1878. 



GLEA^q^INGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



339 



§M "c^mknf 



This department was suggested by one of the 

 clerks, as an opposition to the "Growlery." Ithink 

 1 shall Aenture to give names in full here. 



WE have purchased a number of articles of you ; 

 foot-power saw, extractors, fdn. machine, 

 __ sample hives, smokers, &c. Everything has 

 been entirely satisfactory, and we had an idea that 

 j'our institution was a model of promptness and 

 perfection. We could not see where any one could 

 And cause for growling, and I think that the cause 

 of it is as much the imagination as anything. 



Mrs. p. p. Cobb. 

 Middleville, Mich., Sep. 22, 1878. 



1 ordered on the 3d, you receipted and shipped on 

 the 5th, and to-day noon, the 7th, I have my queens 

 in their bottle cages, perfectly lovely. Such prompt- 

 ness will secure patronage. Thanks. 



F. W. BUROESS. 



Huntington, L. I.. Sept. 7th, 1878. 



I was surprised and am well pleased with the man- 

 ner in which you pack the articles. For compact- 

 ness and neatness, your packing of goods cati't be 

 excelled. 



I had no trouble in putting everything together, 

 and transferred 5 common box hive colonies into 

 the L. hives, with success. 



I am ever so much pleased with your work, and so 

 far as making •prettier work is concerned, I think 

 you have already arrived at perfection. 1 can't see 

 how anyone could help being well pleased with your 

 hives, frames, sections, &c. The fdn. you sent works 

 like a charm. K. C. Taylor. 



Wilmington, N. C. Sept. 10th, 1878. 



I feel that I owe you a debt of gratitude for the 

 little "world of pleasure" which you have opened 

 up to me through your publications. I do not re- 

 member that I ever passed a more pleasant summer 

 than the last, and I must acknowledge that bees had 

 much to do in producing this result; hence allow 

 me to express my hearty thanks. 



From the printed testimony, I had come to the 

 conclusion that a remedy had been found which 

 would alwayii prevent a once carefully hived swarm 

 from leaving the hive; viz., the frame of unsealed 

 brood. But I have had an exception to this rule. 

 One of my swarms came out and clustered again, 

 leaving only a "coiyporal's guard" to "keep house." 

 However, it remained after being hived again. I 

 think the plan is a very good one, and, no doubt, 

 .iudging by the losses of my neighbors, saved me a 

 number of swarms. 



You say you have never heard of pollen's being 

 stored in the sections. 1 had a number which I had 

 to keep for home consumption, simyiy on account 

 of this. I also had a number which were spoiled by 

 the queen's using them for brood (both dror-e and 

 worker), and two of my neighbors had the same. 

 One of the queens used a number of the sections 

 and tilled almost every cell. The tin separators 

 •were "properly used in both .cases. Do not under- 

 stand me to complain, however, for I think this in- 

 -vention for taking honey is the best in use, and 

 much superior to any other method. I speak of 

 them only that we may all arrive at the exact 

 truth in regard to them. 



My plan of disposing of unfinished sections, is to 

 uncap and feed them to the bees having the least 

 amount of winter stores. I think this will pay best, 

 with honey at present prices. 



In regard to the simplicity smoker, I wish to say 

 that I could nf)t be induced to use any other, at 

 least, of all those which I have seen. At first, how- 

 ever, I had trouble to get it "to go;" but after a time, 

 I found this was my fault and not the fault of the 

 smoker. It now gives perfect satisfaction. Some 

 time since, I got one for a neighbor, and now he 

 saj'S he wouldn't be without it for ten dollars. lie 

 means it, too. During the summer, a friend called 

 me to come and see if I couldn't do something for 

 his bees. They wouldn't swarm, and were storing 

 honey on the outside of the hives. I removed the 

 honey, and found that one had thus stored ?5 lbs. 

 I put the surplus bees from two hives into one, gave 

 them a frame of eggs, and now they are all rii>ht. 



P. S.— My Report; 1 had four colonics with which 

 to begin the season; from these I have made not 

 less than .f 50. Will th at do for a beginning? 



New Philadelphia, O., Sept. 23, '78. L. S. Jones. 



Now, my friends, what do these two de- 

 partments prove V If notliin^ more, do they 

 not show how differently we Took attliingsV 

 No more pains was taken to till the orders 

 for the friend who praises our work so ex- 

 travagantly, than with those in the Growl- 

 ery Department. The above three letters 

 give me a great deal more credit than I de- 

 serve, for our work is very far from being 

 such that / am satisfied with it. The Growl- 

 ery has, perluii)s at times, been a little more 

 than I deserve. Shall we not look first on 

 one side and then on the other, and conclude 

 that we all need more charity, and more pa- 

 tience V I know I do, and I hoi)e you will 

 keep on chiding me, when I forget to do as 

 I ought, but ])lease, dear friends, when you 

 complain, do it kindly. 



From Different Fields. 



MISHAPS WITH 



BEES, AND MISHAPS 

 BARRELS. 



WITH HONEY 



FTER my Italian queen had been laying for 

 ,w\\ more than a week, I thought her, of course, all 

 ^*=* right. lu a few days more I made another 

 examination, and could find no eggs, but did find a 

 young black queen and my Italian gone. Now these 

 bees must have kept the queen cell all the time my 

 new queen was laying, and when the young queen 

 hatched, destroyed the fertile one, something which 

 I think is unusual for them to do. 



Had the colony mentioned above been a 

 hybrid, and had our friend not looked as 

 many times as he did, he might have had 

 very good grounds for declaring that he had 

 been cheated. I wonder if a great many of 

 the quarrels and misunderstandings in buy- 

 ing and selling queens may not have come 

 about in a similar way. 



A barrel of honey was shipped here from Peoria, 

 111., last week, and set upon the depot platform, and 

 while there commenced to leak very badly; my 

 bees having an eye to business and only two blocks 

 off, soon scented it and, in a very little while, every 

 bee in my apiarj' seemed to be on the go; the leak- 

 ing could not be stopped, so the bees just helped 

 themselves. I never saw so many bees in one place 

 before; the air was black, and the barrel could 

 hardly be seen, so thick were th^y flocking to it. 

 Late in the afternoon, the owner came and took it 

 away; when weighed, it was found to be 2C0 lbs 

 short. J. W. Keeran. 



Bloomington, 111., Sept 18, 1878. 



I should have feared the consequences af- 

 ter the honey was gone ; did the bees all go 

 home without any body's being stung, after 

 their snjiply was "so suddenly cut off? Had 

 you weighed your hives when the bees be- 

 gan the work, and again after tliey had been 

 stopped, you could have told !\ist how much 

 honey you owed the owner of the barrel. 



COLOR OF queens, ETC. 



We begfin the season with G stocks of pure Ital- 

 ians and hyUriils, in fair condition, though 3 or 4 

 were short of sto- es. Began to stimulate by feed- 

 ing syrup drained from tubs 'f maple sugar. Fed 

 the syrup out of d k rs at 1 be rate of ' i to '■'i of a ten 

 quart pan full dMily. Dining the latter part of May, 

 I found my best stock o'ti' ely out of honey, with 

 brnod in 1() frinnc'^. Bees be.Tan to swarm .June 14th. 

 Have (akon (iff 4(10 pounds of nice honey and dovibled 

 ray St ok, and have a nucleus which I shall try to 



