88 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



small pieces, dried and browned, make the most de- 

 licious coffee obtainable; far ahead of Java or any 

 substitute for coffee that I have ever seen. If sown 

 after the seed fall in the spring-, in a rich bed in the 

 garden, you will have fine roots the spring- following. 

 Try it, and please inform your readers. We find the 

 honey from dandelion darkish yellow, and rather 

 strong- but not unpleasant. A. A. Lewis. 



North Duxbury, Vt., Jan. 10th, 1878. 



EARLY QtTEENS. 



Since looking- over Gleanings I have been think- 

 ing about your suggestion concerning rearing early 

 si.OO queens down south. Our springs are early. 

 A\ e sometimes have swarms the first of April. The 

 first colony of Italians I purchased, three vears ago, 

 swarmed April 6th. Think I could furnish a few 

 queens by May 1st. I have a few fine home-bred 

 queens, but shall want an imported one if you think 

 1 could sell enough queens to pay for her. There 

 is but little interference here from black bees. 

 Please let me know what you think of it. 



^ Jno. W. Beatt. 



Decatur, Ga., Feb.loth, 1878. 



I think all the queens that our Southern 

 friends can raise, can be sold readily for 

 $1.50 each, in the month of May. As I 

 shall sell them for this price. I cannot offer 

 over SI. 00. If you think this is too much 

 margin, you can buy directly of the pro- 

 ducers. With the great amount of business 

 now on my hands, I would prefer to have 

 you do so, yet if I can in any Avay ''go 

 betAveen"' purchasers and producers, and 

 get you better acquainted. I shall be glad 

 to do so. Much hard feeling has been en- 

 gendered by advertising queens and receiv- 

 ing money, and then being uu;tble to fill 

 orders. I would recommend new hands at 

 the business, not to advertise until they 

 have queens on hand, and then they are oil 

 the safe side. The business is beginning to 

 assume considerable magnitude, and I am 

 rejoiced to see our young friends build up a 

 business and prosper. Look out for Blasted 

 Hopes, and work carefully. 



In regard to imported queens: every 

 customer Av;;nts one of the finest ; in fact, I 

 cannot remember a single order, for a §5.00 

 one. Now there are but a few of the finest ; 

 what shall I do Avith the rest? I do not know I 

 unless I raise the price of the best ones. 

 The greater part of them, are pretty dark, 

 and these you will not be pleased with; 

 Avhat shall I do with themV 



FROM FRIEND DOOLITTLE. 



We intended, at the beginning of the present year, 

 to write an article each month for all three of the 

 Bee Journals of the United States, and also to an- 

 swer all correspondence, but find ourselves unable 

 to do so, on account of a severe attack of rheuma- 

 tism. Our correspondence has grown so large as to 

 occupy from 2 to 3 hours of our time every day, 

 and although it is a pleasure to us to answer all 

 questions pertaining to bee matters, vet our time 

 and health will not permit us to do so. We shall 

 therefore have to say good-bye, to our much loved 

 Journals and correspondence, for the present. 



„ G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Borodino, N. Y., Feb. 19th, 1878. 



I can readily appreciate your difficulty 

 friend D.. and although we can not blame 

 you, Ave trust you may give at least a brief 

 report to some of the Journals, now and 

 then. I have been told that Capt. Hether- 

 ington, some time ago, came to a similar 

 conclusion, and that he noAv does not even 

 ansAver letters at all, nor send reports for 

 publication. It is something like this, my 

 iriends. Suppose you Avere to go into one of. 

 our large city stores, and ask to see the pro- 



prietor ; should you find him kind enough 

 I to drop his business, to attend to you. sup- 

 pose you Avere to tell him you Avould like to 

 talk over the dry goods 'business. Avith a 

 vieAv of embarking in it. You. an utter 

 stranger, Avish him to tell hoAv much money 

 he makes. &c. Perhaps I have stated the 

 matter pretty strongly, but there is much 

 truth in the illustration. "We all tender 

 thanks, friend D., for the much you have 

 done for us. and Avish you and your bees, as 

 good a summer as your last one. 



DOUBLING CP IN THE SPRING. 



Can two swarms he united in the spring and the 

 spare queen be saved by forming a neuclus? and 

 how? j.c. Dickinson. 



Hudson, Mich. Feb. 4th, 1878. 



There is no difficulty at all, in doing as 

 you say. but Avhat is gained by such a 

 coursey Which is of most value ; tAvo fair 

 colonies, or one very strong and one very 

 weak one? I think I Avould prefer the 

 former. If you Avish to make a great report 

 from a certain number of colonies, you can 

 do it, Avithout a doubt, by doubling up your 

 stocks in the spring, and making nuclei to 

 save the extra queens. Reports from apia- 

 ries managed in this Avay. have been giAcn 

 in our back volumes. The honey yield is 

 usually immense, if sAA'arming can be pre- 

 vented, because the stocks are all very 

 strong Avhen the harvest opens. 



WUTH'S CASE OF SECTION BOXES. 



Of course he has one and it has some rath- 

 er nice points about it too, but the stuff is 

 uuplaned. he uses no. separators, and has 

 no groove for the fdn. If I am correct, the 

 sections are lifted from the hive all at once, 

 just as they are built, into the shipping case. 

 We can do this Avithout trouble, if we omit 

 the sei>arators. and Avnit until all are filled, 

 before we lilt them off. In this case, the 

 honey is all stored on the top of the frames, 

 and none at the sides. I wrote him my ob- 

 jections, and below he replies. Friend Muth 

 is excellent authority. 



I can raise straight combs in these sections of ours 

 without separators, and Hill's lot of 4CG0 lbs. of ccmb 

 honey in such sections (in '76) proves that he can do 

 it. No evener lot or straighter combs could be pro- 

 duced. But I should try these separators were 1 

 raising much comb honey. I had slats in the top 

 bars of my small frames, l)ut quit them, because fdn. 

 can be fastened just as easily without them. 



I consider your sections rather small, because I 

 can just as readily sell 2 lbs. of honey in a frame as 1 

 lb.; and as the finishing part occupies the bees, ap- 

 parently, the most time, I believe also that we car- 

 raise more honey in larger frames. Your shipping 

 cases are neat, but they cost more than they ought 

 to, and they should be stronger for the general busi- 

 ness. Shipping cases are, generally, used only once. 

 With my cases you will notice that about '^c per lb. 

 more for the honey, pays for the cases and sectional 

 boxes. Please give us your criticism without fear 

 or fa%'or. Chas. F. Muth. 



Cincinnati, Ohio. Feb. 20th, l.«78. 



Please to inform me from what the paraffine with 

 which you wax your barrels, is made. Some say it 4s 

 made bom lard after the oil is pressed from it, and 

 others that it is made from coal oil. I can not get 

 the refined paraffine in New Orleans for less than Z6 

 and 45c in large quantities. 



The saw files, such as you give an illustration of in 

 Feb. No.. I consider the best made filPS for a circular 

 rip saw that I have ever pern. The half round files 

 put too thin a point on the tooth; they will not stand 

 our cvpress lumber. F. F. Fell. 



Allen P. O., La., Feb. 9th, 1S78. 



