234 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



the earth with that. It looked and felt 

 clean. We covered the window holes 

 with wire cloth, and hung a door. 

 Then a platform was built for the ex- 

 tractor, and one for the strainer-tub, 

 and all of the extra hives, supers, and 

 what not brought in and piled up sys- 

 tematically — it really was a transform- 

 ation. Talk about going to theaters, 

 and places of amusement, I don't know 

 when I have enjoyed myself as I did 

 changing that old, leaky shanty into a 

 clean, orderly servicable honey house. 

 There ;ire some beautiful elms in front 

 of it (seethe frontispiece) and. really, 

 it has an attractive, rustic appear- 

 ance. Just to the right of this stands 

 the shanty where Elmer lives, and just 

 back of thei#hanty, not more than two 

 or thre§> rods, is one of those little 

 tumbling, babbling brooks for which 

 this part of Michigan is famous. 



HOW A latp:, hard freeze ktxled the 



HUCKLEBERRY BLOOM, ANlf43SIJURED 

 THE RED RASPBERRIES. ' 



The next day Elmer took me back 

 over to the Boardman yard. Some of 

 this drive is over dreary looking plains, 

 where the huckleberries grow, and 

 some of the way the road winds along 

 the high banks of the Manistee river — 

 the most famous trout stream in the 

 world. Just a word about the huckle- 

 berries. This year there are no ber- 

 ries, the blossoms being killed by a 

 hard freeze that came about the middle 

 of May. Elmer said he was out the 

 evening before admiring the bloom, 

 which made the p.ains look as though 

 a light snow storm had passed over 

 them — the next morning they were 

 black. One can now travel miles with- 

 out seeing one ripe berry. Ordinarily 

 huckleberries are one of the most im- 

 portant crops of this part of Michigan. 

 I have been told that $100,000 went in- 

 to Missaukee County last year to pa3' 

 for huckleberries. This may be an ex- 

 aggeration, but I know it is no uncom- 

 mon thing for i\. family to pick and sell 



$150 worth of berries during the season. 

 Buyers come out on the plains to buy 

 berries, and people come with tents 

 and camp out and can berries. The 

 freeze jthat did the damage this year 

 was very severe — the most that has 

 occurred in many years. Elmer said 

 that some water standing in a wash 

 dish out of doors was frozen solid. In 

 some places farther north it destroyed 

 the raspberry buds, and I know, tliat 

 the honey harvest here will be materi- 

 ally lessened on account of the freeze. 



three crews AT WORK AT ONE TIME. 



After bringing me to the Broadman 

 yard, Elmer left me and his oldest bo3-, 

 Frank, to extract some more honey, 

 while he went back to take anotiier 

 boy, John, and continue the extracting 

 at the Morey yard, while the youngest 

 boy, Charley, and his mother were to 

 extract at the home-yard; thus you see, 

 for the last three days there has been 

 an extracting crew at work at each 

 yard. 



HONEY breaking DOWN THE FLOOR. 



Frank and I slept on the floor at one 

 end of the honey house while the cans 

 of honey were stacked up at the other 

 end. 1 was awakened one night by a 

 sharp cracking nuise that sounded to 

 me like timbers giving away. I lighted 

 a match and investigated, but every- 

 thing seemed normal, so I "turned in" 

 again. Half an hour later, just as I 

 was dozing off again, came the unmis- 

 takable crack of breaking lumber. I 

 tumbled out and lighted the lantern, 

 and then I could see that the floor had 

 settled where the honey was standing. 

 I hustled and moved about half the 

 cans to another part of the room, 

 and, afterwards, I piled the cases of 

 honey out in the wood shed on the 

 solid earth. 



THE HON ICY CROP IN NORTHERN MICH- 

 IGAN VERY LIGHT. 



It might seem from the foregoing 

 that we were getting an etiorinous crop 

 — enough to break down floors. Not so, 



