KIND WORDS FROM OUR CUSTOMERS.

The dictionary is a gem; I can read it without glasses, and I am 71 next Monday. Belfast, Ia, Jan. 20, 1881.

J. W. BARLOW.

GLEANINGS is such a favorite with us that we can not get along without it. J. BLACKHALL. Hobart, Lake Co., Ind, Dec. 26, 1881.

Your A B C saved me from losing over $50.00 this year. It is a book that no bee-keeper should be withR. R. CUYLER.

out.

Rapidan Station, Va., Dec. 6, 1881.

Circulars you printed came to hand in due time. They are very neat and tasty. Thanks. J. V. CALDWELL. Cambridge, Henry Co., Ill., Jan. 9, 1882.

Glass-cutters received. I tried them and am satisfied. Accept thanks for premium on subscription. A. W. SCHULTZE.

Fond du Lac, Wis., Nov. 21, 1881.

Inclosed find 25 cents, for which please send four charm knives. It seems as if all the girls in Helena will have one before they are satisfied.

Helena, Karnes Co., Tex. MRS. S. A. CONWAY.

My little Granddaughter was so well pleased with her 15-ct. knife and fork, she wants three sets more so she can have a party. PHILIP EHART.

Davenport, Iowa, Dec. 1, 1881.

The glass was received O. K. Money sent on the 5th, goods came on the 9th; quick work. Thanks for your promptness. O. C. SHIPP.

Spring Dale, Miss., Dec. 12, 1881.

I have read the A B C with interest, pleasure, and, J hope, profit. The book is much larger and nicer than I expected, and worth double your price. Tallahassee, Fla., Dec. 23, 1881. O. A. MILLER.

The Waterbury watch is received; it is a beauty, and I am well pleased. Thanks. Inclosed find money order for one more watch. I have another boy. Bourbon, Ind., Dec. 27, 1881. H. STINEBACH.

Accept thanks for watch, which came all right, and gives good satisfaction. The only "fault" I find is, that it is 58 cents cheaper than I thought it would be. JONATHAN HEATON. Washington, Wash. Co., Utah, Jan. 6, 1882.

THE STAR SAW-SET.

I have just received the Star saw-set, and tried it. It lays all other saw-sets in the shade, to my notion.

JOSEPH BALL. Chillicothe, Wapello Co., Iowa, Nov. 25, 1881.

I did not think of taking GLEANINGS this year, but my wife thinks she can not get along without it, for every one of the Home Papers is so good. I inclose Р. М. РЕСКНАМ. one dollar for 1882.

Omaha, Neb., Dec. 22, 1881.

Inclosed find $1.00 for the ABC book, which you will please forward by mail. I have received a dollar's worth of information from the sample copy of GLEANINGS, So I shall have the book free B. F. WARD.

Oxmoor, Ala, Nov. 22, 1881.

The watch came to hand in good order, and it was worth twice the money to see the happy face of my boy on receiving so nice a present.

SARAH E. DUNCAN. Lineville, Wayne Co., Ja., Dec. 31, 1881.

The goods were received on the 5th inst., for which accept thanks. The dictionary is fully worth 50 cts. I would not take $1.00 for it (if I could not get another), und it cost only 20 cts., postage and all. All the articles are well worth the money. Brooklyn, Ia., Jan. 7, 1882.

H. C. KERSTEN.

I can buy L. hives here (second hand) now from 25 to 50 cents, all the hives I want; but give me your metal-cornered hives: they are perfect; and the smoker, that is worth $5.00. I am very well pleased with every thing that I got from you. B. F. BARR.

Flaglers, Marion Co., Ia., Dec. 20, 1881.

GLEANINGS has got to be bread and butter here. Do not fail to mail it to me. There is no department known showing the progress and improvement that bee culture does. G. A. LEGGETT. Schodack Landing, N. Y., Dec. 29, 1881.

The watch which you mailed me came all safe. It is a perfect beauty; it keeps time with our new Seth Thomas clock, only it gains a little on the clock in a week. SAMUEL LEATHERMAN. Goshen, Ind., Jan. 5, 1882.

Sister and I will hold up our hands as substantial friends of GLEANINGS; and as long as God sends u18 the dollar it will be a welcome visitor to our humble but happy home. LENA & BURTON SAGE. New Haven, Ct., Jan. 9, 1882.

I received your premium watch all right; it is running, and keeping first-rate time. We are well pleased, but can't see how such a piece of machinery can be put together for the price. J. H. DEEM. Knightstown, Ind., Jan. 6, 1832.

Send two more Waterbury watches, and two of your polished steel chains. I wish to give them as presents to my two boys. My own watch is still keeping good time, and is as right as when you sent JOHN BAKER.

it to me.

Saxonburgh, Pa., Dec. 30, 1881.

The watch and smoker came last night. The watch is a marvel of beauty, and I set it with my clock last night, and there is not a minute's difference yet. Your kindness and fair dealing are highly appreciated. JOHN HOHMANN. Durango, Dubuque Co., Ia., Jan. 13, 1881.

I subscribe for GLEANINGS for three reasons. 1. For its instruction in bec-keeping; 2. For its Home reading, which we all very highly prize; and 3. To encourage and help sustain an institution managed and carried on so near my own idea of doing business with our fellow-men. May God bless you and aid you. R. M. MORRILL.

Plymouth, Ind, Jan. 3, 1882.

The goods are splendid for so small an amount of money. My little girl is delighted with her scissors and knives and forks; she keeps asking her papa, "Did Mr. Root send them?" My husband thinks his

fdn. excellent; he says he would not take $2.00 for the 50-cent plane you sent him, if he could not get another. We take GLEANINGS, and we all like to read it. especially Our Homes and Merrybanks. Owego, N. Y., Dec. 26, 1881. MRS. MAY Moss.

The Waterbury is all right; it is the best timepiece I ever owned. I can not understand how they

can be made for that amount of money. I must give you an idea of the extent of my small apiary. I commenced the winter with 22 stands, all in Root's chaff hives, of my own make. They are all Italians but 2, and they will be as soon as I can raise queens for them. No blacks for me. I raised 20 queens (Italian) last season; only two of that number proved to be mismated E. P. ALDRIDGE.

Lectonia, Ohio, Dec., 1881.

I was sitting enjoying myself finely over the contents of Dec. No. of GLEANINGS. When I came to the Growlery and read the "oration" of J. P. B., I must say (though I am sorry for it now) that I was quite spunky; but, after thinking a moment, I sat back and had a good laugh, just to see how he set up things in general, and A. I. Root in particular. Better laugh than be spunky, had I not? Well, if we did not have the bitter we should not appreciate the sweet, should we? Keep a "stiff upper lip." You have a host of friends. E. S. BROOKS. Brooks, Marion Co., Ore., Dec., 1881.

HURRAH FOR THE "WATERBURYS."

One year ago the 12th of this month I received and started 11 Waterbury watches I ordered of you. The one I retained for my own use is running as well as ever, as far as I can tell. During the past week I have been testing it with a $20.00 watch, and during that time the two watches did not vary more than a quarter of a minute. I consider the Waterbury watch a marvel of simplicity, accuracy, and cheapness. Three cheers and a "tiger" for the Waterbury watch. I. W. DETWILER.

Moravia, Iowa, Jan. 21, 1882.

The goods ordered of you Dec. 3d were received Jan. 3d in good order, with freight charges amounting to $3.70-very reasonable on 550 lbs. I unpacked them the 4th inst., and found every thing ordered all in good shape. I don't wonder that you have a large trade, sending out as nice goods as well packed, and as promptly as you do. GEO. F. SPENCER. Payson, Ill., Jan. 5, 1882.

The goods bought of you heretofore have been all very good for so small a price, and even more than I expected, for I have sent to a good many different places for little things and different things, and always aim to send money enough, or a little more, to be sure to get the goods, but you are the first man who ever gave me credit for more than enough. Prairieville, Ark., Jan. 4, '82. W. D. WESNER.

I have been a subscriber to GLEANINGS ever since its first advent as a quarterly, when wind was your motive power. We have followed your fortunes with profit and interest; and although the musical bum of the bees no longer enlivens the gardens of our Acadian home, yet we love the subject you aðvocate, and long for the time when we can restock our deserted apiary. Twelve papers and magazines visit us regularly. We thought less might do. Well, which one shall we stop? is the question of the family in council. We have no bees. GLEANINGS very naturally looks like the one to go. We think of the pleasant hours spent in poring over its interesting pages, and soon decide. It is too old a friend; we can not let it go. Well, we inclose $500, and want you to book us for two years, and I will find new subscribers for the other three copies. So you mail me 4 copies for 1882, and one for 18-3. This we think will not materially affect your terms for securing a Waterbury watch. G. C. MILLER. Middleton, Annapolis Co., Nova Scotia, Dec. 23, '81.

Please send me the names of those persons who wanted the Home Papers stopped in GLEANINGS. If they can not afford to pay for them, let you and I pay for them. I will pay one-half and you the other half, for I think GLEANINGS is a good journal without Our Homes in it; but with the Home Papers it is without a rival, for I consider that you have God in partnership with you, and don't you dissolve that partnership. JOHN W. Ross. Velasco, Brazoria Co., Tex., Jan., 1882. [God bless you for your kind offer, friend R! I have already several times proposed to send GLEANINGS to the end of the year to those who objected to the Home Papers, and then leave it to them what amount they should pay; but I believe they always paid the full dollar. Since the new year, I do not remember to have seen more than three who objected. I will give their names if they wish I should. When Our Homes was started, I supposed I should lose subscribers by it; but of late, since it has transpired that they are to be a source of income to me, I am in great danger of becoming proud, and forgetting how it was that I reached so many hearts. It is now, dear friends, while God seems to think fit to give me means and influence, that I need your prayers more than I ever did before, that my Savior may not only be a partner in business, but first in all things.]

Honey Column.

Under this head will be inserted, free of charge, the names of all those having honey to sell, as well as those wanting to buy. Please mention how much, what kind, and prices, as far as possible. As a general thing, I would not advise you to send your honey away to be sold on commission. It near home, where you can look after it. it is often a very good way. By all means, develop your home market. For 25 cents we can furnish little boards to hang up in your dooryard, with the words, Honey for Sale," neatly painted. If wanted by mail, 10 cents extra for postage. Boards saying "Bees and Queens for Sale,'' same price.

DETROIT.-Honey-Good comb honey is scarce and in fair demand, and is worth about 20c. Beeswax is worth from 20 to 22c. A. B. WEED. Detroit, Jan. 26, 1882.

CITY MARKETS.

CHICAGO.-Honey-Since my last quotation, the market on extracted honey has strengthened, and I am now paying @10e on arrival. Comb honey is not as plentiful on the market, and inquiries for it are more frequent, as compared with last year. It sells on commission at 1702c for choice white. 1am paving 18@22e for beeswax, cash on arrival.

Chicago, Jan. 25, 1882.

A. H. NEWMAN.

No. 27.

Vol. X.

A. I. ROOT, Publisher and Proprietor, Medina, O.

NOTES FROM THE BANNER APIARY.

PREPARE FOR ANOTHER SEASON.

H

AVE you decided yet upon a plan of operations, or management, for the coming season? If you have decided, let me ask if, in making your decision, you took into consideration the honey resources of your locality; their character, duration, and reliability? did you consider your markets; their distance, character, etc? did you consider your facilities for sending and receiving mail, express, and freight? yes, and did you consider yourself? Did you comprehend your own education or your ignorance, your abilities, or disabilities, your advantages or disadvantages, your ways, habits, methods, peculiarities, etc.? If you have considered all these, have read, re-read, and studied the plans and methods of the most successful apiarists, and have had two or three years of practical experience, there are good reasons for thinking that you have made a wise choice. And now if you have decided, and know whether you are going to rajse comb or extracted honey, or rear bees or queens for sale, and know exactly how you are going to conduct some one of these branches of beeculture, leave not a stone unturned to make your plan a success. Commence making preparations now. Get a paper and pencil, and take a complete inventory of your bee-keeping stock. Count every swarm, every empty hive, comb, and section box; every sheet of foundation, your honey-extractor, knife, smoker; in fact, every thing. Then make a

careful estimate of every thing you will need the coming season. Be sure to get enough of every thing, but don't be extravagant. If you are going to make your own hives, etc., get your lumber, nails, and paint, and go to work at them. The work of making and painting hives in a nice warm shop will be all the more pleasant, if the snow is flying out of doors. Do not forget to make a list of the articles that it will be necessary to order from some dealer in apiarian supplies; and, if it is possible to do so, these articles should be ordered at once, and they should be sent all at one time by freight. Ordering in this manner not only saves all hurry and worry, but also heavy express charges. If mistakes are made there is plenty of time in which to rectify them. If you are going to raise comb honey, and you have children, perhaps they would enjoy putting together the section boxes and putting in the starters. As fast as they get the sections put together, let them pile them up in fantastic shapes: houses, castles, etc. By taking a little pains, work can often be made to seem like play to children.

Perhaps some of this advice, about having every thing in readiness, may seem almost too simple to mention; but I believe that the experience of supply dealers will bear me out in saying, that not more than one-half of the bee-keepers order their supplies until they are ready to use them; while many wait until they actually have swarms hanging on the bushes.

Do you say that you are going to wait and see how your bees "come through," before you buy any supplies? Well, that is the only reasonable excuse that I can see for your waiting. For this very reas son, I once waited until the first of May; then I sent

as not to interfere with the combs within. There is a ventilating tube as above. Dimensions, six and three-quarter inches in diameter, and five in height.

Turning back, we find something more on the same subject on pp. 181-183:-.

Guide-combs can also be used with glasses. These may be filled, with great regularity, by adop ing the following directions, which, we believe, have never before appeared in print:

Procure a piece of clean, new, empty, worker honey-comb, which has not had honey in it (because honey will prevent adhesion to the glass); cut it into pieces of about three-quarters of an inch square. Gently warm the exterior of the glass (this we find is best done by holding the glass horizontally for a short time over the flame of a candle); then apply one of the pieces of empty comb inside at the part warmed, taking care, in fixing it, that the pitch or inclination of the cells is upward-in fact, place the guide-comb in the same relative position that it occupied in the hive or glass from which it was taken. There is some danger of making the glass too warm, which will cause the wax to melt and run down the side, leaving an unsightly appearance on the glass; but a little experience will enable the operator to determine the degree of warmth sufficient to make the comb adhere without any of it being melted. It is hardly necessary to state, that only the whitest combs ought to be used. A short time should be allowed before changing the position of the glass, so that it may cool sufficiently to hold the comb in its place. Six or eight pieces may thus be fixed, so that, when the glass is filled, it will present a star shape, all the combs radiating from the center. The annexed illustration shows the appearance of a glass as worked by the bees, in which guide-combs were fixed in the manner described above. The drawing was taken from a glass of our own, filled after being thus furnished. In the Old Museum at the Royal Gardens, Kew, may be seen a Taylor's glass, presented by us, some of the combs in which are elongated on the outside to the breadth of six inches.

IL

We believe that not only does a glass present a much handsomer appearance when thus worked and will, on that account, most fully reward the trouble of fixing guide-comb- but that more honey is stored in the same space and in less time than if the glass be merely placed on the hive in a naked condition for the bees to follow their own course. This mode of fixing guide-comb does not solely apply to the above-shaped glass, but is equally useful for all kinds of glasses. It is introduced in connection with this glass because, from its having a flat top and no knob, the regularity is more clearly apparent.

The working of bees in the bell-glasses illustrates how tractable their disposition really is if only scope is allowed for the due exercise of their natural instinct. They have no secrets in their economy, and they do not shrink from our constant observation as they daily pursue their simple policy of continuous thrift and persevering accumulation. Yet it is only owing to the labors of successive inventors that we are now enabled to watch "the very pulse of the machine" of the bee commonwealth.

Long from the eye of man and face of day,
Involved in darkness all their customs lay,
Until a sage, well versed in Nature's lore,
A genius formed all science to explore,
Hives well contrived in crystal frames disposed,
And there the busy citizens disclosed.

-MURPHY'S VANIERE.

Now, friends, I know we have tried bellglasses, and discarded them; and so far as producing honey in this shape, to be sent to distant points, is concerned, I do not believe we want to do it; but could not a good many such be sold to advantage in your nearest town, and at a price, too, that would pay? Tiering one glass above another is, without doubt, quite an advance over the old way; and just imagine the sight of a pyramid of round glasses of honey like these, exhibited at some of our fairs! If the glasses are purchased in nests, I do not believe they will

prove to be very expensive, and I will at once see about having some made.

ALSIKE CLOVER.

SOME SEASONABLE HINTS.

SI am often asked, "How do you raise alsike clover? when do you sow the seed?" etc., I thought I would answer through GLEANINGS. The time to sow depends on the season and the conit all the way from the first of March to the 15th of dition of the ground you wish to sow. I have sown May, with good results. I have sown it with wheat in the fall, and received a good crop of honey the next September; but if the winter is not favorable, it is apt to winter kill. It is like other clover-if better. It will grow on any land that is well cultisown in the spring, the earlier you get it started the vated and mellow. Does best on low, black, or sandy land; it does well on any land that will grow good red-top; it will bloom about one week earlier than white clover, and remain in bloom longer. It is the best honey plant I know of; will produce about two tons of very fine hay per acre; it is not as dusty as red clover. If mown early, about the first week in June, the second crop will yield honey all through July and part of August. The seed must be saved from the first crop; thrashed with a common clover-huller with timothy sieves. If you are not very careful you will blow the seed out with the chaff. It will pay to run the chaff through a fanning-mill, rigged to clean timothy seed. Three or four pounds of seed are enough per acre; but if sown with oats or spring wheat, without any other grass seed, I sow 5 or 6 lbs. It is best not to sow timothy with it, if you wish to save the seed. Never harrow the ground after the seed is sown. The seed is so fine it buries it too deep.

If timothy and alsike seed are mixed they can be separated by wind, or a wind blast.

H. B. HARRINGTON.

Medina, Ohio, Jan. 24, 1882.