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Almighty Father! We pray that thy blessing may accompany each
separate number of our little Journal on its mission among the
bee-keepers of our land. May each and every one of us bear our
losses during the present and ensuing months, should such there be,
with a proper spirit of resignation to events we cannot control.
Give us also that cool, calm, and deliberate frame of mind, that
best prepares us to look earnestly about, and see what means thou
hast placed within our reach to avert a repetition of our past
troubles during the spring months. Give us submission, without a
spirit of idleness, and teach us to work while we pray. Enable your
servant to deserve the great trust, that he has never until _now_
felt has been accorded him. Give him that humility that will enable
him to forget self and labor honestly for the benefit of his brother
bee-keepers, and to deserve the confidence they repose in him.
* * * * *
_A. B. J., Magazine_, and _World_, for Feb. were all on hand in fair
time, and are all good.
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Kruschke Bros. are now supplied with Rapp and Esparcet seeds just
imported; see advertisement.
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With pleasure we refer our friends wanting Queens or full colonies,
to the advertis’t of J. Oatman & Co.
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Chinese Mustard seed seems difficult to find, but we shall have some
in due time we think, even if it has to be imported.
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We shall have to refer all those inquiring for bees to our
advertising columns. Everything _we_ have for sale is in our price
list.
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Summer Rape seed, American grown, by mail in cloth bags, per lb.,
25c.; per express 15c. These will be our rates for the season.
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Photo’s for the Medley are still coming in, and as we wish to
include all that _will_ send them, we shall delay it perhaps a week
after this number reaches you. Remember this is the last call, and
that we wish to include every bee-keeper whose eye meets these
pages.
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On page 104 of Vol. 2. Mr. Quinby says the Queen of Mr. Elwood’s
colony that produced the great yield, _came from us_; yet in Mr.
Elwood’s report page 19, current Vol., it does not so appear. Who is
in error? We certainly wish no credit given the dollar Queens which
they have not earned.
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We are happy to say Miss A. (P. G.) has recovered from the fever and
is again at her accustomed post. We trust our friends will now have
less cause to complain of the types and other small items, that have
of late too often prevented things going with the promptness and
accuracy that makes business a pleasure.
* * * * *
It seems some of the other sex are determined to have the “last
word” in regard to bee stings; a privilege we accord them with all
the good will imaginable, after we have mentioned for the benefit of
beginners, that no matter how distressing are the symptoms at first,
they will very soon get inured to the poison, and finally, no
swelling will ensue at all.
* * * * *
This is the month for feeding the rye and oat meal, with most of our
readers. Put in shallow boxes out of the wind, but in the sun as
much as possible. Here is a chance for you to exercise your
ingenuity in so arranging a glass sash, as to secure these
conditions, and yet not trouble the bees by having them bump against
the glass by mistake. If they don’t notice the meal, as some
complain they will not, start them by giving a piece of comb honey
laid in the midst of the meal; get a few bees on the comb from
several hives until they have got a taste, if you cannot start them
otherwise. When they begin on natural pollen they will take little
notice of the meal. Equal parts of oats and rye _ground fine_ seems
to please our bees best.
* * * * *
We are very sorry indeed to be obliged to say that we think “Money
in the Apiary” by H. A. Burch, by no means worth the price (25c.)
asked for it. The more so as our relations with Mr. B. of late have
been of the most friendly nature, and he has uniformly spoken well
of GLEANINGS. The book is entirely too small, containing only about
one-fourth the matter of a single number of any one of our Bee
Journals. King’s Bee-Keeper’s Text book, only costs 15c. more, and
yet it is a work of 140 pages, condensed, and to the point,
alphabetically indexed, etc. etc. Money in the Apiary contains less
than 20 pages, less in size, and some of it unimportant matter at
that. We advertised the work without seeing it which we regret, but
it would be unkind, and do no good now to find fault with what is
past; shall we not rather consider a remedy that will do justice all
around? Our advice would be that Mr. Burch give his patrons _four_
just such pamphlets, for the 25c. he has received, and make it a
quarterly. If he will do this, we will give him a standing
advertisement gratis.
* * * * *
_Feb. 24th._—All three of the hives, that we are wintering
out-doors, have come through so far in good condition so far as bees
are concerned, although they spot their hives and the ground badly.
The hive bro’t from a distance worst of all; the one prepared with
woolen by Miss A., next, and the Standard hive best of all. The
latter stands just where, and just as it did when we left off
extracting, has had no preparation nor tinkering, and is all in
complete trim to extract again, so soon as its 20 combs are filled.
Could we be sure of making a whole Apiary winter like this one, we
should feel quite relieved, even if we _were_ obliged to put two
fair colonies into every hive to do it. The Queen has just commenced
laying. We were agreeably surprised to find that almost every bee
from these three safely regained their hives, while those in the
forcing house, collect in masses on the glass, get nearly all of
them into one hive, and seem in a fair way at present to become
utterly demoralized, although they have reared quite a patch of
brood during this month in some of the hives. Will others using the
cold frames, please send us minute reports? Even though our own now
looks discouraging, we are going to give it a careful test to the
best of our ability, clear through.
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