duct raffles, and other kinds of gambling, but it 

 seems to me this is not very unlike it. 



I'm afraid Satan recognized it as a raffle, if others 

 did not, for he very soon put in his fingers. If I am 

 correct, our hard working friend Doolittle, as well 

 as his neighbor Betsinger, were verry soon asked to 

 compete for the prize. In a friendly waj', iheya- 

 greed, like neighbors, to "go in for it" together. As 

 Doolittle has often said in Gleanings that his honey 

 box was Betsinger's invention, Betsinger was to have 

 the credit of the box, and Doolittle the honey, if they 

 took it, and they felt sure they would. Satan com- 

 menced his work in the matter, by having Doolittle's 

 grize case of sections stolen off the cars, as friend D. 

 as told us on page 11. Next, by catising Betsinger 

 to turn against his friend and "neighbor, after his 

 honey case was unfortunately stolen, and decide to 

 try to get the prize all alon,e. He, also, while his 

 friend was at home with his bees, as I suppose, 

 changed the labels on Doolittle's samolo hive, adding 

 his own name where D. had not put it. Mr. B. con- 

 fessed this to me, and said he was sony he did it. so 

 I think he will forgive me. Another case was selec- 

 ted from the lot of honey thi^t Thurber & Co.. pur- 

 chased of Mr. D., and the medal was awarded to it. 

 Satan was still poking round, and stirring up jeal- 

 ousy I fear, for a oreat many think tlitii ought in hon- 

 esty to have had it; and I fear it was Satan who put 

 it into poor Betsinger's head to look a little more 

 critically at the cnte that "John Long" had selected 

 from among Doolittle's lot. 



Perhaps it will be well to state here, that black 

 bees will without question, make whiter looking 

 comb honey than the Italians. The reason is that 

 the blacks do not fill the cells clear up to the cap- 

 ping, as the Italians do, during a heavy yield. The 

 white cap, with an empty space back of it, is much 

 whiter to look at, than when the honey is in close 

 contact. I have explained, before, how Mr. D. 

 shipped his neighbor's honey with his, and in his own 

 name. The initial r.f the owner's name, and the fig- 

 ures of the weights, were on each shipping case. 

 Now Mr. "Long," had taken a case that came from 

 one Mr. Kanney it seems, who kept black bees ; 

 probably on account of its whiteness, as I have ex- 

 plainpd. The whole matter was laughable, and 

 would have ended in a big laugh probably, had it not 

 been for the medal. 



Mr. D. accuses Betsinger of having known of the 

 blunder, before the award, and of keeping- still pur- 

 pof^elv. I think this ver\' unjust, and that he only 

 discovered it by seeing- Mr. Ranney's initials, after 

 the award was made. Mr. Betsinger made known 

 his discovery at once, buit ?« it placed things in rath- 

 er a mixed state, I believe it was decided to pass it 

 all bv. During the Convention, the Question was 

 a«ke'1. what race of bef^s mnde the Gold Medal honev. 

 Betsinger stated truthfully, that it was made by 

 bl-)ck bees. As this placed Mr. Doolittle in a queer 

 situa+ion. without explanation, he thought lest to 

 flatly contradict his neighbor's statement, in two of 

 our .Tournals. I have waited two months, to have 

 Mr. D. recall his unkind charge ; as he has not done 

 so. I have tried to do it. 



Verv likely, 1 have not stated the matter correctly 

 in all its minor points, but I think it is not far wrong. 

 Mr. D. lays great stress on the statement that the 

 medal was not awarded on this one case of honev 

 th.at hanpened to turn out to be Mr. Ranney's, but 

 for all this, he made a most desperate effort to make 

 it appear that the honey in question was not Ran- 

 nev's, but his after all. 



It is quite fashionable of late, to excuse almost all 

 soi-ts of crime under the plea of insanity; and when 

 I think of the miserable subterfuges and excuses 

 that people make for their wrong doing, I begin to 

 think we are all crazy, the minute we get into any 

 controversy, or quarrel. The two friends did get to- 

 gether and agreed to write and submit the mat- 

 ter to; me. but it was a clear bargain, that neither 

 shouM writo before the time, Betsinger, instead of 

 wiitipfr. i^jiif] me a visit; and now he (in to-day's 

 mail), cl'iims that he broke no contract, for he did 

 not trritc^ he only made me a vMt. In the same 

 mail cpire a letter from friend D. saying he does not 

 sa- fiTid never said (in his card below), the Gold Med- 

 al honey was not made b^' black bees, but only that 

 he had no blnck bees in his own apiary. 



Here is a, copy of the statement that Mr. D. sent 

 the Dec. Magazine, knowing the full facts as I have 

 given them. 



a great mistake corrected. 

 Mr. Editor.--The notice in the Bek-Keepeb's Mag- 

 azine that Mr. Betsinger stated before the National 



