416 



GLEANINGS m BEE CULTURE. 



r)EC. 



FROM BLASTED HOPES TO THE SMILERV. AN UN- 

 LOOKED FOR TRANSITION. 



I received the grape sugar the other day, all right. 

 It was too late for the purpose for which 1 ordered 

 it; viz., to feed 25 young swarms, which I think 

 had not 2 lbs. of honey apiece when I ordered the 

 sugar, and now they arc too rich. They made honey 

 so fast that they crowded all the brood out. I have 

 been buying all" the surplus bees I could get, and 

 putting "them in my weakest hives, to keep up their 

 numbers. This honey was made mostly in Oct., 

 from a weed which grows in our old waste fields. It 

 grows from ',i to 4 feet high, has a white blossom, 

 commences to bloom the latter part of Sep., and 

 continues to bloom during Oct. I do not know what 

 its real name is. I send you a sample of the weed, 

 and may be you can give it a name. 



1 took from the top story of one hive, the other 

 day, 60 lbs. of honey. This was a natural swai-m that 

 eaine off on the 22d of May. I had taken out of this 

 same hive, five of your Langstroth frames full of 

 honey, and given them to some weak hives. I did 

 not weigh them but put them at 30 lbs. Before I 

 took off the 60 lbs. the whole hive weighed 112 lbs. 

 If wc take 4.5 lbs. for the hive, and 10 lbs. for bees, 

 we have 117 lbs, of honey. I got the mother of this 

 hive from the woods ; they have one bright yellow 

 band next the waist, but there are no Italians with- 

 in 25 miles of me, that I know of. I got an Italian 

 queen from Ga., in June. She laid enough eggs to 

 raise about half a gallon of bees and then died. 

 About ^<t of her bees had no wings, but they would 

 crawl out of the hive, and start after a load" of hon- 

 ey. Xow I want to know whether the Italians walk 

 after honey or fly. I notice that Gleanlngs says 

 they make the most honey. Perhaps they can carry 

 the most when they walk. I have a notion to try 

 one of your Imported queens and see what she will 

 bring forth. I came near forgc-tting the Simplicity 

 hive I got of you last spring. 1 have 21 of them now, 

 in full use. They suit me better than 47 patent hives 

 which we have in the country. 



.TOHN Faris. 



Chilhowie Springs, Smyth Co., Va. Nov., 1878. 



GETTING BEES OCT OF BOXES, AND SC.\LE FOR WEIGH- 

 ING nONEV. 



In Nov. Gleanings, page 38 1, friend Balsinger asks 

 the best way to get bees out of surplus boxes. Last 

 year we were troubled with the same thing till 

 brother Scudder. of New Boston, came along and 

 told us of a better plan, as follows: take off j^our 

 boxes and place them, bottom up, on top of the hive 

 they were taken off from. Take an equal number 

 of empty boxes and turn over those with the bees 

 in, and go about your work of taking off more. In 

 the course of an hour or so, go back to your covered 

 boxes, and you will find nearly all the bees clustered 

 in the empty boxes above; shake these down in 

 front of the hive they came from, and if any bees 

 are left, replace the bo-x for awhile. 



Once or twice will get almost every bee out of the 

 boxes. To get out the few bees that still remain, 

 pile your boxes on a table in the honey house, bot- 

 tom up, and if you have it, place an open bottom nu- 

 cleus, with a frame of brood or a few bees, on top of 

 the tier of boxes. This will soon dr.aw every bee to 

 the nucleus. By this plan, you are not troubled with 

 robbers. 



On page 385, you condemn the spring balance 

 scale, and call it a worthless thing. Now, No\ice, 

 ltd iiou hnnic hmv tn K.se it ? I enclose cut of a scale 

 made b.v the same firm; we have used one of them 

 for several months and like it ven/ much. When I 

 got mine, I ordered a M doz., and sold them to neigh- 

 bors. They all are well pleased with them. My 

 scale has been tested by the store scales and found 

 jitrfictJy accurate everytime. 



Hmv to use it. Place the article to be weighed as 

 near the center of the top plate as you can, then, 

 with your finger, hit the box, plate, or whatever It 

 may be, so as to make it rock backward and forward, 

 thus leaving the rod in the scale loose, to work up 

 or down and give the true weight, as the rocking 

 from side to side obviates its "going bv hitches" as 

 .vou call it. 



We are using our scale almost hourly in weighing 

 hf)ney, and it gives perfect satisfaction, if used riyht. 

 Try it again, Novice, and see if it does not work all 

 right. Will M. Kellogg. 



Oquawka, III., Nov. 20, 1878. 



The scales T condemned, friend K., coidd 



not be made to work in the way you suggest. 

 I had ah-eudy written for term's on the kind 

 you use. before receiving your letter and will 

 try and give bee-keepers the very lowest 

 rates on them, either singly or by the dozen. 

 Your i)lans of getting bees out of boxes 

 are very good. A (|ueen in a nucleus hive, 

 will generally call them, very quickly. 



bees in OREGON. 



I am perfectly delighted with your offer of jour" 

 nal for bees.- 1 will gn one liettcr and will ship to 

 any address you may order, a good hive, American 

 frame, straight combs, hybrid bees, and all for 

 Gle.anings three years. 1 cannot afford to insure. 

 Don't be partial. C. Wilkins. 



Myrtle Point, Oregon. 



Thank you. my friend, but as the express 

 would be"S13. oii a liive of bees from you, I 

 am afraid I shall have to be a little partial. 

 If there is any friend near you who wants 

 bees, I hope we shall be able" to strike up a 

 trade. 



I decidedly approve of Gleanings with its Wheat 

 Heads, Blasted Hopes, Swindles, Growls, Smiles, 

 &c., and although I am fully persuaded of the un- 

 soundness of your theology, yet, because of your 

 love and forbearance for and to your fellow men, I 

 always read your home papers. " H. Smith. 



New Hamburg, Ont., Can. 



Thank you, my friend. You yourself 

 have uncoiisciously summed u]) the best ev- 

 idence of the trutirof Christianity, which we 

 can have in this world. Cultivate a love to 

 your fellow men, bear with them and for- 

 give them, and if you do not see God face to 

 face, you will certainly feel his love, and 

 approval. Xever mind the "•theology"' part; 

 it will take care of itself. 



HOW TO advertise, AND A WORD IN FAVOR OF 

 FAIRS. 



As I am still "green" in the advertising business, 

 would j-ou tell me when to commence, how large an 

 advertisement, and all about it y You know by ex- 

 pei-ience, how to carry on ihat part of my business 

 better than I do myself. 1 advertised in ihe county 

 paper last season, biit I don't think it paid very big. 

 I exhibited Italian bees, honey, honey exti-actor, &c., 

 at our fair this fall, and I think it did me more good 

 than all the blowing in the paper did. 



My report for this season is: No. of stocks in the 

 spring, 19; No. on hand now, 34; No. of pounds of 

 extracted honey, 1,200; No. of pounds of section 

 honey, 300; total, 1,.500 lbs. Cyrus McQueen. 



Buena Vista, O., Nov. 15, 1878. 



I would advertise very cautiously at first, 

 until I was sure it paid;' when you are sure 

 it does, venture on a little larger scale, and 

 so on. While an advertisement in our large 

 agricultural papers brings many inquiries, 

 those in county papers and others of that 

 class, are worth little or nothing to a bee- 

 keeper. The best advertisement I know of 

 in the world, is a way of so treating those 

 with whom you have'to deal, that they will 

 be personal friends ever afterward. If there 

 are misunderstandings and disagreements, 

 show yourself a hero, in bearing the greatest 

 part of the blame, and do not ever quarrel 

 Avith any body. This kind of advertising ex- 

 tends all through this world, and reaches I 

 know not how far, into the world to come. If 

 that is the way you did when you went to 

 the fair, no wonder it did you good ; if we 

 would all go to the fairs Avith this spirit, 

 what a glorious thing fairs would be. 



